7th of Heartfire 4E201

Hadring served us breakfast this morning, and wished us safe travels on our journey. I made sure to mark the location of this inn on Jenassa's map, in case we were ever in the area again. I even said goodbye to Fultheim, but he just grumbled at me.

It wasn't snowing as badly as it was last night, which was a relief. I decided that we should follow the road, with no stops until Windhelm. I noticed a road sign near the inn, and it had most of the major cities on it. Whiterun was in the opposite direction that we needed to go, but maybe we could deliver the Phial, and then take the road there. I asked Jenassa what her thoughts were, and she said that we may as well save our septims and walk. And if our business in Windhelm took longer than expected, we could stay at the nice inn again. I agreed, and we set off for Windhelm.

On the way back we passed by a mill. We'd gone by it before, but I was in a hurry then. I stopped and talked to the workers, one of them was friendly, and the other was very rude and told me to get lost. The friendly one suggested I talk to the mill's owner, Aeri, if I was looking for work. I talked to her, and at first she thought I was one of the Jarl's "men". I told her I wasn't and she apologized, and explained that the Jarl of  Dawnstar was waiting on an order of lumber, and he wasn't known for his patience. She then asked if I would mind delivering a letter for  her if I was headed that way. Since we'd be going that direction anyway, I told her I would. She thanked me and got back to work, and we continued on to Windhelm.

On the road, we met a Dunmer in black robes named Faldrus. He said that he was on a pilgrammage to the Shrine of Azura, which was in the mountains to the northeast of where we were. He even marked its location on Jenassa's map for us, then wished us well and we parted ways.

We found Nurelion upstairs in his shop after we made it back to Windhelm .He wasn't happy that the Phial was cracked, and even accused me of breaking it. I told him that it was like that when I found it, and he scoffed and said that I probably didn't have the knowledge to damage it if I wanted to. He gave us only five septims for our trouble, and said that we could show ourselves out. I tried not to be upset as I went back downstairs, because he had seemed so sad to see that the Phial was ruined. Quintus stopped us downstairs, and thanked us for our efforts. He then apologized for Nurelion's temper, and rewarded us with five-hundred septims.He said that he thought we deserved a reward for our trouble, even though the Phial was damaged. We said our goodbyes and he thanked us again, and said that he would do all that he could to make Nurelion's final days less painful. I felt very sad as I left the shop, and a bit angry that Nurelion's dream had been taken from him by fate. Hopefully he would at least have peace soon.

I bought Jenassa a few pieces of Elven armor from the blacksmith in the market, to thank her for helping me get out of all of our battles alive thus far. He didn't have a complete set though, just the armor and helmet.And I had found an elven shield in Curalmil's cave. I bought some moonstone to improve them with, and the blacksmith's assistant helped me improve them. It took a while, but I finally got it right. She thanked me for them, and we went back into the White Phial so that she could change. Quintus stayed upstairs with Nurelion and promised not to peek. I helped her get into her new armor, and it fit perfectly. She loved the shield too, and said it was very strong yet light as a feather.

There was still a good bit of daylight left, so we started off, taking the road to Whiterun. I couldn't wait to get somewhere warmer so I could take a bath!

We passed the mill again, and I remembered the letter I had been given to deliver. So, Dawnstar first then Whiterun.

On the road near the inn we'd found last night, a half naked man wearing bits of fur ran up to us. He told me to hold some boots for him, and not to snitch on him or double cross him, or he'd kill me. I stood there for a moment, awkwardly holding the boots as he crouched down and seemed to be sneaking away from us. A few seconds later, another man ran up, still just as half naked. How did the snow not bother these people? He asked if I had seen someone run past just now, and I held up the boots and said that they must be his. He seemed surprised and wondered how I got them, then thanked me and gave me a septim for my trouble. he then said something about tracking down a thief and murdering him, and ran off after the first guy. I walked away to let the second man get his revenge on his own.

We ran into the three revelers drinking mead again, near a roadsign. One walked up to me and asked if I wanted to have a drink with them. I declined, but offered him a honningbrew mead out of my bag like I had before to see if he would remember me. He took it and thanked me, giving me another necklace just like the first one he had given me. I wished them well and continued to Dawnstar, wondering why the one wearing only a loincloth hadn't frozen  to death. I was also surprised they didn't remember me. I guess when you stay drunk all the time you tend to forget things.

Passed a spider walking down the road. It ignored us, thankfully.

We found a large fort, which the road ran through the middle of.  I went around it to avoid trouble, but the bandits inside saw us and attacked anyways. Now I had a chance to try out my new word! I made sure Jenassa wasn't anywhere nearby, and went after a bandit. I shouted at them, and they staggered slightly and seemed a bit weaker. I wondered what all three words together would do. And where would I even find them all? We managed to defeat all of the bandits without too much trouble, and I looted their bodies for gold, gems, and anything valuable. Normally, I would have felt terrible doing this, but they had started the fight. I was trying to go around them and avoid it, but they wouldn't have that.

We passed three Thalmor escorting a  prisoner not too far from the fort, being attacked by spiders. I decided not to help them. After all, if they were so "superior" (as their taunts to the spiders claimed), they would have no trouble with a few spiders. I did wait to see if the spiders killed any of them though, since they were wearing Elven armor. Sadly, they all lived, and only their poor prisoner was killed. I decided to talk to one, and see what she would say.I asked her about the prisoner, and she said they had been taking the man to be interrogated. I asked her what right they had to do this, and she said that the Imperial law banning Talos worship gave them the right to.I jokingly asked her what was wrong with worshipping Talos, and she said that it was against the law, and any faithful Imperial citizen would know that. She then added "Unless there's something you wish to confess?" I decided to see what would happen if I said I worshipped Talos, and she then said that I would die a heretic's death, and all three of them attacked us. We defeated them easily enough; so much for the supremacy of the Thalmor. And now Jenassa would have a full set of Elven armor. And there would be a set left over for me, and an extra set of robes. Not to mention one less trio of kidnappers dragging people off in the night for their beliefs. I decided right then and there to make it my mission to rid Skyrim of the Thalmor, one trio at a time. I would pick a fight with them along the roads, and send them to Oblivion.That way, no one would have to fear them anymore. Plus, we would get plenty of Elven armor and nice Thalmor robes in the process. I went over to the body of their prisoner that had been killed by the spiders and closed his eyes, then placed a nightshade flower on his chest. I hoped that he would find peace in the next life with his ancestors. I left the Thalmor where they were.

The  sun was starting to set when we finally made it to Dawnstar. I guess places looked closer together on the map. A guard patroling near the edge of town told us that we had come to Dawnstar at a bad time, since everyone in town was having nightmares. I wondered what was giving them nightmares as I made my way to the Jarl's longhouse. OUtside, he was arguing with a woman about her bodyguard wearing Legion armor, and seemed to not trust them at all. He then warned them that if he caught them sending a letter to General Tullius that he would have them both executed. I rifled through my bag for the letter to get its delivery over with, but when I looked up he had already gone back into his longhouse. I went inside, dreading meeting this man. I greeted them, and tried to state my business, and he said "Unless you're here to solve this nightmare problem, I don't need you" I asked him about it, and he seemed almost upset that his town was being plagued by nightmares. He then said that a priest of Mara that had gotten to town before us told him that the Divines would cure the nightmares, but until they did he didn't have anything to discuss with outsiders. I sighed and held out the letter, telling him who it was from. He read the letter, and lamented the fact that they needed the lumber, since Aeri and her men would make fine Stormcloak recruits. He then thanked me dismissively for my time, and rewarded me with four hundred septims for delivering the letter. I put on my best false smile and left, thankful that at least the trip had been worth it. It was getting dark outside, so I decided that we may as well stay here for the night and go to Whiterun in the morning. In the main room of the inn, there was a Dunmer man in priest robes. Was this the priest of Mara that the jarl had spoken of? I decided to talk to him out of curiosity. He said that the people in town were all in serious danger due to the nightmares. I told him that dreams weren't real, and asked what he could do anyways. He then told me that these weren't normal dreams, but nightmares caused by the daedric lord Vaermina stealing peoples memories and leaving nightmares behind. He then said that he needed to stop Vaermina before the people in town were damaged permanently. I asked what his plan was, and he said that he was going to return to a place nearby called Nightcaller Temple and stop her there. I asked him what he meant by returning there, since he had only just gotten to town. He sighed and said that he had already said too much, and if anyone overheard him they might start to panic. He asked for my help, and asked that I please trust him. I felt that he was hiding something, but I decided to trust him for now, and to help him for the sake of the people in town. No one deserved to have a daedric lord stealing their memories and leaving nightmares. Not even mean people. He said that the temple was nearby, and that we must hurry. Jenassa and I followed him out of the inn, and I wondered if we'd get to sleep at a decent hour tonight.


The Dunmer, whose name I learned was Erandur, led us out of town and through the snow. On the way, he told us that it felt good to finally have a chance to help the people of Dawnstar, since watching them suffer had been difficult. I wondered why he hadn't tried helping them on his own, then figured that he had needed someone else to go with him to stop whatever was harming the people. His intentions seemed noble, but  I kept my spells ready just in case. He told us about the tower we were going to, and how it used to be called the Tower of the Dawn, but that it was abandoned for years before Nightcaller Temple was established inside. He also said that the priests preferred to keepp to themselves, and rarely went into town. He seemed to know a lot about this place, for an outsider. I didn't share my suspicions with him though. I glanced over at Jenassa, and she looked just as suspicious as I did. I was glad that we were both on our guard. He continued talking about it, and said that it had been abandoned for decades. He then told us that he had visited it recently, and built a small shrine to Mara inside of the temple, to seek her guidance. So, he had been there before. Why didn't he stop the nightmares while he was there? Something wasn't right about all of this. It started snowing harder as we travelled, and the wind picked up, blowing the snow all around us. I hoped that this place was at least somewhat warm, even though it was abandoned. Maybe he had built a fire pit along with his shrine.

There was a white sabrecat outside of the temple, seemingly guarding it. Thankfully, he didn't attack us. I thought he would go after Erandur possibly, but it seemed that the protection of the gods extended to him as well. Erandur stopped us outside of the doorway and warned us about the possible dangers inside the temple. He told us that years ago, an orc raiding party had attacked the temple, since they were being plagued by nightmares like the people of Dawnstar. I asked if they managed to stop the nightmares, and he said that they weren't. The priests in the temple had released something called the Miasma, since they knew that they couldn't defeat the orcs. It had put everyone in a deep sleep. I laughed a little, and asked why it was so dangerous if they were asleep. He said that he feared that once he opened the door, the seal keeping the Miasma in would let it escape, causing it to wear off and the orcs and the priests might wake up. He asked me to follow him, but asked Jenassa to wait outside and keep watch. I asked if she could at least wait near his shrine since it was so cold and snowy outside, and he sighed and agreed. I readied  my spells, and we all went inside.

It was a little warmer inside, and Jenassa dragged a bench over next to the shrine of Mara since that was the only place that had candles lit in the room.  She then wished me luck and pulled out a book to read and a bottle of mead. She didn't wish Erandur luck; I think that she still didn't trust him. Erandur cast a flame spell on a figure carved into the wall and it changed, becoming nothing but purple air. It still looked like the figure, but we could pass through it easily. The space beyond was filled with a blueish purple fog, and I tied a cloth over my nose and mouth so I wouldn't breathe it in and fall asleep. Erandur led me over to a metal grate, and showed me what was causing the nightmares. In a room below, there was something he called the Skull of Corruption, surrounded by a barrier of some sort. At the bottom of a nearby staircase were two sleeping orcs. They woke up when we got close and attacked. So his theory had been right after all. Next to them was a purple barrier, blocking off our access to the Skull thing that we were after. Erandur cursed, and said that the priests must have activated the barrier when the Miasma was released. I studied it for a moment, and remarked that it looked difficult to breach. He said it was actually impossible to breach, then had an idea. He thought of a possibility, but said that he needed to check in their library to confirm that it could be done. I looked sideways at him, wondering how he knew so much, and told him that he seemed to know quite a bit about this place. He sighed, and said that there was no point in concealing the truth any longer. Aha, I knew he was hiding something! He told me that his knowledge of the temple came from experience, and that he used to be a priest of Vaermina. I told him that he should have told me the truth to begin with, and he agreed, and said that he didn't know what to say. He then told me about the night that the orcs attacked, and about how he fled in fear and left his brothers and sisters to die. He spent the last few decades in regret, and found redemption through the divine Mara. He had vowed  to right his past wrongs, and to stop Vaermina. I thanked him for telling me the truth at last, and assured him that I was ready to try out his plan. He still had his key to the library thankfully, and asked that I follow him to it.