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scribeofskyrim · 3 months ago

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Sundas, 21st of Sun's Dusk, 4E 201

We're back at the manor, and what a day!

And here I was expecting something slow.

This morning Lydia looked surprisingly fine, but Valdimar looked a little worse for wear. Poor man. Between Erandur's sleep-talking and Lydia's snoring, I don't think he got much sleep!

Anyway, while we were leaving the city, Erandur was fussing with his hair. He was trying to pull half of it up to get it out of his face, but he was having trouble getting it even. Of course, Valdimar jumped to help him, his "logic" being that he was tall enough to reach.

It only took a minute, but that was fine by me. I looked at the mountains separating us from the Manor and realized that there was an obvious cut through it I could see from Whiterun! Lydia said that we'd been there before. It was the way to Labyrinthian.

I'd almost forgotten that place. Ugh. I can't remember where I put that creepy mask, but it's probably somewhere in a drawer at Breezehome.

We decided that the direct route would be best, so we went as the hawk flies and headed overland towards the break in the mountains.

On the way, we realized that the strange blessing we'd gotten on Mount Hrothgar was still working. We walked by a small pack of wolves, who sniffed at Septim and let us scratch their ears before they ran off to follow a noise in the bushes.

We then came upon a small, shallow spring, and sticking out from the middle was a skeleton arm holding a glass sword! I looked around, and didn't see anything suspicious. Lydia cautioned me against taking it, but I didn't sense anything magical or evil, so I grabbed it.

The skeleton arm collapsed, and I looked over the sword. It's just a normal glass sword, if a bit dirty from being out here for who knows how long. Huh.

We could see a clearing through the trees, so we headed that way. Just as Lydia was wondering how that sword managed to stay unclaimed for so long with the bandits in the area, we got our answer.

A pair of mammoths came slowly tramping out of the woods and into the clearing the same time we did. They ignored us, but woke a bear that had been sleeping nearby. The bear started to pad away, and we couldn't help but reach out to pet it as it went by.

A rabbit scurried between our feet, more to avoid the bear than us, and I couldn't help but laugh. It felt like a dream!

Whatever that blessing is, I think it's my favorite.

Of course, just as we were all enjoying that peaceful moment surrounded by nature, with beautiful weather and singing birds, it was RUINED.

Arrows, lightning and fire came roaring out of the trees to the north, and a handful of screaming bandits burst out of the forest!

I don't know if they were after us or the mammoths, but I decided to let Kyne give us some help! I called the others to follow me as I ran behind the animals and let them do some of the work for us!

I saw two bandits go flying from mammoth kicks, and heard the bear snarling as we went into the woods to circle around our attackers. There were more in the trees, but we were able to take care of those, and soon we came out in front of some sort of ruin!

It's a big place, with a set of very tall steps leading up to a domed temple-like structure up top, flanked by high walls on both sides. To the left are some platforms with a canopy, cook fires and tables that they clearly used as a sort of little dining hall, and to the right is a tower with an iron gate at the base. There's also another platform to the right with a door leading into the ruin. Lydia later told me it's known to the Whiterun Guard as Silent Moons Camp, and was generally considered too dangerous to try and clear.

I can see why! At least half of the people we fought were mages, and they were strong enough that I had to down a half dozen potions to survive.

Three bandits, two mages and a guy with a big axe were on the ground in front of the tall steps, and came to fight. Three more bandits, two mages and an archer, were at the very top of the steps, and doing a number on us when I heard a bandits near me scream.

One of the mammoths had come barreling out of the treeline, and it was furious!

We all bolted for the steps, leaving the bandits on the ground to fend for themselves, and headed for the summit to fight the last of them.

Lydia, Valdimar, and Septim got to the top and started fighting, and I was trying to Heal them. We'd all been badly hurt, despite not doing most of the fighting. While I was Healing, I heard Erandur, who was behind me, let out a string of curses. I turned to see the mammoth, in an absolute frenzy, charging up the steps towards us!

Erandur was trying to keep it at bay, and it got halfway up before it finally died and fell down the steps. By that time, the others had taken care of the three bandits up top.

Once we were certain there wasn't anyone else lurking in the ruin, we all sat down on the steps and took a moment to breathe.

Once we'd rested for a bit, Erandur and I made sure everyone was healthy, and we started hunting for loot!

We started with the top, and found a forge inside the domed temple-like building. I also found some interesting enchanted weapons, and a notebook talking about the "Lunar Forge". Apparently, these weapons burn their targets when the moons are out, but the smith writing the book couldn't figure out how to get the enchantment to take on things they made here.

We examined the tools and such, and as far as we can tell, it's just a normal forge.

I'll have to see if I can disenchant one of these weapons later and learn the enchantment myself.

Anyway, we wandered through the camp, taking what we could from the bandits and the supplies. There were at least ten people out there, maybe more, and the amount of supplies reflected that! They were eating well, and we all walked away with more than enough food for the trip home and into Ustengrav!

There was a door into the Camp itself on a platform to the right, and through the iron gate in the tower on the far right, I saw a trapdoor and a chest. I couldn't open the gate, but I saw that there was hole in the ceiling. I told the others I'd be right back, and managed to climb on top of the wall that led to the tower and jump down into the second floor.

There was a bookcase with a few things in it, mostly potions, and another Lunar mace. I dropped down through the hole in the floor, and got some gold from the chest before opening the iron gate with a pull chain that was right there.

We decided to go through the trapdoor because they would clearly expect someone to come through the regular, unlocked door that was right there. They could have a guard or two posted.

We were right!

The trapdoor led to a storeroom. There were potions, weapons, armor, food - All sorts of useful goodies in there! We could hear some bandits talking through the door, so we were quiet while we looted the place. The door was locked, but there was a lever right there to open it. We crept to the door, and I got ready to pounce when I pulled the lever.

There was a bandit right there, singing to himself, with his back to me. He hadn't noticed!

Luckily he went down quietly, and didn't alert the other I could hear talking to himself in the next hallway.

There were only two more bandits, and a passage separating the room we were in, and an open area set up for sleeping with a table and some supplies. We grabbed a few of them and such as we went through, and the door in the sleeping area led back outside.

Before we left the Silent Moon Camp, I took a minute to cook up what I could at their dining setup outside, and we had a quick lunch under the canopy. Valdimar wondered at the fancy silver plates they had sitting out to use, and I commented that they'll probably sell them if they need to, but why not enjoy them, first?

We set on our way, and ran into another pack of wolves as we started into the mountain pass. They ignored us, instead focusing on a goat.

The snow started, and I was glad for my new Alteration robes. Keeping Wolfskin going was no problem!

We entered Labyrinthian, and I let the boys have a minute to just take it all in. Unlike last time Lydia and I came through here, the weather was just a little snowy as opposed to blizzard conditions, and we could see just how massive the place is!

Valdimar said he'd heard of this place during his time at Winterhold, and everyone said it was too dangerous to mount an expedition. He said it had once been a great city, and a major center of the Dragon Cult.

As we went through, I took some time to poke around for any treasures I could find. I did find two chests and some urns with a bit of gold and jewelry in them, so that was good. I did have to promise that we wouldn't go inside the ruins themselves, though.

We ran into three frost trolls, but they weren't hard to handle at all, and we continued on our way.

While I was digging around, Lydia told the other two about the strange wooden mask we found, along with the note from the mercenary. They figured it must be some sort of teleportation magic, and were glad that I hadn't decided to try to find out where it went on my own!

I was shoulders-deep in a tall urn, but heard Erandur say that despite evidence to the contrary, I'm not stupid.

We left Labyrinthian, and got back down to the road. We decided to leave the road and keep going straight ahead. We could barely see Morthal from Labyrinthian, so we knew it wouldn't be much of a trek through the snowy woods.

We came out on the mill side at the far edge of the lake, and went into town so I could see what Falion had to offer. Not much, really, but I did manage to sell off a spare spellbook I'd picked up. Agni told us that she heard from "someone" that Falion killed deer so he could eat their hearts!

Falion just rolled his eyes and reassured her that wasn't the case. I pointed out that couldn't be true, because if it were, he'd get really sick, wouldn't he?

That seemed to do the trick, and she said the people in town said a lot of things that didn't' make sense, now that she thought about it. Falion reminded her that a skilled mage needs to sharpen their mind like a warrior's blade, and this was an excellent example to practice!

Valdimar told Falion not to worry about what people said. He was doing well by Agni, and didn't cause any trouble. The people here would get used to him, like they did Idgrod and himself.

Falion just sighed, and said he felt like the town rat-catcher. Everyone thinks they're lazy if they see a single rodent, and pointless if they don't! He just wants a quiet place to do his Conjuration research, and Morthal's in desperate need of someone to keep the kind of threats he's good at fighting away.

We wished him luck with everything, and went on our way. Valdimar was stopped in the streets a few times by guards who were amazed that he was wearing different armor!

Amid the typical jokes of not being able to recognize him, one asked who he was dressing up for, and another one of them laughed and elbowed Erandur playfully before they said, "Took you long enough to get him out of that old set of his!"

Erandur got flustered and asked what they were talking about, but by that time they'd left.

Valdimar was trying very hard to laugh it all off, but he was clearly nervous. He said we should hurry to the Manor before it got dark, so we started on our way back.

Nothing exciting happened in the swamp, unless you count the chaurus that skittered out of the underbrush and clicked its jaws at me before disappearing into the water. Damned thing nearly scared me to death!

I am so glad for this blessing. I'll be sad when it wears off, but maybe by then, we'll be headed back up and I can get it again!

We did manage to get back just before nightfall, and the evening passed quietly. Erandur's doing his prayers, and Valdimar and Lydia are out on a quick patrol around the perimeter. We've not seen any assassins for a while, so they're getting a bit nervous.

Anyway, I'm going to finish my wine and get some sleep. Tomorrow we head for Ustengrav!

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#skyrim #writing #journal #fiction #the elder scrolls #tesblr #fanfic #bronwens journal #skyrim fanfiction #Lunar Forge #Silent Moons Camp #labyrinthian #morthal #the fight really happened like that #mammoths are terrifying #such a cool blessing though #moment of zen ruined

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