4E 203, 3rd of Second Seed

I had been waiting for Aeola to return for sometime, and the once rising sun is now just about at its noon position. I decided that while I was waiting I would take a nap. As I was napping, I was dreaming that I was back in Hammerfell; the last time I was there to be exact. I was once again in the Alik'r desert, I had been traveling for several days in search of an artifact deep inside Dwemer ruins; one of the few that remains. While I had enough provisions stored for the journey, the fierce desert winds and sand were beginning to take their toll. I had just begun to see what appeared to be the ruins in the distance when I saw the wind begin to pick up and create a whirlwind in the distance. Not to be undone, I decided that I would try and make it to the ruins before the whirlwind made it here; as it drew closer, the sand became more of a nuisance than before, and I had to shield my eyes with my hands to be able to see anything. I was now close enough to the ruins to see them clearly, it was obvious that the ruins had been dealt substantial damage from the beating winds; it was a surprise that anything was event left to explore. I was within an hours walk away from the ruins when I had noticed that the whirlwind had picked up, and it was coming towards me at an increasing speed. At the base of this whirlwind there appeared to be the outline of some large figure; as I squinted against the sand to gain a better focus, I saw that the figure appeared to be that of a horse, which here meant that there was a rider on it; I was under attack.

I unsheathed my sword in anticipation; whoever the enemy is, they're either using the whirlwind as a cover for an ambush, or they created it themselves. I turned to face my attackers when I sensed that something was behind me. I heard a thunderclap and I turned around just in time to see a fist plunge itself into my face; everything went dark. I awoke from the dream in much the same way I awoke from being knocked out back then; in Skyrim, alone and surrounded by dead bodies. I looked to the horizon and saw that a storm was coming this way, it was likely the thunder that woke me from my sleep. I reached in my pouch and took out some venison and rekindled the fire at the camp. As I ate, I felt a cold chill creep up from behind me, carrying what almost sounded like a hiss with it. I turned around to look and see if anyone was there, but there was no one to be found. The only time I have had such sensations were when I was in the presence of undead; zombies, skeletons, Draugr, and Vampires. I decided to enter the Mouldering ruins to investigate; I couldn't shake the feeling I've had since that cold chill.

As I descended down a ladder into the ruins, I once again felt the eerie chill; only this time it was allover me. As I traveled down deeper, I could hear the faint voices of people talking. I crouched down as I approached nearer, concealing my presence as to not alert them; I had crept behind a large pile of rubble so I could listen to their conversation. As I listened, I was able to confirm that they were in fact Vampires, and based on the chill in the air, rather powerful ones at that. They were planning on luring some of the villagers from Rorikstead to the ruins so that they may feed; apparently they found the guard rather lax and were willing to take them on should something go wrong in their attempt. I decided that they would share the same fate as their companions; as I conjured my bound bow and slowly rose to stealthily dispose of them, my armor knocked down some of the rubble alerting them to my presence. The Vampires turned in my direction, both of them wielded magick; the one furthest back raised several Draugr, while the one closest to me began to fire ice spikes at me. I ducked behind the rubble again to avoid her attacks, but I knew that I had to take them out quick. Just these two Vampires were enough to deal with, having Draugr to deal with as well only further complicated things. I slightly leaned over the rubble and fired an arrow at her, hitting her in the foot. As she screamed, the ice spike that was about to be fired at me was redirected at the approaching Draugr, hitting one in the back and knocking it into another, turning them both to ash. As she knelt down to pull the arrow from her foot, I stood up to get a better position, and shot another arrow at her, this one finding its target through her neck. She stood up reaching out to the other Vampire while gurgling on her blood before she fell to the ground and died.

The other Vampire now enraged at the death of his companion fired a volley of ice spikes of his own at me; I quickly dropped down to avoid them. While I may have had the advantage of higher ground, he had a huge amount of magicka to use against me, the mark of a master Vampire. As he fired ice spikes at me with one hand, he raised more Draugr with the other. I no longer had any advantage over him as I was pinned down and the Draugr were drawing near. I decided to summon a wolf familiar, one that I have used in previous engagements where just weapons wasn't good enough. The wolf howled as it entered our realm, and quickly charged at the incoming Draugr, halting their advance and drawing the attention of the Vampire. With not a moment to spare, I stood up to take aim, and just as the Vampire turned his attention back to me, I fired an arrow at him, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. When he died, the remaining Draugr no longer bound to his magicka returned to their rest. I checked their bodies for any loot they may have; nothing of interest. Vampires of this caliber rarely ever wear anything other than black robes, and certainly don't carry much coin. After I searched the burial urns around the ruins, I climbed back out of the ruins to the surface, looking to see if Aeola had come; she had not. With the storm coming in close, I decided that I would return to Lakeview Manor where my wife and children were; we usually meet at my nearest house when we are separated like this, such is the case with all the followers I've had. I had arrived home early this morning before the sun came up and there Aeola waited for me outside as expected.

Before entering my house, I decided that it would be best if I scouted the area to make sure there were no bandits, or anything of the sort that would lie in wait to prey on my family. It was but a month ago that I had returned from a journey when I had discovered that my wife had been kidnapped. Fortunately Lob, the Orc whom I hired to maintain the property managed to hide the children in the basement, protecting them from harm; but by time he had returned to the ward them off they had already left, leaving behind a ransom note. I am a terrible negotiator in such situations, and rather than pay the ransom, I went to their hideout, killed them all and rescued my wife. I'm afraid that my dear Camilla hasn't quite been the same since. As Aeola and I walked down to the path leading to Falkreath, I heard the rustling of leaves as birds flew out, disturbed by something nearby. As we walked to investigate, two Blood Horkers dashed out from some rocks by the water to attack us; this particular group of bandits have traveled a long way to die. Aeola and I drew our bows and shot our arrows at them; it was still dark so they weren't easy to see, but since they had swords and we had bows and arrows, we were able to keep them at a distance until we were able to finally take them down. Satisfied that there were no other threats, I decided that we would return to the house where we could both get some rest. Aeola went to the bed on the second floor across from where Lob slept, and I walked over to my children to check on them before climbing into my own with Camilla.

When I awoke, Camilla and the children had already left the house; after I had ate some breakfast that she had left for me, I went outside to spend some time with my family. My children were outside playing in front of the house; my son Hroar and my daughter Runa were sword fighting, and Runa was the better of the two. I suppose this would only make sense as she spends more time practicing than he does, Hroar seems to prefer reading over sword play. I went to the back of my house to find Camilla out by the apiary, likely gathering some honey. She looked at me and smiled as she struggled to make her way to the apiary to gather the honey; for some reason, she has been walking backwards since she was kidnapped. At first I found it amusing, but now I feel like I should probably look into it further since it has been some time this has been going on. I told her that I was going to Falkreath to sell some of the loot that I had picked up in my recent travels; "goodbye my love" she said as I walked back towards the road. As Aeola and I traveled closer to Falkreath, we passed by the remains of what used to be the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary before it was burned down. As we began to make our way past it, I heard the sound of an arrow being shot, followed by a shove on my shoulder as it was deflected off my armor. Fortunately it was just a steel arrow, and my Nordic armor can easily handle them without so much as receiving a scratch.

I looked around to see where the arrow came from when Aeola shot an arrow in front of us, hitting her target somewhere in the bushes. I heard a groan and saw a man fall from his hiding place; it was a Penitus Oculatus agent. These people have been hunting me down since I helped the Dark Brotherhood survive their attempts at removing them from Skyrim, and eventually became the Listener for the Dark Brotherhood, the highest position one could achieve. After checking him for loot, I was trying to decide on whether I would raise him as a zombie, or leave his corpse for the animals to deal with. I decided that he wasn't worth my time and continued on to Falkreath. Once I arrived, I immediately walked to Grey Pine Goods to sell my loot to Solaf, the proprietor of the shop. After a bit of bartering with him, I left and went to the Dead Man's Drink for a bit of mead; it had been some time since I've had a belly full of mead and a good song. After speaking to the proprietor Valga Vinicia about any new bounties the Jarl may have sent out, I sat down by the fire with my cup full of mead. So here I now sit; drinking my mead while listening to Delacourt the Bard sing a Tale of Tongues.