Ter'im woke to what sounded like a drowning cat and groaned, curling the furs around his head. Ter'im heard a chuckle and he rolled out of the furs long enough to see Benor with a bowl of steaming soup and a hunk of bread.
"Awful thing to wake up to in the morning, I can't say that I envy you. Did you find anything in the house?"
"Nothing of any use; burned books and scraps of burned cloth. Ter'im thinks he has found a lead though, and now he must wait until nightfall to investigate further. Is there a blacksmith Ter'im can visit?"
"Sorry my friend, you must make do with your equipment until you reach another city. We here in Morthal don't have much in the way of shops or blacksmiths."
"Ah, Ter'im has been spoiled by living in Riften. He is used to having everything at his fingertips. What can Ter'im do until nightfall? He has no wish to stay in here."
Benor laughed and answered, "Well, if you're lucky you can see if you can seduce some of the local women, but if you're into alchemy, the marshes around have abundant supplies of deathbell and fungus pods. The marshes are safer during the day, but you may have to keep an eye out for trolls."
Ter'im cursed and clambered out of bed to rustle around in his pack. He was running low on ingredients and his ears needed a break, so he pulled his armor back on.
"Ter'im supposes he will wander about the marshes today then."
Benor nodded quietly. "Come back to us in one piece, friend. Judging by your eye, this will not be the first time you've been exploring."
Ter'im grinned. "Beginner's luck for Ter'im. Perhaps if he survives to tonight he will tell you the tale."
Turns out the marshes were more than enough to replenish Ter'im's poison supplies. He saw an abandoned ruin and again felt the cold shudder lance down his spine, so he steered clear. Two trolls, five frostbite spiders and one spriggan later, Ter'im headed back to Morthal.
He sneaked his way to the burned house and saw the glowing form of the child once more.
"You came back! Come on, I'll hide and you have to come find me. Count to ten!" The girl exclaimed, clapping her small translucent hands together.
Ter'im obeyed and put his hands over his eyes, but peeked through his fingers to trace her path. Ter'im counted under his breath and then quickly followed her path that he remembered. Soon enough he found a small graveyard above the house with one small coffin unearthed. Ter'im reached forward with held breath and pulled the coffin open. Inside, a caramel colored skeleton rested against the side of the coffin. A noise brought Ter'im's attention and he swung his hammer out, catching a woman's arm. She gave a cry of pain and a hiss. Ter'im got a closer look at the woman and saw her eyes glazed over with hunger and saw the tell-tale signs of vampirism.
"You fool! You will soon be mine!" She growled and started draining Ter'im's health.
Ter'im jumped out of the way of her spell and brought his hammer down cleanly on top of her head, bashing in her skull and killing her. A blue flicker brought Ter'im's attention back to the coffin and he saw the ghost form of the girl lay over the skeleton.
"Thanks for playing with me. I feel sleepy now and I hear my mother calling me."
With that, the ghost faded and Ter'im let his hammer drop to the ground. He rooted around on the vampire's body, pulling off what little goods she had. Thudding footsteps alerted Ter'im to company and he straightened up and braced his hammer.
"Hold, friend, I saw what happened. I am Thonnir, Laelette's husband." The man called motioning to the unmoving vampire.
"I had thought she abandoned me and our son, Virkmund, to join the Stormcloak army, but I recently heard rumors of her being back in town. Come to think of it, Laelette was getting awful close to Alva in the weeks before she left. I have a feeling Alva's behind whatever's going on here."
Ter'im sheathed his hammer and bowed to Thonnir. "Many thanks to you my friend. I will alert the Jarl and see what she would have me do about this information. Though, if it goes the way Ter'im feels it will he will have to break and enter Alva's house. Is there anything he should know before he does this?"
"Yes, friend, Alva still lives with Hroggar, so be wary about sneaking into her house. You know Benor, yes?" At Ter'im's nod he continued. "Get him to run interference with the guard so you can get into the house. I will see if I can occupy Hroggar for you."
Ter'im nodded quickly and jogged over to Benor where he was leaning on the railing in front of the Moorside Inn.
"Benor! May Ter'im have a word with you?"
Benor stood and paced over to Ter'im in the shadow behind the building.
"Why all the secrecy, Ter'im?"
"Ter'im needs Benor to distract the town guard from Hroggar's home this evening. Ter'im has some unfinished business with Alva and needs to gather some evidence to present to the Jarl."
Benor's eyes bugged but he acquiesced. "All right Ter'im. But don't blame me if you are hurt or worse killed."
The lock on Hroggar's house was easy enough to pick and Ter'im paused for a moment once he got inside and allowed his eyes to readjust to the firelight inside. He straightened up out of his crouch once he was sure no one else was in the house. A quick look through the cupboards and on the tables revealed nothing until Ter'im saw the steps leading to the basement. He quietly crept down the steps and pushed gently on the door. It swung open soundlessly to reveal an open coffin in the middle of the floor. Ter'im peered in and picked up the small journal laying insides.
Ter'im flipped open the journal and read about Laelette's mistake killing Hroggar's family, her obsession with turning the child, and how Alva had been sent by Movarth, a master vampire, to enslave all of Morthal's population.
A scuffle on the overhead made Ter'im curse and stuff the journal into his pack before crouching and heading back upstairs using the shadows to hide his body. Ter'im barely breathed as he squeezed past Hroggar in the doorway and only fully relaxed when he was in sight of the Jarl's longhouse.