Tirdas, 20 Heartfire
I stood on the threshold of the Serpent's Bluff ruin, ready to open the door, when I noticed two things that gave me pause. The first was a spriggan head on a stake. Spriggan are not easy to slay.
The second item was a black feather lying on the ground at my feet. Several days earlier we had stumbled upon a dead hagraven at the side of the road, and I knew what their feathers look like. If there were hagravens to be found within the ruin, I was not prepared to meet them. I turned around and strode back up the steps to the top of the bluff. Lydia, ever faithful, didn't question my sudden change of plan.
Someone in Roriksted had told me there was a shrine to Akatosh on top of another bluff on the other side of the hamlet. I made my way to that spot to see the shrine. The bluff afforded a good view of all the surrounding countryside. As I was walking about, I spotted a sabercat in the grass nearby. I crept a little closer and when the cat charged we quickly dispatched it.
The view from the shrine also showed me a giant camp not far below, but giants are usually no trouble unless they are provoked and I decided there was no cause to provoke them. We climbed down and headed north toward the road that runs through the village.
Almost immediately another sabercat lunged at us out of the shrubs. This one had somehow managed to swallow a few gold coins, in addition to having a large quantity of orc-crafted arrows embedded in its body. Perhaps that explains its agressiveness, though sabercats are aggressive under any circumstances. I began to feel a bit sickly afterward, as I hadn't managed to escape its claws. Fortunately I'd had the forethought to purchase some potions of disease-curing some time ago in Whiterun. After I swallowed one I felt instantly improved.
After slaying the second sabercat we nearly stumbled into a second giant camp, but quickly gave it a wide berth and crossed the road to climb up the slope on the opposite side. A third angry sabercat appeared then to join its brethren in whatever afterlife such big cats may enjoy. We followed the road after that, fending off several wolves and a vicious skeever along the way. We met a mercenary and I attempted to persuade her to tell me where she was going in such a hurry, but she was unwilling to say.
When we left the shrine I had intended to head for the Sinkhole mine near the Old Hroldan Inn to find out more about the trouble there. But the road we followed led us away from that direction and I was reluctant to backtrack. We continued on, fighting off a few more wolves. Eventually we passed below a tower set among the overhanging rocks, but I saw no way to reach it.
As we came around a bend just beyond the tower, we stumbled upon several Forsworn attacking a Redguard woman. I rushed forward to her aid, blasting the nearest Forsworn with magical flames. Unfortunately my aim was poor and I burned the Redguard woman as well. When the Forsworn had fallen, the woman turned on me. I lowered my weapons and tried to apologize but she would have none of it. In the end I was obliged to take her life to defend my own.
Then I observed that though there was no sign of other Forsworn, Lydia was still firing her bow at something. To my surprise I realized her target was the woman's horse! I thought this odd until the horse ran out of range of her bow and she stopped shooting; then the animal came galloping back and tried to kick me! I drove it off with flames, but once it was out of range it again returned and attacked me. Lydia and I were forced to subject it to the same fate as its mistress. It's a pity we couldn't have taken it for ourselves. I would never have expected a riding horse to be so fierce.
We found that the woman had evidently had a companion, a Khajit, who now lay dead beside the road along with a cart horse. We gathered up all of their belongings as well as those of the Forsworn and continued our journey. A short while later we met a hunter, but he had no news of anything save what game was available in the area.
I was beginning to think again of heading to the north to find Bilegulch, but the road we followed was shifting off to the east. Finally we left the road to look for a path through the rocks. I couldn't find a way up, but I did discover another unopened dragon mound. While I was standing on the elevated mound, I realized there was a fortress just ahead. I could also hear sounds of someone chopping wood or perhaps wielding a pickaxe somewhere in the distance, though I couldn't determine if the sounds came from the fort or elsewhere. I climbed down from the mound with the intent of heading toward the fort to see if it was occupied. It was growing dark and I didn't want to continue traveling at night if we could find shelter.
The road branched shortly after I made that choice, and I followed it to the west for a short distance just to see where it might lead. I soon found myself overlooking a waterfall. By that time I had to activate my candlelight spell to see, and in its light I couldn't make out what lay across the river.
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