Finally, I'm here. Through the murky darkness, I can see the four towers I've been looking for, silhouetted ominously against the stars of the clear night sky. They rise out of the rock far above the wall of the foyada, standing over this dead, barren valley like dark sentinels waiting to come alive and strike.
I've positioned myself about half a mile away from the towers. I'm crouched down behind a cairn of rocks, and I can just barely make out another such cairn about fifty meters away. These large piles of rocks have clearly been placed here to mark the pathway up to the ruin, whether by the Dwemer who built this city of stone, or by its new inhabitants, I do not know.
The ancient city of Druscashti isn't as abandoned as everyone has been led to believe, it seems. I have left the comfort of my apartment in Tel Vos every night to come here and watch this place, ever since I saw that pair of eyes outside the settlement now two weeks ago. I can still see them in my mind; the memory of them has burned itself into the back of my eyelids like an afterimage of the sun. They were two glowing spots of white hovering beside one another in the darkness - cold, inhuman eyes rebelling against the pitch black of the night. I tracked those eyes across the empty grazelands. I saw that they belonged to a robed figure once the moons rose from the Sea of Ghosts. I tracked that figure across the moonlit Ashlands - making my way over the gray, cracked earth, weaving my way through the dead, leafless forests, and keeping pace with it in the mists - until it and I arrived here. Once the figure disappeared through the circular door of stone at the base of the towers, I saw that particular set of eyes no more. But, I have seen many others since. A dozen pairs of glowing eyes emerge from inside this stone city every night, all going off in different directions, all no doubt heading to different locations around Vvardenfell Island. They return just before sunrise, and the city lays silent until well after dusk.
Those glowing eyes belong to vampires. I have not heard of any other creatures possessing such a characteristic in either science or legend. Through sheer dumb luck, I believe I have managed to stumble upon a vampire clan's base. The Temple would pay me dearly for the location of this hive of undead scum, but money holds little sway to me these days. I have come here tonight to attain something far more valuable than mere pieces of gold. I'm here to get something that could change my life forever.
It is just after dusk. Based on my observations, not a single one of these foul demons will emerge from their crypt for over an hour. I should have plenty of time to do what I need to do.
I mentally recite a prayer to Vivec that all goes well before casting upon myself a chameleon spell. I doubt that the prayer or the spell will be protection enough should I be wrong about there being no vampires out at this time of night.
Carefully and quietly, I move out from behind the cairn. Even with the chameleon spell, my shadow still appears, cast, as it is, by the red and white moons peeking out over the bizarre, angular structure that is the ancient Daedric Shrine to the east. My shadow reaches out over the inhospitable plains to the west of me as if it were trying to touch Red Mountain. If the mist had not begun to settle over the valley, the titanic shimmering forcefield that is the Ghostfence would be visible to me. Alas, tonight it is not.
Atop trembling legs, I move past the natural stone obelisks on either side of the path to the ruin. I tread lightly to keep the sound of my footsteps to a minimum; aside from the distant sound of the ocean and the strange, echoing holler of a distant goat, there is no sound to mask them.
I navigate the craggy path beneath a thousand tiny pinpricks of light from the stars above me, until I reach the circular stone door that is the sole entrance to Druscashti. It is absolutely freezing, which is standard for nighttime in the dry, humidity-free Ashlands.
The circular door is divided into two sections which both open outward on huge, rusted hinges. I figure that they open outward so that they couldn't be easily smashed in in the event of a siege, which was not at all an uncommon situation back in the days when the Dwemer still roamed Nirn.
From a pocket in my robe, I retrieve a black box that can easily fit in the palm of my hand. The shine from the moonlight illuminates the curving Daedric symbols carved into the box's sides, as I raise the device to the vertical crack where the doors separate.
The box adheres to the doors with a satisfying click. Then, it begins to glow with purple light, which begins to flare outward in waves. The circle of light emanating from the black device expands again and again, until it begins to settle into a thick, contiguous film of energy. A few moments later, the show is over, leaving an impenetrable, glowing barrier of energy around the outside of the door. Anyone - or anything - that wants to leave Druscashti tonight is going to be severely disappointed.
An hour passes in silence. That silence is broken at 8pm sharp by a muffled banging sound coming from the direction of the door. The banging gets louder and louder. I smile as I imagine vampire after vampire throwing the full force of their powerful bodies against the unyielding stone.
Gravel moves under my feet as I get up and walk over to the door. The purple barrier is still there. The device on that door is a marvelous feat of Telvanni engineering. Redoran may have honor, and Hlaalu may have money, but we have powers that those fools can only dream of.
I listen to the profane beings continue to pound at the walls of what has unexpectedly become their prison. It amuses me to hear them howl with rage as they try desperately to get out, and with pain as they injure themselves against the supernaturally-reinforced stone. They speak amongst themselves - theorizing in my tongue about what has happened. One set of the disquieting, otherworldly voices seem to believe that a rockfall has occurred, trapping them inside. Another group thinks that the minor earthquake they felt this morning has shifted the underground fortress, forcing the doors shut. I open my mouth to tell them both otherwise.
"Hail, vampires," I yell.
The banging stops.
The voices go quiet.
"We have come to do you no harm." I figure they'll be more amenable to my demands if they believe I have come with company.
There is only silence on the other side of the door now. I will likely have to goad them into communicating.
The distant sound of rocks falling down the side of a hill precedes my next words. "I come to parlay with you, vampires. I know what you are, and I know what this place is. If I had gone straight to the Temple with my knowledge of you, there would be an army of Ordinators at your door instead of us. Give thanks that I have decided to bargain with you."
Five minutes go by with no response. I am about to give up hope, believing that the creatures inside have retreated, but, eventually, I get my reply.
"Who are you?" a voice that sounds like many voices of varying pitches layered over one another asks. The being on the other side of that door sounds so alien and so terrible that I have to steady myself on a nearby pylon just to withstand its words.
"I am Orvan Illaran," I answer. "A Telvanni wizard from Tel Branora." Except for the 'Telvanni wizard' part, my response was a complete fabrication. My name is actually Ithrin Vidari and I'm from Tel Vos.
"What do you want?" the awful voice inside asks.
"I have barricaded this door with powerful magic," I tell them, raising my voice so that it can penetrate the thick stone. "No one is getting in or out until my demand is met."
"And what demand is that?" the vampire I am communicating with says.
"I want a pound of vampire flesh, in return for my silence about the location of your base."
Minutes go by before I receive a response.
"That is unacceptable," they tell me.
I smile. I know why they don't want to let a piece of themselves get into my hands. They know that their blood, their flesh, their DNA holds all of their secrets. They know that their bodies hold the key to increased physical prowess, strength, and speed; the key to supernatural powers of persuasion and manipulation; the key to drive vampires from Mundus; and, most importantly of all, the key to immortality. "I will not ask again." My words are spoken so loudly they echo throughout the valley. "Until I have my pound of flesh, this door will remain closed. If my demands are ignored, this ancient city will become your tomb."
A cacophony of hushed, demonic voices follows. I can make out no individual conversations.
Ten minutes go by, and then everything falls silent.
I wait below the towering spires anxiously, believing that they are about to give a response.
I do so for ten minutes, before I feel the need to speak.
"What say you?" I yell, but I hear nothing. "What say you to my request?"
I hear echoing footsteps moving on the other side of the door, retreating into the ruin.
"What say you?" I repeat, even louder than before.
The footsteps fade off into nothing.
The vampires clearly aren't interested in my proposal.
But, maybe, after a few days without food, they will be.
"Very well," I holler, figuring that their advanced hearing abilities will allow my voice to reach their ears. "I will leave you all to think about my offer. I will return in a few days to see if you have changed your minds." I smirk. "Try not to eat each other until then."
With that, I turn away from the ruin and begin the long, cold walk back to Tel Vos.
The sound of muffled banging resumes as I pass the cairns and disappear into the darkness.