#linjii

I'll have to keep tonight's entry brief, since I'm hiding in a room in an underground keep crawling with necromancers. Will likely be at this all night so I figured I'd take this moment's respite to jot things down.

Stayed at the Jerall View, and this time decided to try out their basement bathhouse, work out some of the stress in the warm water. Met a peculiar Argonian, Bathes-In-Murky-Waters, who was very keen on talking politics with me. Recognized a recruiter's double-talk right away but rolled with it. He left me with a note about making a "real splash" for something revolutionary. Note mentioned a contact in Anvil. Stirrings of rebellion in the Heartland, it seems.

Dropped the conduit (another mage boot) in the Synod conclave and made yet another trip back to Frostcrag, despite my better judgment. Arnor got the teleport working and sent me through as a final test, only because this time it was not him doing the casting and simply regaining the old arcane connection. Sent me with a black soul gem just in case. It worked, and I was back in the conclave in an instant. I told the Synod I'd fixed everything and they'd get no more random teleports.

Still, wanted to keep fostering good relations with them. Told Linjii about necromancers causing them trouble hiding out in Underpall Cave in the Jerall foothills. As this one is always happy to put an end to this vile art, took the rest of the day to trek down the mountain and find them. Stumbled upon a group just outside in a ruin built around an old Oblivion Gate, and shot Frenzy spells into their midst from a ledge. Good times.

Now am actively exploring the cave, which contains a whole underground keep where these necromancers are. Luckily, I may be able to blend in as them, since they all wear robes and masks to hide their faces. Linjii is trying very hard to blend in, hence my ability to actually write this in peace for the moment.

Linjii now understands why teleportation magic is not more widespread in Tamriel after the events of the day.

Arriving in Bruma this morning, I made the decision to check in with the other magical institution in the area first, the local Synod conclave. Of course, the moment I walk into the city I see a pair of Thalmor justiciars in front of the Cathedral of St. Martin, admonishing the local priest, so I was quick to make myself scarce. And then the moment I walk into the conclave, the mages are surprised to find an Ayleid statue suddenly lying in the middle of their lobby where no such thing had been moments before. They blame Linjii, of course.

It took some explaining, but I told them simply that I was a traveling bard looking to get back to Skyrim. These mages do not seem as suspicious of the College of Winterhold as the fellow I met with Burns-His-Scales in Mzulft, but I wanted to keep as low a profile as possible with Thalmor agents about. My usual curiosity kicked in when the mages mentioned several unusual objects had been turning up in strange places around the conclave for the last couple days, likely teleported in, and asked me to look around for some out-of-place things in exchange for information. Feeling curious, I said yes.

One misplaced boot, a black soul gem and a weathered journal about the construction of Frostcrag Spire later, and we were able to piece together the likely source of the items. It made too much sense: the College of Whispers, experimenting with the portal in the Spire, were sending random objects through, no doubt emboldened by my own teleport mishap that brought me to them. Of course, that was also when the zombie appeared.

It was not a real threat, but this one was might have overreacted nonetheless, and was glad to let the other mages handle most of it with well-placed fire magic that quickly turned the walking corpse to ash. Abhorred as I was, I offered to go to the Spire and find out what exactly was going on, mentioning only that I had been by it and seen a restoration team there. I wanted to get to the bottom of things.

Getting back to the Spire was relatively easy this time around, and the people there were surprised I was back already. They were in the midst of admonishing an old man, Arnor, for teleporting a zombie to who-knows-where. This addled human mage is apparently the one who initially reopened the Spire to study it, but only in the last few days had gotten things up and running in the tower's arcane fields: apparently, he's their "teleport expert."

He also calls me "Karland" and talked about missing several memories of years spent doing research in Hammerfell. When I asked him when he had managed to get the teleport fields reactivated, he hemmed and hawed and then told me it was about six days prior, which explains why I got caught in a flux on my way across Tamriel for 4 days. He thanked me for being the inspiration for his renewed study of the portals. Great...

Arnor asked if I might hide an arcane focus point in the Synod conclave, which was originally a guildhall for the old Mages Guild, and would allow for more precise research. He said the tower’s portals once connected to all the guildhalls in Cyrodiil, but he had only managed to get the one for Bruma working again. I agreed, if only to stop him warping random things and to keep things civil between the Synod and the College here. He also offered to whisk me back to Bruma via a more imprecise teleport spell he'd been working on - it would send me to the city, but he could not say where.

Now, Linjii should have known from experience that this was a terrible idea. But foolish Khajiit agreed to it. It was a long and frigid walk back to Bruma, after all.

How I survived the fall I have no idea, but I am never doing that again.

I'll see the Synod in the morning. Right now, trying to write this from the Jerall View Inn, I am constantly disturbed by the off-toned singing of their local bard. Truly terrible.

Someday, an older and wiser Linjii will look back on these entries and probably chuckle at how easily sidetracked his younger self was. But somehow this one doubts much will have changed in that respect.

I did grant myself a grace period of giving Bruma my proper farewells this afternoon. Paid a visit to a little farming village to the east called Applewatch, and gave the locals a hand eliminating a vicious pack of wolves stalking the town. I was still resolved to leave first thing in the morning for Serpent's Trail.

That was before Captain Vilius asked me for a drink and a chat at the Jerall View tonight. I thought it was merely a social call, but as the evening wore on and the captain got deeper into his cups, he started lamenting how he had once made a mistake that led to a comrade dying at the hands of a group called Thorina's Cutters, which are the bandits that I've been running into around the Jeralls. He feels that, with my expertise, I might be the one to finally take down Thorina herself, and Vilius knows where she's hiding.

I was going to tell him I had delayed my return to Skyrim long enough, but the part of me that wants to do good won out. So it looks like I'll be delaying my return trip YET AGAIN to help out a friend.

Well, so much for Thorina and her Cutters. They talk a big game, but an entire band in an underground fort could hardly do anything against one clever Khajiit with some magical knowhow.

And Arniel, I guess. Arniel helped too.

Either I'm getting better (which is most likely) or Captain Vilius really had nothing to worry about. Even after sneaking through the Fort Cutpurse, making the brigands fly into mad rages with my Illusions, I was able to handle Thorina with just Arniel. Big dumb Nord thought her warhammer could smash him, a shade. It passed through him as he shocked her and yet she kept swinging until she fell. It's almost laughable.

Anyway, it'll be a bit of a hike to get back up the mountain to Bruma, as the cave and its fort are tucked away down in the foothills. Luckily, Thorina has a nice enough room for me to rest in, and once I shove her and her accomplices out into the other room, it should feel just cozy and un-morbid enough for me to get some sleep. It's been a long day, but a successful one.

Well, today was certainly eventful. And Linjii's idea worked out after all. Good to know this one's hunches continue to see him through.

That idea, by the way, was getting a snooty Altmer who I had heard complaining about the way he was treated at the Watchman and wanted payback an excuse to do just that. Happy to know someone was on his side, he gave me an Alinor memory-gem that recorded his sordid encounter, and asked me to play it for Captain Vilius as evidence. What followed was a fairly hilarious account of him being subjected to a lewd dance by an Argonian maid at the behest of the Watchman's clientele, which Captain Vilius said was not grounds to arrest anyone for. At the very least, the Captain gave me a letter to help push the innkeeper's hand in my favor.

This also had the unusual bonus of making the Altmer leave Bruma in an angry huff when I gave him the news, and swayed the Watchman's innkeeper a little more to my side. That goodwill and a little pressure forced him to reveal that the thief was trying to fence the stolen artifacts out to impress some bandits in Capstone Cave so he could join their gang.

I didn't find him there, only an abundance of mushrooms and a note on a corpse that turned me to Bruma Caverns. When I returned to Bruma, Vilius was already on the trail, talking to a distressed local about a thief popping out of nowhere in his house - much as the letter said, there was a secret entrance to the caverns under said house via trapdoor.

This all sound pretty ludicrous, doesn't it? It gets better.

Being the master of stealth he is, Linjii went down the passage alone while the Captain arrested the idiot Breton thief that had stolen the artifacts in the first place (he was betrayed by his bandit "friends" the moment the trinkets were out of his hands), and took the artifacts back without a fight. Vilius and the Count of Bruma himself were both very impressed with my work, and have begun calling me a friend of Bruma. Not to mention giving this one some fair coin.

As for my other task, well... That got interesting. Gautierre's Manor, out in the wilds of the Jeralls, was under guard. I had no desire to end anyone's lives, but sneaking in was proving difficult with the door guard. So I hit him from the shadows with a Fear spell and he went panicking inside. I followed, and promptly bumped into a large, confused and angry Orc on the threshold.

I ran, ducked and dodged through the manor until I had enough distance between my persuer to Frenzy him just as my Fear wore off on the other, and while the two fought downstairs, I found a damning letter in Simund's study and made my getaway.

If my ability to help the rebellion so reliably keeps up, I may just become something of a legend in my own homeland as well! Of course, this one would do well to avoid the Thalmor no matter where he goes, but considering what already happened in Winterhold, it is safe to assume I'm already on the Dominion's bad side.

No Thalmor today, however. Khulan once again came to me with word that Jo'ran, a mage like myself, had been found. A group of Argonian pirates operating around the Topal Sea had taken him captive, and we were to travel to their island base and free him. Seeing as we are already pretty far south, the airship took us to our destination in only an hour or two - the remainder of the day was spent perplexing, attacking, and ultimately driving the few pirates left from the island.

It is a strange island, to be sure. The Dwemer seem to have claimed land even this far out, and while my cursory search yielded no underground entrances, their architecture and towers dominate much of the tiny island's landscape. Jo'ran, once freed, agreed that it was worth exploring, and would make a fine base for a branch of the resistance.

The remainder of the day was spent with that in mind, clearing the island and using the airship to help ferry in more Khajiit. Jo'ran is a fine mage (nearly as good as Linjii, in fact), and was impressed to hear about my status in Winterhold. He has a number of apprentices, decent at the arcane arts, and will work on training them on the island. It is a comfort to know that other Khajiit can handle spellcasting in the resistance, because I was almost starting to wonder if my magical talents were the only reason I was brought in.

Maybe it's just my nature as a bard, or maybe I'm just too inquisitive and eager to follow anything remotely curious, but I swear I stumble into all sorts of intrigue just by talking to folks in a city like this.

Getting better acquainted with Bruma was my order of the day. I never got a terribly good look at the city before, even in my caravan days passing through it, so it was nice to simply walk the chilly streets and meet the people who call it home. The winter is not so harsh on this side of the Jeralls, meaning I could dress to impress rather than to keep warm. It was a nice change of pace. This one is glad he had the foresight to bring his fine clothes with him, and it does look good with the addition of a Colovian fur hood.

And what attention that got! Cyrodiil is not an odd place to see Khajiit, but it seemed I was turning heads left and right as I asked questions about routes back to Skyrim. No luck in that respect, but as always, everyone here recognizes a bold, handsome hero when they see one, and more than a few asked me for help. It has gotten to the point where a short checklist might help illustrate my dilemma a little better:

- A Dunmer woman beseeches me to help recover a stolen heirloom from some thieves doing what thieves do best - holing up in some gods-forsaken cavern somewhere in these icy mountains.

- A small Nord girl asked if I might ask about her missing Imperial father at Fort Pale Pass the next time I got up there (to see if there's been any progress on clearing the avalanche).

- Was asked to look for a missing horse.

- Dumrag the Orc in the sketchy Restful Watchman Inn suspects someone orchestrated the abduction of his wife during a failed mercenary job a year or so ago, and asked if I could do some looking into it.

It was this last one that finally brought me to the surprisingly-open Castle Bruma, where the captain of the guard added to my list of things to keep an eye out for: stolen Akaviri artifacts. As if I didn't have enough to deal with already. Still, getting on the good side of Bruma's nobility is a fine idea if I intend to be here for awhile, so I asked the steward what he might know about said artifacts, as well as the mercenary job that lost Dumrag his wife.

That in itself turned into a lot of questioning of the other castle nobles, peeking at a man's journal for information, and hiding a love letter in a drawer. To go into more detail seems dubious, but I have narrowed down a suspect: Simund Gautierre, a Breton. I have reason to believe he orchestrated the kidnapping, but to what end I have no clue.

My last stop for the night was back to the Restful Watchman, to share my suspicions with Dumrag and to question the innkeeper about if any of his colorful clientele talked about selling Akiviri artifacts. Dumrag asked that I look for final evidence at Simund's estate outside of Bruma. I was this close to telling him to do it himself, but held my tongue: something about this whole thing rang a little too much of that unorthodox marital spat in Mistwatch, and I hope that I'm not just feeling compelled to do this because of my own empathy of pining for a lost love. I'll check to the place out tomorrow.

Going to be writing this a little earlier in the day than I normally do, mainly because I might have found an alternate way back into Skyrim at last.

I got the information from a Legion soldier, strangely. Had this one known Fort Pale Pass's men would have had an answer all along, maybe Linjii would not have gotten into as much trouble as he has.

But I digress. One thing at a time. There is, after all, a very interesting and sordid conclusion to the story of Dumrag the Orc's quest to find his missing wife. When I showed Dumrag the letter this morning, it confirmed everything for him and he charged off toward the manor, Linjii hot on his tail. He wanted revenge, wanted to also know if his wife still lived. This time, there was no negotiating, no clever spells or sneaking around. Dumrag ran in and took those two guards with the fury only an angry Orc can display (though this one did back him up a little bit on impulse once or twice).

When we did find Simund's secret hideaway under a barrel and a trapdoor, we found him and Atul, Dumrag's wife, having a cozy conversation in a hidden room. They were pretty startled when we burst in, and Dumrag was shaken to the core, yelling insults and screaming about betrayal, but... well, lady Orcs probably stray just as much as Khajiit do. I know Isva felt something similar about the prospect of marriage once.

I did convince Dumrag not to do anything rash, simply letting the lovers be, despite how much it hurt him. He listened, thank S'rendarr, and accepted that Atul's love belonged to another before stomping off into the cold. I have not seen him since. Simund will likely give me a wide berth from here on, but seemed grateful that I kept him from being hacked to pieces by an angry, jilted husband. And Atul, she was not very talkative. I can imagine why after all this.

Anyway, with daylight to spare, I decided to check on things at Fort Pale Pass. As I thought, there was still no clearance on the blocked road through, but asking about the missing Harran Iron-Heart is what gave me the insight I wasn't expecting about the hidden route back to Skyrim. Was told Harran's entire platoon had vanished without a trace, suspected to have gone through a cave called Serpent's Trail to deal with incoming Stormcloaks looking to cross the border.

I am outside the entrance to the path even now as I write. I am not sure what I'll find in there, but this one is at least prepared. If I find any evidence of Harran before I reach some other exit, I'll turn around and get it back to the family in Bruma. If not, then I'll carry on and see if it really does allow passage to Skyrim.

---

Well, that was short lived. Barely into the Trail and I find the body of a man in Stormcloak garb tucked dead into a corner. From his journal, I can tell I'd found Harran. He'd defected, along with his squad.

Breaking the news to his wife was my solemn duty. She took it surprisingly well, but I felt it best in this case not to withhold the truth. Paid me a little for my time in thanks regardless.