Hello people and welcome back to Skyrim: Darkblade Chronicles. We left off on a decently heavy note...now let's see where it goes shall we?
The need for one's aid does not regard the hands of fate or time. When misfortune grips the heart or mind, and power abandons the victim, then by all rights they are in need of another's strength. The demands of morality, and even tradition are often in line with such altruism. Should the disservices of the misfortunate be too great, then by all accounts, any aid lent to them are wasted.
Any kind of aid is better spent on the ones who have earned their honor. It is this judgement that led me and others to swift and serious progress, and the cleansing of those who devote themselves to the world's degradation. The notion of following the daedra is frowned upon not without good cause, nor is the notion of serving the Nine Divines.
Despite the balance between the forces fighting over creation itself shifting and swaying...the side one should pick is often difficult.
After nearly an hour of Serana putting her blood magic on display, and drinking from the White Phial to compensate for her fatigue, the pair went back into the fortress, and to the forge...but they were greeted by Sorine.
"Dragonborn, Serana! I'm glad I caught you." She said.
"What is it?" Sheldon asked.
"I've got more leads on additional Dwemer plans. Those last ones helped me immensely. If you could collect this one for me, it's sure to result in extraordinary success!" She said seriously.
"Tell us where to go." Sheldon said.
"It should be at Bilegulch Mine, in Falkreath." Sorine said.
"Falkreath? That's quite a walk from here." Serana said.
"Not with that scroll of yours." Sorine said.
"To be precise it is on the northwestern-most area of Falkreath, and it is likely overrun with bandits..." Sheldon said.
"Yeah, because why wouldn't it be?" Serana asked casually.
"What of Gunmar? Did he mention any whereabouts to look into?" Sheldon asked.
"Uh...no, he didn't." Sorine said.
"No matter, we will conclude whatever business is left here, then be on our way." Sheldon said.
"Alright...good night." Sorine said.
"Good night." Serana said, then Sorine walked away.
"Bilegulch Mine...I haven't been there since the jarl of Falkreath asked me to slaughter the outlaws there." Sheldon said.
"I sense another story coming." Serana said as she folded her arms.
"Not this time." Sheldon said seriously, then Serana raised an eyebrow.
"Normally you spin a yarn during moments like this." She said.
"No, I have done many things for all the jarls of Skyrim, some serious, some less so. Currently, I have no interest in going through that as of this moment." Sheldon said.
"O...k..." Serana said.
"But regardless, there is little reason to go to Bilegulch Mine until sunrise." Sheldon said.
"What about the vampires?" Serana asked, then Sheldon took a moment to think, and used Clairvoyance.
"Hmmm...it seems that word of the Dawnguard is spreading more rapidly than we thought. The remaining vampires in Skyrim are fleeing to Castle Volkihar to join your father's cause." He said.
"Great..." Serana groaned.
"This also means that we should expect more Dawnguard troops at some point in the near future..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Also great." Serana said casually.
"Relax Serana, they will not-" Serana cuts Sheldon off.
"I'm not afraid of them Dragonborn." She said seriously, then she took a moment to think as Sheldon stared at her.
"I cannot remember the last time you called me that..." Sheldon said seriously.
"Me neither...but I said that to make a point." Serana said.
"An interesting method..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Anyway, what do you propose we do?" Serana asked as she put her hands on her hips.
"Well...there should be plenty of armor and weapons available for the future recruits. Although..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Although what?" Serana asked.
"I have an idea for the rest of the bones I've harvested, especially from the mammoth." Sheldon said.
"That's alot of bone meal..." Serana said casually.
"I have something much better in mind." Sheldon said, then Serana looked at him curiously.
"Say what now?" She asked.
"There are engravings used by the ancient Nords, and they grant boons to those who possess the bones of animals that have these engravings." Sheldon said.
"That...doesn't sound familiar." Serana said.
"It's mostly a lost practice, but as with the ice wraith teeth, and fire salts, I have taken it upon myself to utilize such wisdom as much as possible." Sheldon said.
"Lucky Dawnguards..." Serana said casually.
"I take it you figured out my plans?" Sheldon asked, then Serana raised her eyebrows.
"It would be a miracle if I didn't." She said.
"Fair enough." Sheldon said.
"Wait...is that all you plan on doing? Just write some fancy paintings on some bones?" Serana asked.
"Those 'fancy paintings' draw power from the Divines themselves, especially Kyne. One of those boons is immunity to poison, or sickness, and that does not exclude vampirism." Sheldon said, then Serana widened her eyes.
"Yeah...that would come in real handy for vampire hunters." She said.
"My thoughts exactly, and to answer your question about the time. The night is still young..." Sheldon trailed off, then Serana sighed.
"And Skyrim can wait for once?" She asked.
"Yes...she can..." Sheldon said, then he went to the earthen floor of the cavern, and materialized dozens of bones of various shapes and sizes, as Serana smirked.
"I'll just...be over here then..." She said casually as she went to the alchemy lab and Sheldon watched her. He then got to work using a dragonbone dagger to crave the images of various animals, from wolves, to bears, to snakes, to eagles, to whales, to dragons. Sheldon also used a large inkwell and a feather to fill the pictures of the animals and creatures, and used just enough ink to fill the animal-shaped holes craved into the bones.
After several minutes, the pain-staking process led to half of the bones being used for the future.
Sheldon then put his inkwell and feather away, and looked over the table of bone charms he crafted.
"That should be enough." He said, then Serana stopped grinding some herbs in the mortar and looked down at the table on the cavern ground.
"How many did you make?" She asked.
"By my count, twenty-three." Sheldon said, then Serana looked at him with widened eyes.
"That's enough for the Dawnguard?" She asked seriously.
"Yes." Sheldon said simply, then Serana took a moment to think.
"O.k...if you say so. And I guess if more are needed, then you can just make more." She said.
"My thoughts exactly." Sheldon said.
"Can I see the bones?" Serana asked.
"By all means." Sheldon said, then Serana went around to the cavern floor, and looked over the table covered with bones...and looked it over intensely.
"That's it? All you did was paint some animals on them?" She asked seriously.
"It's not the animals, but their affiliation with Kyne's sphere that matters, specifically nature itself." Sheldon said.
"Yeah...right." Serana said.
"The old ways are no longer practiced commonly, but they were not without merit." Sheldon said.
"Because of Kyne?" Serana asked.
"Indirectly, yes. The ancient Nords were more interested in worshiping animals rather than the Divines themselves. Although...chief among them were the dragons, for obvious reasons, the dragons have little to do with the boons I have in mind for the Dawnguard. By extension, Akatosh does as well; his role in this applies more to myself than them." Sheldon said.
"Yeah, when was the last time the god of time was associated with preventing sickness?" Serana asked casually.
"If he was, it was nowhere near as often as the others." Sheldon said.
"Naturally..." Serana trailed off, then Sheldon stared at her.
"You sound like you disapprove of all this." He said, then Serana raised an eyebrow.
"You are aware that the Divines and vampires don't mix right?" She asked seriously.
"Maybe not, but the rest of the Dawnguard cannot say that." Sheldon said.
"Yeah, yeah, we've established that, but even though I did ask this...I sort of regret doing so." Serana said.
"If you don't want me to tell you all of the details, then I won't." Sheldon said, then Serana sighed and looked away.
"It's not that I don't want to know these things, but the subject tends to make my skin crawl after a while. Which is pretty weird considering that I'm literally standing before a man with the soul of a dragon, who are in turn supposed to be the children of a god." She said.
"I suppose so..." Sheldon said.
"Normally I would just write this off as this being alot to take in, but...you're spoken to me about alot of personal things before, and that was relatively fine. But for reasons I already gave you, the Divines are a different story." Serana said.
"Indeed." Sheldon said, then Serana smirked and looked at Sheldon again.
"Well, at least I got that sorted out...don't know about you though." Serana said.
"There is nothing for me to sort out; you made it clear how and why you were being agitated, and this case is not unique." Sheldon said.
"I'll bet." Serana said, then Sheldon looked over the bones, and looked back at Serana.
"How much did you get done?" Sheldon asked.
"A few archery potions, although...I'm thinking about throwing magicka potions into the mix. I mean, I seriously doubt the Dawnguard aren't going to start using magic at some point." Serana said.
"A wise decision." Sheldon said simply.
"I haven't done it yet." Serana said.
"Nevertheless, it's a wise decision." Sheldon said, then Serana stared at him, and eventually smirked.
"Well, aren't you sweet...? Now, how did you discover this...bone crafting thing?" She asked.
"I discovered it during one of my runs through the various crypts throughout Skyrim. To be precise, I found ruined books that possessed...staggering amounts of information, and once I restored them...well, most of them were barely noteworthy, but others, more so." Sheldon said.
"And...what did you do with the rest of the tomes?" Serana asked.
"I gave them to the College of Winterhold." Sheldon said.
"Really now? They didn't interest you, but some aspiring mage gets to bore themselves with tales of how some everyday housewife was tired of doing the same thing all the time?" Serana asked casually, and Sheldon stared at her.
"Believe it or not, some of the stories I read were even less interesting than that." Sheldon said, then Serana scoffed, smirked, and looked away.
"Oh wow..." She groaned.
"But on a serious note, some of them tell the tales of their authors' rise to glory within the Dragon Cult from such petty lifestyles." Sheldon said.
"Now that's much more like it." Serana said, then Sheldon looked over the bones.
"In the dragons' tongue, the word for 'stone' is 'qethsegol', which literally translates to 'bones of the earth'. He said, then Serana looked at him curiously.
"O...k..." She trailed off.
"I say this not only because of the bones here, but I remember that Molag Bal's name translates to 'Stone Fire'." Sheldon said.
"And...the dragons' word for 'fire'?" Serana asked.
"Yol...so it would be 'Qethsegol Yol', which..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Yeah, I don't see that name catching on." Serana said seriously.
"Nor I, but the word 'qethsegol' does make some sense considering that stone and bones are somewhat similar if you think about it." Sheldon said.
"I guess..." Serana said.
"But enough of that, I will put the finishing touches on these bones later." Sheldon said.
"O.k...what else do you want to do before we go get going?" Serana asked.
"I am more than alittle curious as to how your...vampire lord form attributes to your current form." Sheldon said, then Serana sighed deeply.
"Well, you're seen how my pure-blood status sets me apart from other vampires. Although...thick chance of me using the same form my father took when you last saw him." She said.
"Why?" Sheldon asked.
"Well, truth-be-told, it's not the most pleasant thing to look at, but also...I never needed to use it, even though it can fly. More importantly...it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to use something that my father takes pride in." Serana said.
"I see..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Although, I have mastered the form during the few times I used it, and it did give me a serious boost when I did. Some of the powers I acquired effect me regardless of which form I use, and that includes my strength, speed, magic resistance, my toughness, you name it. Poison and disease obviously forget about it; we vampires are undead afterall, but you don't need me to tell you that." Serana said.
"What of your magical prowess?" Sheldon asked.
"Well, you've seen a good chunk of it, but there's much more I haven't shown you. And no, I'm going to wait until we get to Bilegulch Mine to show you." Serana said.
"By all means, but I would like to hear of it at least." Sheldon said.
"I can use ghost feed, which makes a phantom clones of myself appear behind an enemy, bite them, and when it disappears, I get the blood they feed on. The problem is that it takes a ton of magicka, and I can only use one ghost at a time, not to mention that it's...not exactly subtle, so if stealth is needed, forget about it." Serana said.
"Unless we use a distraction first." Sheldon said.
"Or that...anyway, I can also summon gargoyles to fight for me, and not just any gargoyles that you'd see sitting around in crypts. I'm talking ones that rival the ones that worked you over in Dimhollow." Serana said.
"You can't be serious." Sheldon said.
"Well, to be fair, those gargoyles would probably rip the ones I can summon to pieces, plus you seem to be rather fond of stealth. Anyway, I can also turn into a cloud of red mist if I need to, but only if I need to. It tends to make me...pretty thirsty, if you get my drift. I can also make a swarm of bats surround my enemies, which again, throws subtly out the window." Serana said, then Sheldon took a moment to think.
"Should we encounter more powerful foes, I expect these abilities to be used to their fullest." He said.
"Excuse me? They're my powers, not yours." Serana said seriously.
"I don't need Clairvoyance to tell that we will face far greater threats than what we've encountered thus far, not including Harkon's knights, whom I assume are his knights for a reason." Sheldon said.
"Yes...there are, and the ones I saw were quite similar to the ones that used to be there centuries ago." Serana said.
"All the more reason for us to be as willing and able as possible, hence my offer to give you what magical prowess I am able to give." Sheldon said.
"Speaking of magical prowess...can't you just enchant jewelry to give the Dawnguard immunity to disease?" Serana asked seriously.
"Maybe, but this traditional method is a nearly-free alternative to enchanting. Besides...how much experience do you have enchanting items?" Sheldon asked.
"Not much...but the use of soul gems is alittle beyond obvious." Serana said.
"All the more reason to save them for when we enchant items for the Dawnguard, and train you in their use." Sheldon said.
"Right...now, what should we do next?" Serana asked.
"Well, until more Dawnguards members arrive, any works in this cavern is pointless." Sheldon said.
"So we can go now?" Serana asked.
"Yes." Sheldon said, then he materialized his scroll, Serana put her hand on Sheldon, and they vanished.
The vortex took them to the middle of a beaten path leading uphill past some large rocks on one side, and scattered trees on the other side. Ahead of them, and on the side of the road, was the elevation in the ground on which a palisade, and a small platform was seen. There were no bandits seen on or around the platform, but that mattered little to both Sheldon and Serana.
"That Bilegulch Mine?" She asked.
"Yes...but it's clear that some work was done here in some way." Sheldon said, then Serana looked the place over.
"There has to be someone in there..." She whispered, then Sheldon inhaled deeply.
"Laas...Yah Niir..." He breathed out, then he looked over the palisade.
"Am I right, or am I right?" Serana asked casually.
"There's two bandits in there." Sheldon said, then Serana pointed at the platform.
"And there's one right there." She said, then Sheldon watched an orc bandit wearing steel armor walk to the top of the platform, and sit down.
"And he'll rest in more ways than one." Sheldon said as he materialized his bow, then Serana put her hand on his arm, and Sheldon looked at her.
"I want to take point again." She said, then Sheldon de-materialized his bow.
"Very well then." He said casually, then Serana channeled frost magic into her right hand, released an ice spike at the bandit, and it pierced the bandit's skull a fraction of a second after the bandit saw it.
"What was that?" Another orc bandit asked seriously, then he opened the front gate, and looked around...then Serana conjured a blood orb in her hands, released it at the bandit, and he collapsed to his knees as the life was drained from him.
"You want to finish him off or should I?" Serana asked.
"You do it." Sheldon said simply, then Serana smirked, conjured a bound sword, ran toward the crippled orc, and when she got close enough, Serana severed the orc's head.
"Done and done." Serana said casually, then she looked over her ethereal sword as Sheldon approached.
"Nice work Serana." He said.
"Are there more?" Serana asked, then Sheldon looked at the inside of the fortifications.
"Laas...Yah Niir..." He whispered, then he pointed at the upper level.
"Figures..." Serana said.
"There are three more." Sheldon said.
"Then this calls for some heavy support." Serana said as she channeled conjuration magic in both hands, and summoned a large gargoyle in the middle of the bottom floor, and it shrieked to the sky.
"Alright...let us see what it can do." Sheldon said, then another orc wielding a steel battleaxe ran down the first flight of stairs. The gargoyle then expanded its wings, and used them, and its legs to propel itself to the middle platform, and the orc ran into it, and fall to the ground. The gargoyle immediately took advantage of the orc's vulnerability, and repeated slashed at him with its claws as the orc screamed in pain and drenched the gargoyle with blood.
"Damn..." Serana said casually, then she chuckled as the gargoyle ran up the rest of the stairs, and Sheldon looked the area over. The alchemy lab in the small hut to his left, the table of bows and quivers next to it, the small open house on the far right of the area, with a series of bedrolls, and especially the cooking spit in the very center of the bottom floor were all hungry for Sheldon's attention. Even the gargoyle, and the vampiric princess who summoned it were almost forgotten in that moment by the Dragonborn hero that came to liberate the mine once again.
When the gargoyle reached the top floor, they heard lightning spells, and the gargoyle shrieking, as well as the furious yells of an orc, followed by his pained screams.
"They had a mage with them as well?" Sheldon asked, then Serana looked over her shoulder at him.
"Apparently." She said casually, then she looked up at the blood-drenched gargoyle as it floated down to the ground floor.
"A single gargoyle...did half of the fighting..." Sheldon trailed off.
"Quite a sight wasn't it? And I didn't even have to empower it." Serana said.
"Empower it...?" Sheldon asked.
"Yep." Serana said simply, then Sheldon looked away.
"So that's how the gargoyles in Dimhollow Crypt were so powerful. Whoever put you in there empowered them with blood magic." He said.
"Must have..." Serana said.
"Were they a pure-blood vampire too?" Sheldon asked, then Serana sighed deeply, and took a moment to think.
"Yes..." She breathed out, and Sheldon stared at her, then the gargoyle vanished as its time expired.
"Well...this mine is nearly cleansed. There is only one area left...the inside of the mine." Sheldon said.
"I'll bet they've got some big surprises for us in there." Serana said.
"Not likely, the bandit chiefs are the most heavily-armed in the group by default, but from my experience, they're either foolhardy, or cowardly." Sheldon said.
"In other words, he or she is likely to either run away with his tail between his legs, or fight us tooth-and-nail." Serana said.
"Yes." Sheldon said, then Serana shrugged.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" She said casually.
"Not so fast..." Sheldon trailed off as he looked around.
"Let me guess, the place had some work done?" Serana asked.
"A good deal of work. This alchemy lab, the potions around it, that cooking fire, the house over there with the bedrolls...they weren't here when I was here last. That platform up there is also new...as are those goat horn sconces" Sheldon said as he pointed at the upper level, and at the scattered dozen of metal stands with four goat horns hanging off of four branches.
"Damn...someone's wealth was well-spent." Serana said.
"I could not have said that better myself." Sheldon said, then he used Clairvoyance.
"Any surprises?" Serana asked.
"No...there's only the bandit chief left, and a handful of slaves." Sheldon said.
"Slaves? This just gets better and better..." Serana said, then Sheldon looked at a chest next to the house, walked toward it, unlocked it with a spell, and opened it. Serana then approached as Sheldon held up a large sack of septims, a pair of hide boots, a large stamina potion, a larger magicka potions, and a small health potion. Sheldon then took a moment to think, and closed the chest again, and even locked it.
"The slaves can have this, and the rest of the riches in this place." Sheldon said.
"Good on you Dragonborn." Serana said, then Sheldon marched past Serana, and led her up the wooden stairs, the small earthen cliffs, and the bridges that led to the upper level.
"This platform...it even has an arcane enchanter..." Sheldon said as Serana walked around him, stepped onto the platform, and looked around.
"As well as a feasting table, some more bedrolls, and some pretty fancy tableware." She said as she looked over the silver plates, pitchers, candlesticks.
"The arcane enchanter is the biggest surprise of all. I didn't sense any enchantments on the bandit's weapons and armor...but that is not beyond possibility, as we now know. In fact...the forge over there makes the notion even more plausible." Sheldon said as he pointed at the large stone hut with a forge, smelter, workbench, tanning rack, grindstone, and a large table of weapons and armor pieces.
"This isn't just any mine, it's a small fortress." Serana said.
"Right, and with the orichalcum mined here, you could equip a small army of orcs with all of this. Which is why this place is targeted by rogue orcs so often." Sheldon said.
"Well, the Dawnguard are going to be happy." Serana said.
"The equipment and other goods here are for the soon-to-be-freed slaves, and therefore, are none of our concern." Sheldon said.
"Right...well, let's get in there and show the chief what we think about him." Serana said, then Sheldon looked at the entrance to the mine.
"My thoughts exactly..." He trailed off as he approached the door, and opened it.
When the pair walked through the door, they entered an earthen tunnel that sloped downward. They marched in-between the two hanging bone rattlers, and looked over the cart full of ore, pickaxes, and shovels on the end of the tunnel. Serana then looked down the left tunnel, and saw no one as Sheldon looked over the small box of tankards, and ale bottles.
"Hey! Any chiefs in there?" Serana exclaimed as Sheldon looked at her, then at the end of the tunnel crate-ridden...and saw a large chest, and a few barrels.
"You picked a bad time to get lost friend." The bandit chief said as he came into view, with orcish armor, and an elven battleaxe in hand.
"And you picked a bad place to keep slaves..." Sheldon groaned as he materialized his dragonbone battleaxe.
"The Dragonborn...?" The bandit chief breathed out, then he raised his battleaxe as Sheldon swung his own. The chief staggered from the force of Sheldon's strike, and Serana stayed back as the melee ensued. The chief recovered moments later, swung his own battleaxe, and Sheldon blocked the swing with only a minor stagger. Sheldon then bashed the bandit chief in the face with the tip of his battleaxe's shaft, swung his battleaxe around his head, and severed the chief's head.
Serana watched the head roll away from the body until it reached halfway down the tunnel.
"That'll teach you." Serana said as she folded her arms, then Sheldon de-materialized his battleaxe, and went down the tunnel to where five orc men and women dressed in rags and carrying pickaxes were.
"Praise Malacath...! His champion has come." An orc woman said seriously.
"And this mine is now yours, and I trust you can put the treasures, weapons, and materials to good use." Sheldon said.
"We will indeed, thank you for our liberty." An orc man said.
"May your next fights bring you victory." Sheldon said.
"Yours as well..." The orc man said as Sheldon turned around and walked back to Serana.
"That was nice of them." Serana said.
"Orcs are much more civilized than most Men and Mer think. In some ways, Orcs are even more so." Sheldon said.
"You don't say...?" Serana said casually as Sheldon looked at the large chest he saw earlier, then he opened it with a spell, and looked inside.
"I do not believe my eyes..." He whispered, then he took a welkyde stone out of the chest, and Serana widened her eyes and gasped.
"Now that is a nice find..." She breathed out.
"Yes indeed...and this of course will go to the Dawnguard. The rest of the gold, soul gems, and weapons in here will remain where it is." Sheldon said.
"What about the schematics?" Serana asked.
"Dear Kyne I almost forgot about that..." Sheldon said seriously, then Serana smirked as Sheldon looked through the chest, and pulled out the same schematics they found in Broken Helm Hollow."
"And that's a wrap." Serana said as the freed orcs approached them from the room they were left in.
"The rest of the treasures in this place are yours, but this scroll, and the stone we found must go to the Dawnguard." Sheldon said.
"By all means take what you wish." An orc man said.
"That we will do, take care." Serana said as she followed Sheldon out of the mine ahead of the orcs...then they used Sheldon's teleportation scroll.
You guessed it, Bilegulch Mine got the mod treatment by the community. Although...believe it or not, I haven't seen much in the way of freeing people and giving the place to them. I'm not seriously trying to compare this story to that notion, but you'd think it would be a thing. If it is a thing, then I don't know; if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
Also...get used to Serana getting moments to herself, and holy shit does she deserve them; she's beloved for a reason. More importantly, let that be an example of how to establish powers in the best way. Explain them in one moment, then demonstrate it in the next...at least that's the case in my honest opinion. I've seen cases where something is explained one moment, then it's contradicted the next with zero explanation or excuse. Well, I'm not going to add to that list of failures.
That being said, please make sure to Rate, Review, and Share while the rest of this story within a story continues. Stay tuned...