I was heading to Winterhold to join the College of Winterhold and start my career as a Mage. I was level 8 when I set out from Whiterun.

As I came into Winterhold, about 9PM, I noticed a strange man creeping about Birna's place, on the upper deck. I though nothing of it, thinking it was her hubby. So I head to The Frozen Hearth to sleep before heading off to college

Well, just inside the door, Farelda is right in front of me. I chat with her and get as far as "Cast on the circle here." I exited out and reloaded the autosave from first entering The Frozen Hearth, knowing that this was not quite right. Farelda is still there, but this time I do not chat with her.

I use a mod, Become a Bard, that allows players to perform at inns. So I play my lute and a courier enters the inn. He keeps saying, "No time to chat. Important deliveries to make." I don't really think anything about this. It's happened many times before. Sell, I get done performing and head off to my room. I had made enough "skill-ups" to level up, so before laying down, I level up. I reach level 9, then also reach level 10. I did know I was that high! Well I sleep on my new knowledge and exit out of the inn.

The guards are fighting! What are they fighting? Vampires! Now everything falls into place. The guy I saw creeping about Birna's place was a Vampire. Because I also use a mod called "When Vampires Attack", Farelda must have run into the Inn for safety. The courier must have also run for safety. I loot the bodies (the guards dispatched them before I could draw any weapon) and Birna and her hubby are stuck, wanting to do their "first time in Winterhold chat", but not quite able to so so. So I cannot sell my loot that I am overburdened with, for Birna can not seem to turn around and head into her shop to open it up.

Also, the courier NOW accosts me with "a Letter from a Jarl."

I really do not want to be encumbered as I take the CoW tour, but maybe I will

Such a strange series of events that had me wondering, "What is going on here?!?"

That's cute. I saw a guy on a horse escorted by a legionnaire sliding in the ground at high speeds and sometimes rising into the sky. He has never been seen since.

I was heading out of Winterhold last night on the road south to Windhelm and outside a mine I find a "frightened woman". She proceeds to tell me this story about being kidnapped by bandits and escaping.

Trouble is I don't believe her.... Why? She says she was kept in a place that is nearer Riften than Winterhold and she would have had to pass Windhelm to get to where we were! Now I agree that she could have managed to get to where we were without going near Windhelm but that would have been some detour and it's unlikely in the extreme that she would have made that journey.

Strange times....