The reception outside the colony outside wasn't very friendly. That, of course, was to be expected. However, that reception outside paled in comparison to the one I received inside. No less than 15 of these Dreugh creatures swam over to me as I entered, claws snapping at anything they could grab.

As I finished off one, another would take it's place.

The battle caused me to use 3 of my home-made restore health potions. Otherwise, the last page would have really been my last page of this story!    

I rested for a few moments, trying to catch my underwater breath, calming down from the energy of battle, and regaining my composure. I started swimming around the inside of the colony, searching one room after another. I couldn't help but notice it looked very much like the inside of a shell of the giant Emperor Crab, very much like the one in Ald'ruhn.

Each door had a small home in it, and each one had a Mr and Mrs Dreugh in it, attacking at once, and joining their cousins in the great beyond.  

One of the rooms I swam into turned out to be some kind of study.

After defeating the Dreugh in that room, I checked out some of the artifacts found there. There was armor, but I felt that would slow me down, and swimming was hard enough while holding weapons.

Suddenly, an object caught my eye - could it be...?   

By my beard....YES!  It was the skull of Imaginos.

Now I had the book and the skull.  All that remained to be found was this soapstone tablet. 

Tucking the skull safely away, I continued swimming from one room to another, exploring each one completely.

Finally, I came to the last room in the colony. Inside, after slaying the defending Dreugh, was a huge shell, resting on what looked like an altar.

There were a few things on the altar in front of it, like offerings, to some shell god or some such thing. Yet, in the dim light, I could make out something green in front of it, and it didn't look like it belonged there at all.  

Yes! It was the soapstone tablet I had been looking for. Naturally, it was in the LAST room I searched. How odd that I had started my search in the opposite direction.

Of course, when looking for anything, it's ALWAYS going to be in the last place you look, isn't it?  

With all three items now safely stored away, I made my way out of the Dreugh colony and swam to the surface.  

Once back on the shrine's island, I used the Servant to the Sea amulet and returned back to Romana Corvus.

"This is a remarkable job you've done." she said. "As a result of your actions, we will be able to use the skull of Imaginos to summon him back within our midst. That alone would be a tremendous accomplishment. But more important, we will be able to asking him about the wards he set on that island's portal."

"I should mention," I said, "that he apparently felt the wards should not be interfered with. They seem to be there for a very important reason."

"Yes." she replied, "We will respect his wishes and not interfere with them, and in fact will set a watch upon them to insure that no one else does, either. We suspect that, as in the past, the island will re-submerge within a relatively short span of time."

"The tablet is odd." I said, showing it to her. "I have never seen writing like this before."

"Yes, it is odd." she replied. "However, we do have someone in the Order who is very adept with languages, so there is some hope of eventually translating it. In the meantime, allow me to grant you a very deserved promotion within our ranks. Oh, and you are being transferred on again, but this time, you'll be working with the head of our Order, Selrach Otived."

"I've never heard of him." I said.

"I doubt you would have." she replied. "Selrach has been the head of the Illuminated Order for a few decades now. He's under a 'kill-on-sight' decree from the Temple, as well as House Indoril, so he rarely ventures outside of his based called Fionnovar. You'll need to go there to receive your orders from him."

"What kind of place is it?" I asked.

"Fionnovar? Well, it's something yo have to see for yourself." she replied. You'll have to travel to the settlement of Khuul. Look for the shack of Miron Garer - he's usually inside, and he's one of us. Use the code 'Much is lost, but much abides' and he'll arrange things from there."

Romana promoted me to the rank of "Keeper of Unseemly Wisdom" and kicked me out of her shop. I decided that Khuul would wait until next morning. I had had enough adventure for one day, so I used the house ring and teleported to my little mushroom next to the bank of Vvardenfell offices, and told Laurenna some war stories that curled her hair.   

We decided to go out to dinner that evening. It was nice to have a quiet evening under the stars, so we took our time walking home.

I was wondering what the direction was going to be for me, with the Illuminated Order, and thought of the Wise Woman, who could possibly tell me my destiny concerning the Neverine Prophecies.

Would these two directions come into conflict? I was uncertain. Yet, tonight was not the night for decisions. This was a night to enjoy the peace of the night sky.