Hello, good readers. I appreciate those of you who have followed the adventures of my hero(?), Ralos so far. Just thought I'd leave a note. Since this is from actual gameplay, you may have noticed when Ralos figures out something about his sword or armor. This is when in the game I added a perk to his skill sets and I just wanted to add that somehow to the story. On with the show...

Day Thirty-two

I got up later than usual. Faralda was already gone from the bed. She left a note saying she had a mission to attend to and would be eagerly awaiting my next visit. I noticed empty potion bottles next to the bed and my first thought was they were used skooma. For a moment I felt a pang of longing for the stuff. Then I realized they were bottles of health and stamina. It was quite a long night for the both of us and I think I may have missed my calling. Perhaps later in life I could retire as a Greybeard because I was able to teach the Altmer how to shout, several times, to the point where she had to cast Muffle on herself or risk disturbing the others. Just another night as Ralos Ravenclaw, Dragonborn and expert Desire Tamer.

Lydia was waiting by the statue of the College's founder. She was more taciturn than usual which was fine by me. I was more relaxed than I had been in days, no thanks to her. Despite the detour to Riften and the lack of a carriage in Winterhold, things were going pretty smoothly.

Not far out of the town, we ran afoul of a brown bear. It was a quick fight but I did manage to learn a new twist to my sword as well as a better way of deflecting damage with my gauntlets. I was confident I could strike harder now as well as absorb damage better with my heavy armor. This day was just getting better. Down the road I saw two redguards men harassing a redguard woman. I was about to intervene but then one man convinced the other to let her go, saying she was not the one they were looking for. Wise move, and she even told them so.

A fort appeared over a hill. I saw a skeleton manning a watchtower so I crouched down behind some roadside bushes and took him out with one of the new Orcish arrows I found. That had some punch behind it. I would have to find more of those. A couple of angry mages appeared along with a colossal atronoch made of ice. I assumed they did not appreciate my rearrangement of their skeleton's bones. I did not feel like using up my potions taking out these robe wearing spell chuckers so I waited for them to go back towards their fort. I marked it on my map to clean out later. Lydia told me it was called Fort Greenwall, but she heard it was empty. It would be soon enough. We crept by it and continued along the road.

A dragon could be heard roaring somewhere nearby but I did not see it. They seemed to be growing more numerous. The road wound through some snowy woods but eventually brought me to a large city called Windhelm. I was not yet tired from our walk so I decided not to stop. I was heartened by the sight of a carriage for hire. I told him to wait a moment while I sold some stuff to a Khajiit caravan nearby. He tried to sell me some skooma. Lydia was chatting with the driver and the Khajiit was very persuasive. He offered a buy one get one free deal and I decided, what the Nines? It no longer had a hold on me, and what better way to prove it. I would keep it with me for a while, not touch it, then I would know I had beaten it. I wrapped the bottles in a linen wrap, put them with my gems, and returned to the carriage. The driver said he was able to take us to Riften, if we wanted. We both decided to take him up on it. We could just eat a lunch while we rode and take it easy for a change.

The ride was short, just long enough to eat and catch up on the latest gossip from the driver. Apparently there had been a rise in vampires in a couple of provinces, but not here, though they seemed to be headed this way. There was even talk of reviving something called the Dawnguard, whatever that was. Frankly, I could not care less. If the rumors became a reality, I might listen, but until then I had too much to do to give it a second thought.

Some guards standing around the stables outside Riften were able to direct me to a farm to the West called Merryfair where they thought a man named Dravin worked. It was getting late but we found him still working out in the fields. He was surprised to see the bow and I thought he was about to accuse me of stealing it in the first place, but if he suspected me, he held his tongue. Lydia mentioned how she met Shavina and told her she would return the bow. Dravin became dreamy eyed talking about the woman and how he hoped she was doing well. I hurried things along and he snapped out of his revelry long enough to offer to pay us a reward.

He handed a pouch to Lydia. "I hope it is enough. It's all I have right now."

Lydia did not even look inside, "Whatever it is, I appreciate it. If I see Shavina again, I'll tell her you miss her."

Away from the farmer, I nudged my housecarl, "So what did he give us?"

"Us?" she said, perplexed for some reason. "I found the bow and I had to force the issue of returning it. Whatever he gave me is mine." She fished out the pouch and looked inside. A handful of gems, garnets and amethysts rolled around inside.

"Say, those are nice," I remarked, "the jewels, I mean. You've got a point, I suppose. I'll keep those safe for you with the rest of my stuff if you want. Just put them in my pack and you can do what you want with them back at Breezehome."

Lydia thought for a moment, then reached for the knapsack I had been using. She stopped as she began to open it, then closed it back up.

"On second thought," she said, "I'll just keep these with me. It makes more sense not to put all of our valuables in one bag. Wouldn't you agree?"

I did not, but I could tell she was not opening it up for a debate. "Sure, whatever. They're only gems, right? How about we grab dinner and turn in early? I was thinking we should probably make a quick return to Whiterun before tackling this Tower of Mzark. It sounds like some preparations would make sense."

"For once, I agree with you," she said, "That does make sense. Are you feeling all right?"

"Ha ha, you're funny. Have I ever told you that? Want me to carry your pack for you to the inn?"

Lydia clutched the pack with the gems in it. "Just move along, I've got this."

I shrugged and started towards Riften. I didn't want to carry her stupid gems... I mean pack, anyway.

Once inside Riften the first person we encountered was some wizened old woman begging for coins. The rags she wore could barely be called clothing and there were more gaps in her smile than in a carriage wheel. I tossed her a few septims and caught a whiff of skooma on her breath as she thanked me. She probably would have thanked me with a length of steel if she knew I had skooma in my pack. It had been a while since I had seen an addict so far gone.
I needed a distraction after that so after dinner I looked up Haelga again. She was pleased to see me, very pleased, and did an exceptional job of distracting me. She had quite a collection of instruments dedicated to Dibella in her room at her Bunkhouse. She had honey, leather straps, the works, though I declined the shackles on the bed. I was almost killed by an assassin in this city, you know. I managed to sneak out before she awoke, taking one of the stamina potions with me, still feeling drained, but happy. I found Lydia still asleep in our room. I tried to wake her to leave but she took a swing at me and went back to sleep. I dropped into the other bed and dozed until she decided to get up.