Assignment Skyrim Borders: Walking Dark Midnight, 6th of Heartfire

• Posted by Piper Jo April 18, 2012 - 723 views

  Morosely, I sat on my stone bed and cracked open a couple of the spell books I’d purchased from Calcelmo.  Smoke curled from the pages as the letters burned themselves away, making me long for a cigarette. 

  “Muffle” sounded like a good idea, and I understood it in principal, but I didn’t have the native power to cast it.  I cursed myself for selling my enchanted hood—that would have magnified my power just enough to let me practice the spell.

  Next spell was some kind of conjuration.  I understood the instructions, but not what it was supposed to do.  When I gave it a try, the dead rat-thing in the corner of my room rose up into the air, and shuffled toward me.  I yanked my feet up off the floor and brandished the first weapon to come to hand—Red Eagle’s Fury. The rat came to attention in front of me, staring at me with its beady little soulless eyes and rocking back and forth, slightly.  We stared at each other for half a minute before it collapsed into a pile of ash.

  Oh Gods! That loathsome, necromantic spell is now burned into my brain and I will never be rid of it!  I gave up on sleep for the night and went for a walk.

  I wandered the steep cobble streets of the City of Stone, stepping aside when a funeral procession emerged from one of the upslope homes near the keep.  A single, somber man wept quietly as he led the procession. The coffin was draped with brocade and flowers and jewelry.  There were no wailing women, but a veritable army of black-dressed family members strode silently behind.  The procession headed downslope first, away from the Temple of Arkay, to be seen by as many people as possible before reaching its goal.  I wondered what they would do with the body if the cannibal spirit were not routed from the catacombs.

  I headed in the opposite direction and eventually found myself next to the high guard tower that dominated the skyline of the city.  From there, I was almost as high as the wizard’s balcony.  I wondered if I could climb down from above?  I scanned the surrounding cliffs in the dazzling light shining from the keep itself.  They were too steep.  In most cases, they were actually undercut.  Directly behind the keep, a man standing on the ridgeline would be in High Rock.  Crossing the border would be illegal—not that that would necessarily stop me—but it just didn’t look promising.

  I climbed up a rock outcropping to the roof of the temple that stood next to me.  This would be a great place for a smoke and a think.  I think of pulling off a pinch of my purple mountain weed gum, but it just wouldn't be the same.  The face of Understone Keep was lit up like the White Gold Tower before me.  I was so close! I could shoot an arrow from here to there, like a hero in some swashbuckling Breton romance.

  I could shoot an arrow…

  I’ve got an idea, and if it works, it’s going to be epic!  I need rope.  Where in Skyrim can I buy a coil of rope?