JoS/Henriette/37th Journal - Summer in Solstheim

Sun's Height, 8th, 4E 203

We arrived at a settlement called Raven Rock around sunrise. The sky was still cloudy, but the wind had died down. I don't know how that works, but it tends to be less windy at night. Why is that? Anyway, the town was quiet, with only a few guardsmen outside, along with some early birds working at the docks. I think this guy was some kind of nobleman, and he was very suspicious of us when we pulled our little stolen boat to the docks. He asked us about our business, wondering why a quartet of young scantily clad preteen girls was traveling alone. After we explained that we were adventurers who had escaped from the pirates and explained that we didn't have any money on us, he offered us some so we could at least get a meal and a roof over our heads.

We took the opportunity and decided to visit the local inn because let's be honest, we really were starving! Well, Frea was, but not me or my girls. We can easily live without proper "mortal" food for quite a long while because our bodies don't really need sustenance in the same way that mortals do, but it never hurts to replenish ourselves. Vitamins, proteins, and what-not still do wonders for us, even if this food may not be as iron-rich as what we prefer to eat.

We also had ourselves a jug full of Sujamma, which kicked us in the head harder than any mead Nords serve in their taverns. The taste? Well, that's for contention. I don't personally have a preference, but all three of my dates are Nords, and they all like mead more. Oh, and don't let the fact that they're little girls fool you. I assure you, little Nord girls enjoy mead and alcohol in general just as much as those hairy adult men who shame us for being "milk-drinkers".

Oh, and the name of that tavern is "The Retching Netch". It's a weird one, one that I didn't even think much of it initially... Then I actually found out what a "Netch" is too. You see, there are these weird, huge flying tentacle monsters flying around here, and they seriously creep me out. I asked the locals about them, and they just laughed at me. Apparently, they're gentle creatures unless provoked. Well, that's a relief... I wouldn't want to be attacked by one…

It's a good thing that place was open even though this town is tiny and probably doesn't get a whole lot of visitors. Then again, this entire island is very sparsely populated... I'm pretty sure that pirates, bandits, reavers, and marauders all outnumber actual law-abiding citizens in this remote little place.

As for the island itself, what kind of place is Solsteim really? In short, a little similar to Skyrim, but with a dose of Morrowind mixed in.

I was actually expecting this island to be more, let's just say, barren. People always talk about how Morrowind was devastated by the eruption of the Red Mountain, about how it's a wasteland because of the volcano still spewing ash, but it's so green and fertile in here, and the flora is so colorful too. I guess it has something to do with death bringing along new life, or maybe the ash is mineral-rich, promoting growth for new plant life. You can actually see the volcano in the distance on the island of Vvardenfell, and it's still smoking as an ominous reminder of what nature can produce.

I'm absolutely over the moon with all the rare ingredients I'm about to find, but not so over the moon about the monsters here. I'm not afraid of bugs, but I have never liked them, and there's a lot of them here. And I mean A LOT. Here they have some hopping crickets, which mostly seem harmless, and some chalk bugs, which I have never seen anywhere before. There are also Cliff Racers here, which is weird. I thought they were hunted to extinction?

Despite what I'm writing, we haven't had much time to explore sadly, as our efforts have mostly been concentrated within the city walls, or "the bulwark". I mostly interviewed the townsfolk alone, but people only gave me very strange and vague answers, nothing concrete. It's always something like, "I've heard that name before, not sure where", something like that. It's super weird and creepy.

Speaking of creepy, I visited the so-called "Earth Stone" on the shore just south of Raven Rock. At least, that's what the locals called it, saying it's one of the five such ancient landmarks scattered across the island. There were people around the stone working on it, building an altar around it or something, and these people were genuinely hypnotized. Like, if those vague answers given us to about Miraak were weird, this was downright creepy. I really had no idea what was even going on in there. There was only one person unaffected by this strange spell near the stone. Well, besides me anyway.

We never got across introducing ourselves sadly, so I have no name to give you, but he was this Dunmer mage wearing some really lavish robes, walking around the ruins, inspecting what the fuck was going on in awe. When he saw me, he obviously asked me if I was also under this spell, describing it as some weird kind of magic he had never encountered before, mumbling to himself about having to study this phenomenon. He was also interested in me in general, or at least my body… I feel like he was eyeing us up and down, and I'm pretty sure that he stared at my butt for way longer than is normal. He's a pedophile, that's for sure. He seemed friendly though, although in a very blunt way, and if you forget about the few sarcastic and snarky remarks he made.

Anyway, this mage was the only one who could tell me anything about Miraak, and he told me that he's been dead for thousands of years! Well, that explains the cultists, I suppose… Maybe they're worshipping him as a deity or something? He didn't tell me who Miraak exactly is, but he talked about some ancient ruins in the heart of the island, which he feels is connected to him, so I should probably start searching there.

It was after this point I reunited with my girls and Frea, who suddenly was really surprised to learn why we had come to Solsteim. Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? We hadn't discussed that up until that point. Surprisingly, she could, when she heard me speak Miraak's name, she could give me more answers.

"Wait, you're looking for Miraak?" she asked. "My father also said that Miraak had returned."

I asked her to clarify, and she told me that Miraak was a Dragon Priest whose history is connected to this island, a Dragon Priest who once rebelled against his dragon overlords. Supposedly he was brought down and destroyed by the dragons, which is why he's supposedly dead, but all this didn't quite add up. I also asked her if she knew anything about Miraak being a Dragonborn, to which she just shook her head and gave me a long, stretched-out "no".

Frea could also tell me more about this "sickness" affecting Solsteim and how it has spread all over the island, and it's part of the reason why she left her own village in the first place. "It has hypnotized so many of our villagers", she said, "and there was nothing my father could do but to erect a barrier to protect what few people we had left inside. He warned me not to go, but I stole his protective amulet and left anyway. When looking for answers, I was kidnapped by the pirates."

Frea also seemed surprised at why it wasn't affecting us when it seemed to be affecting everyone else on the island randomly. We're really not sure why. Whatever the case may be, we at the very least could piece these clues together and figure out that we really should explore the place that weird wizard mentioned. Frea thought this was a good idea and said she'd be happy to work as our guide. We have similar goals here, so it only makes sense. "Besides", she added, with a kind smile on her face, "I owe you girls for saving my ass."

Our final course of business was talking to Glover, although it was me doing most of the talking, not my friends. He said that he appreciates any help he can get because working the forge keeps him busy. Yep, despite being part of the Thieves Guild, he works as the blacksmith. According to him, the place is so poor that making a living by being a thief is almost impossible. In these lands, honest work pays more. Oh, where was I? He was happy to lend us a roof over our heads but also had two pieces of business for me, one regarding an improved bonemold recipe stolen from him by a bandit and another one regarding some ancient Nordic pickaxe stolen by someone else. Ironic, isn't it? Even a member of the Thieves Guild can become a victim of theft. There's no need for me to make any of these tasks my main focus, but I'll keep names and targets in my mind if I happen to come across this stuff.

Tomorrow we'll venture past the bulwark. I'm quite excited to explore this island thoroughly, and so are my two old friends!

Sun's Height, 9th, 4E 203

Yesterday was a long and interesting day, which kicked off with a stroll through the quiet countryside to the mountains towards the north of the island, to a peak of a little mountain on top of which lied Miraak's burial site. It looked like a normal ancient Nord burial from some angles, but it had some strange quirks to it. Its design certainly didn't remind me of anything I'd ever seen before. Remember the odd behavior of those guys at Raven Rock I talked about? We got some more of it here. There were people building something around the burial, and this thing was actually huge. It was like they were restoring the old ruins or something while simultaneously building new parts to it.

Although some of them looked like your common bandits, they didn't pay attention to us. We thought about killing one of them to see how the others would react but eventually thought better of it. It would've been kinda bad if they had snapped out of it at that moment, you see. Amongst the brainwashed folks were also two of the Skaal that Frea recognized, Yrsa and Oslaf. Having seen her own comrades, the people from her own home village like that made her so mad, and she urged us to press forward.

Oh, and we got some solid proof that we are indeed dealing with a Dragonborn here. Like, you don't tend to come across skeletal remains of dragons too often, not unless you travel with me anyway. They most certainly didn't have souls anymore either, since there was nothing left to absorb.

And finally, as we made our way down underground and then inside the ruins, we came across more cultists as well. However, we had no trouble with them.

At first, it looked like just another ordinary Nordic ruin on the inside, but as we delved deeper, we learned that it's actually quite a big place. It was like there was a ruin inside of the ruin. This didn't just use to be a place to bury dead either, but actually a place for living, as evident by a large dining room fit for a king. There were also quite a lot of skeletons and old bodies in cages. Miraak must be quite a sadist, or used to be. Then again, if he's still alive… Whatever…

Its guardians further down the bowels were powerful, and we sure had our work cut out for us. I've gotten much better at handling blades, and I even succeeded with one attack I've been training a long time; a spinning back-hand strike to the neck, has a lot of speed and power behind it and is hard to predict for the enemy. Cut a couple of heads clean off with that. I used to like bows - and I still do love bows - but the adrenaline rush I get from fast-paced combat with daggers is more exhilarating. Still, can't afford to get hit. Luckily, I'm fast and tiny.

We need to take a little breather now, as we're not quite sure how to move forward. There's this absolute minefield of traps ahead, and even I'm getting the heebie-jeebies… Like, I can dodge just about anything, but one move here, and you're dead… I'm not quite sure if these things can be disabled either…

Well, it'll probably be fine, but we'll see…

Sun's Height, 9th, 4E 203

Sure enough, it was fine, but what was ahead didn't go well.

Further down the tunnels, it didn't even feel like we were inside a Nordic burial anymore. There were these strange statues around, more dragon bones, and more importantly, more nasty enemies. We came to this large hallway with stairs leading up, and the biggest horde of Draugr I had ever seen surrounded us from all directions. None of them were particularly strong, as all of them wore nothing but rags and wielded no weapons, and it almost felt like these drooling, howling creatures weren't even trying to kill us to begin with. They were tearing at our armor and attacking us with the sole purpose of stripping us. Had there not been so many of them, it wouldn't have been a problem, but like I said, there were dozens of them! It was a horde! I must've killed at least two dozen of them alone.

We had no idea how many we had killed and how many were left, but one more emerged from the top of the staircase, this one actually wielding heavy armor and weaponry. He attacked us with a shout, and can you guess what kind of Thu'um it was? What if I told you it was a kind of shout that only affected us, but none of the undead we were surrounded by? Yeah, he disarmed us. All of us.

Suddenly unable to defend myself, the damn Draugr overwhelmed me and pushed me to the ground, ripping through my armor with ease. Frea, who relies only on her axes, also found herself in a similar situation, but at least my friends still had their Destruction magic. Well, I had my shout too, and it was my Unrelenting Force shout that actually was able to blow all the damn Draugr off me before they could rape me. Yeah, I have no fucking doubt that was what they were going for, and they came so close to defiling me. By the time I got the hold of my daggers again, I had nothing left to wear.

I challenged the big bad Draugr while my friends were left to fend off what was left of the horde. Somehow, we survived, but not without losing our dignity. Frea and I are stark-naked, and Sofia's and Serana's garments are in tatters. If there's one consolation, it's that we think we're at the end of the road, with no more enemies left to threaten us.

Now, I'm not quite sure what to do next. What we found most certainly isn't Miraak… I'm not quite sure what this is…

It's a dead-end, some kind of strange room with weird Daedric vibes, and in the middle of it lies a pedestal, on top of which is nothing but a book. It's surrounded by a ring of fire burning from underneath the ground, from underneath a dark metal grill. We have all tried to approach it, but we're not sure… It doesn't seem like the fire burns us, but I'm afraid to step in regardless. So are my friends.

One thing we can all agree on is that this book is significant somehow. It looks old, spooky, and it's thick. Really fucking thick. I think I'm gonna touch it and pick it up to see what happens once I've regained my strength.

Sun's Height, 10th, 4E 203

Fortunately, the fire didn't burn me when I walked up to the book, even though the flames touched my skin. It was weird. I could pick up the book and open it to read it for clues… Bad idea.

The words on the pages began to move as soon as I opened the first page. They flew out from the book like a string of web being spat out, transforming into tentacles, grabbing onto my wrists and arms so I couldn't even drop the book. I couldn't look away as the book followed my eyes, and even when I closed my eyes, the words burned through my eyelids. Yet, even though I could understand the language, I couldn't comprehend the words. Soon, they took hold of my entire body, and I felt myself levitating and transported somewhere in a literal blink of an eye.

I arrived in a Daedric realm of some kind, that much I'm sure of. It was such a bizarre place, and Miraak was there, standing in front of me, talking to some creatures that I believe to be his subordinates or something. There were these strange flying tentacle creatures next to him, and he had a dragon too. He sensed my presence rather quickly and was furious about being interrupted. I tried to mount an offense, but he spoke words of power unknown to me, having some strange effect on me. Like, I don't even know what happened. I just stopped on my tracks, almost as if subservient to his will. I snapped back to reality when something massive grabbed onto me from behind with its tentacles, leaving me suspended in the air in their perfect submission.

All this transpired in only about ten seconds from the moment I picked up the book, and I had had no idea what the hell had just happened. He, however, quickly recognized me for what I am: a fellow Dragonborn. This recognition perhaps spared me from whatever he meant to do to me when I appeared in front of him, which would've no doubt been bad for me.

"So, you're the one who defeated Alduin?"

He's been disconnected from our mortal world for a long time, so he didn't really know who or what to expect, but he probably wasn't expecting a little girl. Or… Maybe that's precisely what gave me away? Perhaps he did know about me… It ended up being my saving grace in that situation because he really had the power to kill me or to do whatever he wanted… Yet, he didn't. He set me free. The tentacles that held me in place dropped to the ground, leaving me stunned, and he called on his minions to send me back to where I came from.

It was like he was in a rush to have me gone or something. He just told me to wait for me in the mortal world, for he would soon return to Tamriel himself before finally banishing me from his realm. I just reappeared from where I picked the book from, and then, the whole thing was over as quickly as it started.

The book's still with me, but I don't even dare to look at it, much less open it. It feels dangerous and stupid to even carry it, but… It may be important to hold on to… After all, I can use this to travel to where Miraak is, whatever that place may be…

The real question is, can he travel to the mortal world with this book? Surely not…? But if that is the case, maybe unearthing this book was a terrible mistake… Yet, at the same time… When he DID tell me to wait for him, he sounded almost friendly to me… And he spared me too… Yet, the cultists wanted to kill me, and probably still too…

It all happened so fast, and I'm still trying to process everything that just happened. Frea then took me to her village to talk to her father, Storn, the leader of the Skaal, so at least I'm safe here, along with my friends. We talked about our experiences as well as the book I found. He confirmed a lot of what we already knew about Miraak, about him being Dragonborn like me, and he also suspected that I am Dragonborn as well. I had no reason to hide this fact.

I'm not sure if he genuinely trusts me, and I'm not even sure where my own allegiance lies yet in this tale, but I feel like I have a reason to be here.

We may not have been able to solve what's going on in here, as the sickness - or whatever you call it - still has this island under its spell. Sure, we learned some things, but now we just have more questions. For what it's worth, I told Storn that I would at least try to help the Skaal, and by proxy, everyone else on this island too. Where should we start? Well, that's the problem. Storn's theory is that the same power that Miraak wields to his advantage on this island to control its residents could maybe be used against him as well. "You're a Dragonborn like him", he said, "so maybe you can learn such a power too."

However, there are two problems: one, this is simply a theory on his part, and two, he doesn't really even know where such a power could be located in. No doubt there are some ancient sites of the Dragon Cult scattered across this island, and no doubt many words of power could be discovered in those places. Where to start searching? Storn admits he doesn't have a clue. How reassuring…

Well, either way, I suppose I should at least learn these words of power native to this island. Even if they may not prove helpful in this quest, I do like the idea of becoming more powerful.

That's tomorrow though, because there's a huge storm brewing outside. Oh, and it's late too. Or early, however you put it. The night had already long fallen when we made it out from the temple, and we must've woken up half the village when we arrived. Oh, but now I'm just rambling. Time to put my thoughts to rest and cuddle up under the blanket with the girls. Our bodies will keep each other warm for sure. It may be midsummer, but these snow-covered mountails are always cold regardless.

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