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Posted by
Paul M September 6, 2014 -
529 views
Lydia and I leave Ustengrav at 7am on Loredas 20th of Hearthfire to continue finding a route to Dawnstar. In a mysterious burnt out house on the way I find some snazzy dwarven armour, which seems to fit me rather well even with my robust human physique. Further on I get my first view of Dawnstar from an imperial camp set up on the first rise after the northern coast. Lydia and I arrive in town just before 10am, but not before a tussle with an assassin bearing a dwarven sword. I now have armour, shield and sword forged by these fabled beings, and it is so apparelled that I enter the city.
A guard insists she knows me and that I'm wanted for something or other. I assume she remembers the last man to wear the armour, but I pay the fine anyway just to keep the peace. It seems though that peace is something these people lack, as I hear everyone griping about bad dreams. I do a circuit of the houses on the eastern side of town and eventually come to a sanctuary, complete with a doormat made of fresh blood and a door that looks like it leads to hell itself.
"What is life's greatest illusion?" whispers the door. I'm almost relieved when I get the answer wrong and the terrifying door stays shut. Lydia and I head back into town to check out the tavern, and then think about heading on to our mission point of entry. The Windpeak Inn is on a par with the establishment in Winterhold, which isn't saying much. But what it does have which you won't find anywhere else is Erandur and his tale of a nightmare realm ruled by a Daedric princess who feeds on memories, and is responsible for the town's nightmare problem. Even with Lydia urgently coughing her passive objections to my spirit for adventure I have to sign up for this quest. Who could possibly say no to a chap like Erandur?
We head up the mountain with him to a tower which is apparently the gateway to terror. Three snow sabre cats attack, but thanks to my new dwarven armour and shield they only nearly kill me. I manage two chain lightning spells and then switch to my dwarven sword. Somehow, and genuinely I don't know how, we kill all three without any fatalities on our side. Just outside the door Erandur says that things are yet more dangerous than he had previously let on, with orcs, evil magicians, and some sort of toxic gas on the cards.
I suddenly really don't want to do this, and as Erandur steps inside I turn to Lydia to see what she thinks. We wait a moment to see if Erandur comes out, but when he doesn't we decide he either doesn't need us, or he's already dead. Either way, we're not going in, and we turn away east to make for Winterhold in the four or five hours before nightfall.
It's 8pm by the time Lydia and I slip in to the college. I figure while I'm back here I'll show the librarian the books I picked up in Fellglow Keep, and maybe Lydia will regale him with tales of our courage and slaughter when we met the breakaway mages that were living there. He's impressed, but doesn't have a lot to add to the mystery of the glowing ball that Tolfdir has brought to the college. I go and see what Tolfdir thinks of it all but then Ancano the Thalmor elf grabs me and takes me to talk to a visitor from the Psijic Order, who it turns out is of the opinion the energy ball should be destroyed.
I need to talk this over with Tolfdir, but it's late so Lydia and I find a couple of beds to take us into a lazy Sundas morning. Finding my old teacher, he suggests finding a place tucked away under the college, so Lydia and I make one token inspection before hitting the road again. We find nothing at the base of the collapsed cliff and instead spend our day travelling south. We find what seems to be the rear entrance to Snow Vale Sanctum, and with a bit more searching manage to find the front door. It looks a bit like the sort of place someone might send us to later, so Lydia and I decide to keep travelling for the time being.
We pass Windhelm just after 3pm and keep going while we have the light. Without ever truly knowing where we are or where we're going, Lydia and I eventually find the advance Legionnaires for our first imperial mission, which to my surprise includes my old stomping buddy Hadvar.
