28th of Sun's Dusk
I'm writing sooner than I'd planned because our trip was interrupted by those crazed cultists. I thought I'd gotten rid of them after I killed the second pair that attacked me, calling me the false dragonborn. I haven't heard from them in months, so I assumed that they'd given up. The Black Hand assassins quit after I killed the fourth or fifth one. They caught us... well let's say they caught us indisposed and it was a close thing to defeat them even with Erik fighting with me. Fighting naked isn't something I'd recommend to anyone. I wear armor when I fight for reasons. When you're naked, things become a lot more difficult. Damn them to the pits of Oblivion... I was having quite a nice time. Turns out that exploring male anatomy is more enjoyable than I had anticipated. Erik is really angry about it since it interrupted his fun too. We're going to go stay at the inn in Windhelm for a couple of days before we take ship to Solstheim. I'm going to get to the bottom of this idiocy. I'm dragonborn enough to have killed Alduin. How much more dragonborn do I need to be?
When I get back, I have a laundry list of things to take care of. I'll need to spend a few days at Jorrvaskr before I go visit the bards. They'll both want to hear first-hand what happened. The bards will want it for their archives. The Companions will want to hear of it so that we can crack open a tun of mead and feast. I also owe a trip to see a certain grumpy Orc librarian in Winterhold. None of it would have been possible without his help. Then once all that is done, I'll have to have a more serious conversation with Balgruuf. If Ulfric keeps his word to me, then Ulfric will try to settle this business between them. I was right. It all started over a girl they both wanted. At least, that's the story I got from Ulfric. It's become more serious since then but that's where it all started. They were both Jarl's sons and both sweet on the same girl.
1st of Evening Star
We had a nice time in Windhelm. The inn there was very accommodating, even when Erik had some odd requests which generally resulted with us grinning at each other like idiots. It almost makes up for having our time at the hot springs interrupted so rudely. We found a ship and I had to dump some gold to get the Captain to agree to sail back to Raven Rock. It's an odd place. It seems like it's almost eternally twilight because of the volcanic cloud that hangs over it. Nighttime is really dark – no stars and no moons. Ash drifts down like snow. Things come out of the ash too. Giant grasshopper things, burnt spriggans, and then the ash spawn. Bandits and Reavers are everywhere. We were on our way up the beach, more less wandering around since no one seems to know this Miraak. One of the local guards was being swarmed by these ash spawn so Erik and I stepped in to even things up a bit. Once we'd put them down, he thanked us and asked for our help. We started helping him investigate and found that one of these ash spawn was carrying a recent declaration of war signed by a general who's been dead for 200 years. I'm not sure what to make of that and neither is the Commander. The mer we first took to be a local guard turns out to be the local guard commander. He's asked if we can go this fort and see if the general is really dead or if some wizard is playing a game. We'll roam around a bit and see if we can find this fort. I doubt it will be worse than dragons and their lich-priests.
2nd of Evening Star
We found the fort and it was exactly what I was afraid of. Some necromancer got ahold of the General and turned him into the most fully functional undead I've observed to date and I've faced a lot of undead things, including an undead dragon. Nearly all the others seem to be set on doing nothing more than "kill the living" if you happen to wander too close to them. This one, though, was still thinking, still planning, still being a general with all the implications that has around troop deployments, tactics and strategy. May their Gods grant them peace, finally. If that annoying priest in Raven Rock will come and inter them properly, this won't ever be a problem again. I went to the temple to see if I could get some healing since I seem to have caught something from one of the grass hopper things. They're not small and harmless like grass hoppers you know. These are the size of a snow cat and won't hesitate to dine on you. The rotten priest refused me entry to the shrine and told me that only true believers may enter. I told him that I've spoken with Vivec so its kind of hard to disbelieve in a god you've spoke to. I don't think he believes me, but it is true. A few of the Cantons are still there with Vivec presiding over everything.
We ran across a mer excavating a barrow. I can sense a word of power in there so I've agreed to fund his excavation. How the Greybeards do this from atop High Hrothgar, I have no idea. I've given him some gold to hire the miners from the run-out ebony mine in Raven Rock. I suggested that he hire some guards. It is a barrow and they do tend to be full draugr. He says it's too soon for that, but it makes me uneasy. We'll see if his predictions hold true or not.
Erik and I decided to go up the coast the other direction. We ran into something that looks like one of the standing stones back in Skyrim. This one is odd though. There are all these people working on building something around it and they're muttering oddly. They're all saying the same things about laboring because they've forgotten and need to remember. I can't get any of them to interact with me at all. Even attacking them gets no response. While I was trying to puzzle this out, I ran into a Telvanni Wizard, Master Neloth. He's as puzzled by this as I am and nothing he's tried has worked either. We've agreed to exchange information with each other if we discover anything. He was able to tell me that there's an ancient temple to Miraak on the island and give me some directions to find it. Erik and I looked at each other and nodded. That's where we'll head out tomorrow.
We're staying at the local inn. It's got the most inauspicious name – The Retching Netch but there's apparently quite a well-known and amusing local story behind the name. Erik wants to try all the local food and drink, so we're testing out all the local fare. The inn keeper seems pleased since we're dumping more coin than he's likely seen in a month. His sujamma is delicious. It's almost like a spiced wine but with approximately twice the kick to it. I've asked him to ship several cases of it back to Jorrvaskr for me. I think the Companions might be appreciative of his special brew. The mazte isn't for me and Erik doesn't seem to like it much either but I'll still send some of that back too. The ash-grown food is unusual to say the least. Some of it has a pleasantly earthy taste like beet or turnip might but in other things its sharper and distasteful to me, almost as if it were burnt.
We're off to this temple tomorrow to see what we can find, if anything so we'll get a good nights rest.
3rd of Evening Star
We found the temple today. It's worse than the standing stone. There were far more people here working under same strange compulsion. I can't reach any of them, either. I ran into someone else who still has her wits about her, Frea of the Skaal. It seems that many of her village have been conscripted to this unwilling labor. They're being forced to work constantly without food, water, or rest. We talked for a bit and we're going into this temple to see what we can find. Frea is coming with us. The very first thing we encountered were more of the damnable cultists. Finally, I get to vent some of my anger over having my time at the hot springs interrupted. I'll carve a path through whatever I have to if that means I can make sure that Erik and the girls are safe from these idiots. I've got the Thalmor to deal with.
The temple was like every other barrow that we've been through so far with one exception. There are live cultists roaming around this one and draugr seem to fight with the cultists against us. Erik's concerned that he's going to become a draugr when he dies. To calm his fears, I walked him through the crypt, showing him all the peaceful quiet dead and told him what Farengar once told me about them. It was something he found when he was researching the dragons for Balgruuf. The draugr are cursed because they betrayed both man and mer to the dragons. Becoming draugr is their punishment. That punishment lasts until they've atoned sufficiently or until someone, like us, comes along and sets them free. That seemed to quiet him and settle him down a good bit. Calm and steady will keep you alive longer than fear and panic. This is what we do for each other. It's also why I miss Kodlak so much. I have to figure out how to be that not just for Erik but all the Companions. Enough ruminating, on with the clearing of the temple.
We made our way through the temple to a central chamber where there was a strange book on a stand. I picked it up to see what it was and ended up in a vision. It's Hermaeus Mora's plane of Oblivion. I recognize the descriptions of the Seekers from some of the journals I've been reading. Miraak was there. He was only banished from Nirn by the dragons, not killed by them. He spoke to me but I couldn't answer in the vision. He praised me for ending Alduin but called me weak and says I have no idea of a dragon born's true power. Then he sent me back here. All in all quite odd and I'm not sure what I make of it. Frea said that her father, her village's shaman, might know more so we've gone to the Skall village to see what he can tell me.
4th of Evening Star
The shaman sent us to Saering's Watch to find the word that I need to free his people. I had to battle two dragons and lots of draugr but it's done. Since the one of the standing stones is near by, I went there to test it out. It worked, it freed the folk trapped there but it unleashed a Lurker, one of Mora's minions. We killed it but another came out of the ocean, so we killed that one too. When I went to inspect the corpses of these things, I got a nasty surprise. I think they were men or maybe mer once, before they were corrupted so. They were carrying things that animals or spirits wouldn't. That's only my speculation, but that's what I think. I've put that in here in case that helps someone else in the future.
The shaman also said to go consult with Master Neloth about the Black Book I found in the barrow but I think we'll do that tomorrow. I'm tired and we're headed back to the inn in Raven Rock to get some sleep.
5th of Evening Star
I woke up working on one of those gods-be-damned standing stones. One the one hand, that made me angry to be conscripted against my will. On the other hand, it saved me from trekking all over Solstheim looking for it. I shouted at it, and once again the people were released and the Lurkers attacked. I decided to skip chasing down Neloth for a moment while I go hunt down these other stones and cleanse them. All but the central one at Miraak's Temple are done now. I've got some acid burns that I need to go treat and maybe tonight I can get some rest.
6th of Evening Star
I found the Telvanni wizard living in a giant mushroom. I've seen some strange houses but this one has to be the oddest. It's a truly giant mushroom. The outside peak is almost on par with some of the mountain tops. The central stalk is hollow and spelled so that if your intentions toward Master Neloth aren't good, you can't get to the upper area. It let me in, so I guess it thinks what I want is OK. He was very helpful with the Black Books. There's a dwemer ruin that's got one locked inside and if we go futz around with the controls, we might be able to get it out. He says he's pretty sure it's the one I need. Since he's spent a considerable portion of his life hunting them down and studying them, it seems like it's worth attempting.