26th of Heartfire, 4E201
We woke up early this morning, and had a nice breakfast at the inn. My appetite hadn't fully returned yet, nor had my energy. I had a stamina potion to help me get some energy back, then we went over our plans for the day. I wanted to buy the house for sale in town, and we'd need to stock plenty of supplies for our trip to Labyrinthian. We left most of our gear at the inn for now, and headed to the Dragonsreach to see the steward. When we got there, and the steward greeting me as a thane, Marcurio seemed surprised and impressed. I paid the steward for the house, and went ahead and bought all of the furnishings and supplies for it. It would take a few hours for the house to be ready, which meant we'd have plenty of time for shopping. On the way out, I introduced Marcurio to Lydia, and told her that I'd finally bought a house in town. She seemed relieved that she wouldn't have to sleep in the servant's quarters of Dragonsreach anymore. I told her it would be a few hours before it was ready, and she thanked me and went to pack her things. As we headed to the market, Marcurio asked me how I'd managed to become Thane here too. I told him about fighting the dragon here, and getting the Jarl's court wizard the dragon stone from Bleak Falls Barrow to help figure out why and how dragons were returning after so long. I also told him about the other people in town, and how I'd helped a few of them. He asked about Lydia, and I told him that the Jarl had assigned her to be my house carl. As we shopped for supplies, he wanted to know why I hadn't had her following me around and guarding me. I explained that at the time, Jenassa had been with me. He got quiet after that, then changed the subject to what foods we should take with us. After we bought the food, he apologized for bringing up Jenassa. I told him it was alright, since he hadn't known.

We had lunch, then checked on the progress of the house being ready before doing some some shopping for alchemy ingredients. I wanted to make some potions  for the journey, and sell some to make some extra septims. While I was buying ingredients from Arcadia, she asked if I was alright and mentioned that I looked sick. I would have been concerned, except that she always said things like that. The last time I'd been here she'd asked if I had the rattles. I suspected it was an attempt by her to sell more potions. I spent a while making potions, and Marcurio sat in the corner reading a book.

After selling a few potions and buying some, we went to check on the house. It was all ready to move in, thankfully. We got our gear from the inn, and put everything we didn't think we'd need in Labyrinthian in the house. Lydia even had a room of her own, and made herself comfortable. As we were putting up our non essentials, Marcurio mentioned being worried about our funds getting low after buying the house and everything. I told him he'd never have to worry about that, so long as I had some iron ore. He looked confused, until I showed him what I was talking about. I didn't have any iron ore on me, so we headed to the blacksmith and I bought a chunk of it. Then, I cast the spell, turning it into a chunk of silver ore. After I handed it to him so he could see that it was actually silver now, I took it back and cast the spell again, turning it into solid gold. I gave it to him, and told him he could keep it. He looked so amazed and almost worshipful. Then, he got on his knees, and begged me to never fire him. He also vowed to follow me to Oblivion and back, if need be. People were starting to stare, but he didn't get up until I promised to never fire him. I went to the house to pack my bags for our journey, and he said he'd be there in a moment, but he had some shopping to do. He returned not long after that, with a bag full of all of the iron ore that had been available for sale in town. I turned it all to gold for him as he packed, chuckling at how silly he was the whole time.

We decided to leave that afternoon, and take a carriage back to Morthal to stay at the inn there. Then, we'd get up early, and head to Labyrinthian. We told Lydia goodbye, and I gave her some septims to buy anything she'd need while we were gone. She promised to watch the house for me, and  we went out to hire the carriage.

That night, we made it to Morthal in time to have a nice relaxing dinner, with plenty of time for sleep afterwards. Jonna was happy to see us again, and made sure our food was amazing. When we told her where we were going tomorrow, she looked worried and asked us to be careful. I spent some time writing after dinner, then we both got ready for bed to get some sleep. Marcurio promised to cook us a nice and energizing breakfast in the morning. I was worried about tomorrow, and I hoped we'd make  it out, and manage to find the Staff. The College, and perhaps all of Skyrim, was counting on me to stop Ancano.

25th of Heartfire, 4E201
Marcurio wasn't in the bed this morning when I woke up, so I went to go and find him. He was on the floor of the inn, still in his steel plate armor, and surrounded by empty bottles. Amazingly his circlet had managed to stay on somehow, though it was very crooked. I tried waking him up, but he wouldn't. So, I went and got a bucket and filled it with water. And dumped it on his head. Nothing. I filled the bucket again and tried again. Still nothing. At last, on the third bucketful of water, which I'd used a frost spell on to make it extra cold, he finally woke up. I helped him up and out of his armor, then left him in the bedroom  with some soap, a kettle of warm water, and some rags, and told him that he should clean himself up. I took the armor outside and cleaned it as best I could. I had no idea how he'd managed to get ale in his gauntlets and boots. I also washed my new outfit I'd gotten from Alva, and left it outside to dry in the breeze.

I ordered us some breakfast, and wrote some notes in my journal while I waited  for it to get ready. Marcurio wandered in and sat next to me, still looking a bit out of it. I gave him a stamina potion to wake him up, and patted him on the shoulder. Our meal was simple, but rather good, and Marcurio ate all of his and some of mine that I didn't eat. I wasn't as hungry as usual for some reason. He asked what our plans for the day were, and I told him that we needed to go and see the Jarl to tell her the good news. Then, since there was only an alchemy shop in Morthal, we'd head to Dawnstar to sell some of our unwanted gear and fix up our armor and weapons that the vampires had damaged. I also told him that I'd counted my septims, and I finally had enough to buy a house for sale in Whiterun. Then I put my things away, and told him to get dressed in his nicest robes to go and see the Jarl with me. When he went to change, I went outside to grab my new clothes. I brought them inside, and Jonna let me borrow a room that wasn't being used at the moment to change in. My new outfit was rather nice,and well made, but a bit revealing. No wonder Alva had managed to seduce half of Morthal. Marcurio was waiting for me in the main room of the inn, and dropped the apple he'd been eating when he saw me. I tried not to blush and asked him if he was ready to go. I had to ask him a few times before he finally nodded. Then we left the inn, and headed for the Jarl's longhouse.

The Jarl was happy, if a bit surprised, to see us alive. She said that she didn't think I could do it, and that Morthal was now in my debt. She also handed me a coinpurse full of eight hundred septims. I didn't have any pockets big enough, so I gave it to Marcurio. He'd been scowling slightly when the Jarl had pointedly ignored him, but the gold cheered him up. The Jarl also mentioned that she'd heard of my aiding her people, so she made me the Thane of Morthal. Her guard captain handed me an enchanted greatsword from her armory to serve as my badge of office. I thanked her, and told her that it was an honor to be named her Thane. Marcurio noticed me struggling with the giant sword as we left, and offered to carry it for me. I handed it over with my thanks, and told him that he could keep all of the gold from the Jarl for being so sweet.

We made it back to the inn, and got our gear together for the trip to Dawnstar. I also changed into some plain clothes under my armor, since I didn't want my new outfit getting messed  up. Marcurio helped me bring his inside where I'd left it out to dry, and I helped him into it. Then, we gathered our gear and bought some food for the journey, then started to Dawnstar.

Our journey was uneventful, with the exception of a few frostbite spiders along the road. Then, near Dawnstar, we came across a trio of Thalmor. We walked past them, then Marcurio started talking about how wonderful Talos was, and made sure that he was loud enough for them to hear. It was very hard for me not to giggle. They attacked us of course, for being heretics, and I finally got a set of Elven gauntlets! I would sell the rest of the armor we got though. Outside of Dawnstar, we found Ahkari's Khajiit caravan. Then  I remembered that we'd managed to get Kharjo's amulet. I dug it out of my bag and walked over to him, then handed it over with a smile. He thanked me, and not only offered to fight at my side if  ever asked him, but he also rewarded me with a coinpurse full of one thousand septims. I thanked him, and went over to sell some of our things to Ahkari. Then, we continued into the town and headed to the blacksmith to get  our armor fixed up. When we got there though, there wasn't anything to fix the armor on. Oh well, we could fix it in Whiterun. I still traded with the smith though, and soon we were on our way to Whiterun. I'd never owned more than a small shack before, so I couldn't wait to actually have a house.

It was dark by the time we  made it to Whiterun, and all of the shops had closed hours ago. I stopped by the smith anyways to borrow her equipment, since she'd said before that I could use it anytime. I managed to get all of our gear looking much better, and repaired what I could. Marcurio seemed impressed by my smithing abilities at least. We decided to go to the inn for dinner and sleep, since it was too late to go and buy a house from the steward. We sat at one of the tables in the corner and had a nice dinner. The inn was thankfully quiet, since I was feeling rather tired from our journey. After dinner, I did some writing in my journal, and Marcurio went ahead and got the room for us. Then he stayed upstairs for a while, probably to count his coins again. When I went upstairs a while later, I found him already asleep. I quietly got out of my armor and climbed into bed to get some rest myself.

24th of Heartfire, 4E201
We got up and skipped breakfast for now, and went out to watch Alva's house. The plan was to wait until Hroggar left for work, then Marcurio would stand guard outside and keep anyone from going in while I searched the house. After what seemed like ages, Hroggar finally left. I waited for him to get out of sight, then asked Marcurio to wait outside while I went in to search the house.

The door's lock was slightly difficult to pick, but I managed. I quietly searched the main room, and didn't find anything. Then, I noticed a door at the bottom of a stairwell. I crept down the stairs, and quietly opened the door before shutting it behind me. Inside, Alva was in the middle of the room, sleeping in a coffin with no lid on it. There was blood on the floor in places, but no sign of a journal or a letter or anything. I slowly walked over to her coffin, and looked inside. There, under one of her shoulders, was the corner of a leather bound book. I slowly reached inside and took hold of it, then managed to remove it without waking her. Then I went over to the shadows to place it in my bag. She suddenly sat up, as if someone had called her name from upstairs, and ran out the door. The journal was still in my hand, so I stayed in the shadows and read through it in the dim light. She really was a vampire! And she was planning to enslave all of Morthal to use as vampire food! I had to get this journal to the Jarl. I didn't  hear Alva returning so I ran outside to get Marcurio. I ran over to tell him the news, then a dragon landed on top of the Jarl's longhouse. The journal could wait. We fought the beast, and managed to defeat it with the help of the guards. I left Marcurio near its remains to get his gold, and went to look for anyone in need of healing. Everyone was fine, but a few of the guards had gotten burned. I ran to the inn to get them one of my jars of burn salve, and passed the jar around to them. I would have healed them with a spell, but after their reactions to the wizard moving to town I didn't risk it. I let them keep the salve in case they'd need it, and went to find Marcurio.

I found him in the middle of town, and told him the good news. He was burned and asked if I had any more salve, so I took him back to the inn to get another of my jars. I helped him out by applying the salve while he ordered us a rather large breakfast. As we waited for the food to be done, I  told him about what had happened in Alva's house, and he asked about the journal. I wiped off my hands to keep from getting any salve on it, then handed it over to him to read. He laughed at one point, which I thought was strange. I was going to ask him what was so funny about vampires planning to enslave the town, but Jonna walked up with our breakfast. I cleaned off my hands and started to eat, while Marcurio finished reading. He ate some of his food between pages, and I watched his face develop more and more of a scowl. At last, when he finished, he handed the journal back with a grumble and focused on his breakfast. I put the journal away again, and finished my food.

After breakfast, I asked Marcurio if he wanted to come with me to see the Jarl. He seemed upset, and said he just wanted to stay at the inn. I reminded him about the reward in an attempt to cheer him up, but that didn't even work. I sighed and told him I'd be back soon, and made my way to the Jarl's longhouse.

The Jarl was pleased at my evidence, although the mention of Movarth had her worried. She called Alva a traitorous bitch, and said that Morthal owed me a debt. She then told me that Movarth was the name of a Master vampire that she thought had been destroyed a century ago. She made  mention of my reward for solving the crime, but asked that I do her another favor. I agreed, since this town had already seen much hardship. She said that she was going to gather together some able bodied men in town, and wanted me to lead them to Movarth's lair and clear it out. I assured her that I would, and hurried back to the inn to get my gear and to see if Marcurio would come with me.

He would, thankfully. We hurried to get our gear together and our armor on, and we went out to lead the men the Jarl had gotten together. Though, outside, we found out that she'd been a tad misleading about the able bodied part. She'd gotten the townsfolk in town together to help us. I sighed, since I didn't have armor or decent weapons for any of them to borrow. We all went out to the vampires' lair, which turned out to be the cave I'd seen on the way back from the marshes. No wonder there was blood outside. When they saw this, they all got scared and wanted me to go in first. Only Thonnir offered to go in with us. I thanked him for his bravery, but told him that we could handle it. I didn't want him getting killed too. He thanked me, and wished us luck, and asked us to avenge his Laelette. I promised that I would, and we waved goodbye to the retreating townspeople and crept into the cave.

In the first area, we had to fight two spiders. I wondered why they hadn't attacked the vampires. The smell in this place was terrible. A few of the thralls were processing the dead, and one was looting their bodies for spare septims. It was terrible. There were ribcages, and arms, and legs, and skulls everywhere. And so much blood. Compared to all this, my time in the shack had been clean and fresh. We found Movarth, and more thralls and vampires, around a feast table feasting. There were not very happy to see us. We managed to kill him, and one of the vampires and a few thralls, but a one of the vampires fled. We went after her, and Alva was there. I yelled with rage and attacked her for everything she'd done to Morthal. Then she and the other vampire attacked back, casting their draining spells on me in between dagger strikes from Alva, and a mace knocking into me from the other vampire. I fell to the ground, and would have been dead if not for Marcurio. He cast turn undead on them, making them run away, then hurled lighting at them until the fell. He helped me up and got me some healing potions out of my bag. I drank a few, then regained enough strength to fully heal myself. I still felt a little weak, but otherwise I was fine. I'd need to get my armor fixed soon though. Marcurio wanted to explore and look for treasure, so we did. We managed to find a rather large and ornate chest near the main room, but it was guarded by a vampire's thrall. And he was armed with a very powerful staff that hurled ice storms at us. My life was again saved my Marcurio, and I threw atronachs at the thrall until we managed to kill him. He searched his pockets, and I looked in the chest. Inside were a few septims, a beautiful silver and ruby ring, some elven weaponry, one of which was an enchanted bow, and a giant gem the size of my fist. When I picked it up, a voice came out of nowhere. It said something about a new hand touching the beacon, and that I must take it to Mount Kilkreath. There was a temple that had been defiled, and I would become the voice's champion if I cleansed it of evil Marcurio was staring at the gem like he wanted to marry it. I gave him the gold, and the ring, and the weapons. Then we went through the rest of the ruin, taking gold from the pockets of the vampires and thralls we'd killed as we went. I also took Alva's clothes, since they were very nice and I'd never seen any like them. We eventually found what seemed to be Movarth's room, and I took a book and some enchanted boots from it. At last, when we had gotten every septim and bit of loot that we could find, we made our way back to Morthal to tell the Jarl of Movarth's death.
The Jarl was asleep when we got back to Morthal, so we went ahead to the inn. Marcurio helped me out of my armor, and got my journal for me. I smiled as he went to help Jonna cook food to celebrate our defeat of the vampires. Before I knew it, my writing was mostly done, and I had some of Marcurio's cooking to enjoy. He really could cook, which made me wonder why he became a wizard instead of a chef. Everyone in town bought us drinks, but I didn't feel like waking up with a headache so I gave mine to Marcurio. When I went to bed, he asked if I was alright. I told him that I was, and told him to go and enjoy the celebrating. He could get the attention tonight all he wanted to. I just wanted to enjoy some nice sleep. Tomorrow, I was going to wash Alva's clothes and try them on. Hopefully they wouldn't look terrible on me. As I heard the celebrating in the next room, I wondered how many buckets of water it was going to take to wake Marcurio up.

23rd of Heartfire, 4E201

23rd

When I woke up, I was dizzy and disoriented. I was also no longer in the inn in Morthal. It took a few minutes for my vision to clear, and I stumbled out of the bed into a standing position. It was dimly lit, and there was a woman sitting on top of a ookshelf.In the faint light of a candle near her, I noticed that she was wearing the same armor as the assassins that had tried to kill me. Before I could say anything, she asked me if I had slept well. I asked who she was, and where in the hell we were. She replied "Does it matter? You're warm, dry, and still very much alive. The same can't be said for old Grelod, hmm?" I seemed surprised that she knew about that, and made a remark about it. She explained that half of Skyrim now knew about it, but added that she wasn't criticizing me, since it was a good kill, and the old crone had it coming. Plus I had saved a group of children in the process. I was going to ask how she knew that I had done it, when she mentioned that there waas a slight problem. I asked her what that problem was, and she told me that I had basically stolen a contract from the Dark Brotherhood, and that I must repay them for it by killing someone. she then told me that she'd collected three people from around Skyrim, and gestured to them. They were all on their knees with their hands bound behind them, and black sacks over their heads. According to the woman, one of them had a contract on their head, and she tasked me with figuring out which one it was. I didn't want to kill any of them, and told her that I wasn't having any part of this. She then said that unless  killed someone, I wasn't ever going to leave here. I had gotten myself into this  by killing Grelod,according to her, and now I had to get myself out of it. I tried the door and it was locked tight, and all of my lockpicks were in my bag in Morthal. I sighed and went over to the three captives, to see if I could figure out which one had the price on their head.

The first captive I talked to was a khajiit named Vasha. He seemed evil enough, and even admitted to being a murderer, a thief, and a "defiler of daughters" When I asked if anyone would pay to have him killed, he laughed and said that he got disapointed if a day went by without someone trying to kill him. He then promised that if I let him go, he wouldn't have his associates hunt me down and butcher me in the streets. I nearly killed him for being such an ass, but I wanted to see if the other two were any worse. The second captive was an Imperial woman who refused to tell me who she was. She then told me that she would have spit in my face if she wasn't wearing the sack over her head. I asked if someone would pay to have her killed, and she told me that she was a woman living in Skyrim with six children and no husband, and she didn't have time to be nice. She also added that she had made a few enemies. The last captive was a Nord named Fultheim, who was a mercenary. I asked if someone would pay to have him killed, and he got scared and said he didn't want to die. I persuaded him to tell me, and he explained that he'd been a mercenary for years, and he'd killed people, so it could be that someone had wanted revenge. He then asked what he had done, and said that he was sorry for whatever it was. The Nord had been kind, even though he admitted that he had killed a lot of people as a sellsword. The Khajiit was going to die just so he couldn't hurt any more people. I wasn't sure about the Imperial. She made up my mind though when she heard me walking by her by threatening to kill me once she got out of there. So, in the end, I decided to kill all of them. They had all killed people, or threatened to kill me if I let them go. I was going to summon a bow and shoot them from across the room, but I decided to make some art instead, art Jenassa would be proud of. My dagger would be my brush, and their blood would be the paint along the walls and floor.

I wiped by dagger off on my robes, and silently walked back over to the woman on the bookshelf. She called me an overachiever, and said that it must have been one of them, so why take chances? I didn't say anything in reply, and she remarked that I remained silent and listened when most others would speak. She then assumed that I knew that all that mattered was that I had killed someone as she asked. I sighed and asked if I was free to go, and she said that I was, but why stop here? She gave me the key to the shack, and invited me to join her "family". She said that I could find the entrance to their Sanctuary in the pine forest near falkreath, just off the road and hidden from view. When I got to the door, it would ask me a question. I would need to answer "Silence, my brother" and I would be allowed inside. She then hopped down from the bookshelf and said she'd "see me at home". Then she left me there. I had no idea where I was, and no map, so I went outside to see if I could recognize anything.

Outside, it was still dark, but getting lighter like it would be sunrise soon. I seemed to be on an island, in a sea of marsh and bog water. I couldn't see very far, since purple fog floated around and blocked my view. There was a boat in the water nearby, but it was very rotten looking and only had one oar. The woman had probably taken the only good boat for miles. I sat on a blood covered crate outside of the shack and waited for the sun to rise so I could figure out where the hell I was. At least I had my journal with me, since I kept it close by in case Marcurio tried to sneak a peek while I slept. From now on, my map was going to stay in it. Not that a map would  do much good with no known landmarks to go on. 

As I watched the sunrise strain to filter through the clouds above, I remembered that Marcurio would be waking up soon. Maybe not though, since we had gone to bed rather late. He would be waking up eventually though, which meant that I had to find out where I was and how to get back to him. I managed to find a way off of the island by jumping onto smaller ones near  one of the sides. On the "mainland" as it seemed to be, I came across a barrow with some bandits and mages outside. I crept past them while they were distracted by trying to kill each other. I kept going, heading south west from what I could tell of the sun's direction. Before long, I came across a cave, with blood and bones all over the place outside. What kind of marshes were these? First a shack on an island where people kill people, and now this cave? I noticed a slightly worn path heading away from the cave, and followed it. It led me back to Morthal, of all places. As I got close to the town, a very worried looking Marcurio ran up to me, asking if I was alright. So he had woken up on his own. I told him that I was fine, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Then I remembered that I was still covered in blood. We went to the inn, and he excitedly told the innkeeper that he'd found me. She got me some warm water and rags, and he started cooking breakfast. I managed to get all cleaned up and into fresh clothes by the time he was finished. He had made omelets again. The innkeeper even had breakfast with us. After we finished, he said that we should wait until I got to feeling better before heading to Labyrinthian. I was fine, but I had a feeling that he wanted to try and get that reward from the Jarl before we left. I was right. He asked if I felt alright enough to go and speak to the Jarl, and I nodded. I was thankful that he hadn't asked what happened to me. I wasn't ready to tell him about any of that yet. 

The Jarl, a woman named Idgrod, greeted us in a strange and cryptic manner. I asked her about the house fire, and she told us that the villagers believed it to be cursed. Hroggar had claimed that his wife spilled bear  fat into the fire, but everyone else seemed to think he'd set the fire himself. I asked why he would do that, and she replied "Lust can make a man do the unthinkable". Whoever this Alva was that I kept hearing about, she must either be very pretty, or very good at casting illusions. The Jarl asked us to sift through the ashes of the house, and see if we could find anything. She also promised to reward us if we  found out that Hroggar was guilty or innocent. 

We walked to what was left of the burned down  house in silence. I stepped over the threshold and crouched to look through the debris that was on the floor. I heard Marcurio step through what was left of the doorway, then I heard a child's giggle nearby. I looked up, and noticed what seemed to be the ghost of a young girl. She was giggling at Marcurio for some reason. I wasn't sure why, until I noticed where she was pointing. His circlet. I had gotten so used to it that I'd forgotten he was still wearing it. I asked the girl who she was, and she told me that her name was Helgi, but she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. I told her that I was a friend, and she told me about the house fire. The smoke had woken her up, and it was hot so she hid. Then she got cold and dark,  and wasn't afraid anymore. I felt terrible for her. She then told me that she was lonely, and asked if I would play with her. I  promised to, if she'd tell me who set the house fire. She agreed that she would tell me, if I could find her before the 'other' did. We had to wait until dark to play though. I asked who the other was, and she said that she couldn't tell me since she was so close. Then, she said she'd see me tonight, and vanished. I turned to leave, and Marcurio was standing in the doorway, looking at his circlet. He asked if I had one that looked a little more masculine. I resisted the urge to giggle and we went back to the inn to see what I had. I took them all out and laid them on the bed, and told him that he could pick one. He looked at them all, and finally settled on two. They looked the same, silver with moonstones set in it, but one was the enchanted circlet that the Arch Mage had given me. I decided to give it to him, since he was a mage as well. I made him promise to take care of it though. He agreed to, and put it on. It matched his armor better than the other one had. And, it did look less silly. I put the rest of them back up, and we went to tell the Jarl about the ghost.

I told the Jarl about Helgi's ghost asking me to play hide and seek with her after dark, and she suggested that I look in the graveyard for her. It would be hours before nightfall, so I decided to explore the town to see if there were any good shops. I found an alchemy shop! When we went inside, the woman behind the counter said "Oh good, you found her!" I glanced at Marcurio, and he explained that he'd come here looking for me since I liked alchemy so much. I bought every ingredient that she had, and went over to her alchemy lab to make some potions.

A few hours later, I'd managed to make about thirty or forty of  them. I had started to lose count. I picked them all up from the floor around my feet, and carried them over to the counter. Lami, the shop owner, offered to buy some, and I sold her a few. I couldn't sell many though since she didn't have enough to buy more than ten. I glanced over to Marcurio to ask if he'd help me carry the others back to the inn, and he was staring at the potions with his mouth hanging  open. I got his attention at last and asked for his help, and he hurried over to carry some of them for me. As we left, I made a mental note to start taking an empty bag with me to the alchemy shop. He didn't seem to mind helping me though, and kept staring at the  bottles like they were full of liquid gold. We put them away in my bags, wrapping some cloth around them to keep them from breaking. It was early afternoon, and all of that alchemy had given me an appetite. We went to the common room to get some lunch, and the innkeeper was giving Marcurio the oddest look as we told her what we'd like for lunch. I glanced back and forth between them, then shrugged and went to sit down. I took out my journal to write, and Marcurio sat next to me and fiddled with his silverware.

After lunch, I decided to explore the town and see if there were any good ingredients growing around. During my search, I noticed that the boats in town near the small wooden docks looked just like the one I'd seen near the island. I met Hroggar near the sawmill also. I told him that I'd seen Helgi's ghost in his house, and all he said was "that's nice". I was shocked, and reminded him that it was his daughter, so he should care, and he just mentioned that he didn't need Helgi anymore, since he had Alva to take care of now. Who in Oblivion was this woman? I felt terrible for his poor wife and daughter. Hopefully their souls would find peace when we discover who killed them. We still had a few hours before dark, so I decided to go back  to the inn and read some of my books. Marcurio went into the bedroom, and  I heard him rummaging around in his bags, then the sound of gold being counted. That man and his treasure.

When nightfall finally came, Marcurio and I left the inn and headed to the cemetery. I decided to sneak, and actually play hide and seek, for Helgi's sake. When we made it to the cemetery, I saw a woman in black robes messing with something. It looked like a coffin, but I couldn't really tell. I was about to creep closer when Marcurio stepped on a branch, causing the woman to see us. I turned to remind him to watch where she was going, but I never got to say anything. She was on us in an instant. She yelled with fury and attacked, but her attacks were weak and easily brushed off. Marcurio made short work of her with his spells, and I went over to look for Helgi. It was her coffin. She told me about the woman who had attacked us, Laelette,   and how she'd been told by Alva to kill her and her mother. She hadn't wanted to though, and had tried turning Helgi into a vampire so they could play together forever. But, Helgi had been burned in the fire anyways. She then said that she was tired, and wanted to rest. As I walked away I saw a man running over to where Marcurio was. He went over to Laelette's  body and was screaming something. Then, suddenly, he stood up and dropped her when he realized that she'd been a vampire. I talked to him, and learned that his name was Thonnir. Laelette had been his wife, and he had thought that she'd gone to join the Stormcloaks. I asked him if she acted odd before she left, and he said that she's started spending a lot of time with Alva, even though she'd despised her just the week before. I told him that it seemed like they may have met after all. He asked what I meant, and I told him about suspecting Alva to be a vampire. He got  angry suddenly, and insisted that Alva had nothing to do with all this, and that his wife had met her fate out in the marshes. He also said that we couldn't prove anything to the Jarl, then walked away. I had no idea how to get proof, so we went back to the inn to figure it out. We got some dinner, and I got out my journal to write. After a few minutes, Marcurio said that maybe Alva kept a journal too. I thought about it, and said that it was possible. If she did though, how would we get it? As I was thinking, I noticed someone walk into the inn. A woman, with dark hair and somewhat pale skin. I got up casually to get us more ale, and asked the innkeeper who she was. She told me that it was Alva. I went back to the table and gave Marcurio his drink, and told him what I had learned. He sipped his ale, then went back to eating his dinner. I wrote more in my journal wondering how we'd get hers. She wasn't home now, so it would be a good time to go into her house. Then I remembered Jonna mentioned that Hroggar lived with her. She probably had him guarding the place. I decided to go and see if he was walking around town. If he was, then no one would be at the house. I told Marcurio that I was going outside for some fresh air, and he nodded.

I didn't see Hroggar anywhere in town, which meant that he was probably in her house. I sighed and went back to the inn. We'd probably have better luck tomorrow, with her asleep and him out working at the mill. I  told my plan to Marcurio quietly, and we both went to get some sleep.

22nd of Heartfire, 4E201


It was freezing when we got to Winterhold, and still dark out, so I assumed that it was some time before sunrise. We hurried up to the College to thaw out. Marcurio seemed a bit impressed that I was a member of the College, and said that he'd always wanted to visit. I headed for the Hall of the Elements to go and see if the Arch Mage was still awake. When we got inside though, all hell was breaking loose. Inside, Mirabelle and the Arch Mage were standing in front of a ward someone had cast in the doorway to the main room. Someone being Ancano. They asked me to help them destroy the ward, and we all cast spells at it. The Arch Mage didn't know what Ancano was doing in there, but he assured me that he'd have his head for it.  We ran inside after the ward broke, and Ancano was doing something to the Eye of Magnus. Suddenly, a blinding light came from it, and we were all knocked backwards by something. When I woke up, a wounded Mirabelle was shaking me, and asking me if I was alright. She said that she needed me on my feet, and we were in trouble. I was dizzy, but ok. Ancano had cast another ward around the Eye, and the Arch Mage wasn't anywhere nearby. She asked me to hurry and look for him to see if he was alright. He wasn't anywhere inside of the Hall, but he'd been blown clear into the courtyard outside. He was dead, and the other mages at the College were around him. Tolfdir ran up to us and told us that something was happening in the town, and when I told him what had happened with Ancano, he suspected that it must have been whatever was done to the Eye. He went to check on Mirabelle, and Marcurio and I went into town with the rest of the mages to protect the townspeople. The creatures we found in the town were like ice wraiths, mixed with those creatures that the wisp mother had sent after Jenassa and I. We managed to defeat all ten of them, and Faralda and Arniel from the College offered to stay behind while we reported back to Mirabelle. After this, I'm sure Winterhold was going to hate the College even more than it already did. Mirabelle said that I needed to go and get the Staff. I told her that I'd be headed to Labyrinthian then, and she was shocked that I had learned that the Staff was there. I asked why, and she explained that coincidentally, before the attack, the Arch Mage had talked with her about Labyrinthian, and had given her an amulet and some sort of necklace. He told her that she'd know what to do with them when the time came. She handed them over to me, saying that they must have been meant for me. She then asked us to hurry and get the Staff before Ancano brought the College down around everyone. Looked like we weren't going to get any sleep tonight. According to my map, Labyrinthian is a ways to the west of Winterhold, past Whiterun.
When I got into town, there were more of the things there, attacking the mages and guards. After they killed a few, a courier who had been hiding ran up to me to deliver a letter to me. I asked him who it was from after he handed it over, and he said that it was a creepy fellow in a black robe. He didn't know who it was, and he couldn't see his face, but he was paid quite a bit of money to get that note to me. As he bid me good day and walked away, I carefully unsealed the wax on the note. A black handprint was in the center of the paper, with the words "We know" scrawled under it. I had no idea what it meant, so I just stuck it in the middle of one of my books to keep it from getting messed up. I gave Marcurio a stamina potion, and I had one myself, so that we could stay awake. We had a long journey ahead of us.

By jogging and walking fast, we managed to make it to Whiterun early that afternoon. Near the city, we ran into two farmers who had lost everything to a dragon. I shared some of my gold and food with them, and they thanked me and wished me a safe journey. We stopped in Whiterun to get something to eat, and I wanted to sleep so badly. I knew that we couldn't though, since the College, and perhaps all of Skyrim, was in danger thanks to Ancano. Marcurio had an idea though. Since Labyrinthian was close to Morthal according to my map, we could take a carriage there, and nap on the way. I thought it was a wonderful idea, and we hurried to rent a carriage ride.

It was after dark when we got to Morthal. Outside off the Jarl's longhouse, there was a man arguing with some of the townpeople about a wizard being in their midst. I asked the man who they'd been yelling at what was wrong, and he explained that the people were upset about recent events, and were looking to the Jarl for guidance. I asked what had been going on, and he explained that a wizard had moved into town, strange noises were being heard in the marshes at night, and that there had recently been a tragic house fire. He then bid me goodnight and went into the longhouse.

We went to the inn for dinner, and Marcurio asked the innkeeper if she knew anything about the events in town. She told us about the house fire, since it was all that everyone in town was talking about. A fire had started, and a man named Hroggar lost his wife and daughter in the blaze. He claimed that it was an accidental hearth fire, but the innkeeper said that the rumor around town was that he'd started the fire himself. Apparently, he'd started living with another woman only a day later. She also added that the Jarl would like to know the truth, and would probably be willing to pay anyone that could discover it. At the mention of a reward, Marcurio became much more interested, and suggested that we go and speak to the Jarl. I reminded him that it was almost the middle of the night, and he sighed.

 I didn't like the idea of wandering through the marshes or the wilderness in the dark trying to find Labyrinthian, so I decided that we should get a room and get some actual sleep. The only room available just had one double bed, so I told Marcurio that he could avoid sleeping on the floor as long as he behaved himself. He promised that he would, and added that he was too tired to misbehave anyways. I set most of my gear against the wall, and got into bed in some basic robes with my black dagger strapped to my belt, just in case Marcurio decided to break his promise. A little discomfort was a small price to pay for feeling safer and getting to sleep in a bed.

21st of Heartfire, 4E201


I had to pour a bucket of water on Marcurio's face to wake him up this morning. My shaking and yelling  hadn't worked. Apparently, the townspeople had been buying him ale all night, and he'd had too much to drink. He'd only gone to bed a few hours ago. I helped him to a table in the inn's common room, and got us some breakfast. I also gave him a few potions to clear his head and wake him up. After breakfast, we got our gear together and went outside. I told him that it would be cold in Windhelm, so if he wanted a bath he needed to take one here where it was warmer. I let him borrow my soap, and he went to the river to bathe, leaving his stuff on the inn steps next to me. I went through my notes and did more writing while I waited. After Windhelm, we really needed to go to Winterhold. I still had to tell the College about what I'd learned about the Staff of Magnus. We could take the carriage in Windhelm to get there though.

Marcurio seemed more awake after his bath, and he was wearing his circlet again. Apparently he'd taken it to the river to wash it properly. It was much prettier now that it was cleaned up. It still looked a little silly, but it was starting to grow on me. I had a few circlets that I wore because they were enchanted, and one had even been given to me by the Arch Mage. I checked my map to see which way would be best, and we started on the road.

Not far from Ivarstead, I got to prove to Marcurio that I really was the Dragonborn. A dragon swooped down and attacked us. We managed to kill it without too much  trouble, though Marcurio was freaking out the entire time since he'd never seen a dragon. When the dragon started burning like they always did after they died, he ran and ducked behind a rock. I just stood next to it, waiting for its soul to surround me. After it was over, and only the skeleton remained, Marcurio came out of his hiding place. He stared at me in shock, and was speechless. At least until I pointed to the small pile of gold coins that had been in the dragon's belly. He excitedly ran over and picked them all up. I took a few of the dragon's bones, since they seemed to sell well in my experience. I had no idea what the merchants in towns used them for though. They were a bit heavy, so Marcurio offered to carry them for me if I'd split the money from selling them with him. I promised that I would, and we continued on our way to Windhelm, leaving the dragon behind.

Our bags were nearly as full as we could get them, so we  couldn't travel as fast as I wanted to. Hopefully we would at least make it to Windhelm before nightfall. I also hoped that it wouldn't rain, since it had been overcast for all of our walk so far.

We passed by the ruins of Mzulft early that afternoon, and I half hoped to see Jenassa there, sitting out on the steps waiting for me to come back. I knew that would never happen though. I'm sure that her spirit was there, and terrorizing any Falmer that we hadn't managed to kill. Not far from Mzulft, an Altmer mage came out of nowhere and attacked us. At least she had a few gems and a nice staff on her.

We had our lunch on the road, and managed to make it to Windhelm around sunset. The market was still open, so we decided to sell some of the things we'd picked up to make our bags lighter. I also stopped by the blacksmith to repair and improve our weapons and armor. I left Marcurio in the market so he could do some shopping, and went to talk to Aventus. I had told Marcurio that I was just going to run an errand. I didn't want him thinking I was a murderer or anything. Aventus was so happy to hear of Grelod's death that he hugged me and and thanked me for saving him. He rewarded me with a family heirloom, which happened to be a plate. He then assured me that he would return to the orphanage soon, but he'd allow time for them to "clean up the mess". I told him goodbye and went to get Marcurio from the market. We had a carriage ride to catch. I decided to get some sleep in the carriage, so I'd be able to stay awake when we got to Winterhold to talk to the Arch Mage. Hopefully he wouldn't be asleep yet.

20th of Heartfire, 4E201


We woke early this morning, and had a delicious breakfast at the inn before setting out for the barrow. Marcurio had Wilhelm into making something called scrambled eggs, and they were amazing!

With the dragon claw in hand, we were able to make it further into the barrow now. We fought a few draugr and skeletons in the first few rooms, and one of the draugr was wearing a copper circlet with rubies set into it. Marcurio took it off of its head, wiped it off, then put it on. He then asked if I had wanted it, and I shook my head. He grinned and we continued further into the barrow, his circlet resting on his head crookedly.

Further in,we encountered more draugr, and one really tough one in a room near some puzzle pillars. No solution was on the walls or anywhere nearby, so I didn't know how we were supposed to get any further into the ruin. There was a bridge across a gap, but we couldn't get it down. I assumed that the puzzle pillars must have something to do with it. In the room with the tough draugr, Marcurio accidentally stepped on a pressure plate searching for treasure, and it made something in the walls move. There were four spinning stone doors along the wall.  Behind each door was a carving, and each carving had one of the symbols from the pillars.Then I remembered that there were four pillars. It must be the solution! I got Marcurio's help moving the pillars into the right place, and we stepped on another pressure plate, which lowered a bridge and opened a door towards where we needed to go.

Inside of the nearby hallway, there were more traps, and a flame trap that activated when Marcurio grabbed a gold ingot off of a pedestal in a room next to the hallway. Thankfully he had quick reflexes and didn't get burned.At the end of the hallway, we found a large room with platforms and steps, and lots of coffins. We crept inside, and the doorway we'd come through shut behind us, thanks to a gate sliding down and blocking our exit. Then the coffins started to burst open, and the skeletons and draugr were upon us.

We killed most of them in the room, and Marcurio was searching their pockets for trinkets, when the last coffin burst open. A draugr crawled out of it, and came after us. He even shouted at us,knocking us both backwards. Was he a long dead Dragonborn too? Or did he just learn like the Greybeards had? When he finally fell to the ground in defeat, a bridge behind his coffin dropped down, and we continued further into the ruin. We found a large chest in the room beyond, and Marcurio ran towards it. I stopped him, since it could have some sort of lock or trap on it. He was about to argue, then noticed a bit of old rope attached to the side of the lid. I disabled the lock attacked to the rope, then we opened it. Inside was a fair amount of coin, which I let him keep. I took a beautiful set of boots for myself. They looked like my elven boots, but had green glass made into them. They reminded me of my bow that I had found in a chest. I couldn't remember which ruin I'd gotten it in though. At the back of the room, there was another chanting wall, like in Bleak Falls Barrow. Marcurio didn't want to go near it, but I told him that it was alright. When some of the letters on the wall glowed and shot out of the wall to surround me, Marcurio sounded like he was having a heart attack. He asked if I was alright, and I looked at him like he was crazy. Then, I explained that this happened if I got near one of these walls, because I was the Dragonborn. He still didn't seem to believe me about that. There was water all around the floor of the room, and Marcurio went for a swim to look for treasure that the ancient Nords might have hidden under water. He managed to actually find a chest, but he couldn't get it open because it was locked. I sighed and waded in after him to go unlock it. I really needed to teach him how to use a lockpick. I managed to get it open, but it only had a couple of potions, a few coins, and a soggy magic scroll inside. He was going to leave the scroll, until I told him how much they sold for in the shops. Thankfully the enchantment on it had kept it from completely falling apart. We laid it out on a cloth square, then carefully rolled it up. Marcurio stuffed it into his bag, and we went through a nearby door to see where it led. Through it was a secret passageway, which opened into the room Wyndelius had been staying in. We hurried out of the ruin and back out into the wonderful fresh air.

I felt gross and smelly, so I decided to take a bath. Marcurio took most of my things for me, and told me that he was going to get something to eat at the inn. As he walked away, I noticed that he was still wearing that circlet that he'd found in the barrow. I decided not to remind him about it,  since it made me giggle to myself.

After a relaxing bath in the river, I headed to the inn for some dinner. I found Marcurio at a table with a few of the townspeople, in the middle of a grand story about our adventures in the barrow. I also noticed that he was still wearing that circlet. Either he really liked it, or he didn't realize how silly it looked on him. I sat at the bar and talked to Wilhelm, and had a nice dinner. He asked me if all of the things Marcurio said about the barrow were true, and I told him that most of it was, with only a little embellishment. He seemed amazed that we had survived. After dinner, I went ahead and rented a room for the night, since it was getting late. I got my bag and gear from Marcurio, then went to get ready for bed. I took out my books, and read the spell book that Stalleo had given me. It taught a spell called Detect Life. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it to detect undead, machines, or daedra. It would be useful in bandit lairs though, so I could see how many were in rooms before going into them. I tried it out, and everyone in the inn glowed purple, even through the walls. I noticed a few more notes about the spell, and it explained that enemies would show up differently than friends. Well, that would be handy. Enemies, and those likely to be hostile towards us, would glow red. Friendly people would glow purple. Hopefully it could be used to spot assassins hiding along the road as well. I put my books away and decided to get some sleep. Hopefully Marcurio wouldn't stay up too late, since we had a long day of travel ahead of us tomorrow.