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I apologise for switching between third and first person narrative.

Went to Sightless Pit (Temple of Xrib) to get the Dawnguard Rune Hammer. Unfortunately it doesn't work - it won't produce a rune so it's basically just a big hammer. I'm not fussed though as i wouldn't have used it anyway - I know the fire rune spell so i'd just use that rather than lugging that heavy thing around.

Went to Shreikwind Bastion, i had been told that there was a word wall in there.
It was a Nordic ruin but turned out to be quite a relaxing one, as it was low level and was occupied by 90º/º skeletons, one odd vampire thrall and a couple of necromancers. I kept getting cool kill cams for the skeletons, seeing as they only needed one hit to take down. There was a massive deep chasm with them in too, so the fireball would travel for ages before BAM! hitting the skeleton. Nice. The baddy at the end with the word wall was not a Deathlord as expected but a Scourge.
I learnt the third word for the Elemental Fury shout - disappointing, as i never use it.

After the ruin, Onmund and i walked towards Sekunda's Kiss to kill the giant that had a bounty on its head. We crossed a wide point in the river, where i had to wait for ages when Onmund got into a battle with a bunch of slaughterfish. He can never just let them things go - he's just got to zap them with lightning til they're all dead. I'm thinking he maybe has some vendetta against them for an unknown reason.
I did get to watch the pretty sunset from the river while i waited though, so it wasn't too much of an annoyance.

It had just gotten dark when we found the giant's camp. I hopped up onto some high rocks and fired a paralyse spell at the giant to keep it still, then fired some incinerate spells at it. It got up again though and another giant appeared from somewhere. They kept moving around and my spells kept missing - my spot on the rocks was too high up.

Onmund was down with them, chain lightning them as usual. He was doing alright but then he went hurtling through the air and into the darkness. I climbed down the rocks and used the Animal Allegiance shout (not tried it before), no animals seemed to come to help, so i used a couple of paralyze spells up close and finished the giants off with the mace.
Onmund hadn't returned, so i had a run around using the detect life spell to try and find him - no luck- then with sadness i tried the detect dead spell. The giants showed up, then a sabre cat i'd killed earlier and then....oh no.... i ran over to the shimmering blob and it was.... a goat. I couldn't find Onmund anywhere in the vicinity. Was he dead? Was he alive? Had he flown a mile away with the giant's swipe? I would never know.

Spent some time at home at Heljarchen Hall today. Built a shrine base down in the basement (after being surprised by a bunch of skeevers that were in there).
Needed lots of amulets, ingots and some other items to build the shrines for the individual gods/goddesses. Had several ingots and most of the amulets needed stashed away in a chest in Breezehome, but was short of Dibella and Zenithar.
Travelled to the Temple of Dibella in Markarth to try and get one but didn't find one there (what kind of temple doesn't have amulets for their deity lying around!)

Went on a Stone of Barenziah hunt. I had 16 that I had come across randomly on my travels, but I had sneaked a peek at a list that told you where they all are. The only ones I could remember were in Markarth and Windhelm.
In Markarth, I found the one in the Dwemer Museum in Understone Keep, I thought it was going to be tricky to try and pick the gate lock with the guards right there, but then it turned out that I had the museum key.
I then got the one in the Treasury House (which I also happened to have the key for - I think I took it off a dead body during some quest a long time back).

Next I went to Windhelm, there were stories of a murderer that had been going round killing Nord woman. Maybe it is an Argonian with a hatred for the Nords, or maybe it is a Nord trying to put suspicion on the Argonians by killing Nords -I don't know.
Nobody gave me any information that led me to be able to do anything about it, so for the moment it remains unsolved.

Waited til nightfall and then broke into the House of Clan Shatter-Shield, where I knew there was another SoB. Then I went to the Palace of the Kings and found the one there (typically, in the last room I looked in). I didn't know it would class as stealing if someone saw you take the stone, as it always says 'Take Stone of Barenziah', never 'Steal' so I was surprised when a guard accused me of crimes against Skyrim. I couldn't be bothered with the fine (even though I have more money than I know how to spend - lol) so I reloaded at that point.
After these four new stones had been found, I now only need to find four more. I will probably look up their location rather than waiting to randomly come across them, that could take forever.

I met a woman mourning the loss of her daughter in Windhelm and her husband said that he had been looking for an Amulet of Arkay to help her but he couldn't find one. I had mine that I was going to use for the shrine, but I knew that the woman desperately needed it, so I gave it to him and will have to try and find another one somewhere else. I have looked in several shops for amulets but the only place I found a few was in Radiant Raiments, so I don't know where to look to find the three that I need.

I received another 'Letter from a friend' who knew I had used the thu'um in House of Clan Shatter-Shield earlier (it was only aura whisper about an hour early - this friend doesn't waste any time with his correspondence). The letter told of another word of power in Rjunbald (or something like that), which is North-East of Markarth.

I tried to buy the property in Windhelm but the guy said that there had been 'an incident' and it wasn't available yet.
Was also shocked to see that the deceased Ulfric (looking remarkably fresh) was still sitting at the bottom of the throne, in a pose that looks like he has just performed a stage knee slide. Another bloke is lying dead there too. Clean up, for goodness sake! Very bad taste!
Was also amused by people saying 'Oh gods, no!' when they spotted the body -it's only been there for months.
There were also a group of perpetual diners on the dining table, there all through the night and morning. Every single one of them had nasty words for me when I tried to speak to them - suppose that's what you get for killing their leader.

On a hunt for gold and silver ingots -can't find sellers, so might have to go into mines to get some ore and use the smelter.

Larawen, Bosmeri assassin, traveled to Dragon Bridge to begin her next mission. Arriving in Dragon Bridge, Larawen saw Faida say a heartfelt goodbye to her husband, the Penitus Oculotus agent Gaius Maro, who was about to leave to inspect security in the cities of Skyrim. As Gaius is her next target, Larawen may have actually felt a pang of conscience, not for Gaius, but for Faida. Later that night, Larawen sneaked into the Penitus Oculotus outpost and stole Gaius' travel itinerary. Odd that his itinerary includes Stormcloak cities, but whatever... He would be in Whiterun the next day.

The next morning, Larawen traveled to Whiterun, where three of her four current contracts were located: the agent Gaius, the Khajiit trader Ma'randru-jo, and fellow Bosmeri hunter Anoriath. It would be a busy night. She waited at the Bannered Mare.

Gaius, her most important contract, showed up, as did Larawen's only friend, Ysolda. Larawen and Ysolda had dinner together while Larawen waited for Gaius to make a move. To make conversation, Larawen showed Ysolda her Amulet of Mara. Larawen was surprised by Ysolda's reaction.

I can only speculate why Larawen did what she did next...
Did Larawen realize that a marriage proposal would provide cover for why she was in Whiterun the night three murders were about to occur there? Did she not want to cause a scene with Gaius in the same room? Did she not want to hurt Ysolda's feelings? Or was Larawen actually in love with Ysolda?

Whatever the reason, Larawen was suddenly engaged to be married. Ysolda urged her to go to Riften to make the arrangements. They said goodbye and Larawen left the Bannered Mare to calculate her next move.

She sneaked into the Drunken Huntsman and found Anoriath asleep. Larawen poisoned him while he slept, then slipped back out. No one had seen her come or go.

Then she realized that Gaius was approaching. Was he leaving Whiterun? Gabriella had said to kill him in a major city, so Larawen produced her bow and arrows from her magickal underwear and applied a poison of Paralyze to it. She sniped Gaius from the shadows. Twice. And he still wasn't dead. Damn! The man is tough. Badly injured but very angry, Gaius recovered from the poison and attacked Larawen with his sword. Not wearing any armor, Larawen was now also badly injured. Larawen struggled to move away from him while staying crouched in case the guards noticed the ruckus. She fired three more arrows into Gaius at close range before he finally fell. Fortunately, the fight had occurred in the shadows and no one saw.

Larawen healed herself, hid her weapons in her magickal underwear, and approached the gates of the city. There would be no way to pass the guards without being seen, so Larawen tried her best to look like a woman whose only concern was her upcoming wedding. She left.

Next would be Ma'randru-jo, at the Khajiit camp outside the walls. Given Ysolda's love of the Khajiit merchants, Larawen again may have felt a pang of conscience about this target. She slipped into the shadows and sniped the cat. No one saw her as she sneaked, then ran, away from Whiterun.

Larawen ran through the night and all the way to Riften. A dragon appeared outside the city, but flew away without attacking. Larawen arranged the wedding with Maramal, then went to the Bee and Barb for the night. Though she rarely drinks alcohol, she tried one of Talen-Jei's special drinks, a Velvet LeChance. Maybe it as the alcohol or maybe Larawen was swept away by romantic feelings, but she agreed look for some flawless amethysts for a wedding ring Talen-Jei wants to give to Keerava.

The next morning, Larawen walked to the Temple of Mara. She may have felt nervous that her bride-to-be might not show, but Ysolda was waiting for her. Larawen was swept into the ceremony. She noticed that Hulda and the bard Mikael were in attendance, as were Iona and Lydia, two housecarls Larawen barely knew and without doubt had been sent by their jarls to spy on her. Is Larawen a suspect in the Whiterun murders two nights ago?

Though she hesitated when the crucial moment arrived, Larawen, Bosmeri hunter, agreed to marry her only friend Ysolda, a city-bred Nord, aspiring merchant, and homebody. May they live happily ever after?

The honeymoon would have to wait, though, because Larawen had more work to do. Hopefully, Ysolda knew what she was getting into when she married a Bosmeri assassin, I mean, hunter. They agreed to meet back in Whiterun in a couple of days.

The next day, Larawen located the Argonian treasure hunter Deekus along the frozen coastline and poisoned him as he relaxed in his chair.

Larawen returned to Whiterun the next day. There she may have been surprised to find Ysolda taking Anoriath’s place at the meat stand in the marketplace. She admired Ysolda's drive and opportunism. Of course, Ysolda has no idea that her new wife killed Anoriath - or does she? Does Ysolda know that Larawen is not merely a hunter?

The newlyweds had dinner at the Bannered Mare and later retired to Ysolda's cozy little house. Larawen awoke the next morning feeling Lover's Comfort as she said goodbye to the woman she was quickly falling in love with. She probably hoped to return quickly to Ysolda after checking in at the Sanctuary during her "hunting trip" in Falkreath Hold...

...Unfortunately, at the Sanctuary, things were anything but simple.

Back at the Falkreath Sanctuary, the fool Cicero had attacked Astrid. Unacceptable. Gold star for Veezara, for defending their leader. Astrid loaned Larawen her horse Shadowmere, and the Bosmer left in pursuit of Cicero, who had presumably fled to the old Dawnstar Sanctuary with a werewolf on his tail.

Larawen hadn't ridden a horse since coming to Skyrim, prefering to sneak about, but she spurred the tireless spawn of Oblivion through the night and right through the town of Dawnstar, wearing her Shrouded armor, boots, and gloves, and not caring who saw. Perceptions be damned, there's a clown to kill.

She found Arnbjorn injured outside, and entered the sanctuary. Inside, Larawen summoned the ghost of Lucien LaChance, only because she hadn't done that before and her player remembered reading on the wiki that he provides commentary. However, Larawen found his defense of Cicero intolerable. Furthermore, the unstealthy Lucien gave away her position and was useless in the ensuing fight against two guardian ghosts (in an alternate universe, Larawen was killed by them). Hence, she allowed the guardian ghosts to kill Lucien's specter. Suffice it to say, she won't enlist Lucien again.

Larawen eventually located the injured Cicero, who began trying to bargain for his life. Larawen remained silent, then shot him with a poisoned arrow. And that ends that little subplot.

Leaving the Dawnstar Sanctuary, Larawen may have pondered the consequences of not heeding Lucien's advice to spare Cicero. Or maybe she didn't. Either way, I doubt she would care. Larawen can't stand chaos, which Cicero had brought to the Sanctuary, and he had committed one of the most unpardonable crimes by attacking someone who had taken him into her home, and said he would do it again. The choice was obvious.

She rode Shadowmere to Fort Fellhammer and slept a few hours, and then on to Whiterun the next morning. She hitched Shadowmere at the Whiterun stables. Ysolda was at the market, alternately shopping and tending to her own stand (formerly Anoriath's).

There was still the matter of Agnis at Fort Greymoor. Larawen told Ysolda she was going hunting and that she expected to be back before supper. Larawen knew the fort was bandit-infested, so she hired her old traveling companion, Jenassa, for help getting inside. After a tougher-than-expected fight (a bandit archer shot Larawen's health bar to within an angstrom of death), the elves prevailed and slipped inside. They sneaked about, Larawen sniping and backstabbing, while Jenessa watched Larawen's back(side).

Detect Life revealed only two other living humanoid forms remained in the fort, so Larawen ordered Jenassa to wait while she dealt with them by herself. Yadda yadda, contract complete.

When Larawen and Jenassa returned to Whiterun, Larawen was late for supper with Ysolda. She dismissed Jenassa, tipping her a flawless emerald, and went to the Bannered Mare. There, Ysolda gave Larawen the silent treatment (really, she didn't provide her usual greeting) and they ate supper without speaking. Eventually, Ysolda got up and returned for home and Larawen followed. Back at her house, Ysolda warmed up again and must have forgiven Larawen because she awoke with Lover's Comfort the next morning.

Isn't it kind of lame that the DB questline continues just the same whether you kill the Keeper or not? In Oblivion you had to face the Wrath of Sithis if you killed a Brother, I think it would be great if something like that were waiting for you at the door of the Dawnstar sanctuary when you come there after killing the Emperor and you had to defeat it as a penance for Cicero's death before you could enter and take your position as Listener. Sadly, Bethesda's credo these days is "Do what you want, it doesn't matter."

Instead of the expected thinblood they ran into a powerful Requiemified vampire of the ebony-armoured, dragon-priest-conjuring variety who might as well have been Lokil's little brother and took 11 sun-hallowed elven arrows to take down. When they searched the lair afterwards who should turn up but Mari's former travelling companion, Argonian vampire hunter and member of the Order of Virtuous Blood, Among-the-Hist whom she had parted with before taking Serana to Castle V. Their reunion would have been a lot less friendly if he'd had an inkling of her doings in the meantime, but apparently he hadn't been in contact with the Dawnguard and he didn't even seem to recognize Serana; thank Sithis for small favours.

Interrogating a dying vampire whom the clan had left behind they learned that the clan was led by a pair of Dunmer twins, renegades from the Volkihar; that rung a bell with Mari and Serana who had heard these two mentioned at the castle, and in no friendly tone [/roleplay]. They also learned that the vampire, Feldras his name, had been turned not so long ago together with his sister, Rinori; that rung a bell with Mari and Hist, both of whom had met a strangely feeble vampire of that name in Windhelm while travelling together. Before Feldras - who apparently had never fed - succumbed to exhaustion he told them they'd find the twins, or traces of them, at Mara's Pond, which is where they're headed now.

The next morning, Larawen, Bosmeri assassin, traded in Whiterun and then went to find Olava the Feeble. As a bonus for killing Gaius Maro in a major city, Gabriella had given Larawen a token which could be used to get a reading from Olava. Coincidentally, Larawen had killed Gaius right outside Olava's house.

After showing Olava the token, Olava peered into the mist of Larawen's future. The vision was ominous, but also directed Larawen toward a new adventure. That will have to wait, though.

Larawen said goodbye to her Nord homebody merchant wife (a marriage that is working surprisingly well). I think their conversation went something like this:

Larawen: I'm off to go hunting in Falkreath Hold. I'll be back tomorrow.
Ysolda: Yes, my love... Good luck with your 'hunting' [wink].

Out of politeness, Larawen accepted one of Ysolda's homecooked meals to take on the trip. However, I'm quite sure Larawen is not a fan of her wife's culinary style. Why must she ruin the meal by cooking the meat and mixing in vegetables?

Larawen rode Shadowmere to the Falkreath Sanctuary. The trip was mostly uneventful, but she actually did some hunting along the way, killing a deer - some raw vension to chase down the meal Ysolda provided.

At the Sanctuary, Astrid was pleased that Cicero was dead and that Arnbjorn had returned. She said to see Festus, who was close to learning the identity of Larawen's next target, a victim that would bring them another step closer to the (so-called) Emperor... but Larawen's player wants to finish up the side missions first, so we're going to assume that Festus doesn't know the target's identity, yet.

So Larawen went to see Nazir, instead.

Nazir congratulated Larawen for assassinating a feeble old woman (Agnis), and gave her two new targets: Helvard, the housecarl of Jarl Siddgeir; and Maluril, a scholar. She'll get right on those.

Helvard first. It was already nighttime, and the target was close. Larawen wore her Savior's Hide with fur shoes and bracers, playing her usual role of intinerant hunter, but she intended to slip in and out of Falkreath unseen. That plan went to Oblivion when a dragon began attacking the town as she approached. Larawen poisoned her bow (which has a shock damage enchantment) with a poison of Weakness to Shock + Damage Health) and ran to assist the guards fighting the dragon. Fortunately, the ancient dragon limited its attacks to blowing frost from the rooftops. Larawen and the guards killed the dragon, and it didn't appear there were any casualties in the town.

Of course, everybody was astonished when Larawen absorbed the dragon's soul. I'm a bit astonished by her ability to do that, too, considering that she isn't Dovahkiin. I can only speculate why she is able to that, but this isn't the "Speculate About Why Your Non-Dovahkiin Character Can Absorb Dragon Souls" thread.

Anyway, Larawen made sure the guards saw her leave town through the east gate, then made sure they didn't see her slip back into town and into the jarl's longhouse, where she poisoned the sleeping Helvard with Paralyze + Lingering Damage Health.

Larawen sneaked back to the Sanctuary to get Shadowmere, and then rode to Whiterun. She got a couple hours of sleep with Ysolda before her wife went to work at the marketplace. Larawen slept most of the day, then rode to Fort Fellhammer, which has become a frequent resting place lately. She would find Mzinchaleft and her target Maluril in the morning.

She would have been better off approaching Mzinchaleft at night, though, because the exterior was infested by Maluril's bandits. She put an arrow through the sentry's mouth, but was seen when she tried to take a position on the rooftop. She got into a shootout with a bandit archer, which she killed with a long-range luck shot - or was it skill? No, it was luck. Fortunately, the other bandits were melee fighters, and weren't difficult for the Bosmer archer.

Inside, Larawen sniped her way to Maluril and completed the contract by stabbing the scholar in the back. She decided against exploring the ruin further, but looted some Dwemer contraptions for precious Dwarven Oil on the way out.

Larawen spent the next couple of days journeying back to the Falkreath Sanctuary via Fort Fellhammer and Whiterun. At the Sanctuary, Nazir had one more contract available.

finding Cicero in Dawnstar.

His name is Faras Greendale and he started out as a bit of a lowlife bandit, before his life got a lot more exciting. He first traveled to Markarth, only to get caught and thrown into the mine. Once he got out, he helped investigate the stuff that was going on in the city, hoping to make some coin out of it. He did, but he also got his ass back in Cidhna mine for the second time in less than a few days, which was a bit of a bummer, but he also got a nice new set of armor and a massive amount of loot out of it.
His next stop was Windhelm. Not really for any particular reason, he just needed to get away from Markarth and Windhelm sounded nice. Of course, Faras would not be Faras if he did not attract trouble like a charming woodelf magnet, so he soon left the city with an assassination contract ahead of him. To Riften it was.
Here he just so happened to stumble upon a man named Brynjolf, who he then helped with a small scheme, working his way into the thieves guild. After that, he paid a visit to the Orphanage, to help out that kid from back in windhelm.
It was certainly an interesting visit.

They found the lair abandoned but discovered a trapdoor leading to a branching system of icy tunnels haunted by several vampires of a weaker breed. On and on it went, down and down, until at last they realized they had to be under the White River and nearing its confluence with the Yorgrim and the docks of Windhelm, and the vampires had used the tunnels to attack groups of Dunmer refugees crossing the river through the ice and drag them down into the tunnels. They also speculated that there probably was an exit leading into Windhelm, and indeed - when they came to the end of the tunnels and climbed up a ladder they found themselves in the warehouse on the Windhelm docks.

At this point Marilyn had to convince her comrades to postpone further investigations a little because she was wanted in Windhelm and as soon as she popped a nose out of the door there would have been half a dozen guards ready to arrest or slay her (she didn't really tell that to Hist and the Vigilant but I don't know what lame excuse she used). They had to retrace their steps and go all the way back to Steamcrag Camp where Shadowmere was waiting, carrying the 20 000,- $ to pay Mari's bounty. Then she gave herself up to the guard at Kynesgrove (who gave her a discount because Thieves Guild), and after her name was cleaned again they proceeded to Windhelm. Considering that their prey were a pair of Dunmer they thought it prudent to start their search in the Grey Quarter - more specifically, the New Gnisis Cornerclub; and indeed they found the brothers ensconced there masquerading as refugees. A short but tough fight ensued, but the vampires were outnumbered and thanks to Auriel's Bow both were killed (also Mari has now two full sets of ebony armour to sell).