Skyrim Notes

I choose to start a new game and am instantly into a game-play cut scene. No difficulty choices here.
I am riding in the back of a horse drawn cart. There are three other prisoners tied up with me. One has his mouth bound. One of the prisoners is chatty, he informs us that we have been caught crossing the border. The other two are Stormcloak's which seem to be a rebel group. The man with the mouth binding is Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the rebellion. It seems that we are to be executed. We are taken into a village and the carts are stopped. The prisoners are herded out into a line.
I am asked my name and sent to the character creation screens.
Once done I am herded to the block and watch as another man is executed. I am next, and am forced down onto the block. As I am about to be decapitated a roar sounds.
A dragon lands on the tower above us and start blasting with flame and shockwaves of sound.
In the chaos I am now able to move and told to head to the keep. Inside we climb up the tower and the dragon blasts a hole in the wall. After it leaves we jump through the hole it made into the next house. Running on following the map marker brings us to the guard captain. I follow him through the assaulted town, the dragon blasting everything in sight.
I come to a place where one of the rebels confronts the captain. In the confusion the prisoners are escaping. We are given a choice, go with the rebels or the imperial captain into a keep.
I choose to go with the imperial captain.

Inside my hand bindings are cut and I can now get some weapons and armor from a chest.
I move into the next room and have to fight some Stormcloak rebels.
Next we are shown to search barrels for potions.
In the next room we find a torturer, we have to kill some more Stormcloaks. Here we get some lock picks and have to pick a lock to gain some magical items.
I move on through the cavern, enemies with bow and arrows are introduced.
I have to pull a lever to make a drawbridge come down over a gap.
In the next room we have to fight some spiders.
Then we are shown how to sneak, by trying to sneak past a bear.
The exit to the cavern is next and we move out into Skyrim's open world now.

Hadvar leaves to go on his way, suggesting we go to Riverwood next.
He tells us that Ulfric Stormcloak wants to rule Skyrim for himself. He murdered the high king of Skyrim.

I follow the quest marker through the countryside, encountering a hunter who ignores me entirely. I arrive at a small town called Riverwood. Here I find the quest marker takes me to a blacksmith named Alvor. Hadvar is there when I get there, we go inside his house.
Hadvar tells Alvor about the dragon attack, he suggests we go to Whiterun and tell the Jarl there of what has happened.
On the way to Whiterun I meet some wildlife, some types attack, others flee.
I find some people called companions fighting a giant, it is dead before I get close.
I reach Whiterun and have to persuade the guard to let me in.
Inside this large town I head to the main castle. Here an elf called Irileth stops me before I can approach the Jarl's throne. When I tell her about Helgen's destruction by the dragon I am told to approach the Jarl's throne.
Jarl Balgruff asks us about the dragon and pledges to send troops to Riverwood. His advisor does not seem pleased about this. The Jarl asks us another favor, seeing as we are handy with a blade.
We have to follow the Jarl to his mage, who has been investigating the dragons. The mage is named Farengar. In bleak falls Barrow there is a tablet that has more information on the dragons, we are to retrieve it.
I find Bleak falls Barrow, high in the mountains.
Some bandits outside it cause trouble.
Inside the barrow there are more bandits to take care of.
I progress through the one way tunnels of the barrow.
I come to a puzzle, there is a set of revolving stones. I have to make the pictures on them match the ones above the door, then pull a lever. Get it wrong and you are hurt.
The stone from the middle has fell off, though it can be seen on the ground.
I go down a spiral staircase and fight some large rat type enemies called skeevers.
I find a large spider and kill it.
A man named Arvel the swift is trapped in the webs, he talks of a claw and asks to be freed. He runs when I free him, though he runs straight into some new enemies called draugrs, and is killed, they are zombies.
There are some traps here, swinging axes and a pressure plate which swings a spiked frame at us.
I move on and find a door to the sanctum of bleak falls.
Inside I find another door, this is the one which we need the claw for. Looking at the claw in my inventory I see the pattern of the symbols which I need to reproduce on the combination lock door.
Inside here we find a wall with a word of power.
As we look at it a draugur overlord appears and I have to fight and kill it.
It gives me the tablet we need to take back to Farengar.

I head back to Whiterun and Farengar, I find him speaking to a woman, he seems surprised that I am back, as if he expected me to die in the Barrow. It turns out that the woman was the one who told him to look in the barrow for the tablet.

The elf Irileth comes in and tells us that a dragon has been sighted, we go to meet the Jarl and find a guard who has spotted the dragon at a watchtower. He tells his story and the Jarl asks that Irileth and I go and see what is happening.
I then have to follow Irileth down into Whiterun, where she gives a pep talk to the guards then out onto the plains.
I find the tower and there are fires burning all around it.
As I investigate the tower the dragon returns and we have to kill it.
After doing so our character absorbs power from it and we can now shout.
The guards talk and tell us about the myth of the Dragonborn, who can absorb the power of the dragons. We now have to go back to Whiterun.

I fast travel using my map to go back to the Jarl. The jarl tells us that the greybeards who live in the mountains will want to see us. He makes us thane of Whiterun and assigns us a companion called Lydia. I now have to find my way up the mountain to the greybeards.
Which is a long process, and I have to say not much fun. Finding a way up the mountain is a trial and error process of jumping around until I eventually find the right path.
I am also instantly killed a few times by hugely overpowered enemies like frost trolls and bears.
I find a man named Arngeir who asks that I demonstrate a shout for him. I do and then he asks why I have come, wasn't it them who summoned me?
I am then shown a word of power and asked to use the three times on conjured up ghostly targets.
I then have to follow another monk called Borri out onto the surface again. Here we learn the word of power "wolf", which allows us to sprint forwards fast. I have to demonstrate the power then go back and speak to Arngeir. He now gives us a task, we have to recover a horn from a tomb and bring it back to him.
I travel to Ustengrav and find a dungeon, inside mages and bandits are fighting each other and the draugrs.
I traverse the dungeon, which is filled with skeletons, spiders and draugrs.
Eventually I come to a room in which statues rise from pools at either side of an altar. Where the horn should be is a note. It tells us to meet someone who calls themselves a friend in the attic room at an inn in Riverwood. I leave the Ustengrav dungeon and fast travel back to Riverwood.
Inside a woman named Delphine seems to be in charge of the Inn. I ask to rent the attic room, she tells me that there isn't one, though I can have another room. when I go inside the room she comes in and tells me that I must be the Dragonborn. She give me the horn, and asks me to follow her. She takes us into a secret room inside a wardrobe in one of the inn's rooms. She tells us that she is part of a group that has been searching for a Dragonborn for a long time. She tells us that her predecessors killed the dragons long ago. The only real way for a dragon to die for good is for a Dragonborn to devour their soul. The dragons have only been kept at bay all these years. Something is allowing them to come back and Delphine wants us to help her find out what it is. She wants us to go to a dragon burial site and kill another dragon, so she can see what is going on.
I tell her to wait, I think I should take the horn back to Arngeir first. I travel to high Hrothgar and Arngeir teaches us the final word of the Fus Roh Dah shout.
I travel to the location of the dragon burial mound. When I get there I meet Delphine, a villager appears and tells us that a dragon was seen flying over the village and heading towards the burial mound. Delphine urges us to hurry and follow her up the mountain side. I find a large dragon, the same one that attacked at the start of the game. It appears to be carrying out some kind of ritual and it raises the other dragon from the mound. It's skeleton appears and the other dragons magic restores it to full fleshy normality. The dragon talks to us, it's name is Alduin, it tells the other dragon to kill us and leaves.
I take on the dragon and win, with the help of Lydia and Delphine.
Delphine now believes that I am Dragonborn, now she has seen us absorb the dragons soul firsthand. She tells us that she is a member of the blades, a group of dragon slayers that serves the Dragonborn in times past. Delphine thinks that the Thalmor are behind the dragons coming back. Delphine thinks we should get into the Thalmor embassy to find out more. She tells us to meet her back at Riverwood when she will hava a plan.
Back in her secret room she tells us about a party that is going to occur at the Thalmor embassy. She knows a wood elf who can get us an invite to the party. We are to go and meet Malborn at a place called Solitude.
I travel to the town of Solitude, I meet Malborn in the inn, he asks that we give him what we need inside, as we must dress as a guest and be unarmed when we go to the party. I have to go and meet Delphine at a nearby stable and give her my gear, she gives us the party clothes to wear. I then have to board the carriage. At the Thalmor embassy we have to give our invitation to a guard at the door. Inside we meet the elf like Thalmor, a woman called Elenwen greets us and we can mingle with the various guests who are a bunch of colorful characters.
I have to create a distraction so that Malborn can let us down into the embassy proper away from the party.
There is a drunk named Razelan who is cut off and can't get any service at the bar. I take bottle of brandy from a serving girl and can give it to him. This causes the distraction when he makes a speech. I am shown into the embassy proper by Malborn.
We now have to make our way through the embassy, which seems to be a kill only affair as my sneak levels seem woeful. I kill around six guards and mages and find my way into the offices of Elenwen, here I find some dossiers which show that Ulfric is conditioned by the Thalmor, but not directly controlled by them at present. His rebellion suits the Thalmor in their goals, but they are not behind it. The dragons are also not their doing either, they have a prisoner in the dungeon which they are interrogating to find out more about what is going on. I find the prisoner after killing some guards. His name is Etienne, he doesn't know what is going on, though he knows about a Blade scholar named Esbern who does. I am attacked by two guards who are bringing Malborn into the prison, once I kill them I get a key which opens to a cave and an exit. I can now return to Delphine and get my gear back from her.
I tell her what I have found out and she urges us to go to Riften and find Esbern.
Sometimes the a.i. is really terrible, it either hunts you mercilessly and the creatures or enemies are on your tail like flies on shit, or the a.i. is dumb and gets stuck behind a low wall, sometimes there is no reason for the enemies to back off or occasionally just stand still and ignore you in the middle of a fight.
In Riften I speak to Brynjolf, he wants us to do something for him in return for the information. We have to steal a ring and put it in someone's pocket. Brynjolf creates a distraction and we can go over to Madesi's stall and steal his ring. Then place it in someone called Band-Shei's pocket. I can now go into the Ratway looking for Esbren.
This is a typical dungeon, filled with bandits and thieves. I come to an underground bar, the hideout of the thieves guild. Brynjolf gives us another job to do. I can move on and enter the ratway depths to find Esbern.
I eventually find him hiding behind a door with many locks.
Esbren talks to us about Alduin, the dragon that devours the souls of the dead. We have to take Esbren to meet Delphine at Riverwood.
As we leave the Ratways there are Thalmor soldiers in the way.
Back at Riverwood we meet Delphine in her hideout. Esbren tells us of Alduin's wall, which is a record of the ancient's knowledge about Alduin. we must go there and see if any of the knowledge helps us in our fight. I come to a camp where people called Forsworn live, they seem more barbaric than the usual types we have met so far. A dragon attacks and all hell breaks loose. After killing the dragon, there isn't much left of the village's population.
I find a cave which leads to Skyhaven temple. Inside we have to use the Dragonborns blood to open a face shaped door deeper into the temple.
Inside we find Alduin's wall, which shows that a specific shout is needed to del with Alduin. We have to go back to the greybeards at High Hrothgar to find out if they know of it.
At High Hrothgar, Arngeir is dismissive, he suggests that the blades are using us and turning us away from our true destiny. He seems to be suggesting that the cycle repeats, and if we continue it we are not really helping. Using the shout to defeat Alduin merely postpones his eventually destruction of the world. As he is about to tell us to leave a voice which shakes the walls talks to Arngeir in the dragon tongue. He changes his mind and tells us about the shout. The shout is bad because it will introduce evil into the heart of whoever learns it. The leader of the greybeard order is revealed to be someone named Paarthurnax. To meet him we must learn a new shout called Clear skies which makes winds that are impassable go away. Now we can climb to the top of the mountain where we have to fight ice wraiths. Eventually we meet Paarthurnax and he is a dragon. He teaches us a fire breathing shout and talks about Alduin and why we should defeat him. The ancient Nords used Dragonrend to cripple Alduin, though it could not kill him. They used one of the elder scrolls to cast Alduin into time. They didn't actually get rid of him or defeat him, merely send him into the future, which is why he has appeared now. For Alduin only days have passed since the battle with the ancient Nords. This rip in time is still present, and we can use it to go back in time and learn Dragonrend, nobody alive now knows what it is and Paarthurnax can't learn it. To do this we will need the Elder scroll to travel back in time to learn the shout.
We have to talk to either Arngeir or Esbren about finding the elder scroll.
I find Esbren who tells me to go to the other side of the map, we are getting to stretch our legs. The destination is the college of Winterhold.
When I eventually get to the college we have to speak to Faralda, the doorkeeper. I show her that I am Dragonborn and she lets us in.
I meet Savos Aren, the Archmage of the college. We have to speak to someone called Mirabelle next, she inducts us as a student. First we are shown our room. We then have to go to the hall of the elements and listen to Tolfdir's lecture. He teaches us a ward spell, which is a magical shield.
I find Urag gro-shub in the Arcaneum, he is a fairly grumpy Orc, though he will assist us in finding the elder scroll. He gives us some books to read, which essentially tell us that the scrolls are dangerous, most educated people who read them become blind. There are monks who  study them their whole life until they finally go blind.  A man named Septimus Signus may be able to help, he is away in some Dwemer ruins to the north. We have to go and find him.
I traverse the ice flows and find Septimus, he appears fairly mad. He has found that the Dwemer, who are extinct could read the elder scrolls. we have to enter a Dwemer ruin named Blackreach. He gives us some  devices to help us when we get there.
I now have to go to Aftland, which is more Dwemer ruins. Inside we find that the Dwemer may be gone, but their machines are not. Mechanical spiders attack in the ruins, which show signs of machines and pipes. I am attacked by a Dwarven sphere, which is a humanoid enemy which unfurls from a sphere.
I progress through the Dwemer tunnels and eventually it opens out into a large industrial cavern, filled with pipes and moving cogs. I start to find new enemies here, named the Falmer, they are elf like, though blind, they seem primitive. I move through the dwarf city fighting Falmer. It seems as if they have colonized the Dwemer city, maybe driving the Dwemer out, or just coming in after they had gone.
I find a cathedral at the bottom of the city. Inside I have to fight a large boss type Dwarven centurion. This is made easy by dumb a.i. that means it can't get out of an area. Meaning I can retire to a safe distance and pepper it with arrows until it dies. I get a key from it. This key opens a chamber where I find two humans fighting, they are the expeditionary band that I have been seeing evidence of all along. They fight each other over the spoils and I am able to take care of the survivor easily. I trigger a dwarf symbol and it opens a secret door. This leads to an area called Blackreach. Blackreach is weird, there are huge jellyfish like creatures floating around in a large dark space.
There is a Dwarven sphere here which is fairly lethal.
It appears that Blackreach is the true Dawrven city.
There appears to be more normal Skyrim dwellers here, as servants of the Falmer.
New enemies called wisps appear, trailing balls of light.
I make my way to a large tower called Mzark. Inside I find a large Dwemer artifact. A huge orb with staircases surrounding it. There are controls at the top.
I pressed buttons at random and within a few seconds the wheels had spun and the cube I placed automatically in the slot is filled with the translated knowledge of the elder scroll. I can now grab the scroll and the cube and leave.
On the way out a giant gives me trouble, there is no chance of me killing him at the present level so I simply avoid him and run for the large lift that takes me back to the surface.
Now it is time to go back to Septimus Signus's outpost. He wants to opens the Dwemer artefact lodged in the ice. It turns out that Septimus is working for a Daedric lord, the lord of the unknown. I give him the translated lexicon and leave.
It seems we must go back to the throat of the world and speak with Paarthurnax.
At the throat of the world, we have to read the scroll, which appears to be a complex set of symbols and pictograms. We are thrown back through time  and witness incidents of the past.
We see the old heroes fighting a dragon and slaying it. Then Alduin appears and they use the Dragonrend shout on him, this allows us to learn it. We then see them fight and the fight isn't going well. The leader uses the elder scroll in desperation and Alduin vanishes. They think he has been banished from the world forever. We return to our own time and find that Alduin has arrived at the throat of the world to confront us.
This is a hard boss fight. The Dragonrend shout will ground Alduin for a while allowing you to do some damage. This is still a long fight of attrition. Paarthurnax helps, but while he  breathes fire on Alduin he does no damage.
I eventually win and as we defeat Alduin he flees. I have to speak to Paarthurnax. He tells us that we need to capture a dragon and find out where Alduin has retreated to lick his wounds.
There is a place in Whiterun where a dragon trap exists, we are to go there and make our attempt at dragon capture.
I go to the jarl of Whiterun and ask him about trapping the dragon in his palace. He thinks we are crazy, I eventually persuade him to help, however, he won't as long as the Stormcloaks and Imperials are fighting. The Jarl thinks that the greybeards could broker a peace. I agree to ask the greybeards to help.
I go to Arngeir and ask for his intervention, he agrees to host a peace conference. I have to find the leaders of both sides and ask them to come to it. First I go to Windhelm, to speak to Ulfric Stormcloak. This is the first time I have met Ulfric, the leader of the rebellion. He has killed the previous high king of Skyrim because he feels that he was nothing but a puppet of the Imperials. The imperials do everything to appease the elves, with no thought for Skyrim. Especially annoying to the Nords is the elves insistence on stamping out the belief in Talos in Skyrim. A great many Nords worship the man, not god that was Talos. Ulfric believes that the Nords of skyrim won the war for the imperialsa, yet the Imperials want to hand Skyrim over to the elves in order to keep them off their back. Ulfric intends Skyrim to be it's own country again and stand up to the elves. I ask him to attend the peace summit held by the Greybeards, and after some persuasion he agrees.
Now I must go to see general Tullius and get him to do the same. Tullius is fairly negative until I mention the Ulfric will attend. He now feels that Ulfric will use his non attendance as a slur on the empires willingness to negotiate.
I go back to high Hrothgar and join the summit. Everyone sits around a large conference table. We are given a choice straight away. Ulfric won't sit because a Thalmor representative is at the table. We have to decide to let her stay or risk Ulfric not even sitting down. I hedge with offending the elves, but asking Ulfric to let them stay. He agrees and sits. The arguments proceed, Ulfric tries to get something in return for the truce, he asks that Markath be turned over to him. There is outrage, just for sake of argument we are asked what Ulfric should give up in return. The choice is between Riften and Dawnguard. I suggest the rift, to which Ulfric throws a fit and threatens to leave. Esbren gives them the, Alduin is about to kill everyone speech and they all calm down. I am asked if we should give up one more piece of territory to Ulfric. I get the impression that he won't stand for not getting his way. I agree and he now gets two areas and gives up Riften. The truce is agreed. Ulfric leaves and we discuss the next move. Esbren suggests that we need to gain a way to lure a dragon to the trap. A dragon's name, shouted will bring them running. We need to learn a dragon name, other than Alduin's.
I go back to Whiterun, and Dragonreach, with it's dragon trap. We need to use the shout to trap it. I shout the name and the dragon shows up a few seconds later. We have to wear it's health down then lead it inside the large open area at the top of the castle. A trap is then sprung and we have it prisoner. I speak to Odahviing, it seems that even the dragons don't all like Alduin's rule, this one seems to be keen to help. The dragon tells us the Alduin is holed up at a place called Skuldafn, the catch is that you need a dragon, or at least an aircraft to get there. I agree to let Odahviing free as long as he takes us to Skuldafn. I let the dragon free and it does not betray us. I get on the dragon's back and it takes us high into the air.
We land in a mountainous area, the top  of the mountain is covered by a craggy castle. I am attacked almost immediately by dragons and Draugur Deathlord's and wights. This is serious stuff, I need to pull it out of the bag to survive.
There is a puzzle here, two gates with symbols above them. There are three turning stones with three sides and three symbols on each. There are symbols on faces at the sides of the turn stones. If you match each of the two outer turn stones with the face symbols. Then the middle one to each gate and pull the levers it opens the respective gates. Then we have yet more Draugrs and another puzzle door, this one is easy it's just hard to find the third part of it, hint it's below you when you are near the lever, yet more symbol matching.
we have a draugr lord boss battle in a corridor and then enter a large chamber where we learn a new word of power.
We now come out onto the top of the temple. It is getting to be annoying there are many high powered Draugr's here. It  is satisfying to Fus Roh dah them off the top of the tower. There is a dragon priest to deal with at the actual gateway to Sovengarde. You need to use his staff as a key to open the portal.
On the other side, in what is considered Nord heaven we find a similar world with just enough ethereal touches to make it feel different. I encounter a Stormcloak soldier who died in an Imperial ambush. Alduin is here, eating the souls of the dead. He tells us of Shor's hall, which now seems to be a destination. I move to the map marker through the fog shrouded landscape. I come to a bridge made out of the spine and ribs of some gigantic monster. I meet Tsun, who wants to fight us to check we are valorous enough for the house of Valour. I am and he moves aside. Inside the hall, which looks like a viking ideal of heaven, lots of gold, huge feasts and mead aplenty. I am met by Ysgramor who tells us that some of the Nords here will help us in our mission to slay Alduin. The three we meet are the three we saw when we travelled back in time, the ones who fought Alduin in the past and sent him into the future. We meet up then head back out over the bridge. we are told to combine all four of our voices into the clear skies shout, in order to dispel the mist.
We can hear Alduin shouting to bring it back and have to do it about four times before it sticks. Alduin then attacks, this fight is like any other dragon fight. Use Dragonrend to bring him onto the ground, then wail on him. I have three allies and the fight is only long because Alduin has a lot of health. Alduin dies and explodes in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. We are congratulated by the dead Nords and Tsun can send us back to Tamriel with a shout.
We appear on the throat of  the world, a lot of the dragons are present, perched around us. Paarthurnax gives us a nice speech and suggest that he will keep the dragons on a better path from now on. Then I am left there, with no real idea of what to do next, don't I get a prize or a party or something?

Mages Questline
I appear to have caught some diseases from various creature bites that have been giving me status de-buffs. I have to find a shrine to cure myself of these things. I go to Markath and heal at a shrine of Talos. As I enter Markath there is an attempted murder, a man goes to attack an innocent looking woman right in front of us in the market area. I stop him and kill him. The guard doesn't arrest me, though he seems grumpy about any questions. A man speaks to me and give me a note to meet him later. It seems that the more primitive tribal forsworn are involved.
I meet the man who is called Eltrys in the shrine, it seems that there has been trouble in the town before regarding the forsworn, Eltrys does not know why, the guards are involved and won't help him. He asks that we investigate, both Margret, the intended victim and Weylin the killer. The forsworn were followers of old ways, driven out of Markath by Ulfric Stormcloak twenty years ago. I go out into the city and start asking questions.
I find an Orc called Mulush who tells us that Weylin was handed a note with his last pay packet from the mine. I find Margret in the Silverblood inn, it seems the Silverblood family owns most of Markath and runs the silver mine. Margret after some persuasion tells us that she is working for the Imperials. She was sent to get the deeds to the Silverblood mine, seems someone does not like her activities. Margret tells me about a man named Thonar, a Silverblood she was involved with. To speak with him I have to bribe a clerk in the treasury. On speaking to Thonar he is less than helpful, during our chat some forsworn attack and kill his wife. He is slightly more chatty now. It seems that he has the forsworn leader prisoner in the mine. I enter the warrens and find the keeper of the keys, he gives me the key to Weyln's room when I use persuade. I find a note in his chest that tells me he was chosen by someone called N to strike fear into the Nord's hearts. As I leave the warrens a man attacks me, we have to fight with fists only. Once he is bested I am told that Nephos sent him. It seems that N is someone called Nephos. I go to Nephos and confront him, he is following the orders of Madanach. The Forsworn used to live in Markarth, and they want the land back. Nephos also tries to kill us and we have a fight with him and around three servants in his house. I kill them and then have to return to Eltrys. I find Eltrys dead at the hand of the guards. I kill the three guards, though I am not sure that I should have. If I had come quietly I was to be imprisoned in the mine. Anyway, it's done now. Or not as the case may be, As I leave the shrine more guards are there to arrest me. I go quietly this time.
I am imprisoned in the mine, Orcs are the guards, we meet someone called Uraccen. To get to speak to Madanach we need to get a shiv to get past his Orc guard, Borkul the beast.
I have to speak to a Grisvar, who needs some skooma before he will give me a shiv. I find a prisoner who can supply it and persuade him. Now back to Grisvar who gives me the shiv. Giving the Shiv to Borkul gets me in to see Madanach. He is unrepentant about what is going on and determined that the Nords leave Markath or die. He asks us to speak to someone called Braig. I find braig and tells us about the Nords killing his daughter, who sacrificed herself to save him, though he was imprisoned anyway. I go back to Madanach and he will now help us escape, to prove our loyalty we must kill Grisvar. Which I do, I can't be arsed with being ethical, I just want out of prison. Now Madanach speaks to the group and announces it's time to leave the prison. He has a secret tunnel dug into the dwemer ruins under Markath. The group of prisoners all head for the tunnel and into the dwemer ruins. There are a few spiders and dwemer machines to deal with then we meet a bunch of Forsworn and get my gear back. Outside Thonar and Madanach come face to face, there is a fight. I leave them to it. I buy a war dog from a man in the stables, I was after a horse, though a dog will do for a while.
I meet a man Named Tyranus, he wants us to help him enter a house in Markath, which may have been involved in daedric worship. Inside we find a fairly normal looking house, Tyranus wanders around and then asks us to try a door. as we do a voice can be heard, deep and booming it talks about someone being weak and appears to be asking us to crush him. Objects start moving and we cannot leave the house. The Deadra tells us that we must fight or die, the only way out it to kill the other. Tyranus attacks us and we have to fight, I kill him without a seconds hesitation. The Daedra tells us to come further into the house to collect our reward. I come to it's altar and am trapped in a cage. The Daedra is named Molag Bal, the lord of domination. It's altar here has been defiled by another Daedra named Boethiah. A priest comes here and performs Boethiah's rites instead of Molag Bal's. He wants us to go and find the priest who has been captured and then bring him back to perform the rite, we are to only then kill him. I go to the quest marker and find a cave. Inside is a forsworn camp, they attack without provocation and I  kill them all. The man we need is in a cage, I free him by giving him money,  all the other conversation options are fruitless. we now have to go back to the house, where we have to beat the priest to death a few times, each time Molag Bal brings him back to life. Once the priest swears allegiance to Molag Bal instead of Boethiah, we have to kill him a final time. we are rewarded with the mace of Molag Bal, a fairy decent heavy weapon.
I find an Orc settlement, to be entitled to return, I have to fetch them some blacksmith gloves. I go to a dungeon and find it filled with spiders. It seems a mage has been experimenting on them down there. I clear out the dungeon and find the gloves. Taking them back to the Orc village now allows us entry to all Orc settlements without a fight.
Septimus Signus sends us a note, he has done something with the dwemer artifact, and wants us to come and visit. His box in which he thinks a gods heart is kept, can be opened by Dwemer blood. He thinks he can synthesize it from samples of blood from all races. As I leave the way is blocked by a whirling vortex. This thing is called the wretched abyss, it asks that we help and gives us the promise that once the box is opened we will become it's emissary. I don't think that is a good idea, I play along for now.
I go an find Tolfdir, from the Winterhold school of Magic, he wants us to investigate the ruins at Saarthal, which is reputed to have magic sealed tombs inside. The whole class is here and we are entering the archaeological dig. I am told to go and find someone named Arniel once inside, to help him catalogue their finds. He asks that we collect magical object inside the tombs. I find three rings to collect, then I have to activate an ancient amulet. This activates a trap, Tolfdir arrives and tells us to wear the amulet. This cause a door to start glowing. Tolfdir tells us to fire a spell at the door, I use fire on it and it explodes. we can now move forward again. Tolfdir follows us into a room with darkened doorways leading off of it. I am spoken to by a mage called Nerian, who tells us that the Psijic order are interested in us and we are going to be tested. As we move into the next few chambers draugrs attack. I am told to progress further on my own.
I move through some Draugr infested corridors then find a puzzle, the usual stones with symbols that need to be turned to the correct combination. The symbols are hidden above the actual stones. Now we meet a draugr boss of sorts and have to kill him. Then another puzzle, the key is present and easily visible, however, the stones turn the others stones when you turn them, necessitating some juggling to get the combination entered.
We now find a large room with a Draugr boss. There is a large orb like floating structure, which Tolfdir thinks is fascinating. He asks that we go back to the college and bring the mage leader to see it. Tolfdir is going to stay and try and find out more. Back the the college I tell Savos about the orb, he asks that we research it for ourselves. We get a staff as a reward. I have to go and speak with the librarian Urag again, he tells us that the books we need were stolen by a mage who left the college. Looks like we need to go and get them back. I go to Fellglow keep, where the missing books are supposed to be located. Here I find a dungeon filled with mages. Further in I find some vampires who are trapped in cages, it seems silly to let them out, though it aids my lockpicking skill to do so.
I find the mage in a cage and let him out. The leader of the evil mages has the books we need, so we need to clear out every last one of them as usual. At the end of the dungeon we meet a woman named the caller, I have to kill her to get the books back. Back at the college I give the books back to Urag the librarian. He tells us to speak with Tolfdir again, who has managed to bring the orb back to the college hall. I speak to Tolfdir and he starts talking about the orb, Ancano the elf interrupts and tells us that someone from the Psijic order is at the college, wanting to speak with us. Ancano seems upset, he feels that the psijic order are criminals of some kind, at least enemies of the elves.
I arrive at Savos's chambers and find Quaranir waiting. As we approach he stops time to speak with us privately. The eye of magnus, which is the orb, seems to be the cause of his concern. The Psijic order believe that the world isn't ready for it's power. They believe it will be misused. He tells us to find someone called the Augur to help us in the college.
I speak to a few people who don't seem keen to tell me about the Augur. Mirabelle can be persuaded to speak of it, it seems that it is below the college in the caves under it.
I find the Augur, which is a glowing light and disembodied voice.
The Augur tells us the Ancano has also been down here seeking knowledge. The eye tells us that we need the staff of Magnus to use the eye of Magnus. We are to go back to Savos on the Augur's instruction. Savos tells us that Mirabelle might be able to help. Mirabelle tells us that the synod had been at the college asking about the staff. The synod went to the ruins of Mzulft looking for the staff, seems we are too.
I find Mzulft, it is a dwemer ruin, there is a dying synod member at the doorway, which does not bode well. The usual dwemer spiders and some chaurus attack us in the ruins and caves. I move on through the dungeon and begin to find dead Falmer. The ruins are very disturbed here, as if everything has been thrown around and damaged.
I move on through this long dungeon and eventually find a locked door, the key isn't far away, guarded by a large dwemer machine. I meet Paratus, one of the surviving synod members. He needs a crystal to focus a machine up ahead. I get the crystal from a dead Falmer's body and give it to Paratus. Here we have another of the large dwarf spheres that we used to transcribe the elder scroll. This time we have to use the controls to line up light beams and then heat and chill the crystal. Once done we see a map with the college lit up like a star. Paratus is not happy. He obviously hoped that the map would show a large collection of magic objects around the world. Instead it shows only one, and one at our base. He becomes paranoid and won't help us anymore. He does tell us that the staff should be at a place called Labyrinthian. On the way out of Mzulft we see Quaranir appears and tells us that we are doing well. He tells us t go back to the college and help out, he predicts that we will find trouble.
Inside the hall of the college we find a wall blocking the main entrance, Ancano is inside the hall doing something to the eye of Magnus. Savos and Mirabelle ask us to help in breaking the magic wall. I do and we go inside, as we approach Anacano a white light envelopes us all. I find myself beside Mirabelle, she is hurt, Ancano now has a wall surrounding the eye and himself. Mirabelle asks us to find Savos, it appears that he is dead. I am told to go down to the town and defend it against an assault of magical creatures. There are ten flying orbs that leave trailing streamers behind them flying around the town. I have to kill them all. Then go back to Mirabelle, she tells us that we need to go get the staff from Labyrinthian.
At Labyrinthian we find trolls, lots of them to fight. I find the entrance, and it appears that we are seeing ghostly echoes of the past. A bunch of mages, including Savos enter, looking for something in Labyrinthian. I enter a large hall, filled with a skeletal dragon and some skeleton warriors. Then we find a door which needs to be opened by using flame magic on it. There are a bunch of new enemies down here, blue energy versions  of draugrs, wisps and wispmothers, which split into shades as they get low on health. I come to a word wall and  learn a new shout, which slows down time. The end of the dungeon comes when I find a large room with two mages seemingly keeping a creature prisoner. I am attacked by the ghostly mage when I try and talk to him, this frees the creature, which is fairly powerful. The creature has the staff of magnus, which it gives up when it dies.
Savos's ghostly image can be seen leaving his friends to rot in the caves while he escapes.
Back at the college, we enter the hall using the staff to destroy magical barriers. We now fight Ancano, using the staff makes him vulnerable to harm. Once he is dead Quaranir turns up. We become the arch mage, the Psijic order take the eye back to their island.
I speak to the barmaid in the bannered mare in Whiterun. She tells us to speak to the jarl about his children. One of his children has become broody and violent, the jarl asks us to speak with him. I speak with Nelkir, who seems aggressive, seems he has been listening around the castle and has overheard things. He has also been speaking to something he calls the whispering lady. I go the door where he has been listening and an ethereal voice speaks to us. A daedra is trapped behind seals and wants us to let it out. I have to speak to Nelkir again to find out how to open the door. It seems that the door key is held by the jarl and his wizard. I pickpocket Farangar and get the key. Inside the room we find that the voice is coming from an enchanted sword. The sword is fairly powerful, though it seems that it drives people mad, I suppose I'll find out.
I now have the blood I need to give to Septimus, I take it to him. The blood does indeed open the cube. Inside is a room with a book. Septimus is killed magically as he expresses disappointment. The wretched abyss gives us a book, the book allows us a leg up in some skills, we can choose, might, shadow and magic skills to increase.

Assassin's guild quest line
In Windhelm, a boy called Aventus Aretino has been trying to summon the dark brotherhood.
I enter his house and speak to him, we can reveal the truth that we aren't part of the dark brotherhood or deceive him and let him think that we are from the dark brotherhood.
Aventus wants us to kill the woman who runs the orphanage in Riften, he hates her and wants her assassinated. I go to Riften and find the orphanage, Grelod is indeed cruel to the children there. I kill her and leave to go back to Aventus.
I go to an inn and sleep, when I wake there is a woman called Astrid in the room. It seems we have stolen a kill from the dark brotherhood. We must repay the debt. There are three people in the shack with us, we are to choose the right one to kill. I choose the one of the three who seems least moral and then find that it wasn't really worth thinking about. All that was needed was for us to kill on command. Astrid invites us to join the dark brotherhood. I go to the dark brotherhood sanctuary and find Astrid inside. She welcomes us and gives us some dark brotherhood armor. we are to speak with Nazir for our first job.
I find a bunch of dark brotherhood characters in the sanctuary and can learn about their history. To progress I speak to Nazir, who gives me some names of people to kill.
The first is Betlid, who is a miner, I snipe her with an arrow to avoid being seen killing her by the guards in the town. Next is Narfi, who I can sneak up on in his run down shack. The last is Ennodius, a miller. After killing them all I go back to the dark brotherhood sanctuary and speak with Nazir. In the sanctuary, I find someone called Cicero has arrived, he has brought the corpse of the night mother. This is putting the cat amongst the pigeons as the Skyrim sect of the dark brotherhood has been operating alone since the elf war disrupted the dark brotherhood in other areas of Cyrodil. It seems that now the night mother is here to take over as is her usual role. The night mother is a corpse, who speaks only to a listener, she hears the prayers of people all over the world who ask for the dark brotherhood’s services. The listener is the one the night mother speaks to. There is no listener at present. I am fairly certain that I am going to be the new listener.
I have a new contract to fulfill, I must speak to a girl called Muiri in Markath. Her ex lover, has turned out to be a bandit leader, she wants him killed. I travel to Raldbthar and find a dwemer ruin, the bandits have colonized only the first few rooms. I find Alain and kill him and his bandits fairly easily. Pressing on into the Dwemer ruins I find a huge catacomb and city area. There is a puzzle where cogs are jammed with bits of bones. I undo the jams and wish I hadn't, this frees a Dwemer centurion master to attack us. The key here is to get into the pool of water, which he can't enter. You can them move from side to side, making him walk around the bridge. This means you can use ranged weapons on him and he can't do much about it. There is a door down here to Blackreach. I find a door back to skyrim and leave. Time to go back and finish the contract. The second target of Muiri is Nilsine Shatter-shield, I find her and kill her also. She gives me some money and I have to return to the dark brotherhood sanctuary.
Astrid is worried about Cicero, she has heard him talking to someone when he is alone in the night mother's chamber. She wants us to eavesdrop on Cicero, she wants us to hide inside the night mother's coffin. I enter the coffin and wait until Cicero arrives. I can hear him babbling about the other assassins. The night mother then starts talking with us. I can't say I am surprised. We are told to speak to Cicero and tell his a phrase. He is angry when we appear from the coffin, though is happy when we tell him the phrase. Astrid bursts in and we explain, she is unhappy that we have been told to speak to someone. She tells us to go to Nazir and get some new jobs. We are not to do what the night mother told us. I go to Nazir, he gives us two jobs to do. I figure that we may be given a choice here. To side with Astrid's version of the dark brotherhood, or the traditional night mother version, both seem equally as terrible. I decide to do the jobs as Astrid asked and to also visit the person the night mother asked us to see.
The first assassination is simply to kill a man called Lurbuk in a bar, which is easily done by hiding in a room nearby, where you are hidden and shooting him with an arrow.
The next target is Hern, he is supposed to be a vampire, though I find him outside in daylight. He is harder to kill and someone called Hert, who may be his wife get in on the fight as well. I kill him and it's time to go back to Nazir.
As I enter the sanctuary Astrid tells me that we should go and carry out the night mother's wishes. I get my rewards from Nazir, then back out to find the crypt that the night mother has sent us to visit.
The crypt is called Volunruud, we are looking for someone named Amaund. I fight my way past some draugr and eventually find Amaund. He has a job, just a little one, he wants us to kill the Emperor of Tamriel. His servant Rexus gives us a letter and an amulet to take to Astrid. She is impressed, she asks that we speak to a fence called Delvin Mallory to see if the amulet is indeed worth a lot of money. I have to go to the ragged flagon in Riften to find Devlin. He will buy the amulet, he gives us a letter of credit to give to Astrid.
Astrid is pleased and tells us that we are to be the one to carry out the plan. Our first job is to kill a bride on her wedding day. The bride has ties to the Stormcloaks, which will stall the peace process. This will force the emperor to come to Skyrim. Which answers the questions about why we are being sent to kill a bride. I travel to Solitude where the wedding is to take place. I find a vantage point above the wedding and using invisibility potion I take my shot with an arrow and kill the bride. One of the dark brotherhood has came with us and creates a distraction so we can get away. Back with Astrid we are given our reward and told to speak with Gabriella who is planning the next stage of the plan.
I find Gabriella and she tells us that the chief of the emperors security is their next target, or more precisely his son. By killing his son and planting evidence of a plot against the empire on him, it will put the emperors guard in disarray. I find the Commander and Gaius in Dragon Bridge and steal the schedule from the imperial office there. I now have to follow Gaius to a city, which will gain me a bonus, and also ensure his body is found quickly. There doesn't seem to be a way to kill Gaius easily in a city without drawing attention, as he has a lot of health. I pay my 1000 bounty for killing someone in the city and plant the letter on him. Back in the sanctuary I am rewarded fro the mission. Then we find that Cicero has went crazy, well crazier, and attacked Astrid. She tells us that we must take care of the situation. We must go to Cicero's room and find some clues. In his journal we learn of another dark brotherhood sanctuary in Skyrim. Back to Astrid and she sends us on the way. Arnbjorn, who is Astrid's werewolf husband also went after Cicero.
In dawnstar I find Arnbjorn, he has been wounded by Cicero. Inside the sanctuary we are attacked by ghostly dark brotherhood members called guardians. Eventually I come to Cicero and find him lying wounded on the floor. He asks that we spare him. I decide to do so, since he is actually right, even though he is madder than a bag of weasels. Back at the sanctuary I find Astrid and lie to her, telling her that Cicero is dead.
The next part of the plan is to find the gourmet, the chef who will cook for the emperor.
We have to follow a lead to the gourmet, as we don't know who he is. A cook in Markarth may know who he is, we must question him. I head to Markarth and look for the chef, I find Anton Virane in the palace at Markarth. After intimidating him into telling us the identity of the gourmet, I must kill him. The gourmet is an Orc named, Balagog, he is standing around in a convenient place at the Nightgate inn. I kill him, take his pass and have to hide his body. I do this by dropping it into a nearby river. Back at the sanctuary, we receive our reward. Astrid tells us that it is time, we are to assassinate the Emperor.
We have to go to Solitude, and give Commander Maro the Gourmet's writ of passage, from there we can poison the emperor, using a poison called Jarrin root that Astrid gives us.
Something in the way Astrid is acting makes me think that I may be about to be betrayed.
I head to Solitude and show commander Maro the writ, he lets us pass. Inside we meet Gianna, who wants us to get dressed as a chef. We then have to make the stew with Gianna, we are given an opportunity to add the poison. We then have to follow Gianna to the state room where the emperor is dining with some dignitaries from Solitude.
I watch as the emperor eats some stew and dies. The guards then attack. I am directed to a door and leave by it. It seems like nobody is following, which is weird. I cross the bridge  we find ourselves on and then am met by three guards and Commander Maro. Maro tells us that we were betrayed, Astrid, or someone from the dark brotherhood has told Maro of the plan. The emperor wasn't the real emperor, just a decoy. Maro was given this chance to look good in return for letting the dark brotherhood thrive. He has double crossed the double crossers and as he speak to us the sanctuary is being attacked. Maro leaves the guards to kill us. I kill the three guards, fairly easily I have to say. The town guards are also after me, I pay a steep 1500 bounty to be free of their interference.
Back at the dark brotherhood sanctuary there are more of the emperors guards outside, it seems they are already carrying out their attack.
Inside it seems that Penitus Oculatis are inside also. I find Arnbjorn fighting in the main room, he is a werewolf and is killed, I find Nazir, and have to save him from some enemies. We try and leave, though it seems that the sanctuary is caving in around us. We are told by the night mother to embrace her, I go to the casket and it closes around us. Seemingly just in time as the caves collapse. The night mother tells us to sleep and after a few seconds of blank screen we hear Nazir and Babette digging the casket out of the rubble. The night mother tells us that we must find Astrid, who I am fairly sure is the traitor.
The game has now crashed twice in the same area, not impressing me much.
I find Astrid, she is badly burnt, she will not survive. She is the traitor, she wanted things to stay the way they were before the night mother came. She asks us to rebuild the dark brotherhood. She has made a dark sacrament prayer for herself, the first of the new dark brotherhood contracts. I take her blade of woe and kill her with it. A kindness, as she must be in terrible pain and about to die anyway. I have to go back to the night mother. She tells us that we must carry out our contract, the real emperor must die. She asks us to tell Nazir of our plans. We are to find Amaund, the original contract giver. Nazir is going to move the night mother to the Dawnstar sanctuary.
I go to Whiterun to find Amaund, he is surprised to see us, though pleased that we still want to carry out the contract. The emperor is aboard his ship, the Katariah in the bay at Solitude. We also have a chance to get our revenge on Maro. I find Maro and kill him, then head for the ship, which is nearby. I can enter by climbing up the anchor chain. Inside the ship we have a mix of sailors and Penitus Ocularis soldiers to fight. I eventually find my way to the emperors room. He isn't shocked to find us at his door, he seemed to be expecting and resigned to his fate. He asks that we do him a favor, the man who ordered his assassination is not to profit from it. He asks that we kill Amaund after we take his money. I go back to Amaund, and find the location of our money. I then kill Amaund, which results in a fight and a bounty for Whiterun. I then return to Volunrund and find my 20000 gold reward waiting for me as promised. Back at the new sanctuary Nazir tells us to speak with Devlin again, to refurbish the sanctuary. The night mother also gives us a new contract.
I go to Devlin, this is only a cosmetic mission, I can pay him to upgrade the sanctuary, which I do.
I find a talking dog that wants our help, as it points out, we have dragons and talking cat people, what is so surprising about a talking dog? It seems that there is some Daedric interference going on here. We must travel with the dog to a Daedric shrine, it seems it is lost and needs help getting home. I smell a rat, or should that be dog?
I find the caves, which are home to a shrine of a Daedra named Clavicus Vile. I fight through some vampires and their thralls to the shrine. I speak to the Daedra through the shrine and it isn't really interested in the dog coming back after all. The Daedra wants us to recover an axe for it.
It seems that I have contracted the vampire disease, and if I don't do something about it will turn into a vampire.
I go to Rimerock burrow with the dog and have to fight a mage here. the axe that Clavicus Vile wants is here. I find a beacon, which can talk also, it wants to be returned to it's rightful place.
I go back to Clavicus Vile, we get a choice, keep the axe, and use it to kill Barnabas the dog, or give the axe back and get an armored mask. I choose the mask.
I take the beacon back to the statue of Meridia, as I do I am lifted high above Skyrim. She asks that we enter her shrine and destroy a mage that is annoying her. I enter the Kikreath dungeon and find some new enemies here, corrupted shades.
There is a light beam that needs to be threaded through the dungeon from the statue, specially built mirror pedestals need to be activated as we go.
Eventually we meet the mage Malkoran, he is a tough enemy, he seems susceptible to fire. When he dies he turns into a shade for another go at you. I am given a sword called Dawn breaker in return for this errand.
I need to get rid of the vampirism I have contracted, it is annoying, while it gives you some spells, they aren't as useful as the things it removes like your stamina being shot to hell in the daytime. I go to Morthal and speak to the barmaid in the bar there, she tells us about a mage who can help with vampirism who lives in Morthal.
Falion knows of a ritual involving a filled black soul gem. Handily Falion can sell you a black soul gem. We now need to find someone to kill, I find a cave with some handy vampire thralls, and kill them while using soul trap. This fills the black souls gem, we have to go back to Falion. He tells us to meet him at a stone circle just outside of Morthal at dawn. When we do he completes the ritual and we are cured.

Thieves guild quest line
In Riften I have to do some small errands for Brynjolf, there are three people with bad debt to the guild. I go to a shopkeeper named Beresi, who won't pay. The next woman called Haelga won't either. Though there is a woman in her bunkhouse who tells us get three markers from men she has slept with, which will mortify Haelga.
In the bar in Riften the barmaid, Keevara won't pay either, until her husband is made to convince her. He tells us to drop into conversation about her farm in Morrowind, and her family. She pays up when we do.
I find the men who Haelga has slept with next, the first Bolli, gives us the token, scared that we will tell his wife. A man at the stables also gives us his mark when we intimidate him. An elf called Indaryn also gives up his mark when persuaded. On going back to Haelga there is no option to give her the marks, or to advance the quest, it seems bugged.
I go back to Brynjolf, it seems he can give us some advice. He tells us to smash an urn that Beresi has and to steal Haelgas statue of Dibella. I go back to Beresi and smash his urn, this annoys him and he pays. I feel like I am in the mafia or something. Similarly with Haelga taking the statue and speaking to her gives the conversation options to proceed. I now have to go back to Brynjolf, where we are accepted into the guild and discuss what is to happen next. He asks us to follow him through a secret door into the thieves guild hideout. We meet Mercer Frey the leader of the thieves guild.
The first thieves guild mission to go to an island estate called Goldenglow. Here we must clean out their safe and burn some beehives. This is in response to the estate suddenly deciding they aren't going to honor agreements with Maven Black Briar, who the thieves guild has contracts with.
I go to the island and find it full of mercenaries. I burn the beehives. Then inside the house and empty the safe. Back at Brynjolf he sends us to Maven Black Briar for a chat. She wants us to go to Whiterun and speak with Mallus Maccius, he tells us that the owner of a rival Meadery is holding a tasting session. We are to poison the mead, using pest poison. I enter the brewery, speaking to the owner Sabjorn, who gives us poison to do the job. Under the brewery are some tunnels and they are filled with spiders and skeevers.
There is also a mad mage named Hameyln who takes a bit of killing. Once past him you can poison the nest, then move into the mead store and poison the vats.
Back at the bar, we see a guard captain come to test the mead. The guard is angry at the terrible taste and throws Sabjorn in jail. Mallus is now in charge of the Meadery, he works for Maven, so that means she is effectively in control here. We are to check through Sabjorn's accounts and look for his partner. I find a note and take it back to Maven. There is no name, though there is a symbol. We are told to go and see Brynjolf, who tells us to go to Mercer. Mercer has deduced that a man called Gulum-Ei is involved, he works at the east empire trading company in Solitude.
I travel to Solitude to find Gulum-Ei and find him in the Winking Skeever bar. He wants us to get him a case of firebrand wine in return for information on the mysterious nemesis of the thieves guild.
I go to the blue palace and find the wine fairly easily, sitting unattended. I take it back to Gulum-Ei, who tells us that our target is a woman, who is angry with Mercer. That is all he knows. Obviously he does know more and isn't going to tell us willingly. I have to follow him. We go through solitude and down to the docks, where we trip trough the east empire trading company warehouses. We are attacked by bandits and soldiers inside the docks. Eventually we catch up with Gulum-Ei, after killing everyone else but him he is in a more chatty mood. He tells us that a woman called Karliah is responsible. She is an ex member of the thieves guild as was involved with Mercer in the dirty politics of the guild.
I go back to Mercer with the news, Gulum-Ei told us that she said something about where the end began. Mercer thinks that this may be the place where she murdered the old guild leader. I trek out to the old burial chamber and meet mercer, who lets us inside.
The fight to the end of this dungeon is long and hard, many many Draugur are in between us and Karliah. The best part of this is that Mercer is a great ally here. He has dual swords with enchantments, along with a flame astronach it feels more like a team game. I took the distance weapon role and let Mercer be my tank. Eventually we reach the end chamber and as our character enters we are shot with something that makes us see green mist and collapse. We watch immobile as Karliah and Mercer have a chat. It seems that it was actually Mercer who killed the old Guild leader and blamed it on Karliah. He wants to fight Karliah, but she won't let him, using a potion to become invisible and flee. Mercer comes  to us and slices us with his blade, the screen goes black. we aren't dead though, Karliah has saved us and we find ourselves alone with her outside. She tells us that she intended to capture Mercer alive and make him answer for his crimes to the guild. She has found a journal that Gallus kept, which she also thinks may be evidence, however the journal is written in an unknown language. She thinks someone at the college of Winterhold may be able to read it.
It seems that Gallus, Karliah and Mercer are part of an even more secret sect called the Nightingales. I go to Winterhold and speak to the person that Karliah has told us about, his name is Enthir, he can't help. The journal is written in the Falmer language. Enthir knows of someone in Markarth who may be able to help though, so it's off to Markath.
I find the mage Calcelmo, who needs a spider killed in his dwemer dig site before he will help. I head into the ruins and kill the spider, it is a fairly big one, with a few smaller spiders on the way. I head back to Calcelmo. This gives us access to the museum he runs, though he still won't translate our journal. Inside the museum it segues way into more ruins. There are guards and mages who attack on sight. I kill them and progress, eventually finding Calcelmo's tower. Inside is the stone he used to learn the falmer language. I have to take a rubbing of it. Now we have to go back to Enthir, who we find in the company of Karliah. The translation shows the Mercer was suspected to be a traitor by Gallus for months before his death. The journal also mentions a scared temple of the Nightingales called the twilight sepulcher. Karliah asks that we meet her back at the guild in Riften to expose Mercer. Inside the guild base we meet Brynjolf, Vex and Devlin. An uneasy truce is held as Brynjolf reads the journal. He is still suspicious, though orders that the vault be opened to check it's contents. Devlin uses his key, then Brynjolf. Inside the vault is almost entirely empty, Mercer has taken the entire guild for fools. Everyone is angry, Brynjolf gives us a task. Mercer owns a house in Riften, there may be some clues there. We are to investigate. entering the house is hard work. There is an escape ramp at the back, which can be brought down by shooting it's mechanism with an arrow. I use the ramp to get inside. There are a few bandit type enemies inside. Exploring the house, finding a secret panel in a wardrobe we find a link to the ratways. I find a secret hideout and some plans. I take them back to Brynjolf. He thinks the Mercer is going after a treasure called the Falmer's eyes. Karliah asks that we come with her to a secret location, it seems she wants us to be the equal of Mercer when we meet him. I think she is going to make us Nightingales.
Karliah takes us to a hidden rock formation with a door, it is called Nightingale hall. Inside we are given Nightingale armor and have to put it on, even if it is worse than the armor I have. We then enter a room with three plinths and a central area. Nocturnal manifests as a glowing blue light. It speaks with Karliah and a deal is struck, we are made Nightingales. Karliah tells us that Mercer has stolen a skeleton key. We need to get the key back and return it. Brynjolf tells us that when this is over he wants us to take over as guild leader.
Mercer intends to steal the eyes of the Falmer, which are supposed to be situated in a Dwemer ruin of Irknghthand.
These are typical Dwemer ruins, filled with steam robots and flaming traps. I meet Brynjolf and Karliah inside and we set off after Mercer. The Dwemer dungeon is full of Falmer. It is one of the biggest dungeons yet. Eventually we find Mercer prying the fist sized jeweled flamer eyes from a large statue. I have to fight him alone as he uses magic to make Brynjolf attack Karliah. I manage to defeat him fairly easily, considering the hardship getting to this point. The chamber begins to fill with water and we can only escape once it is totally full and a ceiling hole becomes an escape route. Karliah tells us to take the key to the Twilight Sepulcher.
I enter the cave of the Twilight Sepulcher, I meet a ghostly sentinel who blames itself for letting Mercer get the key. It turns out to be the ghost of Gallus, who tells us his thanks and asks us to follow the pilgrims path and replace the key.  
I move into the dungeon and have to fight nightingale ghosts who are hostile to us. Then I come to a room where the light is dangerous and we have to stick to the shadow. Some more nightingale sentinels, then we come to a long tunnel, which is conspicuous by the fact that nothing tries to kill me. I come to well and jump in, there is a skeleton at the bottom and  a note suggesting that jumping down here wasn't a good idea. Just when I think I might be in trouble we see the skeleton key in front of us and the well floor dissolves. We find ourselves in a chamber with a blue shape on the floor, a keyhole is a perfect fit for the skeleton key. Nocturnal appears before us and is sarcastic, she gives us our reward. Karliah tells us what being an agent of nocturnal means. We can choose between three powers, though we exchange them as long as we do it a day at a time. I can choose a health drain, invisibility for a few seconds or the chance to make multiple enemies fight among themselves. I choose the make allies fight each other option. I return to the thieves guild to find that Brynjolf will run it for us, while we are leader.

Stormcloak Rebellion
It is time to take a side in the war that is raging in Skyrim, since this game is all about  Skyrim, it seems pertinent to take the countries side and free it from the Imperial grip which sees it's views and beliefs subjugated to appease the elves and seemingly keep them off the back of the citizens of Cyrodill.
I go to Windhelm, and speak to Galmar Stone Fist, who is Ulfric's general. He has a test for us, he wants us to go to serpent stone island, if we survive we pass. The island is a home to Icewraiths, we have to kill one and return. I head out to a set of standing stones on an isolated island and kill the Icewraith there. Now I must go back to Galmar where we take an oath to join the Stormcloaks.
Out first mission is to recover an artifact called the jagged crown. It is the symbol of power in Skyrim, essentially the crown of the true high king of Skyrim. I am told to go to a place called Korvanjund, where I meet up with some Stormcloaks. We find a dungeon guarded by Imperial soldiers and have to kill them. Inside the dungeon we fight imperials, it's fairly easy with around four assistants. We come to a puzzle, where we must find the switch to open a gate. Now we are fighting draugrs, we come  to a room filled with them, one is wearing the crown. Once they are fought we have to go back to Windhelm and give Ulfric the crown.
Ulfric now wants us to deliver a message to the Jarl of Whiterun, it seems he is giving The Jarl a chance to join him otherwise it is a declaration of war.
I go to Whiterun, and Balgruuf, he talks politics with his advisors, it seems he will not be siding with Ulfric. Since Ulfric has played his hand and revealed that he will attack now, it seems that Balgruuf will take up the Imperial offer a garrison of solders at Whiterun. We are told to go back to Ulfric with his axe.
We are now committed to attacking Whiterun, I have to meet with Galmar to get my orders. I find him at a camp outside Whiterun, they are firing huge catapults at the city.
We have to storm the city and get the drawbridge down. Once done we go inside the city. I have to fight my way to the castle of dragons reach. Here we must fight the Jarl, until his health is low, he then surrenders. There is some political chit chat, we are then told to go back to Windhelm and tell Ulfric of our victory.
We must now go to the Whiterun area, and take it for the Stormcloaks as well. I report to Galmar at a camp outside Whiterun, he wants us to attack an Imperial fort. We must go to a location to start the attack, we must then clear out the fort and the prison of Imperial. Once done we can free the prisoners, we must then report back to the group leader, Rolof, who tells us to go back to Ulfric.
Back at Windhelm, Ulfric gives us an Orcish sword, he also tells us that we can claim a house in Windhelm.
We must now take the Rift, I am to meet Galmar at the rift Stormcloak camp. He tells us that we must attack fort Greenwall. This is simple enough, go to the fort, kill every soldier there and the mission is over. we are told to go back to Ulfric in Windhelm, he gives us a sword and armor, and tells us to prepare for the attack on Solitude.
I go to speak with Galmar at another makeshift camp near a fort, Haafingar, again we have to storm the the fort and kill the imperials garrisoned there.
Back to Galmar and it is time to attack the city of Solitude itself, this is the seat of imperial power and the throne of all Skyrim.
I am to meet Ulfric, I find him giving a speech to the massed soldiers at the gates of Solitude. We then enter the city, which is on fire. We must fight our way up into the castle and inside we face General Tulius and his henchwoman. Once they are defeated we hear some more arguing. We are then given a choice, kill Tulius our self or let Ulfric do it, I let him.
We then go outside and give a speech, Ulfric let's the wife of the old jarl stay on as leader of Solitude, as long as she swears to the side of the Stormcloaks. She will and there will be a proper election for the high king job in due time.

The companion quest line
The companions seem to the last of the larger quests to take on. I go to Whiterun and enter a large hall which is their base. I find lots of grumpy people, eventually Kodlak appears to be a leader of sorts. I am told to go out and fight someone called Vilkas, to test my arm. we go outside and I have to hit him a few times. Once I have, he seems satisfied. He gives us his sword to take to the blacksmith for sharpening.
There is a blacksmith right next door and I find a man named Eorlund tending it. I give him the sword for sharpening, he asks that we take a shield to Aela. I am shown to my room by Farkas on Aela's orders. He shows us to a dorm, it seems we are now accepted by the companions as one of them.
My first companion duty is to rough up a woman in Whiterun who has been causing trouble for our client. I am directed to a temple where we have to beat up the high priestess, then go back to Farkas. Farkas gives us 100 gold for our trouble and tells us to speak to Skjor who wants to see us. It seems that a part of the shattered blade of Wuuthrad, which was once owned by a companion named Ysgramor has been located at a place called dustman's cairn. We are to go and get it, Farkas will come with us.
I go to Dustman's cairn, looks like more draugr slaughtering to be done, I fight a few draugr then enter a large area. There is a lever, which when I pull it traps me in the room by a gate. Farkas tells us that he will find a way to free us. Then a group of men enter the room and seem hostile to the companions. As they are about to attack Farkas, about five against one he turns into a werewolf and slaughters them.
He then comes back to us in his normal form after opening the gate. It seems the certain members of the companions, the inner circle are werewolves. The Silverhand are enemies of werewolves it seems. 
We now progress through the very long and winding dustman's cairn, fighting Silverhands and draugrs. Eventually we come to a room where we fight a never ending stream of draugrs. The sword fragment lies on the altar here. We earn a shout word as well.
Back the the companion base we are taken around the back and sworn in to the companions. I can also claim a free sword from the blacksmith.

It took 70 hours to complete the majority of the main quest lines, I received 480 achievement points.