A/N: Happy Christmas!
Chapter 19 — Three Hunters
Your Shield Proficiency has increased by 5 (51)!
Your Blade Proficiency has increased by 4 (57)!
Your Piercing Proficiency has increased by 3 (48)!
Your Archery has increased by 9 (37)!
Your Butchering has increased by 8 (26)!
Your Skinning has increased by 7 (26)!
Your Harvesting has increased by 7 (28)!
Your Tracking has increased by 10 (28)!
Your Gathering has increased by 6 (32)!
We stuck around and train at Jorrvaskr, after the Circle decided to wait two more days for Skjor's funeral, so that more of the Companions could attend.
We hold the ceremony at dawn, so that the moon shines on the pyre. Even if only the Circle really knows why.
It's short, because the Companions care little for pretty words, and Skjor cared even less than the others.
Before the ancient flame, we grieve.
At this loss, we weep.
For the fallen, we shout.
And for ourselves, we take our leave.
The fire reached for the sky, and Aela and I head into Jorrvaskr's basement. In her room, she packs her last few things, and I open a Gate.
The Silver Hand has this coming. Their only holdout left - which we know of - is Orotheim, near Rorikstead.
We leave Oblivion near a bandit camp, the same one I cleaned out with Lydia on our way to Solitude. From here, we just need to follow a side river to the east, then south at the next river branch, and then Orotheim is a cave somewhere in the mountain's slope.
We make our way there slowly, and mostly in silence. I stick close to Aela. She's still grieving, but whenever she feels lonely, I chat with her.
Mostly about our surroundings. Skyrim is beautiful. Down here in the foothills, the slopes are gentle and mostly forested, but every few minutes the trees open up another view. When we turn to the south, we have a wonderful view of the valley ahead. On the far slope, there's quite a large nordic ruin, with the entrance still being in good condition. And far in the distance, we can spot the swamp of Morthal, cluttered with small clusters of trees on the areas dry enough for them.
As we approach the cave entrance, we prepare. Aela mostly prepares mentally, and I can feel her focusing herself. There's a merciless edge to her now. But it doesn't worry me, as it wasn't there when we had to chase off that bear half an hour ago.
I cast Courage on Aela to make her harder to kill, and summon an Ogrim, then also cast Courage on it.
It's nowhere near as smart or fast as the Mazken I can summon, but right now, I consider it more important to have something to get hit instead of me and Aela. And the Ogrim can take it, between its Regeneration perk and its large Health pool.
Ogrim
Ogrims are large, dim-witted daedra. They're strong and sturdy, able to regenerate health swiftly.
Level: 61
Perks
- Race: Ogrim
- Regeneration
Attributes (partial):
- Health: 2640
- Stamina: 2640
- Health Regeneration: 569
- Strength: 264
- Endurance: 264
- Healing Resistance: 200
- Blunt Damage: 122
- Dexterity: 71
- Stamina Regeneration: 71
Abilities:
- Smash: Smashes your enemy for 652 Blunt damage.
Perk: Regeneration
Instead of per day, Health Regeneration is now per minute, just like Mana and Stamina Regeneration.
It also doesn't talk back about being bored by easy opponents, an added advantage compared to the Mazken.
Not that I don't like the Mazken I can conjure, but I'm just not in the mood for her antics. Even if she's a lot more pleasing to the eye than this… creature. The Ogrim has two short, sturdy legs, is quite fat, which draws even more attention because of its oversized torso. Its arms are strong, but again short, and its head is just plain ugly.
It's also hard to kill, though, which is what matters.
Aela takes out her bow, while I ready a few spells in the front of my mind, and we enter the cave, hiding behind the daedra's bulk.
The cave slopes downwards, and we quickly reach the first enemies. One's right behind a campfire, and the other is working on the workbench, probably maintaining weapons or armor. The second is on an elevated platform, made from wood. Behind him, the path goes further down again.
With a target this big, there's no chance we wouldn't get noticed. One lets out a shout, and draws his bow, but Aela nails him in the throat.
I cast a double Ice Spike, punching the other backwards. He crashes into the far wall, and then drops.
There's a noise further down, and the Ogrim lumbers towards it.
Aela and I follow, using it for cover.
As we pass the initial guards, I put their silver swords in my inventory. No point wasting perfectly good silver.
The wooden platform is built over a rockslide, and there are stairs on the other side as well. We enter it after the Ogrim, just as it engages a Silver Hand bandit on the other side.
It doesn't really need our help. Aela's arrow pierces the calf muscle on a woman attempting to quickly put on heavy armor parts. I roast another Silver Hand just rushing inside from a room to our left.
Aela shoots the other calf on the same woman. I keep the Ogrim away from her, as she obviously wants the woman to live. Otherwise she'd have just shot the throat.
"I'll check the side corridor." I offer.
Aela nods, and heads over to the woman on the floor, from whom I mostly sense agony. Then again, if she felt hostility or intent to kill, I wouldn't know.
Down the side corridor is nothing, so I dismiss the Ogrim.
This appears to be a storage and supply room. I grab the useful bits, including the gold, and return to Aela, who's busy interrogating the woman whose calves she shot.
Mostly about where the other Silver Hand are.
A simple carrot and stick. Either tell us and she'll tell me to heal her, or she can die keeping a secret. And that she might want to desert altogether, as Aela and I are going to wipe out all of them.
— A Dragon's Game —
Five minutes later, an unarmed Silver Hand deserter walks out of the cave on her own legs.
"Driftshade Refuge." Aela says. "Their last stronghold."
"That's northeast from here, right?"
"East-north-east. Fastest way from here is north, take the road south of Morthal, all the way past Stonehills, and then east straight through the Pale. Driftshade Refuge is just on the other side of the road between Whiterun and Dawnstar, about half a day away from Fort Dunstad. Unless you can Gate us closer?"
"I think so? Closest I can get is Blizzard Rest, where we intimidated the giants."
"That's still one day instead of three."
"I think it might be better if we take the time for this? There's no way news will reach them before we do, even if we take our three days." I smile at her. "Besides, I'm having a good time traveling together with you. I don't want to miss out."
Aela blushes lightly at that. She isn't used to the flattery kind of flirting like that, but she likes it and is comfortable enough with me to take it the way it's intended. "Thanks. But yeah, we got the time."
Leaving Orotheim, we head north, following the stream downhill. Then early in the afternoon, I hear a roar we're getting familiar with by now. I exchange a glance with Aela, and she gets her bow out. Meanwhile, I conjure the Mazken, since her wings will be invaluable in this fight. Then I cast Courage on both of them, and the battle maniacs search the sky for our opponent.
He swings out from the mountain to our right, colored red and white. Not all dragons need to be hostile, so I greet it.
"I am (the) Dragonborn. Nice to meet you." zu'u dovahkiin. paas shul grind.
Outside or normal dragon combat distance, the dragon stops to hover. "I am Snow-Hunter-Wing. My lord Alduin commands your death." zu'u odahviing. alduin thuri uth dinokiil.
There might be a chance in the nordic legends. "The prophecy in the Elder Scrolls foretells my victory over Alduin. Aid me, and you will outlive him." qostiidsekel prodahtaas krongrahi ko alduin. aak zu'u ahrk laas zok rok.
I hear amusement in Odahviing's voice as it replies. "Nice try. But Alduin's Voice is stronger than yours." pruzah togaat. nuz alduin zok thu'um hin.
Ah. Well, so much for the diplomatic approach. Its name indicates an affinity for cold, so let me… take this conversation to the next level. "Fire!" yol
A burst of flame comes from my mouth, and Aela and the Mazken split off from me, to not present a single big target for Odahviing to hit.
"Frost Cold Freeze!" fo krah diin
Oblivion. Not good.
A massive torrent of frost bears down on me, and I use a Whirlwind Sprint to get out of the way. Checking either way, the other two also evaded the attack, the Mazken getting in the air one way, and Aela shooting her bow.
Her arrows just bounce off Odahviing, and it ignores her in return.
Then again, taking down a dragon is my duty. I concentrate, and I Disintegrate the dragon.
Or at least, I try to. It apparently senses what's coming, and shouts. "Fade Spirit Bind!" feim zii gron
The dragon becomes a transparent blue, and my spell passes through it without causing harm.
Odahviing banks, and flies towards the Mazken. I cancel the spell to not hit her, using the few seconds bought to reconsider my tactics. I hadn't accounted for a dragon just deciding to ignore my attacks. Of course, I knew about the Shout, but I didn't think it would trump my spells this badly.
Perhaps Holy Damage? If it is comparable to undead ghosts, like Potema…
I launch a Sunfire, but it does as little as the Disintegrate.
Right before hitting the Mazken, Odahviing cancels his invulnerability early, and bites at her. She laughs in glee as she dodges, and strikes it with her mace. Odahviing ignores her hit, and reveals his early attack as a feint as he bites again, catching a leg and a wing. Before I can respond, he wildly shakes his head.
Her pain slams into my mind, and I see her fall, missing a leg and a wing. I wince. Not good. I know she'll just reconstitute herself from the Waters of Oblivion if she dies here, but it's just a dick move on my part to force that decade-long process on her. I unsummon her, and she disappears into a swirl of purple flames. I hope momentum isn't preserved for her.
But Odahviing is corporeal again, so I cast Disintegrate at him.
"Fade Spirit Bind!" feim zii gron
Of course he's just gonna go invulnerable again. Why in Oblivion not? He banks, and comes my way, its flight more fluent than that of any other dragon I've seen.
We can't fight this. If it's only going to be vulnerable when biting me or Aela, we won't win that fight.
I glance at Aela, and she seems to also have realized she can't do anything. She's just standing around awkwardly with her bow.
It goes vulnerable again, just to throw another torrent of ice at me, which just so happens to also obscure it.
Nope, I'm out while I have the mana to get away. I whirlwind step over to Aela, tear open an Oblivion Gate, and jump us both through.
— A Dragon's Game —
"Did you get hurt out there?" I ask Aela as soon as the Gate closes behind us, leaving us in one of Sanguine's Myriad Realms of Revelry.
"No, I'm fine. You?"
"I'm just… miffed I had to run." And even though I logically know it was the best choice, something in me is furious at me for retreating. And even scarier, something in me is telling me I should have sworn servitude. "I just… don't know what to think about losing a fight that badly."
Aela hugs me, and I feel the tension drain from me. "It happens. If anything, it's a miracle that this is the first time you had to run from a fight." She releases the hug to look me in the eye. "I definitely ran a lot more in my life, and otherwise I'd have been dead already so many times."
Affection from Aela increased by 2 (92) for knowing when to fight and when to retreat!
I give a wry smile. "I guess."
"So shall we just travel to Blizzard's Rest, walk to Fort Dunstad, see if we can sleep there, and then get to Driftshade Refuge tomorrow?"
"Yeah, let's. Oh, wait." I reach out gently. I'm already in Oblivion, so I don't know about Conjuration… ah, similar enough apparently. No binding of obedience this way, but also basically no required mana. Odd how the binding is integrated in the planar transit, but it makes sense, I guess. Generally, conjurers aren't inside a Plane of Oblivion.
A few purple sparks erupt, and the Mazken is there. Still missing her wing and more than half of her leg.
Her pain immediately slams into my brain again. It's intense enough I can feel a headache starting.
"Molag's saggy balls, what now?" She sneers.
"Would you like me to heal you before I return you again?"
She looks at me oddly. I feel a bit of surprise next to her pain. "What? Not just gonna summon another Mazken next time, until I'm healed?"
I shrug. "You've been a valuable ally in the past, and it feels rude to not heal you when it's so easy for me."
"And a bit of gratitude wouldn't be amiss, Do'samma's just being nice to you." Aela interrupts. "If you're just going to abuse him for it, I'll break your next leg myself."
"Pfft, as if a mortal bitch like you could." The Mazken scoffs. "If you're so dangerous, why'd he conjure me?"
"Meat shield, of course. That's what dumb, unskilled muscle is for. You—"
Did they just forget I'm here or something? Regardless, I'm not interested in where this goes. "Silence!" I interrupt them both. "Play nice. You're on the same side."
"Birdy here needs to learn her place, though." Aela says, but she's calmed down. Somewhat. "How about you heal her, and she and I go at it for a bit?"
"Challenge accepted, bitch."
"You're aware that's not exactly an insult to a werewolf? Or did you just not notice?"
Before they start again, I turn my gaze to the Mazken, and I Speak. "Health Essence." Haas rii
The healing shout strikes the Mazken, and her wounds disappear. I could've used normal Healing, of course, but that'd have taken me five times as long.
I sigh. "You two really want to do this?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Fine, if you just need to get it out of your system, go ahead. First blood or broken bone wins, and then you'll stop fighting. Do I make myself clear?"
The Mazken scoffs, but nods.
Aela looks at me in consideration, and also signals her agreement, getting her weapons out.
The Mazken uses her wings to propel herself forwards, going for an overwhelming attack with all her momentum behind it.
Aela angles her shield just so, the same as she does in training all the time, and digs her feet into the ground, deflecting the blow, while going for a stab with her sword.
The Mazken twists her wings, pulling her body to the right, and out of Aela's stab. Her wings swing downwards, and she attempts to kick Aela's sword out of her hand, faster and harder than anyone without wings could try.
Aela attacks the foot, but is deflected by the Mazken's leg armor.
And they continue with a few more blows. Aela is more skillful, but the Mazken's wings give far too much of a mobility advantage, even on the ground. Normally, any warrior needs a good stance, to maintain their balance and a solid grip on the ground for basically anything. But the Mazken can get away with a lot less, because her wings supply balance and force, while also being high up and behind her.
Far out of Aela's reach.
Still, Aela's shield is an unbreakable barrier to the Mazken, and she gets frustrated. The daedra flies up and casts lightning bolts, but her magic is extremely weak.
Aela simply draws her bow, and responds by making small steps she knows from me are annoying when attempting to hit with a Lightning Bolt, while her own arrows are very accurate. Sure, she gets hit twice by a Lightning Bolt, but after the Mazken gets a (non-bleeding) tear in the membrane of a wing, she lands to resume the melee.
And from there, the Mazken tires faster, until Aela gets in a hit on the daedra's outstretched weapon arm.
After that, the Mazken yields. "Fine, you got me."
I approach and heal her.
She looks at me intensely.
"What?" I ask her.
"She proved herself, but you haven't."
I raise an eyebrow. "And how else do you suppose I should do that? You've seen me casting my spells."
"You haven't shown you can do so well enough to fight me." She almost scoffs. She might have been fine with being conjured because I gave her nice fights, but she doesn't think too highly of me.
"You seem to respect me less than you did Aela."
"Of course, you're a man. And everyone knows males are weaker."
I tilt my head, confused. She feels like she's speaking an obvious truth, like adults being stronger than kids.
Then again, females might be straight up stronger in Mazken society. There's a bit of difference for most races I'm aware of, but it's really not that much. Human males are slightly stronger than their females. The difference is smaller with elves and Khajiit, and negligible with Argonians.
"Okay. How you want to do it? Outlaw magic?"
"Nah, you'll need it." She smirks.
Really? Eh, fine. Hm, it's good I know her exact numbers. I can take care not to kill her while still hitting her hard.
She has 1320 Health, and 50 Lightning Resistance, so she'll take half damage. A swift mental pass of the spells I know shows that Call Lightning, when cast by me, should do 1281 damage, not accounting for resistances.
"Sure. Want to start this close, since magic is ranged and you're not?" I step backwards to a five meter distance.
"Fine with me. Don't worry, I'll let you conjure me to save you even if you lose. Just want to establish who needs who." She feels confident.
"When I need you has more to do with the numbers than our relative strength."
She grins. "Respectfully disagree. Now, let us dance." And with that, she flaps her wings and launches herself at me.
"Whirlwind" wuld. I step well past her, appearing behind her, and then I Call Lightning, blasting her down into the ground, following it up with an immediate second one.
I casually walk closer to where she is in a circle of dirt, the grass having been burned away. The lightning did a number on her. She's on the ground, panting. Burns all over her body, in all kinds of exotic patterns, some of which I recognize from dead bandits I slew with lightning. Her wings escaped the worst of it, though she tore her membrane with involuntary muscle contractions. Smoke rises from a few locations on her body. But aside from the pain she's in, I feel… respect? And arousal — perhaps she likes power.
"Do you yield?" I ask.
She lets out a high-pitched noise of pain. But where before she mostly just obeyed the bindings and had fun fighting, she now feels deference towards me.
I guess that'll have to do, and I heal her over several seconds.
Her breathing eases and evens out. As her injuries vanish, she kneels before me. "Thank you, my lord Conjurer. I am Kirsa, and I am your loyal servant." I sense something from her I haven't sensed from anyone but Lydia. Devotion.
You have gained 20 Affection with Kirsa for giving her fun fights!
You have gained 10 (30) Affection with Kirsa for not letting her get dispersed against Odahviing!
You have gained 5 (35) Affection with Kirsa for healing her wounds!
You have gained 5 (40) Affection with Kirsa for agreeing to fight her!
You have gained 20 (60) Affection with Kirsa for defeating her in glorious combat!
You have gained 3 (95) Affection from Aela for your quick defeat of Kirsa!
Wow. And got 20 affection even when I didn't fight fair. Through a sense I don't have, I feel her oath of servitude, and I accept her.
"I am Do'samma. Rise. I will call upon you when I have work to do."
She smiles, flushing slightly, as she stands up. "It will be my honor."
"You want me to send you back where you normally are?"
"I don't mind either way." She shrugs, which does nice things to certain features. She notices me notice it and smirks as she continues. "But I'll be happy to serve you in anything you wish."
"I'll keep that in mind." And I will, though right now the Silver Hand is my priority. We can always have fun afterwards. "Then tag along." I turn around. "Aela?"
"She's a good warrior, but I don't trust her."
"She just swore herself to me."
"And?"
"She was serious about it. Even if she changed her mind, she can't harm me unless I release her from her oath."
"She's a Daedra, and of a kind known to seduce and manipulate mortals. You can't just trust her words."
I hold up a hand to silence Kirsa, who's about to respond aggressively. "This isn't about her being Daedra. Rather, I know about any oath sworn to me, and can accept them to seal them."
"Isn't that like… mind control?"
"No. The only effect on any mind is to compel me to treat her fairly in response, if accepted."
"I've never heard about such a spell."
"Me neither." Kirsa interjects. "And I'm pretty old by now."
"I already told Aela most of it, but not you yet. I've got an ability that allows me to learn rapidly. I don't know where it comes from. And this knowledge comes from that ability."
"Odd." Kirsa frowns.
"You don't know half of it." Aela responds. "Like, two months ago, he barely knew which end of the sword was for stabbing. And now he's quite good, if not as good as you or me. Yet."
Kirsa shrugs. "Well, consider me even more convinced, then."
"Easy as that?" I ask.
"Yup. You're pretty strong already, and you're only getting stronger… You know little about us, Daedra, do you?"
"What I mostly know is your average conjurer's knowledge. Beyond that, consider me mostly ignorant."
"We clump up around those strong enough to protect us. While we can't really die, having our souls return to the Waters and reform a body is incredibly uncomfortable. Like gravel in your boot all day on march, for twenty years without getting it out."
"Sounds like being driven insane."
"It happens." She shrugs. "But it's not very common. Change doesn't come easy to us. Point is, you're strong enough some might follow you, like I am. We look for protection, though we're willing to do our part to deserve it. And most of us attempt to find someone tolerant of our proclivities."
"Oh? And why do you think I'll be tolerant of yours?"
"I've seen you look." She smiles, and saunters over to me, and whispers in my ear. "And you know how to be rough with a girl~."
Ah. That kind of girl. It suddenly makes a lot more sense why she got aroused from being electrocuted to near death.
I embrace her and hold tight even when she attempts to back off in surprise. "It's a deal." I whisper in her ear while pressing my cheek against hers.
I feel the warmth of her blush through her cheek.
With a teasingly tender kiss on her cheek, I let her go. "But we got distracted. We were going to murder a group of Silver Hand, and they're a day's travel away. Let's get to it."
The others agree, and I open a Gate near Fort Dunstad, to get us there without alarming the locals.
You have gained 5 (65) Affection with Kirsa for being a good tease!
Fort Dunstad is a large, rectangular structure of stone, with two towers near the road. A palisade is raised adjacent to it, past the road, with two doors into it to allow traffic to pass through. Inside that palisade, there's an inn called The Stumbling Sabrecat, owned and operated by one Baral Sendu, our host for the night.
He doesn't blink when we order a single room for the three of us. I ask Kirsa whether she wants to spend the night in Oblivion, but she instead strips and crawls under the blankets with Aela and me.
"If we're gonna fuck soon anyway, no need to be shy now." Kirsa justifies her position.
"Good point." I spoon behind Aela.
Kirsa spoons behind me. She uses one arm to cuddle into my back, and then spreads a wing over both me and Aela, the other one ending up somewhere above the bed.
The gesture comforts me. Sure, I know she went all in with her oath of loyalty, but this makes me feel it.
— A Dragon's Game —
We leave bright and early. Aela is… not exactly anxious, but she wants to get this done. There's no real risk of them being aware of us coming, but after this, we'll just be able to leave it behind us. I'm also very much looking forward to it myself.
And Kirsa is just looking forward to a good fight, even if I've already made her aware there's probably no real challenge coming her way. Still, she's content just serving me. And that's something that might take some getting used to.
While cold, the journey is boring, and we reach Driftshade Refuge in the afternoon. It's not much to look at — just a square, squat building. Though the vast majority is underground, as with a lot of Skyrim. A swift arrow from Aela dispatches the watch on the roof, and I hit the guard at the entrance with a barrage of Wind Blades. I need to level my Wind Magic.
Heading inside, we first have to go down three staircases, and then we enter a larger room — corridors going every way, but on the right it's blocked by a rockfall. The stairs go straight, and Aela shoots the singular Silver Hand there through the throat.
Kirsa uses her wings to glide to our left, before clubbing a Silver Hand with a crack that was audible even where I stood.
Problem is that there's two ways to go here. I definitely want to explore together with Aela. She needs it for closure, and I want to stick close to her to keep her alive. Which means….
"Kirsa, you will stand guard here. Kill any hostiles that enter, while Aela and I explore this place and clean it out systematically."
Kirsa grins. "Count on me, Master." That last word has a teasing tone which isn't entirely professional.
You have gained 2 (97) Affection with Aela for making a plan involving her being actively involved slaying the Silver Hand!
Aela and I go down the left path. On her advice, we do it the stealthy way. A bow is basically silent, but so is my Wind Magic. We slowly clean out every Silver Hand member as we travel down a series of rooms. Occasionally we find sleeping members in their barracks, and Aela has me practice my silent movement by sneaking up on them to slit their throats.
It goes well. They don't even realize they're under attack.
After a while, we reach a room where the original fort passage is collapsed, but there's an opening through the side, tunneling through what appears to be the innards of a glacier.
On an elevated ledge, there's a massive cage, with a living werewolf inside. Aela and I take out the two guards at the same moment, and she heads to free the werewolf while I guard the way forward, so she won't be surprised by any sudden visitors.
Much like Illene, the werewolf is locked in his werewolf form by a combination of pain, fear and stress. I can't sense the emotions, so it has to be a man in there. Unfortunately, they're feral enough that Aela can't calm him down the gentle way. Instead, she transforms and wrestles the other werewolf to the ground.
And makes it look easy. Though the male might be underfed. Illene told me they kept her right on the edge of starvation — starved werewolves are weaker, but more aggressive and harder to control themselves. Their thinking becomes more animalistic as well.
This one understands being defeated, at least, and submits to Aela when she threatens his throat with her teeth.
When she accepts the submission, he changes back. It's a dunmer male, skeletally thin.
Aela transforms back, and we let him out of the cage. It's a good idea to leave him behind for the moment. With Kirsa guarding the entrance, the Silver Hand can't reach him here, but with Kirsa not knowing him, she'd attack him. We'll come back for him after we clear the rest of the fort.
The path tunnels back into the fort, and we make our way back up a slope. That's a sign we might be over half the fort, which is great.
In the third room, we finally lose the element of surprise. There's like ten Silver Hand, so we just make our alpha strike, killing two, and they charge us.
Silver works against a werewolf's human form as well as it does against the bestial one, but Aela's sword and shield are made from skyforge steel, and as long as it doesn't touch her body, silver is just extra bendy iron.
Aela holds her ground in front of me, while I take the offensive with magic. A single Ball Lightning wounds the melee fighters enough that Aela is basically safe, and I can take care of their archers and mages first. The former are vulnerable when they attempt to attack me, and I easily overpower the single mage they have. I take a single arrow, but Healing fixes me up in a second.
Not even a minute after our assault, the room is cleared.
They have a modest smithing workplace to the right side, which I head towards to see if I can find some materials. I'm planning on getting Eorlund to teach me Smithing.
Meanwhile, Aela checks out the left side, and I hear a surprised gasp from her.
"What's up?" I ask.
"It's a fragment. A fragment of Wuthraad. How in the name of Hircine did they get one…"
I turn around and look. Yep. A shard that looks like it could have been part of a battleaxe. "No use thinking about it. If any knew, dead men tell no stories."
She sighs. "Yeah, good point. But it'd be amazing if we can complete Wuuthrad in our time. Two fragments in so little time. And this one isn't small." She pockets it, and we continue.
There's one more side room, and then we encounter a bored Kirsa.
"Aw, you poor Mazken. Nobody came by to play while we were busy?" I tease her.
Meanwhile, Aela goes to recover the rescued werewolf.
Kirsa pouts adorably in response. "No. I've been all alone. Nothing happening, nobody passing by. Please cheer me up?" She bats her eyelashes.
I pat her head, causing her to throw me a deadpan look.
But she's not complaining.
Aela returns with the Dunmer and a conflicted look on her face. "Do'samma…"
"Just ask."
She steels herself, though she can't hide the mild anxiety from me. "I think it's best if I get this one to Jorrvaskr. We'll need to help him recover and master his shape. I think it's best if I stay there for a bit to ensure it happens."
Ah, that's why. She's afraid I'll feel abandoned. "Sure. I'll meet up later. I want to scout the area a bit in case I ever need to get here in a hurry."
I sense Aela's relief. "Good. Don't hesitate to call on me."
I open the portals back to back, letting Aela take the Dunmer to the Jorrvaskr courtyard. Then I turn back to Kirsa. "Up for a bit of scouting?"
She grins. "Whatever you desire, master."
Your Sneak has increased by 7(55)!
Your Wind Magic has increased by 5(49)!
Your Affection from Aela has increased by 3 (100) for destroying the Silver Hand together!
For gaining 100 Affection from Aela, you have gained the Werewolf perk!
Werewolf:
You are a werewolf, able to shift into a wolf at will. You are stronger and faster, moreso in wolf form. Anyone who drinks the blood of your transformed self will turn into a werewolf.
Attribute Increases:
- Lycanthrope Strength: 10
Abilities Granted:
- Transform: Werewolf
Attribute; Lycanthrope Strength:
Your werewolf blood increases your power.
Attribute Boosts:
This attribute strengthens the following other attributes:
- Health: 50
- Stamina: 50
- Stamina Regeneration: 10
- Strength: 2
- Dexterity: 1
- Endurance: 2.00
Ability: Transform: Werewolf
Transform into a werewolf until you decide to transform back.
Perk: Transformed Werewolf
You have transformed into a werewolf, increasing your power.
Attribute Increases:
Lycanthrope Strength: 90
— A Dragon's Game —
We head out and reach Fort Fellhammer on our way back, which is really just a mine with a stone wall around it.. However, neither me nor Kirsa actually need to sleep, so we continue traveling, heading west.
The aurora is beautiful tonight, huge green curtains playing all over the sky.
Huh, that's weird. I've never seen it have quite this amount of yellow-ish red in it.
Wait, that's not the aurora. It stops right above it, probably because of a mountain. That means that there's something on fire there.
I call Kirsa, and she flies above me as run towards the target. It should still be half a day's travel away, but I can reach it in two hours.
An hour into my run, I remember what's around there — the Hall of the Vigilant. The vigilants travel all over Skyrim, aiming to keep it safe from daedric threats, like vampires, werewolves, actual daedra, or any daedric artifacts, even if those are rare. But this place is like a home base to them.
And I'm in the possession of Clavicus Vile's mask, have a pact with Sanguine, and have a literal daedra traveling with me. Oh, and I recently learned how to transform into a Werewolf. While technically not daedric in origin, I doubt they'd listen to that explanation.
The problem is, the Vigil isn't evil. They are ill-informed and stubborn, but well-intentioned, and they also do a lot of good. Sure, the werewolves from the Companions have to hide from them, but there's a lot to be put against it. Babette, Hert and Hern are exceptions — most vampires prey on humans and kill their victims, and the vigil defends against them. They freely give healing to any who asks. And feral werewolves really are a problem, and if not for the secret efforts of the companions, slaying them would probably be the best solution.
And their Hall burning down is a bad sign.
"Kirsa!" I slow down as I call her.
She lands beside me. "What's up?"
"Can you hide your wings? You're going to need to pass for human when we get there."
She looks annoyed. "It's uncomfortable. But yeah, I can."
"Do so as soon as we get in sight range."
She nods, respecting my decision when I made it. "Understood."
Nearly another hour later, we come upon the still burning ruins. Kirsa already on foot.
There are scents everywhere, but mostly blood. A battle has been fought here, Vigilants against vampires. The dead are still here, side by side. The Hall is on fire, but the door is open. I head inside, but there are no survivors. Not that I really expected any, but it's better to know for sure.
While I consider what to do, I hear a quiet sob behind me.
The stables are intact. With Kirsa watching my back, I open the doors. Towards the back are piles of hay under canvas, clearly stored in anticipation of the coming winter.
On both sides are boxes for the horses. All those on the left have been slaughtered where they are, same with most on the right.
A single horse is alive, and currently with its head down, attempting to seek contact with and console the sole living human we've found here.
By his outfit, he's a vigilant. Broad shouldered, shaved head, and groomed sideburns. At his side is a helmet, and a big steel warhammer rests against the horse's box.
When I enter, he looks up. His eyes are red-rimmed from tears, and speaks with a hoarse voice. "Who are you? Here to finish the job and kill me?" he grasps for his warhammer, and gets up.
"No." I say quickly, holding my hands up to show my peaceful intentions. "I came because I saw the fire from afar, to see if I could help."
He takes a torch from the wall to his left, and I realize it's still too early for the sun to have risen, and I'm a black cat in the night. He can probably only see my green eyes, and a flash of fang when I speak. Not really trust-inducing.
I hold still — but relaxed — as he approaches me. As he sees how I look, he collapses in on himself, and I have to catch him before he can actually collapse. I help him sit back down against where he must have stabled his own horse, despite all the death.
"Can you tell me what happened?" I ask.
He nods. "I was just returning. Most Vigilants travel across Skyrim, alone of in groups. Adelvald had asked for my help with getting information, and I was returning with it. As I came here, the flames were at their highest, and the vampires had already left." He collects himself and pats his horse on the side of its head. "Adelvald is our vampire expert. He said he'd found something about Dimhollow, up the mountain here." He gestures behind him.
"Some vampire artifact or something?"
"I don't know. Always been more of a warrior than a thinker." He leans back. "Isran was right. Bastard."
"Isran?"
"Sorry, bit off topic. He used to be a vigilant, also a vampire specialist. Became convinced the vampires were up to something, and he's hard focused on them. Last I know, he was trying to restart the Dawnguard in Dayspring Canyon, near Riften."
"He knows about Dimhollow yet?"
"Don't think so. It's been a few years since I met him. But there's a Vigilant waystation close, and from what I've heard he's still there."
"Good. Then I think you should go inform him, while I check out Dimhollow for vampires."
He looks up at me sharply. "You're insane. It gotta be the same group that sacked the Hall. You can't stand up to that by yourself!"
"I'm not alone. Got a very skilled warrior with me, currently guarding the door outside. And I'm the dragonborn. I've slain four dragons, I can handle a couple of vampires."
"It's still too dangerous. I'll come with you."
"No."
He blinks from the abrupt answer. "Why not?"
"You just came to the Hall and found your people slaughtered. You're exhausted, and not stable emotionally." I lock eyes with him. "You're an experienced warrior. You know you're not in a condition to do this. You'd have a pretty brave last stand, and then you'd be dead."
He looks about to deny me for a moment, but relaxes in acceptance. "All right. I'll go to Isran."
"Wise man." I'm think Stendarr is proud of him. "Anything I need to know about Dimhollow?"
"It's a crypt, so there might be draugr. That won't stop the vampires, and they might have necromancers to control them. I don't know any specifics — Adelvald didn't tell, and I didn't ask." He sighs. "Didn't consider I might have to. But he wasn't among the fallen at the Hall. They might have him prisoner in there…"
"If he's still alive, we'll save him."
He swallows. "Thanks."
"I'm a mage in addition to being a warrior. I can get you to Riften right now. Right in front of the city gates."
"Such a magic exists?" Disbelief colors his tone.
"Yes, but it's hard to cast. I've never heard of another capable of pulling it off, even if the theoretical knowledge was out there." Well, there's the Oblivion Crisis, which technically was the same magic, but the purpose is different. Faster travel for me is strongly different from a literal Daedric Prince invading Nirn.
He nods. "That'd be good, to get there."
"When you get to Riften, stable your horse and rest first. You can't get reinforcements here in time to help me, anyway. Tell them what you know. Recover. And take your vengeance with the reason of cold anger. Outlive your enemies."
"Thank you. Can I ask your name?"
"I am Do'samma, Dragonborn and Thane of Whiterun."
"I am Tolan, Vigilant of Stendarr. Honored to meet you, child of Akatosh."
"The honor is mine. Gather what you need, and I'll teleport you to Riften."
Tolan gathers his stuff and takes his horse back out of the box. The animal is clearly attached to him, and it tries to emotionally support him. Then he turns to me again. "How does your spell work?"
"I open a portal, and you have to get through right away. It's a lot of effort to keep it open. I can do so for a few seconds at most."
He nods. "Thank you. May we meet again in better circumstances."
I nod back. "I will fight for that." Then I open the portal in front of Tolan, with another immediately behind it, near the front gate of Riften.
Tolan heads through, and I close the portal behind him.
Then I head outside. When I open the door, I hear some scuffling backwards, and Kirsa is there on her knees with an expression of faux innocence.
"Did you just eavesdrop on us?" I ask.
"You were in there for ages, and no way anyone can sneak up on me." She shrugs, clearly refusing to feel guilty.
I sigh. It's not like she even can betray me, so I'll just let it slide. "Come. We'll head up the mountain, and cleanse the vampires from Dimhollow."
— A Dragon's Game —
With Kirsa at my back, I enter the cave leading to Dimhollow Crypt. She took her wings back out again.
Only some ten meters into the rock, we enter a somewhat larger cave. There's a small stream running through it, and to our right is a ruined tower. To our left is a closed gate, with three vampires in front of it. They wear the bored faces all guards everywhere share.
Since it's vampires, it's a good moment to practice my light magic. It should deal extra damage, and I really need to train it more.
I exchange a glance and a gesture with Kirsa, and she tenses to jump in front of me when necessary.
I bombard the group with Sunfire as fast as I can cast. They dodge some of it, since they're vampires and it isn't the swiftest spell.
"A dinner serves itself!" A vampiress exclaims, casting a spell that glows red..
The first goes down. It was the slowest, so probably a young one. The light magic Meridia taught me burns him up from the inside as he collapses.
I focus on the one trying to close the distance. The closer they are, the less time they have to dodge. After a few frontal hits, he collapses, also burning with the same light.
The female dodges my casts, and I get annoyed. Kirsa swoops by me, jumping with assistance from her wings, and then swoops onto the vampiress, hitting her in the side with a blow of her mace.
The vampiress grunts in pain, and I hear a few ribs crack.
I abuse the opening by pelting her with a few more spells, and she collapses.
"I totally had that." I told Kirsa. Behind her, the vampire corpses crumble to dust.
"Uh huh. That's why she dodged everything." She grins. "Anyway, there's this gate here. Any clues how to get through?"
I walk over. "I broke one much like it once before." In Dustman's Cairn. I breathe in and focus on the central horizontal bar, crossing all the vertical ones. I imagine exactly how I want it to bend. And I Push it.
"Force Balance Push!" fus ro dah
It bends backwards, tearing a few bars loose. I fold my ears double to shut out the screeching from the metal getting bend and torn.
Kirsa's eyes grow wide. "Wow, I didn't know you could do that just by talking at something."
"It's not exactly just talking, but yeah, the thu'um is strong."
We head down the passage. There are some draugr sarcophagi, all of them empty, and a single draugr has been left as guard.
There's a definite difference between the power of a draugr like this one, which is being controlled by a necromancer, compared to a "wild" draugr like those I've fought at, for example, Bleak Falls Barrow.
Still, it's not a threat to me or Kirsa, and we dispatch it easily.
We come into a dark, large cavern. I appreciate the cold air on my fur. Still, I keep on guard. At several places, I spot bones sticking out of the ground, and in the distance I can make out small cairns — graves made by simply covering a corpse with rocks. On instinct and without communicating it, Kirsa and I both approach stealthily. There's a gentle upward slope, and high ground on both sides. Kirsa soundlessly swoops up to the side on the right, and then signals to me she got my back.
No nasty surprises, then. If there were any hostiles up there, she'd definitely have fought them.
However, I can't fly, and unless I'm willing to spend a lot of mana teleporting up there, the only way through is a gentle slope near the cairns, so that's where I go. Above and slightly behind me, Kirsa follows.
Just when I reach the higher ground, two vampires ambush me. They were well-hidden, but they're simply not powerful enough to pull one over on me. In reflex, I Fireball them, and they collapse.
Kirsa just catches up with me, as we hear some more sounds, from multiple directions.
Skeletons are crawling up from the earth, which proves looser than it looked. So that's what all those bones were. Still, they're just skeletons. I pick them off with my light magic again, as many as I can while they're still climbing up through the soil. Kirsa also has to shatter a few with her mace, but there's little inherent danger to the most basic undead minion a necromancer ever created.
After clearing the room, we continue through an opening on the left, at least compared to where we entered this cave.
Continuing on, we reach a room where apparently some draugr control failed, and there's a vampire fending off one. It's clearly trying to not damage the draugr much, otherwise it'd have won the fight easily before. I Sunfire the vampire in the back, the sudden pain stunning him enough for the draugr to impale the vampire on its sword.
Of course, I follow that up with a few more casts, and they both fall down.
This room is full of pillars, but we find our way through a corridor on the left. The simple iron gate isn't locked and lets us through.
This brings us into another cavern. There's a waterfall and a small lake inside. Hugging the left wall, we can see a path heading to the other side, and disappearing into the wall again after ascending further.
A vampire sits on that ledge, and a Wind Blades decapitates it. We encounter more bones stuck into the ground, and I Sunfire them all just to be sure.
Halfway, a few skeletons ahead attempt to rise from the ground, but those bones I hit before remain still. So we slay the few that do rise before they can even get their bearings, and we head into the wall again.
We take down another two vampires, and a small frostbite spider they'd apparently tamed. After pulling some random levers, the path forwards opens up further, and we head down. There's a small overlook, and to our right, another gate. This one has a lever on our side, but we wait a bit to pull it.
Behind it is a humongous frostbite spider, locked in combat with a vampire clearly more powerful than the ones we fought before. It hits the spider, letting it corner him, and then transforms into a swarm of bats, whizzes past the spider, and reassembles behind it. Repeating it several times, it takes the animal out with little visible effort.
I… reward him by tagging him with Disintegrate. I know I planned to focus on light magic, but I'd never hit this one, and I won't take risks by restricting myself.
After we take him out, we open the gate and head through. There's an additional wooden door for us to pass, and we delve deeper into darkness.
— A Dragon's Game —
We arrive in a room in the ancient nordic style, with a few openings on the other wall. This is by far the largest cavern we've seen yet. On this and the far side, there are stone structures, and in the middle is some odd circle. Probably some form of ritual magic, there. There's a series of arcs surrounding it, and a bridge on either side towards the structures. Two vampires are studying the ritual circle. Kirsa and I head down the stairs on our side, attempting to remain out of sight.
Then we suddenly hear barking, and a vampire with a massive black dog comes from the cavern wall on our right. The dog is… wrong. The same way vampires are. It's also attacking us, so Kirsa crushes its skull with her mace, while I introduce the vampire to the light once more.
The other two also heard us. A male and a female, and the former is definitely the more powerful one. Kirsa engages the female, who is closer, but she doesn't outclass her so much it's over in a second. I toss a few spells towards the male, but they're dodged or shielded, and he returns fire.
I conjure a shield of my own, easily blocking his magic. I take a mana potion out of my inventory, just in case, though. And then I Disintegrate. Being a ray attack, it hits nearly instantly. First, I hit the vampire, but he reconjures his shield while being hit. That's the first time I've seen that happen.
I keep the pressure on, and his smirk fades. He must run low faster than I do. I chug the potion anyway, and a few seconds later, his shield shatters, and I burn him. To my right, Kirsa just finishes up with her own opponent. She has a few cuts, two on her arms and one on her chest.
I heal her wounds, which turn out to be shallow.
"If you wore a bit more armor, you wouldn't get stabbed in the tit." I tell her.
"Eh, I like to have my skin breathing." Then she grins at me. "Besides, you'll patch me up, anyway. I know you don't want scars on these." She brings a hand to her breasts, and jiggles herself a bit.
I sigh, but I can't help smile at her. And she's right.
"Speaking of which," she continues, "we were gonna fuck, right? I'm a bit in a dry spell now with being summoned and busy all the time."
"After we secure this cave." I tell her. "Lets not get distracted while we should be on guard."
She shrugs. "Looks clear to me. But I can scout around, and then if there turns out to be nothing, we'll fuck?"
"Fine. It's been a while for me too."
We check the place, Kirsa scouting the outer section, while I check the water and the center circle. There's a small pedestal in the middle. It has a button with a hole in the center. Carefully, I press it down with my sword. I hear a few gears turn, and a spike comes out. It's rusted, and comes loose completely with a tap of my sword. Pushing the button again does nothing.
Searching longer, I can find no danger in my part of the area, and Kirsa returns and happily reports her section being just as clear.
Then she approaches me, suddenly hesitant. Unsure if she pushed too much.
I close the distance and kiss her. She reciprocates eagerly, and we embrace, making the kiss longer. I inventory both our clothes. She knows of the ability, of course, but still gives a little sound of surprise. She doesn't break the kiss for it, though.
I draw on What do women want, to figure out her preferences. I draw my tongue back, and she follows it, entering my jaw.
I give her a playful bite, enough pressure to be painful for most people, but not enough to break the skin on her tongue.
She moans in response, and presses her boobs flat against me.
I squeeze her ass roughly in thanks, tangling my other hand in her hair.
A tug, and she moans, but breaks the kiss. "Hurt me. No binds, no humiliation, but hurt."
I smirk. "I know." I lean in and bite her earlobe, causing her to moan in my ear.
She folds her wings around us, like a second hug.
I push her backwards, up to the pedestal.
She twists us around forcefully and sits me down. She smirks and kneels in front of me.
I keep a tight grip on her hair, but have to release her ass. I give her tit a good squeeze before it gets out of reach, and she slows down noticeably to enjoy the sensation.
She drags her other boob over my cock, pulling it down with the motion. The softness against my tip is exquisite, and I tighten my grip in her hair.
She kneels low, letting her look up at me while taking her tongue to my cock. First down the side, with the side of her tongue. She takes my ball in her mouth, but it's too small to fit both of them, even if she takes some effort to try.
She's gentle, obviously aware that I don't like pain like she does.
She licks up the underside of my dick, and then swallows the head.
I caress her cheek, and she leans into it for a moment. Then she grabs that hand, and also puts it in her hair. Then she winds her arms around my legs, and folds her wings around me again.
It's not that hard to guess what she wants, so I pull her head on my cock. Pushing her onto my cock, then pulling her off by her hair.
I feel her pleasure, light discomfort, and even more pleasure arising from that discomfort. And when my tip reaches her throat, I sense anticipation.
I slowly increase the force I pull on her head with.
Then I enter her throat, deeper with every pull. Some of her hair falls in front of her face, making her look even sexier. Her eyes grow lidded from pleasure, and by now she's enjoying it more than I am.
Not that I don't enjoy it. I increase force and speed, penetrating her throat roughly. I feel her pain and pleasure. She knows how to align her spine to make it hurt less, and she refuses to do it.
Then I force her full depth, burying her nose against my pelvis bone, and hold her still as she climaxes. The moans only make her throat feel better around my dick, as tight as it pulls.
She pulls off, and I let her go. She shakes her hair behind her again, then sits up a bit. She folds her boobs around my cock, and starts giving me a gentle titjob. "Fuck, that was good. You can fuck me like that anytime. But now I've had my part, how do you want yours?" She tilts her head, smiling seductively. Not that her boobs around my dick weren't seductive enough yet. They're large enough that I'm hidden half the time.
I look her in the eyes, and put a hand on her cheek, which she leans into. "I'm a simple cat. I just want to fuck you."
She grins. "Well, after that introduction, I'm more than wet enough, but the ground looks hard on my back. Unless you want me on top?"
"Another time, I definitely want you on top. But for now, I think you can sit on this thing."
She nods and rises. My dick laments the loss of its velvety soft boob prison, but sometimes you have to give something up to gain something.
Kirsa sits on the pedestal, and spreads her legs and arms, welcoming me.
I step up and thrust fully into her. She moans from the sudden feeling, and hugs me with arms, wings, and legs.
I pull her tight against me, left arm around her waist, right arm under hers, and up between her wings on her back, to better pull her into me.
She kisses me, and I playfully bite at her tongue, missing as often as not.
I put speed and strength into my thrusts, and in response she hugs me tight and whispers into my ear.
"Fill me up, Master. Claim me. Make me yours. Fill my belly with your cum."
I lean into her more, thrusting hard and fast. The slight pain it causes her only adds to her pleasure, and therefore her wetness and my pleasure. She doesn't feel tight, but she feels warm, welcoming, and thirsty for my seed.
"Fuck. Right there. Harder."
I thrust deep, and hold, while I fill her up. She pulls the hug extra tight, until I finish filling her up.
She leans in and whispers. "Thank you, Do'samma." She gently kisses me on the neck, and I kiss hers as well.
Despite standing, we bask in the afterglow for a minute, maintaining the tight hug. She pulls back slightly, to ensure she can nestle her head under my chin.
Your Affection from Kirsa has increased by 5 (70) for hurting her without degredation during sex!
Your Eromancy has increased by 3(89)!
But no moment can last forever, and we release each other. I step back, finally pulling out of Kirsa.
She giggles, and I see a bit of my seed flowing out of her, over the pedestal. "Quite a load. We should do this more often, ensure you don't get this backed up." She winks at me. "I like the idea of fighting with your seed inside me."
I try to not think about that too much — lest I get distracted again. We need to finish exploring this place. Find whatever the vampires are looking for, and ensure they can't get it. "I'll keep that in mind."
She stands up and stretches herself. Even if we're already done, I can definitely enjoy that eye candy.
Then I hand Kirsa her armor back and pull on my own from my inventory. We'll wash later.
Suddenly, a blue, cold flame comes from the pedestal. We jump back, but then Kirsa approaches it thoughtfully.
"Do you know what that is?" I ask her.
"Perhaps. What's that hole in the button for?"
"A spike came out when I touched it, but it came loose completely."
"Then I think I know. Mazken talk to each other, even if we serve different Princes. One of my sisters under Molag Bal told me about this. It looks like the blood magic he gave the vampires. My guess is that this device is activated by blood."
"But we didn't bleed on it?"
"Semen is basically blood, with a few components removed and the seed added. Close enough that hitting a dude just right with a mace can make them cum blood."
"That… first half would have sufficed."
I closely look at what happened. There's a gentle blue flame from the pedestal, and a line to one side. It's cold fire, not burning. I bring a hand close to it, and draw back in pain. Yes, it hurts me, but it's Cold damage, not Fire.
"Any ideas what kind of puzzle this would be? And any chance the vampires were looking for a total apocalypse that we're now about to release ourselves?"
She snorts at that second idea. "Probably not. Making something that kills lots of people is right in Molag's ballpark, so if it existed, he'd have used it as soon as he could. Not sealed it away."
"That makes sense. Let's solve it, then."
A few meters from the end of the line of fire is a brazier, which I push towards the line. Once it touches it, it alights with more frostfire, spreading it around the circle to another spot, with another brazier in sight.
Well, that's simple enough. Five minutes of pushing braziers later, and there's a closed circle of frostfire around the center.
There's a ruckus from stone grinding over stone, and the middle of the circle lowers, with the rest lowering in steps, further down when closer to the center.
Doesn't make near anywhere the amount of sound you'd expect from something like this, though. Which I guess indicates it works as intended by the builder. Whether that's a good thing remains to be seen.
Right in the middle, under the pedestal, a pentagonal pillar remains.
It points towards the way we came from, and the sides of that point have a slightly different color than the other two. I put my hands on it, and it moves easily. Then apparently I hit some specific point, and it slides out of my hand, down into the floor.
Inside, there's a woman. She wears black boots, pants, and a half-skirt. A blood-red corset with golden trimming, black sleeves, worn with a black cape. Her hair is done around her head in four slim, eloquent braids. On her hip, she has an ebony dagger.
She collapses to her knees in a bout of disorientation. I step back to give her space. She's not feeling safe now, and I don't want to come across as threatening.
She gets back up to her feet. "Huh… who are you? What are you doing here?" If she's a sealed away evil, she's doing a piss-poor job of it. Right now, she's just a woman out of her depth and looking to get her bearings.
I tilt my head. "You were expecting something specific?"
"Well… someone like me, at least." That's a yes. Someone specific. But I'll let her deflect it. No skin off my back.
"You mean a vampire?"
She nods.
"There were a few looking at you. They massacred the Vigilants of Stendarr, so I killed them all. Can't have been having good intentions."
She frowns. "Vigilants of Stendarr? I must have been in there a while…"
I blink. "You've never heard of the Vigil? They've been established early the third age!"
She rests her head in a hand. "I must have been in there long than I thought. We didn't number ages when I went in there."
She looks about to have a breakdown, and a crypt isn't the place for that. It's also not the place for… other activities, but I'll just forget that for a moment.
I don't think it's dangerous for the world if I get her out of here. Perhaps she can center herself if she gets to safety somewhere. "How about we get out of here first?"
She looks up at me. "Yeah, that sounds fine. Let's go."
"Would you happen to know the shortest way out?"
"No, sorry. It looks completely different. And it's… odd. To me, it's like half an hour ago that I went in, and now…"
I wince internally. Sealed away for at least five hundred years, gone in the blink of an eye.
"Well, we'll get out of here. And as a vampire, you almost complete the gang. I'm a Dragonborn and werewolf, and Kirsa here is a Mazken. Oh, and I'm Do'samma. Pleased to meet you."
"Serana, vampire, but you know that. Likewise."
"I don't know about the time you came from, but in the current day, there's a lot of prejudice against werewolves, daedra, and vampires. So you might want to keep it secret in public."
No point going further in, so we head back. An iron gate closed after us, so I Shout it asunder, and we leave this crypt.
Your Holy Magic skill has increased by 12 (26)!
Your Fire Magic skill has increased by 1 (99)!
Your Wind Magic skill has increased by 1 (99)!
Wind: Whirlwind Cloak
Any enemies in 1.0 (1.5) meters are pushed away hard enough to push a humanoid 0 + [Intelligence * 0.02] (13) meters, every 1.0 (0.6) seconds. This spell lasts 60 (120) seconds.
Cost: 250 (151) Mana
Holy: Sunsteel
Enchants your weapon for 120 seconds to deal 0 + [Intelligence * 0.5] (260) Holy damage. Cannot affect an already enchanted weapon.
Cost: 120 (92) Mana
— A Dragon's Game —
"Ah, it's good to breathe the clear air again." Serana says as we reach the daylight. She puts on her hood.
"You want to come with us for a while, or go by yourself for a bit?" I ask her.
"I think I want to check out my father's place first. He'll still be around, I think. Mind bringing me there?"
"Not sure I have the time." I want to visit Whiterun, see how Aela is integrating the new wolf.
"Okay." She nods. "Anyway, thanks for—"
A loud roar interrupts our goodbye. A blue-white shape is heading to us from the west. Well, at least it's not Odahviing.
"Oh, I kinda forgot to mention," I tell Serana, "but we're kind of in the middle of a dragon crisis."
"Can't have a boring moment, can we." she snarks back.
"Nah, I like the fun." Kirsa grins. "Let's kill it." She spreads her wings and shoots up in the air.
"Serana, are you a mage, a warrior…?" I ask her.
"Necromancer, mage. I'm pretty quick with a blade, but that's mostly just my inherent speed."
"My preferred style, too. Let's get to it."
I channel Disintegrate, hitting the dragon straight on, while Serana casts several Cold spells. In the distance, I hear the dragon's Voice.
"No Fire!" voyol
My spell shatters. I wince as I feel a spike of pain in my head as the magic gets torn from my control. That wasn't a Shout. It was it just telling reality what is, and what not, and reality listened. That might also be what Shouting is, but established Shouts are stronger. It allows the user to rely partially on the comprehension of the shout, rather than the involved concepts.
However, this free form variation is far more versatile.
I plant my feet, and I Speak.
"Force Balance Push!" fus ro dah
A blue haze shoots from my mouth, and strikes the wing I was aiming at, instead of the entire being.
It crashes down near us on the slope, and now that its trajectory is predictable, Serana hits it with several spells. It looks our way and makes its own statement.
"Frost Cold Freeze!" fo krah diin
A massive torrent of cold heads our way. Serana mostly ignores it, but lets out a grunt of surprise when it hurts her. She's not truly in pain, though.
Myself, I hide behind a rock, and counter the remainder with a Mage Shield.
The dragon lets out a roar of pain when Kirsa bludgeons its rear leg with her mace. As it turns to her, I Call Lightning on it.
Its head swings my way again, right on time to catch a massive spear of ice in its mouth from Serana. I strike it again, and I hear a loud snap as Kirsa shatters its hind leg.
I pull up Disintegrate, and find I can cast it again. It roars in pain, and unleashes another Frost Breath. It completely swallows my spell, but the spell still slows down the shout enough that it doesn't hit me. However, Serana jumped backwards, and I'm too close for comfort to this dragon to keep it at spells.
I cut off my spell right as it uses voyol again, and for the first time in my life, I transform into werewolf shape.
It feels amazing. The sheer power in my muscles is near overwhelming. I jump at the dragon, but at a slight angle. Its bite misses me, and I slash at its neck with my claw.
I don't slice it in one go, but neither do the scales completely stop my attack. Four lines of red show, shallow cuts.
It attempts to step back to get me back into bite range, but I advance, lashing out again.
Then it roars as Kirsa attacks its already shattered leg. This raises its head, and I dive towards the open neck, biting into it.
My teeth sink into its scales further than my claws did. It tries to peel me off with its foreleg, but this unbalances it, and Kirsa's next attack on its surviving hind leg drops it onto the ground.
Behind me, two icicles erupt from the ground on either side of the head. Serana's work. They trap the dragon's head, allowing me free reign. A few bites and pulls, and I know it's suffocating in its own blood.
With the hind legs shattered, and the head stuck, its helpless, and it dies not a minute later.
I sense it, and I pull its soul from its body as I return to my normal form.
Kirsa flies over and lands next to us. "Good job, Serana!" she cheers. "And here I thought my Master was the only mortal able to stand their ground."
Serana raises an eyebrow. "I'm not exactly mortal, you know. But you did a good job too."
Kirsa shrugs. "Standard combat plan with Master. Dragons still can look only one way at a time."
"Wow." I feel… more powerful than I thought I would. "That were two dragon souls. This dragon must have slain another before."
"Oh? It didn't feel much stronger than the others." Kirsa remarks.
"We had more competent help, though." I gesture at Serana. "Apparently, strong enough to make up the difference."
Serana makes a mock-curtsy with her half-skirt. "I aim to please."
"Seriously, though, thank you." I tell her.
"You're welcome." She doesn't show it, but she feels flustered a bit.
Now that's adorable. And kind of sad, that a bit of praise has this effect.
Nevertheless, we say goodbye. Serana goes to find her father — wherever he is — and Kirsa and I head to Whiterun. I want to see how Aela's doing, and I want to show her my new form.
You have gained 2 dragon souls!
From the dragon souls, you have acquired the following understanding:
Your Frost Magic has increased by 7(79)!
Your Blade Proficiency has increased by 7(64)!
Your Blunt Proficiency has increased by 7(31)!
