Fighting the Forsworn Army

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

Received a letter from Tolfdir via courier today, while he hasn't found a cure for my condition yet he has learned that the spell cast upon me has a limited range and must be done from a pretty high altitude. Given I was in Markarth the best spot would be from the city itself, but since that's too obvious the second best spot would be at Dead Crone Rock which is where I needed to head next. First I managed to finally upgrade all my gear again then with Kharjo in tow we followed the path, right into a wandering bandit chief party. What the hell. There were four of them! All chiefs, no indians. After that fight we ran into a witch and a Shadow Nightingale!? Seems like something really wants to keep me away from this place.

Managed to kill them too then had a bit of peace and quiet until we reached the forsworn camp at the base of Dead Crone Rock. Despite killing the sentries quietly and smoothly the sheer number of opponents here was problematic, but Kharjo and I persevered (mainly using lots of food) and slaying them all. We were in for a surprise at the higher level though, where my missing horse Shadowmere was fighting the Briarheart and his pet troll! WTF. No Idea how the hell that happened, but I'll take any help I can get! After we cleared out the outside we assaulted the tower itself, easily clearing out the few remaining forsworn and reaching the highest point with the Word wall. There I found the tome that had been stolen from the mages college, and after browsing some pages found what was afflicting me. More importantly I found what I needed to cure myself.

Other than a skilled mage (which I'm not), I was going to need bear claws, taproot and a giant's toe - and I already had all except the last. However I knew exactly where to get one - slightly annoyed I had to leave Shadowmere again though, due to the non-iron metals in his saddle (or being, what the heck type of horse is he anyway). We returned back down the road where we were ambushed by a lone wood elf (stupid girl) and then ran into Maiq the Liar. Chatted for a bit then moved on to Karthspire. I knew there was a dead giant there that would be easy pickings. What I didn't know was that all the forsworn had returned to the area, making it a hell of a task getting to it given I was out of arrows. In the end we just had to bolt, grabbing the toe while evading spells and arrows of the defenders then running quickly up into Sky Haven Temple where they refused to follow.

All that's missing is a Scorpion King.

Gyromancing the Stones

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!

Calder and I continued the hunt for the stones, looking through the Markarth and Falkreath areas with no luck. At the Pinewatch bandit place where Dex was previously arrowed to death, Calder also died after being hacked, stabbed, and taking two arrows to the face. Unfortunately the stone there was already gone too so he died for nothing. It was around this point that I noticed Shadowmere was no longer following me, probably due to its old master turning into dust before its eyes.

No matter, next stop was Whiterun where I knew the guards wanted my head. Nice of them to still ask if I'd like to surrender though, and one of them was even so nice as to ask me to stop all the yelling as it was frightening people (i agreed) - just before trying to kill me. Got into the local pub which was quickly being emptied of inhabitants but found Rayna an ex-imperial soldier willing to follow me into battle. She probably was impressed by my Stormcloak killing ability.

After clearing the streets we checked the crypts where we didn't find a stone but instead found fresh coffins for a whole group of familiar names. Always wondered what happened to Uthgerd - turns out she was moved down here awhile ago. Next stop was Dragonsreach itself, so after fighting through more guards we made our way past the slain Jarl Vignar (from my last visit) to his quarters and there waiting for us is Jarl Bossman! He had returned from his exile in Solitude and seemed to now be running the show again, and he was still pissed off from our last meeting. Fought our way past him (a few times) but alas, there was no stone to be found up here either.

A true nord never backs down. Just like Aerys Targaryen?
(art by GoranGligovic)

Luckily the next spot, a keep full of necromancers did have one. Decided to dismiss Rayna back to Whiterun since she was a handy asset to have in that location when I picked up the mage Ralan. Unfortunately he was a complete loser who wouldn't want to go past the entry points of the next few places I explored (including a charrus infested lighthouse) and soon met his end (via friendly fire arrow) against some conjurers in a cave where again - there was no stone.

Replaced him with a barbarian lady named Sunni who showed off her skills by slaying a brash redguard right in the tavern I found her in. With her I found the last two remaining stones and was tasked to retrieve the crown they sat on from a falmer infested cave. The crown was retrieved but Sunni was left floating face down in a pool of water after getting eviscerated by the falmer bastards. Having completed the "end game" for the thieves guild I figured it was time to go get the person who most wanted them dead - Mjoll the Lioness who now resided at Skyhaven Temple.