85. More Dark Brotherhood quests!

I kill Lurbuk in Morthal then head east out of the place getting chased by guards a few of whom I kill. I am heading for Whiterun once again via Labyrathian. I sort all my gear out and buy and sell in Whiterun before heading back to The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. Once there I get the quest to go see Amaund Motierre who is in ruins called Volunruud which is not that far from Whiterun.

It has been quite a while since I have confronted any Draugr and those Deathlords are still pretty tough. I go through the ruins and come across a quest to find ceremonial weapons which will be used to open one of the doors in there. I fill up on gear so I leave and put some in a chest outside before going back to Whiterun for my horse and I sell a load while I am there.

When I get back I find Amaund and he gives me the news that I must kill the Emperor. I take this news back to Astrid but she needs time to think about it and in the mean time she tells me I should go see Delvin Malory who is my thieves guild buddy down in Riften. I walk down to Riften as I have not been down there in quite a while and there are probably lots of ingredients and encounters along the way.

I get there and sort out the business with Delvin then buy another horse and start my journey back. A brief stop at Whiterun then I am off back to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary where something strange happens. When I get inside the whole place seems to be coming apart, from the point of view of the structure and graphics of it. If I go from one room into another I end up falling through “space” and have great difficulty getting back to the rooms I need to. I go back to an earlier save and just go see Astrid in the first room so I don’t have to deal with any of the rest of it for now but I am worried that if it stays this way I will not be able to continue because trying to navigate around the place will become impossible.

I have a mission for now to kill the Bride at a wedding in Solitude so I will go and do that.

84. Dark Brotherhood continued...

355 Hours 48 Minutes, 378814 Gold, Level 57, 212 Creatures Killed, 33 Bunnies.

I hide in the Night mothers chamber and she ends up speaking to me because I am the listener as it happens. She tells me to go and see some boyo but Astid needs time to think about it so she tells me to go get some contracts from Nazir. He has two contracts One is to Kill a vampire and his girlfriend (also a vampire, really!) at Half Moon Mill and the other is at Morthal.

Half Moon Mill is not that far away and it is more or less on the way to Morthal. These two are very easy I cast flame on the Girl as she’s standing outside after dark and then I cast Frost Atronach who’s pretty strong. The male Vampire then comes along and do a fire rune as I run (don’t get to close to them vampires) and another Frost Atronach, job done. I end up veering west for some reason and wind up in a clearing where there are three bandits. I get the first two easy enough but the third is an archer and he’s hitting me hard I keep my distance and wind up running into an arch conjurer who happens to be nearby, he then ends up killing the archer for me but he proves very hard to kill but I get there in the end albeit having used a lot of potions. I wait until light to make sure I have found and looted all the bodies in the area.

While searching around for bodies I get sidetracked very briefly and wind up finding Bannermist tower which is close by, first I know of it is the mistakable phrase “Well ain’t this a surprise?!” I kill two Bandits who leave me over encumbered but I quickly go into my apparel and put on my three pieces of “Carry 42” gear which leave me good to go once more. I begin running now because there is not that much room for anything else. I decide to visit Rorikstead first and least get rid of a few items which are heavy. Then I am off again through the Mountains. I encounter another load of Bandits on the way and am very soon well over my weight once more. Another encounter close to Morthal is quickly avoided because I must go and get rid of all this stuff before killing my quarry and continuing…

83. Catching Cicero out.

I head out for Markarth once more after doing all my routine tasks like buying, selling and storing in Whiterun. I don’t time the trek to Markarth but I would say it takes me under 5 minutes sprinting and walking, makes me wonder what all the fuss was with this journey from the whiners who so love fast travel. Once in Markarth I do what I must then buy and sell and start out for the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. I head a way I have never went before through the mountains and end up at Dushnikh Yal, from the distance I am at I think it’s a Bandit or Forsworn camp and I can see one person standing guard on the Battlements so I fire off an arrow only to find 3 or 4 Orcs coming out to greet me! I kill them pretty easily and when I go inside there are still two of them who don’t attack me working at the Forge.

Out of nowhere come a few Bandits who the Orcs help me kill then I am on my way again sticking to the Mountain route when I chance upon a Forsworn camp just as it is being attacked by some Stormcloak soldiers. I kill the remaining Forsworn and fill up on loot so I have to go back to Markarth to sell a load of it (I leave nothing lying around!)

I continue South after I am done up at Markarth and get attacked by some hunters without provocation, first time that has happened. Then there’s the usual random encounters, some Bears, wolves and out in the Wilds I find a Dog who is alone and has just killed some Skeevers, I heal it and move on. Once back at the Sanctuary Astid asks me to hide in The Night Mothers chamber to find out what Cicero is at. I cannot get rid of Cicero quick enough he has some good Apparel on him.