Skyrim - Completed

Another game that has ben in Limbo for a long time, after completing the main quest, I've tried a few times to try & rekindle the love by completing various side quests but nope the honeymoon is over. I'm done with Skyrim.

After 120 hours of adventuring it was time for Valdarr to return home to Whiterun & spend the rest of his days with Lydia.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 25 - Dragonbane & Vulthuryol

Usually I write my blog posts on the PC but being awake since 6am & lazy to not get up. I just grabbed my iphone & using the Blogger+ app I am writing this post.

After last week Skyrim I started talking about swords with Abbas & he said have you got the sword from Sky Haven Temple? What sword ?!

A quick google search revealed an armoury in the temple that has blade armour & the Dragonbane sword.

So the first task was to return to the temple to visit the armoury. There is a small room to the right when you walk into the main hall with the giant table. The armoury also has some blade armour & other bits. The Dragonbane sword can be found on the table. It does extra damage against dragons & shock attack on other enemies.

I then paid a quick visit to Whiterun to use my smithing skills to improve the sword & blade armour. With my +one handed attack ring & necklace the Dragonbane now did 130 damage. The blade armour was not better than my dragon armour so I passed the set over to Jzargo.

With the Dragonbane & Red Eagle sword I was now dual wielding with 265 damage.

Back to Blackreach where I had lots of mining, crimson nirnroot to collect & a glowing orange orb.

I decided to leave the glowing orb for now and looking at my local map, I went walking into the dark undiscovered areas where I found lots of places to mine & enough nirnroot to complete Sinderion's quest (which now wants me to visit his colleague Avrusa Sarethi). There are lots of buildings on the outskirts, some inhabited by Falmer & some just filled with loot.

With nothing else left to do it was time to visit the glowing orb. The area is surrounded by Falmer & Falmer servants (who are brainwashed humans ZOMBIES !!). It's a shame there were no dwarven robots, I was expecting to be greeted by some centurions.

There are two buildings Hall of Rumination & Debate Hall. Both buildings also only have Falmer & Zombie Slaves. Not much in the way of notable loot. The Hall of Rumination has a stairwell which takes you outside onto a platform overlooking the glowing orb.

So without further ado & as suggested by William (HaggisHunter) I used the unrelenting force shout on the orb.

FUS RO DAH !!

I expected the orb to smash open & a swarm of dwarven bees charging to attack me. But no it was the roar of a dragon !! A fire breathing dragon !! Being so high up on the platform I tried to attack with my bow but it's very difficult to attack a flying dragon.

The dragon then decided to land very conveniently outside the dwarven city. I had to go and meet him then, because I had killed all the Falmer on the way it was just me & Jzargo.

But I did have my new Dragonbane sword. The dragon, actually his name is Vulthuryol (sounds like a cough medicine) landed just outside the main wall. I decided to just charge in with my two swords and Jzargo was launching his destruction magic.

I got roasted quite a bit by taking the dragon flames head on but with only losing half my health I managed to jump on his back for a cinematic final blow.

Collecting the usual dragon loot, it was time to look at the local map for the location of the elder scroll.

I entered the Tower of Mzark to which I laughed Mzark the word in punjabi means joke. At this point I deleted my old saves (I usually only keep around five at the end of a session) & created save number 378.

Tune in next week then for more exciting adventures in Skyrim.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 24 - Blackreach

Unfortunately Skyrim Friday did not happen due to many reasons. Thanks to a wrong number phone call at 5am Saturday morning (GIT !!) I was awake so decided to have some early morning Skyrim (Not for breakfast of course because I was fasting).
 
Blackreach is a really REALLY large cavern, so instead of following my quest marker I decided to wonder around and see what I could find.

The first building I came across was Reeking Tower which was occupied by spiders (lots of them). After that I found Silent Ruin which had a trap chair when you sat on it a spinning blade pops up to attack.

Wondering around also meant I could collect lots of Crimson Nirnroot, I think I am currently on 22/30. You also run into a lot of falmer but not many dwarven enemies. Some centurions seem to be offline in holding rings & when you attack them they wake up. Also mining lots & lots of places to mine for soul gems & ore.

There is a giant glowing orange orb in the center of Blackreach but I have not visited it yet just in case it advances the quest line.

Luckily there are a few great lifts in blackreach that take you back to the surface, I only tend to pick up loot that is worth more than 150 gold but I was full & Jzargo was a pack mule. So I took the great lift of Raldbthar. I was greeted by the roar of a dragon & I think it was Alduin so I went down the path to take him on but he flew off & another dragon Viinturuth came in to attack.

Viinturuth does a frost attack which was easy enough to counter by equipping the necklace & ring I had to increase my defence to frost attack by 70%. My trusty Red Eagle easily killed the dragon but I had to leave the bones & scales behind.

Looting & selling the loot can take many hours in the game. I currently have 80,000+ gold but the difficulty with the high value items I pick up is finding a merchant with enough gold to sell them. I usually fast travel to Whiterun first & visit Warmaiden's, Drunken Huntsman, Belethor's & Arcadia's Cauldron. Then off to Riften to see the market traders, after that depending on what I have left I sometimes go to Riverwood.

I have thought about taking up some perks on the speech skill but with 80K gold already & nothing to spend it on it's probably a waste of a level up perk.

After selling my loot back to Blackreach to continue my sweep of the area, next to the glowing orange orb building I saw a giant wondering around & thought why not. But rather than charge in & attack I used my sneak ability & crouched to attack with an arrow doing 3x damage. Jzargo decided to do the same & we quickly killed the giant.

Wondering pass the giant we came to some more buildings including a pumphouse & market. The pumphouse had a master locked chest which rewarded me with a +35% damage ring when wielding a sword. The market had some loot but when I opened the main door I was met by a brick wall. Odd ??! but with the voice of "Daddy" that was my Skyrim play time over.

Tune in next week then for more exciting adventures in Skyrim.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 23 - Alftand

It's Friday so that can only mean Skyrim day !!

I am on the quest Elder Knowledge searching the dwemer ruin Alftand for an Elder Scroll.

You get to fight a lot of dwemer enemies who are basically mechanical robots. Easily defeated by my Red Bane Sword & fire spells.

There is a section in the ruins that has you walking down a spiral platform & whilst under attack Jzargo decided to jump off this platform to his death but managed to knock into me & I promptly followed him down to my doom. I then asked him to wait at the top of this section whilst I dealt with all the enemies before asking him to follow me.
 
Later the ruins you come across Falmer who are a more tougher opponent, especially the Nightprowler & Gloomlurker. I ran into a party of three & died a couple of times before I had to stop & think of a strategy which involved placing down a fire rune & ensuring after a few attacks retreating to heal myself.

Along the way you find various journals & dead bodies of previous adventures who have tried to search the ruins for treasure. You eventually will come across two who are fighting who fight with each & whoever wins will then turn on you. After you have killed hem you can then use the sphere given to you to reveal a staircase down to Blackreach.

Blackreach is an underground cavern inhabited by Falmer & dwemer machines. It looks very beautiful especially with the Avatar floating like mushrooms. I also started another quest (like I don't have enough already!) when I picked up a Crimson Nirnroot plant. Slightly further into Blackreach you come across Sinderion's Field Laboratory & inside you find Sinderion's skeleton clutching a journal which asks you to then collect 30 of these plants.

At this point it was time to open my fast so I saved. Tune in next week then for more exciting adventures in Skyrim.

The return of the Skyrim Diary - Entry 22 - Throat of the World

Please note this post is littered with spoilers.

The Diary returns from the dead but in a slightly different style rather than from the perspective of my in game character Valdarr it will be from my perspective the gamer.


I've not played Skyrim since April & thanks to a colleague at work who is always playing Skyrim I decided that hence forth I will devote my Friday gaming time to Skyrim.

It took me a while to remember the controls, after a quick look down my current quest list I decided it was time to ditch Esbern & Delphine & finally take them to Sky Haven Temple. Upon arrival at the temple Esbern takes you to Alduin's Wall & gives you a quick history lesson. I am really impressed with the writing in the game for the dialogue & lore.

After the history lesson you are told that you need to learn a shout that will help you defeat Alduin but they do not know it so you pay a quick visit to High Hrothgar & speak to the greybeards.

Delphine also now wants to set this temple up for the Blades new home & asks you to go and recruit suitable people (I've not recruited anyone yet)

The greybeards are annoyed that you are helping the blades but eventually agree to let you go and speak to Paarthurnax (the leader of the greybeards).

I would strongly suggest waiting till nightfall before you make your trek up the mountain pass because the skyline is simply amazing. Alas the xbox 360 does not have a screenshot option like steam & my attempts at trying to make a video via the iPhone came out poor.

Once you reach the top of the mountain you are greeted by Paarthurnax who is actually a dragon, another history lesson later & you learn about a time wound that you can can access via an "Elder Scroll" & return back to when the shout was first used to learn it. So basically this is Back to the Future but you need to find an energy source before you can go back to the past. Any excuse to use a BTTF reference but the writing and the dragon encounter with the skyline is an amazing experience & I just wished I had a larger TV screen (32") & full sound system to experience it again.

Paarthurnax does not know where an Elder Scroll can be found so time for you to pay a visit to the librarian in the College of Winterhold who informs you that you need to go north and try and track down a scholar who knows more about the Elder Scroll. I had a funny moment when exiting the college I encountered an ancient dragon & whilst fighting him Jzargo ran off saying "He was not going to die fighting a dragon" After taking care of the dragon he returned & I gave him a bitch slap with my sword.

You now get to wonder across an arctic ice-field to find Septimus Signus who is standing next to some Dwemor cube, he then asks you to help him use this cube by charging a lexicon from some Dwemor ruins which typically is far away from where you are standing, in return for hopefully an Elder Scroll? I don't know because I got to the ruins & it was time to open my fast so that was my first Skyrim Friday day over.

Thank you to LPFigwort for constantly talking about the game at work which finally made me get back to playing it.

More exciting adventures in Skyrim next week.

Skyrim - Jzargo

Let me introduce you to my new follower Jzargo, I met Jzargo at the mage college in Winterhold. He wanted me help him carry out some experiments with flame scrolls & after I found these scrolls were very useful I decided that I would leave Lydia back at Whiterun & let Jzargo join me on my adventures.

He tends to favour casting magic over combat with a weapon, this is good because it balances my approach of a sword & shield.

After nearly 70 hours of adventuring with Lydia I think I just got tired of her saying "I am sworn to carry your burdens"

Skyrim - Bye Bye Lydia

It was time to say goodbye to Lydia, after spending nearly 100 hours adventuring with her it was time to let her rest at Whiterun whilst I travelled the world with my new companion.

New Logo - Back to Skyrim

Call of the Dragonborn

I completed the Gears of War 3 game a while ago & have returned back to playing Skyrim

Marcus's Posse

Skyrim Diary - Entry 21 - Death to the Diary

I have found myself spending too much time on my blog especially when writing the skyrim diary posts thus I decided to burn the quest diaries in favour of spending that time playing skyrim instead. It is truly an amazing game & I could be writing about it for years but instead I would rather sit back and enjoy playing it instead.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 20 - Mikrul Gauldurson

Dear Diary,

After resting I grabbed the dragon claw out of my bag & rotated the puzzle door to match which unlocked the door to a small room with some loot & a door to the crypt.

I turned to look at everyone and said "Lets go say hello to Mikrul"

His coffin exploded & out stepped Mikrul wielding a large sword, Esbern summoned an atronach & Lydia charged in with her sword.

I shouted "Wait !!" but it was too late Mikrul had attacked Lydia & she lay on the floor. Delphine then shouted "Valdarr, behind you !!" I looked around and some draugr were running up to attack, I ducked & attacked back with my sword. Esbern was now shooting off fireballs at Mikrul & I ran over to Lydia & gave her a healing potion. She looked up and said "Thanks"

Esbern had the attention of Mikrul, so I pulled Lydia up & said "Come On !" There were now more draugr coming up the stairs to the crypt, I shouted "Fus Ro DAH !!" & they all fell backwards, with my Red Bane sword I charged in to kill them all.

Delphine, Lydia & Esbern were all now attacking Mikrul, I ran over & said "Need a hand?" "YES!!" shouted Esbern. I applied a soul gem to recharge the Red Bane sword & started to attack Mikrul from behind, he turned around to attack me, I defended with my shield & swiped with my sword, he fell down & Lydia came charging in "Aaargh !!" to deal the final blow.

I searched his body to find a Gauldur fragment, Blackblade & a Writ of Sealing. A locked gate (opened by the dragon claw) led upstairs to a wall of power where I learnt a new shout frost, frost breath. Then we followed the path out which led back into the dragur burial area & outside.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 19 - Daynas Valen & Folgunthur

Dear Diary,

After the dragon fight we continued on our way to Folgunthur, climbing a mountain pass we reached an abandon camp & I found a journal from Daynas Valen in which he details his search for the Gauldur legend & mentions traps & draugr inside the tomb.

Folgunthur arch was looming overhead & we entered to find some dead bodies of adventurers & draugrs. We walked into the next room and found a few more bodies & a dragon claw puzzle which had already been solved & unlocked a door which led to to a dining room filled with draugr. I noticed some oil on the floor & shouted to everyone "Get back !!" & launched a fireball at the oil stream which set alight and burned the draugr to ash. "Good thinking" replied Delphine. There was some nice loot in the room on on the charred draugr bodies including some gems.

Lydia had gone ahead and I heard her scream so ran after her to find her in a pool of water. "Going for a swim?" I said "Very funny, help me get out" she replied. Lydia had triggered another trap walking over a grate which opened to drop her down into a pool of water. A spiral staircase next to the grate led upstairs to a rope bridge, the dining room down below with the dragur bodies. A few more adventurer & draugr bodies littered the walkway & then I came across the body of Daynos Valen laying against a dragon claw puzzle. I looted his body to find the ivory dragon claw, a familiar staff, gold & some notes.

Reading the notes I learnt the truth that Daynos had managed to piece together from his research Gauldur was revered throughout the north, wisdom, wealth, honour, and power were his, and even Ysgramor's heirs sought his counsel. Smothered by his shadow, Gauldur's three sons grew cruel and resentful. They lusted after their father's power and prestige, and eventually Jyrik, the eldest, discovered its source: a mysterious amulet, from which he never parted. Together, they conspired to murder their father in his sleep and divide his amulet between them. And so it was done.

Consumed by their newfound power, the brothers laid waste to the surrounding villages. So great was the carnage that the High King himself intervened, sending a company of battlemages led by the Archmage Geirmund to subdue the brothers. And after a devastating battle, the three fled the field.

Mikrul, the youngest, was run to ground in Folgunthur, the ancient barows at the foot of Solitude. And though he fought for three days and nights, he was at last overcome and entombed there, his crypt sealed by an ivory claw.

Geirmund pursued Jyrik to the shattered crypts of Saarthal, half-buried even then. Ten veteran wizards fell before Jyrik's elemental magic, but he could not overcome them all together. He too fell, and was sealed within the ruined city.

And at last, Sigdis was cornered in the southernmost reaches of Skyrim. He challenged Lord Geirmund to a duel, knowing his foe was honor-bound to accept. And they clashed in battle, matched strength for strength, and fell together on the field before Ivarstead. The High King ordered a tomb built for Geirmund on the lake which still bears his name, and had Sigdis sealed within, forever guarded by the one who slew him.

Gauldur himself was interred in a cave not far from where his tower once stood, in the place called Reachwater Rock. And when it was done, King Harald issued an edict: the name and deeds of Gauldur and his sons were to be expunged from every record, every chronicle. Under pain of death, no word of them was to be spoken, lest any try to recover the amulet that had been sealed at so great a cost.

Daynos had become consumed by finding this amulet all his life that eventually it ended up taking his life.

I passed the notes to Lydia and said "We are searching for three parts to an amulet & one is located here in Folgunthur"

Lydia replied "Let's go and get the first piece"

I placed the ivory claw into the puzzle block & that lowered a drawbridge. Charging out came two draugr & Delphine & Lydia launched a flurry of arrows at them. The bridge led to some catacombs which were filled with draugr, traps & loot. I then came to a puzzle, a set of four gates with four handles to activate. After a few attempts Esbern said "Let me try". He pressed the first handle on the right, then the second on the left & the first on the left. All the gates then opened up. Delphine looked at me and smiled, I said "Thank you" to Esbern and walked through the gates.

I opened the wooden door at the bottom of the stairs to a large room with a grate, some old furniture & draugr who were resting on chairs got up to attack. After killing them I looked at the grate which was locked and had a set of stairs. "Oh, great another puzzle !!" I said and turned to look at Esbern, who had noticed a couple of handles and a chain in the room. He pulled the chain which released some darts and they hit Delphine & Lyida who screamed "Ouch !!" "Oops, sorry" said Esbern. I laughed and walked into a nearby room which had a couple of draugr to kill & then noticed a statue which had three symbols on it snake, fish & eagle. I heard Delphine shout "Take this!!", running back into the main room & I saw Delphine, Lydia & Esbern fighting a draugr wight. "Help!" said Lydia looking at me. I equipped my dual handed axe and took a couple of swipes to kill the draugr.

"Where did he come from?" I said. Lydia replied "Esbern activated a handle"
Esbern then said quietly "Sorry, but that handle has revealed another room with three moveable pillars"
I walked into the room and looked at the pillars which had the same animal images I saw in the other room. Esbern was rotating the pillars & I said "Snake, fish & eagle" "What?" replied Esbern "The pillars need to be snake, fish & eagle". Esbern rotated them to what I had said but nothing happened to the grate.

"Pull the chain?" said Delphine
"I'm standing out of the way" said Lydia
I walked over & pulled the chain which then unlocked the grate revealing the staircase.
"How did you know the pillar pattern?" said Esbern
"Lucky guess" I said & Lydia smiled.
"Huh?" replied Esbern
"There is a statue in the other room which had the order of snake, fish & eagle, thus I thought the pillars must be the same" I said
"Hmmph" said Esbern
"Let's go!" said Delphine who had started to walk down the revealed staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase we were met by an underground stream & some frostbite spiders. Following the stream along then led to a path leading up to a hallway lined with tombs that exploded and draugr stepped out to attack. A rotating puzzle door needed to be unlocked to allow us to enter the crypt where Mikrul was buried. Esbern suggested we rest before going through the door, so we moved all the draugr bodies away and sat down to eat & rest.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 18 - Giant & Mammoths vs Dragon

Dear Diary,

I could have taken the carriage from Whiterun to Solitude and walked down to Folgunthur but instead decided to get on my horse and enjoy the land of Skyrim. Along the way Esbern was telling us stories of his adventures with the Blades & sharing his knowledge of dragons.

When we entered the open plains of Morthal we could see a giant walking along with two mammoths then suddenly the roar of a dragon flying overhead. It flew past us breathing fire & landed on the ground. Lydia was firing off arrows, Esbern summoned an atronach & Delphine tapped me on the shoulder and said “Look”

The nearby giant and the two mammoths were attacking the dragon, the dragon knew it was outnumbered so shot up into the sky & flew around breathing fire at the giant & mammoth. It then landed close to us so Delphine & I charged in to finish it off. The soul of the dragon then lifted above and got adsorbed inside me. Esbern said “Amazing, so that is how the Dovakin takes the soul of a dragon” I replied “Yes, it felt a bit strange at first but by taking the souls of the dragons I am able to learn shouts that I find written in dungeons or caves”.

The giant and mammoths who had helped fight the dragon had now wandered off back on their journey & we continued on ours to Falgunthur.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 17 - Skyrim Map

Dear Diary,

During breakfast Esbern was very quiet, Delphine & Lyida were discussing some the qualities of Ebony vs Dragonscale armour. I asked Esbern to join me for a walk around Whiterun whilst the girls got the supplies ready.

I looked at Esbern and said "I know you want me to go to Skyhaven Temple but all I have been doing for the past few weeks is chasing Dragons, I need a break from it all"

Esbern thought for a moment and replied "I know but you need to understand we cannot allow Alduin the luxury of time, Skyrim is in danger & you the Dovakin (dragonborn) are the only one who can stop him !!"

I sensed the anger & anxiety in Esbern's voice and did not know what to say, then Esbern handed me a rolled up paper. "Here, you will need this to get to Folgunthur"

I opened it to reveal a map of Skyrim.

Esbern said "It does not show you every location in Skyrim but I have marked the places I have visited, heard or read about. But after this quest we must go to Skyhaven Temple"

I look at him & could see the concern in his eyes & replied "Yes"

Skyrim Diary - Entry 16 - Lost Legends

Dear Diary,

I have this addiction with collecting books, I have looted many corpses & open chests to find treasures, jewels & rare weapons which I just sell on and keep the money but books, I will never sell any book (unless I already have the title). In books I can find out about the history of Skyrim through the ages, legends or stories they all give me some information.

Lost Legends by Talsgar the Elder tells of the death of Archmage Gauldur. The story goes he was murdered by either King Harald or one of his three sons. The kings battlemage Lord Geirmund pursued the three sons across Skyrim & one brother was said to have fallen at the ruins of Folgunthur, the others were killed soon after. The king ordered every record of Gauldur's name be struck from history. No bard will sing of the tale but even today the truth remains in some ancient ruins, for nothing is truly forgotten.

Lydia could see the glint of excitement in my eyes, Esbern & Delphine I could sense were thinking what was I doing wasting my time in old legends & that I should go to Skyhaven temple.

I then said to Lydia "Go & buy some supplies tomorrow we set off to Solitude & the ruins of Folgunthur" Delphine sighed & Esbern walked off with his head is some book

Skyrim Diary - Entry 15 - Esbern

Dear Diary,

(Note - I decided to take a break from skyrim for a few weeks thus the lack of updates)

I explained to Delphine the information I had found at the Embassy. She said that Esbern is a blade & I should go to speak to Brynjolf in Riften he may have some information on his location.

Brynjolf is the head of the thieves guild in Riften and after some persuading told me to go look in the ratway warrens. Making my way though the warrens I cam across a few thugs & some Thalmor warriors.

Esbern was very suspicious and took some convincing that Delphine had sent me to look for him & agreed to accompany me back to Riverwood. When we left his room we were met by more agents and Esbern decided to help fight them off, he is very good mage & casts destruction magic. Arriving back at Riverwood Delphine was very happy to see Esbern, he explained that he has been keeping a low profile but has been following the return of the dragons.

Esbern went on to say that the dragons return was prophesied on Aludin's Wall in the Sky Haven Temple and we should go there to find more information, I explained that throughout my travels I had accumulated various quests & needed to complete those first. They both agreed that they would accompany me, with Lydia also by my side I now had my own little army.

Time to return home to Whiterun & read a book, Lost Legends I think?

Skyrim Diary - Entry 14 - Thalmor Embassy

Dear Diary,

I was in awe of Solitude, this huge city of stone towering into the skyline with it's many inhabitants busily walking around doing their business.

I saw a crowd and wandered over to see an execution taking place of a guard who had let in Ulfric. The guards name was Roggvir and his last speech was to claim his innocence and that the king was challenged with nordic tradition by Ulfric. I wanted to wander around this city to see it's many sights but I could not get distracted & walked over to the Winking Skeever and met up with Malborn who explained he works in the embassy and would help me smuggle in some items, so I handed over a dagger & some lockpicks.

Delphine was waiting for me by the stables and gave me some party clothes to wear instead of my armour. She then took the rest of my belongings and I climbed a carriage to take me to the embassy. Getting off the carriage I handed my invitation over to the guard and walked into the embassy.

I was met by Elenwen the ambassador and after a brief conversation went to the bar to speak to Malborn, he needed a distraction before we could slip away. Next to the bar a merchant was complaining that the barman would not serve him any drinks, so I purchased a bottle of mead from Malborn and gave it to the merchant. He was very grateful & agreed to cause a distraction, when everyone got his attention I walked behind the bar & Malborn unlocked the door into the Kitchen. He gave me the items I had given him earlier & asked me to be quick.

Delphine had asked me to search the embassy to see if I could find any information relating to the dragons, she was convinced that the Thalmor were involved. I equipped my dagger & sneaked into the first room to see two guards talking, one guard then walked off & the other stood by a bookshelf. I crouched over, killed him & hid his body. I then waited for the other guard to return & silently killed him before going upstairs to be met by a wizard. My stealth technique did not work and the wizard spotted me, so I equipped the armour & weapons I had looted from the guards, charged in and killed the wizard. I searched the rooms but found no information only some gems & gold to loot, a door led outside into a courtyard.

There were a few guards walking around & a wizard guarding the door to another building. I summoned a flame atronach to distract them & ran into the building. Inside was a guard who was startled to see me, I quickly killed him & ran into a side room where I found a dragon report & two dossiers on Ulfric & Delphine. A door led to an interrogation chamber where I killed some guards and found another dossier on Esbern. At this point two guards entered the room with Malborn and called for me to give myself up or they would kill Malborn. I decided at this point stealth was not an option so I equipped a sword and shield to attack the guards.

One of the guards had a key to open the door out of the chambers and into an underground tunnel, we followed this tunnel outside. Malborn was upset that he was stupid enough to go with Delphine's plan & that now he would be wanted by the Thalmor. I offered to help but he just stormed off cursing me & Delphine.

I only glanced over the documents I had collected earlier & now reading them carefully I learnt that the Thalmor were still actively looking for Delphine, they are trying to control Ulfric actions and possibly are using him as a pawn in their own plans. With the dragons they have no information on how or why they are returning but they are seeking another blade called Esbern who is an expert in dragon lore & think he may be hiding in Riften.

I walked back to Solitude & got on the carriage back to Whiterun Stables, my horse was ready waiting & we rode off to Riverwood.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 13 - The Plan

Dear Diary

I received a courier message this morning saying come visit a friend in Riverwood. The only friend I had, Sven died  so I assumed this was a message from Delphine about her plan.

Lydia was still asleep, before becoming the Thane of Whiterun & having Lydia given to by the Jarl I was a lone adventurer. The past few weeks I have had Lydia by my side when fighting dragons, searching dungeons & completing quests. She is a nice lady but sometimes a nord needs his own space, so I left her a note saying I'll be back in a few days.

The Whiterun Stables is owned by Skulvar, he is a rugged nord and very shrewd in selling his horses. Being the only stables around for quite some distance means he can sell his horses at a premium without any fear of competition. One thousand gold pieces is quite a lot of money to lay down for a horse that could possibly die in one dragon encounter but there is some satisfaction when riding horseback across the plains or up some icy mountains to be met by a lovely view of skyrim.

Marr was my second horse, my first Alli only lasted a few days and yes it died in a dragon encounter. I saddled my horse and set off for Riverwood. The path to Riverwood takes me pass some farms & meaderys that surround Whiterun, along a mountain pass and then across a bridge to enter Riverwood.

Delphine was waiting at the inn, she asked about Lydia and then went on to explain her plan to infiltrate the Thalmor embassy by getting me an invitation to a party. Once inside the embassy I should scout around for any information I can find but first I should go to the Winking Skeever in Solitude & speak to a wood elf 'Malborn' who works inside the embassy and will be able to help me. Delphine then walked off and said I'll meet you at the Solitude Stables after you have spoken to Malborn.

Solitude is the capital city of Skyrim & also the home of the High King before he died obviously at the hands of Ulfric Stormcloak. I have never been to Solitude and was unsure of the way so I returned to the Whiterun stables to leave Marr (my horse) and take the carriage.

Skyrim Diary - Entry 12 - Dead Men's Respite

Dear Diary

When I went to visit the greybeards in High Hrothgar after my training they told me that during my adventures I would find other shouts (words of power that when I say them release an inner power from within me) to learn & words (these would allow me to increase the power of the shouts I have learnt). They then game the location of Dead Men's Respite & said a word could be found deep inside the barrow.

This barrow was quite far away so rather than go on horseback I decided to take a carriage from Whiterun Stables to the town of Morthal. It was very cold & wintry when we arrived and the sun was trying its best to break through the clouds, after getting some supplies we set off to Dead Men's Respite. The snow crunching under our feet, I decided to summon a flame atronach not because we were under attack but because the heat from it's flames kept us warm.

The path we were following led to a main road, the flame atronach spotted something in the trees and launched some fireballs, it was a frostbite spider (they are quite easy to deal with, you just need to make sure you are not bitten by them otherwise you may get poisoned). I was about to walk over and help kill the spider when Lydia shouted "Dragon !!"

I turned round to see an elder dragon had landed on the open ground behind us. Lydia fired off some arrows & the atronach who was busy with the spider all of sudden shot past me & started hurling fireballs at the dragon. Even the frostbite spider forgot about who he was fighting and joined in to attack the dragon.

With my Red Eagle sword equipped I jumped on top of the dragon & started attacking his neck, then plunged the sword into it's head. He let out a roar and slumped to the ground, whenever I kill a dragon it's soul rises and gets absorbed into my body. In some strange way I actually enjoy this feeling, it is like I am using the dragon's soul to make myself stronger.

The frostbite spider now remembered what it was doing and starting attacking Lydia, she gave out a sigh & planted her sword in the spider. The atronach had now disappeared, my conjuring kills only allow me to summon an atronach for a minute. I think this is something that I may be able to improve by either visiting a college or finding a trainer.

We encountered some mudcrabs & a frost troll who wanted to get friendly before we reached the barrow. Dead Men's Respite has a huge arch over the entrance engraved into the mountain, walking through the entrance led to a room where draugr bodies lay in their tombs. A table in the room have some wraps, engraving tools & a ruby dragon claw. I picked up the claw and that trigged a trap, some draugr came alive and started to attack us. I summoned a flame atronach & cast fireball magic at them to send them back to the dead.

Then a ghostly figure appeared and drifted out of the room, Lydia said "I think we should follow it" so we did, down the hallway into a burial room. The ghost went through a wall, there was a chain on this wall. I pulled the chain & the doors in the room rotated to open some walls & close others. Lydia said "It's a puzzle, we need to pull the right chains to find our way out". It took us a while to get out of the room & there were some booby traps that caught us out. We also awoke some draugr who were easy to kill.

Eventually we made it out & were met by two giant frostbite spiders, the flame atronach shot past me and started attacking one of the spiders & the other spider turned to attack Lydia. The flame atronach then let out an explosion of flames killing the spider it was attacking & disappeared. I helped Lydia kill the other spider & she said "what was that?" I replied "I think if the atronach is killed before the summon expires it lets out an explosion of flames". Lydia replied "best you summon another then", so I did.

There were two grates on the floor of this room but I could not see any path or door leading out of the room, then on the wall I spotted a chain which I pulled & then I heard a scream ""Aargh"". I turned round & Lydia was gone !! One of the grates had open & Lydia had fallen through, I rushed over to the grate & shouted "Lydia !!" "I'm fine !" came a reply "If a little wet " She had landed in a waterway flowing under the grates. I climbed down to join her & we followed the waterway to another room. Upon entering the room we were greeted by more draugr's, after killing them looking around the room I could see a wooden ramp in the far corner which led to an upper floor.

There was a caged door which when I opened triggered a trap & large axes were now swinging in the path ahead. "Now what?" said Lydia. The axes seemed to be swinging in a sequence & I could see a brief opening through them. "Wait here" I said to Lydia. When I was at the greybeards I learned a new shout that allowed me travel short distances very fast (Whirlwind Sprint). I gave my sword & shield to Lydia then turned to look at the axes, "What are you doing ?!" said Lydia but before I could reply I shouted the word "WULD!!" & shot across the path missing all the axes & reached the other side. There was another chain I pulled that deactivated the axes, Lydia walked over & thumped my sword & shield into me & said "Stupid !!"

We climbed a set of stairs to an iron door which opened into a hallway. There was an enchanting table at one end & a door sealed with some form of magic. The ghost we were following went down a slope into another room. We followed and were met by some more draugr's, there were also some booby trapped rooms with nice loot. We came to another area with a grate on the floor & the gate slammed shut behind us, we were surrounded by six or seven draugr. I summoned a flame atronach & equipped my red eagle sword, three or four had Lydia surrounded so I charged in to help her, attacking with the red eagle sword caused the draugr to catch fire & they were all killed swiftly. The flame atronach had dealt with the other draugr & we looted the bodies to find some nice gems.

We followed the ghost through the grate to a corpse which was clutching a book "King Olaf's Verse", the ghost then disappeared. "Now what?!" I said "The sealed door?" said Lydia. We backtracked to the sealed door & the ghost was waiting for us. He uttered some words & the seal was broken, I unlocked the door & the ghost went ahead through a puzzle door.

This was the same type of puzzle door I met in Bleak Falls Barrow when retrieving the golden claw for Lucan in Riverwood. I look at the ruby dragon claw I had collected earlier & engraved were three circular images of a wolf, eagle & another wolf. I rotated the door puzzle to this setting & place the claw inside which then unlocked the door.

We walked into a large burial room surrounded by stone chairs & a stairwell that led up to a tomb, I followed the ghost into the room & then the ghost boomed out "Hold it, it is time" and all the draugr that were sat on the stone chair came alive to attack. I quickly summoned a flame atronach & equipped my red eagle sword, there must have been at least ten of them coming at us from all angles. To my surprise the ghost drew a sword and was attacking the draugr, why was he helping us?

After we killed all the draugr the ghost then said "Arise ! Olaf, my vengeance is at hand". The ghost wanted revenge? Then more draugr came to life, the ghost charged forward to attack & I looked at Lydia, shrugged and went after the ghost to help. Reaching the tomb at the top, it opened & out stepped King Olaf One-Eye saying "insolent brat, DIE !!"

I could sense that King-Olaf was going to be a tough enemy to defeat so I stepped back to summon a flame atronach & cast a fire rune on the floor. With my red eagle sword equipped I attacked King Olaf to lure him over the rune & it exploded causing a wall of fire to surround him. With Lydia, the ghost & atronach also attacking we quickly managed to weaken him, I then dismissed the atronach & told Lydia to step back so the ghost could deal the fatal blow. The ghost looked at King Olaf & then walked over to a nearby door, playing a flute he vanished into a bright light.

Lydia said "I think the ghost wanted revenge"
"Yes, but why?" I replied

I looted King Olaf's body to grab a key & then walked behind the tomb to find a wall with dragon writing and a word glowing in blue. The word got brighter the closer I got & then I absorbed the word into my body & learned the word 'nah', this was the second word for the Whirlwind Sprint shout. To maximise the power of each shout I needed to learn the three associated words.

Using the door next to the tomb led to a small room with a chest, I looted the contents & followed the path back out of the barrow.

Lydia then looked at me said "Time to go home?"
"Yes" I replied

Skyrim Diary - Entry 11 - Saadia & the Alik'r Warriors

Dear Diary,

Talking with Lydia over breakfast about Saadia, I think she was a bit annoyed I had agreed to help. I tormented her by saying that I could not refuse the plea of a pretty face. She then went off shopping for healing potions & left me to go down to the dungeons to speak to the captured warrior.

Being a Thane lets you go anywhere you like without any guards asking questions, so I had no problems getting into the dungeons & persuading the guard I needed to talk to the captured Alk’r warrior. The warrior explained he was captured by the guards because he was snooping around trying to find information on the missing Redguard. He would not give me any more information unless I helped him escape, I agreed to pay his fine & he then told me the location of Kematu the leader of the Alki’r.

Lydia was still not happy about us going to Swindlers Den, it is apparently a bandit hideout. I don’t see that as a problem, I have dealt with many bandits already. We needed to make a detour on the way because I still had some empty soul gems I needed to fill. The plains around Whiterun are usually full of mudcrabs, wolves & the occasional tiger.

We ran into two mages duelling against each other, fire & frost spells were shooting out of their staffs. It was interesting watching them duel & maybe I need to research more into the power of spells. They then spotted us and turned to attack, so we dodged their spells to kill & loot them both.

I also spotted a giant in the distance but I dare not go up to it because he was carrying a massive club & had a mammoth walking along side.

Swindlers Den was quite a long walk away, I should have gone to the stables and gotten Marr (my horse) but it was too far back to go now. When we got near the Den I decided to wait until nightfall before attacking because I expect most of the bandits will be sleeping.

I had been training on my sneaking skills & now equipped with light armour this was a perfect opportunity to test it out. The entrance to the den was guarded by one bandit who was walking around so I crouched & grabbed my bow & shot an arrow straight for his head. A path led down into the an open area of the den where two bandits were sleeping, I equipped my dagger & crawled up to take out both of them silently. They had some nice loot including jewels.

Further down in the cave a bandit archer was keeping watch, so I asked Lydia who was a better archer than me to take out the bandit. She crouched down & drew back her bow to let fly with a piercing arrow straight into the heart of the bandit, with quick reflexes she quickly grabbed another arrow ready to shoot but it was not needed.

Creeping around the corner led to another open area which was teaming with bandits, I counted five or six. Too many to take out by stealth kills. So I switched to my Red Bane sword & cast a fire rune on the floor, I asked Lydia to stay at the entrance to the alley with her bow equipped whilst I made some noise to grab the attention of the bandits who came charging towards the rune trap. The rune exploded and surround them with flames, Lydia fired off arrows & I charged in with my sword to kill.

With the commotion caused we had now attracted the attention of some other bandits including a mage who was casting fire spells. I decided it was best to retreat to the entrance of the alley and with our bows equipped  we launched a barrage of arrows when they entered the top of the alley. We managed to take out the two remaining bandits but the mage retreated back into the den.

Lydia then had an idea that I should equip my shield & healing spell & attract the attention of the mage whilst she would attack with her bow. Great I was bait !! Stupidly I agreed to it and walked into the den with my shield held trying to block the spells being launched at me, then three arrows shot past me & landed straight in the mage who fell to the floor. I turned round to look at Lydia who smiled. There was a lot of loot in the den, too much to carry so we had to pick & choose what to take & left the rest behind.

At the far end of the den another path led down to a waterfall & a voice said "You've proven your strength, warrior. Let's avoid any more bloodshed" It was Kematu "Let us talk warrior"

After seeing Kematu surrounded with other warriors I agreed to talk, I think taking on these skilled warriors & their leader would have been a tough job even for the dragonborn. Kematu explained that Saadia was a traitor & they are agents sent to bring her to justice. I could see Lydia give a little wry smile.

I agreed with Kematu that I will lure Saadia to the Whiterun stables, on the way back to Whiterun, Lydia had a little smirk on her face so I said "Go, on say it?" She shrugged her shoulders, I said "I told you, so!" She just smiled and said "Why, would I want to do, that?"

I told Saadia that I had failed in killing Kematu & she should flee Whiterun now, a horse is waiting for her in the stables. When we got to the stables Kematua was waiting to capture her, Saadia was shocked to see him and just looked at me and said "What have you done" Kematua explained she will be taken back to Hammerfell, I asked "Will she be harmed?" He replied "Not on the way back. Once she is there it is not for me to decide" He then handed me some gold & said "Don't allow yourself to be fooled by a pretty face, you are better than that"

There was no denying she was a pretty face, Lydia looked at me & said "Sorry"

Skyrim Diary - Entry 10 - Saadia

Dear Diary

The local inn The Bannered Mare is run by Hulda, a nice lady who always knows what is going on in Whiterun. The regulars were all here tonight. Sinmir moaning as always about the lack of security in the city, Mikael playing his usual songs whilst eyeing up the ladies, Uthgerd who is always looking for a fight, I think she wants to prove a point? The local shopkeepers were all discussing their trade & a new inn helper called Saadia was sweeping the floor.

I had a couple of ales with Lydia and whilst discussing the Alik’r warriors we were interrupted by Saadia who wanted to have a quiet word. Lydia looked at me, smiled & went over to talk to Mikael. I followed Saadia upstairs to her room & she quickly turned round and pulled out a dagger at me.

I grabbed the dagger and said “That was not what I was expecting?”

Saadia replied “Who are you & what do you know about the Alik’r warriors !!?”

I explained that there were some Alik’r warriors outside of Whiterun today who were looking for a Redguard woman. She went quiet & I said “I take it, that woman is you, then?”

“Yes, I am a noble from Hammerfell & because I spoke out against the government they have sent warriors to capture me”

“Ok, leave it to me I will help you” I said

“Are you sure?, thank you” she said

She got up gave me a hug & said “I must get back to work”

I walked back into the bar & sat down by my ale. Lydia walked over and said “That was quick?”

I looked at her, smiled & said “We’ve got another job to do, I’ll explain later”

Walking back to the house I told Lydia that Saadia was the Redguard woman and was on the run from the warriors. Lydia had found out some information about an Alik’r warrior who was in the dungeon.

Something to do tomorrow then…