Basks-in-the-sun managed to get us to Khuul as the sun was setting in the west. The stilt-strider got us to Ald'ruhn two hours later. We headed over to the Rat In The Pot for some dinner, then ended up in one of the spare rooms of the Mage's Guild for the night. It was nice being back in the warmer climate of Vvardenfell.

The next morning, as we headed out for a bite to eat, we found Louis Beauchamp, wandering around, wringing his hands as usual. He seemed overjoyed to see us.

"Eldorf Dragonmeal!" he said, shaking my hand, "Oh, and Lady Dragonmeal as well. You're here....and...well....I mean...you've returned! What news do you have of my fantastic airship?"

"I found the wreckage of the airship," I replied, "but there were no survivors. Seems your 'fantastic airship' fell apart in mid-flight. I have recovered the captain's journal, which explains everything." I handed him the book, giving him a chance to look it over, reading about how his "fantastic" invention fell apart at the seams at the worst possible moments.

"Um, did you...um, manage to...um,"

"Yes," I said, interrupting him, "I've recovered the Amulet of Infectious Charm as well."

"The airship...crashed? Smashed...was dashed into the mountains?" he lamented, still reading the journal, shaking his head in disbelief that such a work of art could be so defective. "Horrible, horrible...such a loss of time...and money! Oh, yes, and human life, too. Mustn't forget the crew...people, after all. Well...I am thankful...grateful really, that you've come to me with...um...with this information. And..ah...incredible work with the finding...that is, the recovery...of, um, the Amulet. I do hope it wasn't too much trouble for you to find it."    

"Trouble?" said Laurenna. "That little amulet had us encountering Spriggens, bears, wolves, bandits, Ricklings, a frost giant, and a Daedra god Hircine himself, nearly getting us killed several times over, including getting my husband kidnapped by werewolves for Hircine's hunt. Yeah, no trouble at all."

The look on Louis' face was priceless.

"Oh, well, um, I do apologize. I didn't mean to have been....um, the cause of....so much, um, trouble!"

Louis reached into his pocket, pulled out a bag of gold, handing it to me, almost begging me to take it for all the problems he had caused me.

Louis Beauchamp's mission had been successfully completed, but there was one more thing I had to do before returning home.

We headed back into the Mage's Guild after breakfast and had them teleport us to Caldera. I headed straight for Shenk's Shovel for one more chat with an old mage.

Yes, Illwing Redwood was there, waiting for me. This was concerning the dragons that had attacked Vvardenfell some time ago. I was hoping he had some information for me regarding the staff and gem I had given to him.

"Eldorf the Wise." he said, greeting me as I approached. "Good to see you, old man."

"And you, old man." I replied. "What news do you have for me concerning this dragon staff?"

"Oh, yes." he replied. "I have found a way you can use the staff!"

"Ok." I said. "Tell me the way, then."

"Well," he started, "I've calculated the amount of magic that the staff needs, the magick that the gem gives, then with an evaluation of the vortex vector of the staff, and ..."

"Sorry, old man." I said, interrupting him, "but my wife is with us, we have a long journey home, and we'd like to make there before we die of old age, me especially, so if you don't mind, could you just tell me how to make it work?"

"Uh, oh, yes, just the facts, then." he replied. "You'll have to charge the staff with the gem by activating the gem, then you'll have a spell called dragon born. You'll have to cast the spell on one of the eggs. You might have to cast it more than once. Now, if another creature, other than a dragon, uses the staff, the gem will be spent, and it will never work again. You have only one opportunity, so choose the egg you like and choose wisely."

"You're certain?" I asked. "I can only use the staff one time?"

"That is correct." he replied. "Oh, I almost forgot, take this ring. If you need help in something related to dragons, use it, and I will answer your call."

With that, he handed the gem, ring, and staff to me. He bowed to Laurenna who was watching this all with a perplexed look on her face. Illwing then turned to me, adding "It has been a pleasure to know you, Eldorf Dragonmeal, and good luck with these eggs. Don't forget to feed your dragon - they only eat meat."

"You're leaving?" I asked.

"Yes." he replied. "I must return to the Imperial province. Some trouble going on there, it seems. Then again, there always seems to be trouble somewhere, doesn't there?"

With that, he used a spell of Recall, and vanished from sight.

I turned and showed my new toy to the wife.

"And what are we going to do with that?" she asked. "I thought we were done with the dragons."

"Well, it's something that might come in handy later." I suggested.

Somehow, Laurenna didn't seem convinced.

"Well, I'm not so certain we need any more dragons around here." she replied. "How about we put this away for now and head for home?"

She was right, in a way. We had a long journey ahead of us. Still, this was something that might come in useful in the future.

With that, we headed back to the Mage's Guild offices, teleported back to Ald'ruhn, then off to the stilt-strider for the boat docks of Khuul.

It would be nice to get out of the ash storm again.

It wasn't until next morning that we arrived back at Solstheim Castle's docks. Everything was there, just as we left it - snow everywhere, fresh pine tree scene in the air, and people who were happy to see us arrive.

We entered the castle grounds, and I couldn't wait to have someone draw a nice, hot bath once I got there. Wizard's work can be pretty strenuous at times.

"He he, I don't mind." I replied. "Besides, we'll both have a big bunch of stories to tell him over dinner."

"You know, you're the most understanding Breton I've ever known." she said. "I think I'll keep you." She winked.

"And modest." I added.

She gave me a big hug. "Yes, I suppose I should have mentioned how modest you are as well. After all, you've saved Morrowind from Dagoth Ur, Almalexia, Hircine and a bunch of werewolves, so you've got plenty to be modest about.

"Love you, sweetie." I said.

"Love you, too, sweetie." she replied. "Now, let's get these people in here so we can eat. I'm starving!"

Ah, domestic life.  What could be better?