Following the Seeker’s Sight I discover that the second aspect of the Celestial Mage has taken up refuge deep in a cave known as Hircine’s Haunt. I need not ask the locals, caravan drivers, or tavern patrons for bruit or rumour about what to expect, what better name could disciples of the Huntsman choose to call their den.

Since the fall of the constellations more and more of central Craglorn has become overrun by the Greycloak mercenaries. They openly pillage unchallenged upon the central wastelands, and their dedication to their daedric prince Hircine is thought to rival that of even the great lycanthropic packs of the Reach.

Growing up in Cyrodill, lycanthropy was very much decried as a curse. If fact when I first joined the Legions, recruits were told if they were unlucky enough to became afflicted, they should surrender themselves to their superiors before they infected their friends and comrades… or worse, fed upon them.

The first time I encountered werewolves in packs was at the gates of Aldcroft in Glenumbra. It was further north in the city of Camlorn that I was to witness first hand the brutal devastation an organized pack could cause. That city’s liberation was a bloody affair indeed. I know not to this day whether the followers of Faolchu the Reborn chose to accept Hircine’s gift, or were conscripted to it, but they seemed to willingly fully discard their human form.

At the village of Kerbol’s Hollow in Bangkorai however, it was very much thought of as a curse, yet one they attempted, in their own way, to live with. I have heard tale that Arkay’s priests are capable of performing a ritual to purge ones body of the affliction, but in truth I cannot recall ever meeting one who has recovered to tell the tale.

Whatever their viewpoint, whether gift or curse, blessing or bane, there is only one certainty for those unfortunate recipients of Hircine’s gift, the promise of an eternity roaming the savage Hunting Grounds upon their death.

S.K

The Seeker’s Sight indicates that the first missing aspect of the Celestial Mage maybe hiding in the ancient Dwemer settlement of Rkundzelft in eastern Craglorn. Once I find my way inside it’s heavy Dwarven metal doors I am a little startled by just how intact and untarnished everything seems to be. Of course like most of the Dwemer settlements I have delved, the still-functioning automatons work tirelessly to maintain the machinery, habitat, and each other, just as they have done so for hundreds of years.

But as I travel deeper into these subterranean corridors and caverns, ever under the watchful eyes of the Dwarven faces forged into every piece of architecture, I discover many books, diagrams, and charts lying almost invitingly open. In most other delves such knowledge has long since been looted, decayed, or destroyed. So it begs the question, Just what lies in the depths beyond that has kept the treasure hunters from pillaging the marvels and wonders of Rkundzelft?

It has always seemed remarkable to me that in the many hundreds of years since they passed from Nirn, we have not been able to replicate the mechanical knowledge of the Dwemer. Especially given all the brilliant minds in the Mages guild and their singular obsession, which perhaps rivals even that of Hermaeus Mora, in the collection of all knowledge in the form of books and scripts of antiquity.

I was a brash young man in my youth, who thought he knew something of everything, and I would regularly visit taverns across the Heartland to share obnoxiously loud opinions with other brash young men, especially once we had shared in a few tankards. It was one such evening that I recall hearing for the first time somebody postulate that if we could uncover the secrets of Dwemer industry, then it would surely render magic, and thus mages, obsolete. Now I have neither the knowledge, nor the pomposity of my youth to be making such a contention now, however. I have sometimes mused over the Mages Guild obsession with collecting all these books, tomes, and scrolls. Is it for the preservation of knowledge… or for its suppression?

As I discovered in the open ruins of Volenfell deep in the Alik’r desert, not all Dwemer automations were created equally. Some were designed far bigger and more deadly, with the sole purpose of defence; or attack?! Certainly Mzeklok, the giant Dwarvern Spider at the heart of Rkundzelft, explains why this settlement has remained unlooted for so, so long. But, albeit unwittingly and perhaps somewhat ironically, it also successfully protected a hidden aspect of the Celestial Mage.

S.K

The rocky wastes of eastern Craglorn are littered with the ancient ruins of cities long lost to annals and lore. Wayfarers however have recently begun to convey tales of the curious appearance of large crimson crystals at the centre of many of these dusty ruins. They are said to attract both spell-fiend and atronach in much the same way as does the shards of the Mage’s staff at the Spellscar.

The aspects of the Celestial Mage claim that these crystals are tools of the Serpent, serving to siphon the power of the fallen Celestial for serpentine purpose. But the Aspects also tell that if I can break the crystals I might be able use that stored power to charge the gems of the Seeker’s Sight to aid us in discovering the location of the aspects still in hiding. As soon as I begin to attack the crystals however the fiends and atronachs attack, and with it’s destruction, a huge air atronach appears whose sole intent is my quietus.

News that the Serpent is able to use these mysterious crystals to gain in strength is no doubt worrying, yet strangely it also brings us hope. For just as the sorcerer’s firebolt can be blocked with a wooden shield, and the risen dead of the necromancer can be smote with a metal blade, these crystals show that even the Celestials cannot engage with the realm of Nirn without physical manifestation or tool. Even the Great Enslaver had to rely upon the physical anchors wrought in black forges of Coldharbour, otherwise his threat of a Planemeld would have been worth nowt more then a Nord maiden’s promise.

S.K

I follow Sara Benele into the Mage’s Staff obelisk and we discover a realm within that is drenched in magicka. It feels like we are caught inside an iridescent gemstone, coruscating with colours no mortal has ever seen. The air about fizzles and sparks, feeling at times as if the next spell cast might ignite the whole realm. Whilst looking up to the sky is not unlike looking into the oily puddles of a dwemer ruin; this is an altogether ghastly beautiful place.

Huge chunks of rock hang freely in the air upon which commotions of elementals and spell-fiends gather. At the centre of it all we see the black foreboding core; no not black, just devoid of all light.

I once more follow Sara’s lead, for she seems more confident in our path now. I had my doubts about this whole endeavour in the beginning, probably because Sara herself seemed unsure. I only put my faith in her because she is the sister of Gabrielle. But as we have gotten closer to ending this catastrophic threat her confidence has grown, and it has felt much easier to trust in her lead.

Some people are shut up tightly inside themselves like flower bulbs, and it only takes one person to shine a little faith for them to open up and blossom quite wonderfully. In this time-bomb Sara Benele bloomed into the person Craglorn needed her to be. Now there are two members of the Mages Guild I would trust implicitly.

S.K