Weiss' classmates were both surprised and impressed when they stopped at Windhelm for the night only to find that their fellow apprentice owned a mansion, along with being a Thane of the Hold. Onmund, who came from a simpler life, was marveling at the house from the inside while the others sat at the hearth.

"So you managed to not only discover, but slay the necromancer as well?" J'zargo asked. "Impressive. You certainly earned your position. He hopes to someday have adventures half as exciting as your own."

"I certainly feel safer knowing someone like that is gone," Brelyna stated as she drank her warm drink, something she had procured from the New Gnisis Cornerclub. "I heard rumors at one time, and I started to fear for some of the people I know who live around here."

Calder came in and placed some wood off to the side before saluting his Thane. "Rooms are warmed up whenever you're all ready."

"Thank you, Calder. Feel free to use the rest of the evening for yourself."

"By your will, Thane Weiss. I'll be over at Candlehearth getting a drink or two if you need me." The housecarl left the room, and after a moment, the sound of the door closing hit their ears. Onmund walked back into the den and sighed.

"I didn't think rich people's houses were this big. You could fit my whole family and our neighbors in this place." His smile disappeared and he scratched behind his ear. "So, I should ask, what are we planning to do about…that star thing?"

"Return it to Lady Aranea, I'd imagine," Brelyna answered quickly. "Right Weiss?"

"Well, of course. Not only do I not want to get on any other Daedra's bad side –Meridia hating me is enough–, but Azura sounds like she might have the answer to a very important question me and my friends have."

"Oh, well… Wait, why would Meridia hate you? Didn't you kill a necromancer?"

Weiss began to twiddle her thumbs, realizing she just let out a little more than she'd intended.

"Have you not noticed?" J'zargo asked the other man. "This one thought for sure everyone had figured it out, save the thick-skulled Ancano, of course."

"Noticed what?" All eyes turned to Weiss, who closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before opening them. Omnumd gasped as the icy blue of her eyes changed to a fiery gold.

"That I'm a vampire," Weiss answered. For a moment no one said anything, the three just watching Onmund for his reaction, which appeared to be stunned, motionless silence.

"…What?" he quietly asked.

"Is it really so surprising?" Brelyna asked. "We've had others. Remember Jerezma? She was a vampire. Went to the College for six years, but you never heard of anyone dying of blood loss."

"Jerezma was a vampire? Then…where did she go? What happened?"

"Went to join the Duskfall Kindred, somewhere in The Pale Hold," J'zargo answered. "It is where most of the vampires go after leaving the College, with a few exceptions. Most everyone knows about it, but it is not spoken of too much, to keep loose words from slipping into the wrong cracks. Secrets are very important, after all."

"Wait, but… Aren't…vampires…"

"You do realize I was a regular mortal human for seventeen years before I was turned. I'm no different than I was then. Well, mostly no different."

"Wait, you're only seventeen?" Brelyna asked in surprise. "But that can't be… Oh, sorry. I forgot for a second how fast you humans age. No, seventeen seems a bit right."

"Wait, how old did you think I had to be?" Weiss cocked her eyebrow.

"About…twenty-five, at least. Though, I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd said you were thirty years old, like me."

"You're thirty? Geez!" Weiss shook her head. "I knew elves aged slower, but I thought it was only a few years extra until you reached adulthood. That's nearly twice as slow as humans."

"It does make things a little more difficult across the lines. It makes you wonder how the ancestors of the Bretons got along like they did," Brelyna pointed out with a shrug.

"Khajiit aging normally varies, but most forms age just a little quicker than humans," J'zargo added. "This one thinks he read somewhere than orcs age quickly for mer."

"Oh, yes! Orcs normally reach full-growth by the time they're eighteen," Brelyna confirmed. "It's remarkably fast for any mer, and even a year or two quicker than some humans." The three mages began to talk animatedly, only for a cough to interrupt them.

"Um, everyone," Onmund interrupted. "How did we go from talking about the fact that Weiss is a vampire to how different races age?"

Everyone looked at him and shrugged. "We are college students," J'zargo pointed out. "These sorts of tangents are common for us. It is best to just accept it and move on."

The Nord sighed and took a chair in defeat. "Maybe, but you can at least not blame me for feeling…nervous?"

"Well, I certainly won't. Just don't try to set me on fire, and we'll be fine."

"All right. So long as you don't turn me into a thrall."

"I don't know how to do that," Weiss admitted before a thought popped up. "And if I did, you wouldn't be able to set me on fire then. Maybe I should figure it out?"

The others laughed at her little joke, Onmund's chuckles fairly more nervous than the rest.

"Look, it's just not a good idea. Maybe they aren't what they used to be, but they still have Riften's influence. I'm just telling you because I care, not because I want it this way."

Keerava sighed. "You do have a good point, I suppose. All right, I'll make sure to set enough aside for next time. Thanks again for covering us for this quarter. I'll get you some fried betties and toast, on the house, as thanks."

"It's no problem. You take care, now."

Blake walked away from the bar and sat at the table where her two friends were already seated.

"You didn't like this one too much?" Inigo asked knowingly.

"It just feels wrong to extort people like that. I know that I should've expected it, what with the Theives' Guild being a criminal organization and all, but when you hear the name 'Thieves' Guild' you expect robbing mansions, stealing incriminating letters, and pulling off daring heists. Like the Grey Fox and Silent Watcher did back in the Oblivion Crisis. Not shaking down honest business owners."

"She was expecting more excitement too," M'rissi agreed. "After beating up the baddies and taking their coins and nice things, she was thinking that we would rob the bank, or maybe break into the fishery."

"Banks are way too well-guarded," Blake explained. "They have some magic setup that the tellers can activate and then they'll blast you apart. Not to mention the guards. Most of them are retired soldiers or expert mercs. You'd have to be a master thief to rob a bank."

"We'll get better," M'rissi argued.

"Perhaps we could, but we'd need a number of people with an array of skills," Inigo pondered. "Lockpicker, stealthy ones, silver-tongued devils… Phew, the list I just thought of would need eleven people! Oh, wait, what if some of them were good at two things? That could cut down on it."

"Let's not get too carried away," Blake reprimanded with a smile as Talen-jei came with a platter. The Argonian set the three plates down and M'rissi stared at her food with undisguised glee. After he laid down the last and checked their mugs for needed refills with a glance, he put the tray to his side and nodded.

"I must thank you for helping us. I just wish the others realized as much as you do that you can't bleed a stone no matter how much you squeeze."

"It's no trouble at all, Talen-Jei." Blake smiled.

"Still, you have my gratitude," the Argonian smiled and turned to walk away, only to pause after a step. "There's something else, though, and I feel I could trust you with it."

"What's wrong?" M'rissi asked, concerned.

"Oh nothing is, technically. It's just that… Well…" He looked over at the bar and then back to Blake, lowering his voice. "Ever since I met Keerava a few years ago, I've been utterly smitten with her, and I've put some serious thought into asking her to marry me."

"Then go for it, my scaly friend," Inigo replied joyously. "A fine fellow like you will sweep her right off her claws."

"It's not just that. I plan to follow in Argonian tradition. In Black Marsh, tradition dictates we present a potential mate a unique wedding ring to represent our future bond. I already have the gold band, but all I need are three flawless amethysts to complete the setting."

"Flawless amethysts?" Blake asked. She was no authority on jewelry, but she knew the term 'flawless' added quite a bit of value to anything. "Why those?"

"Every Argonian wedding proposal band is supposed to have three flawless amethysts as part of their design. Two of the gems, the ones on the outside, represent the couple to be married... one for the husband, one for the wife. The amethyst in the center represents The Hist, the entity that all Argonians consider a sacred part of our lives."

"Oh, that is lovely," M'rissi admired. "She does not know what a Hist is, but it sounds very spiritual and important."

"I guess I can keep an eye out," Blake answere with a nod. "I've ended up in a few places where gems and such seem to be left behind. Have you tried Madesi, though? I'm sure he'd be willing to help."

"Oh, he is. He's actually helping me with the ring, but unfortunately, no one's sold him any amethysts in a long time. With the roads like they are, lately the safest one has been, ironically, the one the dragon thief has claimed. You might get robbed there, but he keeps it clear of anything else, and people say it's like he smells the gold on you. Never goes after those with none. Odd times for us. If it helps, you might be able to ask Madesi for places to look. At the very least, he could point out someplace likely."

"I'll check with him. If I ever find any, you'll be the first to get them."

"Thank you for your kindness friend. Let me know if you need anything else."

Blake nodded to him and looked to her other friends. "Well, after supper we'll head down and let Brynjolf know the job's done. Let me do all the talking. I already know how to spin it. After that, I guess we'll call it a day."

"I called it a day at dawn. By the time you call it day, it will be night."

Blake playfully nudged Inigo, who laughed at her response. M'rissi's ears swiveled a bit before popping up as she thought.

"Oh, you were making fun of her way of phrasing it. Silly Inigo. That is not what she meant."

Wolfskull Cave was not far from Meridia's temple, but after a short hike Ruby got her first taste of Dawnbreaker's power. In front of the entrance, acting as a sort of guard, there were a pair of skeletons holding ancient weapons. Upon seeing the two travelers, they immediately shambled towards them, almost as if on autopilot. Ruby already had Dawnbreaker out, due to not having a sheath for it yet and not wanting to risk being hit by the Daedric blade, so by the time the skeletons made their way to her she was already swinging. She only hit one, but when she did it exploded in blue and white energy, the wave of the holy power hitting the other and destroying it as well. Ruby and Lydia were both frightened by it, but both came out unharmed.

"Wow, it really works! Wish I'd had this for those other crypts. Though…I don't know if it would hurt Weiss or not. Eh, better not to risk it when we team back up." Ruby nodded as she admired the blade before walking towards the cave entrance. "I'll go on in while you get Choco and Sum tied up."

"Please don't go too far," Lydia begged her Thane, not wanting to be separated from her charge yet again.

"No promises~," Ruby sing-songed before she headed inside. The first cavern she came across was mostly empty, with an empty cart, whitened deer skull, some of those odd bone chimes, and rusty chains hanging from the ceiling was all that was there aside from a dimming torch. Diving deeper, Ruby came across a discarded, old pickaxe next to a fading lantern, but then saw a draugr just ahead. The undead charged her with its axe, but Ruby easily side-stepped it while slicing its body with Dawnbreaker. The undead was suddenly enveloped by flames, and then it exploded, ancient flesh turned to ash and dust while blackened bone pieces were flung everywhere but at Ruby, all in an eruption of blue energy.

"Yeah, don't want to use this around Weiss," Ruby muttered as she looked over the damage. "Well, Weiss isn't here, but some draugr are. At least now I know that guy wasn't exaggerating too much."

"My Thane," she heard from behind her as Lydia came in. "I heard-" At the sight of the blackened spot and smoldering body parts, Lydia knew what had happened. "Oh." She crossed her arms.

"Welp, let's carry on." Ruby bashfully ignored her housecarl's stare as she led the away forward. Lydia could only sigh before following.

The next room that they came into was short, but wide, and off to one side a pair of mages was near a campfire. Noticing the two adventurers as they walked in, both immediately began throwing ice spikes, but Lydia's shield easily deflected them while Ruby dodged around and closed the distance. Using the flat of Dawnbreaker's blade, she smacked one mage across the forehead to knock her to the ground, then went towards the other intending to hamstring him. The mage let loose a cone of frost that caused icy spikes to erupt from the ground between them, forcing Ruby to back up and try to find another way around. As she was distracted, the man then held his arms out and telekinetically yanked many of the spikes up, aiming them for Ruby.

They launched, and Ruby Shouted "Feim!" turning her intangible for just a moment. The wall of spikes passed through her incorporeal form, but then she heard a scream and looked back to see the man's fellow had been impaled in three places, now clutching a spike driven into her gut. Ruby gritted her teeth, but then Lydia's sword chopped into the standing mage's neck, causing him to gurgle as he fell to the ground, where she then stabbed into his heart.

"More necromancers," Lydia snarled. "I'm not sure if they had anything to do with Malkoran though."

"Lydia, why did you-" Before they could further discuss the matter, a door opened and a high elf mage appeared. He saw the state of his two comrades and immediately threw a ball of ice and fled. The ball exploded at the two's feet, sending a wave of biting cold over both.

"What the-!" Ruby shivered from the cold, while the housecarl remained unaffected.

"He's going to get backup!" Lydia shouted before chasing after him. Ruby went as well, but Lydia was already tackling the mage to the floor when she turned the corner. The housecarl then suddenly pulled up, holding the elf's neck in a chokehold and pressing her palm against his head. A quick motion later, and she had both hands on him, one at the top and one below his jaw. She gave a quick, rough twist, and his neck snapped, leaving the mage limp. Ruby gasped while her housecarl caught her breath.

"Ly- Lydia?"

"Sorry, I- We don't know how many of them are in here. We need to be careful moving for- DUCK!"

Ruby had to suddenly duck under an ice spike, and the two looked forward to see a draugr with a blade in one hand and ice spell in the other. Ruby dashed forward, leaving a trail of rose petals, and impaled the undead on her sword, where it then exploded. With the danger passed, Ruby sighed and turned towards her housecarl with a disapproving glare.

"Why did you kill them?" Ruby asked. Lydia, rather than looking remorseful, stared back.

"Forgive me if I don't see the value in leaving necromancer's alive to hurt us or others, my Thane. Especially after what we just went through to get that artifact, and our experiences before." Lydia pointed towards the glowing sword, which seemed to glow brighter at the attention directed towards it. At Lydia's answer, Ruby sighed.

"I know, they probably deserve it. It's just... I don't like doing it when there are other options, you know?"

"...I know," Lydia sighed and smiled. "You have a noble heart, Thane Ruby. Your conviction to keeping people alive is admirable. But," Lydia raised her finger in emphasis, "if I have to choose between your life and a bandit, or a necromancer, or a cultist, or any enemy we come across, I will not hesitate to choose yours. But, I will try to hold back as much as possible." At this, Ruby smiled in appreciation and moved on. Looking around, Ruby couldn't see any other entrance except a hole in the ground. Seeing as she could easily see the bottom, Ruby hopped down and saw another tunnel leading deeper into the cave.

"My Thane?" Lydia nervously called down.

"I think this is the way. Hop on down."

"That's…a bit far for me."

Ruby looked up and down the length of the hole and shrugged.

"Good a time as any to try it out." She jumped back up, bouncing off the wall once and then coming up from the mouth of the hole. "Here, take my hand."

Slowly and with a heavy amount of trepidation, Lydia put her hand in Ruby's and then the young Dragonborn focused on her Semblance. The two suddenly sped down into the hole, Lydia gasping in amazement as they stopped, twin trails of red and dull yellow rose petals left behind them, slowly dissipating.

"That was… Wow!"

"Yep. I've been practicing taking larger and larger stuff with me when I go. Looks like I can take people along too, now."

"Will certainly be a help," Lydia nodded as the two began to move deeper into the cave.

"You know," Ruby pointed out as she ducked underneath a low hanging ceiling, "I've been wondering something. Why are the necromancer's even here?"

"I honestly don't know," Lydia shrugged. "If I had to guess, this cave has a large amount of draugr to control."

"Yeah, but then why would-?" Ruby was cut off as they entered a massive cavern, the largest Ruby had ever seen yet. A distance away was an old tower, seemingly built inside of the cave for some reason. Their attention, however, was focused on a much more alarming sight. At the top of the tower, magical light was shining out and seemed to be drawing some sort of energy towards it. Ruby had to squint, but she could almost make out what appeared to be a person inside of the orb. The two walked out onto a ledge where a brazier sat, trying to get a better look at the area, when a voice resonated from the tower and throughout the cavern.

"Wolf Queen! Hear our call and awaken. We summon Potema!"

"We summon Potema!" a group chorused after her while Lydia gasped in fright.

"No, they can't- Those maniacs! We have to stop them!"

"What? What's going on?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"They're trying to revive Potema the Wolf Queen!"

"Who?"

"She was a member of the Septim family from the early Third Era, but she threw the Empire into chaos when she continuously tried to take over, going so far as to summon daedra and undead to fight for her! If they bring her back, they'll be plunging Tamriel into more disarray than we could imagine! We have to stop them!" Lydia answered with a wide, frantic look in her eyes. Ruby looked back at the tower and felt Dawnbreaker seem to heat up in her hands. It was only a gut feeling, but something told her that Meridia agreed with Lydia's assessment of the situation. She nodded and began looking for a way to the building.

"Okay, let's stop some necromancers!" As Ruby grabbed Lydia's hand and began hopping them down a steep rock face with short bursts of her Semblance, the chant began another verse.

"Long have you slept the dreamless sleep of death, Potema. No longer. Hear us Wolf Queen! We Summon you!"

"We summon Potema!"

At the ground level, Ruby began heading for a set of ancient stairs, cutting down a draugr and leaving it to explode behind her, killing another draugr that had run out from a room to the side. Charging up the stairs and turning inside of a room, she heard another voice boom out.

"Yes! Yes! Return me to this realm!"

"Oh gods!" Lydia cursed as she tried to keep up with her Thane. A necromancer tried to get in their way, but Ruby stabbed her sword into the ground and spun atop it, kicking him into a wall with the spinning momentum before hopping back forward and continuing on. The necromancer began to push himself up, but Lydia, however, sliced open his throat before leaving him there, never once ceasing her pursuit.

"As our voices summon you, the blood of the innocent binds you, Wolf Queen," the one leading the ritual announced.

"Summoned with words. Bound by blood."

"What?! What are you doing? You fools! You cannot bind me to your wills!"

"Summoned with words. Bound by blood," the chorus repeated as Ruby decapitated another draugr before charging yet another necromancer with two draugr next to her.

"You ants don't have the power to bind me!"

Ruby went for the undead first, cutting one open so that it stumbled while on fire, and then slicing into the second. Both exploded, and the necromancer woman screamed while falling backwards. Suddenly an arrow zipped through and pierced her neck, and Ruby looked back to see Lydia with her bow drawn, picking off two more of the mages on a portuculis.

"Lydia!"

"We have to hurry!" her housecarl shouted over to her. "I know you don't like to kill people, but if we don't stop them, they will bring death and destruction to all of Skyrim and beyond. They'll either die here or at the block, but we don't have the time for that."

Ruby gritted her teeth and looked back up at the tower's top. Squeezing the hilt of Dawnbreaker in her hand, she charged forward, slicing down three more draugr on her way to the door that led inside.

"Something is wrong. There is an intruder," she heard from above. As she ran to the spiral staircase, another necromancer tried to get in her way, but then Ruby sliced upwards, carving through the attempted ward like butter, and then through flesh. She felt bile trying to rise when the smell of burning flesh hit her nose, but held it back and turned in her swing to swipe clean through the burning mage. The man's screaming ceased, but another one charged her with one hand aflame and the other covered in lightning. An electrical arc barely missed her as she dodged to the side, and then she chopped down, removing his other arm in a single swing, the razor sharp edge of Dawnbreaker going clean through. He screamed as Meridia's flames engulfed him, but was put out of his misery when Lydia cut him down.

"Stop the intruder!" someone yelled as the two emerged onto the tower's roof to see three necromancers standing in a half circle around a raised, metal platform with an intricate carving upon it. As they tried to stop the two warriors, Ruby grasped Dawnbreaker with both hands and sped at the elderly looking woman at the head. The woman was impaled on the godly blade and was immediately immersed in flames. She screamed and flailed as Ruby pulled the sword loose from her and went for the man nearby, his face painted like a skull. He tried to swarm her with frost, but Ruby dashed away in a flurry of rose petals and sliced through his abdomen, setting him ablaze while gutting him. The last found herself shield-slammed into the tower's crenellations before Lydia chopped down, splitting her upper body nearly in half. With the death of the last necromancer, the magic sphere suddenly and soundlessly imploded, and the energy being drawn into it dispersed through a hole in the cave ceiling. Ruby felt her stomach twisting itself into knots at the smell of death, but looked over to the platform and then her housecarl.

"We did it?"

"Yes, we did." Lydia sheathed her blade and patted her charge's shoulder while bringing her close. "...I'm sorry," Lydia comforted Ruby as she began to cry.

Weiss exited the White Phial, feeling broken hearted by the encounter with Nurelion. He tried to hide it behind his hardened exterior, but she could see it in his eyes. The pure grief he was holding back was enough to break most men. She couldn't blame him. He spent centuries looking for that Phial, most of his long elven life, only for it to come back to him broken like it was, unable to even hold a liquid to prove itself. As she was leaving, she had looked back to see him just sitting there and holding the Phial, staring at it, a tear crawling from his eye. The sadness she felt for him was crushing. His apprentice tried to give her some septims for her trouble, but she refused.

"You ready to go?" Brelyna asked, snapping the girl out her thoughts.

"Yes. Let's go."

A few hours of using Longstride to speed up their travels, interspersed by a few points of rest to recharge, and the four students finally came upon Fellglow Keep. After destroying a pair of flame atronachs standing guard, J'zargo tried the door at the front of the keep, only to find it locked and barred.

"It would seem we must find another way in. Or maybe we could cause the door to explode. The second one would certainly entertain J'zargo."

"Maybe, but it could be magically guarded as well, so we'd end up wasting our time."

"It is," Brelyna confirmed with a quick observation. "It's certainly not indestructible, but unless one of us can blast down a whole building in one blow, we aren't getting through that way."

"There's another door," Onmund pointed out as he came back with a jar full of fire salts, freshly extracted from the atronachs. "Over here in the old, mostly buried tower. Probably used to be a ceiling entrance. I tested it. It's unlocked."

"Oh, that's handy." Weiss nodded. "Good job, Onmund."

The students entered into the keep from the secondary entrance and began walking in, only to find that this level had become flooded after a few feet. As they gently began walking through, Brelyna using a simple waterwalking spell, someone noticed them from a level above, staring down at them with a smirk.

"Ah, test subjects! Go my pets! Attack!"

Several frostbite spiders suddenly began to appear and crawl down the walls towards the four. J'zargo and Brelyna began unleashing Destruction upon them, while Onmund readied Jyrik's staff and axe, spraying out a line of sparking magic, making sure to keep it clear of the water they were in. Weiss quickly used the Sanguine Rose, which then brought up a creature she knew to be a Winged Twilight.

"Kill my enemies," she commanded before stowing away the staff and then drawing her sword. The Twilight winged up, slashing out a spider's eyes with her tail before aiming at the mage. The man screamed and threw a fireball at her, but missed and gave her the opening to dive at him. Ignoring the wet squelches and screams, Weiss froze one spider's legs to the ground then jabbed into its face before aiming at another one and sending a spike of ice through it. Soon, all of the spiders were dead, and the Winged Twilight popped up and perched onto the rails with bloodied claws.

Up the stairs and past a hallway, the four found an area that split confusingly, but mostly led to dead ends, all with a dart trap's pressure plate set obviously out in the middle. After making sure of their path, they carefully headed down the hall where they saw a set of jail cells. Inside three of the four cells were three gaunt and thin women, who all watched them with glowing, yellow eyes.

"Vampires?" Brelyna asked in a whisper. "Why do they have imprisoned vampires?"

"My best guess is nothing good," Weiss answered as she slowly snuck into the room. The women said nothing, but did sniff as she came closer. One pointed, and Weiss saw a Breton mage napping at a table.

"What are you doing here?" Weiss asked.

"They captured us for experiments," the nearest one growled out. "They've already taken two of our sisters and our master. We don't know what's happened to them." The Nordic vampire sniffed again. "You're not of the living. Free us, and we'll help you kill these damned blood sacks."

Weiss looked at the other two, a Cyrodiliic and a Bosmer, to see them nod in agreement, then back at the one speaking for them.

"On one condition. You need to swear that after we get out of here, you'll never bite or kill an innocent person unless absolutely necessary."

The imprisoned vampires looked between each other. The other two nodded, less enthusiastically, and their leader sighed before making an x sign over her heart.

"I swear."

"I swear," the other two repeated.

"Well, let's get them loose then," Brelyna said as she placed her hand upon the lock, a spell activating in her palm. The lock clicked and then the door swung open. She repeated the spell with the others and soon the three vampire women were freed. They joined hands for a moment, happy to be back together, and then looked towards the sleeping mage before pouncing upon her. The sleeping Breton didn't get but half a yell out before one of them covered her mouth as they all drained her. Once finished, the three removed themselves from her looking more filled out and healthier than before. Onmund began retching, and ran over to a corner to release his breakfast.

"Much better," the Nordic one appraised as she twirled her wrist.

"He supposes that that one did not count as innocent," J'zargo stated while looking over the shriveled up corpse. The vampires began looking around for weapons, one deciding to use a mace from a shelf while the leader took the dagger from their latest meal's side. The Bosmer groaned as she picked up an old, discarded axe from a corner.

"Okay, are we ready to move forward?" Weiss ask the nearly doubled group.

"Yeah," Onmund moaned as he walked back over to them. "I'm okay."

The group went into the next room, where a mage was looking over the body of a man carved open. The vampire women suddenly screamed and went straight for him, ignoring the woman from across the room aiming a fireball spell at them. Weiss reached out with Backlash, and the spell exploded in the woman's face. Brelyna sent another fireball at her to add to the interrupted one, and the woman was sent backwards and into some rubble, of which a few pieces fell onto her. The third mage was easily sent to the ground by a combination of J'zargo and Onmund's efforts, leaving little more than a blackened corpse. Everyone turned to see the mage that had been dissecting the man completely mutilated, and now the three vampires were looking over his experiment with sorrow.

"They killed my love," the Nord quietly cried. "They killed our master." She looked back with a feral snarl. "We're going to kill them all."

Weiss gulped at what she was seeing. The other two readied themselves as well, and suddenly the mages had to keep up with the vampires.

"Maybe releasing them wasn't the best idea," Onmund observed. "For themselves more than anything else at this point."

A few wolves were heard howling from below and the students came into a room to find a man bleeding out in the center and the vampires looking at a man stuck behind cage bars. One of them was readying an ice spike, but Weiss came between them.

"Hold on a moment. Those are college robes." Weiss looked at the man, who let loose a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you saved me! Please, could you pull the release? It's the middle one."

"Wait, this one remembers you," J'zargo noted as he came close. "Orthorn. You disappeared a short time after those imbeciles who thought dripping acids onto people's skin was a decent form of study. Were you trying to join this riff-raff?"

"What? No, I mean, not really. Look, I didn't realize it was that group that came here. I thought it was the other one, with Svedi and Qoalazhon."

"Oh, so you went after the lazy group and instead found the murderously lazy group."

"Look, it's not like that, okay. I just got tired of being held to other people's standards and always put on some sort of schedule. I left home to get away from that kind of thing, not be put on one with five dozen other people to compare me to."

"Look, I don't care why you left, where are the books you stole?" Weiss asked, annoyed at the elf's excuses.

"Books? Well, you see… The Caller will have them, most likely. She was most interested in one of the volumes."

"The Caller?"

"Person in charge. Don't know her name. I don't even think she was a student like most of these rogues."

"Then she's the one responsible for everything here?" the Bosmer vampire hissed.

"Yes! Yes, it was all her and her minions, of which I am an enemy of! Just a big misunderstanding on my part!"

"We're going to tear her asunder!" the Cyrodiilic promised, causing the imprisoned Altmer to recoil slightly. As the vampires began to huddle among themselves, the four students all turned to look at each other.

"So, should we set him free, or leave him here?" Brelyna asked.

"What, you can't just leave me!" Orthorn objected.

"He's a lazy and cowardly thief, but he hasn't earned anything harsher than a few days behind bars and expulsion. Which he's gotten, it seems." Weiss waved her hand. "Besides, he could make a useful meat shield."

"I- I'm a fairly good conjurer. No need for me, specifically, to be the shield, right?"

"Wow, you really are cowardly," Onmund stated before pulling the center lever, releasing the former student.

"What about the wolves?" Brelyna asked.

"I have an idea for them. Let's get anything of value from here first though."

After scouring the room, finding several coins, enchanted items, and books on different spells and rituals, the group shuffled themselves through the door to the next area, with Weiss holding up the rear. As she closed the door, she reached out and telekinetically pulled the other two levers, releasing the wolves as she did. They immediately went for the corpse of their former master and began hungrily tearing into it as Weiss shut the door closed.

"Nice touch," the Nord nodded in approval while Weiss nodded back slightly. Past another set of bent hallways and down a set of stairs, they came down to another area.

"And begin," a man commanded two other mages, who then summoned fireballs and sent them down a range. Someone screamed in pain from one of them and the three vampires charged. Orthorn called up a flame atronach and mentally commanded it to attack the mage in command, while the four students focused on the closest one. The unfortunate one to have three skilled student mages focused upon him was practically ripped to shreds as sever spikes of ice, a firebolt, and two streams of lightning bombarded him. The other found himself set upon by three angry vampires who splattered him across a wall, but the last one was able to stand a bit longer, having smashed the atronach with a Hailstone spell and then impaled it to the floor with an ice lance. He started firing lightning at Orthorn, but then Onmund came to the rescue and used Raise Wall just beneath his foes' feet. Normally a defensive Alteration spell, Raise Wall could still launch a person into the air, only this time there was a ceiling in the way, causing the man be smashed between the altered floor and the stone above him. Frowning in disgust at the scene, Weiss looked down the firing range to see that there was another vampire hanging in a gibbet at the far end. The other three were already seeing to her as Brelyna hopped over the shelf in the way and calmly approached, ready to open up the gibbet's lock for them.

"At this rate we may leave here with a small caravan," J'zargo noted.

"Well, we are trying to help those in need. You aren't really objecting though, are you?"

"Not at all. If we were in a place imprisoning Khajiit for experimentation, he is certain you would free them with just as much enthusiasm, if not more."

With the fourth vampire freed, a Dunmer this time, they headed out of the room and up another set of stairs, into a place Orthorn warned them was 'the Undercroft'. Seeing them enter, one necromancer cast a spell upon a skeleton, bringing it to unlife, while draugr rose from their caskets. Weiss immediately bathed one of the draugr in electricity before stabbing another. Onmund sent a Bone Spirit towards the skeleton then focused his efforts on the caster, seemingly going into an invisible struggle with him. Everyone else kept beating down draugr with magic or metal as they appeared, until there seemed to be no more. The necromancer Onmund had been battling suddenly keeled over before upchucking blood, then collapsing, and the last necromancer turned and fled with a scream. Onmund himself fell to his knees while gasping. As his classmates came to his side, the four vampires chased down the runaway, who was then heard screaming from down the hall.

"Are you all right?" Brelyna asked in concern.

"Yeah," Onmund got out. "Just…tried countering his mind reading while trying to cast my own to distract him. Ending up fighting in our heads. Or one of ours. Took me a second to realize I could imagine whatever I wanted there, so I imagined the Hero of Kvatch appearing and then using Finger of Death on him. I think it worked."

"He's currently bleeding from places no one should ever bleed from," J'zargo pointed out. "Something worked. Remind J'zargo to never get in a psychic duel with you, seeing as you cheat."

"Yeah, haha, laugh it up." The Nordic man stood back to his feet and the group started again, Orthorn trailing behind them, seemingly a little more wary of who he'd figured as their weakest link. The vampires had finished off yet another meal from the runaway, and now the group traveled upstairs and through several conjoined rooms where a number of enemies laid in wait. Each time they attempted to stop them, they only ended up paying for their efforts with their lives. Weiss was beginning to be disturbed by their willingness to keep fighting them at this point, but then figured that they likely weren't realizing just how outmatched they truly were, or believed that they'd be the ones to land the lucky strikes, somehow.

"The library is just through here," Orthorn pointed out as they walked up a dais. "We're getting close now."

"You seem to know the layout of this place," Brelyna indicated. "Despite being a prisoner."

"Well, I was free for a time. About ten minutes."

After quickly checking through, they found that the library didn't hold any of the three tomes they had been sent after, but of interest was the books Lost Legends and The Legend of Red Eagle. Weiss packed them both away in the hopes of further future study, and then headed with the rest into the hallway that led to the next chamber, another mage having been taken down by the combined efforts of vampires and mages, and Onmund now extracting a little more fire salt from another atronach corpse. She pushed into the next room, where an Altmer woman stood before a podium.

"So, you're the ones who've barged into my home and laid waste to my projects?" she accused. "How nice to meet you."

"Oh, you're going to start that?" Weiss started. "If your followers had been a little more willing to talk things out rather than immediately trying to feed us to spiders or burn us alive, perhaps there would be something left of your projects. As it is, return the books to us at once or-"

"No," the vampire Nord behind her said before shoving past. "She killed our master! She will pay!"

"Oh look, you made friends with the test subjects." The mage then sighed in disgust. "Whatever." She threw a massive fireball at them, which the vampires all dodged out of the way of while Brelyna brought up a ward to block it. Onmund began firing with his staff while Orthorn summoned up a flame atronach. Weiss got to her feet quickly and charged the Altmer blocking Onmund's spell with Myrtenaster aimed at her heart, only for the woman to flick her wrist, disappear, and reappear from another point in the room. She quickly summoned a pair of flame atronachs, both of whom turned towards Weiss. J'zargo then came in, letting loose a blast of frost onto one of them while Brelyna threw an ice spike at the other. The Caller growled, but then was blindsided by one of the vampire women. She tried to use a Flaming Hand, but the Dunmer vampire was no more affected by the fire than she was. She managed to stab the vampire in the ribs with her dagger and shove her off, but that then opened her up to be attacked by the Nordic one, who slammed her own dagger into the mage's neck. The woman screamed, but the noise was cut short when the vampire stabbed again, this time going for her throat. The two summons then disappeared, and the room went quiet. The mages all looked at the vampires, startled at their brutality, while Onmund's attention was focused towards a nearby desk. Walking towards it, he dusted it off to reveal a familiar title.

"Found one," Onmund announced as he picked up one of the books they were after.

"Well, let's see where the other two are at and then get out of here." Weiss looked over to the four vampire women, who now seemed at a loss as to what to do. She recalled her conversation with the Archmage when she first joined, and then the discussion she and her classmates had the other night. Hoping that she was doing this right, she approached the group.

"If you want, I can give you all a hand," she began, getting their attention. "I know someone that might be able to help you out."

"So, it can override vampirism?" Yang asked as she and Aela walked along.

"Effectively, yes, but I have heard tales of it not working. It would take a strong strain to not be overpowered by the Beastblood. A vampire won't get infected by wild variants, but they can still be changed with purpose. The opposite's true, but only for the stronger sorts."

"So just a regular old vampire can become a werewolf like us?" Yang prodded, to which Aela knowingly nodded towards her companion.

"You're asking for your friend, aren't you?" Aela rightly guessed. At Yang's expression, she laughed. "I smelled it the first time I met you all. Since no one up and died of blood loss and Farengar vetted her, we let it be. I'm guessing you want to give her the gift and get her out of Molag Bal's grasp."

"Yeah. Out of all the reasons, that's definitely the top. Being stuck hunting forever sounds infinitely better than…that place."

"I doubt there's anyone who wouldn't agree with you. Well, maybe one or two degenerates. I think we should do it. Freeing any innocent person from Molag Bal is worth nearly anything, and giving a poor girl like her the gift is hardly the worst." The two stopped by the boulder they were supposed to meet Skjor at, only to find his discarded armor and clothing. Aela looked down and saw massive paw prints in the snow and dirt, leading away from the boulder and towards their target, Gallows Rock. She sighed. "That ice for brains went ahead of us."

"Should we catch up? He's probably…" Yang squinted, seeing that a man was standing atop the keep's tower, keeping watch. "Okay, either he's stealthier than you let on, or something's up."

Aela saw the man and cursed. "Damn it all, Skjor!" She took out her bow and sent an arrow at the lookout, hitting him right in the skull, killing him silently. The two charged in and began taking down Silver Hands before they could respond. They went straight into the fort, careful to watch each other's backs as they dove in, taking down the murderous werewolf hunters as they went. They stopped at some cages where a pair of werewolves were locked up, both of which were emaciated and bloodied. Yang sniffed at them and shook her head at their unfamiliar scent.

"Not Skjor. They don't even look all that feral, though."

"The bars have a silver coat. They push against them, it starts to sting. A regular, iron cage couldn't hold them otherwise." Yang looked closely and saw what she meant. Humming in thought, Yang went over and checked the best dressed of the now dead Silver Hands before pulling a key from his side.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Aela asked, alarmed.

"Freeing them," Yang said simply as she inserted the key.

"Look, I get you want to be noble here, but these…" Aela went silent as the cage swung open and the werewolf walked out of it. It looked up at Yang then whimpered before lowering itself. Yang smiled and began rubbing its head.

"Yeah, you know who's in charge here. Let's see if your buddy knows it too."

Yang freed the other one, who acted in a similar fashion, but seemed to almost refuse to whimper, instead trying to growl, which it quickly ceased when Yang locked eyes with it. The blonde smiled and then patted its head too.

"I'm seeing it, but I don't believe it," Aela muttered.

"Like I said, they know who's in charge here. Now, let's try to figure out where they've got Skjor holed up."

The four headed deeper in, with Yang at the lead. By herself, Yang was able to take down most of the Silver Hands, but the two werewolves made short work of anyone unfortunate enough to be what they laid eyes on, as well any food left in the open. One man did get a lucky hit on one of them with his silver axe, but couldn't pull it loose before the other pounced on him and ripped his head off. Yang quickly went and pulled it out before treating the wound with healing magic, only to find she had almost no skill in the spell at all.

"Huh, now I know what Weiss meant about sucking at this." The werewolf whimpered and looked over to its attacker before ripping into his chest, eating everything from within the rib cage. Yang saw the wound close a little, and figured it had something to do with the weird magic that made werebeasts possible in the first place.

The charge continued until they came into an open room, the place where their target awaited. Yang saw Krev 'the Skinner' look up from where he'd been hunched over a werewolf corpse, and then a familiar scent wafted up to her. Aela growled and Yang saw her eyes open wide. Four other Silver Hands aimed bows at them, but they mattered little to Yang, who charged Krev with a shout and punched forwards. The Redguard ducked under her swing and sliced at her with his sword, only for it to clang off her gauntlet as she blocked. Surprisingly though, she saw the paint from Ember Celica chip a little from the blow, even as her next punch hit his banded shield, denting it. She ducked under his next swing, but something felt off about the blade he was using. It was enchanted, obviously, but with what she couldn't tell.

"Die, you dog!" he shouted as he swung from the opposite side. Yang back stepped and felt the blade's tip go across her collar bone. Unfettered, she was about to go at him when she was distracted by something warm and wet running down the right side of her chest. She stepped back and felt at it to feel something sticky, then looked down to see her hand covered in red. Fear enveloped her for what felt like a long moment, but in reality was only a second. In that second, Krev had prepared for another strike, but before he could, one of the werewolves jumped at him, pinning him to the wall, where it then bit down on his arm and pulled, ripping it from its socket. Yang tried to shake herself out of it, but fell backwards dizzily. Her Aura was already starting to slowly heal her wound, but rather than reassure Yang, it only increased the fear she felt.

'It went right through it... Like it wasn't even there...' Yang thought as she stared at Krev's fallen sword. Her thoughts were halted, however, by the sight of Aela rushing towards her, a frantic look on her face.

"Yang!" she heard Aela yell as the woman came to her side and held her up. She pulled a vial from her side and tore the cork out with her teeth before pouring the substance into Yang's mouth. The girl swallowed and then shook her head, feeling herself coming back together.

"Wha- What happened?"

"You got nicked pretty badly on one of the arteries in your neck. Gods damn it, Yang, I thought I was going to lose you! I thought-" Aela looked over to the dead werewolf Krev had been preparing to skin. Yang followed her gaze and saw how one of the werewolf's eyes had an old injury and was whited over.

"Skjor," the younger girl recognized. Krev suddenly moved and Aela snarled before whipping out an arrow from her quiver and loosing it into the bleeding man's chest. He cried out, and then looked at them both with fury as the life slipped from him. The older woman went over to her friend's body while Yang stood up. Almost every Silver Hand in the room had gone down with an arrow in them, save the one that had been torn in half. Both the werewolves looked at Yang expectedly, who then led them out of the room.

"I'm just... I'm going home," Yang quietly called back to Aela before she left.

After walking towards Whiterun for a couple of hours, the two werewolves had changed back to their human forms. Luckily, Yang had grabbed a few sets of clothes lying around the old keep and so handed them off to the men before they went off their own way, thanking her for saving their lives and promising to go out somewhere where it would be safe for them and others. Yang, however, walked alone back to Whiterun, ruminating in her thoughts and observing Krev's sword. Aela had stayed behind, tending to Skjor's fallen body, and Yang could only hope she didn't do anything rash.

Close to the Valtheim Towers, Yang picked up a familiar scent, and ran forward to find a group of eight people. Most of them she didn't know, but one head full of snow white hair she recognized immediately.

"Weiss?"

"Yang?" the heiress asked in surprise, looking up from the campfire where a Nord man was cooking. "Are you out on a- Where did all of that blood come from?!"

Yang looked down at her blood-soaked shirt and gave her a sheepish grin while she reached for Krev's sword stashed against the small of her back.

"Well, we were getting a bounty, wanted dead by the way, and he had this sword." She pulled it up and handed it over to her. "Steel. Enchanted, but I can't tell what exactly the enchantment is." Yang's voice quickly dropped to a fearful whisper, "Whatever it is, it completely ignored my Aura."

Weiss looked over the sword in confusion for a moment before looking back at her. "If I'm not mistaken, this sword's just enchanted with Soul Trap."

"But why would it-" Yang stopped as it suddenly made sense. Soul Trap was a spell made specifically to affect the soul, whereas Aura came directly from the soul. Weiss seemed to make the same realization at the same time she did, judging by the panicked look on her face, but their silent ponderings were put on hold when a woman cleared her throat for their attention.

"Going to introduce us, Weiss?" a Dunmer woman asked.

"Oh!" Weiss exclaimed, recomposing herself. "Yang, these are my classmates, Brelyna Maryon, Onmund Farlson, and J'zargo. Those four are some prisoners were rescued from rogue mages."

"Oh, neat. Anyways, will you guys be heading to Whiterun? There's something, like, really important that could help you with your…condition."

"They all know I'm a vampire, Yang," Weiss pointed out. "What's up? Did you find something?"

"Uh, yeah, actually." Yang looked over the group, and then decided to ask about the whys and hows later. "So, basically, what if I told you, you could trade your vampirism for lycanthropy?"

Weiss rose an eyebrow at her teammate's hypothetical, while the others all looked upon the two Huntresses with great interest.