The Time Warp... I mean... Wound...

Back at the Throat of the World, Paarthunax is waiting for me. I notice that he's also retreated a safe distance from what he calls the 'Time Wound'; the tear in time through which Alduin was able to enter the world. I don't like how this is panning out.

Reassured by Paarthunax's gravely tones, I pull out the Elder Scroll and try to read it again, this time facing the Time Wound. The characters now make sense to me, and I'm drawn into a vision. A vision, it seems, of the past, but in this same spot!

It seems that even a thousand years ago, or however long ago it is that I'm looking back, these Nords still liked to talk a lot. After a great deal of dialogue, it seems that a powerful mage used the very Elder Scroll I'm holding to cast Alduin forward in time. To our time it seems. Thanks buddy.

More importantly, and the point of the exercise, I learn the words to Dragonrend, a shout to force a dragon to land. With timing that could only be described as theatrical, my old friend Alduin arrives at the scene. It seems he's gone from saving my life, to commanding others to kill me, to trying to kill me himself. Paarthunax is yelling at me to use Dragonrend, but in about 2 minutes I'm halfway back down the mountain!

I can hear the dragons flying and shouting overhead and although every pratical bone in my body is dragging me away, that frustrating sense of heroic obligation forces my feet back up the hill.

I quietly mouth the words of Dragonrend in preparation and I sincerely hope that all it does is force Alduin to land, otherwise I won't be able to use it and this could be quite anti-climactic.

Fortunately it does indeed simply force Alduin to land, which means I can keep him on the ground while Paathunax does all the serious injury. I conjure my atronach as an added distraction, and really it's all I can do to just keep alive. I keep my magic armour on to protect myself from the burning rocks that are falling from the sky and use a ward to keep back Alduin's fiery breath. Every time he catches me with my ward down I have to throw back those health potions as fast as I can to avoid looking like my atronach... except, you know, dead!

Paartunax fights bravely, and when I'm not being roasted like a sweetroll it's actually an impressive spectacle. Two great beasts engaged in fierce battle, it actually makes me feel rather small. Alduin's too injured to fly now, and Paarthunax has his full attention, so I consider just sitting down in the snow to watch. Suddenly I'm enveloped in flames again! Paarthunax is slumped over, near defeated, and Alduin has turned his fire on me. I can be useful again! I ready my healing spell and restore my scaly sidekick (okay maybe I'm the sidekick) to full strength while he beats Alduin to within a scale of is life. 

Like every great villain, Alduin waits until he is right on the brink of defeat and then departs with an eloquent speech about fighting another day. Not before he's forced to bow to me though. Oh yeah, dragon slayer standing right here!

I suppose I owe Parthy a little bit of credit.

An Elder Scroll

Inside the tower is another Dwemer lift that takes me way back up into the mountain. The old hermit did mention something about stars, which you can't really see from underground.

At the top of the tower is a large, round chamber housing a complex structure on both the floor and the ceiling. Most of the Dwemer construction I've seen has been functional, but this is the only one I've seen that's beautiful.

Of course I have no idea what it does, but it looks like there's some kind of capsule in the centre.

On a viewing platform off to the left is a group of buttons and a little holder for Dwemer cube the hermit gave me. The whole machine comes to life as I start pressing buttons. I'm sure there's a system here, but there's no manual and I don't have a mind for this sort of thing, so I just watch the rings spin.

I must get it right eventually as suddenly clear white light is focused through the top of the structure and then fragmented through the many glass discs mounted on the arms of the thing.

That was obviously the right thing to do as the capsule I saw before drops down slowly and opens.

By the Eight (and Talos as well, I'm that impressed) it's an Elder Scroll! I take a few moments to stand in awe of it. What knowledge it must contain, what secrets and power. Gingerly I pick it up and run my fingers over the smooth, gold surface.

Overcome by curiosity, I tug gentle on the edge of the scroll, revealing a sliver of the gold page within. I can't help it, it's so pretty and it's educational! I pull the whole thing out and immediately regret my decision!

Incomprehensible characters and shapes blaze with incredible power and such knowledge! The sheer weight and intensity of the knowledge on that scroll dazzles and blinds me. I stumble back disoriented and unable to see. Fortunately the effects are temporary, as I know that the Moth Priests of the Imperial City are permanently blind from their time spent studying the scrolls.

Glad that nobody was around to see that, I stuff the scroll in my pack and head back down the lift.

On the way out through Blackreach I pass a giant. What on earth is he doing down here? Seriously, how does a giant get down here!? Anyway, I fling a spell his way, more out of idle amusement than anything else, but he gets really angry so I have to hide. Good thing it's dark. If I could get him to follow me without trying to squash me into scrib jelly I would, but he doesn't seem that unhappy so I don't feel too bad leaving him behind. Maybe he has a thing for giant glowing mushrooms.

Blackreach

It seems I can delay my Dwemer ruin adventure no longer, so I trek through the snowy tundra west of Winterhold to the ruin of Alftand. Either it's built into the side of a glacier, or the glacier has shifted over the ruin, I'm not really sure which. Whatever the case is, apparent recent excavationers somehow managed to sling a suspension bridges across the face of the glacial cliff in a feat of engineering that I would pay to see.

I suppose they might have used magic, but that's much less exciting.

The ruin is dark and cold (for a change) but unlike the eerily quiet locations I've visited previously, this ancient place echoes with clangs and bangs, hisses of steam and the turning of gears.

The Dwemer must have been a fascinating people, turning from worship of both the Aedra and the Daedra to revere instead their own intelligence and the work of their hands.

It's this work that now makes regular attempts to kill me. Mechanical spiders and strange humanoid shapes on wheels have a nasty habit of popping out of the walls and assaulting me violently. Clearly my illusion spells have no effect (except of course in making me harder to find) but my atronach provides an adequate distraction. There's also some convenient oil spills which respond appropriately to the ignition source which is my atronach.

I manage to sneak past the majority of the smaller automatons and find myself in a part of the ruin that is half-construction and half-cavern. There's a rancid scent in the air that I recognise by reputation. Falmer.

Revolting and deformed, the Falmer were once cousins of my folk, but they were betrayed and nearly destroyed by the Dwemer. When the Dwemer disappeared their feral slaves lived on, breeding in the dark.

Despite their highly aggressive tendencies, the darkness has made the Falmer blind which works exceedingly well in my favour. Masking the sound of my footsteps with magic, I can walk right past one undetected. Unfortunately it doesn't work so well when you bump into them. Oops...

At least they are as weak-minded as they are weak-sighted and it's entirely up to me whether I calm them down or pit them against each other. I use a mix of both, particularly when I come across a spider who can, in fact, see me quite clearly.

At the bottom (or I thought it was the bottom) of the ruin lies a fortified entrance of some kind. There's a few Falmer, but by now they're of little concern. What's more concerning is that behind the gate is an enormous Dwemer Centurion. A larger version of one of these monstrosities almost destroyed my people in the days of Tiber Septim and I'm not keen to re-create history on a more personal scale. Fortunately it's not too hard to distract with some spells in the wrong direction and I sneak past.

There's a pair of adventurers whispering in the shadows past the Centurion, but they seem more interested in fighting each other, so I slip a small device that the old Hermit in the ice gave me into a Dwemer lock and jump back in surprise as a staircase opens in the floor. The random adventurers are still busy killing each other so I leave them to it, entering the lift at the bottom of the stairs and plunging even deeper into the depths of the earth.

When the lift finally comes to a halt I emerge in an enormous underground cavern. I shudder to think about the how much solid mountain is looming above me but it doesn't take long for me to forget that I'm underground in the first place.

This place is huge and seems lit exclusively by giant, glowing mushrooms. Just when I thought Skyrim couldn't get any weirder. In all fairness this may not even be Skyrim anymore. Does it count if we're buried deep, deep underneath Skyrim?

The place is scattered with Falmer and nasty bug creatures whose carapaces creak unsettlingly. It seems easier to just calm down any enemies I come across and if I keep my feet muffled most of the Falmer don't notice me anyway. There's another Centurion locked in a frame nearby so I edge over to take a look. Everything seems okay, as long as I stay away from that lever...

After I'm sure I've run across enough ground to fit Solitude in this place twice over, at last I reach the tower where I will supposedly find an Elder Scroll...

What Lies Beneath (the College)

The dragon fight has exhausted me and I don't even have the energy to drag myself up to the College, so I spend the night at the local inn.

First thing in the morning I return the books I recovered to Urag and he seems almost moderately impressed. He takes them and remarks on their contents. It appears I've been useful once more! He hands over a number of other texts with some tips on spellcasting and sends me to speak to Tolfdir.

In the morning when I enter the Hall of the Elements, it becomes apparent that in my absence Tolfdir and the other mages found a way to transport the giant Orb into the centre of the chamber. Nobody offers an explanation, despite the fact I'm dying of curiosity. It also seems as though the glowing well in the centre was purpose built for the Orb. I'm sure it's coincidence.

Tolfdir greets me and begins talking about how impressive the Orb is, complete with a patronising remark about himself being more 'attuned' than I am. I'm actually relieved when the Thalmor representative, Ancano, arrives and interrupts. It's about time somebody cut the old man short.

It appears that the same strange mage who appeared to me in Saarthal is upstairs requesting an audience. Ancano escorts me up the stairs, complaining and giving instructions the whole time. Even for a Thalmor, this one is annoying. When I arrive in the Arch Mage's quarters this mage does his time-stopping trick again so we can talk privately. Again, he uses a lot more words than he needs to but ultimately directs me to seek out the 'Augur of Dunlain', whatever that means. Then he un-stops time and just walks off, leaving the Arch Mage and Ancano with their mouths wagging in confusion.

The Augur is apparently located in the cellars beneath the College, so I'm off on another adventure. There's not actually a lot down here; just a cranky Ice Wraith that I easily calm down and one lonely Draugr that I simply sneak past.

I find the Augur in a circular chamber behind a locked door. He's basically a big glowing orb of light that can talk. The others at the College all seemed to know who he was, and Tolfdir hinted at some unfortunate event that resulted in his current state, but wouldn't say any more.

He's actually one of the most intriguing personalities I've come across so far. Was he Man, Mer or Beast before? Something else, maybe related to the Aedra or Daedra? What happened to him, and how does he have what seems to be knowledge of the future and all my actions to date.

Unfortunately he reveals even less about himself than Tolfdir, so I'm left to wonder. What he does reveal is that the Orb is called the Eye of Magnus, and we need the Staff of Magnus to make any use of it. It also turns out that Ancano has been poking around. Smelly Thalmor.

The Arch Mage seems quite interested and impressed (although all I did was bewitch an Ice Wraith and talk to a glowing ball of light), so he gives me a present! A shiny new crown which boosts my magicka reserves.

I think it looks quite ravishing, don't you?

Ungrateful Guards and, Oh Yeah, ANOTHER Dragon!

I arrive back at dear Wintercold in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snow storm. I'm not even remotely surprised by this, as it's always a snowstorm here. I about to head up to the college when I hear a roar and the rush of wings.

Here we go again...

Two nearby guards leap into action, pulling out their bows and attacking the dragon. Considering I can't do any damage to the creature, even if I could see it amongst all the snow, I ready a healing spell and take shelter under the verandah of the local trader and keep the guards fighting fit as they are engulfed in flames. It's dark, and visibility is low, but the guards are pretty easy to keep track of when they're set ablaze.

I do have to dash out every now, holding up a magic ward to keep the flames away. The dragon unleashes a torrent of flames and my magicka reserves burn out. As he inhales for another blast I bolt across the snow like a frightened rabbit back under my verandah. Just in time too, as a sheet of flames obscures everything else from view. At least it's not cold anymore!

I manage to keep both guards alive without too much trouble and eventually the dragon is forced by it's injuries to land. Once it's on the ground they make short work of it, although I'm sure without me they would have been eaten.

I kid you not, the very moment the dragon slumps lifeless to the ground, that ungrateful guard whips out his torch, looks disdainfully at me over his shoulder and says "Go cast your fancy magic someplace else."

That's the last time I help a Nord! What a fetcher.

Overdue Books

As deliciously tempting as a Dwemer ruin sounds, I decide to go and fetch the books the librarian mentioned. I've got no idea how I'll go up against the rumoured Dwemer auto-matons, so I figure I'll pit myself against something familiar.

Undead.

Fortunately there's a variety of living and dead in this ruined castle that Urag sent me to. It's necromancy, so the implication is that there's living mages raising undead minions. I can work with that.

I'm often now faced with a dilemma in how I approach these situations.

My calming spell is by far the most convenient, as it immediately cancels out all conflict. Everybody just chills, but nobody dies.

Fury works well in groups, but only makes people attack me if we're the only two around.

Fear keeps the conflict going, but once they start running I can't really control where they go so it's a mixed bag.

I stick with my calming spell where I can't pit these necromancers against each other, it just means I have to be careful about how I backtrack, as there are enemies in front of me as well as behind.

It occurs to me that stealth would be of real benefit here, and is becoming a more useful skill in my repertoire as I become more proficient in it. The ability to cast my magic silently turns this skill from convenient to critically useful.

By sneaking and casting silent spells, I can use Fury on two necromancers, having them attack each other without them even noticing that I'm there. It also enables me to sneak past individuals that would otherwise prove challenging. I have a handy spell to muffle my footsteps, and before long I'm ghosting through this castle like a bad dream for these mages.

You know, the kind of bad dream that makes you kill your friends.

Of course, my success hits a snag. Skeletons are immune to my illusion spells, and apparently the mages who summoned them are incapable of killing them. Fury just gets them killed, raising them as zombies gets them dusted, and there's still three skeletons hanging around. One of them catches wind of me and wanders down the corridor to check. For a few heart pounding moments, he's right in front of me, dead glowing eyes staring straight into my soul, but then he wanders off again. Maybe those eyes don't work so well anymore...

In the end there's nothing for it, and I unleash my flame atronach who crisps them nicely, like baked potatoes, and we move on (maintaining a respectful, if less fearful distance).

There's a pair of necromancers enjoying a drink together in some sort of decrepit library. I consider a fight to the death but it's not hard to sneak past them.

I finally find myself at the top of the tower (after a nice little fight downstairs, I'm sure that one guy got a nasty fright waking up to a faceful of lightning from his companion) and I'm greeted by a suspiciously polite woman with a rather gaunt face and robes indicating a high status. Rather than engaging in conversation I try to avoid eye contact and I can see the 3 books I've been sent to collect in the room. Maybe if I just ignore her I can take them and leave?

It doesn't work (of course not, this is Skyrim) and she clearly didn't appreciate being ignored. Two flame atronachs appear out of nowhere (I thought she was a necromancer!) and converge. I unleash a calming spell on the atronachs but they resist it. Ugh!

It occurs to me that I'm only here for the books, so I run to each pedestal and grab them. That wasn't so hard! Except the door is locked, and I need a key. I wonder who could have it?

Thinking fast, I conjure my own atronach to distract them and then fling a fear spell at the only one in the room who will respond to it. The Caller, as she calls herself, cowers like a child and runs into the corner while her atronachs beat mine to a pulp.

It takes a little while, but by keeping The Caller in a continuous state of terror and resummoning my atronach as the others banish it we secure a victory between us. When the atronachs are dead, my own makes short work of The Caller. Of course, the key to the door is on her person and as my atronach returns to Oblivion I exit the castle and turn my face towards the College.

The Archmage Sleeps With His Robes On

As I arrive in the frozen wasteland that is Wintercold, the Jewel of Skyrim, the awful weather swirls around me. With a shiver I draw my robes closer and then remember the shout I learnt from the Greybeards.

It does absolutely nothing to help. Two, even three times I yell into the sky to stop the damned snow, to no avail. I hate this place.

I get back to the College at a rather unseemly hour, but Tolfdir seemed convinced it was extremely important so I head upstairs to the Arch-Mage's quarters to see if he's awake.

He's not, and apparently he sleeps with all his robes on. I consider waking him up, but he seems so peaceful, which I'm sure is unusual for a man in his station. Also he's a Dunmer and I know from experience that they don't like to be wakened.

In very socially acceptable manner, I sit down at the foot of his bed and wait for him to wake up.

One hour passes, and another, and another. Suddenly the bed is empty! I must have dosed off. Sure enough he's up and about so I fill him in on the details of what happened. He seems less than impressed by my daring (I refrain from reminding him that I didn't have to go back to Saarthal in the first place) and volunteers me for following it up. What is it about all these people that makes them think I'm ready and able to complete any and every task that comes up!

He sends me to speak to Urag, the cranky Orcish librarian downstairs. Apparently he's the best person to ask about an Elder Scroll as well.

Urag proves less than friendly, but more than useful. Apparently there's a crazed hermit living in the glaciers to the north who can tell me about an Elder Scroll, and there's some books that will tell us more about the orb from Saarthal. Unfortunately those books went with a young mage who joined a group of necromancers.

I know which one of those two options I want to pursue.

To my great joy, when I step outside it's the first clear sky I've seen in this place. It's surprisingly pleasant, and the view that the College grounds command of the land and sea surrounding it are stunning. I'm especially grateful as I'll be heading north into the ice and a clear sky helps a lot with avoiding angry bears.

I find my hermit with little trouble and no bears, and he informs me that the Elder Scroll is buried deep beneath the mountains, in a place called Blackreach. If that doesn't sound inviting, I'm not an Altmer! Even better, I have to journey through a Dwemer ruin to get there. I've never been inside one of those before, and I am actually looking forward to it.

Of course, I really should know better.

Back to Saarthal

It seems as though everybody is exactly where I left them when I return to Saarthal. Tolfdir, my bearded mentor, doesn't seem to mind that I just ran off days ago when he asked me to find some enchanted rings. Going with the mood of the crowd, I continue as if no time has passed.

I manage to get myself stuck in a cage and then blast a hole in a wall. Fortunately for me the wall crumbles to a Fury spell, because I don't even know any true damage spells! Behind this wall is a now-familiar feeling dark tunnel. I now have some experience with undead so I proceed with an optimistic level of confidence.

At the end of this tunnel I enter a room where I'm visited by a strange time-controlling, teleporting wizard. He says a whole lot that I don't understand and seems to think he's entitled to judge my actions. Pssh, whatever. No sooner does he leave them the walls burst open and undead some crawling out. No coincidence if you ask me. Tolfdir is around to help me though and I simply distract the creatures while he finishes them off.

We enter a large cavern with crypts lining the walls. Skyrim has become, as a rule, fairly predictable in this regard, so I head for the safest part of the room, a bridge in the centre. Tolfdir is busy admiring the tombs when they all start cracking open. Who didn't see that one coming? Tolfdir, apparently. I fling a few turn undead spells around the room and armour up (magic armour of course!), while Tolfy burns them to a crisp.

At this point my dear mentor, having received adequate demonstration of my ability, still deems it the best choice to send me on alone, because he wants to examine the crypts! Like all these helpful people I encounter, there's no talking him out of it, so off I go.

It doesn't actually go to badly. The fear spells work great. I can't really kill anything, but I can keep it running away from me. It does get a little hard to maintain as the numbers grow. At one point there's about six Draugr doing laps around me, but we all manage.

Finally, just after I've made it past the angry undead, Tolfdir rocks up again, saying something about it being time to catch up with me. With all due respect, little bearded man, it was never 'high time' to leave me in the first place!

We enter a large chamber, and there's some sort of enormous, glowing orb behind what is clearly a ward. If I could learn to cast a spell like that around myself, I'd be fine!

My attention is quickly diverted however, as the corpse in a large chair in front of me gets up. Tolfdir doesn't seem too alarmed, but his plan is simply imbecilic! He runs off into the corner, presumably to do something with the orb, leaving me to fight the undead. There's nothing for it, so I summon my atronach. In the flamey fiend's defense, she's never harassed me or done anything untoward. Maybe she's not that bad. It's definitely a she, regardless.

The undead warrior banishes my atronach back to Oblivion a few times, but I simply recall it and cower in a corner. Yup, I'm a predestined hero.

When we (I mean, my atronach) finally defeats the Draugr, Tolfdir gives me pretty clear instructions to hurry back to the Arch Mage and tell him what happened. That works for me, since I need to ask about an Elder Scroll too. Looks like I'm heading back to Wintercold.

The Leader of the Greybeards

Alduin's Wall is, you guessed it, a wall. Apparently it contains both history and prophecy. Esbern points out the last Dragonborn, me apparently, right down the end. I'll be honest, as flattering as the thought is, I really don't see the resemblance. That's a male, holding a weapon, covered in armour, fighting a dragon.

Still there's an undeniable stirring in me... to run away. It seems my heroism is wearing off.

Esbern believes that there's a shout that can defeat Alduin, and it seems that my Blade friends know my Greybeard friends and seem to think they can help us out. I try to explain that the Greybeards are a rather dull, hermit-like group and likely want nothing to do with all this, but Delphine gives me that stony look and I know I've got no choice...

I leg it back up the mountain and try to track down Arngeir. It's not an easy task, as I keep getting lost in the place and I still can't tell these men apart.

Arngeir tells me it's time I met their leader, who lives at the very top of the mountain. They teach me a shout that improves the weather and I'm on my merry way.

Just as an aside, this is possibly the most useful thing I've learned thus far! The weather here is terrible, but now I can banish any snow storm or bad weather back into the sky and pretend that I'm on the Summerset Isleagain! A cold, snowy Summerset, filled with dragons and weird humans... and dead goats too.

Poor goat. I'm not sure what caused his demise, perhaps he leapt too boldly from his rocky perch. I take pity on him (her?) and grant him (her? or at least his (her?) body a little more precious life. He can't do me much good, but we can hang out before he crumbles to ash.

Spoiler alert! Turns out that Paarthunax, the leader of the Greybeards is... here we go again. Yup, he's a dragon. He comes swooping down out of the sky and calls out after me as I run for cover. I suppose it worked out that I can't attack him, because I would have and that would have made our introductions more awkward than they already were!

He does a lot of talking (I see where the Greybeards get it from) and says 'Dremyolok' quite a few times. Then all of a sudden he's breathing fire! Geez buddy, thanks for the warning.

Oh gods, now he wants me to breathe fire in return. I learn the word and he unlocks its power in me, but I'm too nervous... I just stand there, the new word feeling foreign and unfriendly on my tongue. He tries to encourage me, using eloquent variations on 'What's wrong with you, just breath the damn fire!' I use the shout, but at the last second turn my face away so the fire goes shooting across the empty snow. Paarthunax just looks at me. There appears to be no way out of it. But he's a dragon right? Fire won't hurt him, so it's not really dealing damage...

'YOL!' The fire rushes over my tongue again and sizzles across his scales. He seems adequately impressed and the conversation continues while I nurse my guilty conscience...

Apparently the shout to defeat Alduin is lost in time, but an Elder Scroll holds the answers! Great, I'll just get me one of those then. Really Paarthunax, what are the chances of actually finding an Elder Scroll? He suggests visiting the College of Winterhold to ask one of the loremasters there.

The College! I suddenly remember that I abandoned everybody in that Nordic excavation days ago while I went on my merry way. It seems that heroic fate has turned my footsteps in that direction once again. I'd best be off. Nice, um, chatting with you, Parthy. He 'hurumph's and relocates to a nearby stone structure and roosts like only a dragon can. Perhaps they're not all so bad after all.

Another Day, Another Dragon

Our growing band convenes in Delphine's secret basement.

Esbern lays it out plain and simple. If we're going to stop Alduin, we need to find Alduin's Wall. Guess where this is.

Halfway across the map.

I take a cart from Whiterun to Markarth, west of my destination, as it's the closest I can get. After spending a warm night in the nearest inn I set off into the foggy early morning to meet up with Delphine and Esbern.

After a long walk and a couple of brisk encounters I find them, along with an army of Forsworn and, oh, another Dragon! This is ridiculous. I'm having trouble believing this place was ever without them, as they're all I've seen since I got here!

The Forsworn (savages dressed in the skins of animals) aren't too much trouble. I stick close to the old Blades as those Forsworn weapons can really tear you up, but inevitably they fall. The dragon is not so simple, and Delphine's previous competence with a bow appears to have been a one-off. After several near death experiences I decide enough is enough and flee up the stairs into the cave we came to find. Screw these dragons.

Inside is an eerily beautiful cavern, the entrance to some old ruin, and some rather obvious traps that don't take too long to disarm. I discover an open room with a great stone face and a seal of some kind on the ground. I turn to Esbern for help... Esbern?

Nowhere to be seen.

After trekking back through the cave to the entrance, it seems some fleeting dementia has beset the old man. He's hiding behind a rock, spells at the ready, staring fearfully out at an empty cave. I try to talk to him, get him to snap out of it, but he's so focused!

Shaking my head, I go right back to the entrance, out into the open, risk being cryogenically frozen by the dragon still hanging about, and then come back in. Esbern is gone altogether. Hopefully to that seal I found.

Sure enough he's there, with Delphine, who has apparently stopped running on the spot where I left her earlier. It seems my blood is required to activate the seal. Esbern hands me a knife. I eye it off disdainfully.

Is it against my ethos to cut myself with a weapon? Once again, it seems I have no option but to sway one way or the other. Nobody will decide for me. Esbern and Delphine are looking on expectantly. I think it's acceptable. I run the blade across my palm, breaking the skin.

Drinking up my spilled blood hungrily, there's a bright light and a rumble. The great stone face swings back revealing a doorway. Huzzah! Time to find out what's on the other side.