I met Laurenna outside. "While you were inside fooling around, I've been busy out here." she said, displaying the remains of a daedroth in front of her.

"Did you find that blade yet?" she asked.

"No." I replied, "This is not the place. We must continue."

We found another pathway near the eastern edge of the Ghostfence again, and followed it for a while.

Creature after blighted creature, monster after monster, it was endless mayhem. We both got more marksmanship practice in within the next 20 minutes than I had during my entire stay on this island.

It was a good thing we had brought plenty of arrows.

One corprus stalker after another stumbled their way into our path.

Like animals, mindless machines, they strove to attack, claw, bite, and for no reason other than their minds had been eaten away by corprus.

Winged twilights reflected magick; hungers resisted it. For each of them, my only recourse was a Wall of Fire spell, which mean we had to stand our ground for several minutes until the spell wore off.

Finally, in the distance, I could make out the outline of yet another Dwemer stronghold. Just in front of us, another suspension bridge that someone had thoughtfully provided for our usage.

We started across, and I felt Laurenna wrap her left arm around my right arm. I could see that this place was beginning to get the better of her. I certainly couldn't blame her.

"Do you think this is the place were we'll find the blade?" she asked.

"I believe it is." I replied. "Just stick close and use that enchanted blade I found for you. We'll make it through this together, ok?"

"Sure." she said, in a tired voice, "As long as you're with me, we'll get out of this alive."

"Ok," I said, "If we see anything ahead of us, you take the thing on the right, and I'll take the thing on the left."

With that, we slowly crossed to the other side of the bridge together.    

I could tell Laurenna was tired, so once we made it to the other side of the bridge, I told her to wait there for a moment while I checked ahead. If there were creatures to clear, I'd take care of them for her. That would give her a few moments to rest.

She leaned up against a huge rock, and I went out a few paces ahead to look around.

Suddenly, through the roar of the ashstorm, I heard a shuffling sound nearby.

It was a corprus stalker, drooling and lumbering his way towards me.

My summoned blade put him down easily.

I headed back to Laurenna, where we rested for a few minutes.

She lay her head on my shoulder, buried her face into the sleves of my robe and fell asleep.

I couldn't fault her for that at all - this was a horrid place, and it was a wonder that both of us had made it this far at all.