Thanks you too, I mean two! I think the next Kahreem story will be even better.

As we last saw: Sarah Phimm is in a place called Fire Cave, and has been tasked with finding a couple of rare artifacts for Count Hassildor of Skingrad. She has found and entered the cave with a Dunmer man named Jas, and two of her will o'sisp compaions. Sarah and Jas are surprised to find that (so far) there isn't any fire inside of Fire Cave. Matter of fact, the place seems deserted.

Sundas, after midnight, Sun's Height 19, 4th Era Year 5

Days Passed: 85



Deep into darkness, Sarah and Jas stood still, and waited and listened. The place they'd found was certainly labeled as Fire Cave (according to an Imperial-added placard outside the cave's entrance) but so far, they hadn't seen any fire at all, nor anybody, or anything of a threatening nature.

"Phew." said Jas.

"Well, you are the expert here. What shall we do?" Sarah asked.

"Excuse me for breathing a sigh of relief just now. But I was fearing that indeed this place might have more activity. I am glad I was wrong. Adventuring can be nerve-racking, you see. Deadly and dangerous."

"Surely so. This I gathered, believe me."

"And to answer your question Sarah, yes. We press on. Forward, and onward! That is what dungeoneering is all about, you see. We didn't come all the way here for nothing, did we? Always press on, if you can."

"Well, I am in agreement with this," Sarah answered. "Yes, let us continue."

The path ahead was dark, and made an obvious descent. Sarah decided to cast her light spell, while Jas made a small clucking noise after she did so.

"What? Have we something of dispute?"

"Not smart," answered Jas. "The light thing. Your spell. Not smart."

"Well why not?"

"Now if there are any enemies down below, they'll know of our presence long before we approach. Can't you vampires see in the dark?"

"See in the dark? Well, I cannot speak for all of us, but I certainly cannot."

"I see. Well. When does the spell lose its effect?"

"Lose its effect?"

"How long will it last? Thirty seconds? A minute?"

Sarah blushed. "Well I'm afraid it'll last much longer than that. Could be hours before it wanes off."

"Hours?!?

"Look. I cannot see in the dark. And I am afraid. I did not want to go delving off into this cave, understand? We have my two will o'wisps to protect us. We shall be fine."

"Hmph."

The four moved deeper into the cave. Jas told Sarah it'd be best if she crouched down, and moved her feet in more of a tip-toeing sort of manner. Measures like this might keep them from being detected, he explained.

"There's nobody down here, though!" Sarah scream-whispered.

But suddenly, they knew they weren't alone. Up ahead were (what sounded to be) a nest of rats. And also, a very large bonfire was roasting quietly in the next room.

"Heh, finally a bit of fire. So that's how the place gets its name!" Jas joked. "How quaint."

"Just one measly campfire?" Sarah asked. "Well I concur!"



The rats they encountered were not hostile. Sarah's will o'wisps floated along behind her as they entered a rather grand chamber with a high ceiling. Sarah looked at her magical, floating companions for a moment. It was impossible to tell what sort of mood (if any) or emotion these creatures might possess, but even so, Sarah could swear they were bored.

The chamber they were in climbed upwards, to the left and to the right. Sarah chose to climb to the right. She stopped crouching, and stood fully after her climb. There was no reason to keep sneaking around, she'd decided.

"So Jas--?"

But Jas was not there, anymore. Where had he gone? Sarah decided not to wait for him. As a vampire, she'd become more worldly about certain things. Going into strange caves and ruins had become more of an everyday possibility over these past few weeks, especially since such places occasionally offered her shelter from daylight. And this cave didn't seem so bad.

Jas caught up to Sarah as she moved down a corridor of rock.

"Not so bad so far," Sarah said to him.

"Well, perhaps. Some caves of Cyrodiil are packed with nothing but nuisance creatures. This place seems to be--"

That's when they heard it. A booming sort of growl,* coming from deeper within. Sarah and Jas both crouched downward at the sound, and froze in place.

"An ogre," Jas whispered. "Not to worry. I can handle him."

"You can?"

They moved forward and the creature's growls grew louder. Suddenly there it was, just up ahead, and it appeared at first as a very large silhouette. Jas grabbed his magical sword, and rushed toward the giant, while Sarah did the only thing she could at this point, which was touch the thing with her vampiric hands, and drain some of its health away! The two will o'wisps also joined in, going dark and then swarming around the ogre from both sides, making strange, arcane sort of noises. Their magic was pulsating energy all over the room. Sarah could feel what they were doing, and was glad they were her friends, and not the other way around. The ogre howled and growled as he lost his health. Before Sarah knew it the monster was falling to the ground, which caused a huge cloud of cave-dust.

"See? Not so bad of a fight!" Jas beamed at the vampire. He seemed eager. "Come on!"

Up ahead, there were a couple of creatures which walked low. One of them threw a flare spell at Sarah, which she ignored completely, of course.

"Scamps. Hate the things!" Jas told her, before rushing ahead and smashing into them. Again, they didn't last long, and before they knew it, they'd come to a small chamber, which contained just one door.

"After you," Jas told her, holding it open.

"As you wish."



And there it was. Or rather, there they were. Up ahead. Several small fires, dazzling across the cave's floor.

Instinctively, Sarah and Jas crouched again. Moved forward just a few steps. But there were no enemies and so (once again) Sarah put her guard down, and stood fully. Began to walk forward. The cave's temperature increased dramatically as she did so. And there was more smoke in the air, too. Sarah looked behind her, and noticed that both her will o'wisps seemed as though they were done, refusing to go any further. Matter of fact, they left this second portion of the cave, entirely.

And Jas was walking toward Sarah, with a grim look upon his face. "Ahh ... uhh.." he started, unsure.

"What is it? You appear troubled."

"I assumed it was all a ruse," Jas told her. "But the legends are true! This cave is full of fire! Look at it!"

"I can see. 'Tis not so bad though, is it?"

"Ahh." Jas made a small noise in his throat. "I am afraid that even with my standard Dunmer resistance to fire, and my secret amulet, that I cannot withstand what I am seeing up ahead."

"You are giving up?"

"I am sorry. But you'll just have to do this on your own."

"You're leaving?"

"Rrrrun while you can!" said the Dunmer, and he said this seriously. Before Sarah knew it, he was gone.

"I... I cannot believe it! So now what?" she asked herself. "Is this it? Should I press onward?"

Sarah decided that indeed she should. Maybe there might be enemies up ahead, but a cave full of fire was something she just could not resist. The very thought put her mind at ease, and in fact caused her to smile feverishly, She put one foot ahead. And then the other foot. And the other. And the next. As she moved, the cave's temperature began to climb to hearth-levels. It felt like walking into a large, stone oven. Sarah realized that Jas was right. There was no way he could withstand such enormous heat.

But she could. And she would. The feeling of such intensity for Sarah was like candy to a child. As she approached the first set of flames (which were escaping from some small crevices, right out of the ground), she reveled in their heat. But these were mere sparks compared to what was ahead! So she kept going. The fires she found in the next chamber were indeed much greater. She could contain her entire body within them, from head to toe, which pleased and dazzled her.

And that is when she saw them. The atronachs. Two large beings, made entirely of blazing brightness. Sarah had never seen a flame atronach before, although she had heard of them.

"Ah look-see, my friends!" she called. "I am Sarah, and I am of thee essence, as you can see!"

But the atronachs were definitely NOT her friends. Immediately, they began bombing her with dynamic flaming energy. *PSSHKH!!* *PSSSSHEK!!!* ... any ordinary human, elf, or beastfolk would be screaming in pain at this point, but Sarah merely shrugged. And welcomed their heat.

And continued onward. More fires were up ahead. The atronachs did not appreciate Sarah's encroachment into their territory though, and began to attack her physically, slamming her with their firey palms. Though Sarah cried out a couple times as they slammed her, she also noticed that they did not do very much damage. Good thing she had decided to splurge on her golden armor!

She tried to move on, but the atronachs became impatient, and would not give up. She tried scaring them off, by draining some of their health, but this was futile. Finally, she had to use one of her greater vampiric powers to put them down, something she did not want to do to such magnificent creatures.

Deeper within the cave, the fires became even greater. Smoke was also billowing; even Sarah could not really see where she was going. All around, the sound of other atronachs began in the thick clouds of smog and soot. And then.... there they were... the actual fire priests. She heard them calling out before she saw them. "Ohhh, what's the matta?" one of them cried. "Getting tired?" "hah!!!" Weapons were being drawn, the sound of fireballs and flare spells began!! As if they could do anything about the intruder in their midst! Sarah smiled.

By now, there was so much going on, so much misguided, rampant activity, Sarah Phimm cast another spell; one which would temporarily cause her to vanish from sight, so she could continue to search her surroundings in safety. ** The room she was in was large, but eventually she saw that its center was dominated by an ordinary stone altar, similar to the ones Sarah used to see in chapels. As the commotion continued all around, Sarah approached this altar, which was heaped with all sorts of items. Blades, knives, gems and jewels...

But the items which had been placed most obviously were just two: a couple of amulets. Even with everything going on around her, she could see they were magical, and very finely-crafted, and quite old.

As a pair of priests managed to figure where she was standing, they drew their blades, and made their attempts.

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!!!" one of them screamed, while the other one lunged with his weapon.

She was surprised though. It seemed the priests had begun to fight each other, for some reason.. This caused a moment of amusement. Indeed, they had all began to gather in some sort of melee. Some of them were still attempting to attack Sarah, but the bulk were completely ignoring her, and going for what should have been their friends and allies. Sarah saw her chance. She merely grabbed for the first of the two amulets, and then grabbed for the second. She was invisible, after all. Even if they kept on attacking her, if she ran out of the place at full sprint, there's no way they could see where she'd gone. Too much smoke in the air.

But...Sarah didn't have to run. She didn't have to do anything, matter of fact. Suddenly, the fight was over.

"My goodness."

The entire place had gone quiet! Something about the magic within one of the amulets she had grabbed caused all her enemies to perish. Just like that. All of them fell to the ground, as though the amulet she'd snatched up held some sort of magic. Maybe the amulet's magic needed to be imbued within the altar. It was as if they could not exist without this magic.

"And the fires!"

Half the fires were gone, too. More than half. Their roaring was gone. The cave's blinding light had dropped to much lower levels. Though there were a few fires leftover here and there, all of these were smaller essences. And much of the smoke Sarah had blinded her way through was also gone, or at least, diminished.

All alone inside Fire Cave, but without the comforting conditions she'd first experienced, Sarah didn't feel as though she should stay around much longer. The fire priests and their atronachs had fallen, but what if they had some sort of reinforcements, waiting in some other magical plane?

"Oh no. I must leave this place at once!"

Sarah Phimm began to wonder if it were daylinght outside? Hopefully not. But if the sun was out, at least she now had the very amulet which could change this to darker, dimmer weather. Assuming her new amulet worked at all, of course.

-----------------------------------------------------

Fire! .... FIRE!!!

Hmm, a lot of CLANK CLANK CLANK but no GULP GULP GULP?


-Who are you and what have you done to Kahreem??

This one is my favorite story Sarah's story so far, and now the one when she finds the undead being in the Summitmist basement is moved to the 2nd place.

I'm glad you included a video because it allows for better "show" as pics would. There were some huge fires in that cave. I like it that at first the cave seemed ordinary, a few rats, an ogre, but nothing special, but then its core was discovered and Sarah was left on her own to deal with whatever lies ahead.

The amulet of rain works like a charm as does her broom - nice ending.

What a grand adventure! My fave bit was when Sarah encountered the flame atronachs. I had not thought of that before but it is so fitting that her first reaction would be to consider them as friends - sisters of the flame. Too bad they didn't want to play nice. It does bring up the brilliance of Sarah having her own summoned flame atronach though.

...

A nice little peek into Ocato's thinking as the shifty weet bandit carries out a wild goose chase search.

Thanks Lopov and Acadian. Yes, the basement zombie lady was one of my faves too. I think my favorite "all imagination" story was when she was a child, and showed up in the orphanage.

Yes, I think Sarah will try to find a pet flame atronach at some point.

Early morning, Mid-Year 26, 4th Era 434

Days Passed: 304
Days Jailed: 116
Current Bounty: 5

Hours Slept: 3880
Hours Waited: 424
Jokes Told: 241




"Excuse me, but he empire doesn't run itself, you know. Submit a complaint to the usual department and I'm sure someone will take care of it."

"Oh, you are referring to me? No sire, I have no complaints. My name's Moojavi, and I have been hired to have a look at all of your walls here. Looking for secret panels and such. You know, places where THEY could get through, and attack you, the way they attacked Uriel."

The goldenrod sitting before him, High Chancellor Ocato, looks at the Redguard who'd stumbled into White Gold's massive delegatory chambers, and sneers. He doesn't believe the Redguard's story at all. But he also does nothing. He takes no further action. And it's because so many things are out of his hands. He had no idea what it would be like, taking over the throne several months before, and how truly BIG the empire actually is, and how many people would be involved in running it.

He thinks back to the days when he'd first shown in the Imperial City, stepping lithely off his royal mount, surrounded by a barrage of wizards. The crowd had been dressed in grey, in commemoration of the old duffer, except for one fellow who was wearing blue. Ocato had informed the crowd of the Emperor's demise ("It is regret that ....') and then realized he hadn't needed to do this, because that's why everyone was in the streets, wearing grey. Even so, after his speech and some waffling, the crowd had responded with predictably drama. A baby had cried, a woman had screamed, and an old man had groaned.

What had they expected?

All of that is in the past, though. As the Redguard before him gets to work, searching the room's walls for secret panels, all Ocato can do is watch. As High Chancellor, Ocato was in charge of many big things, but not so many little things. Perhaps some other delegate had indeed hired the Redguard who was now walking the chamber's perimeter.

"All done," he calls over. "Nothing here. My magic ring would definitely have detected any anomalies if there were any. And before you ask, my answer is that you are safe. No problems found. There is no way NO WAY they can get you in here. The Mythic Dunmer, or whatever they're called."

Chancellor Ocato glares at the Redguard.

"I won't be expecting any sort of pay at this time, but if you would so kindly see to it that--"

"Just.... LEAVE!"

The Redguard does so, bowing before his greatness before departing.


Early Evening

"Aww fokke!!!"

It is later on, several hours later, when Kahreem reads the Grey Fox's note again.

"I'm supposed to be looking for this stupid 'Old Way' in the Imperial Sewers?"

Yes you are. Kahreem punches the air at all the hours which have been lost so far. And which sewer system is he supposed to be looking in? He's been down there before at least once. The area below the Imperial City is just as vast as the city itself. He begins at the Elven Gardens District's sewer grate. Climbs his way down into darkness. Lights a torch. Bumbles around for a few hours, dealing mostly with rats and mudcrabs.

But then it gets really tough down there. Goblins, hate the things. Several of them. Even one of them is too much for Kahreem. He fights the first one he finds, using poison on his dwarven mace, but Kahreem is no match for this sewer-dweller. Kahreem is also wearing robes. True, the goblin can't see him very well, but after taking a few hits from the goblin's weapon, the Redguard realizes he's going to need to be better fortified if he wants to survive.

He can't just sneak around, he decides. He'll need to light his torch to fokkinge see. And he can't light his torch without alerting those enemies. What to do?

He runs out of the sewers, heading back for the safety of the Elven Gardens District. Once he's aboveground, he decides he'll take a trip to Slash 'n' Smash, The Best Defense, and whatever other weapon and armor shops he knows of. Not that these shops are open. It's well after midnight by now. Bit with 70 lockpicks on his person, "shop closed" doesn't really have much meaning.

He finds a leather shield in Slash 'n' Smash, and not much else he can use. Disappointing. He tries The Best Defense, breaking only one lockpick on this establishment's 4-tumbler lock. Has better luck here. After just five minutes of looting and suiting, he leaves wearing a full suit of steel and iron, helmet included.

"All I need is a better fokkinge shield,' he says, boots clanking.

"I see you're a follower of the Grey Fox too!" says an elven voice, once he's back outside. This voice startles him.

"Wha-- you can see me? ... Oh. It's you, Carwen."

"What?"

"Haven't seen you in awhile. What's been going on here in the Imperial City?"

"Calindil runs a nice place at Mystic Emporium."

"And? ... Uh ... so nobody has been talking about my latest quest, have they?" he asks, expecting some ecstatic, extended answer. Maybe all members of the Thieves Guild are talking about Kahreem, lavishing themselves in partial truths, and partial rumors. Maybe some are jealous, that their underground star hasn't risen as far. Maybe some are ecstatic, that 'one of theirs' has been making supreme progress in the world of the night.

But the Redguard gets nothing for his curiosity. "Shadow hide you," Carwen answers, and walks away.

Kahreem of Weet shrugs, and heads for Stonewall Shields.

Poor Ocato. Sitting there all alone every day and when finally he gets some company it's a Weet bandit

Ha ha yeah, mirocu. You know? Ocato must be all kinds of confused later on too, after he begins to put two and two together, so to speak.

Today's Sarah is rather short (for me, lol). From last we saw, she managed to take the two amulets Count Hassildor wanted from Fire Cave, which killed all of its inhabitants. From there, she spent the day in Cheydinhal (feeding on one of its Better City NPCs after she woke), and then she flew to the Imperial City for a day. Now, she's back to the safety of her manor-home.





Sarah Phimm put down her magical pen, as the sound of footsteps made their approach. By now, Sarah had heard these footsteps many times. Though the maker of these steps was (for Sarah) hard to find, he had a habit of making his housemate quite easy to find.

"You....you are back!"

"That I am," the redhead said warily. "And how fares thee on this fair evening?"

Farnacas made some sort of face, something Sarah could not read. "I see you are wearing one of Hassildor's two amulets," he finally said. "Do you have the other one?"

Sarah nodded, and showed the man the fire-resisting amulet. Though Hassildor had said he'd allow Sarah to keep the rain-causing jewelry, he wanted the fire-resisting piece back. Which was fine with Sarah. Even if she wanted it, what use would she have for something which would help her resist something she could already resist, and fully, at that?

"I am very impressed with your attention to this matter, Sarah. Those fire priests did not stand a chance, eh? 'Tis what I am hearing from your Dunmer companion out in Cheydinhal."

"Oh? He iterated those very words?" Sarah asked, surprised. Should I tell him of the Dunmer's sudden flight from Fire Cave?

"Now, just in case you're wondering, that was a one-time event, Sarah. You won't ever have to do anything else like that, ever again."

"Oh, well I am relieved to hear this! 'Twas not my intention, to become the sudden adventuring type!"

"Now, we do have something else we'd like to involve you with. Something just as important, but in another way."

"Something else?" Sarah said, her tone of voice concerned.

"Oh don't worry," he said with a chuckle. "We're not going to ask you to fly across all of Tamriel, to go fetch us another clutch of rare items."

Sarah gulped.

"But we would like to involve you in this other matter, which as I said, is of just as great an importance."

"I see. And .... and what is it?"

"Well, I think it'd be much more pertinent if we just showed you what it is. Yes, I think that would be best. But we think you'll enjoy what we're going to present to you tonight. Are you ready? Would you like to accompany me up toward the castle once again?"

Sarah nodded, doubtful.

"Oh come on Sarah. I promise you'll be delighted."

"Very well. Let us depart then."

The pair of vampires left Summitmist, and climbed toward the castle. And as Farnacas led her into the count's chambers, Sarah gasped, her eyes going wide. "Noooo!" she cried aloud. She swooned, then looked worriedly at her two evening hosts.

It may be short but it's a cliffhanger for sure...

Sarah's new 'Rainshine' amulet seems just the thing! Oh my, what sort of surprise do we have in the Count's castle?

It is a cliffhanger, yes. And it will be quite the surprise. Even I was shocked, because it wasn't 'revealed' to me until the moment she walked into that room.

But for now, we have to see what my Redguard thief is up to. I'm hoping he can find this "Old Way" whatever it is. Last I saw him though he was struggling. He's Level 13 on Xbox (no playing with the way the world levels) meaning that those goblins he encountered were ridiculously OP. And he's not really a melee character; he's more about stealth. Despite this, those monsters noticed him easily as he snuck into their smelly lair.

He's doing the right thing though. I get the sense he's about to visit Shady Sam for any possible potions & poisons the guy might have. He'll also be visiting the I.C.'s two alchemy shops "after hours," though if he can't find enough potions freestanding on shelves, he'll also make a legitimate stop into these shops so he can stock up and prepare. Good job, Redguard.

Turdas, late afternoon, Mid-Year 27, 3rd Era 434

Days Passed: 305


"Don't be the last to read today's Black Horse Courier!" cries a BHC crier.

"Well hopefully I won't be," Kahreem says, hoping to read something about his latest thefts. He'd managed to break into three of the Market Districts four weapon shops the night before, and stole a significant amount of gear from two of them. He hopes to read about himself, and chuckle. But if this story had become news at all, it was easily getting trumped by some other, greater news.

"Here's a copy of the Black Horse Courier," the crier says, handing Kahreem a copy. "Identity of the Gray Fox revealed."

Kahreem is stunned. Gray Fox's identity has been revealed? How can this be? ... The Redguard is glad at that moment that he's got a helmet on, one which hides most of his face. There's a guard standing nearby; Kahreem doesn't want any sort of mischief to be showing. As he reads BHC's latest leaflet, he is flabbergasted.



"Oh," he mutters, breathing a sigh. "Horse crappe, this is. Well, that would be disastrous, if all this time I've been asking the Fox to take his mask off, and he turned out to be some elf father of mine named Vlanarus."



Kahreem loses interest in the article from that point on. Tosses it upon the ground, walking away. Some news. There is an ordinance against littering in the Imperial City, yet the nearby guard who watches him do so, does not bother to enforce this rule.


"I'm through talking to you!"

Kahreem's first stop is The Main Ingredient. The Breton who runs the place doesn't sell any potions, nor does he have any displayed on his shelves. Breaking into The Main Ingredient will therefore be a waste of time later on. He buys a single bunch of grapes from the man. That is all.

Next, he goes to visit one of his favorite people in the entire Imperial City, Rohssan, proprietor of A Fighting Chance. Kahreem has his dwarven mace firmed up, for better durability and damage. This takes an hour of his time.

His final stop (before visiting Shady Sam) is The Gilded Carafe, but by the time he reaches this shop it is closed. He feels four tumblers within its lock, before a guard walks up to ask him "What is it?" and then even calls Kahreem 'citizen.' Kahreem smiles. Maybe this is how to get respect from those guards he thinks. Man can't tell who I am with this armor on!

Roughly two minutes later, he picks the lock to Gilded Carafe. He's been in here before, and knows the lady who owns this shop keeps lots of potions on display, in hopes of better sales. Tonight it is no different. He walks out of the place with two Cyrodilic Brandies, two poisons, several weak potions (six of which are health-oriented), and several other phials of brew he may, or may not even use. But he takes them anyway, just in case.

Oh, and one apple. He steals one apple. *crunch crunch crunch*

The big, grey blanket over the city begins to lightly rain as he approaches Shady Sam. And this is the only merchant he spends some serious money to: roughly 500 gold. Kahreem still has just under 2,000. He walks from Sam carrying mostly poisons. There doesn't seem enough to deal with all the goblins he'd encountered, though.

As he walks away from Sam, Kahreem gets a hunch. "Those sewers, just across from the white ruins I saw when I got out of prison the first time." He decides to go back to where it all started. He seems to remember there was a door or two which could not be opened, nor had any sort of pickable lock. "Could one of these doors be the Old Way?" he asks Brielus Gawey, the Imperial stablehand just south of Sam.

"I'm Brielus Gawey," answers the stableahand. "And no we don't sell horses. But we do eat well. And the stables are owned by an orc. And you know... orcs and horses."

"Hmm. That's too bad," the Redguard answers. "I was wanting to buy one of your horses. Look at all this gold too. You can see I mean business. Are you sure you don't want to sell me one of these horses?"

"Go bother someone else."

"How about I just borrow one then? Is that okay?"

"You treacherous little filcher, HOW DARE you steal from me?!"

"I'm not stealing though. I offered you money."

Brielus doesn't see it that way though. Kahreem initially accelerates to years' end as he rides away, but then slows as he hears a guard clanking up behind him. "Fokke, might as well get in front of this thing." He slows the chestnut to a walk. Oddly, the guard also slows to a walk. The guard and the horse both walk for several minutes. Kahreem wanting the confrontation to be over, and the guard for some reason not executing the arrest immediately.

"Grrrr... growwwl growl..."

Pretty soon, the guard gets distracted by a wolf, and that's when Kahreem gallops away at full speed, hoping to remember where that fokkinge sewer exit was.



late night, location: Imperial Sewers
Kahreem walks in, boldly clanking his way into goblin territory, without bothering to sneak. He boldly carries a torch. No more bumbling around in darkness.

"rrirr rroww!"

The first goblin he encounters is downed pretty fast. Four blows, and the one with green skin is destroyed. This is good news, and Kahreem's confidence grows. His memory is fastidious; there are two gated doors down here. Unfortunately neither of them can be unlocked.

Kahreem is making progress! Until he finds a door which can't be picked, that is



And yes; an apple. He did take an apple. Good for him!

Looks like even guards are no longer that eager to arrest Kahreem as they used to be.

Years ago when doing this quest, I remembered that finding the Old Way was one my favorite parts because IIRC there are no clues whatsoever as where to find it so you actually have to thoroughly search the sewers to find it.

Yay, looks like getting his dwarven mace Rohsannified has helped Kahreem's combat survivability!

I apologize it's taking so long to get Kahreem's story done, but thanks for comments. Like I told Lopov privately though, I don't want to write any more of his story until I make some sort of headway. I feel like I'm wasting everyone's time. I'll need to do a lot of exploring in those sewers, and I promise I'll write again once he gets to the Old Way area.

For now, here's a rare Lady Saga update. It's a Saga weekend over here, and it's always fun to wander around with her. I made a cool new mod for her game, one which allows her to rent her own home, with an option to buy at any time. I had to study how Bethesda makes rooms rentable per-day (which is way more complex than what I wound up writing, Beth has to always make stuff complex because they're trying to cover all possible ways a gamer can approach things). Unlike Beth, I merely used a timer script to extend this daily rental into an entire month! And here is the story of how it all happened.



Morndas, Sun's Dusk 12, Year 1, 4th Era

It had been several days, and then weeks, and then months, before she had felt that familiar pain. A sadness. As though the world of Mundus held so much more than she could fathom, but which she would never grasp; not as a mortal being, anyway. Why had she come back here? Why had she left her native Valenwood once again, to return to the stiffly-defined confines of Cyrodiil? Had it been for money? No, certainly not. It had been for the adventure. Yes, definitely. She'd gone through all of this before in her mind. She'd wanted to see Cyrodiil, now that the Oblivion Crisis was over. Just because.

The Oblivion Crisis was over, and the main man who'd finished it (a Breton known vaguely as "The Grey Wizard") was reportedly living a comfortable life in the Arcane University. Saga had gotten immensely curious about the state of the land after this event. She'd wondered if Cyrodiil's wilds would be any safer to traverse and explore. Maybe now she'd even find a companion or two to travel with. Her former partner, Erthor, had deserted Saga in Valenwood, months before. Would it be possible to return to Cyrodiil, and maybe find some others who'd also be interested, especially now that the daedra had been rid?

The answer was "yes." Aerin had found several to travel with, from a contract-for-hire Bosmer by the name of Maglir, to an associate from the Mage's Guild who'd refused to tell Saga her name. There were also multiple random Imperial wilderness patrols. And if given the choice, she'd choose these latter Imperials. Maglir was temperamental. Demanded money every few days, which Saga could afford, but Maglir had gotten unruly a couple times, against random, law-abiding citizens. And getting unruly with citizens was not part of Saga's ethical code. Maglir also demanded too much indoor-time, and his heavy armor suit was noisy. The Imperial woodsmen, on the other hand, were better suited to staying outdoors, watching Aerin's horse. It was basically their job to protect and serve, but in wilderness, rather than in some town.

And yes, the land was safer. She had spent several months confirming this. The lack of daedra had seemed to calm a lot of ordinary creatures, as well. Bears, rats, and wolves rarely attacked, for instance. * But now, here in Leyawiin, Saga had arrived, and decided that this walled town was her very favorite of all, now that its population had increased. She had always liked Blackwood's warm climate. The people of Leyawiin included plenty of beasts mixed in with the humans and elves. Perfect. Its Mages Guild focused upon Mysticism, a school Saga preferred. She'd cashed in several of the valuables she'd found over the past few days, and bought a new spell, one which would allow her to detect life for even greater periods of time.

But then, it had all come crashing down. Her sadness returned. She was missing home. But not ready to go back, yet.

Her meandering malaise had gotten interrupted though. After leaving Three Sisters' Inn she'd gotten attacked, right in the middle of town! ** ... A man wearing black and red had come rushing up behind her, and zapped her with a lightning bolt! *pkkkshh!* ... It had happened so fast. A second later, he did it again ... *ploosssh!* And the wood elf from Valenwood was completely unprepared. She hadn't her bow, nor any sort of weapon at all. And nobody else seemed to be reacting!

She could summon a wolf, or several rats at once, but summoning creatures in the middle of society sometimes did not go well. It always seemed as though at least one citizen would try to get in the middle of things, and then mistakenly get attacked. Saga had no choice but to flee. Dashed across the plaza, while her pursuer kept up with his spellcasting! ZAP! Luckily, as Saga rounded a corner, she heard several others had finally reacted. Bows and swords being drawn. The guard was now handling it. Within seconds, her attacker was dead on the ground. She rushed over, to have a look at him.

She cautiously looted his body, just to see who this man might be. Had he just decided to attack her at random? She had no idea. Maybe he'd been contracted to kill her specifically. There was no way to know without knowing who he was, of course.

It was illegal to loot a citizen in this new 4th Era'd Cyrodiil, but this law did not apply to foes. She checked his pockets, and had taken a key, but it was impossible to identify this man from his belongings. One of the guards told her the man's name was Cingor, though. Several hours later, Saga decided to see if Cingor had a home, here in Leyawiin. Turns out, he did!

She found it, walked into his house, a single-floored ranch-styled dwelling. Sat down and had some of Cingor's food, because why not? The fool had tried to kill her, right in the middle of town. And halfway through carving out one of his pumpkins, she decided she really liked the place. But squatting? That was also illegal, now that the Imperials had enforced a slew of new laws. Would it be possible for her to purchase this place though, legitimately? ... She decided to head over to the castle, to suss this out.

"Greetings Bosmer," said Countess Alessia Caro. "How may you address this court?"

"Appropriations, milady. My name is Aerin. I hail from Valenwood. I was of wonderment about one lot upon the town premises, recently vacated by a citizen who'd appeared to have been one of Dagon's minions."

"Well I don't know anything about it," Caro replied, slightly perturbed. "Nor are such things any of my concern. You'll have to speak to my husband, who's sitting right next to me."

Saga did so. And Marius was also clueless about any recently-vacated home, which had formerly been owned by a Mythic Dawn agent. Saga stood surprised. She'd figured this news would be all over town by now.

"Can you verify this from one of the town guards?" Marius asked, glowering, as though he'd anything else to do but enjoy his castle's soothing music. "They'll be able to sign up a writ, explaining any circumstances untoward. Once you've got this writ signed, you can then come back to me."

Within an hour, Saga had gotten it all done. Turns out, it could be purchased, but it could also be rented by-the-month. In between getting the writ signed and returning to Marius, she'd stopped by Cingor's home, to find its lock had already been changed! The key she'd looted from the man's corpse was already useless.

But this was no matter. Its purchase price was 2000 gold, which Saga could eventually afford. But did she really want to own a piece of property? Did she really want to do this? She had never owned anything so grand in her life, other than her horse and her bows.

"I would like to make sussing of rental arrangements, then."

Its rental price she could easily afford. 300 gold a month. Caro's 'rental agent' promised that the ranch's door would be magically unlocked for the next 30 days, after which it would be sealed up again, until she returned and made a repayment. All of which turned out to be true. Saga left the court beaming. Found Cingor's hosue again, approached its door, opened it, and found that most of Cingor's belongings (including wall hangings, shelves, and furniture) had already been removed. But this was okay with Lady Saga, Aerin of Valenwood. She was a minimalist, when it came to living arrangements. She was the sort who had no problem sleeping under a bough of trees, and during a full torrential rainstorm, at that.

Though her sadness did return later on after she'd laid down to rest, it did so without its former persistence. Lady Saga had found her new home.

-------------------

Fatal blow on Cingor (... I really wanted a better action shot than this! Oh well. Kinda hard because it all happened so fast).

Saga finds Cingor's home

And visits the court

Eventually gets what she wants

Her depression is alleviated by grand Cyrodiilic Slumber

Congrats to Aerin! I'm glad she is liking the Leyawiin area.

'She had never owned anything so grand in her life, other than her horse and her bows.' - - Spoken like a true Bosmer!

What a great way to get a home of her own!

Hey who put that watermelon outside Cingor's house...Kahreem of Weet?

Looks like even Saga can talk too much, judging by the Count's reaction.

xx

Last I saw Saga, she was already far outside of Leyawiin. I think she's up in the Imperial City. It'll be nice to return home, for a rather homeless character.

Alright, this is it folks! Sarah's final chapter starts now. It's been an interesting ride with her. When I created her, I had a few vague notions about what her tale would be about. Mostly inspired by Dark Shadows, a TV horror soap opera which meandered for six years, thousands of episodes, most of which went nowhere. Hey, at least my tale actually has an ending!

I made another video too. This one is rather rough (especially at the end) but I'm done! I tried. Not sure if I got the right effect at the end or not. Oh well.


Sun's Dusk 23, 4th Era Year 5

Playtime: 89:08:22
Level: 5

Days Passed: 88
Days as a Vamp: 53
Necks Bitten: 34
Hours Slept: 1086
Hours Waited: 83




"Noooo!" Her voice barely a whisper, yet it was if she were screaming. She swooned, and then tried to get herself together. Looked at her evening hosts. "What... what have you two done?"

Sarah Phimm stood aghast. Unbelieving of the scene before her. Already, she could sense their answer. As she fumbled and pointed, Farnacas Collins and Count Janus Hassildor stared. Farnacas's face, as stern as ever. Hassildor on the other hand held some concern, but also had a quizzical smile. As if whatever they had going on shouldn't be any sort of a shock to the redhead. Inappropriate, in Sarah's estimation.

The three of them stood there for a moment, and then it was Hassildor who finally spoke. "Why hello Sarah. Is everything alright? .... You look distraught."

Sarah pointed toward the slab on the floor, which held the body of a young girl. "Who ... is she?"

Hassildor's face brightened even more. "Hasn't Farnacas explained everything to you? What we are planning to do this evening, here in my quarters?"

"This girl... who is --?"

"Well this girl is your niece, Sarah. She is related to you, through one of Matilde Petit's lineage of family. We've gathered word that Matilde had a sister, and this was one of that sister's granddaughters."

Sarah shuddered. Said nothing in reply.

"We have spent an inordinate amount of time finding her in High Rock. Had some of our minions follow her and capture her, and then we brought her here. We thought you'd be pleased!"

"Pleased? .... You thought I would be pleased."

"We brought you here so that you could have the delightful pleasure of turning your niece, into one of us!" Hassildor said with an amicable smile. "You would be the first to do so, just as Serty turned you in Fort Carmala. Only difference is, of course, my chambers are much more pleasant than that dreadful cave, wouldn't you agree? Your niece, when she awakes, will find herself in a delightful environment, her long-lost aunt at her side, ready to coach her on her new life to come. What do you say?"

Sarah did not answer. Could not answer.

"We thought you'd be pleased. She is completely mortal. Neither I nor Farnacas has even touched her, although we were tempted, of course. Come on now, you will have complete control over her transformation. Wouldn't that be special?"

Again, Sarah did not reply. Instead, she began to back away in horror, making a small, whimpering sort of noise.

"I told you she is not ready for this!" Hassildor turned angrily to Farnacas. "Did I not? ... She is not ready. She's only been a vampire for less than two months!"

"Sarah's as ready as she'll ever be," Farnacas countered. "She is tough. She has proven to be one of us. How dare you usurp my judgment on this matter?"

"Farnacas, your so-called judgment has proven to be way too reckless. Just look at her face! She's practically paralyzed! Your eons of existence have made you vampirically strong, but you have completely lost your sense of what it's like when you were new, and first-turned."

"Well, what do you suppose we do now?" Farnacas grumbled. "Lock them both up? And partake of this lovely lass ourselves? We can do so, you know. We can--"

But at that moment, the count raised his hand, and put two fingers to his lips. "You hear something?" he asked quietly. "Listen. I think I hear somebody coming."

After quieting down for a moment, suddenly they all heard. Loud, clanking footfalls. Heavy armor boots, for sure. Whoever it was, was now running at full sprint. Moving fast. The two men exchanged glances. "I told Shum to clear keep my chambers unoccupied!" the count squeaked. Suddenly, the hallway beyond his bedroom was lit with magical light. A fighter-type came clanking around a far corner, up some stairs, and into the room, dressed in shiny armor. Carrying a shield and a green-colored sword.

"Wha??" the count gasped.

"You STOP right there at once!" the fighter screamed. She glanced at Sarah, who had pulled her cheap iron daggar. Then she headed straight for Farnacas, and leveled him a cold stare.

"Joan of Arkay," Farnacas greeted calmly. "How quaint. You dare defy and interrupt our little ceremony. This is supposed to be private! How did you get in here?"

But Joan ignored the vampire's question. "Sick, heathenish vampiric menaces! I call upon my faith in all the Nine to banish ye to ether! You shalt perish at my sword. Now prepare for thine doom!"

Farnacas laughed. "You think you can bring the Nine into all of this? Pish-posh! All I need are the Three, located right here in this room. Janus, Sarah, get ready for a fight! Are you with me? Now it's three against one, you sodden tin-wearing tramp."

"By the light of the Nine!" Joan cried. "I call upon mine holy agents to bring upon thine demise, vampires. Fall before me, miscreations of yore!"

It took only those words, and Count Janus Hassildor was out of there. Bolted from the room, fast as he could. Farnacas Collins, on the other hand, stayed. Drew his own weapon, straight off his back. Began to smile in a rather predatory manner. This is going to be good! his smile said. But Joan had gotten the initiative. Got some blows in first. Her green-colored sword was made of tempered glass; she'd brought it with her several years before, straight from Morrowind. Farnacas stumbled as the fight ensued. Began swinging his own weapon--a two-handed blade about the length of a large fishing pole, perfectly-weighted and crafted. As a vampire, he knew he'd be safe from ordinary weapons. Even as he knew Joan of Arkay's reputation for the banishment of undead, Farnacas felt confident.

That was his first mistake. Joan's weapon was not ordinary. It was a longsword which did an immense amount of fiery damage to undead. Joan's very forte. The vampire's second mistake? He had neglected once again to wear any armor pieces. Not that this was his fault; he hadn't shown up to this little ceremony expecting a fight.

But now he was embroiled within one. He and Joan danced all over the room, while the count was nowhere to be seen. Sarah began to think perhaps Hassildor had run off to gain the help of his guards. But as Joan swung and parried, and then healed herself in the midst of battle, Hassildor never showed.

A minute or two passed before one of them finally fell. That minute or two felt more like an hour to Sarah, though. She clutched her cheap iron daggar, unsure. If Farnacas had won, there would be no problem for her, personally. Only thing left would be to somehow convince the vampires that her niece should go free.

But Farnacas didn't win. Joan of Arkay did, which meant that perhaps Sarah would be next. Joan stared at the sole living vampire in Hassildor's bedroom. Stared, and weighed some sort of decision.

"No ... no ... I!"

In desperation, Sarah rushed to the body of Farnacas Collins, before Joan could kill the man for good. Sarah felt along one of his pockets, and found the reviving potion which he always kept on his person. Grabbed this potion, and then began trying to figure out a way to pour it down the man's throat as quickly as she could.

"You!" Joan said, as she neared the female vampire. To Sarah's relief, Joan sheathed her sword. "It is you."

"I ... this was not my doing!" Sarah protested. "I.... can you please? My niece..."

"Yes, I know," Joan replied, wiping sweat from her brow. "I know what was to become of your niece. But you are a menace to society. You have been causing terror all over Cyrodiil. Ability to fly, eh? 'Tis what I have been hearing. I have tracked down multiple clues, and finally have you in my sights."

"No, well .... I mean ... yes...."

"And I know who you are. I remember you. We have met before, Sarah. We first met while you, in fact, were still a mortal barmaid, right here in town. And within weeks I saw you again, when I found you within that fort full of vampires."

"Yes, well I..." Sarah felt so sheepish, she could not continue her words. What would be the point?

"I became concerned when you did not show within Chorrol's Chapel of Stendarr. You lied to me, said you would be there. And I have not forgotten this. I know all about you, and what you have become, and how you had no further choice in the matter. I do not blame you."

"You... you do not blame me?"

"But I give you one choice, and one choice only," Joan continued. "Give up your vampiric life, and give into the Nine, or choose the unlife you have been following. Shall you follow me? Or follow them? ... If you follow me, you shall return to the life of a mortal. I shall cleanse your soul with the power of the Nine, and together we shall enter within the Chapel of Julianos, right here in town."

"No... well I mean yes... I mean..."

"Or you may choose to follow them. Upon which I shalt have need to banish thee to thine doom. Right here and now."

"My ... my niece. She is unaffected, I believe s-s-so," Sarah stammered.

"I shall handle your niece. She shall be safe with me, once I gather up some help from town guards. But .... which choice shall be yours, Sarah? Which path will you now follow?"

Sarah Phimm bent her head to the floor. Sadly. And then she boldly raised herself. And gave her answer.



Three days later...

Sarah Phimm, Breton from Skyrim, and legal owner of one immense property there in Skingrad, reentered Two Sisters' Lodge. Straightened up her blouse, and put on her best face. Gathered her courage, and stepped gingerly down the stairs until she saw her former employer. Cleared her throat, and marched forward.

"You again!" grunted the orc. "I thought I told you to never come back in here! Well what do yout want from me now?"

Sarah glanced over to the window, where full sunlight came shining through. She had spent the afternoon basking in this sunlight, marveling in its warmth and vitality, with absolutely no fear of being burnt to an unholy crisp. Her skin had bronzed, not blazed. Already, she was feeling as though she'd been reborn. Perhaps it was this day of sunning which had emboldened Sarah Phimm to return to Two Sisters in the first place. Truth was, returning to Mog was one of the first things she had looked forward to, despite the orc's expected beratings and bickerings.

"Mog, I have returned," Sarah announced confidently. "I have come to retain my job. Might I please have my job back?"

As Mog began to lay into Sarah with a spiteful speech about proper innkeep servitude, a silent ghost of a figure looked down at the scene from up above.

The End

--------------------------------

Sarah returns to the life of a mortal

Wow, Renee, that was a well-done story!

TBH I didn't know what to expect in the final chapter so it was an even more neat surprise to see Joan again. I still recall her first meeting with Sarah. I'm glad Farnacas got what was coming to him - I was never fond of him ever since he appeared in the Summitmist manor for the first time. So the Count squeaked and ran, eh?

Wise of Sarah to choose the path of light at the end though I had my doubts as she was about to decide. Sarah's story was hard to predict at all times so even if Sarah followed the dark path, I wouldn't be surprised.

So it's back to Mog for Sarah Phimm. We can say that the story ends where it all began (in a way). And there's a ghost watching her from above - it's Khul Peppa, right?

What a delightful tale, and congrats on bringing it to such a satisfying win!

The Vampire Slayer Joan of Arkay wins and Sarah survives. A happy end indeed!

Thank you two. Yes, quite a thrilling ending. I knew you'd be surprised.

Am gaming with Kahreem tonight. He found a vampire lair in those sewers and these guys are tough. One of them had a constant light spell going and I was like OH heck yes. This means he's got a magic item which has some sort of light spell on it. It was really important to defeat that guy, because Kahreem sucks at dungeoneering. But the main reason that he sucks at it is because he can't see what he's doing. When you're carrying a weapon, you can't carry a torch anymore.

Anyway, he found some Sunburst Gauntlets. Very awesome to have!

Right now he is in Merchants Inn, having breakfast. Just ascended to Level 14, and I put +3 in Strength (65 now), +4 in Endurance (67), and +2 in Personality (49). Hopefully we find what we're looking for. He's searched almost all of the sewers so far. But there is one area I know he hasn't been yet. He needs to get his armor and his new dwarven warhammer repaired first though.

Brilliant stuff, Renee. Just getting back to Cyrodiil, looking up the old haunts (in-game and online community) and very glad to find that the Weet Bandit is still dispensing chaos. Heading for the end of my favourite quest line too. I hope he'll still find some purpose in life when he's done though (looking forward to that scene in Anvil Castle).

[What am I talking about? Kahreem don't need no stinking 'purpose in life', apart from the acquisition of cheap wine. So he's a great inspiration to us all, I'm sure...]

Aw, thanks so much, t-C!

----------------

Sun's Height 4, 3rd Era 434


Days Passed:
Current Quest: The Ultimate Heist




*clink* *clink* *clink*

Dark and spooky his surroundings are, as underground minions mill by. Kahreem of Weet clinks his way along, moving through dark hallways, chambers, and corridors, all the while tempted to use his torch so he can see where he's going, yet most of the time he doesn't dare. It takes him hours and also days before he finds the place he's looking for, the same place the Grey Fox told him about roughly a week before.

What clues him in are a gathering of chains with skulls hanging from them. These chains drape below the ceiling of one underground passageway, and only one. By the time he sees these chains, he already knows this is something different. The goblins, the few bandits he'd found? None of these scum bothered to hang chains and skulls in their portions of the Imperial Sewers.

The Weet Bandit shudders. And is glad he's been sticking to his calorie-controlled diet as of late; don't want any sort of booming noises coming from his tummy. As he passes by the chains, he nearly walks into a figure with red eyes! It's a vampire! ... Or at least this is what he thinks at first. But after his eyes adjust to even darker surroundings he knows for sure his first guess is right.

He shivers in the dark. Inches away, the menace stalks right by him, while he tries to keep from grabbing the thing by its shoulder. That would be a huge mistake. Who knows if there aren't other vamps nearby. ... Later on after he's passed another of these intelligent undead, his foot kicks into something. He feels along below him, and discovers he is standing right over a fallen body. Cold to the touch. After the vampire moves on to another room, Kahreem risks his torch. The body is a woman, roughly eighty-nine years of age, dressed in clothes which once said "I'm not trying to be too fancy," perhaps. Kahreem pauses a moment before snuffing out his torch. How and why the fooke would she come down here? he wonders. At least I'm wearing some proper gear!

Time moves fast yet slow. He finds the first of three gates. Each of these three are unique from doors, since they don't have any knobs on them. By now though, he knows how to open them, since each gate has its own turn-wheel, hidden in some other location of the sewers. And each turn-wheel causes its corresponding gate to rise upwards, allowing Kahreem to get further underground. Despite the fact that these three gates mysteriously open one-by-one, none of the vampires (and there are plenty of these down here, he notices) get a clue.

"Hmm. Whatever it was, it's gone now," one of them says evenly.

Kahreem sneaks out of the final chamber he is in. Still wearing steel and iron rather than his Dark Brotherhood robes, yet somehow he's managed to get by them all. His Base Ring of Chameleon helps, of course. As he finally gets below a faint light source, he looks down at his arm and realizes he can't see it at all.

"Rats. Always skirting around in the shadows, making me jumpy," the lady-vampire says, making the thief wonder how such a thing could be possible. How can a fokkinge rat make a vampire 'jumpy?'

Across the gated room, which has a slough half-full of water cut down its center, he sneaks into area inhabited by an orc vampire male, and a lady with a Redguard accent. These two pace incessantly, as though they know something isn't right. ... and something isn't. As the two blood-suckers wander about, they fail to notice the soft splash of feet falling into the slough's water. They fail to notice the rhythmic ripples caused by these falling feet, as the Weet Bandit creeps meters away from where they're standing.


Some time later....
He gets by several mudcrabs only because he's moving so slowly. "pttttttoooowww".... these mudcrabs say. Perhaps it's because he's been in the water so long that they don't detect any body heat coming through his shiny steel boots.

Once out of the slough, he can barely see a short bridge which spans the water. Sneaks right over this bridge, and sees a heavily-armored juggernaut down the next corridor. "What's that?" the juggernaut asks. Kehreem does not answer.



He comes to a gate which is locked, and it would be impossible to pick this one, if it weren't for the Imperial Sewer Key he'd found some time before. The gate opens without a word, but it does make a huge *CREAK* as it swings, which causes the heavily-armored monster behind him to suddenly take notice. She closes in suddenly, getting really close to the Redguard. But luckily, she takes no further action. Just stands there. Minutes go by, as he waits for her to fokkinge go away. She eventually does, clanking in her heavy boots right by him.

The next room he finds himself in is so dark, he literally has to feel his way along the walls and floor. Another mudcrab mews somewhere near, somewhere on the stone floor beneath him.

Annoyingly, the armored vampire behind him then enters the room where he is. And begins stalking back and forth, maybe trying to figure out why the gate which has been locked for so long, is now unlocked? Kahreem has no choice but to wait until she leaves the room before he can move on.

The thief does not find a door, but he does find a manhole cover, cut right into the floor. Takes a final look over his shoulder to make sure that vamp-lady is gone. Says a prayer to Nocturnal before he lifts the cover, then dives quickly beneath it.



???
Below the cover is a ladder, which he climbs down gingerly, cursing because he's getting really tired of wearing heavy armor. He risks his new Sunburst Gauntlets, lighting up the space he's now in. Sees that he's merely in some other part of the sewer system. But a placard on the wall indicates that it's the Imperial Palace Sewers. Beneath White Gold Tower, and Green Emperor Way, he surmises. Wonderful. He hears the sound of a grate opening somewhere ahead, and crouches down. Snuffs off his light-source (his new gauntlets) plunging the room into near-darkness again.

He creeps forward, over an underground bridge, and hears voices ahead. The next chamber is lit with torches, which is both good and bad. He moves forward further, and arrives into a two-storied chamber. Looks down and sees a figure below. The figure looks more like a guard than a vampire thankfully, but it also does NOT look like a blind monk. Fokke! He keeps his armor on, just in case. He has no idea where the fokke he is, whether or not this is the Old Way, but it certainly feels as though he's headed in the right direction.

And he is. After passing by the guard, and then wandering into a couple of large, cistern-like areas, he finds himself in a rectangular cell with a couple of mudcrabs in it. He knows by now he is safe. It's been awhile since he's seen any sort of human-type figures, so he removes the shiny, new dwarven warhammer he'd gotten from one of the earlier enemies he'd defeated. Takes this weapon off his back, and becomes unhinged for just a minute or two. Gets his frustration out, deriving great pleasure as he crushes both mudcrabs.

He then stands, and stretches. He's been creeping along now for hours. Feels good to stand and stretch. As he does so, he sees a doorway just beyond the cutaway he's now in.

"Fokke, another dead end."

It is not though. In fact, this is the Old Way; it's got a placard right upon it saying so.



"Hullo? Who's there?" A lady's cry.

Kahreem does not answer. Instead, he turns the door's knob, and enters the Old Way.

Kinda funny how those vampires won't notice a human sneaking inches away from them

Good point, Kahreem!

I see that the Weet bandit is very good at determining the exact age of an "unknown" corpse. I spotted a reference there.

At the end I wasn't sure whether the guard in heavy armor would spot Kahreem or not but I'm glad she didn't. Looks like all those hours of crouching paid off.

Early evening, Evening Star 13, 3rd Era 434



"So many greenskins here...they smell, do they not? Ahdarji won't drink the water, no. The Argonians SWIM in it."

Joan of Arkay has no idea what to make of this comment. Cyrodiil, with its newfound colloquialism, many races, many species getting along. Yet Leyawiin (and to a lesser extent, Bravil and Bruma) have been left behind the times, it seems.

"Well, Ahdarji. Perchance might ye be the sister who cooks? Or the sister who tends to purchasings?"

"Leave me alone!"

With such an answer, Joan can only back away in surprise. Surely, this Khajiit sister cannot be either!

"What do you want?" interrupts the sister standing nearby.

From her, Joan buys dinner. A sandwich of beef and cheese, and some rice as well. Tomorrow's going to be a big day, and it'll be important to have all her strength, for she is preparing to be the one who'd firstly delve into a remote lair known as Deepscorn Hollow. She'd been to the place before weeks ago, but since its entrance seems to be underwater, it would be important to make sure she could breathe as she sinks downward, possibly wearing armor. She'd had to go all the way to Cheydinhal just to buy a special spell to make this happen.

"Tell your friends about me," Shuravi, the sister who runs Three Sisters Inn suggests to Joan.

Joan lets Shuravi know that she will try to do exactly that.


It is raining the next day, but as Joan makes her way through Blackwood on her paint, the rain thankfully clears. After an hour or so though, the clearness goes away and now it is foggy. But at least her journey is quiet. She fears she'll come across at least one troll, but all she and her horse encounter are mudcrabs.

Since it is nearly night when she arrives, she decides to simply sleep outdoors. Even though she's got a light spell nowadays, she assumes it'll be even better if she's got sunlight above the water, before she dives in. She wears a leather armor cuirass, fur boots, but a plain cloth skirt. She'd left her steel greaves behind the day before due to fear of carrying too much weight underwater. She doesn't abandon her shield made of iron though, nor her flaming shortsword.



She casts her new water-breathing spell. And her intuition about lighting is right, as she walks slowly in, then under the breakers of Topal Bay. With sunlight overhead, she actually doesn't even need her light spell. Immediately below her, roughly 20 feet under, lies what looks to be a fallen tree trunk. Could this be the place's entrance? She swims downward (not actually knowing how to swim, but motioning with her arms and legs) and positions herself in front of the 'fallen tree trunk.' Indeed, there is a door just a few feet ahead.

She uses the key she'd gotten in Morrowind for this place. Opens the door. And finds herself inside a cave. And it's dark in here. NOW she needs her light spell! Swims forward. Thankfully, the water ends, and dry land is ahead.

"What is this?"

She finds a journal sitting right upon a stool, right there as the cave's water ends.* Placed there, just in case somebody managed to find this place, they'd be able to read about it immediately.



"Hail Sithis? You shalt be thine true disciple?" Joan asks the nearest wall. "Well, we shall see about such!" Joan of Arkay gathers up her blade and her courage, and venturs further and forth, into Deepscorn Hollow.

Joan ventures deep into the Vile Lair.

This is probably one of the locations which inspired her to become a knight / vampire killer later on and as such, saved Sarah's life.

Good point. Lopov. I also think when I game with Joan in Morrowind that we'll find out more to her background with undead. Arkay, and more. There are individual cults or factions devoted to all the different gods in that game, right?

The thing about that Joan finding Deepscorn Hollow though is that it was really a huge waste of time. She found some good loot in there, but there were no enemies to fight, and she's certainly not going back there to do some evil Daedric bidding, nor is she going to become a vampire. Good news is: at least she's got enough money now to afford the next upgrade into Battlehorn Castle!

And now...

Sun's Height 5, 3rd E 434

Days Passed: 313

Novice Skills: 10
Apprentice Skls: 10
Journeyman Sks: 0
Expert Skills: 0
Master Skills: 1 .... ONE!!!!



All around him, are things that people forget. At one time though, they needed and wanted these things. Deep in the Imperial City sewers Kahreem is, and getting deeper. Perfect place to hide something from society.

He'd passed by many enemies by now: mudcrabs and rats, dogs and bandits, goblins and vampires. And now up ahead, the Redguard sees something shambling along in the distance. A zombie. He hears something else which could be a ghost or a lich. He looks down to his arm, glad to see his magical ring is still having effect.

Piece b piece, he begins to remove all of the armor he's been wearing, and trades these heavy pieces for the much lighter robe and hood which once belonged to a very important person in the Dark Brotherhood. Moves forward. The area of the sewers he's in now are better-lit. He keeps his magical Sunburst Gauntlets though. It's always neat to have nifty magical items, after all.

He passes down some stairs and through a particularly dark corridor. Up ahead is the shambling zombie. He then senses another passage to his left, and can see some sort of floating shape way in the distance. Definitely a lich. Which means he's definitely not going left.

He creeps right by the zombie, which paces back and forth in a greenly-lit chamber. Down a small set of stairs. There's a door ahead, locked by a 4-tumbler. A greater man might turn around he thinks. Deal with the lich instead. I am no greater man, though. He begins to pick the door's lock while the zombie gets curious, and walks over to where Kahreem is working. But it's no ordinary zombie, he notes. It's got some greenish gas puffing off its skin.

The fokkinge zombie just will not go away, now that it senses some body-heat, or whatever it senses. But at least it doesn't attack. Kahreem begins doing something he's never done before: picking a lock with a foul undead standing by his side! He breaks a few picks, but the zombie does not respond. Just stands there. It doesn't seem surprised when all the sudden, the door suddenly opens.

All around him now are the sounds of undead. He passes by another door (locked, 4-tumbler) which sounds as though it's got a ghost right behind it. He also hears the creaky bones of a skeleton. Though the zombie is behind him now, he doesn't dare light his torch, or activate his magical gauntlets. He creeps forward, and something clinks as he passes over it. It's a trap! ... Luckily, it swings a heavy metal morningstar just inches from his arm.

Hours go by as he stalks around. He begins to get comfortable in his new role as an adventurer, and cracks open an ale. Sips it slowly as he moves by dozens of undead. It's a literal undead city down here!

Again, much time goes by as he chooses to go deeper. He finally finds an area which looks as though it's been cut through fine country stone. More cave-like than what he's seen so far. This cave slopes downward, and ends at a door. He risks his Sunburst Gauntlets. And notes that the door's placard says it leads into "the Lost Catacombs."

"Could this be the fokkinge Old Way, for Shinji's sake?"



"Ah wait a moment."

Kahreem decides to go activate his magic gauntlets, goes into his manpurse, and consults the sheet of paper given to him by the Grey Fox. On this sheet of paper is a list. And number three on this list states 'Inside the Old Way is an entrance to the heart of the Imperial Palace.' So it seems he's on the right track. He begins to read aloud then, as though he's in some pub. He forgets that he's dozens of meters below any sort of citizens or civilization. "Savilla's Stone was only able to scry the two most important obstacles. For one of them you will need to use the Boots of Springheel Jak. ... YES! I get to use my magical boots!"

Because of this commotion, he finally attracts the attention of one of the undead. An armored skelton rushes toward him, and begins hacking great lumps with its axe. The Redguard thinks this will be a cinch. He thinks he'll just smash it with his giant, dwarven warhammer in two or three blows. But no. The thing is tough! ... The undead and the nearly-invisible man spar for what seems like nearly an hour, dancing and skipping all over the chamber. Kahreem must use his innate Adrenaline Rush power, and drinks two of the potions he'd stolen from Gilded Carafe. Begins pacing his blows, so that each one uses maximum stamina!

Finally, the thing falls apart.

"Oh blast it!" Though his warhammer is still intact, he can see it's taken a fair share of damage. Which is not good. Fortunately for him, there are no other undead near the vicinity. "No more reading by gauntlet-light," he promises himself. "Well, the good news is that I have found an entrance inside the Old Way, according to this list."

He skulks forward into the catacombs.



It is really dark in here! Almost pitch. And there's another skeleton ahead, but Kahreem confidently slides right by it.

"How the fokke do the adventurers like Lothran and Renee Gade II make a living at this bull crappe? Uch. My kingdom for a Ring of Night Eye."

It doesn't take long before he realizes he is totally fokkinge lost. Cannot find the way he came in, which means he cannot use it as a reference as to which direction he needs to go next. Because, there are always multiple directions to go, it seems. Some of them are better-lit than others. But all of them require moving slow, and feeling along walls to locate any possible hidden switches.

But then "Ha!" Finally he sees it. "That's gotta be it!" ... A room which has its ceiling partially caved-in. Bluish-white flooring looks as though it's fallen from the area above. Kahreem looks up, and sees a chamber which seems better-wrought than the darkened Lost Catacombs. "And the only way to get up into that chamber is with these boots!"

He wastes no time. Puts the boots on. And begins jumping up and down, over and over, cursing that he hasn't got the well-known extra jumping skills that a newly-famous Bosmer named Lady Saga has made famous by now.

Oh come on Kahreem, you can do it! (I'm dying to see what happens when he gets his mitts on the Cowl of Nocturnal. There goes the neighbourhood.)

"How the fokke do the adventurers like Lothran and Renee Gade II make a living at this bull crappe?"

-Well, for one thing they don't read out loud in full light surrounded by undead...


Now jump, Kahreem! Jump for glory!!

Poor Kahreem is much better suited for stealing horses and outrunning Legionaires than dungeon crawling like those famous adventurers do. Harder than it looks, eh, Weet Bandit?

I hope Khareem doesn't take an arrow to the knee while he is down there tussling with the undead!

Was it tmar's Baa that had the ability to jump tall buildings at a single bound? Acrobatics fortified to 1000% or something off the scale? He was always posting pictures of her perched in places mortals should avoid.

I seem to remember it was because that is one of the few that don't cap at 100, and he wanted to see what was possible, only stopping when it got TOO silly. Almost "Scrolls of Icarian Flight" silly.

Thieves Guild is the best of all the main questlines, I think. Bit sad when you get to the end of it, really. But what the heck, there's always something new to steal...

Agreed. It is, ultimately, a love story after all.

Might make a good narrative from the Grey Fox's POV, actually. Assuming he does something with his life apart from waiting for the hero to go fetch, of course. Be a bit dull, though, if he just hangs around other people's houses sighing wistfully for his lost love. He does keep going on about outstaying his welcome...

True enough. I think Buffy was moved by the questline because she identified with the lonely Countess Millona and her missing mate. To help reunite them made the questline for Buffy.

When reading this I thought that the only thing missing right now is Kahreem drinking some cheap wine but then a few paragrahps down he's already sipping an ale.

eit

Suppose that could be Enhanced Interrogation Technique or Engineer In Training, but for Khareem I'll go with Eliminating Idle Time or, especially, Entrepreneurship Intensity Track.

Sorry 'bout that! I had some technical matters as I was gaming last night. I did write up a story though, hopefully I'll be able to post it today.

If Khareem's still stuck, you know, I'm sure no-one here will mind if you give him a little bit of console help. Everyone needs a bit of tcl from time to time. (Groan. Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Nope. Xbox, so no console. Only hardcore gaming goin' on here.



----------

Sun's Height 6, 3rd Era Year 434

Days Passed: 314



Halls and corridors, chambers and alcoves, gates and locking devices. Just when it seems as though it'll never end, when he cannot stand the sound of yet another shambling zombie, Kahreem of Weet comes to a rather expansive room, dark and bluish, which once housed dozens of wickedly-magical Ayelids. But now, this place harbors nobody, nobody of reason, anyways.

He curses yet again. By now, he's so far underground. Really missing the outside world. Really missing civilization. Really missing being an outlaw who gets to live in plain sight of civilization. Missing sunlight. Missing his favorite wine. But he can't go back now. It'd probably take over a day to get to the part when he was under the Market District. And just the thought of those vampires.

Luckily, he seems to be headed in the right direction. The large, bluish room he's in is populated by one skelton and one zombie. The skeleton creaks and the zombie squeaks. There is one door on the far side of the room, which has no knob. He notices there are two push-blocks, each located on opposite sides of the room, but to get to these push-blocks, he must jump to an upper level of stone. Only way to do this? With the Boots of Springheel Jak. After pushing one block, and then moving to the other side of the giant chamber so he can push the other, he returns to the far center of the room, and can see the door-with-no-knob is now open.

But he can't go on any further Not without some rest. And lo, somebody has managed to leave a bedroll up here. Kahreem can't resist just laying down and falling asleep, safe from squeaks and creaks.


An hour or two later, he jumps down from the room's upper level, and creeps across its floor. Through the door he'd opened, which leads down some stairs, and yet another door. But this door has a large, shiny emblem upon it. He risks his torch.

"Hall of Ep... Epochs?"

He gets mildly excited. Expects to open the door and find some sort of ... he doesn't know. Just something different. But on the other side it's all still the same. Another chamber with a zombie shambling around. This time though, at least there is more light to see by. More light, but also still some dark areas for him to sneak through.

The Redguard begins to wonder if the zombies are the blind priests the Grey Fox warned him about?

"Maybe they're blind because they don't have any fokkinge heads."

Yet another gigantic chamber which must have taken ages to construct. How had they done all of this so far underground? Kahreem is pleased to find that this chamber is different though. It's got three staircases on its far side, all in a row. The center set of stairs is the most brightly-lit, yet he can't help but sneak up this set. At the top of the stairs are (what look to be) three statues. Two of these feature warriors in armor, holding weapons. These two warriors stand on either side of the third statue. Kahreem cannot discern what this third statue could be. He creeps all around it, finally lighting his torch so he can see it better. Good thing there aren't any enemies up here.

"Hmm. Some sort of daedric god. I guess."

The 'god' has a very large sword in its hands. Kahreem inspects this entire area for awhile, and realizes there's a lot going on in this room. He can see a couple of glowing jewels halfway across from the staircase he climbed up. He begins to creep toward them (using his Sunburst Gauntlets now without worry) and finds a locked gate. He finds a large block of stone, an entire cubicle, which seems as though it's got multiple zombies encased within it. Kahreem can't get to the glowing jewel things, but as he gets closer, he sees they're not jewels at all; they are those pendant-shaped stones which fire spells at intruders. He had seen these sort of stones when he was younger, still a bandit, still living on the West Weald.

The gate is locked with a 4-tumbler, which he doesn't feel like dealing with, and so this leaves the statue area. He goes back to it, thinking there must be something there. Maybe the Arrow of Extrication fits into some half-hidden slot? But there is nothing.

Back to the gate, which he unlocks after multiple tries. And the next few hours are filled with bungling moments. Back and forth, back and forth. Finally, he locates a push-block whch seems to open a wall far below. Nothing happens back in the statue room though. He eventually finds another push-block, located in an entirely different area of the Halls of Epoch. If there's one thing good about this area, it's the fact that there is plenty of treasure, at least. Lots of gold, scattered here and there in various chests. There are lots of potions too.

The Redguard makes his way all the way back into the statue room, and is pleased to see there's been some progress.

"Yes. Progress. More gold."

The large cube of walls containing the zombies is now gone. Those zombies are all over the cavernous statue room, but this isn't going to be much of a problem, he thinks. It's not like he hadn't already snuck by an entire townful of zombies at this point.

Now that the cubicle-room is gone, he can easily walk over to where those two glowing jewel things are. He spots a trigger right in front of these jewels, a stone plate in the floor which trips as he walks over it. Kahreem braces himself. Maybe walking on this plate will cause the Ayleid jewel things to start zapping him with destructive magic.

"By the love of Nocturnal, I think we've done it."

"ooo-oooo-oooooo" says the nearest shambling mess.

Something happened on the far side of the room, Kahreem notices. The large daedra-looking statue moved. He rushes over to this statue. to find it's still in the same position.

"I know I saw it move."

He moves back to the trigger-plate. Steps on it. Yes, the statue definitely moved. In fact, the entire thing swung around on the far side of the room. He can barely see this.



"Well, now what the fokke?"

He tries dropping the dwarven warhammer he'd been carrying, drops it right on the pressure-plate. Moves away from the plate. But the warhammer doesn't have enough weight, or something. The daedra statue swings back the opposite way. Steps back on it again. Now it swings toward him. He notices something else about it too--there is some sort of bluish-white panel glowing upon its front.

"Maybe time to use this bow, that I had to go back and scavenge off some vampire." *

Kahreem grabs the silver bow off his back. He nocks an ordinary arrow. Aims it. Releases it. And then...

No, zombies aren't the most perceptive of creatures. Well, pretty understandable for the headless guys, I guess.

"Maybe they're blind because they don't have any fokkinge heads." Heh.

But, you know, I always thought there should be pressure plates that work like that, maybe some could be more sensitive than others. I ought to see if it's doable in some way...

Anyway, keep it up Kahreem, not far now...

+1 to Perception.

Bows are just like pencils, whenever you need one, you don't have any.

This certainly is far from Kahreem's normal routine of "borrowing" Cheap Wine and horses and subsequentaly run over the hills and far away. I sure hope he pulls through alright..

Well, Kahreem is certainly growing as a dungeon crawler! Learning how to avoid foes, when to 'risk a torch', and even sorting out vexing puzzles. His packing list skills could use a touch of improvement but, happily, he did manage to locate a bow to support his arrow of extrication.

Thanks for comments folks. Yes let's see if he can get this done!

Oh and Happy Birthday to Skyrim.


He's terrible at dungeoneering oh my gosh! ... Not as bad as Bjorn, but only because Kahreem has managed to score those nifty DB robes, as well as his light-gauntlets and Ring of Shadows.

I just see it as a challenge though. Like .... normally with RG3 or Saga or Joan or one of my others, they've got light spells and night-eye spells / potions to assist them. Detect Life. A wide variety of Illusion, Alteration, etc. With Kahreem it's more like I really have to use my wits as I'm focusing in.

Well, it's a good thing I've done so much archery in Saga's game. I'm pretty good at firing an arrow across an entire room, and in 3rd person at that. Otherwise, we might get stuck at this portion of The Ultimate Heist until Christmas has come and gone!

---------------

Sun's Height 10, 3rd Era 434

Days Passed: 318
Days Jailed: 116

Bounty: 0 (for once).




The arrow is nocked, the bow's string is drawn. Potential energy is then stored within the tension caused by two of the Redguard's fingers. And though he's not very experienced with archery, Kahreem at least has plenty of time to aim. He does so, best he can, and then releases a brown hand from the arrow, while trying to keep the bow steady.

This particular arrow has a shaft made of ash, which came from a tree located just south of Yellow Tick Cave. One of this ash tree's branches had gotten dislodged during one of Cyrodiil's many summery storms, and a particular wood elf bowgirl had eventually come along and selected this branch for its near-perfect mixture of density and water-absorbtion. She had spent a couple hours carving out a few pieces of wood, but she hadn't used all the shafts she had fashioned. Her horse's quivers were all full, this being that time of year when there's a lull of action in those nearby dungeons. Some of the shafts had been sold to a Redguard armorer in Imperial City's Market District, just for a few extra coin.

This Redguard armorer just happened to have a small case full of dwarven ores, which she melted down and then fashioned into bow tips, using her long-honed skills at the grinding wheel. Sparks flying as the tips got sharpened. These bow tips were then secured with magical wax, to the perfectly-weighted shafts the bowgirl had sold the Redguard armorer. This fletching had occurred roughly a month before Kahreem last saw the Grey Fox. A peculiar-looking man with red eyes then bought this arrow (along with a quiver-full of others) one night just before the armorer's shop was to close.

But the peculiar man with red eyes hadn't used all the arrows he'd bought. He had taken them with him as he'd gone looking for prey that night, but this particular arrow had not been used. Instead, it had been stored away in a barrel deep beneath the Imperial City. It would get its day of reckoning. But this 'day of reckoning,' when it had come, had been owned not by the red-eyed man, but by a bronze-skinned man. The bronze-skinned man had come along, and not only killed the red-eyed man, but he'd also managed to locate the barrel where this man had stored the arrow, along with six others just like it.

And now, the arrow with the golden tip flies across the main portion of the Hall of Epochs, potential energy transformed into kinetic energy ....


... and misses its target, striking an area too low, and too far to the left...

"FOKKE!"

... but at least Kahreem managed to hit the statute itself. This was clear. He could see a little puff of dust plume out from where the arrow (which had been sold to a vampire by Rohssan {proprietor of A Fighting Chance}, who had bought its ash-hewn shaft from a bowgirl with bright blonde hair) had struck.

"Must aim a little higher."

The Redguard had taken a few lessons long ago on how to use a bow, but these lessons had been just that: long ago. During his days as a bandit, somewhere on the West Weald. Over time, Kahreem had come to prefer blunt pieces, like clubs and maces, instead of long-distance weaponry.

"A little higher, and to the right."

*TWIP!* No good. Too low. The second arrow also seems to do nothing, but it does hit the statue a little higher. He can see where he needs to aim a little better now. It's that pale blue area on the statue's front side.

"Ooo-ooo-ooo.... oooooooooo .... ooo-ooo-ooo."

NOT NOW! Kahreem thinks, as one of the hall's zombies gets too close, and nearly bumps into him. A skeleton with dead eyes also creaks its way right onto the statue-revolving platform he is on. His concentration is blown! ... But at least they don't alert to his presence. After a minute, both of these shambling messes walk away. Still, the next three arrows Kahreem fires all miss their target.

"FOKKINGE undead!!! Fokke Fokke FOKKE!"

But then, the final arrow seems to strike. KKKSSHH! goes a noise from the statue, which booms across the entire room. Lucky break. If he had missed with that final arrow, there's no way he'd know if his aim is true enough for the real thing. Then he'd have to traverse across the entire room, just to see if any of those arrows had survived their impact with the statue.

"Okay. Here commeth thine prize, milord!"

Without wavering his aim, he nocks the Arrow of Extrication, and twip! it goes across the Hall of Epochs. *DING!* goes a sound from nearby, amplified by the Redguard's successful shot. Through the darkness, he can see that something had changed across the room. It looks as though the statue has raised itself, or something. Kahreem pads quietly then, black velvet shoes whispering across the stone floor.

"Ooo-oo-oooo," one of the zombies says to the silent, nearly-invisible shape that passes by.

"Ooo-oo-oooo yourself, you dullard half-wit," the Redguard answers, as he tosses aside the silver bow once owned by the red-eyed vampire he'd killed several hours ago.





The Redguard finds himself in a darkened room, completely unlike the hours of stench and coldness he'd just escaped from. A red-woven, circular carpet inhabits the floor before him. On his right and left, a bed stands on each side. He creeps forward a few paces, and can see there are multiple beds in the room he's in. And upon each bed lies a sleeping figure. Kahreem looks behind him, and is surprised to see that the door he'd just come through is now nothing but a solid wall.

*click!* .... craaawwwww

The sound of an opening door. And then another door. And another. People bustling about, walking swiftly here and there. Kahreem cannot see them. He moves forward though, so he can get into some better light. Then, he takes out the notes the Grey Fox had given him.



By now though, the Redguard is famished. He can't but help himself to a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a bottle of beer he finds in the next room.

"Hmm," he says quietly as he's munching. "This ent *crunch* ire *monch* room is *nom* circular. *gulp, guip, ahhh.* Seems like one of the upper floors of the *crunch* White Gold Tower."

He is glad to be out of the sewers, but after his meal, he realizes how lucky he is that he did not get caught. His belly sated, now he can focus a little more on his surroundings. Which are much better-lit than those sewers were. He hears lots of footsteps but still sees nobody. What would happen now if he were to get caught? Where would he run to, since the door he'd come through turned into a wall, somehow?

He creeps out of the dining area, and begins moving along a circular hallway, turning left. After a minute, he comes to a door.

"Yes! The Elder Scrolls Library!" he bursts, a little too loudly. "Let us see what these measly blind priests have to offer."

Though the door before him is locked with a 3-tumbler, it is no match for the Imperial Palace Key the Redguard had pickpocketed several days before, when The Ultimate Heist had commenced. Unfortunately, all the inner doors to the library are locked with 5-tumblers, the most challenging of pickable locks. By now, he simply doesn't want to attract any attention by attempting to pick one of these.

"Curses befoul me!"

But this also is not much of a problem. After breaking into the library itself, Kahreem immediately notices one of the blind priests, walking straight toward him. And just like that, the Redguard dips his hand into madness, finds a key which will fit into any of these inner library doors, and the blind moth priest he'd just stolen from has a pocket which is just a little less cluttered than before.