I've still not the slightest clue where to find a black soul gem, so I figure I'll keep indulging Delphine's particular fascination with me, having nothing else to do. By the time I arrive at Riverwood, the skeleton from earlier still hasn't been cleaned up. These people clearly don't have enough time on their hands.
Delphine tells me that since she suspects Thalmor involvement in all this dragon business--finally, a reason why they hate me--I'm going to be infiltrating a Thalmor embassy in Solitude. It sounds like my kind of work, like the Thieves' Guild stuff I was doing back when I was a gofer, but my vampirism is the more pressing issue at hand.
So I head back to Winterhold again, hoping Enthir's maybe gotten a new black gem now, but am disappointed once again. Feeling more tired than I can remember--frustration has that effect on people--I go to the inn to rent a room. While there, I remember the mage, Nelacar, who told me about Azura's Star. We talk.
It turns out the Star is a soul gem. He tells me it can only hold lesser souls, but that the guy who stole it in the first place was trying to make it hold black souls. Understandably, my interest is piqued, and now I've got an actual plan. I'll go get the Star.
One of Alduin's lackeys shows up to spur me on my way, but he's no great trial. In fact, he nearly tries fleeing before I get him sufficiently angry.
After seeing that monster again, up close, at Sahloknir's burial mound--both ways, ha!--I've more or less raised my standard on dragons. So any others I come across just don't...don't quite impress me.
So I walk the familiar road to Windhelm and take a carriage to Falkreath. The weather takes a turn for the worse almost immediately after I arrive.
Normally, I'd be bothered--daylight is daylight, clouds or no--but I'm going to be heading inside the sunken fortress shortly.
I'm a bit excited. Within this fortress may, at last, lie the solution to my problem.
Malyn Varen's subordinates greet me at the entrance. Mages being mages, I'm not worried about meeting them in close combat. This will be quick.
I continue on through the Reach, blade drawn, cutting apart the hapless necromancers and their flimsy skeleton thralls, never pausing for an instant.
Until I see something gleaming on the ground.
I pick it up. It's a black soul gem, strewn from the necromancer's corpse. Well, this is fortuitous. It looks like Nocturnal has chosen to smile upon me for a change. But as long as I'm in here, I might as well get the Star.
I fill the gem in the next room. It glows softly in my hand as the transfer finishes, and I wonder what sort of soul it is that will cure my condition. Was this a quiet man? A loud one? A Nose? I can't tell with the arrow sticking out of his head. But you know what? He was a necromancer, so he can't have been the best sort. He'll do more good in death than he ever did in life.
And then things get better. In a room further down inside, I dispatch two more necromancers, one of whom is carrying another black gem. Seeing a pile of fragments on a nearby table, I begin picking through them. My luck holds--there's a third gem in the mix.
Now I'm almost offended. I spend almost a week looking for the stupid thing, and then I find three in the space of five minutes. But I know better than to question a daedra's blessings, so I give my thanks to Nocturnal and carry on my way.
I also find a shiny dagger of a make I've never seen. It's not quite as sharp as the one I've taken to carrying, but it certainly does the job.
I find the Star at the top of the fortress, resting in the arms of Malyn Varen's corpse. I pry it free, amused at the sight. The impracticality of Noses never ceases to amaze me. If the guy wanted immortality, why didn't he just become a vampire?
The irony is not lost on me.
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