The Mania wing of the palace resembled Dementia's, only brighter and less cold. Red and gold tapestries hung from the stone walls. The throne, carved out of twisted wood and inlaid with pieces of amber, had a long table set before it. Despite being late morning when I entered, the main hall was also completely empty. I glanced around in confusion. Where was everyone?

From somewhere at the back of the hall, one of the guards of Mania appeared, her gold armor catching the sunlight that came in through the windows as she walked. She beckoned to me.

"This way," she said. "The Duke is expecting you."

I followed her out a door at the back of the chamber and into the courtyard beyond. A covered walkway encircled the enormous garden there. Birds chirped loudly from somewhere in the trees. The guard departed then, leaving me to enter the garden alone.

As I walked through, I was careful to avoid brushing against the odd purple mushrooms and vibrantly colored flowers that seemed as though they were probably poisonous. At one point, I passed by an Argonian woman in a silver dress with a veil of the same color pinned to her horns as she read quietly in a stone chair.

At the very center of the garden, a figure surrounded by bowing trees was busy painting. He was dressed in turquoise and gold robes, with an odd twisted crown set with tiny blue-green gems on his head. The canvas before him was covered in bright colors, but the design was so muddled that I had no idea what it was supposed to be depicting. As I approached, I could hear that he was humming to himself.

"Are you Duke Thadon?" I asked.

He turned to face me, smiling. There was a dreamy, detached sort of look in his eyes.

"Ah yes. There you are. You couldn't imagine how long I've been waiting for you. So little to do, and so much time." He paused and made a small hmm sound. "Could you, in fact, imagine just how long I've been waiting? I don't think you could, but I might be wrong. I might also not care. Which is it?"

I sighed. "You don't care?"

"Don't I?" He giggled. "I thought I did. But then I also thought that you would be… heavier. Look at you; you're light as a chair. How do you walk around like that?" I glared at him. He ignored me. "It's all the same to me, either way. All of it. Nothing is right without the Chalice. Have you ever used it? No, of course not. You simply must!"

The Duke set down his brush and paints and walked away through the garden. I followed close behind, watching him gesture wildly as he spoke.

"You just have to try it. It'll change your world, expand your horizons. Contracting leads to expanding, you know. Well, most of the time," he said.

"This… chalice. What is it, exactly?"

"One of my favorite toys. Does wonders for creativity. Well, not by itself, but it helps. Those Elytra, clever little bugs that they are. Is this making sense?"

"No."

"Look, you eat the Felldew, then use the Chalice, and find the world a much brighter and happier place. Honest." His expression abruptly darkened. "But I don't have it. So I can't eat Felldew, because that would just be bad. I mean really bad. Damn her!"

I frowned, puzzled. "Who?"

Thadon let out a long sigh. "We hold on to fleeting things even as we slip. I knew, and yet I indulged myself anyway. I indulged her a fair bit, too." He laughed. "It was passion. It was… forbidden. Oh, the things that would be said if word got out. That made it all the more delicious. From Dementia's own court, no less. Scandalous! Fatal, perhaps. But passion makes no accommodation for self-preservation."

"Syl," I said, quickly realizing what he meant. "You're talking about Syl."

He smirked, his expression almost menacing for the first time. "Well, aren't you the clever one? Mind you don't get too full of yourself. You might explode."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "Opposites repel, strangely enough. All that pleasure and pain locked away now, as if it never happened. Unfortunately, the Chalice is locked away as well. I have no wish to retrieve it myself, but fetching it might do you some good."

"But–"

"My head is positively throbbing now… can you see it?" He clutched a hand to his forehead. "I need to lie down. Find someone to tell you the rest of the story. Get the Chalice."

Two of the guards seemed to almost materialize at his elbows and quickly led the swooning duke away. Alone once again, I sighed, surrounded by the sounds of rustling leaves and bird song. As I made my way back through the garden, I passed by the Argonian again. I stopped.

Before I could say a word, she looked up from her book and said, "You've been speaking to Thadon. I can tell. He has a certain… effect on people." She tilted her head to the side. "Did he mention me, perhaps? Or was there something else you wanted to discuss?"

He said I needed to find someone to fill in the gaps about the chalice. Well, there was someone. "He said I need to find some kind of chalice? He was very vague about it."

She nodded. "I don't ask too many questions of Thadon. It's precious to him, and that's all that matters. It's his own business. But didn't he mention where it is?" When I shook my head her large, orange eyes abruptly widened so much that I thought they might pop from her head. "Oh… I see. How brilliant of him. This is for you as much as it is for him. Oh, very good, Thadon! Dunroot Burrow is your goal, my friend. And what a goal it is."

"Dunroot Burrow?"

"Yes, yes." She set down her book on a spindly white table at her elbow and leaned toward me. "A most unique place. Of course the Chalice would be there! Don't you see? It's the Elytra. They're the reason. The Chalice, Felldew, Elytra… it's all connected. One without the others is no good. Poison. Oh, a rough road awaits you."

Not surprising, but it wasn't exactly welcome news either.

"Some Elytra there are… different," she explained. "You'll need to get Felldew from them and eat it. Can't get in without it. But once you do…" She stopped and shook her head. "He wants you to learn for yourself. Learn, grow, experience. It's his way. I shouldn't say more. But the Burrow, it's northeast of New Sheoth."

"I don't understand. What is Felldew?"

"Oh, it wouldn't do to speak of it. Thadon's plan for you, I mean. I like you, little one, but I would never interfere with what Thadon wants."


Dunroot burrow was located at the top of a hill deep inside of Mania territory. Unlike Dementia, everything there was bright. The sky above was clear blue streaked with gold. The trees that dotted the hillside had leaves the color of fire or emeralds. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors grew everywhere. It was unsettling.

The Burrow itself seemed to be beneath the old stump of what must once have been a massive tree. From between its roots came a vibrantly colored antlike creature that was bigger than I was. An Elytra.

Crouching behind a tree, I drew back my bowstring. When I released it, the arrow found its mark in the Elytra's head. The creature's limbs flailed as it went down and it continued to twitch feebly as I approached. Up close I could see it possessed a faint greenish glow.

I'd managed to wrestle enough information from the Argonian to know what I needed to do. Kneeling beside the corpse, I drew my knife and, with some effort, hacked a hole in the Elytra's shell. Underneath was a layer of thick, green slime. So that was Felldew. Wrinkling my nose and trying not to gag, I stuck my fingers into it. With the Felldew coating my fingertips I sighed, closed my eyes, and raised them to my lips. The taste was so overpoweringly, cloyingly sweet with an awful salty aftertaste that I nearly retched. I pushed down my nausea and swallowed.

The moment I did my head felt somehow clearer, lighter. I opened my eyes and everything seemed to have brightened. That… was probably not a good sign.

Getting to my feet, I climbed down through the roots. At the base was a thick membrane covering a tunnel into the hill. I reached out to touch it and it shrank away from me, clearing the passage beyond. I cautiously stepped inside.

The tunnels below were narrow and winding, the only light coming from within plants covered in papery gold skin. I shot another Elytra that blocked the passage and nimbly stepped over the resulting corpse. Sharp roots jutted out of the walls here and there, which I was careful to avoid.

For some time everything seemed fine. Then my head began to pound. I grimaced and rubbed my forehead. As the seconds passed it only became worse. I stopped, covering my face and sucking a harsh breath through my teeth. Poison, the Argonian had said. The Felldew was poison if you didn't keep taking it. That was Thadon's plan: to make me keep taking the stuff or die in that pit. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't.

Biting back the pain, I kept walking.


Everything was spinning. The tunnels, spinning. My head throbbed and my vision blurred in and out. I could still kill the Elytra, though. Or I thought I could. Was I imagining them, or were they real? I wasn't sure anymore. I felt feverish. Shaking all over, sweat beading on my forehead. It was poison. The Felldew. Poison. But I couldn't take it. I couldn't let them win.

I had to focus.

"Talos grant me strength… Stendarr grant me patience… A – Akatosh…"

"Your precious Divines can't hear you," a voice that sounded almost like Sheogorath's hissed in my ear. Or was it Mankar Camoran's? Dagon's? "No one can hear you. You are alone."

"Mara!"

I whirled searching for the source of the voices and I stumbled, falling over a root and into water below. Choking, shaking, I pushed myself up onto my knees with trembling arms. Sifting through the water, I grabbed my bow. I thought I heard snatches of voices again, their words too faint to make out. Crawling through the water and Divines-knew-what-else, I used a nearby root to pull myself back to my feet. My clothes were soaked through and only made me shiver harder.

I clambered up through the next tunnel, boots slipping. Faltering. I dragged myself up, digging my fingers in, grabbing roots where I could. Sometimes they were further away than I thought and I'd slip again.

There was a clacking, clattering noise and an Elytra suddenly loomed over me. It shrieked, hitting me with its stinger. Sharp pain, red-hot, pulsed through my arm. I gasped and drew back. Before it could strike again I pulled out my sword and stabbed blindly at it as it focused, unfocused. I felt a blow hit and drove the blade deeper, twisting. The Elytra screamed and I backed off to avoid its wildly thrashing limbs. When it was no more than barely twitching, I crawled over the body and kept walking, holding my injured arm close to my chest.

It was like a maze. Twisting, turning. Around and around again. Was I going in circles? That root looked familiar, maybe. Or that plant. I thought I heard footsteps behind me, but there was no one there when I looked back. Were they mine? Was I imagining it? And voices lurking, murmuring. Always there. Ones I thought I recognized and ones I didn't.

A tentacle-like vine shot out from the wall, grabbing at me. I gasped and jumped away from its grip. My skin where it had me touched stung. Burned. I skirted around it and kept going. I couldn't stop, no matter how much my legs shook and threatened to give way beneath me. No. The walls felt like they were melting underneath my hands as I pulled myself along. Oozing over my fingertips. I shuddered and looked away. Keep going, keep going.

Then stone. Solid stone. I hesitated, staring at the wall before me. A stone wall. Human construction, not like the rest of the den. It wasn't a trick? An illusion? No, it was real. A metal door was set into it, heavy and solid. Was the Chalice on the other side? I pushed hard against the door, gripping the handle. It finally inched open with a loud groan.

Beyond was a flight of stairs. I went up them, blinking in the suddenly bright light. My head had been pounding before, but right then it felt like it would burst. My eyes watered and I gritted my teeth to block the pain.

The room was swimming before me, but I thought I saw statues, dirty tapestries, tables covered with Felldew. I heard voices, saw the blurred outlines of figures running toward me. I fired at one of them. The arrow missed. A moment later a fist collided with my jaw and sent me sprawling across the floor. I tried to catch my breath but it felt like my chest was being squeezed tight. Gasping, I shakily got up and drew my sword. The figures struck again and I cut the first one down. The second was smarter. Dodging, waiting. When I whirled to face them, my head spun painfully and I staggered. They pounced, knocking me to the ground again. I felt hands around my neck. Tighter, tighter. I couldn't breathe. Desperate, I slammed the heel of my hand up where I thought their face was and I felt their nose crush beneath the blow. The hands on my neck abruptly released me and I rolled out of the way.

I lay on the floor, listening. Nothing. There was another flight of stairs. I dragged myself up them with shaking arms. I couldn't stand. Too long without. Poison. If I didn't find the Chalice…

Ahead was a pedestal. On it was something gold. I blinked, but it wouldn't come into focus. Was it the Chalice? I pulled myself across the floor toward it. Scrabbling at the pedestal, I reached for the glimmer of gold. It was too high. I had to reach it… I had to…

My fingers brushed something cold and everything went black.


I blinked, feeling dizzy.

I lay on the floor, curled up on my side. Faint memories of what happened back there in the den made me shiver in horror. I'd made it, I'd resisted, but just barely. A few more seconds and I would have been dead. And the way it had twisted my mind like that… I shuddered again.

My left arm twinged painfully. When I glanced at it, I saw that it was swollen. I faintly remembered being stung by one of the Elytra. Wincing, I sat up and brought a healing spell to my fingertips. The gold light flowed over the wound and the swelling instantly went down. That finished, I glanced up.

The Chalice rested on top of the stone pedestal. Touching it had cured the withdrawal, thank the Nine. Getting to my feet, I staggered back down the stairs to retrieve my bow and sword, stepping over the bodies of my attackers. Once I had them back, I grabbed the Chalice and tucked it under my arm.

At the other side of the room was another door. I walked toward it and pushed it open, revealing a hillside lit by the evening sky. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was out.

The relief I felt was short-lived, however. As I walked up the hill I heard a grinding sound accompanied by the crackle of electricity, looking around, I saw one of those obelisks nearby and several of the Knights already running toward me.

I drew my sword with a sigh.


Thadon milled about the throne room when I arrived, talking with animated gestures to flamboyantly dressed people that I could only assume were members of his court. He looked up at my approach and his eyes instantly fixed on the Chalice in my hands.

"The triumphant champion returns!" He crowed. Then he examined me thoughtfully. "So, do you feel any different? Now that you've been through this experience, I mean. You know what it's like now… always wanting that next fix, hating it but craving it at the same time, and hating yourself for all of it."

My hands tightened around the Chalice, nails scraping against the gold as I stifled a snarl. I forced myself to look away. The Duke sighed.

"Ah, well. All over now. The Chalice helps, doesn't it? Indeed it does, and I could use some helping right now. I'll just take that back from you." He hastily took it from me, sighing with contentment the instant his hands came into contact with it.

"Am I free to go?" I asked him through clenched teeth.

He waved me away, too preoccupied with his prize. "Yes, yes. Go."

I turned on my heel and marched out of Mania's wing of the palace, sick of the place. Almost without meaning to, I found myself standing before Sheogorath. He looked amused.

"Well, well," he chuckled. "So you've experienced both shades of madness. Wonderful. You seem fulfilled. Full of fill. Bursting at the seams. Seamless."

I seemed tired and shaken and more than a little angry.

Sheogorath leaned forward. He pressed his fingertips together and watched me with those eerie gold eyes. "Now to the meat of your endeavor. The crux of the situation. The reason for your being here, and the likely cause of your death."