4E 203, 2nd of Second Seed.
It is Fredas, and almost midday. I've just arrived at Moldering ruins where I am waiting for my companion Aeola the Huntress to come join me. We were separated after a long night spent in the rain, and what a night it has been! I have seen much of Skyrim in the years I have been here; more so during the war between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. Now that the war has ended, I find myself traveling the backroads and plains of this land, looking for new adventures and ruins to explore. Last night we had come across the hut belonging to a fellow name Lund, who unfortunately met his demise before we arrived. As we walked the path to his hut seeking shelter, we were attacked by a swarm of Skeevers. To no surprise, they were easily dispatched, but I wondered why there were so many this close to the hut; a cold chill crept up my spine as I was sure to find the answers upon entry.
As we entered his home, more Skeevers attacked us, but were quickly dispatched. As we searched the hut, we found poor Lund lying in his bed; dead. At first I assumed it was the work of those pesky Skeevers, but upon closer examination of the body, it looked as if he was unharmed by them. He was fairly young for him to have died of age; what could have killed him? As I looked at his table, I saw a bottle of poison, some of its contents were missing. It was clear that this man has taken his life. I looked to Aeola, but to no surprise she took no interest in my curious expression; it's times like this that I wish Serana was still in my company.
As we exited the hut, I looked around the surrounding area and saw what appeared to be a monument made of stones with a ring on it. Perhaps his wife had died, and in his grief he took his life; none of this matters. We climbed the rocks to continue our passage in the plains, shrouded in darkness as I prefer not to bring attention to myself should there be bandits waiting for the opportunity to attack. As we traveled, I saw the most peculiar sight. In the middle of these dark plains, there was a battle being fought; between whom I did not know, but curiosity brought me in for a closer look.
There were several Forsworn engaged in a battle with both Vampires and the Vigilant of Stendarr, a most strange sight to see as these groups rarely encounter each other in such a manner. No sooner did I decide not to engage did Aeola come up behind me with a torch lit; we had been spotted. I conjured my bound bow and fired off a volley arrows, each one being a well placed shot. Almost as soon as the battle began it had ended, and all fell silent on the plains once more. Aeola and I inspected the bodys for the usual; coin, arrows, and anything else of use. There wasn't much in the way of coin to be found, but the Vampires were wearing robes of restoration, which fetch a good amount of coin; enough to compensate for the lack of coin they carried. As the sun slowly began to rise on the plains, I saw many buildings in the distance, it's likely that if we didn't make a move soon, we would be spotted and the whole scenario may be attributed to us. I raised all of the corpses as zombies, and one by one shot them back down till there was no trace of any of them other than the ash piles left behind which would likely blow away in the wind.
I started running southwest for some time until I saw what appeared to be a tent off in the distance; I turned around to Aeola so we could investigate, but she was nowhere to be found; typical. I decided that I would continue on; we had not slept in a day or so, and if the tent was unoccupied, it would be an opportunity for us to get some much needed sleep. While we don't get much restful sleep due to our beast blood as werewolves, but we could still give our bodies a chance to recover a bit from our travels. As I cautiously moved closer to the camp, I stepped on a tree branch, which alerted its occupiers; this time Vampire thralls. I suppose now it makes sense how I ran into Vampires the night before, the must've come from this camp to feed. As they drew closer, I once again conjured my bound bow and attacked, the first Vampire thrall ran right into my arrow, landing between his eyes and killing him quickly; the one behind him wasn't so easy to take down. He blocked my arrows with his shield, while another came from behind, this one an Argonian who dual casted fireball spells. Where I once had the advantage, I now found myself on the defense as I was running to find cover from the barrage of fireballs being sent my way. As the Vampire thrall with the shield came closer, I used my fire breath shout to engulf him in flames, slowing his advance as he tried to fight them off. I used this opportunity to fire the last two arrows which finally took him down for good as his shield was no longer a concern. The Argonian however was still very much a threat as I found it increasingly difficult to dodge his fireballs. "AEOLA" I shouted, but to no avail as she was still nowhere to be found. The Argonian cackled as it continued to lob fireballs at me, but there was a brief pause between attacks; he likely ran out of magicka.
Taking advantage of this brief window of opportunity, I stood up from behind my cover and fired several arrows; he managed to dodge the first, but the second two found their mark. The first hit him in his shoulder, preventing him from sending off a fireball that likely would have hit me as I was exposed; the second hit him in the thigh. As he bent over in pain, I wasted not a second; I drew back on my bow to fire the kill shot, and as I released it, the arrow pierced his heart, killing him instantly. I made my way up to the camp, inspecting the bodies of the Vampire thralls as I passed over them looking for any loot that they may have been carrying; nothing of any value to me. From the camp I could see Rorikstead off in the distance, perhaps the Vampires had been lying wait in the plains to pick off any person who wandered too far from the safety of the roads, but their wait has been in vain as now they are ashes, and their thrall lie dead on the ground beneath me. I waited about an hour for Aeola to appear somewhere in the distance, but still no sign of her; I hope she hasn't encountered any danger, but if so I know she is more than capable of handling herself; it was only but two years ago when I was once her follower. So now I wait here for her at the camp above the Moldering ruins, hoping that she too will come in this direction, and we can once again resume our travels together.