Yeah, so I totally this is not the way the quest ends, but I decided to add in my own twists for giggles. Enjoy!

-JazzyKat

He slipped out of their sight easily enough and he stopped for a moment once he felt he was safe and unfurled his map to look for the cave Nurelion had pointed him to. Ter'im's chest was still hollow and it ached with every step he took, but he refused to apologize to Ulfric when he was clearly not in the wrong. Ter'im imagined Vilkas's warm arms around him for a few moments, and cursed when he felt cold tears leaking down his muzzle and freezing in the snow.

Ter'im shook the sad thoughts from his mind and tried to set his mind on finding the cave, but he couldn't quite put his usual enthusiasm into questing as he usually did. Inside Forsaken Cave, Ter'im made short work of the wolf pack that had taken residence, and headed through the cave into some more Nordic ruins.

"I hate these undead bastards, I swear when and if I die I'm insisting they burn my body." Ter'im grumbled under his breath as he yanked an elven arrow out of an unfortunate dragur. He cringed when he came upon a hallway and heard the sound of swinging blades.

"By Nocturnal why do I always have to find these wretched traps?" Ter'im cursed and moved through the trap, holding his breath when one of the blades passed by his nose so closely he could feel a wind off of it.

Inside the chamber, Ter'im perked up when he noticed a glowing word wall, and he approached cautiously, wary of the crypt that lay between the door and the new shout. He crept up to the glowing words and felt warmth as the word was whispered to his understanding, basking in the comfort of the Dragon language. Ter'im came back to reality when he heard a snarl and a weapon unsheathe from behind him and he jerked around to see three dragur advancing, their eyes glowing in the darkness. In the next instance, the crypt laying innocently between Ter'im and the dragur burst open with violent force, and Ter'im cursed loudly when another Dragur rose slowly stood to its feet.

Ter'im reached behind him for his war hammer and took a wild swing at the freshly awoken Dragur. The creature stumbled and drew its weapon before drawing deep breath and releasing a shout that stung as it hit Ter'im. Ter'im jumped off of the platform and frantically beat two of the other dragur back to death, receiving glancing blows to his sides.

Ter'im gritted his teeth when another shout reverberated in the chamber and in a moment of desperation let loose his own shout at the dragur. It stumbled back and seemed to take a few moments before it could attack again.

In the back corner of Ter'im's mind he catalogued the shout's effect, impressed with the new power, while dodging the side of a blade that was previously aimed for his neck. The dragur swung at him again and Ter'im flung an arm up to block the attack, causing sparks to fly from the contact. Ter'im swung the hammer one handed and cleaved the dragur's head off of its fragile neck in one clean swipe.

Ter'im stood surprised as the corpse slumped to the floor, then he felt determination well up inside of him and he charged at the remaining enemy, driving it back with a deadly barrage of hits, finally killing it up against a door in the center of the room. Ter'im stopped to gather his breath and leaned against the doors too hard, causing them to swing inwards and dump him on his back in front of a white basin.

Ter'im got back to his feet and pulled out the mixture Nurelion had given him. He dumped the potion in the basin and a door opened at the back of the room. Inside the room potions ingredients lay in numerous bunches and Ter'im gleefully shoved them all in his pack, figuring he could make a fair bit of gold off of them. Once the room was sufficiently bare, he stepped up to what he assumed was the White Phial, frowning a bit when he noticed it was cracked down the side.

Ter'im shrugged, grabbed the phial and headed out of the crypt via the hidden passages. He hit the ground outside and groaned when he realized it was dark outside. The journey to the cave was a short one thought, so Ter'im argued in his mind about waiting out the night before deciding he needn't make Galmar cover for him for much longer.

Ter'im scooted into Windhelm past several guards hurrying into the palace. He threw a hand at Galmar and Farkas and like the night before headed down to the barracks and collapsed on a bed and a warm body. Ter'im grumbled and then slurred out, "Ter'im is sorry for landing on his bed mate but is too tired to move."

The body under him laughed and then sets of hands started tugging off his armor. He allowed the guards to undress s him and tuck him under the covers, and in the morning was met by an amused Galmar who clapped him on the shoulder and handed him a mug of mead.

"Great show last night cat! Never have I laughed so hard in my life, but I thought for sure I'd have to scrape your sorry hide off of one of the walls. So, did you get what you were looking for?" Galmar boomed, pushing Ter'im gently up into the main hall and shoving him into a seat at the end of the table farthest from the glowering Ulfric and the confused Vilkas.

Ter'im felt a flare of pain in his chest and downed his mead to steel his nerves. "Aye, Ter'im got what he was looking for, though the Phial seems useless now." Ter'im felt dark eyes on him and he looked up to see Vilkas staring at him concerned. Ter'im read the anxiousness and the worry in Vilkas's eyes and nodded to the palace doors and mouthed, "Tonight."

Vilkas nodded to show he'd understood and Ter'im stood abruptly, heading for Nurelion's shop. Inside, Ter'im saw no one behind the counter, so he crept gingerly up the stairs and found the old man sitting in a chair before the fire, coughing heavily.

"So, have you got the Phial?" Nurelion choked out, gasping for breath.

Ter'im wordlessly showed him the Phial and Nurelion gasped, upset.

"This certainly matches all of the descriptions for the vial that I've read, but since this can't hold liquid, I guess we'll never know! How did you damage it?" Nurelion snarled then mumbled under his breath, "This is what I get for not going after the damn thing myself."

Ter'im growled back at the old man, "It was in this condition when Ter'im found it. You wanted him to retrieve the phial at Forsaken Cave and Ter'im retrieved the phial."

Nurelion waved a dismissive arm, "Never mind that, I doubt you know enough to actually damage the phial. Well this is certainly the end of it, now if you don't mind, I'm not in the mood for company. Please show yourself out." The old man chunked the phial down on a nearby table and shuffled off to bed.

Ter'im's hand was on his hammer when he heard the stairs squeak behind him. Ter'im turned to see Quintus looking apologetically at him. "I really do thank you for your help. I know Nurelion is a pain in the ass and I hate to see you walk away empty handed. Look, you and I both know who you preside over, and I know while this isn't a normal contract, we can make a deal out of this. You kill the old man, I'll make it look like he died and I'll restore the phial for you if you contract me to make potions for the Stormcloak army. I'll charge a moderate price and everybody's happy."

Ter'im carefully looked over Quintus, before pulling out a dagger and promising, "If you betray Ter'im, he will keep you alive and slowly drain your blood out to bathe in." Quintus nodded and motioned to Nurelion who by this point lay snoring.

Ter'im killed him with a quick stab between the ribs and cast a fire spell to seal up the wound before it bled. Quintus handed Ter'im a sack of gold and bustled around the shop, setting up Nurelion's death scene and Ter'im headed back out into the town, stopping to buy arrows from Oengul War-Anvil.