I am VERY VERY sorry for the long-ass wait, it's just the initial lack of reviews made me very very sad, mostly because of how much work I put into those chapters.
But now I'm back, and hopefully my story quality is just as good as before!
Empress of Death
Tylermech66
Neka was currently in the process of organizing all of her new books and her collected journals.
The books were all that she had access to at the time, which covered three bookshelves (she'd been ordering them from all over the empire), and a repurposed wine rack full of her personal scrolls and scrolls with other information in them.
She kept a small collection of journals from her recent adventures and future adventures on a small shelf, with her personal journals locked away in a chest.
Sighing, she nodded appreciatively to Lydia, her newly appointed housecarl, as she was handed a bowl of venison soup.
Sitting down at her table next to the fire, she ate the soup whilst writing down new information in journal #3
Obtained nobility status by slaying a dragon, noted for possibility of exploitation in other holds.
Dragon's flesh eviscerates itself somehow after death, look into possible ways of stopping this, meanwhile, begin to study recovered bones, they have already shown remarkable properties for armor, but need many different dragons worth of bones for usable pieces.
Bones also show remarkable application for use in staff making, must consult with an expert of staffcrafting.
Giants hold much potential for experimentation, their size alone will allow for strong thralls. Considering their relative rarity, I must hasten my own necromancy training to allow for permanent thralls.
Priority, begin studies on the soul, if legends of dragon soul in mortal body true, possible applications for... something, I don't know, but I aim to find out.
Quickly marking down many other less important things, Neka finally stood up and stretched until her vertebrae popped, as she let out a little moan at the feeling.
She then walked to the mirror and looked at her mess of hair, pulling it out of its impromptu ponytail, she began the long arduous task of untangling every knot and tangle, with the judicious help of Lydia, she had her hair knot free enough to clean it.
Putting her head over a cauldron and closing her eyes, Lydia dumped the bucket of water over her hair, and and began to run a lathered potion made from various flowers through it, the magic of the potions slowly working out the dirt and grime. The potion itself worked as a mild poison, so lydia had to be careful.
Eventually all of her now upper back length pitch black hair was clean, and she sat in a chair reading whilst it dried.
After it was dry enough, she had Lydia help her braid most of it. The entirety of her hair was pulled into countless thin braids, each with a flat gold cap at the end holding them closed. She pulled most of the braids back into a now much more elaborate looking ponytail, with two braids framing her face just in front of her ears.
Neka sighed as she looked herself over, then brought out a thin brush, with black paint on it, and carefully applied it around her eyes until it gave her eyes a black outline, then she ran it over her lips.
She didn't apply anything else, she was already naturally beautiful, but it felt nice to be cleaned up again. She'd already washed her body in the river.
Neka then began to assemble her armor over herself, and nodded with approval. She didn't need the cloak today, and as she pulled the hood up, she grinned.
Things were looking up. Now, she needed to answer the Greybeard's call soon enough.
Before Neka left, she got some smithing lessons from Adriana, and comparing Adriana's technique to Eorland's, she saw that Adriana wasn't too dissimilar in skill.
So, the skyforge is what make's his "skill" so great.
Anyway, Neka decided not to try and forge a new weapon just yet, she wished to be more comfortable with her new forging techniques. Perhaps she'd do some production work for one of the imperial camps for a bit later on. For now, she simply replaced her shoddy longbow with a basic elven bow and a quiver stuffed full of elven arrows.
Going back up to the keep, Neka nodded to the guards, who let her in with a few stares.
Ah, how she missed those looks of longing, let it never be said she was ignorant of her allure.
She nodded to the Jarl as she entered Farengar's sanctuary.
"Farengar, how far are you into your research?" The disheveled wizard looked up from his study and murmered a greeting.
"Not far I'm afraid, while there is some small translation of the dragon text, it is not enough to fully translate this. I do have a general idea though, this map is a map of dragon burial sights." Neka's eyes widend and her bloodred eyes gained a mischevious glimmer.
"Hmm, very interesting, you do have another copy of the map somewhere yes?" The wizard nodded and she grabbed it, placing it in her satchel.
Her business done, she quickly learned a few more spells from him, the interesting ones to her was the conjure familiar and raise weak undead.
The familiar conjured appeared to actually be a ghost of a wolf. It felt strangely, well, familiar. As if she'd had it with her her whole life. She'd have to study it more later.
The latter worked slightly different from the cyrodiilic variant, but not much, she'd have to find higher level spells, maybe she'd go to the college after the greybeards.
Neka entered her house and began packing, she pulled on her cloak and gathered her potions. Pulling on the again empty dufflebag and her new elven longbow and quiver of elven arrows she left the city.
Soon enough she was out of town raiding bandit hideouts and collecting bounties as she saw fit on her way to Helgen (now much more convinced she'd actually get a payout on the bounties with her status), her first stop for her research notes.
After a day or so, she was again at the still slightly smoldering ruins of Helgen.
Pushing through the charred gates, she noticed the bandits already picking through the ruins. At the sight of her they readied their weapons and charged.
Taking out her sword and dagger, dagger held in reverse grip in her other hand, she prepared herself for the charging bandits.
The first one she easily stabbed with the dagger, using her entire armored arm like a shield to push through her defense and stab the female bandit in the heart.
the next bandit came in with a Warhammer, and caught her in the side. luckily, her solid armor stopped her from breaking any ribs, but Neka was pretty sure that she'd at least cracked a few. She got her revenge my ducking under the next swing and stabbing up through his head through the sot underside of the jaw.
When it seemed like she was going to be overwhelmed by four more bandits, she activated her flame cloak, burning off the skin and flesh of those close.
Then she activated the rune she'd sneakily placed at the beginning of the battle.
The chief was still standing, strangely, a ward protecting him from the flames. Neka licked her lips, she'd been searching for a ward spell, what a fascinating bit of Nordic magic, even if unrefined.
The chieftain was clad in a strange armor she hadn't seen before, it almost looked like the metal was carved out, with fine black fur lining it. and finally a bear helmet.
Quickly getting in his guard she stabbed into his stomack, but was shocked when her sword faled to get through and in fact got a bit chipped.
Narrowing her eyes, she deduced that that armor had a higher hardness factor than typical moonstone, seeing as her high end steel sword was now damaged.
This was troublesome, Even as she blocked his attack with her left arm she hissed in pain from the jolting movement, and she noticed his weapon digging deeply into the steel.
He wasn't wearing normal steel, but it was also obviously steel.
Perhaps... this was some form of alloy, they weren't used much because of the effort in using them, but she did know of them.
She'd get to study it if she killed him, so she grunted and used a very expensive scroll she'd bought from an imperial trader who'd stopped by Whiterun before she left. It had an invisibility affect, and she shimmered from view.
Of course, the chieftain wasn't stupid, he could see the shimmering and tried to charge at her again, but Neka ran away into the building, then crouched down and hid, preparing her dagger.
She'd noticed his neck was mostly unprotected, so when he came running in, she grabbed him from behind and stabbed him.
Or she would have, if he hadn't elbowed her in the ribs.
Stepping away, she began to wail on him with her sword, and finally managed to sneak in a fireball and blew him off his feet.
Before he could get back up again, Neka had already slit his throat. She let out a massive breath, he was much more skilled than the common bandit fodder.
Standing up, she began to walk to the carts area.
Once there all she could see was a pile of charcoal, but abandoned close to two burnt corpses was a large chest that already looked to be raided.
Opening it, she came across several lightly burnt articles of clothing, including her own old black robes over chainmail with internal silk padding.
She stuffed her old armor, which was now half burnt, into her duffel bag for mostly sentimental reasons, now having a much more effective armor, and still dug around for her journal. Of course her gold was gone, as well as her favorite necklace made from moonstone pieces, but she couldn't find her journal.
Looking around at the bandits, she groaned.
She'd have to search every one of them.
A few hours into darkness Neka finally found her journal in the personal chest of the chieftain on top of the tower. She had noticed quite a few more dog eared pages than normal and smoldered in rage at the knowledge someone else had read it.
Stuffing it in her satchel, she exited Helgen and went towards Falkreath.
After walking through the forest for another few hours, it was just about dawn when she got there, before she could get close to the gates thought, she was interrupted by a bark.
Looking to the side, she saw a rather ordinary looking Skyrim dog.
"Shoo, I've got stuff to do." The dog tilted it's head.
"Eh, don't shoo me you necrophiliac! I got a quest for you!"
Eyes widening, Neka looked to the dog, and her heart stopped for a second.
She knew of only one dog that could talk.
"Barbas? Hound of Clavicus Vile?" Neka's face paled, no no no no no, she REALLY didn't need to get involved in daedric shenanigans right now!
"Ah, so you've heard of me? Ha, well then this should be easy, I need an escort back to my master because, eh, we've kind of had a falling out." Neka snorted quietly and murmured to herself.
"Like only every century." The dog glared at her.
"Anyway, I need you to bring me to him so we can make up, I'm sure my master can provide you a suitable boon for restoring me to him." Neka sighed, damnit, she wasn't powerful enough to apose even Barbas at the moment, from what she knew he held half of Vile's power... which scared her, a lot.
"Alright, I'll do as you... request. Where is his shrine?" Barbas nodded.
"In the mountain pass at Heimar's Shame." Neka blinked, that was far too convenient to be chance, no doubt deadric shenanigans again.
"Alright, I was going that way anyway, I need to stop by in Falkreath first though, sell all my junk you see." Barbas nodded and Neka began her trek again.
When in Falkreath, she got a bit nosy and investigated the rumors of a man who tore apart a little girl, and not very surprised when she learned he was a werewolf, she made a note again to go after him and study him, she had never seen a werewolf before, and their transformations fascinated her.
She also noted the gigantic graveyard, there must have been thousands of graves, many of them were unmarked rock piles, but still, that was possibly hundreds of useable skeletons.
She quickly did a task for the Jarl, and promptly got a thane recommendation if she was known throughout the hold, she just blinked again, the nord system was so easily exploitable.
After that she made her way to Heimar's Shame. The journey was surprisingly calm, wild animal and bandit attacks were becoming normal for her, and she also was beginning to form an attachment to Barbas, even if he was a smartass.
"Oooh I hate this pass, it's so cold here." Neka blinked at that, she wasn't even cold yet but half a daedric prince was complaining about the cold?
She voiced these thoughts and it only made Barbas laugh.
"Hah, say that to Clavicus, I'm sure he'll appreciate the joke. Besides, I'm not exactly a winter breed, you know? I manifested down in Cyrodiil last time, so that's why I'm cold. What I wouldn't do to be a husky right about now." Barbas muttered that last bit, making Neka laugh. Indeed, being a short furred mutt wasn't very useful up in Skyrim.
They quickly found the Entrance to Heimar's shame, but before she entered, Barbas perked up.
"Oh, I should probably tell you, the shrine's hosting a buncha vamps at the moment. You know, those bloodsucking guys who Molag just loves to bits... literally?" Neka sighed.
"I know what Vampires are Barbas, don't patronize me." Barbas barked.
"Do you now?" She eyed him suspiciously, before sighing again (a common thing caused by his antics)
"Also, you could have told me sooner." Barbas gave a doggish shrug, then they entered the cave system.
Quickly Neka found the first set of enemies, a high elf vampire stood up from his perch before calling out loudly about intruders, then started bombarding her with ice spells.
Hissing from the encroaching frostbite on her affected areas, Neka quickly covered herself in a flame cloak to ward off the spell's lingering after affects, then launched an ice spike of her own into the Vampire's head.
She didn't like using frost spells, but this one was useful for accurate strikes. plus, pinning an enemy to the wall by their head was immensely satisfying.
Then the three vampires, our two and a vampire's thrall it seemed, came charging at her. Red swirling mists surrounded her as the strong thrall fought her with a great-axe. and Neka felt the exhaustion of two big battles take their toll on her, even thought she'd only been in one small fight.
So, growing a bit desperate from that feeling of exhaustion and fatigue, Neka gathered and overpowered fireball in her hands and slammed it into the ground.
It blasted outwards, knocking the thrall back and disrupting the vampire's focus, allowing her some breathing room as she angrily leaped atone of the vampire casters, using her sword to cut cleanly through half of her neck, killing the vampire, then using her claw arm to block a swing from the still alive thrall.
'So it's master is the other one?'
Making a quick decision, Neka ducked under the next swing before sweeping out wither leg, tripping the vampire and allowing her to maul the back of his head with her claw, making a great big bloody mess but still leaving the vampire alive.
So, thinking quickly, Neka sent a blast of basic sparks into his head, killing the vampire.
The thrall behind her fell to the ground, before incinerating itself into dust.
She quickly drank a cure disease potion, she didn't need to be a vampire just yet.
Neka quickly made her way through the rest of the shrine, finding a few useful bits and bobs, along with some interesting books.
Finally though, she made it to Vile's shrine.
"Ah, another champion of the age, I've always liked you guys, always willing to make deals with just about anyone if it gets you more loot." Neka blinked, champion?
"Ah, but I'm not supposed to tell you such things, oh well, anyway, I have a deal for you, what do you wish for, what is your heart's desire?" Neka crossed her arms sighed, she'd have to be blunt.
"Ultimate power, immortality, rule over all of Nirn, but I'm not requesting anything from you, Clavicus, you are far too untrustworthy." Somehow, she could imagine Clavicus clutching at his chest with the back of his other hand held to his forehead has he made a dramatic sound.
"Oh whoa is me, the mortals don't trust my business ventures any more, all of those souls running into my domain will trickle to nothing. OH WELL, I'll just have to wait a few decades and it'll all blow over." Neka sighed.
"Can we get to the point of this sire? I know you have a task for me, daedric princes ALWAYS have tasks for mortals, no idea why you care, but you do... boredom I guess?"
"Precisely, anyway, you see, I only have half my power at the moment, the other half is sealed inside Barbas. As much as I hate to say it, your probably just as powerful as me right now." Neka just crossed her arms and rose a brow.
"Oh fine, your no fun. ok, there's this axe, and extremely powerful axe. If you could get that for me, well, I could have quite a bit of fun indeed. Talk to the mutt if you want more information on it." Neka looked ot the dog and he sighed.
"One of Clavicus's "little jests". A wizard named Sebastion Lort had a daughter who worshiped Hircine. When the daughter became a werewolf it drove Sebastian over the edge. He couldn't stand to see his little girl take on such a bestial form. The wizard wished for the ability to end his daughter's curse. Clavicus gave him an axe. His cave is up in northern Solitude, along the coast." Neka rubbed her chin.
"That will take a while. You stay here, I don't want a daedric being accompanying me for the better part of a few months, who knows what could happen." Barbas sighed and sat on his heels.
"Fine, leave me with the prankster god, yep, greeeeat idea." Neka ignored his whining as she left the cave, destination set on the hamlet at the foot of the mountain.
Done with fifth chapter, woo.
Neka is terrified of the daedric princes, enough that she doesn't want anything to do with them or the artifacts, but has unwittedly become rather attached to Barbas.
Her fears will become a problem come the dlc... "Evile grin"