Okay everyone, a couple of announcements. First, January 20th is my birthday. Yay me! Also, January 30th will be the one-year anniversary of the beginning of OESaH, with February 5th the FFnet edition anniversary! So woot woot! Thanks going to xTRESTWHOx for sticking around all the time and NaanContributor for joining us.
"Wait, so you flew all the way here?" Yang asked as the team walked along the bank of the Karth River. It had been nearly at the break of dawn when they received a message from someone asking them to meet him here with 'the files'. It wasn't hard to figure out who the person was, and so now they were simply making up for lost time.
"It was more of a hover, really," Weiss insisted, only for Yang to arch an eyebrow and shake her head.
"Which is basically flying really close to the ground," she countered, emphasizing her point by dipping down and moving her hand just above the dirt.
"Yang, it's not flying," Weiss argued. "I've looked at the wings closely, and there's no way I could take off with them. They're only as long as my arms, and there's barely any… What do they call it, webbing?" The other three shrugged. "In any case, they aren't strong enough to create enough lift for someone of my size. Hovering is the best I'm going to get."
"I'm just happy you made it," Ruby said, a smile on her face. "Once we get back, we're going to put the finishing touches on Strahlendjuwel. Mostly just fitting it to the hilt and some sharpening. I've got the threading done, but I'm hoping the hilt's bolt hasn't been damaged. Otherwise, we might have to restructure it."
"Not sure why you didn't go with the normal Dust-loading cartridges," Yang stated. "Would've been a lot easier than dealing with a revolver-centered core."
"Myrtenaster was designed with elegance in mind, and made by some of the best artisans money could hire," Weiss pointed out. "While I didn't really have much say on the final product, I did like how it came out. I want Strahlendjuwel to continue Myrtenaster's legacy."
"Oh yeah! I forget that not everyone made their own weapons." Yang stuck out her tongue and tapped her head. "My bad."
Ruby's head then popped up as a question resurfaced in her mind, and she turned her attention towards Blake. "Hey Blake, did you make yours?" Ruby asked.
"Not really, no," the Faunus admitted. "We had a guy for that. Wasn't as good as you or Yang, but he was able to get a range of pieces and make some simple but versatile weapons. I did add the ribbon, however."
"Mine was difficult at first, but I was able to make due." The girls practically whipped themselves around to see the smirking face of Capric as he walked up to them. "Glad you could join me. This must be Yang and Weiss." He nodded towards them as he spoke. "Greetings, I'm Capric Thorn. Ruby told me a good bit about you the other day."
"Sup?" Yang greeted him with a wave, her nerves calming down the quickest of the bunch. "So you're the guy from Remnant? Where exactly are you from, anyway?"
"I was born in Verdanté, but moved around most of my younger life through eastern Anima."
"Verdanté? Don't think I… Wait, didn't we learn about Verdanté in history class? It had something to do with the Faunus Rights Revolution."
"It…certainly did," Weiss said while nodding, keeping her lips sealed on the subject. Capric then looked to her with a grin.
"So, you're a Schnee?"
Weiss froze up at that, and the rest of the team braced themselves.
"I always wanted to meet Nicholas Schnee, but I never got the chance," Capric lamented, causing the Huntresses to relax somewhat. "He was such a great fellow, a true and shining example of a good human being. How is his company, anyways?"
"Things…could be much better," Weiss got out. Thoughts of what her father had done and how he ran the SDC briefly crossed her mind, but she shoved them aside and refocused on Capric. A look of surprise seemed to cross his face, only to be replaced by resignation.
"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that." He pressed an arm across his chest and bowed his head. "Either way, I am happy to meet you, for a number of reasons. Mostly, I wanted to talk about my plans for getting back home."
"Is it safe for us to talk about that in the open?" Blake questioned while shifting her eyes and ears about.
"I already set up some spells over the area. No one can hear us, and not many can see us. The most we'd have to worry about is that couple just up the river with their sawmill coming nearby, but they seem to keep to themselves." Capric paused then turned his attention back towards Blake. "By the way, were you able to copy down those documents as I suggested, or should I do it?"
"I have, yes," Blake revealed as she handed over the files in question. Numerous backups, in fact, not that she was willing to share how many she made with the Thalmor. Nor which version she gave to him. "Some of it is…kinda disconcerting."
"Ah, the files on Ulfric Stormcloak. Yes, this actually gives us an opportunity." Capric stashed the papers away into a sack. "I think I'll be able to get them off your trail relatively easy. It's going to take some setup, but nothing I can't do without a little Glamour and charisma. Back to getting home though, I believe I have most of the pieces, but there are some things that'll help us along. One of them happens to be in Skyrim, or at least, it should. Winterhold, specifically."
"It's some sort of magical artifact in the College, isn't it?" Weiss sighed and frowned. "I can't exactly steal something from there and expect to stay in good standing."
"Nothing has to be stolen, I don't think." He rubbed his chin a moment before shrugging. "Anyways, all I really know at this point is that it's related to an immovable object under the College. I'd look into it myself, but we have some…problems to address before anyone from the Thalmor can go there. The agreement with the College was a very tenuous thing before, considering their location, and now…"
"Yeah, that's pretty dead. Almost as dead as Ancano," Yang quipped. She remembered hearing about how some of the students had begun to make Thalmor-shaped dummies to practice their spells on, and she couldn't imagine what they would do to an actual Thalmor now.
"How did that happen, anyways? I got conflicting reports about a dragon biting him in half and others about an army of wizards having to work together to bring him down."
"Do you know how the Schnee family Semblance works?" Weiss asked him.
"Um, not really, no."
"Then it would take a long time to explain."
"Wait, you said you're almost ready with getting a way back to Remnant?" Ruby suddenly piped up. "How close are you?"
"If we're lucky, no more surprise wars happen, and I get the chance to look into Argonia and Morrowind after this… We're looking at maybe ten to twenty years."
"Ten to twenty years?" Ruby bemoaned as she seemed to shrink with sadness.
"What's the holdup?" Yang asked.
"Besides getting into Argonia in the first place, none of these things have been easy to find, so I doubt the last two will be. You wouldn't think finding the grave of Bosriel Skeffington would be all that difficult. Then you actually have to start searching."
The girls shared a look with each other. None of them knew who this 'Bosriel' was supposed to be or how it was supposed to be important, and after a moment they slowly turned their attention back towards the Bosmer.
"Okay, I guess," Yang got out. "And what about the dragons?"
"I'm still getting my connections and resources in place, but I've got a list of likely places for information and maybe the location of a dragon's roost," he replied. "I'll let you all know the moment we zero in on it. Or, as fast as the couriers can reach you."
"Better than being caught off-guard every time," Weiss supposed with a shrug.
"And maybe we can do something about communication." Ruby paused in thought. "But you'll have to make an oath. Like, an unbreakable oath or something. Just in case."
"O…kay," Capric responded with a raised eyebrow. "As long as we can get this situation resolved. Any other concerns anyone would like to bring up?"
"Can't think of anything at the moment."
"What are you going to do to get the Thalmor off this trail?" Blake asked.
"It involves a Stormcloak outfit, a dead bandit, and a good deal of timing."
"Right…"
As Weiss and Ruby went over the installation of the new blade, Yang and Blake headed upstairs, with the blonde tapping her partner with her shoulder halfway up.
"So, what was up with you and Capric?" the blonde quietly asked her partner.
"What?" Blake responded, causing Yang to sigh.
"You were all… Well, more Blakey than normal with him. Something the matter there?" Blake stared at Yang for a moment, catching her rambling thoughts before speaking.
"It's…" Blake sighed. "I'm not sure about him."
"You think he's lying?"
"No. At least not entirely," Blake clarified. "He knew things about Remnant only someone from there would have known. He even mentioned a name I know I've heard. But…when I was trying to dig up information from the Embassy, I was nearly caught in the end. Then he came in and killed the Thalmor that found us."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?"
"He didn't just kill them, Yang. I would have been okay with that, but he…brutalized them. He strung one of them up and nearly chopped him into pieces. And the whole time he was doing it so…callously." Blake crossed her arms and sat at the small table. "It was horrifying. I still hear that man's screams."
Yang looked at her partner in concern before kneeling down and taking her arms in hand.
"Hey, look. It's okay to be scared. You were caught off-guard, and I'm willing to bet whatever he did happened fast." At Blake's nod, Yang continued. "The situation was out of your control. You were caught, and before you could do anything, someone else uncaught you. It probably didn't help that he was supposedly on their side."
"It didn't." Blake shook her head and signaled Yang to continue.
"Just don't let it get to you. We're probably not gonna see this guy much until we get back to Remnant, and then we probably won't hear from him on the other side all that much either." Yang stood up and then sat across from her friend before grabbing a jeweled board and a few stacks of cards. "Meantime, you wanna play some Legends? Weiss showed me how it works."
Blake looked at the board and then smirked. "All right. How do you play?"
"To win."
"And…done!" Ruby declared before letting Weiss take the sword in hand. The heiress looked it over in awe and held it in a fencing stance before looking back over it again.
"The weight is perfect!" She smiled with a toothy grin, her elongated canines glistening. "You really didn't have to go to these lengths, but I really appreciate it, Ruby."
"That's what friends are for," Ruby said while putting her arm around Weiss' shoulder. "You sent me a cool ebony sword for my birthday, so I had to repay you."
"Normally birthday gifts are repaid on birthdays, but okay." Weiss chuckled, patting her back and then taking a few steps to place the sword on a rack. Ruby watched a moment and then frowned.
"Weiss, can I ask…about the vampires?"
The heiress froze a moment before turning back to face her team leader. "Yes?"
"Have any of them, at any point, done anything to hurt you?" Ruby asked quietly.
She shook her head. "No. None of them have so much as laid a hand on me, but…" She took in a breath and closed her eyes a moment before looking back up. "Back home, in Atlas, the atmosphere was always cold. My sister and Klein made living there better, yet it always felt so empty. I can easily say after only twenty-four hours or so in that castle, it's worse. It definitely reminds me of home, but it's as if the little bit of toxicity that sometimes wafted around became concentrated a hundred times over and spread to every corner. Every other person there wasn't seeing me for who I was or might be. They either saw an obstacle, a stepping stone, or a master. I think the only ones that treated me like a person…were the apathetic ones."
Ruby walked over and hugged her friend, who slowly turned and hugged her back. Weiss sighed at the comfort of a warm body, and almost pulled back when she felt her head beginning to dip. Ruby slowly slid back from the hug and looked at her with a sad smile.
"I'm always ready to help you, Weiss. Even if I have to run all the way through Skyrim, I'll be there to help."
Weiss smiled back. "Thanks, Ruby." Suddenly she was being guided by the hand and out of the house.
"Come on! Let's spend some time at the college! M'rissi finally dragged Inigo and Fironet over there, and I wanna see how good they are!"
After a brief visit to the Bard's College, the group set south towards Dragon Bridge. It was only a few hours ride, but they did have to make one stop along the way near Mount Kilkreath.
"Yes, yes, down boy!" Weiss gleefully commanded the great boar that was lovingly sniffing around her face. She took a truffle from her back pouch and fed it to the pig, who happily ate it with thankful oinks. Currently, she was downhill from the others, who were near the Kilkreath Temple. Weiss had steadfastly refused to step anywhere near the grounds surrounding the structure lest she accidentally incur Meridia's wrath. She still vividly recalled the burning on her hands from the last time she suffered it, and so no one judged her for not wanting to be anywhere near Meridia's temple. Ruby herself was inside the partially renovated place and explaining their venture to find the second Skyshard to the priest, Seletar.
"Then everything got really bright and we popped up in some kind of solar system thing, and that's where we met the Magne-Ge guy."
"An enlightening experience, isn't it?" he asked her with a smile. "You beheld vibrant Astetu, child of Scintil of the Blend Sign!"
"It was pretty cool," Ruby agreed while nodding her head before looking at her feet. "But I think I might have stepped on Elsweyr."
Seletar paused for a moment and pushed the tips of his fingers together. "Our world is a…mortal concept and of little relevance in the Untimes," he explained. "Where you felt yourself was not where you were, nor is it when."
"So like an illusion? Or was I the illusion?" Ruby rubbed her chin a moment before shrugging. "Either way, I guess I need to continue on with this. There should be more Skyshards scattered around, right?"
"Yes, these stellar shards you found represent the power of the Magne-Ge on Nirn. The black shards will belong to Ilmaasi, the white shards to Astetu. You will have to find them and absorb them if you are to fight in this war."
"I haven't seen a black shard yet," Ruby muttered as she felt her mind be drawn towards something to the east. She scowled and clenched her fist before murmuring to herself, "Cheese and crackers."
"Ah, but something more, Dragonborn. With your revelations, so have come my own." He pulled out a book and handed it over to her. "Spells the likes of which have never been felt by mortal hands have been granted to us. I have written them down, so that you too may learn them and use them for the greater good."
"Oh, thanks!" Ruby opened it and began scanning the pages for the first spell, Sentinel. Almost immediately her eyes caught the part where it explained needing Rod of Power to function and recalled the spellbook she'd found in the Magne-Ge temple. As she read the instructions of its formation again and again, she conjured up a pair of Rods and readied herself to cast the spell.
"Here goes," she muttered before launching it forward. It went almost like a nondescript ball of light, but then the two rods began firing at the ground where it landed, throwing detritus, snow, and dirt into the air. After three shots from each, both Rods stopped, and Ruby could see a small, smoldering body of some kind of animal.
"Oh," she said as she looked back at the book. "That's what it does."
"An excellent display, Dragonborn."
As the sun started setting below the horizon, the group was coming upon Dragon Bridge. Just before they entered, Inigo seemed to go stock still and clutched at his head with a groan. Everyone else slowed and looked to him, concern etched on all of their faces.
"My friends, I feel…strange," he got out as he pressed his temples. "Argh, my mind is vibrating in my skull! It feels as if it is at the end of a hook."
"Are you okay?" Blake asked as she turned towards him.
"I do not know," he admitted before slowly letting his hands down. "Wait, the sensation is receding. That was horrible!"
Erandur rode up closer and placed a hand against the Khajiit's forehead. "You don't feel feverish. Perhaps it was a sudden migraine."
"Wow, that was a little frightening," Yang muttered. "You all right?"
"I'm okay. I have no idea what it was." He rubbed his own head with a sigh. "All of a sudden there was a bright flash and it felt like my mind was being pulled out of my ears."
"That's not good," Ruby got out. "Hey, if that happens again, you be sure to let somebody know about it."
"Do not worry about me, my friend. Let's just get back to it."
Inigo's brief scare aside, the rest of the trek into Dragon Bridge went without a hitch. After Weiss managed to negotiate fair prices for replenishing their supplies, she and her partner went to find rooms for them all at the inn.
"Okay, so Erandur and Inigo will bunk, that's one. Lydia's constantly watching me, so two. Um, you have any rooms with three beds?"
"A few," Faida answered.
"Okay, so, me, Lydia, and Yang in the second, and Blake, M'rissi, and Weiss in the third. …Unless you guys want to do it differently? Like Yang with Blake and M'rissi and Weiss with me and Lydia. Uh, what do you guys…?"
"We'll figure it out, Ruby," Weiss assured her. "A two-bed and two three-beds," she told the innkeeper.
"All right. Just give me a minute to get you all set." As she left the bar, the group began to slowly disperse and settle across the inn's main hall. As some of them began warming themselves at the hearth, Blake's eyes were caught by a rather familiar uniform over in a corner. Slightly curious, and feeling an egging on in the back of her mind that she tried to push away, she decided to approach the man.
"Good evening," she greeted him. As she readied herself to ask him what he was doing or trail off to something Oculatus related, he looked up at her and took a drink.
"Greetings. Think I've seen you a time or two before." The old, grey-haired man in a Penitus Oculatus uniform took a second glance at her for a moment while swishing his mug around. "Tell me, Shadowkiller, do you have any regrets? Of course you do," he answered himself before she had a chance. "We all do." He took a sip and set his mug down, letting it rest before leaning up. "They say regrets are the foundation of wisdom, for if we do not regret our mistakes, we are damned to repeat them. Our successes, however, need not be remembered, for they only serve to bolster our temerity. That is why a general is haunted not by his victories on the battlefield, but those that slipped from his grasp."
Blake nodded and sat down. "I've made more than few mistakes. I'm going to do my best not to repeat them."
"That is how we are meant to live. Always tumbling forward, only looking back to see how far we've come. For some things, such a task is simple. A hastily written report. A tactless reply. A spilled drink. For others, the tendrils run deeper, rooting your body in the earth. There is no way forward. Not until you've freed yourself of the memory. Not until you make things right."
Blake's ears slowly tilted up. She could definitely see where this was going.
"So, what's the problem you're having?" she asked the agent.
"A thief," he replied. "The one that got away. An Imperial woman, by the reports, and a lone operative. She's burglarized the homes of a number of notable lords, thanes, and nobles. At times she has even ransomed their children." That tidbit caused Blake's ears to fly up. "She's outfoxed the city guards, evaded the Oculatus, and even managed to rankle prominent members of the Thieves' Guild."
The Faunus blinked in surprise. "If she's that big of a deal, then isn't there a big effort to catch her?"
"Unfortunately, the resources the Empire exhausted in tracking her down forced the Elder Council to suspend all pursuit. Given the state of Imperial coffers, it was cheaper to let her run free and compensate the aggrieved for their losses." He took another drink from his mug. "Only I remain dedicated to the cause of justice. And what I lack in men and resources, I make up for in will. I've chased her across Tamriel for the last fifteen years, and now I believe I'm closer than ever to catching her."
Blake hummed in thought at that. If there was really a rogue thief out there that was working even against the Thieves' Guild, it would be best for them to get caught. The members of the Guild were still thieves, but they had rules. Some even tended to have standards.
"You have a description?"
"I do. It's been burned into the bone of my skull, from sketches and wanted posters and images…from another time." He breathed in deeply and let it loose in a sigh as he closed his eyes. "A raven-haired woman, thirty-two years of age, with an aquiline nose and eyes the color of steel." His eyes opened and he turned towards her. "She's as fearsome as an Orc, but can be as cunning as a diplomat, and, if need be, can charm you with the grace of a sylph."
Blake almost disregarded the second half of his description, when she took note of his own features and paused, her amber eyes focused in on his downcast steely grey. She thought back over the secondary description while rolling the fingers in her left hand.
"You almost sound like you admire her," she said, the idea of the words coming from somewhere deeper.
"What are you implying?" he asked while turning back. "One cannot evade the Penitus Oculatus and not earn a measure of respect. And one cannot defy them without earning their wrath. I am a soldier, sworn in the service of the Penitus Oculatus. Sworn to uphold the law. If someone breaks the law, it matters not whether they are the Raven of Anvil or the Emperor's own kin. They are all criminal scum."
"Anvil," Blake muttered, recalling the name of the Cyrodillic city. "So she is from Cyrodiil."
"Not necessarily. Anvil is merely the site of her first great heist, one done under the guise of a minstrel singing dirges for the dead." He took another, deeper draught from his cup. "Hence the Raven of Anvil."
"And now you think she's in Skyrim?"
"There have been several witness accounts made to the guard here, of a raven-haired thief posing as a bard. As you know, most Nords are light of hair and tall in stature, which already narrows down the list of possible culprits. And while there are bards in Skyrim from here to Riften, there is only one capable of playing that song. Dusk at Anvil Harbor was its name, if I recall it correctly."
"Dusk at Anvil Harbor," Blake muttered under her breath.
"A beautiful but solemn tune about the sunset over the Gold Coast, and the tragic death of a loved one."
Blake nodded at that. For a moment, she sat in silence and nearly got up to rejoin her friends while preparing to say goodbye, but then a moment of curiosity came.
"How did she pull off that heist at Anvil?"
The old man nodded. "The Countess' cousin had passed away, and she was now in her twelfth day of mourning. She refused to eat and refused to sleep. Soon her court was deprived of the same, as her mood grew more and more contemptuous. It seemed nothing would allay her grief. Many bards and poets came from all over Tamriel to celebrate the life of her cousin, in hopes of appeasing the Countess. Yet it seemed that even time itself had given up all hope. Until the day a raven-haired minstrel walked into the castle and gently strummed her lute." He closed his eyes and sighed again. "Those who were in attendance insist that it was the saddest song ever heard by mortal ears. They claim the sky rained for seven days and seven nights, and both the Countess and the Divines exhausted all their tears." He reopened his eyes and picked up his mug. "That night, the entire court slept for the first time in weeks, and when they awoke, they found their cases and coffers emptied of their valuables."
Blake took in all of the information, but her gaze went back to the man who was now staring forlornly into his mug.
'That wasn't the story a man chasing a criminal,' she thought to herself.
What is his secret?
"You got a little emotional there," Blake observed.
"It is a sad story," he stated as though it was a cold fact. "A tale of two deaths and one birth. The girl had the talent to give the world the gift of joy, but she chooses to lead a life that brings nothing but sorrow."
A long pause followed the man's statement as Blake contemplated his words and the emotions fueling them. Slowly, the picture became clear to the Faunus, and she spoke her next words quietly. "…You know her."
"Yes," he admitted, setting his mug down and pushing it away. "My words have betrayed me…more than once in this conversation. It's not uncommon given my proximity to the case. Few, however, are perceptive enough to find the meaning in the stumble of words. It is as you say. I know the Raven of Anvil. I know both her and the song she played that fateful night in Anvil. After all, I sired both of them. The Raven of Anvil is my daughter."
A wave of realization came over Blake. "I think I get it now. You want her back."
"I don't need my daughter back," he countered. "She's her own woman now, with her own life, one that is separate from the world I would choose. It's not about getting justice anymore," he admitted with a shake of his head. "Perhaps it never was. I don't need her to repent, and I don't need her to change. I'm at the age where the coffers of a few nobles won't cost me any sleep. What I dread is the passage of time, and one final regret." She saw him clench his fists at his side. "I don't care what it takes, or how long I have to look. All I want is to see her smile again." A look came over him, as it seemed to dawn on him what he just admitted to a stranger.
"I… I'm sorry," he slurred out while bowing his head down. "If you please… I need a moment to myself. But…thank you for listening."
The old soldier stood up from his seat and stumbled a little before straightening his steps and heading out the door. Blake watched him go and then looked back at the table. She stood up to go her own way, but not before taking out a septim and placing it on the table.
Yang and Weiss set out for Morthal early the next morning. While Yang kept her eyes and nose open, Weiss mostly just laid across Toggle's back.
"What's got you down?" Yang asked, receiving a groan from Weiss in response. "That bad, huh?"
"The sun is literally trying to kill me," Weiss griped before sighing. "No, I'll just be honest. I'm getting thirsty again."
"You out of bottles or something?" Yang asked in concern.
"No, Ruby filled one up last night and Blake gave me one a few nights ago, but… Imagine one night you're served a perfectly cooked steak, and then you're told you can have one whenever you want while you're in the place serving it. Then you leave, and the only thing you can have outside is a badly cooked hamburger."
"Oh, okay, I… Wait, did you drink someone at the castle?"
"I didn't kill anyone," Weiss laid out before an issue could be made of it. "They keep enough thralls as chattel to keep everyone there satisfied, and Rargal Thrallmaster sends a few of his childers out to catch more all the time. They go for bandits, skooma addicts, vagrants, the sort of people who won't be missed. Some people dedicate themselves willingly, like that man at the gate, and so they get more freedom and are basically set for life. Others barely have a sense of self and almost no sense of time. Rargal keeps them immunized so no one accidentally turns them. Unlike the more…friendly vampires we've met though, they don't release them after a time. The entire thing is revolting."
"I see," Yang muttered grimly before looking at her friend. It didn't take much to realize that Weiss was ashamed of herself for having to drink from those thralls, even if they were bandits. "Don't worry about those guys. Once the Dawnguard's up and running, I'll convince Kodlak to lend them a hand so that we can work together and oust those vampires. Just gotta figure out how to tackle it."
"I'll try to find a weak point, I suppose." Weiss grumbled and sat up. "So, what's in Morthal?"
"Swamps, weird kids, magic guy, a lady Argonian with a mean sword arm."
"Didn't you help kill a large host of vampires there?"
"Yeah, some Vampyrean Court vampires, led by Morvarth."
"Will they have defenses up against vampire intruders?" Weiss figured they would. A community wouldn't just take almost being taken over by a vampire court lying down, but Yang shook her head.
"They shouldn't. At least, nothing I know of that'll single you out." Yang shook her head. "Come on, you'll be with me, and I'm a Thane of Hjaalmarch." Yang's eyes widened at that. "Holy crap, I'm a Thane of Hjaalmarch. I kinda forgot we're basically nobility around here."
"Hm, we are, aren't we?" Weiss muttered in agreement despite not feeling like it one bit at the moment.
In the other direction, Ruby and Lydia were traveling along with Blake, Erandur, Inigo, and M'rissi. While Ruby played songs with her lute and M'rissi occasionally sang along, Blake went over the map and her immediate plans.
'Once I deal with this, we'll head straight back to Riften and report what that liz- what Gulum told me.' She shook her head to clear it of angry cobwebs. Her thoughts then turned to the story that the retired Oculatus agent (Orenius, she had learned) had told her last night. 'While I'm there, I guess I'll look for information on the Raven of Anvil. If she really did rustle the Guild's feathers, then they would have been trying to find her. Whether to recruit or punish is up in the air. But that guy… Orenius ought to get to see her.' For a moment, her mind played memories of some of her own regrets. 'As soon as we get back, I'm calling my parents.'
"No, no, M'ri, it's 'exit light, enter night'," Ruby corrected her singing partner.
"But how does the night enter? And where does it enter from?" Before Ruby could answer, Inigo gripped his head and started screaming. Everyone pulled their steeds to a stop, some even hopping off and rushing over to check on him.
"Urrgh!" he groaned while leaning forward before sliding and almost falling out of the saddle. M'rissi quickly hopped down to catch him and helped keep the blue Khajiit on his feet. "Agh! It is happening again! My mind is vibrating! It feels like it is on the end of a rope!" He seemed to look forward, staring into what seemed to be empty space. "Wait, I see something! A cabin? Trees. A face! It is fading." He blinked and shook his head. "It is under the rug. Aagh!" He rubbed his head and shook it again, and his breathing seemed to even out. "Thank the gods, it is weakening. Ugh." He stood up straight and rubbed his eyes and temples before blinking a few times and wiping an arm across his forehead. "It is over. Ow."
"What just happened?" Blake asked in concern. "What did you see?"
"I saw brief flashes of a cabin in the snow," he explained before rubbing his head in thought. "It was surrounded by trees. What is happening to me?"
"You said something about 'under the rug'," M'rissi pointed out as she gradually let him go to stand on his own. "What did you mean?"
"Yes, something small and shiny. A coin? A ring? No. I cannot remember." He looked downcast at that. "I think my brain is broken."
"I don't think it's your brain," Erandur said as he began looking Inigo over with a spell in hand. "You're as hearty and healthy as you were when we left Solitude. This seems more like outside interference."
"Could it be a wizard somewhere?" Ruby asked.
"Possibly, but long-range telepathy is difficult. Then again, that might explain the headaches they are inducing."
"What about the cabin?" Blake asked, hoping to get to the bottom of whatever was plaguing her friend. "Did you recognize it?"
"No, but something about the landscape was familiar. I wish I could remember where I've seen it before."
"Anything else?"
"A man, perhaps." Inigo rubbed his chin and closed his eyes in thought. "A bearded man. I did not recognize him. The flashes were very fast and confusing."
"I'm not sure what we can do about this, then. Erandur? Any ideas?"
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I don't know of any spells or rituals meant to keep out a distant telepath."
"Then we'll just have to hope whoever it is stops." Blake sighed. "If there's nothing we can do, we should probably move on. Just keep us posted, Inigo."
"Okay. If it does happen again and my brain tries to escape through my nose, push it back in," he said while remounting the horse. Blake just faintly smiled and shook her head as she turned to get back to her own steed.
While Ruby and Lydia readied themselves to continue on towards Shriekwind Bastion, Blake began going around the village to ask where she could find Kjens. Eventually, she was pointed to the Frostfruit Inn, which she headed straight toward. M'rissi and Inigo rejoined her, the male teaching his friend a bit about archery as they did.
"So, having the arrow like that, you can aim and release with both eyes open and still be accurate," he advised, and the girl nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, she sees now! Yes, and after that, she can shoot much faster, yes?" M'rissi asked through a smile, and Inigo nodded.
"Absolutely, but first you need to get used to aiming that way. Once you can do it while on the move, rapid loosing will come."
"That is good." She then looked over at the Faunus. "Blake, you are good with the bow yes? Are you as good as she is?"
"Maybe." Blake honestly didn't think much about her bow skills. They were more of a replacement skill thanks to the lack of Dust rounds. M'rissi let out something like a mewl.
"Well, we will have to have a competition sometime, yeah?"
"Sure," she answered while heading up the stairs and into the inn. She wasn't sure which of the current patrons could be Kjens, but she decided to try her luck with the man dressed in furs and with a bow set beside him.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Kjens."
"That's me," he answered with a sigh before his eyes went wide. "Wait, why are you looking for me?"
"I received a letter. Something about a-"
"Oh thank the Eight!" he cried out before clearing his throat, standing and looking towards her. "Firstly, thank you for coming. Welcome to Rorickstead, my home."
"Thank you. Your message sounded urgent. Can you tell me about it?"
"Well, we first noticed the problem when people started going missing in the night," Kjens began. "We would find scraps of bloody cloth but little else at the scene of the attack. Nobody has ever seen anything, even if they're able to see the person. They're just there one second and then the next…gone. Up until now, it's only been attacking at night, but now…it's getting bolder." He sighed and started rubbing his head. "Any search parties we send hunting for clues end up being killed even in the broad daylight. We've tried looking for patterns in the attacks, but we can't find any. Sometimes it's months, sometimes just days."
Blake thought over the information. It wasn't much to go on, but not all of it was making sense.
"You said nobody's been able to see it?" she asked, her skepticism easily shown.
"Well, not as such, no. A few claim to have seen it, but even then they say it's like an animal but…wrong. Like it's cloaked in shadow."
"Hmm… If it's an animal then it has to have a home," Blake deduced while rubbing her chin. "Have you tried to track it back there?"
"I'm a hunter by trade and fear no animal, but this thing has me scared." He shook his head and crossed his arms. "If it were simply an animal we'd have taken care of this problem by ourselves, but the only explanation is that it's a demon! We've tried everything from traps and snares to offerings, but everything goes ignored. It wants blood. Our last journey out to hunt for it got us nothing but a lost man. We went back looking for him and found where he'd wedged himself into a narrow crevice not far from town. He was alive but badly wounded, and with his dying breaths he screamed about glowing eyes and dagger teeth. Demon, he shouted. Over and over again." The man's face twisted into one of pained remembrance and he gripped his forehead. "I… I'm sorry. I need a moment."
"No, it's fine. I understand." Kjens nodded to her and sat back down. As Blake walked away from the hunter, she noticed M'rissi was at the other side of the inn and talking with a Khajiit woman. However, both their expressions were sour, and Blake could see M'rissi's lips rising up as she bared her teeth and growled. The other Khajiit reciprocated as M'rissi said something that Blake couldn't understand one bit, likely in Ta'agra.
"No, no, no," she mumbled as she walked over to hopefully defuse the situation. Unfortunately, right before she could step in, the other Khajiit woman swung her claws for M'rissi's face. The girl ducked back away from the strike though, and responded in kind, raking her claws across the other's face and send bits of fur and blood flying. She went with a follow-up strike, but the other managed to block her with a forearm and lunged forward with her teeth. Before she could land her bite, M'rissi's hand shot up and caught her by the neck, claws sinking in as she pushed up and away, knocking her attacker over her seat as she let go. Blake shot over and grabbed M'rissi by the waist and pulled her back just as she leaped towards her downed opponent. The woman yelled something at her, and she screamed right back.
"None of that! None of that!" the innkeeper yelled as he walked up and in-between them as well. "There's no fighting in my inn! Take it outside!"
"That won't be necessary," Blake said as she dragged her friend that was trying to wiggle loose away.
"She is not done tearing that Thalmor-serving tramp apart!" M'rissi objected as she headed towards the door.
"You will get yours when the masters find you, traitor," the Khajiit called back as she picked herself up.
"She has killed them before and she will kill them again!"
"She is sorry," M'rissi apologized after a joint scolding session from Blake and Erandur, once he was made aware of the situation.
"You need to calm your emotions when faced with such things," the priest explained to her. "Not everyone will agree with you. Some may even argue or outright reject your views. We have to learn to accept it."
"I'm a little mad at you too for not stopping her," Blake said towards Inigo, her eyes narrowed and a frown on her face.
"I'm sorry, my friend," Inigo apologized sincerely, his ears drooped down slightly. "I barely knew what was going on, and life has not adequately prepared me to step into an argument between two women. Especially not when one is on skooma."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, I could smell it on her. She's definitely a user, but without proof, there's not much I could have done. She may have also mentioned it once or twice."
"She did," M'rissi bit out. "She spies for the Thalmor and gets skooma as a reward. I hate her and her scratchy face."
"Well, let's just do our best to forget about her…and maybe leave an anonymous tip with the local guard." M'rissi actually smiled a bit at that before Blake continued on. "Anyway, I got the info about whatever it is that's been attacking people from Kjens. I think it's a big cat."
"You mean like a sabrecat?" Erandur asked.
"Most likely. Whatever it is, it's a night predator. It's also got 'glowing' eyes and 'dagger' teeth. Either it's a really crafty one or the village has just been unlucky in catching it. Whatever the case, it probably has a home, like a burrow or a cave that it stays in. I'm going to ask Kjens a little more about it, and see if we can't triangulate a likely place that it would be. The daytime attacks, in particular, might be a good lead." Blake turned back towards the inn and began walking back inside "I'll be right back."
After Kjens showed her on a map where all the attacks had happened, she wanted to hit him upside the head. The cluster of pins showing all the attacks had a definite concentration, and the differently colored ones to show daytime attacks were even more obvious. Now, with bows at the ready and Erandur trailing just a little behind in case they needed him, the group headed towards the location.
After quietly stalking through the edges of the woods and the rocky hills for some time, Inigo held up his hand to signal them to stop and quickly pointed out a ruddy brown-gold mound that was slightly and rhythmically moving. Blake focused in and saw that it was, indeed, a sleeping sabrecat. Inigo held up his bow as though offering and Blake nodded. In a deft motion he took an arrow, drew it back, and aimed. For a moment, everyone held their breath, and then he released it. The black arrow struck the sabrecat in the chest, sinking all the way through. The cat shot up for a moment, surprised and in pain and let out a sound that never really finished, and then collapsed on its side.
"Well that was anticlimactic," Blake commented as she walked over, everyone else loosening up as well.
"It did die in quite the dramatic fashion though," Inigo pointed out with a chuckle. "I almost expected it to make a poem before dying."
"It's not funny," M'rissi said sadly.
"At least we-"
Blake's words were cut off by a roar and the group looked back to see another sabrecat rush up and sniff at the dead one. This one was much bigger than the one they'd killed (which was still fairly big in its own right), and it was looking around for the perpetrator. Its eyes locked onto them and it roared as it began charging.
"There's more than one!" Erandur yelled.
"Take it down!" Blake ordered as she raised her own bow and fired. The arrow missed, but one from M'rissi hit dead on and then two from Inigo sank into its hide. A fireball from Erandur exploded in its face, but it powered through even as Blake released a second arrow that pierced its neck. Inigo's third arrow was heading for it when it seemed to fall over and slide against the ground, coming to a stop mere feet away from the group. The mortally wounded cat huffed a few breaths before its last slowly left it and the whole thing went still.
"Well, that was a little frightening," Inigo admitted as he walked over to it. M'rissi whimpered and Blake looked back at her.
"You okay?"
"She doesn't like killing these," M'rissi said with a small, sad frown. Blake nodded in understanding then placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I get it, really." Blake looked back over at the sabrecat. "But they were hurting people. We can't let that happen."
"Oh, I see," Inigo announced after going around both the felled animals. "The big one was a male and the first was a female."
"There may be more," Erandur said as he walked up to them. "Sabrecats don't usually just pair up. If they aren't alone, they're often in a small group."
"We'll keep looking. We still haven't found where they might have been holed up." She looked over at the Khajiit girl. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"No, she stays close. She said she would help, and M'rissi keeps her word."
Blake nodded at that and then the group started moving forward again. This time they had something of a trail they could follow, and follow it they did. Every once in a while a scratched tree or paw print on the ground let them know that they were still on the right track. Soon, they saw another sabrecat, this one lazing about several meters away from a small cave entrance. Inigo sent another arrow into it, killing it without much fuss.
"That makes three."
"We need to check inside the cave. Be on your guard," Blake warned them as she put away her bow and took out Gambol Shroud. Slowly they approached the mouth of the cave and entered it. As they slowly made their way in, Blake began picking up the sound of something moving, pausing in her own steps and causing the others to do the same.
"You hear that?" she whispered to Inigo, who nodded. He put his own bow away and drew his ebony sword. M'rissi did the same, drawing her elven blade. "Watch for claws, try to flank it. Don't let it get away. On three. One, two, three!"
The three popped from around the corner, startling the massive sabrecat as it turned towards them. Blake noticed that even with her night vision the cat seemed dark, perhaps even cloaked in shadow. As its attention went to her, M'rissi struck it, doing seemingly no damage to its hide. When it turned towards her Blake and Inigo hit it as well, but neither of their blades did anything to hurt it.
"The hell?!" Blake shouted. She swung again, even as the sabrecat turned towards her, and hit it across the face, but saw how the swirling shadows seemed to take the blow. Blake stared in disbelief, barely having the mindfulness to leap back as its jaws snapped at her. "Erandur!"
"What's going on?" the elf yelled as he summoned up a Candlelight. The Khajiits and Faunus winced at the sudden intrusion of light, and the dark-furred sabrecat roared as it backed away in fear. Blake blinked and saw where M'rissi hit it as the light spread, a bit of blood now on her blade and fur cut from the cat's hide. Erandur threw a fireball at the beast, which splashed against it and made it jump back into the darkness.
"Ernadur, quickly, make the biggest, brightest light you can!"
"What?"
"There's something protecting it, but the light makes it vulnerable."
"I see. Shield your eyes then, everyone."
As he began the spell, Blake shut her eyes tight. Whatever light came up after that must have been blinding, because it was bright even behind her eyelids. The sabrecat roared so shrilly it was almost a scream but went on the move. Unable to see, Blake took a ready stance and listened. She could hear the twinkling of Erandur's magic in one direction, M'rissi and Inigo's breath in the other, and the padding of feet ahead of her. There was a sudden scraping, and then she felt the air before her being displaced. Quickly, she brought down her blade with both hands, hitting something that had been coming right at her and bringing it to the ground as she sliced into it. A moment later, the blinding light was gone, and the four were standing before the felled black sabrecat. Its chest moved up and down slightly for a moment as red blood pooled around it, the sheer volume telling Blake she must have cut an artery. After a moment, the breathing stopped, and the sabrecat went still.
"Thank goodness," Erandur breathed with a sigh of relief, and Blake nodded in aggreement. They barely had caught their breaths when a small noise came from the back of the cave. M'rissi gasped and ran over to it.
"It had young!" she sorrowfully cried out. Blake immediately ran up behind her, seeing a small, fuzzy cub with the same black fur as the sabrecat she'd just killed among a pile of leaves and twigs. M'rissi kneeled down and reached out towards the shivering kitten, which barely moved as she touched it. "We took her mother away…"
Blake looked at the cub and shook her head. At least now the sabrecats' behavior made some sense. They had been defending and providing for a cub.
"Sorry," Blake spoke softly. "It's a shame, but there's nothing we can do for it now."
"But she's here!" M'rissi pointed out. "She can take it and raise it."
Blake scoffed, anger beginning to rise within her. "M'rissi, don't be ridiculous. It's a wild animal, not a person. Besides, you can't take care of another creature. You can barely fend for yourself!"
"How dare you?! She has taken care of herself plenty before you showed!"
"And nearly gotten yourself killed several times!"
"She is better now, and she'll be a good mother for this one." M'rissi then turned and scooped up the kitten into her arms, holding it close.
"Put that thing down!"
"Both of you be quiet!" Inigo ground out. "You need to stop acting all high and mighty!" he yelled while pointing at Blake. "And you need to get rid of that!" he directed at M'rissi. "If you want a kitten so badly it'll be one of your own!"
"Who are you to tell her what to do?!" M'rissi yelled back. "You are not her mate!"
"What's gotten into all of you?" Erandur got out as he took a step back. "This is… Wait…" He pushed his Candlelight back and saw something seemingly wisping about the three catfolk. It was almost like a shadowy cloak had wrapped itself around them. As they continued to loudly argue, he looked around the cave in worry, spotting what he'd feared he might see. Off in one corner was a stone with four candles set upon it, long burned out. Between them was a stain of dried blood, and at the top was a stand with a Soul Gem set in it.
"Oh no," he muttered. "Oh… Everyone, everyone!" he shouted in fear, managing to catch their attention. "Get out the cave! Quickly, out of the cave!"
Whatever was clouding their judgment hadn't clouded it enough that they couldn't respond to fear, and so the three dropped their argument and ran for the exit, Erandur right behind them. As the light of the sun shone over them, they almost stumbled, with Inigo stopping a little ways and Blake going a bit further before her eyes went wide. M'rissi went about twenty feet away before stopping and crouching down, holding the kitten close to her and shivering. Erandur came out last and looked back at the cave, almost calculating. Blake blinked a few times, then managed to start walking over to M'rissi's side.
"M'rissi, are you okay?"
"Her head is full of cobwebs and dust…" the Khajiit admitted as she stood back to full height. "What happened to her?"
"We went to deal with the sabrecats attacking the villagers…"
"Don't toy with her, she knows those things already. She can see unclear pictures in her head. Like looking through those glass weapons."
"We…found out they had a kitten, and you insisted on taking it with you."
M'rissi looked at the little cub in her arms, which was now shifting about in her grip. The Khajiit looked almost surprised at what she was holding.
"So this kitten she has is hers?"
"Argh, I am so sorry!" Inigo suddenly yelled as he came over to them. "I would never speak like- Well, I would never mean anything like what I said in there! I don't know what came over me!"
"Me either," Blake admitted. "It was like…I couldn't stand things not…going exactly how I wanted."
"I have an idea," Erandur said as he walked up to them. "Or at least, a theory. Someone performed some kind of ritual here. This cave is cursed. What exactly that curse does I'm not entirely sure, but it seems to wrap around the mind and raise aggression while creating a sort of cloak to the affected that would make them invulnerable, so long as they were within shadows. It was beginning to take a hold on all of you, and might have started affecting me soon after."
"So, we were being taken by a curse." Blake looked at the cave and shivered. "Kjens mentioned someone coming through before the attacks started happening. I thought it was just a coincidence mixed with prejudice, but now… At least we know what's causing this. Can we get rid of it?"
"Luckily, a good deal of my training dealt with removing curses like this one. It may take me a few days, but I can remove it."
"That's good." Blake looked at the kitten that had finally gotten comfortable in M'rissi's arms and started scratching its head. "I guess we have to figure out what to do about you."
"She will take care of her. She could never leave such a small and adorable creature like her alone to die in a cave"
Blake thought for a moment. Part of her still felt that allowing M'rissi to take care of a wild sabrecat kitten would not end well at all, but seeing the hopeful look on her face made Blake pause. Finally, she sighed and relented. "Well, I'm not stopping you, but we can't really take care of a cub traveling as we do, so…you'll have to settle down for a time." She looked back down at the cat. "And I don't think raising her in a town is a good idea."
"M'rissi will take her to the ghost shack, and there she can raise Lirry in peace."
"Lirry, huh? I kinda like that name." Blake hummed in thought. "But what about food?"
"Well, I've lived off the land before," Inigo reminded them. "I think I can find enough game to feed three cats. How about it?"
"Yes, you will get her plenty of food, so that she can grow up!" M'rissi then held up the kitten and rubbed her face against her. "Doesn't that sound good, Lirry?"
Lirry meowed and chirped in response. Blake smiled at the scene, but then her eyes went wide when M'rissi started licking her.
"No, no! M'ri! Don't do that!"
Lydia looked at the drawing before her and the scenery it was based upon. While she was mostly satisfied with how she'd gotten the mountains, she wasn't quite as fond of how the buildings and fences of Rorickstead came out. She'd almost given up but instead opted to continue and improve. There was certainly improvement the further to the right that her sketch was, from fences that seemed a tad too curved to a building's wall that looked almost right. Suddenly, Ruby ran up and bounced up and down in front of her.
"Lyd, Lyd, Lyd, we have to wait! Small delay! We can't leave until Blake gets black, I mean, back!"
"Um, okay, my Thane. What seems to be-" the Dragonborn plopped down next to her and showed her the scroll's screen.
"She just sent this picture! Look at what they found!"
What they found seemed to be a dog-sized, fuzzy sabrecat cub with only the tiniest of fangs and a completely black coat of fur, held up by M'rissi as if she was holding her own child.
"It's so adorable!" Ruby exclaimed through a high-pitched squeal.
"It is kinda cute," Lydia admitted with a nod before pausing in thought. "Wait, where did they find that?"
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe they'll tell us when they get back."
Lydia just shrugged and then looked at her drawing and then the picture of the kitten. She flipped the page in her sketchbook and looked back once again. "Mind if I borrow your scroll for a time?"