Skyrim - Blood on the Ice

Windhelm is its usual cold, blowy self. I enter the town without provocation. I find my way to Oengul War-Anvil, and give him the sword I retrieved from Cronvangr cave. He is much relieved, and happy for the return of Queen Freydis's blade, gifting me gold. I use this gold to restock my quiver with more arrows. I visit some of the other shop keepers, and we trade items.

Walking through the city, I stumble upon a gruesome sight just outside the Hall of the Dead - a woman, murdered and bloody. The people around mutter words of shock, but the guard on duty seems unperturbed and asks me to move along. Being the inquisitive type, I grill them for information.

Apparently there have been a spate of murders of young women in Windhelm - it seems that the alleged benefactor of Skyrim is unable to keep his own hold safe. The guards are too busy to properly investigate, so ask me, Hedron the Collider to look into things for them. Their thoughts obviously being that an adventurer should have some keen forensic skills.

It doesn't take much to work out what went on with this murder. All I have to do is follow the trail of blood (of which there is a lot) from the corpse back to its origin - a mansion called Hjerim. The front door is locked, so I ask a guard about it. The place belonged to a woman who was the first victim in this bizarre case. Naturally her grieving mother is keen for answers, and gives me the key to gain entry.

I rummage around the place, looking for answers. Stenvar remains silent throughout, though does stumble over some empty mead bottles. I tut and roll my eyes, his clumsiness will result in some serious problems in the future I feel. I find a chest with some pamphlets titled Beware the Butcher! and immediately think this may be useful.

I also find the entranceway to a hidden chamber at the back of a wardrobe. The chamber is filled with bones, blooded remains, and embalming tools similar to something that may have been used to kill the woman. The state of the room has no effect on my warrior sensibilities - I have too often been the cause of similar. I find another Butcher note, as well as an amulet. I leave the place.

Speaking with a guard about the pamphlets, it is revealed that a local lady is printing them as a means of warning the population against the killer. Viola Giordano tells me that the only person she'd suspect of murdering anyone is the mage in the Palace of Kings, Wuunferth, and she suspects him of necromancy. From the layout of bones I've seen, I tend to agree.

I head to the Palace to confront the mage.

Skyrim - Cronvangr Cave

The entranceway to Cronvangr Cave is surrounded by cobwebs and the empty egg husks of frostspiders. This suggests to my trained eye that there may be spiders within the cave. Neither I nor Stenvar have any fear of the eight-legged variety, so venture forth into the opening of the rockface.

Sure enough the first cavern I reach is filled with the things, which I slay with ease. They spit poison as I approach, but I merely wipe this away and drive my sword into their chitinous carapaces. I see the entrance to an ante-chamber across the cavern, which seems empty at first until I spot a rock doorway. I locate the button to activate it and it slides down into the floor.

Beyond lies a tighter series of corridors, supported by wooden structures, and then a house built in the middle of a large cavern. It is obvious to me that some form of inhabitant other than spiders dwell here, so it comes as no surprise to find vampires. The first of them sits at a desk, reading. I dip an arrow in some of the frostspider venom I gathered and fire it across the room into her head.

This is not the last of the gore I'll see, for further on I find large amounts of blood and viscera - these vampires are not tidy with their eating. I also find a lot of corpses, and it is while investigating these pile of bodies that another vampire appears. This one is a bit tougher to take down, casting magic at me while I try to slay it with my sword.

Carrying on with my exploration, I emerge into a more open cavern with several walkways leading down to a pool of water at the bottom. More spiders live here, and Stenvar assists me in arrowing them from afar. The cold from the pool below drifts up, and he comments to me that he could do with some warm ale.

One of the pathways leads us to a door to Broodlair, a further section of the cave which I would assume is filled with vampire scum. But instead, all I find are spiders both small and large. Webs lie everywhere, requiring me to cut through to gain access to areas. I stumble upon a large chest which is filled with gold, soul gems, and above all, the sword of Queen Freydis. Oengul best be please with this.

We turn around and leave the cave behind, heading west. Crossing the river just outside the cave, we stumble upon the ruined fort of Gallows Rock. Though I approach it with stealth, the Silver Hands atop the walls are ever vigilant, loosing volleys of arrows down at us as we pass. I'll deal with them later, mark my words.

In the meantime, I've got a sword to give to a blacksmith in Windhelm, so head north towards the walls city.

Skyrim - Discovering the Dwemer

The dwemer ruins in front of me are a series of steps working their way up the hillside. A number of open gates line the tops of each, and I ascend them swiftly. This must lead to a larger ruin, one filled with treasures! I push forward, Stenvar barely able to keep up with my breakneck speed.

I find a tower at the top, with a huge bronze double-door filling much of one side. Surely this must hide treasures galore? I rush over to it, my guard down against any possible attack - they would have spotted me by now anyway with my complete lack of stealth.

The door opens easily after a swift bit of lock-picking, and we enter the tower. It seems to be some sort of storeroom, for there is nothing inside but piles of dwarven metal. This is fine by me, for the metal of the dwemer is well renowned for its strength and durability - selling it on will return a handsome bonus. The only trouble I have is the sheer weight of the stuff. I have to pile much of it onto Stenvar, as there is no way even I could carry this lot.

We exit the storeroom and I survey the rest of the hillside. From around the bend of the stairways, I can hear a strange sound, almost like a strangle dragon. I venture forth, and to my amazement find an even greater ruin than the one I just left - the ruins of the ancient dwemer city of Mzulft.

Intricately cut stonework houses large metal tubes, all of which are broken open and venting vast quantities of steam, obviously the sound I had heard emanating forth. From where I stand, a tower is the closest point so I walk over to it in awe at the site of this construction. The door however does not yield, some form of key is required to access this place.

Disappointed, I head back down the hill. We may not get into Mzulft today, but mark my words we'll be back another. I we'll get in.

I head west across the badlands, sulphurous geysers bubbling away as they have done for millions of years. Nothing much bothers us as we walk over the vast expanse, even though we have to skirt close to Steamcrag Camp - the giants and mammoths either don't notice us, or don't care about us. That will be their undoing one of these days.

We reach Convangr Cave. This place had been marked on my map by Oengul War-Anvil as somewhere to look for the sword of Queen Freydis. If I can return it to him, I hope that he may see to a nice discount on his metal-work...