The shore of Skyrim just north of Solitude is quite frigid, not as much so as as Dawnstar or Winterhold but still very brisk compared to most of Tamriel. Sarydos sat on a dry rock staring at the entrance to Shadowgreen Cavern, the lair of Calnaro the necromancer. In his hand, Sarydos held an amulet, it was an amulet that he had aquired from a Khajiit merchant on the road outside of Solitude and it offered his a resistance to magic. Sarydos normally didn't have much faith in the word of a Khajiit, having hunted down Khajiit thugs and Skooma smugglers back in Blacklight, he had grown to distrust them as they only brought trouble but Sarydos was eager to get any edge he could in battle against the dreaded necromancer. He had payed quite a bit of coin for this amulet and hoped it would be worth it. Before he entered the cave, Sarydos knelt down on the cold soil.
"Azura watch over and protect me, Mephala cloak my presence and make it that my footsteps are unheard, Boethiah make it that my blade is razor sharp and brings a swift end to my foe." After his prayer, Sarydos rises to his feet and slips the amulet over his head and tucks it under his armor to keep it from slipping off.
Sarydos slowly enters the cave being sure as to not make much noise, the first part of the cave is a tunnel carved through the rock which Sarydos traverses carefully peering around each corner but soon the tunnel comes to an end and as the narrow covered path gives way to the central chamber, he is stricken with awe at the natural beauty of the cave. Tucked away on the northern shore in a frozen wastes is a secret paradise, the kind of place that would draw pilgrimage from followers of Kynareth, the Tamrielic divine of nature. Sardos quickly snaps out of his awe remembering he cannot afford to be taken by surprise on this task, looking around he notices two large bear corpses lying of the ground nearby.
"Probably Calnaro's doing." he mumbles to himself as he steps around them, crouching down he begins making his way forward towards the large hill in the center of the cavern. He figures that the top of the hill which is not visible from below is probably where Calnaro himself resides. Sarydos stumbles across more corpses of wolves, bears and even a strange wooden creature that resembles a woman with branches springing from her head then he hears a noise. Quickly, Sarydos takes cover behind a thick tree and peers out from behind it, Two figure approach both heavily clad in armor one with a sword and shield the other with a mighty Orcish greatsword, large Nordic warriors but something is off, they each have a strange bluish glow to their flesh and only seem to grunt and moan as they look around. Sarydos realizes that these men are not among the living, poor souls whose bodies have been enslaved by the wicked necromancer to do his bidding, who were they before? Bandits? Adventures? Mercenaries like him? there's no telling who they were only that they were not able to best Calnaro. The two undead guards turn around and begin heading the other way, Sarydos began following them waiting until one fell quite a ways behind the other and then he struck.
He leapt up and and plunged the sword through the warrior's throat, putting his boot on the undead's back he pulled his blade out and swung it back wielding it with both hands so that when undead turned to face him he looped it's head right off in a powerful strike, both the head and the body fell to the ground. Soon afterwards the other warrior came trotting back down the path to investigate and when it saw Sarydos it raised it's shield and approached him sword drawn. With a short running start, Sardos bashed all of his body weight into the shield sending the undead tumbling backwards on it's back before bringing his blade through it's face putting an end to it's resistance. Sarydos pulls his blade from the head of the undead warrior and looks around to see if he attracted any unwanted attention, after a minute or so he decided it was safe to continue forward, crouching as he went he soon came across another undead guarding the cave. A large male Orc with a mohawk and a steel war axe at it's side.
"Damn, another one." he whispered under his breath. The Undead weren't particularly difficult to overcome but he was worried that combat with them might get quite loud and draw the attention of the necromancer which would put a swift end to his plan. Sarydos crept around the warrior as to get behind him for a sneak attack, taking a deep breath he launched his strike, he pushed the blade through the back of the Orc's skull and it fell to the ground, he slipped the blade out of it's head and saw the winding path that lead up the hill and probably to Calnaro. He began up the path cautiously climbing the hill, not knowing what may lie around the next corner. He passed more of the strange wood people's corpses as well a few skeletons with rotting clothes and rusted armor likely more victims of the necromancer. As he neared the top he could hear a voice.
"You were foolish to come here all alone…" Saydos stops dead in his tracks, how could the necromancer know he was there?
"You bastard! You killed my father!" he hears a female voice reply, the necromancer was not talking to him and still had no idea he was there and better yet he was distracted.
"And who was your father? one the foolish adventurers who came to kill me? He deserved to die for his arrogance."
"My father was no heavy- handed fat- head adventurer! My father was a power mage! He served with the legion and was a respected member of the college of winterhold!"
"Ahhh, I think I remember him. Was this his ring?"
"You bastard! You stole it from his corpse!"
"I trinket to remind me of my victory. A lovely ring for my finger and a fresh corpse to be my slave."
"You defiled his body with your filthy necromancy!?"
"He was a useful servant, I never would've been able to get close enough to kill that Imperial Legate Gellitus without his help."
"You're a monster!"
Sarydos was close to the top of the hill and could almost see Calnaro and the woman he was speaking with, he stepped slowly as to be as quiet as possible. He stopped before he reached the top peering from behind the dirt and plants to get a look at the necromancer. Calnaro was a tall thin altmer, his grey hair stood high and spiked back like that of Revyn Sadri with a grey beard on his chin to match it. He wore no warpaint but bore a few scars that stretched across his face crossing his nose, the woman laid on a stone altar bound with rope. She was a young Imperial woman with dark black hair, her face stained with dirt and blood. Off in background was a another undead thrall, a Khajiit warrior with a bow but fortunately he was facing the other way and was unaware of Saydos' presence.
"Your father was a useful tool for a while, his soul now rests in the soul cairn but fear not… you'll be joining him soon."
"I'll kill you!" She shouts as she struggles to get loose squirming.
"Ha! You think you could kill me? look at you, you're pathetic! captured so easily." he mocks her confident of his victory. Sarydos creeps up behind Calnaro hoping to kill him with a single attack. The woman notices him and looks at Calnaro.
"So confident in your victory…" She says smugly, Calnaro looks confused by her sudden change of attitude. Just as he is wondering what is going on Sarydos attacks, he plunges his sword into Calnaro's back and the necromancer shouts in pain. The Khajiit thrall turns around and readies his bow pulling back the arrow and firing, Sarydos ducks under the arrow and rolls back down the path to escape. Wounded badly, Calnaro struggles to get up, The woman is able to turn her body and as Calnaro gets up she kicks him in the back sending him tumbling forward to the ground, The Khajiit thrall fires an arrow which hits her in the forehead killing her. Calnaro struggles back up and raises his hand to cast a close wounds spell to help stop the bleeding. Calnaro summons a chain lightning spell in each hand then rushes down the path in the direction that Sarydos went followed closely by his Thrall. They reach the bottom and there is no sign of Sarydos, looking left and right Calnaro decides to head towards the entrance of the cave, he and his thrall start to head that way. As they start off that way Sarydos rises from behind a rock with his bow drawn and fires it hitting Calnaro in the the leg, specifically his calf. Calnaro drops to his knees grabbing at the arrow in pain, the thrall fires back but Sarydos dodges the attack and hits the thrall with a firebolt killing him instantly, he readies another firebolt for Calnaro but the necromancer counter attacks with chain lightning that hits Sarydos in the shoulder knocking him over. Calnaro pulls the arrow from his leg and limps away towards the entrance of the cave. Sarydos grabs at his shoulder, the damage was decreased by his armor and the amulet but he still got a nasty burn from the attack, he casts a healing spell to regain movement from his shoulder and gets up grabbing his bow. He heads after Calnaro hoping to catch him, when he rounds the corner a lightning spell barely misses him and he ducks behind a tree.
"Do you really think you can defeat me!?" Calnaro shouts in anger "Do you know how many people I've killed? Do you know the kind of power I wield?"
"I know enough to know you're crazy." Sarydos shouts as he jumps out and throws a firebolt. Calnaro raises his ward and blocks the spell easily laughing at Sarydos' effort.
"You're going to have to do better than that! You may have some magical talent but you are no match for me!"
"I don't have to match your spells to kill you!"
"Is that so? Tell me, just how are you planning on killing me?"
"I wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."
"A Surprise? Do you have some sort of master plan of some sort?"
"You could say that." Calnaro flings a powerful thunderbolt spell that tears a large chunk out of the side of the tree which compromising Sarydos' cover, he quickly runs back deeper in the cavern to avoid attack. Calnaro seeing that Sarydos has flead takes the opportunity to mend his wounded leg and regain his mobility. After mending his injury he heads off after Sarydos.
'Out of all the fools who have come to kill me this Dunmer is by far the most infuriating.' He thought to himself, as he makes his way deeper into the cavern he resurrects two of his fallen thralls, the Khajiit and a Nord. The three of them pursue the path that Sarydos likely took back up the hill, when they reach the top they are greeted by an attack. The Nord thrall catches an arrow to the head which sends him tumbling off the side of the cliff and down to the cavern below. Calnaro and his Khajiit thrall return fire with arrows and lightning, Sarydos rushes behind a tree in the middle of a small pond/puddle.
"You're trapped you fool!" Calnaro shouts at him "You're going to die here! Do you hear me!?" Sarydos Quickly unquarks the paralysis potion he bought in Solitude, hastily, he applies it to an elven arrow and places it in his other hand with the bow, he quickly ducks out of cover to throw a firebolt which Calnaro blocks with a ward, now that he has Calnaro right where he wants him Sarydos readies the arrow. Expecting another firebolt, Calnaro keeps his ward up so when Sarydos lept out from his cover firing an arrow, the necromancer was completely unprepared, the arrow hits him right in the palm of his hand where he had held his ward. The pain is excruciating but the Calnaro feels something else, his muscles lock up, he unable to move and falls backwards onto the ground. The Khajiit thrall fires an arrow which splits Sarydos' cheek forcing him behind cover, the poison won't last long so sarydos pulls out another potion and quickly drinks it. The Khajiit thrall rushes forward to flank Sarydos but when reaches the flank he discovers there is no one behind the tree, after a few seconds Calnaro regains his movement quickly grabbing at his hand in pain.
"Damnit! You are going to pay dearly for this!" He rises to his feet quickly and looks around searching for Sarydos.
"Where are you, you coward?!" he turns his head frantically in search of his opponent, The Thrall runs around the area in search of Sarydos.
"Stop hiding, you worm!" He shouts, suddenly he feels a sharp pain in his upper back, a malachite blade burst from his chest piercing his heart, the invisibility potion dispels revealing the Dunmer behind him, writhing in pain he can no longer hold his spell and the Khajiit thrall drops to the ground. Calnaro struggles to slowly turn his head and look behind him, their gaze meets, one cold and victorious the other filled with anger and pain.
"You…. son of a…." before he could finish his sentence, Calnaro drops face down to the dirt. Sarydos wretches his blade from the Altmer's body and wipes it clean, he takes one last look at Calnaro then the Imperial woman on the altar, he then looks around the cavern and his gaze turns to a Treasure chest by the tree that had given him cover. Stepping over Calnaro's corpse he makes over to the chest and finding that it was unlocked he flings it open.
"By Azura!" He shouts aloud, the chest contains at least 5,000 septims as well as a plethora or jewels and jewelry, from gold to diamonds to emeralds to rubies, enchanted necklaces and even some magic scrolls tucked inside. Sarydos had found his fortune, this treasure alone was enough retire on back in Morrowind, he recalled there's still the reward for killing the dreaded necromancer but of course he would have to prove that he had killed the necromancer.
The Solitude guards stood at their post near the main gate when they heard a something approaching, after a moment the saw what appeared to be a dark elf leading a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon was covered as not to reveal it's contents and seemed suspicious which meant they had to stop it before it could be permitted to enter the city.
"Hold." The guard said raising his hand to signal Saydos to stop. "What's going on here? What's in the wagon?"
"The contents of this wagon is the joy of the hold, a gift to all of Solitude, and an end to one of the jarl's most troubling problems."
"You talk in circles, elf. just tell me what's in the damn wagon."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sarydos responds, the guard is silent.
"I need to get this to the Blue Palace, it's very important."
"How important?"
"Important enough that the jarl herself will want to be there to see it." After a moment of thought the guard allows Sarydos and his wagon through the gate under his supervision of course. Sarydos and the guardsman guide the wagon through the city to the courtyard of the Blue Palace.
"Go inside and fetch the Jarl and her steward." The guard says to another guard, after a few minutes the guard returns followed the Jarl, Falk Firebeard, the court wizard, and the jarl's housecarl.
"What's going on? What's this all about?" Jarl Elisif asks confused.
"I'd like to know that too." Falk adds, he then notices Sarydos. "It can't be…" he whispers to himself.
"This had better not be a waste of the court's time." says the court wizard, being a bitch as usual. Sarydos walks over to the side of the wagon and places his hand on the large blanket covering it's contents.
"Jarl Elisif…" He begins.
"Truly this can't be happening…" Falk interrupts clearly stricken with all.
"What? What's happening?" asks the court wizard
"Calnaro…" Sarydos says " the dreaded necromancer is dead." and with that announcement he rips off the blanket exposing the Necromancer's lifeless corpse and a large treasure chest. Elisif gasps and everyone is taken aback, even the snobby court wizard is at a loss of words.
"I never thought I'd see the day…" Falk Says "You…. have done Solitude a great favor, I cannot even begin to express our gratitude…"
"Indeed." Elisif cut's in "You shall be greatly rewarded for this."
"This was no small deed, you have proven your might traveler." The court wizard adds. The five of them head into the palace to give Saydos his reward while the two guardsman watch over the wagon. It turned out that the bounty on Calnaro was long-standing and had built up for a great many years, the total bounty on Calnaro's head was no less than 10,000 septims, Finally Sarydos had what he had come to Skyrim for. With the bounty and the treasure he departed Skyrim with a personal escort for protection authorized by jarl Elisif the fair herself but before he could go back to Morrowind he had a promise to fullfill.