#ONLY FOR HER TO INTERRUPT TO TELL ME ABOUT THIS NEW BREWERY SHE DISCOVERED IN THE SUBURBS

[canichangemyblogname]

Do y’all know anyone who doesn’t actually know how to have a conversation, all they know is how to interrupt or derail a conversation? Like they keep talking over you to tell you their opinion on something (often unrelated), even though the conversation doesn’t call for an opinion. There was no, “What do y’all think,” but they still gotta interrupt, speak very loudly over you and tell you some very wrong opinion. Or you’ll be talking and then they just start up a different topic. And when you call them out on that the response is, “I’m not interested in that.”

[sunlitroom]

Gotham - s3e19 - All Will Be Judged

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Lee and Mario’s very short honeymoon at the cabin from the Godfather II. Mario could have lived a normal life!   Barnes wants to judge Jim.  The court has a virus.  Kathryn orders what must be the 100th hit on Jim Gordon.  Does she get a fabulous prize?  Bruce never left that alley.  Selina is defenestrated again.  Ed just doesn’t shut the fuck up.  Jim and Oswald have a tense conversation in an alley.

As always, long post will be long - reaaally long.  There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot may appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)).  There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism.  Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

Oswald and Ed in matching cages in a Court building.  

Oswald

Oswald turns slowly, rage making the turn of his head jerky.

You're alive

Oswald walks closer, and smiles briefly – before making a grab for Ed through the bars

Ed looks terrified, and lurches backward.  He sounds furious that Oswald dared to survive his punishment.  Oswald grins venomously – Ed gave him something to live for: revenge.

Ed -  being Ed – needs to check he’s real, and smacks his head. Oswald fulminates.

(An aside – this will pretty much set the tone for the rest of their interaction.  It’s virtually all played for comedy – squabbling children who hate each other)

Ed says that Oswald’s habit of survival makes him more cockroach than penguin.  He also tells Oswald:

Don't you dare call me Ed. I am the Riddler.  I became him when I killed you.

It sounds massively silly when he says it here – and I’d pay good money for Oswald to see a hallucination of Fish right now, waving one long fingernail and asking him what the hell he was thinking?

As it is – Oswald rolls his eyes.  He’s not dead, though.  Ed concedes this.  Oswald says he came back from dead to kill Ed – although Ed points out he wound up in prison. Oswald says he has him where he wants him.  Ed hits the bars of his cell - not for long

 Wayne Manor, where an alarm is sounding.  Selina has broken in.  Bruce2 smiles – it might sound strange, but he’s glad she’s alive –Selina says that is strange, but she came here to do one thing.  They brawl – and she calls him a freak – a cheap knock-off – and stabs him, but he won’t bleed.  Alfred tries to split this up as Selina screams that he’s not Bruce – but this temporarily gives Bruce 2 the advantage, and he hits Selina on the head with a poker.

Alfred goes to an unconscious Selina’s side and says they need a doctor.  Seeing Bruce 2’s weird non-bleeding wound – he realises the truth. Bruce2 says that Bruce is serving a greater purpose than himself, as is he.  He says Alfred was always kind to him - even when he thought he wasn't Bruce, and – despite his begging – wallops Alfred over the head.

Bruce is back in Gotham with dreary guru guy. Zzzzzz.

Lee sits dozing in front of a fire on a stormy night.  Mario wakes her.  She tells him she was having the worst dream.  There was a virus loose in city – that brought out the darkness in people, and he had it.  And there was this boring love triangle with Jim and Valerie Vale - and Ed and Oswald were trapped in a tedious ooc storyline totally disengaged from the main plot, and Victor Zsasz was hardly in it at all!  

Mario – though – is only interested in what darkness the virus brought to light in him.  Lee tells him he was jealous of Jim

But I'm taller than he is

(An aside – lol)

Lee continues – right up to Mario’s death on their wedding day.

He reassures here – I’m right here

He tells her to take her medicine and go to bed – voice soothing – before slitting his wrist, draining the blood into a glass.  Lee watches, and then says

I'm so sorry

Mario’s face is the virus face now – and his voice is distorted

I know - now drink

Lee wakes up for real, and knocks her wine glass from the table.

GCPD, where Jim is looking at the court's holdings to identify where the bomb is hidden.  He thinks he’s found a secret room in a secret house.  Harvey wants him to get information from Kathryn -who trusts him.

(An aside – right: I’m fucking mystified by that one.  Harvey thinks Kathryn still trusts Jim?  But...but - the dead talon?  The fact that Jim evacuated the hall where the bomb was detonated – and was seen doing so by several witnesses?  The fact that no-one was infected or hurt in their test detonation?  Why would she still trust Jim?  If anything – she has ample evidence of his treachery.  Has she just not looked yet?)

Harvey snarks a little about Lucius being smarter than him before they head to the secret house.

 At the Court safe house, Harvey grumbles about why these can’t ever be in places he’d like to go, like a brewery, stripjoint, or a casino?

(Another abandoned bike in this room – like outside Jim’s apartment.  Are bikes inherently sinister?)

Harvey lucks out at a control panel and opens a secret door to a room containing a glass owl.  They discover that when the light shines through it – it reveals a map with markers, which they hope denote similar safehouses – which might contain the bomb.

They’re interrupted by smashing glass and a grenade, and......

Oh, dear.  Barnes looks silly as hell

He knocks Harvey and Jim out, and reiterates his promise of punishment.

 Wayne Manor – where Alfred can’t get Jim on the phone.  Selina has related the whole story to him.  He tells her she should see a doctor – but quickly accepts her refusal and says she’s going to going to help him find him.  Selina says she won’t.  Alfred goads her, asking if she’s still angry at Bruce because her mother was a con-artist. He becomes irate – saying that Bruce is a good, loyal friend, and she won't lift a finger.

(An aside - did Alfred not listen very carefully when Selina presumably told him that Bruce 2 pushed her out a window specifically to stop her coming to tell him about Bruce’s abduction and the Court’s plans?)

Selina’s face is sullen

What good will it do me?

He rounds on her.  He tells her that she’s a disgrace, that’s she’s just like her mum – and that she should run away and never come back.

Selina doesn’t look at him as he leaves, her face hard.

(An aside – I know Alfred is panicked, but his lack of any understanding here seems glaring.  Selina would have been dead if not for Ivy. She’s probably hugely traumatised.)

 At the crime scene a very odd witness gives information on the van Barnes escaped in.  Harvey tells officers to look out for that van – and find Jim Gordon.

 Oswald is whittling a blade while Ed critiques it.  They snipe back and forth, Ed demanding that Oswald not call him by name – while Oswald does so repeatedly.  Ed snarls enough – and then calls Oswald pathetic.  At least he got here because he wanted to know who runs the city.  Oswald’s just here because Ed didn’t love him back.  Get over it, he spits.

Oswald acknowledges this – but says that’s not why he here.  He’s here because Ed destroyed his empire and shot him.  No-one does what you did and lives.  

They snipe some more. Ed attempts an escape, Oswald foils it, and then passes out – blissfully smiling at the sight of Ed being beaten by the guards

More of this new age stuff? Locking away pain again.  Bruce is to put his mother’s pearls in the safe – but can’t do it.  Boring guru says it’s time he knows the truth, his truth.

Jim is chained to a chair in an abandoned courtroom.  Barnes and Kathryn are very disappointed parents.  Jim made a fool of them, they had such high hopes.  How can he insult them both by lying to them? Kathryn wants to know who else Jim is working with.  She’s already figured out that Hugo played turncoat, and Harvey is obvious.

Jim sneers – and asks if this is an exit interview.  Kathryn pushes, but Jim reminds her that the Court ordered his father murdered and drove his uncle to suicide – trying to prod justice-obsessed Barnes into action. When it’s not enough – he pushes harder, calling him a lapdog, and telling him he used to stand for something – even still did, despite his lunacy

(An aside – Jim and Barnes had such an interesting relationship – but it’s really hard to fully get at the pathos of that relationship when Barnes is wearing smokey eyeshadow and has an axe on his arm)

Kathryn reiterates that Jim is an enemy of Gotham, and that Gordons were always stubborn.  She also repeats that this is the end – the city will fall – and leaves

Barnes sits at the bench and spouts the appropriate legal talk.  Jim’s trial will begin.

 Arkham, where Lee is visiting Jervis.  Jervis delivers an appropriately creepy and unpleasant rhyme, and waits for her to talk – with some glee – pointing out her tired appearance.  She wants to talk to him about something that seems funny to her – and Jervis does love funny things.  

She tells him that she never blamed him for Mario – because he’s insane.  She blamed Jim instead.  Jervis is disappointed.  He concedes that’s wise - but not funny.  Lee continues – and asks why her infected Mario – and not her – if he meant to hurt Jim.

Jervis tells her that it was apparent at their tea-party that she still loved Jim – and that love doomed Mario.  Jim Gordon does not deserve love, he doesn’t get love, and so he decided to turn Lee’s love to hate by infecting Mario, and making Jim seem blameworthy.

Lee looks ill

Jervis laughs – and tells her that was a funny thing.  His face turns venomous, and he continues, pointing out that poor Mario is cold in ground, and she blames Jim – but Lee is really to blame for everything

Now see - that's funny.

Lee agrees that she’s to blame, her face bleak, broken.

I am

 Oswald wakes - holding head. My hand hurts – so they snipe some more and agree to work together so they can escape and murder each other.

 More bullshit spiritual training.  We see guru guy’s truth.  We are in a room, where an Owl/talon/whatever is kneeling before past guru.  Apparently – the Court exceeded their authority in killing the Waynes.  They’re just a means to an end for us – although he refuses to explain who that is when Bruce asks.  He does – though – want Bruce to help make the Court pay.

 Jim is chained to a chair while Barnes reiterates his fatherly disapproval.  Jim points out the virus will infect innocent and guilty alike – but no dice, because Barnes thinks the virus is great.  He sneers at Jim’s disbelief – just like Lee Thompkins - and tells him the story of Lee’s visit.

He gets ready to pass sentence.  Jim pretends to want to die wearing his badge.

One soldier to another

That never really meant anything to Jim, though, and it doesn’t now either, as he pulls the pin on a grenade on Barnes’ belt as he leans in to pin the badge.

There’s an explosion, GCPD runs in, and Barnes leaps out the window

 At GCPD – Harvey asks if there’s word on Barnes

He’s a nutjob in a leather jumpsuit with an axe for an arm!  I know this is Gotham, but come on people!

Jim is planning to get to Kathryn before she realises he’s escaped, but she’s been arrested and is being brought in.

Alfred appears – he’s been looking for Jim all day: Bruce has been abducted.  Harvey groans.  They realise they’ve both been after the Court, and the clone story comes – and yes, why haven’t they talked in - like – forever?  Long story short – Alfred rushes off to fetch the broken crystal owl.

Back in the makeshift prison - Oswald wails: Ed has a knife to his throat.  It’s all a ruse and they escape.

GCPD, where Jim is interrogating Kathryn.  She’s alternately stony faced and smiling poisonously – especially when she tells Jim he knows nothing if he thinks that she runs the Court.

 Alfred brings the owl. Harvey says he can't even do a jigsaw puzzle – so they’ll ask the guy who makes moulds of the faces of murder victims.  He lets slip that Jim is interrogating Kathryn, and Alfred storms in as Harvey chases him – realising his mistake

Oh god no -  not that

(An aside – Harvey’s little moments of comic relief in the background are joy)

Kathryn is scornful at Alfred’s arrival – assuming a good cop/bad cop routine – but is less scornful when Alfred stabs her in the hand.

Meanwhile – Barnes has arrived outside.  Harvey hears the commotion, and goes to see what’s happening.

In the interrogation room, Kathryn writhes in pain.  Jim tells Alfred that’s enough – but he twists the blade, and Jim remonstrates again. When Harvey returns, he separates Jim and Alfred.  They head out – Kathryn at gunpoint.

You all corrupted this house with weakness and compromise.  This place was a church to me!

Kathryn calls Barnes for help.  Jim tells him they will take him in.  Barnes is livid.

You dare threaten me!  You destroyed the thing I care most about and -  for that - the sentence is death.

A fight ensures Barnes knocks Jim to the floor, and easily takes out Harvey and Alfred.  Kathryn screams at him – demanding protection – and oh my God I was not expecting the decapitation

Barnes tells Jim it’s fitting he should die here – a demonstration that no-one will escape sentence.  Jim turns and blows his hand off with a shotgun. Barnes screams that he will face judgment.  Jim tells him

This place is a church - mine.

He stands alone in the wreckage

 An alley, where Ed and Oswald emerge through a metal door, and face off – their 5 hour truce in place before they can attempt to kill each other again.

Ed smugly informs Oswald that Barbara runs the underworld and that they have the gangs of Gotham at his back - while Oswald only has himself - and this, this is where the flimsy plotting and world building really starts to become intrusive for me.

Barbara, Tabitha, and Butch murdering key family members like they did would have caused a turf war. A turf war that - really - I'm not remotely convinced they would have won.  Let's consider their respective c.vs:

Barbara has about 5 minutes of experience in the crime world and a reputation for insanity. Tabitha has a reputation for cruelty - but no real background in the underworld.  If anything, you can imagine them being dismissed as 'poor little rich girls', playing at crime.  Butch is known as an eternal second fiddle and worse - in the mindset of Gotham's gangs - second fiddle to a woman, a 'freakish little man', and then two women who don't even have Fish's experience or clout.

As for Ed, he's flashy, conspicuous, and erratic.  He has a compulsive need for the attention that organised criminals would strive to avoid. Gangs would see him as a liability. They're also not going to take kindly to his obvious contempt for anyone he deems less intelligent than himself - which is everyone.

So - the notion that Barbara and co apparently rule the underworld with an iron grip is just chronically unconvincing to me.  Even if you hypothesize that they murdered every member of the old families - we saw the younger set of gangsters at Oswald's meeting early in season two, who seemed to enjoy the prosperity and stability his brief reign had brought. They apparently just decided to do as they were told?  Why? Because Tabitha has a whip and Barbara has a great wardrobe?  Nope.  Not buying it.

As for telling Oswald that all he has is himself - well, we all know why that comment proves that Ed is much dumber than he'd like to think.  Oswald is tough, resilient and - unlike Ed - knows exactly who he is.

 In the wreckage of GCPD - Jim holds a bandage to his shoulder – eyes wide as Lee walks in.  He asks what she’s doing here.  She asks if he assumed that she came to help, and assures him that she didn’t actually know what had happened, and wouldn’t have helped even if she did.  She says that if Barnes wrecked this place he loved – maybe it’s because he discovered the truth: there’s no justice here, but she – Lee – is willing to pay for what she’s done.

Jim frowns, confused – and asks her what she’s done, but she brushes him off and walks away.  Harvey asks what she wanted – and Jim says he has no clue. They need to find the hiding places,  but who is above Kathryn?

 Bullshit meditation man - that's who – who induces Bruce to finally place the pearls in the safe. Bruce looks pained – like it’s a betrayal – but does it.

Tell me - how do you feel now when you think of your parents’ murder?

I feel - nothing

He tells a nasty story about how the Talons are taken from orphanages and trained like Bruce has been. He orders the Talon in the room to cut off a finger.  They feel no pain but – equally – this leaves their mind pliable, to be moulded by him - just like Bruce’s has been.  His face turns malevolent.  They will destroy the Court, but Bruce will do whatever he says. Bruce agrees – blank faced.

GCPD – where Jim and Harvey stare at the owl map, before calling in the strike force.  Alvarez interrupts them.  Not only is Barnes missing – but someone took the virus sample. Jim is momentarily confused – and then remembers that Lee has the combination.

 Lee sits alone at the dining table.  She holds up the syringe, and injects herself without hesitation.  She breathes fast for a few moments, then her eyes darken, and she smiles.

 You destroyed the thing I care most about and, for that, the sentence is death.

Barnes claims that Jim destroyed his notion of justice and faith in the law and, for that, Jim must die. Ed took away Oswald’s empire and power – his prize and drive since day one, his tribute to his mother’s faith in him, and he tried to take away Oswald’s life and – hard though that life might be – Oswald holds on to it tightly.  For this, Ed must die.  Oswald took Isabella away, and for that Ed deems the sentence to be death.  Selina seeks to kill Bruce2 – both for his attempted murder of her and his role in Bruce’s abduction.  Kathryn took Bruce from Alfred, and Alfred is certainly willing to kill her to get him back.  Jim seeks to destroy the Court because they murdered both his father and uncle, and threaten the city, which he loves.  Lee’s case is more complex.  Jervis has put the idea in her head that she is to blame for everything – and so she sentences her old self to death, infecting herself with the virus – an eye for an eye with Mario’s fate.

I don’t think there’s as much in the way of character development in this epsidoe - they’re largely setting the stage for the finale now.  Motivations are being clarified, and pieces are being put into place.

Sundries. 

Jervis Tetch plays a very long game. 

And still no Victor.

Thoughts?

[theskaldsagas]

Inigo and I finally reached the hold of Haafingar. We made our way down toward Dragon Bridge (after clearing out a bandit fort that had been set up as an ambush point for weary travelers - as we passed I had a bad feeling and tried to avoid them, but then I saw one of the Khajiit caravans getting ambushed and felt I needed to help); turns out there's a nice small town at the crossroads before you reach Dragonbridge - it held a blacksmith, where I sold many of the things I liberated from the bandits that had been weighing me and my horses' saddlebags down. The smith seemed glad of the coin, if not the interruption to his work, which he resumed even despite the pouring rain outside. What a dedicated man, eh?

On the way out of this small town I even discovered a brewery - Frost something-or-other Brewery. They make mead with snowberries which was interesting; Inigo and I needed to get out of the rain and warm ourselves, so we went inside the brewery and even tried some of the mead.

I quite enjoyed it, but Inigo seemed indifferent; it was just alcohol to him it seems.

On the way back out, warmed up and warm-feeling, a woman in the fields answered some of my questions about the mead and tasked me with delivering a small keg of it to Winterhold. Seeing as I'm heading back there after our adventures in the hold of Haafingar, I agreed and placed the keg in my horses' saddlebags, for now. Seems quite fitting to sell something so warming in such a cold place as Winterhold. It will be a nice change of pace when I go back there.

After that we crossed the crossroads and rode through Dragonbridge, where we took a short rest at the inn, the Four Shields. I even decided to perform at the inn, though there were not many patrons in at that hour - spell tomes are expensive and I am in much need of the septims!

After that short stop we rode our horses to Solitude, leaving our mounts at the stables and combined farm - called Katla's Farm. Inigo had to chase after me then because I caught sight of the beautiful view from the docks - and the sight of Solitude itself, up on the rock. I must have run through the docks and across the bridge a few times, just enjoying the view.

Finally we went into the city proper, where we were greeted by an execution.

As a Nord and believer in Talos, but as one that is still a loyal citizen of the Empire - or as loyal as a believer can be, I had mixed feelings on this man Roggvir's death.

In the end, I felt at least I could bear witness and pray to Stendarr for mercy on his soul. After everyone had left the stage of this gruesome sight, I went and retrieved his Talos amulet. I'm not sure what possessed me then, other then that I felt someone who appreciates it's meaning and believes in Talos should have it. That it should not have been disposed of so easily.

After this, Inigo and I went to the notice board by the inn to collect some paying odd jobs to do. We also went by the Bards College, a place both Inigo and I wished to go to and honestly the main reason we came to Solitude.

I also spoke to a local war vet now beggar who asked me to get his helmet back. I said I would see what I could do.

After shopping - and I must say this is one thing Solitude does well, it has many great shops - I stopped in at the clothing shop, one of its only like in Skyrim. I was asked in a not so nice way by one of the High Elf shopkeepers there to model this outfit for Elenwen, current Jarl and possibly future High Queen, of Solitude. If I had not been on my way to the Blue Palace anyway (to speak to Falk Firebeard about some local kidnappings I'd heard of from the notice board) and if I hadn't have looked so wonderful in the outfit I wouldn't have done it. But that's how it was so I did.

I was paid well by the High Elf lady and I received a nice outfit to perform songs in for my trouble.

While I was there I heard tell of some trouble at Wolfskull Cave back by Dragonbridge. It sounded of a magical nature and being the curious type I am about these things, I volunteered to go.

But before that Inigo and I relaxed at the Winking Skeever, the local inn, and I performed for the crowded place in my new outfit. It was wonderful and I was paid well. I seem to slowly be getting better at writing songs, it seems! The crowd really seemed to enjoy it.

After that I enjoyed some of the local Spiced Wine and my dinner and went off to sleep.

The next morning Inigo and I left Solitude to complete some various tasks assigned to us. Of course on the way to Dragonbridge, a Nether Dragon began circling us. That's what I get for leaving so early at 5 am - these things love to use the darkness for cover, after all!

It fell quickly between Inigo, myself, and even a female Mercenary in heavy Orcish armor with a bald head who slung Fireballs at the Dovah with the speed of one long practiced. Quite a sight to behold, that was. Toward the tail end the beast swung toward a hidden Stormcloak camp in the woods by the road, and that was when two of them joined in with arrows and sword and shield to help out. I may have sides in both stances of this civil war, but I must say having two of the fiercest fighters in Skyrim on my side was a good feeling, though one of my kinsmen made his way to Sovngarde during the battle. May his soul enjoy the everlasting celebrations of this fight between soldier and dragon!

After the battle was won, the remaining Stormcloak made his way back to the camp which I took the liberty of following him to. I haven't picked a side yet as I mentioned, so they welcomed me to sell the loot from the dragon to their smith and rest a minute by the fire (I tire easily these days - this is due to a type of magic casting I'm currently studying. It lets me cast spells with no Magicka cost so long as I go into a trance before I sleep and attune myself to certain energies; though this casting gets stronger as my magical talent does, it's still limited to a certain number of times to use it before I tire and must rely on other methods to defend myself. Someday I hope this type of casting can bring my kinsmen back to casting spells again without worry; but first I must master it myself, or retire this method and move on - for now I stick to the latter).

During this interlude I borrowed their Alchemy Table and brewed a few simple health potions and a few more complex magicka poisons - the latter having proven to be most useful in the past against enemy mages, who we would be facing shortly.

At long last I made my way to Wolfskull Cave where I found a strange mix of necromancers and draugr. Some of which even fought each other before I was spotted by either one.

Toward the end I stumbled upon a ritual of sorts - and I could feel in my gut that it was dark magic. Inigo and I defeated the necromancers before they could finish the ritual, but not before I caught a glimpse of a female figure floating above the indoor tower where the mages were gathered. As we were finishing the last of them I heard the figure say, "I will not be bound!" and seemingly dissipate. This of course coincided with the defeat of the mage leading the ritual however, so whether this was the spirit they were attempting to raise refusing to play along or elsewise I'm unsure. I get the feeling this won't be the last I hear of these necromancers nor this spirit..

After exiting Wolfskull Cave, we went down toward the shoreline behind Solitude proper - this was where the kidnapped farmers were last seen. I tracked bloodstains to a cave full of Hagravens and found a note on one of the farmers bodies; apparently the fools were hoping to find treasure in this cave. I say fools because they came unarmored with nothing more than a woodsmans' axe to gain this treasure.

On the way back to Solitude, Inigo and I found the next body - in the middle of the road. I can imagine what happened here was a fight between the two for the "treasure". Still, I found one last note directing them to a cave closer to Morthal than Solitude.

On the way toward Morthal, a snowstorm started up. It was so bad I could hardly see the road in front of me, even with my lantern. I tried to go by foot to see better, but the snow had piled up so much it slowed me down more, so we went on horseback slowly, but carefully.

We were attacked by bandits and wolves - hoping to take us unaware in the storm I assume. Quickly dispatched; we took a break to warm up at the bandits fire and continued onward, but by then the snowstorm had worsened.

I find the road toward Morthal by luck, though that seemed to be the end of said luck. I finally realize we will have to break camp or stumble around blind though, so I search for a flat piece of land - and Frost, my horse, gets lost as well.

We end up so lost that I ride straight into the Temple of Meridia - which I was purposefully avoiding. I've never trusted or liked Daedric princes much and I never intended to take this one back it's beacon.

I know this is our location because Meridia speaks to me in such a way that I can not block out her voice.

Thinking I will return this beacon and be done with the whole thing - and also thinking she lead me here knowing I did not wish to do her bidding - Inigo and I hop off our horses and I go up the steps to her statue.

I place the beacon - only to be teleported up thousands of feet into the sky. I scream for Inigo but he looks on helplessly.

I come face to face with the glowing light that claims Meridia's name and she tells me her task: and lets me know she will kill me if I don't do it. Looking down, I grudgingly agree.

She lets me down unharmed and, after claiming the Word Wall next to her statue, Inigo and I tether the horses and enter the Temple.

As we make our way in, Inigo quips, "I hope the reward is worth it. This is quite a task Meridia has assigned us."

I laughingly agree. May that make it worth our while.

So we fulfill this task and during it we enter onto a platform of sorts that looks down onto the shoreline and trees of Solitude proper. Inigo points out the view and I take a moment to etch it into my mind; he's right, it's beautiful, and so I include it (and some etchings of Inigo and myself of course!) above, with an etching of the inside of the Temple for good measure, where I sat upon one of the thrones with Inigo and we laughed about her holiness.

It helped soothe my ego a bit - and the Herbane's Courage set I received was a nice touch, though I felt sorrow and pity finding a Legionaries' body on that platform. I wish I could have buried him. I left a blue mountain flower as a token of thanks instead.

I fear no Daedric princes. I am just wary of them. This man is a good example as to why - there were no enemies on this platform. What killed him if not Meridia? Who can know the inner workings of princes, after all?

Finally by the skin of our teeth (and the help of those poisons I brewed at the Stormcloak camp as well as a Flame Atronach to burn up his undead minions), we defeated Malkoran - and his shade.

Meridia teleported me out of the Temple after that, and back into the sky, where she tried to convince me to be her Champion.

I refused, but said I'd enjoy the sword.

When I came back down from Her Holiness, that was when I saw she'd teleported me out, but not Inigo. Thankfully we have a spell from a crazy old mage to use for that! So I teleported him myself.

He wasn't thrilled to say the least and asked me where I'd gone - I sighed and with a grimace, pointed to the Statue of Meridia above us. He calmed down after that.

The snowstorm has at least died down some, but not enough to go as far as we need. Inigo and I, pulling out the map, made a plan: we'd stop in at Solitude for the night, update our taskmasters on what had happened, possibly collect coin for some of the completed jobs and make our way onward to finish the rest of them after re-stocking a bit.

So, this is where I leave off - in Solitude, at the Winking Skeever.

Soon enough I will have to dismiss Inigo for a time. I dread to do it, but I need to complete the last task the Greybeards assigned me as Dragonborn and for this I feel I need to do it alone. As Dragonborn.

Inigo has his own destiny.

This is another reason I took us to Haafingar Hold and Solitude; I thought we'd enjoy the Bards' College and some local adventuring before I send him off with that crazy old mage in the mountains for a time.

Though I offered to let Inigo stay at my place or even to take over my Riften house, Honeyside. I rarely use Honeyside now that I have Breezehome; I'd have gladly gifted it to him. After all in an odd way it was with his help I made the coin to buy Honeyside.

But he refused, saying even he needs his space. He said it in his trademark Inigo way, completely non-offensively, but I still was a bit hurt. Not to mention I will worry every second he's with that old hermit mage.

But I suppose he can defend himself, and it won't be for long.

Well, on toward Morthal and a few last tasks in Haafingar Hold before then.

Saga

[ranger747]

Again 3

“Under cover of night, they stole off with this village’s goods. I saw it with mine own eye. They’re up to something, you know?”

Don and Amos took in her claim, only now noticing the black cloth covering her left eye. Or at least where her left eye wold be.

“That’s why we’re here Miss Yvett”, Don replied. “Can you tell us more about yourself? We prefer to get to know who we’re talking with.” It was true. They found that the best procedure was to get to know their interviewee early, so that they could save time down the road.

 It’s possible to discover half way through a conversation that what your partner is talking about not might be all the way true. Sometimes one find themselves talking to what you learn to be a scatterbrain, who have little to no help to offer, even if they did know something. 

Getting to know them quick was a good way to see if what they were going to say was on the up and up. They didn’t always deploy this tactic; only with shady characters like the woman before them.

“I am Yvett,” she said, using a fancier pronunciation that the one they caught from Donna. “My search for concoctions most wicked had led me here. Those Gaols on to something dire.”

Her voice had a sight rasp to it. It was quiet too. Lower than people tend to speak. Don could see why Tony was suspicious of her, if not suspicious everything else about her.

“So your an Alchemy person?” Don asked.

“Yes. Someone needs to further the collective knowledge of that which could kill, but with an innocent front. One of the worst I’ve seen was a tonic that seemed to be a pleasant fruit drink. The man who drank it was a puddle 10 minutes after. It seemed the experimentation in a brewery had gone awry. Solone is a good place for my studies. I found a drink that renders men infertile, you know”

“Oh”, Don replied, not quite sure what to say. Solone was a few days travel from this country, They were sort of intense with their liquor business, always concocting new formulas. Amos recalled a few blurry nights in Solone and got nervous.

“A days travel West from here is a lowly village by the name of Bowshire. The swamps their make some shockingly deadly fumes, I’m lucky to be alive, you know. It’s been a good year for business. I heard they have flammable lakes out East. I can’t imagine the-”

“Wait, why are you here, though” Amos interrupted.

Yvett looked a bit sour at the discontinuation of the talk on her life’s work. “Rumors of explosive rock in the mines in the area. I’ve heard that roaming bands of Gaols like ours tend to take nest in caves. I want to know if they’ve stumbled upon the properties of these minerals. It should be me experimenting with those minerals. I’m a professional, after all”

Don and Amos didn’t doubt that. Withes tended to have a work ethic that took a toll on their personal lives. It could easily defined as an obsession.

“Do you know that the Gaols are based in such caves?” Amos asked.

Yvett shook her head. “However, searches for their place of rest have yielded nothing. The only places not combed yet are caves. The locals are afraid of stumbling upon a Gaol home in the depths. Rightly so. Either way it’s the only possibility. I have my sights set on a cave at the base of the mountain over yonder.” She gestured to a mountain nearby. The only difference Don and Amos could discern from the wealth of other mountains in the country was slightly darker trees.

“The vegetation, wildlife, and soil composition are unlike the rest of this region. This could allude to mean other oddities in that mountains characteristics.”

Don and Amos stared blankly. It was now that they remembered they still had their helmets on. Old habits.

Yvett looked impatient. “Oddities such as minerals not typically found elsewhere. It could be my lead on the explosive stone.”

“Oh.” Amos reacted. “What about the Gaols?”

“I hope they’re not over there”, she responded blandly.

“But you said you were looking for them?” Don asked, confused.

“I said no such thing. I am looking for the mineral. The Gaols could be attracted to that particular mountain, repelled by it, or neither. It only complicates my research. I’ve been stuck here for days, contemplating what to do. 

“I can’t go in if their are Gaols, now can I? What if their was no such mineral to be found, and I die, fruitlessly?” She theorized.

Don puled Amos aside. Yvett took interest in the grass at her feet.

“Let’s check it out. Don said in a low voice.

Amos shrugged.

They returned to where Yvett was. They saw her tying pieces of grass together, and decided to ignore it. “We’ll explore the mountain together.” Don decreed.

Yvett looked up. “It’ll be dangerous, or a waste of our time. It can only be one of these. Are you sure?”

The men nodded. “It’s what we do.” Don replied.

Yvett rolled her eyes. “Let’s go”

“Do you need to prepare?” Amos asked, surprised at her initiative.

“Help me break camp”. She answered.

Don and Amos struggled to help put her stuff away.

“Don’t touch that!” Yvett shouted. Amos was about to pick up what looked like an inconspicuous burlap bag.

Yvett picked it up with care and walked it to the pit in the ground Yvett designated to be her storage. She was spinning the bag like a towel and walking slowly, occasionally stopping, but still spinning. She gently laid it into storage. Amos looked to Don, who was having trouble wiping off black stains from his gauntlets. “That won’t work” she told him bluntly as she approached to peel the purple gooey mass that was spilling onto him from one of the bags tied to a tree branch. She took it and the the back from the tree and dumped them into the hole, scraping off the goo. She looked used to this.

“What will?” Don asked, now handling the jar of black powder he was handling with more care.

“I don’t know yet” Yvett said. It was now that they saw parts of her hands and belongings were stained black. Don started to worry for their expedition.

After packing, Don and Amos convened to see if they needed to stock on any of their own supplies while they were still in town. After taking care of business, the trio made way in the direction of the suspicious mountain.