Lore:Razum-dar's Journal, Chapter 5
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Some might describe the Shadow Cleft neighborhood of Evergloam as picturesque, but Raz cannot recommend it: the place is infested with floating Night Terrors and nasty Gloam Wolves that, as this one's nose can attest, are very aggressive about marking their territory. Also, there are Wafts, which look like blue flames that have escaped their candles and seem harmless, but when they get close they make one's fur stand on end like when Telenger is careless with shock magic. Uncomfortable. Plus, of course, this Shadow Cleft is very, very dark.
And it is in a shocking state of disrepair, so this one is constantly cursing under his breath as he stumbles in the dark over rubble and twisted fallen branches. It doesn't help that Raz is following the Count of Numbers who is a bird and therefore incapable of appreciating the utility of paths and trails, proceeding instead directly to his goal. This turns out to be a camp of Whispering Shadows cultists. "Romien here," it squawks. "Eleven times!" But no one is in the camp when Razum-dar arrives there.
Nonetheless, the Count of Numbers struts around and seems very proud of himself, so this one searches, and finds copies of the unhappy letters by Romien Garvette previously appended. He also finds a final note reading, "Gripped ever more by bleakness since Penewen tried to 'cure' me with her device. I can stand no more—I'll go back to the Radius to look for her, but if I can't find her, this must end. Forever." It is clear that Penewen used the Nocturnal cultist as a test subject.
Raz asks the Count how often Penewen came to this place. "Two times!" he squawks. So maybe the Alinoran was interested in something other than just testing the Affect Inducer on Garvette. This one decides he'd better take a thorough look around, which involves more tedious sneaking, but the Shadow Cleft is no bigger than Mistral, and eventually Raz finds something interesting in a collapsed hilltop tower. It is a band of women, but Raz is not interested in the way that you think, because these women are not a coven.
And not a coven of lissome wyresses, but of hoary Gloam Hags and angry Shrikes. Raz hides behind a truncated statue and observes as the night witches cast powerful scrying spells, and he can see very clearly that they are observing different locations in Tamriel. And gradually this one realizes that Nocturnal's cult is spying on what followers of other Daedric Princes are up to in our world of mortals. Now, why should the Night Mistress care what other Daedra and their followers are doing? Raz would like to know.
When a witch sees a book or journal in her scrying spells, sometimes she casts Duplication and conjures up a copy. It is interesting to watch, though after a while Raz is getting cramps from crouching behind the broken statue. He's thinking that maybe he's seen enough when a deep bell rings somewhere in the darkness, and the coven abandons their scrying spells and marches off. When he is sure they are gone, Raz hurries down into the tower space and gathers up a double handful of copied books.
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