The Thalmor information on this myserious Esbern is new to Delphine, who presumed he was dead long ago. It seems he's hiding out in Riften and Delphine thinks I'm the best candidate to go and pick him up. No mention of any assistance. Didn't she see me 'fighting' that Dragon before? Perhaps she thinks this will be a stealthy mission like the last one. She might be right, but Skyrim is habitually failing to meet my expectations when it comes to non-confrontation.
There's nothing for it of course, so I'm off to Riften, which is about as far away from Solitude (where I've just been) as any place on the map. It appears to be my fate to be guided systematically across the entirety of Skyrim's geography!
When I get to Riften and find the Ratway, a dank sewer under the main city, there's a handful of Thalmor but they're easily dealt with. A few homeless thugs down there too, but I just calm them down (magically of course, I've never been that diplomatic) and I'm on my way.
Esbern himself is locked away in the deepest part of the Ratway. Not as a prisoner. The door is locked on the inside. Even after convincing him of my good intent using a passphrase Delphine gave me, it still takes him about a minute to unlock whatever he has going on in there.
It turns out he's completely batty, but apparently knows what's going on.
It's the End of the World. The big black dragon is Alduin, the World-Eater, and his return signals that this world is coming to a close. Not if I have anything to say about it! A desire to alter fate, to wrench back my life and the world itself from the jaws of defeat, stirs deep within me and I'm a little taken aback by it! Esbern's doom-and-gloom turns optimistic when he discovers that I'm Dragonborn. I don't really feel like a hero, but people are consistently impressed by this Dovahkiin thing.
We get out pretty quickly, but not quickly enough to evade the Thalmor. Suddenly the sewer is filled with them, but Esbern turns out to be a competent battle-mage. I'm not sure what that makes me...
I concentrate on keeping him alive and resurrecting the corpses of the Thalmor he kills and we make it out without a great deal of trouble.
As we return to the daylight, a Dragon circles Riften but I'm really not in the mood. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be in the mood...
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