Based on instructions given by Nanette Don, the Bush Nights made their way to the Gates of Madness. However, they awoke very early and, using magic to subdue her while she was sleeping, found Aurig Desha and took her with them to be their Daedric soul sacrificed to create the Gatekeeper. When they made it to the gats, they found a wide round platform with engraved areas where they assumed the ingredients should be placed. They placed the tied up Golden Saint at the center of the pedestal, and recited the phrase they had found in Relmyna Verenim’s diary – “Arise, my son!”
With a familliar swirl of pink magic, the ingredients swirled in the air, multiplied and grew in size. The Golden Saint, eyes wide, screamed for her life to no avail. Her body was rent to pieces, none was left of her, apart for her soul, which inhabited the newly created body of the Gatekeeper.
After a tense fight with yet another golem created via vile necromancy, the group survived by the skin of their teeth. But survive they did, and the Gates of Madness opened up to a colourful view of Mania, one of the two main areas of the Shivering Isles.
The group walked through the gate, noticing the figure of Shelden, the self proclaimed ‘mayor’ of Passwall, who tried to follow them out of The Fringe. However, a magical barrier held him back. Clearly, he had not proved his mettle to be allowed into the Shivering Isles proper. Once here, the group saw a Khajiiti woman, later introduced as Tahana’Ja, sitting on a luxurious armchair.
She offered that she would explain more about Mania, but not before each party member chose one card each from a small deck she held in her hands. Each card, with a blue backing and intricate gold patterns, not unlike those on Sheogorath’s blazer. Once each member of the Bush Nights picked a card, she explained a what it represented, each member receiving a gift from Sheogorath himself.
Once this interaction happened, Sheogorath himself told the group that their time in his realm was to be over; they were deemed to be more useful in Tamriel. Therefore, he conjured a wayshrine along with a map of all wayshrines in Tamriel. The group simply needed to touch one mark on the map, and the wayshrine would allow teleportation to that location. The group chose the Imperial City, and so they teleported back to the capital of the empire.
Impeiral city guards greeted the group with spears and arrows, with a captain asking who they were and why they teleported into the city without clearance. However, with a few well chosen words by a member of the Imperial Cult, Decimus calmed the guards and the Bush Nights were allowed into the Imperial City.
