"We'll see, shall we?"

"What are the defenses like?"

"Many of them, I'll admit, are repurposed tests for adventurers. Ones I had before the Fringe and its Gatekeeper, or that I use for other channels. They're tests, as much as barriers, but they can be set to maximum deadliness quite easily. Siren calls, to guide people towards one point or another, and then killing - or maddening - fields for them to pass through, for those who enter at odd places. Gates, like the one you entered through, each with their own little test."

"Are you going to tell us how to manipulate these tests?"

"Yes, yes, some of my underlings even insist on writing reports on them. One of them has a user manual! Bizarre, that, but I suppose it'll fit your needs well." He gestures, and a thin stack of notes and a small journal appears on the table. "Two are in Dementia, one is in Mania, one sunk under the sea and is probably a loss. Might help keep fish out. Or mermaids! Perhaps land sharks?"

"I would say the sea would be a greater obstacle to the land sharks."

"Hard to tell, with those. Perhaps they're feeling more sharky at the time."

"Is that a going concern?"

He laughs. "Maybe, maybe not. Though certainly Order is a greater threat to Madness than sharks walking about, don't you think?"

"As you say."

"Well, be off now. No sense in tarrying, hm?"

Elatra gathers up the papers.

"Thanks, Sheo!" Glint says. "We'll get those done pretty quick, I think."

"Be sure you do," he says, taking a long sip of his wine and then vanishing.

"He seemed fairly put together for a Madgod."

"It's a bit weird? He was more rambly when we were in Pelagius's mind. Kept having conversations with himself or getting distracted by random thoughts. But the daedra are mostly just really powerful people, and he might be taking this more seriously or have been just screwing with me then. He was also - there? He wasn't treating me being not next to his avatar as a reason to stop talking to me, and he was having multiple conversations at once because he could be having his avatar say stuff while he was saying stuff, and he's not doing that now I don't think. He talked a lot more then, too."

"Hm. Perhaps this Prince of Order is a threat."

"In a making him take this serious way, or in a changing him way?"

"I was thinking the former, but perhaps both."

"He's not taking Alduin seriously, but I might be overestimating Alduin. Still, it's - we don't know. For now. But there's theology that the Shivering Isles are Sheogorath's mind."

"Would that make the denizens his thoughts?"

"Maybe? It's weird with Daedric Princes, though, 'cause a lot of the people here are other Daedra or people who came in from outside or their descendants. I dunno if he can just make people, or whether that was just a metaphor or something."

"Well. Shall we go see what these tests are?"

"Let's!"

The notes are indeed for four facilities. The farthest is Xedilian, in southwest Dementia, which apparently used to serve as a gate similar to the Gates of Madness to an area much like the Fringe, when the dividing line of the Shivering Isle marched from southwest to northeast. Its defenses are poorly documented, but apparently consisted of a mushroom forest. The mushrooms, if touched (and many were small and hidden) would release poison, psychoactive drugs, or both.

The next farthest is also in Dementia, in a southeastern portion named Blood Bay. It's the earliest known such facility, from when Cylarne in the northwest was the capitol. It was more of a killing field than the others, designed to bog down adventurers - being rather appropriately located in a swampland - as they were tormented by the local denizens. The natural terrain rather neatly funnels people entering through that gate through the swamps, but now the area's depopulated. There's a proposal from someone who wants the monsters he's bred to be considered as guardians for a revived Blood Gate.

The nearest is in Mania, though just barely, noted as north of the town of Split. It's the one designed to catch anyone entering somewhere unapproved. It consists of a series of challenges meant to drive visitors insane, if they don't kill them, apparently a collaborative effort between mania and dementia (from back when the border line ran north to south). This one's very well documented.

There's also a few algae-damaged notes for a (now underwater) facility off Mania's northern coast, location not marked.

"Start at the far end and work back, then finish up with whatever's left underwater?" Eliana suggests.