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We Take a Rest Here
We take a short trip towards the hills and come across the Shrine of Hircine. It's in a wooded area at the base of the rocky hills. The shrine itself isn't very visible from the road, but there's an entryway arch which is covered with small animal bones which have been mortared together.
We get the bear into the shrine and set about the task of dressing the kill.
Challenge
Present the bear corpse! (Survival) Kihra: Success -2 magicka
We successfully summon Hircine, who immediately asks that we mount the bear head on a plaque - so Kihra nails the head to the wall via an ear, which was "eh, good enough".
We tell Hircine that we want to relieve a unicorn of its horn, and he asks us if we will kill the Unicorn - to which we agree. We are to travel to the west, take the horn, and bring the rest back to the the shrine, otherwise he'll send the werewolves from his hunting grounds to attack us.
Challenge
Get there! (Survival) Casts: Success -1 Traveler's Kit Kihra: Success -1 Traveler's kit Leanne: Success Terfir: Success
We make our way to the aforementioned location and we set about looking for the very skittish unicorn.
Challenge
What do we know about unicorns? Casts: It purifies water by drinking it and pissing it back out. (Fail) Terfir: "I'm pretty sure that's a horse" (Fail) Leanne: I think they're actually porcine in nature. Related to pigs, they've got cloven hooves. (Fail) Khira: Yeah, that's a horse. Definitely a horse. (Fail)
We decide that the best course of action is for Casts-No-Shadows to sneak up on the "horse" and cut the Unicorn out of its belly.
Challenge
(Stealth) Backstab! (Success) (Shadow Birthsign)
Casts manages to get its dagger in the Unicorn, but the unicorn did sense danger before he appeared from the shadows. The unicorn did a strong back kick, pushing him to the ground, but it ran in the direction of the rest of the party.
Kihra thinks it's a horse, and had to fight to retain her composure. Leanne summons a bear to attack the Unicorn, while Terfir fires a bolt of frost at it.
This winds up killing the "horse", and Leanne removes its horn. Casts and Terfir feel pretty good about this, but Leanne is slightly sickened as she does the deed (because Casts didn't have a dagger that was up to the task).
We get the unicorn back to the shrine and offer it up to Hircine
Challenge
Dress the unicorn (Survival) Casts: Success -1 health (Who uses Restoration to immediately heal himself)
Terfir asks for Hircine's blessing - and we have to fight a scary squirrel. We succeed.
Casts and Terfir port back to the boat, and spend some time waiting for Kihra and Leanne to get back (which eventually happens).
We then set off back to the island.
Medora has been busy cleaning up the tower, and has made a nice enchanter/alchemist den.
We set about doing a magical ritual to free her from the tower, and we need to use 3 schools of magicka to free her:
Challenge
Casts (Alteration): Success! -1 potion, -2 Magicka Terfir (Destruction): Success! -2 Health, -3 Magicka Leanne (Conjuration): Success! -2 Health Kihra - guards the door (Perception): Success!
With a large amount of magical energy present, everyone gets knocked on their butts and it appears that the curse has been broken! We head downstairs to check.
However, it's at that point that Khira points out that there's an archway that wasn't there before - a gateway to Oblivion.
Sometime a bit later, Casts uses his Clairvoyance ability to figure out what to do next and he connects to the King of Worms who tells him that a courier will be handing a letter over to give them instructions on what to do next. He conveys this to the group and they sail back towards Sentinel.
Kihra hears a voice that tells her to follow it alone into a back alley. Turns out it's the courier - who's quite undead and tries to attack. There's a scuffle, but Kihra comes out ahead.
She gathers the group to come look at the message which has been stitched into the zombie's flesh - along with a soul gem to capture the ghost of a previous king of sentinel
I want you to bring me back the ghost of Prince Karolis, the great grandfather of the late King Camaron of Sentinel. Karolis was a sorcerer of no mean skill. He is now a lich deep in the bowels of the Castle. I am giving you a special Scarab embedded in the ribs of my courier. If it is close to him when you destroy his physical body, his soul will be trapped in the Scarab. Bring it back to me, and I will tell you a tale few mortals have heard. As always, my servants will test your mettle. Feel free to dispense with them. They can always be raised again.
Quest
Go capture the soul of the Lich Prince Karolis.