As dusk drapes her sombre shawl across the evening sky my thoughts turn towards a hot meal, warm ale, and dry bed.  As I cross the bridge to the nearest town I am approached by an anxious looking man seeking aid for his former employer, the Countess Ilise Manteau of Wind Keep.

Wind Keep is a small town surrounded East and West by rocky hills which help to keep its impressive forges supplied with plentiful ore.  To the North a natural lake has formed by the waters running down from the Wrothgar Mountains, before continuing their journey as the twin rivers running through the heart of Stormhaven and out into the Illiac Bay.  To the South lays the forsaken ruins of Aphren’s Hold where rumour tells that Daedric cultists and ethereal spectres have made maleficent garrison.

The man tells of the Countesses uncharacteristically erratic behaviour of late, which has culminated in her sacking all retainers and locking herself away from the world and its responsibilities.  Usually I would shy from interfering in the spotted affairs of Breton nobility, but this behaviour sounds far too similar to that of Pascal, Hughes, and Hosni to be but coincidence.  I fear the nightmares of Vaermina have found another sleepless victim to corrupt this night.

S.K