I head to Riften by way of Ivarstead. On the other side of the river is a seemingly abandoned farmhouse. I head over there to see if there is anything interesting, and I find some demented tramp, Narfi. Narfi is actually the rightful owner of the house - it was his family homestead, but his parents died some time ago. Now Narfi spends his day waiting for his sister Reyda to return. Some time ago she went off to gather some ingredients for something, and never returned.

I ask the innkeep about this, and he corroborates the story - but adds that it is generally assumed Reyda died, but no one had the heart to tell Narfi in his already sorry state of mind. There is an island in the river not far from the town that Reyda was wont to often gather ingredients, and one day she didn't come back. There is a crypt on the island, Giermand's Hall, and the townsfolk figure some undead being came and offed her.

To me this sounds like an incident.

My guess is, though, that Reyda just drowned one time in the river. Ghouls don't make habits of randomly coming out of hiding.

Looks like I was right.

With the remains I find an amulet that looks unique. I take this back to Narfi and let him know the bad news.

It was hard on him, but now he can stop wasting away waiting for someone that will never come, and move on with his life.

There's something definitely fishy about that Giermand's Hall, though. I go to investigate.

I head off to Windhelm, because it is right there near Kynesgrove, and all the action has been weighing me down some.

Windhelm is the center of the Stormcloak rebellion, and Ulfric Stormcloak is the Jarl here. I might not like them, but they don't think anything of me, so I can just walk right in.

On the way to Kynesgrove I ran into some folks trying to kill me, specifically. Thugs, who turned out to be hired by the Battle-Borns, who somehow found out I stole their note that had the whereabouts of Thorald. They weren't instructed to kill me, but seemed that just teaching me a lesson wasn't enough for them.

I wasn't prepared for this, so I ran, casting spells back at them when I could. Unfortunately, that isn't the easiest way to hit someone, so it took quite a bit longer than I would have liked. As I wasn't watching where I was going too well, I ran into a group of bandits. They wanted in on the action, too.

And then, to top it all off, a dragon attacked. There was no use to running anymore, so I stood my ground. It took a lot of magicka potions, but in the end, I prevailed.

Turns out the dragon was guarding a word wall at Bonestrewn Crest, which had the word FO ("frost"). While I was running from everyone, I bounded into the dragon's turf. Oh well.

Eventually I do get to the place Delphine specified. And what should I find there?

Oh look, it's my old buddy Alduin, doing some magic to one of those weird mounds.

That wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Alduin then makes fun of me for being a Dovahkiin ("dragonborn") and not even being able to understand Dragon, before flying off. What a jerk.

Delphine decided this is a good time to speak up, and suggested that we take out this new dragon while he's still groggy.

He wasn't offended.

Even so, he'd got more fight in him than a lot of dragons. But that didn't stop me from ending him, this time for good.

Delphine owed me an explanation.

She had figured out that those mounds were actually dragon burial mounds, though, and figured the dragons were not just tired of hiding, but were actually coming back to life. She thought the Thalmor would know something about it, so she said she was going to figure out a way to find out. And I was supposed to meet her back in Riverwood later to learn the plan.

But I had other plans. Maybe one of these times I'll help her, but for now, I'm done with this mystery. Resurrecting long-dead dragons? Waaay out of my ability to do anything about it.

First things first - I return the Horn to the Greybeards, completing my task. They teach me the final word of the force shout - DAH, or "push." They have yet one more test, to see if I really, really am the Dragonborn - they subject me to the full power of their Voice, the lot of them. It put me off-balance, but apparently it was enough to tear a normal person apart. So I really am what they say I am. 

A little while ago I didn't think I was ready to take on another hagraven, but with the experience I have now (like knowing all about the Shouts and stuff) I am ready to take them on and get that dagger to heal the Gildergreen tree in Whiterun. They are hidden up near Helgen - I still don't like that place - so it's quick enough to get there. The hagraven had a coven of witches at her command, but they weren't a match for my skill. And this time, the hagraven wasn't about to kill me (though there was only one).

I get the Nettlebane from her, and take it down to the priestess.

I guess this thing is evil or something. I suppose it would have to be, if it is to harm the oldest living thing around. She tells me to go to the Eldergleam Sanctuary and get the sap from the tree. On my way out of the temple I am stopped by a Maurice - a follower of Kynareth, he wants to go on a pilgrimage to see Eldergleam, but has needed an escort, so I offer to take him.

It's not too inviting when I get there.

Not what one'd expect to see at a place holy to Life.

This is more like it.

We are met by a couple of pilgrims, Sond and Astra, who tell us that the way to Eldergleam itself is blocked - actively, by the tree's roots. However, a few swipes in the air with Nettlebane solves that nicely - the tree looks like it's actually afraid of the blade.

Maurice is none too happy with my plan to cut the tree to get its sap - I guess he wasn't listening to the priestess. He thinks he has a better way; nothing to lose by doing something else, and I guess it would be better to not harm a sacred being. What does he do?

Well, whatever he did, it worked. The sapling could be grafted into Gildergreen to make it live, just as well as the original sap. Much nicer way of going about it, for sure. The priestess in Whiterun was surprised, but pleased.

Now I head to Kynesgrove to meet Delphine.

It was just as I thought - there is not attic room in the Riverwood inn. Despite that, the innkeeper Delphine seems to know what I'm talking about, and takes me to a basement room, hidden behind a false dresser.

Delphine informs me that it was her that took the Horn I was looking for. She knew that if the Greybeards had called the Dragonborn, they would test them by retrieving the artifact. She says she is a member of the Blades, who used to be the Dragonborn Emperors' bodyguards and secret agents; but once Martin Septim sacrificed himself to stop the Oblivion crisis, the Blades fell in grace, eventually into hiding from the Thalmor - but always waiting for the next Dragonborn to follow. Seems even before the Blades worked for the emperors they were a group of dragon slayers.

That would be a good reason for a bunch of dragon slayers to follow the Dragonborn.

Apparently, that first dragon Alduin is prophesied to destroy the world. Of course Delphine thinks I'm the only one to be able to stop that. She has a theory that the dragons didn't just come from somewhere, but were previously dead and for some reason have come back to life. With information she's gathered - she was the one that told the Whiterun mage to look for the Dragonstone - she thinks she can predict where they are buried, so maybe we can stop them, or something.

She tells me to wait for her at Kynesgrove, south of Windhelm, where one of those buried dragons supposedly is.

She is the one who will have to wait. I have other business I need to do.

I suppose I did forget one thing that happened on the way to Ustengrav.

This one was a bit feistier. I of course came out victorious.

Looks like there was a bit of commotion at the entrance to Ustengrav.

Looks like I'm far from the only one interested in the contents of this place.

Inside there are more necromancers. Looks like they finished off the bandits there, and of they don't like me too much either. Not that it matters to me; bandits would have given me just as much trouble. I make short work of them. Eventually I reach the front group of necromancers - they are stopped by draugr, and eventually are finished off. Now I get to take on the dead guys. They aren't too much trouble, really. Without much delay, I get to the chamber where the Horn is.

Or where it should be, at least.

Looks like someone got there before I did. Someone that knew I was coming for the Horn. They left a note in place of the Horn, saying to go rent the attic room at the inn in Riverwood. Funny, I don't remember there being an upstairs room there...smells like trouble. At any rate, that's where I have to go.

I leave the crypt, and head to nearby Morthal to stock up/sell loot. Then back to Riverwood.

When I arrive back in Whiterun, I make some orders from the Jarl's steward for some stuff for my house, like furniature and an alchemy room. I talked to old lady Grey-Mane in the market who said her son was gone, and that she'd like to talk to me about it in her home, privately. That was suspicious, but I went anyways.

I go to their manor, and one of the sons, Avulstein, was not too happy to see me. Turns out he's a Stormcloak, and is in hiding there. His brother was captured by the Imperials, and he's next. I'm not too interested in intervening on behalf of the rebels, but there might be something in it for me, so I told him I'd look into it. Avulstein thinks the Battle-Borns are behind it, or at least might know where his brother is. Of course, it's up to me to find out.

I go to the Battle-Born manor, and sitting right in the open is an Imperial missive (well, technically it was in a study attached to a bedroom, but it was just sitting out on the desk). I take it, and give it to Avulstein. His brother, Thorald, was handed over to the Thalmor (against the protest of the Battle-Borns), and is being held at their main fort of Northwatch Keep. Avulstein immediately wants to go rescue his brother, but I advise him against it.

Of course I stand a chance. Well, maybe not yet, but I really have other, more Dragonborn-ish things to do first at any rate. But I will get Thorald back. Again, I really don't like the Stormcloaks, but I'd relish the opportunity to really mess up the Thalmor party in Skyrim.

With that, I'm off to get the Horn, at a place called Ustengrav. It's out in the north-west, out by Morthal, so it's a bit of a hike to get there. I meet another dragon out there; this time, it's not shy about violence.

But it falls just the same.

I come across some house out in the middle of nowhere; I go in, and the guy attacks me. Looks like he was a necromancer. Why are they always so mean? In retaliation, I steal his stuff. He had lots of alchemy ingredients that I have never seen before. I did get an alchemy text, so I don't have to taste them anymore.

The rest of the way to Ustengrav is thankfully uneventful.