The Last Dragonborn - The Journal of Johan Abbot #25

---Heartfire, 27th, 4E 201---

  On the morning of the twenty-fifth of Hearthfire, forty-eight hours ago now, I handed over all essential gear to the Bosmer, Melbourne, and then met with Delphine at the Solitude stables outside of the farm down the hill from the city. She provided me with clothes and an invitation for the party, and took the rest of my gear with her back to the Sleeping Giant in Riverwood. I boarded a cart, and in less than two hours I was outside the Thalmor embassy. There were several Jarls there, most of them basking in Thalmor "hospitality", except my friend from Morthal, Idgrod Ravencrone, who used her "mad old woman" act to cause a diversion during which Melbourne and I were able to slip into the Embassy proper.

  The infiltration went as well as could be expected. I was made within minutes, but I made short work of the Thalmor who spotted me and moved on. Unable to find any documents in the main Embassy building, I decided to make my way across the courtyard to the interior building where the quarters are housed. Betti, Luci and I battled several Thalmor Wizards outside, and defeated three Thalmor agents inside, the second building. It was a hard fight. Each Wizard could also conjure a creature. Eventually, however, I was able to move freely through the second building. I discovered two Dossiers which were quite interesting.

  One was on Delphine. It turns out that she was one of the top Blades agents in Thalmor-controlled regions before the War, and has avoided assassination more than once, killing an entire squad on one occasion. I should remind myself to never get on her bad side. The second dossier was on Ulfric. It calls him a dormant, uncooperative Thalmor asset and goes into detail regarding the Thalmor's hopes that they can soon reestablish direct contact with him, and how they wish for the civil war to continue. The dossier called the Great War the First War with the Empire, confirming my belief that the Thalmor plan to resume hostilities. It also mentioned that the Thalmor presense at Helgen on the night of the dragon attack was to prevent Ulfric's execution, not to witness it. At first I thought that this would lead to confirmation of the Thalmor involvement with the return of the dragons, but it went on to say that the appearence of the dragon was a coincidence.

  From there I began to search for a way out of the Embassy. My search led me to a torture chamber below the living quarters. There I found another dossier on a man named Esbern, another escaped Blades agent who was well known as an expert on dragon lore. It would seem that the Thalmor suspect that the Blades are behind the dragon. Ironic. From a prisoner freed from one of the cells, I learned that the Thalmor believe Esbern to be in Riften. Having learned all that I could the prisoner, Melbourne (now actively on the run from the Thalmor as well) and I dropped through a trap door in the torture room into a reeking cave that led onto a road north of the Embassy itself.

  From there the three of us went our separate ways. I met up with Mjoll, Odvar, Barbas and Meeko, who had heard my struggle in the courtyard and stormed the Embassy. Thankfully they all survived with only minor wounds. Quickly we ran down the road to Dragonbridge.

  Yesterday the five of us took a carriage to Riverwood. We arrived very early this morning and found Delphine waiting up for us. I told her everything that I'd learned, and she was shocked to learn that Esbern still lives. She asked me to meet with a man named Brynjolf in Riften, a member of the Thieves Guild, who can direct me to where Esbern might be hiding in the Ratway beneath the city. She gave me a phrase to speak to Esbern to earn his trust. I am to bring him back to Riverwood so that he and Delphine can pool their knowledge and figure out where to go from here.

  I'm intrigued by this old Blade, who Delphine calls a crazy old man, and despite the fact that seeking him out takes me back to Riften, before I have completed my latest task for Mara, I look forward to finding him. Mjoll agrees. She finds the intrigue of the Blades appealing. Odvar and Barbas, predictably, don't seem to care much one way or another.

  I have also finally replied to a letter I recieved via courier nearly a week ago now regarding a Dunmer fugitive on the run in Skyrim. I met with a representative of what remains of the old Dark Elf clan of House Hlaalu. He's asked me to visit Little Vivec a little ways west of here and see if I can turn up any leads. Perhaps on my way to Riften I will circle around to the small Dunmer settlement and see what I can find.

---Heartfire, 28th, 4E 201---

  Yesterday the five of us took a carriage to Riverwood. We arrived early this morning and found Delphine waiting up for us. I told her everything that I'd learned, and she was shocked to learn that Esbern still lives. She asked me to meet with a man named Brynjolf in Riften, a member of the Thieves Guild, who can direct me to where Esbern might be hiding in the Ratway. She gave me a phrase to speak to Esbern to earn his trust. I am to bring him back to Riverwood so that he and Delphine can pool their knowledge and figure out where to go from here.

  I'm intrigued by this old Blade, who Delphine calls a crazy old man, and despite the fact that seeking him out takes me back to Riften, before I have completed my latest task for Mara, I look forward to finding him. Mjoll agrees. She finds the intrigue of the Blades apealing. Odvar and Barbas, predictably, don't seem to care much one way or another.

  I have also finally replied to a letter I recieved via courier nearly a week ago now regarding a Dunmer fugitive on the run in Skyrim. I met with a representative of what remains of the old House Hlaalu. He's asked me to visit Little Vivec a little ways west of here and see if I can turn up any leads. Perhaps on my way to Riften I will circle around to the small Dunmer settlement and see what I can find. 

---Heartfire, 29th, 4E 201---

  This morning I made my way out of Riverwood, deciding to head to Little Vivec and investigate the claims of a dangerous fugitive in Skyrin. I spoke first to Selyse, the owner of the only shop in the small Dunmer town on the water. She refused to give me information, choosing to respect the privacy of her customers (an honorable, if frustrating, attribute), but she did indicate that a powerful man had come through recently. She directed me to the unofficial leader of the comunity, the hunter Bel-Ran.

  Bel-Ran also revealed nothing, but he did ask me to look into a Bandit tribe holed up nearby at Moss Creek Camp which had been giving the town trouble. I agreed to defeat these Bandits in the hopes that Bel-Ran would, upon my return, be more forthcoming. After trekking across Falkreath Hold to the camp, however, I found my job already done. After ducking out of site of a disembarking dragon, my party and I made our way into the camp and found all of the Bandits dead. I expected that they had been killed by the dragon, as their deaths had seemingly come swiftly, and their treasure had been left behind, but only three of them seemed to have succumbed to dragon attack, while the rest had clearly been struck down by weapons.