11th of Second Seed
We made it to Solitude without any incidents aside from some bears and wolves. We spent an extra night at the tavern in Solitude. I told Kaidan that I'm planning a trip across Skyrim and he laughed. "Isn't that what we've been doing? Criss-crossing Skyrim chasing after things?" The plan is to head back to Dawnguard and see what else we might be able to do to help Isran. That's assuming I don't lose my temper and punch him, like I did with Ulfric. It takes that to get respect with some people but I think it might just make Isran angrier.
13th of Second Seed
Despite my best intentions, I almost lost my temper and punched Isran. He was seriously suggesting that we should have fought the entire castle full of vampires and thralls. I don't plan to end up as a menu item for anyone, much less that throng of blood suckers. He finally saw sense when one of his underlings mentioned that there was no way we'd stand a chance against that many of them. He wants us to go find a dwermer specialist and an animal trainer, so we're off to scour the wilds to see if we can find these people.
When I told Kai that it looks like one of them might be a bit outside Markarth, he laughed and pointed out that we're criss-crossing Skyrim again. He made me promise that we'll stop at inns and spend the night where we can. This makes the Merry Band happy and so we'll move a bit more slowly and spend the night indoors with food and ale when the opportunity presents itself. First stop, the Bee in Riften.
15th of Second Seed
We got to Lakeview today and the new pup, Bjorn is back. He'd gotten word about his sister, who's been missing and went off to chase that down. He's run into another dead end, so he came back to Lakeview. I told him next time to at least leave a note, so we know what's become of him and where to start looking, if he doesn't turn up again. It's good since Lydia hasn't been there alone to face all the things that wander up to that place. Bjorn admitted that he thought we were exaggerating until he'd gotten to witness some of it first-hand. I had to explain again that I think some ancient curse operates there and that I was certain that Siddgeir sold me this plot on purpose, knowing about the curse.
He's staying there with Lydia for now and Rayya will stay with us while we go poke around the Reach looking for this artifact hunter Isran wants us to find. I'm certain that we'll be dealing with more Forsworn.
16th of Second Seed
We stopped in Falkreath at the inn and to sell off the gear we've taken off a bunch of bandits. We keep clearing them out of the same places, so they're not particularly hard to find. I have promised everyone that we'll make a trip to the hot springs outside Darkwater Crossing soon. Talesin says that he'd rather go back to Dragon's Bridge and the bath house there than some stinky volcanic hot spring, but the water at the hot spring is supposed to be good for the skin. Maybe we can do both.
17th of Second Seed
We will be arriving in Markarth with a ton of gear to sell off. We've cleared out three different bandit camps between Falkreath and Markarth along with more of the Forsworn. I'm starting to wonder if selling all this stuff off is what's driving the bandit population. I swear that we've taken this same gear off some other bandits. It had clearly been well-used – mended and repaired – before this lot got their hands on it. Some of the patches on this stuff look to be older than some of the bandits we took it from.
18th of Second Seed
We're in Markarth and I stopped in the market to get a few things when I ran into the louts who assaulted me earlier. They were trying to corner another woman, so I wandered over and reminded them that I still owe them a challenge to duel over the previous insult. They quickly retreated so I told her that if they bother her, or anyone else, like this ever again to send me a courier. We spoke for a moment, and she agreed. Everyone here is afraid of them since they're part of the Silver-blood family. That's all the more reason for them to behave with decorum and respect, instead of trying to force themselves on the women of Markarth. That means I'll be having a chat with Thongvor about their behavior. If it still doesn't change, I'll be having a chat with Ulfric instead. Maybe its time someone besides the Silver-bloods owned Cidnha mine. If this is how they behave, I don't mind challenging all of them to a duel singly or in groups. If they want to go all at once, I'll get the Merry Band and the Companions. I'm happy to settle it.
21st of Second Seed
It finally occurred to Kai today to ask me how long I'd been hunting Thalmor, so I had to tell him the story. It happened in Elsweyr during my first posting. I'd managed to build a big network of informants among the Khajiit traders who would tell me about the Nibenese. If they came to buy or sell anything, I knew about it almost as soon as it happened. Since its impossible to fight for long without supplies, mapping out where they were buying and selling things let me narrow down where they were operating from. One of my first informants Dra'Riba, an elderly merchant who traded in just about anything you could put a price tag to. She was a canny thing who taught me a lot about Khajiit customs and culture. One of her grandsons, Dro'Dato, came to see me one day because she'd gone missing. After a lot of digging, I discovered she'd been taken by Justicars. I got one the local beggars, who'd seen what happened, to tell me. Working with her grandsons, we managed to find where they were holding her. We raided the place, killing all the Thalmor that were in it, only to find Dra'Riba dying from the abuse and mistreatment they'd inflicted on her. Ever since then, I hunt Thalmor whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. Dragging the bodies into some beast's den was something I learned from Dro'Dato. If it looks like the local wildlife got them, they don't generally go looking for anyone else. I learned a lot from Dro'Dato and his friends about conducting hit and run raids without getting caught by the Thalmor. The Suthay-Raht and Cathay-Raht were often involved in raids both against the Nibenese mages and the Thalmor. What they taught me was simple, but effective. Don't leave any of the Thalmor alive. Strip them to the skin, dump the bodies in den. If you think there's a tracker spell on anything, go bury it somewhere and watch it for a while. Or sneak it into one of the big ceremonial fires and let the flames cleanse it of magic. Once the metal starts to melt, the spells will be released. The giant's bon fires here serve the same purpose, and they're generally not as hard to find, just a bit harder to sneak things into without starting a ruckus with the giants. I always did get on well with the Cathay-Raht in particular. They thought it was hilarious when I said they reminded me of home, but they're big, rowdy, good-natured, and like their drink. Kaidan agreed that did seem surprisingly Nord-like. As far as I'm concerned, its just more proof that we're all basically the same once you get past the skin.
In other news, Jon sent word today. We're switching the first of the fields over to alchemical ingredients. Food prices in Whiterun have come down considerably. Much of the rest of the food already has contracts for purchase from other holds. If prices start to stabilize everywhere, so much the better. The ingredients will be sent to the school for processing into potions that we'll start stockpiling for the invasion. If a potion can sit on a shelf in a tomb somewhere for gods alone know how long and still maintain its potency, we should be able to stock them in the basement of the school for a few years. That will be a huge help later on.
We've been combing the countryside looking for this Sorine Jurard but so far, we're coming up empty. The weather has been lovely, though and we've been camped under the stars for a few nights now. We'll keep looking but, searching out here is worse than a needle in a haystack. With the way the peaks and valleys run, you could fifty feet from someone and never know that they're there.
22nd of Second Seed
We found Sorine today. She was surprised that Isran had someone looking for her. Apparently, I'm not the only one bothered by his behavior. She says he was incredibly rude to her at their last meeting. I had to give her some of the Dwermer bits I've picked up in various ruins but that got her to agree to visit Isran and hear him out. I think it might also have helped when I mentioned that if he's rude to her again, I'll just punch him a few times because he annoys me too. That made her laugh and I think that's what got her to agree. I think she's secretly hoping that he'll be rude so that I do punch him and she gets to watch. We're headed into Markarth to the inn to spend the night.
23rd of Second Seed
Kaidan wanted to visit the temple of Dibella while we were in Markarth, so we went. Apparently he wanted to leave an offering. Now, we're stuck chasing down their new Sybil, so we're off to Karthwasten to fetch some girl. Next time, we'll just go visit a shrine to Akatosh or Talos. We have vampires to deal with.
24th of Second Seed
There is no end to this. We got to Karthwasten only to find that the Forsworn have kidnapped the girl. Good thing I brought a couple of the daedric trinkets that need blooding with me. Looks like we'll get the chance to use them. We're off to find this Broken Tower and I hope the girl is still there and in one piece.
25th of Second Seed
More Forsworn. More hargraven. More briar hearts. Gods above! I hate those things. The more I understand them, the creepier they are to me. I still don't understand how my brother ended up as one of them. We've found the girl and we're headed back to Markarth.
26th of Second Seed
We're back in Markarth. Fjotra's at the temple of Dibella doing whatever it is that their Sybil does. Now we're going to go find this animal tamer that Isran wants. After talking to Sorine, I'm pretty sure Isran sent us because these folks would have told him to sod off if he'd come in person to ask for their help. Kai is pointing out that we're once again criss-crossing Skyrim so I'm getting the trip I said I wanted after all. I'd prefer to have the trip sans the blood-suckers. I need to swing by Frostfall and swap out the daedric trinkets so that I can make sure none of them wander off. I much prefer knowing where these things are to wondering if someone's about to club me with Molag Bal's mace. It looks like we're headed into the Rift to find this animal trainer. I'm ready for trip to the hot springs. I need to be relaxed to go back and deal with Isran.
27th of Second Seed
We've stopped at Frostfall to spend the night. The girls are happy to see us. Ralof's organized the guards better and all the guards are in pairs or threes at night. I've given him some gold and instructed everyone to keep a potion on them just in case. I also spent some time in the smithy upgrading all their armor and bought a bunch of atronach summoning scrolls. The reinforcements to the walls are going well. A couple of sections are complete and their both thicker and higher now. The escape routes are going in too. I've talked to Ralof about possibility of an attack from either the Thalmor or the vampires. They're taking precautions and Ralof's wanting to hire some more guards. I think it's smart so I've approved his plans.
Kaidan still wants to play animal tamer and saber cat so I sent the girls to spend a few days at Lakeview with Lydia. The Merry Band is ensconced at the Bannered Mare. I've booted all the guards out of the house proper, which got a look and grin from Ralof. Kaidan is strong as an ox and surprisingly quick for his size. I might be slightly tamed at this point, but Kaidan needed a couple of healing potions. The animal tamer has also learned a few things.