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.
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