From the Mages Guildhall in Shornhelm, Valaste opens a portal back to the Shivering Isles of Oblivion, so that I might attempt to retrieve another tome for Shalidor.

Once more the Mad God Sheogorath would have me play his fool; this time in a farce of his own writing he calls ‘The Folly of Isolation’.  Usually one has to search a little for a semblance of reason within Sheogorath’s irrationality, here however it is plain.  One by one the leaders of Tamriel turn upon the mages for their continued neutrality in the Three Banners War.

What is of more intrigue to me however, is what is happening off stage in the wings.  What is the significance of the statue of Vaermina the Daedric Prince of nightmares hidden within one of the buildings?  And why are spectral scenes from Valaste and Shalidor’s past echoing throughout the circus?  Is it by accident or design?  Could it possibly be that Sheogorath’s own mania betrays him, in that the Mad God obsession with Valaste and Shalidor, runs just as deep as Shalidor’s obsession with Eyevea?

Perhaps though I am just the victim of a double bluff, and these echoes are just another of his mischievous ideas, a sprinkling of never-there chaos, just like his suggestion that the Mages guild should choose a side, and become drawn into the tumult and disorder of war.

The truth is, no matter how powerful these Daedric princes are in Oblivion, in Tamriel they know as much about tomorrow as does the Hoarvor wallowing in a stinking Black Marsh swamp.

S.K