A/N: And here's the next chapter! let's get to it, shall we?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Elder Scrolls series, Only my original Ideas.
Chapter 24: Blood's Honor
Shouts-at-Sun's POV
I left Whiterun, and started west-southwest towards Glenmoril Coven. After avoiding a group of Thalmor, I entered a small pass and, shortly after crossing the summit, turned down a side road that looked like it might be a viable shortcut. Instead, I end up coming upon a wounded Nord sitting outside a small cave.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked.
"Not really," said the Nord, "my name's Valdr. I came here to Moss Mother Cavern with my friends to hunt some bears… but then they showed up".
"They? Who is they?" I asked.
"Spriggans," replied Valdr, "I didn't even believe they were real until now. I… Urgh!"
"Hold on," I said, "Take this potion!"
I quickly gave Valdr a healing potion, preventing his condition from getting worse.
"Ah… thank you, said Valdr, "as I was saying, the Spriggans attacked us and I was the only one to get away. I need to go in there and avenge my friends!"
He tried to get up from the boulder he'd been leaning against, but was still rather unsteady on his feet.
"Oh no you don't," I said, "I'll go into the cave and deal with the Spriggans. You're not in any condition to do battle at the moment".
"Alright, I'll wait here, but be careful," said Valdr, "I think there were three Spriggans in there".
I then entered Moss Mother Cavern, ready to face what lay within. A short distance inside I came across the body of one of the other hunters. Just beyond that, I came to the first Spriggan. I quickly hacked away at it with my Skyforge Steel sword. It soon started to fall, but began to heal itself. Before it could finish, I rushed in and stabbed it with my tail, defeating it. After extracting a piece of Taproot from its body, I continued deeper into the cave, soon encountering a bear. It took an Ice Spike to the head and soon fell. After that, I continued into the main chamber of the cave and came across the second Spriggan. It didn't last long, as I got a lucky strike with my sword.
I then searched around the cave, and found the third Spriggan concealing itself against a tree. I lunged at me, but I dodged in time and countered with an attack of my own, defeating the Spriggan. The cave was now cleared. I returned to the entrance and stepped back outside, where Valdr was waiting.
"Is it done?" asked Valdr, "Did you defeat the Spriggans?"
"It's done," I said.
"Thank you," said Valdr, "Now all that's left for me to do is bury my friends…"
He then reached into his pack and pulled out a finely crafted and well-worn dagger. He then handed it to me.
"I want to give this to you as a small payment for helping me. My friend Ari gave me this as a good luck gift, but I now want you to have it".
I accepted his gift, placing it into my pack.
"If you ever find yourself in Falkreath, I'll be sure to buy you a drink," said Valdr.
I gave him a quick nod, and then set off down the road once again.
After hiking a short while longer I came upon my destination. At the base of the hill that the Glenmoril Coven was located in, I was attack by an antisocial mage. I disposed of her quickly, and then started up the slope towards the Coven. I passed by some bones arranged into some sort of totems, then entered the cave itself.
I moved down the first passage, and then entered the central chamber where the first member of the Coven was waiting for me. I could tell from a quick glance that she wasn't a normal person anymore: her hands and feet more resembled the talons of a bird of prey, and she had feathers growing out of various places on her body. I quickly worked out what I was looking at: a Hagraven. I had only heard rumors of these creatures, that they are witches who allowed themselves to be transformed into something other to gain power. The Hagraven turned to look at me, and prepared for battle… but not before taunting me.
"Well, well," said the Hagraven in a rather croaky voice, "the beast returns! Your soul belongs to Hircine!"
"I think not," I replied, "while I may bear the burden of the beastblood, I also bear something much stronger… something I have had my entire life, but I only discovered recently…"
"And what might that be?" asked the Hagraven.
"I bear a power beyond anything you could hope to wield," I said, swinging my tail forwards for my foe to see, "The soul of a Dovah! FO… KRAH!"
The Hagraven barely had time to react before she was engulfed by my Thu'um. When the effects of my Shout cleared, the Hagraven was dead. I stepped up to its body and retrieved its head. I now had the item I'd come for… but I realized that Kodlak might not be the only one who wished to cure their lycanthropy. There were likely more members of the Glenmoril Coven around here. I should look for them, but I didn't want to stumble across them blindly. I needed a way to detect them…
'Of course, that's it!' I thought.
"LAAS!" I Shouted quietly.
My Thu'um revealed several living creatures throughout the caves, four of which were shaped like people. I quickly worked out that those were my targets. Two of these targets were on the upper level, while the others were on the lower level with me. I decided to deal with the ones on the lower level first.
I entered the nearest tunnel, and soon arrived in a small chamber guarded by a Frostbite Spider and a Hagraven. I quickly disposed of them and retrieved the Hagraven's head. I searched the chamber, but found nothing else of interest. I returned to the main chamber, and then went down the other passage on this level. At the end of the passage, I came across another Hagraven, this time accompanied by a Skeever. They didn't last long. After clearing the chamber, I retrieved this Hagraven's head as well. After doing that, I returned to central chamber. It was now time to check the upper level.
I went down the first passage I found on the upper level, and soon came to what seemed to be the Hagraven's sleeping area. I defeated the lone Hagraven guarding this room and retrieved its head, bringing my total up to four. I searched the room, and found a few potions, and a treasure chest. Inside the chest I found the standard gamut of gold and jewels and soul gems, along with an un-enchanted Dwarven Longsword. I have to wonder why I'd been finding so many Dwemer artifacts just lying around recently…
In any case, I packed up the contents of the chest and headed back to the main chamber to find the last occupant of these caves. Down the last passage, I found the fifth Hagraven, along with another Frostbite Spider. I fought off both of them, retrieved the fifth and final head, and then checked the room. In the back corner of the room, I found an enchantment altar. This gave me an idea.
I stepped up to the enchantment altar and placed my newly acquired Dwemer Sword onto it, along with a fully charged greater soul gem. I then focused on the enchantment I wished to apply to the sword: Frost Damage. I then imprinted my sword's new name onto it: Frostblade. After this, I stepped back out of the cave, my appointed task now complete. I started back down the road to Whiterun, but something didn't feel right. I wasn't sure why, but I suddenly felt that I needed to get back to Whiterun… now.
I hurried back to Whiterun as fast as I could, and quite nearly broke down the city gates in my haste. I rushed up the streets of the city, and arrived at Jorrvaskr just in time to see Aela take down a Silver Hand warrior. There we the bodies of several more Silver Hand lying nearby.
"Aela," I said, "What's going on?"
"The Silver Hand attacked," said Aela, "That's what happened! Go talk to Vilkas".
I went inside Jorrvaskr and immediately found Vilkas, along with the bodies of more Silver Hand.
"Where have you been?" asked Vilkas.
"I was on an assignment given to me by Kodlak," I replied.
"Well I hope it was important because it meant that you weren't here to protect him!" said Vilkas.
"What happened?" I asked.
"The Silver Hand attacked Jorrvaskr and killed the old man, and took all the fragment of Wuuthrad!"
"We… we need to get them back," I said.
"Exactly," said Vilkas, "Come with me, the two of us are going to assault the Silver Hand's main base. That's likely where they took the fragments".
"Right, let's get to it," I said.
The two of us left Jorrvaskr and pushed our way past the assembled crowd of townsfolk, heading out of Whiterun on our new mission.
A/N; And there we go! Next time: the Purity of Revenge. See you then!