Back to reality, we stopped back in Riverwood to check up on Delphine, and tell her what we found in the Thalmor embassy. She asked us to help find Esbern in Riften, which probably meant dealing with the Thieves' Guild or the Blackbriars. Unpleasant propects. I returned to the Breezehome Priory to prepare, and recruited Lydia and her Stormcloak boyfriend to accompany me. I figured we might have to kill some lowlifes, a distasteful task that would be hard on the stomach, but it had to be done for the greater good, and more importantly I didn't want that blood on the hands of my fellow Vigilants if it could be avoided.
So we headed out, I made contact with Brynjolf from the guild in Riften, and indeed he confirmed that someone matching Esbern's description had been living in the sewer warrens. We headed down, fighting off a couple ruffians, and found Esbern's secret lair. We convinced him to come back with us to Delphine, and work on re-forming the Blades, but our discussion was interrupted by Thalmor agents! They'd tracked us down and found him! We barely managed to escape with our lives, and fled back to Delphine, who then also fled her home in Riverwood (reasoning that if she stayed, the Thalmor would torch the town to get at her) and we headed out to seek the ruins of the Blades' ancient base in the Reach.
We had to fight off some savage Forsworn along the way, but finally found it! An interesting fort, with lots of fantastic stone carvings inside. They tried to recruit me to their quest for a draconic exterminatus, but I didn't know how I felt about that. Stendarr was silent at my augers. So I resolved to pay a visit to the temple of Akatosh to learn more about the Alduin-Akatosh dichotomy. Were the dragons more daedric, or more divine? I needed to know to decide whether the Blades' cause was as just as the Dawnguard and the Vigil.
I decided to head to the Temple of the Divines in Solitude and maybe then the Mages' College's legendary library in Winterhold. I took Emma by carriage to Windhelm and we hiked north. It was a mistake to leave in the afternoon - it quickly grew cold and I collapsed from hypothermia before we could set up camp for the night! Luckily Emma was able to drag me to a sheltered area build a fire set up camp and saved my life. Next day we continued on more cautiously and reached the small town.
Upon gaining entrance to the college, we were roped in to some of their business. We had to explore some ruins as a condition of acceptance in their intro course, and somehow awoke a draugr behemoth which all the freshman students felled together. Then we found some kind of artifact - the Eye of Magnus they called it.
Next we were sent on an errand by their librarian, Gorbash, who said if we helped him recover some stolen books from a rogue cell of sorcerers, he'd help is track down the Dragon Elder Scroll for Serana. So we headed off to Fellglow Keep northeast of Whiterun.
Upon nearing the keep, a dark shadow passed over us. It was an adult blood dragon circling overhead, slowly descending! We began to sprint towards the keep's outbuildings, hoping to hide from the hunting wyrm... but as we approached we came upon the scene of a melee! A dozen draugr pressed in on a few beleaguered mages - had one of their fell, unsanctioned experiments backfired? They fought valiantly, but could be seen to pale when they noticed a couple of paladins sprinting their way with a dragon in tow!
We hammered the draugr into the anvil of the sorcerers then fled as the dragon thundered down into the fray. It worked! The villains and abominations sapped each other's strength, and we had but to wait, then sweep in and mop up the survivors.
Finally we delved into the keep. The college mages were foolhardy enough with their research, but this rogue cell was downright explicit in its intentions to cavort with daedra and raise the dead! We penetrated to the dungeons, slew some captive vampires they were experimenting on, rescued the misguided mage who'd stolen the books (he'd have to repent later) and slew a few necromancers and elementalists on our way to secure the contraband tomes.
Stopped by the temple of Akatosh on the way back to the college. They were hostile zealots! Guess I could help the Blades in good conscience!
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