TWO WEEKS LATER

Yarwil and J' Zargo were in the research lab of the college. He had just finished the research novel Travius brought from Whiterun, 'Illusion through Nature', for the fifth time. This was such an intricate and detailed book that he found several new pieces of Information every time he read it. Unfortunately the copy of the book he had was one that had been through censorship at the hands of the Empire. Several words and ingredients had been blacked out. Causing a certain frustration but the book was still a treasure cove of alchemical knowledge.

"We need to find this alchemist who authored this research. We need to know what the Empire was trying to hide." He said as carefully folded the book and put it away.

"J' Zargo and Urag had sent correspondence to his last known residence but were sent back a letter explaining his lab was now rented housing. They had no information on how to reach him." J' Zargo said.

"The one M' Arques is listening for his whispers though."

Yarwil held up a vial with the blue powder and spun it in his fingers.

"Quite the concoction you are, aren't you?"

"Quite an interesting looking specimen" Kriso said as she waked into the research lab.

Yarwil immediately put the vial away did his best to subtly hide the books or anything that would give away what they were looking at.

"Good morning Ambassador Kriso . I have been meaning to talk with you today so I am glad you stopped by." Yarwil greeted her.

"I do wish you had knocked as we have discussed in the past though. Students themselves have to earn entering this room by receiving top marks and not at that even until their third year. It may diminish the reward if they see alumni entering as they please."

"I am an alumni since long before you were here. I'm well past my third year." She said with a laugh and a cheery demeanor to try and lighten the mood.

She took a seat and tried her best to see what book he had closed up and turned upside when she walked in but placed it in a way she could not read the words in the spine without making it obvious.

"What is it you were hoping to discuss with me today?" She asked him

"It seems you have made quite the repertoire among many of the students. Quite enough of them that I'm not sure why you focus on one student so much." He said to her

"Not all students have the same development as others. Some need more guidance as to where others can flourish on their own. It seems as if you have concern about my interaction with a particular student though." She said trying to maintain her friendly demeanor.

"Triscella Snow-Shield. She has top marks in all subjects. Unlike most students she has several confidants and old friends not just in the college but in the city as a whole. She has no need for academic mentorship and no need for your personal friendship." She moved uncomfortably in her chair as he spoke to her.

"She is a smart girl, She knows who you are and what you are doing. You are not the first person to try and use her to obtain information about her uncle. Leave her alone, she is here to study and learn." He said

"I'm quite confused, has she expressed a concern with you?" Kriso asked.

"She doesn't need to. Leave my friends Kin alone Ambassador." Yarwil said to her.

"My job requires me to learn about my constituents so I can help them." She responded.

"You do not have constituents. You are a spy by another name. Need I remind you that me allowing you onto the college grounds at all is as a favor to Kraldar. Now, Cease the attempts to pry information from that girl. Even without me looking out for her, she is too smart to fall

For your deceit anyhow." He said

Kriso stood up and headed out the door. She stopped right in the doorway and leaned on a small table next to the door her with hand. He sleeves of her robe covering her hand, preventing them from seeing her pick up a key to the lab that was sitting on that table.

"You make this more difficult than it needs to be Archmage. It's a shame you didn't get to spend more time under Savos Aren's leadership. You may have learned a lot." She said as she walked out.

...

Kriso walked into Malfor's room in the Inn. Just as she did at the college she made no attempt to knock or show respect for anyone privacy. Her friendly and polite attitude ceased immediately when she was alone with another justicar.

"Of course, I find you here reading. It would be much easier if I didn't feel like I was alone in this over crowded haven of sycophants." She said to him.

Malfor never took his eyes off what he was reading.

"Seems your having a great day"

"Is this a vacation for you? You seem to be having quite the leisurely time here." She scolded him.

He paid her no mind and continued with his reading. Kriso was becoming more and more irritated with his lack of communication, with her or anyone else.

"Must be a riveting story. It seems to be more exciting than doing your duties." She said to him, causing him to finally look up from his book and look at her.

"Yes, the mundane details of a guards shift log. Riveting tail of an old woman with obvious mental deterioration claiming the Forsworn are skulking around at night but more importantly, she claims that pregnant child at the Thane's home is actually carrying the child

Of Mephala." He said to her and then dropped his face right back down to the book.

She looked at him with annoyance but realized she was giving him guff for no reason. Guard logs can be an invaluable source to find information hidden in details the guards didnt know they were giving.

"They know I read this so they have developed a set of code words to throw me off. I am quite close to figuring out this rudimentary system that are using." He then closed his book as her complaining had ruined his chain of thought.

"We have been here for five months and you have made not a single arrest." She said as she sat on his bed without asking.

He gave her a slight glare with the side of his eyes. He really wished Elenwen would stop giving these assignments to her obsessive and power hungry family members.

"My job is not to make arrests. My job is to be a set of eyes and ears for Elenwen and that's what I'm doing. You may have a different directive from our Lady High Ambassador but that doesn't not mean I am failing at my own tasks.

We cannot approach this hold the same as the others. They have protectors and not just Travius and Vhornyak. If you had taken the time learn anything about this place you would know that. That Archmage in the college you think you are manipulating slayed a Dragon Priest, has been visited by Psyjic Monks and managed to lift a dying college to the forefront of academic advancement. Learn from the mistakes of your Uncles, Ancona and Volonare. If they had learned to show these men the respect they had earned Ancano might still be alive and Volonare would still have his peripheral vision." He said and then opened his book back up and continued where he left off.

Kriso completely disregarded everything he just said. This seems to be a trademark of the Armion family he noticed.

She laid down in his bed in a seductive pose and reached her foot out and tried to get his attention by rubbing her toe slightly across his back.

"This treacherous cold sets in so early in the north. You should keep me warm." She said trying to get his attention from the book.

"Should have brought more appropriate attire." He said still keeping his focus on the reports he was reading.

"Come now. I know you're as lonely here as I am." She said with a sultry voice.

"I hear the Orc is quite attentive to women's needs. I'm sure he won't take much convincing" he said to her still keeping his attention on his work.

She completely charged her tone as she sat up and angrily gathered herself.

"I wasn't aware anyone could be carved from the same stone as my Aunt." She said as she stormed out of his room.

He sighed as she left his room. He was the only Thalmor agent to have had the unfortunate distinction of being stationed with all of the Armion family at point and my how he had started to loathe that family.

...

Travius was focused heavily on the bottle floating in front of him. He moved his hand to the left and the bottle moved to the left. He moved his hand to the right and the bottle moved to the right. Same thing happened when he lived his hand up and down. He finally moved his hand to a fist and the bottle floated in place. He then quickly opened his fist and outstretched his hands and the bottle went flying into the closest tree and shattered.

Anaelle popped the cork on another bottle of mead and took a large sip and then handed the bottle to Travius. She took a moment to admire him and much he had grown even in the sort time they had been married.

Travius had a little secret that she was now the only one privy too. Everyone knew of his abilities with fire. Everyone knew he could summon the most powerful Daedric sword of his era. Everyone knew he could cast an armor spell to make him an impenetrable force.

What most people did not know what was that in secret he practiced magic that had a more controversial opinion by the public. His ability with alteration and conjuration went well past just summoning a sword or protecting himself. He was very efficient with telekinesis and could easily make him self be able to breathe underwater for hours. His real secret talent however was his incredible grasp of necromancy.

He first used it publicly during the war. During a skirmish before the Battle of Whiterun he had resurrected a slain Legionnaire to help him fight after they had become heavily outnumbered by storm cloaks. Despite the victory the skirmish ended up being he was scolded and reprimanded. The legion insisting they were already pushing the rules for him to let him use that summoned sword but resurrecting bodies was unacceptable. The same thing happens for summoning Atronachs.

Jorgenson was slightly more tolerant of the behavior but still was not fond of it and Travius just decided to use the other talents he had and not create tension. Jorgenson was a Vigilante of Stendarr after all and Travius wanted to respect his boundaries.

Over time he learned to just practice the spells in secret as to not cause any damage to his reputation. Anaelle had been encouraging him to use all of his powers because at this point he was revered enough by most that people would probably look the other way. For years he had been wearing armor that was just as much intended to instill fear as it was to protect him and people looked past that already. They had always looked past him and Vhornyak's brutality and she thought it wouldn't be as much of a stretch for people as he thought. They had been making almost daily trips in the wilderness around the city to have a little bit of time to themselves as the home was now so packed. Although she had been encouraging him for months he was taking most of what she said today with a grain of salt as she met up with him quite drunk. She had been testing some drinks they had made in her class that evening and they had went a bit overboard. She had some growth as well since they got married as she would now let her natural appearance shine out whenever they were together. It gave her relief to be able to relax and not have to constantly keep things in check.

She stood up and started to giggle as she fought to keep her balance. Although they were nearly half an hour walk from the city, They weren't far off from the main road today and she heard the sounds of a caravan arriving and that gave her an idea. She was going to make him use his secret talents whether he want to or not.

Travius was still facing the other direction and didn't notice she was even standing up. She finally got his attention when we felt something land on top of his head. He yanked it off and saw it was the blouse she had been wearing. He turned around she was standing in road, stark naked and her eyes at their natural red and her fangs protruding out.

Travius thought he knew where this was going, but was apprehensive as he heard the caravan coming as well. Caravans tended to avoid moving at night and they were coming much faster than usual to make it to the city as fast as possible.

"Oh no!" She said as she walked down the street towards the caravan.

"What is goin for happen if everyone finds out the Thanes wife is a Vampire! And she's running nude in the street!" She said with a playful false concern.

Travius developed a slight grin.

"I guess I'll have to see it to that they don't then." He ran towards her and tried to grab her from behind but just as he was about to have a hold of her she slightly stepped out of the way and out of sight. He has never seen anyone be able to use an invisibility spell as effortlessly as her. He saw her flash in again further down the road. He again chased her and she did the same thing. She was now right at the end of the bend the caravan was coming around. This time she had a fox in her hand and she bit into it sloppily to allow blood to get all over mouth and chest, simply to add to whatever reaction these caravanners would have.

She started to giggle

"They're so close now. Look at how scary I look, all this blood all over me."

She started to rub the blood off her face and rub it on her body.

"They're going to be scared Travius. If only they had a mighty Thane to protect them." She taunted.

The caravan approached and Travius realized this was not a merchant caravan. As it got closer what appeared to be skulls on an armored horse. Once he saw the skulls he could tell who it was, forsworn, he had never seen them outside the confines of the reach before.

"Hey!" He Tried to say to her loud enough for her to hear but not the oncoming caravan.

"Get out of the road, they are dangerous."

"More dangerous than you?" She said to him and continued to giggle. This time he fully charged at her but she still managed to evade him.

"Damnit" he said as he saw the forsworn were almost in sight of his drunk, naked and oblivious wife.

He ran off the road and jumped behind a large log. Anaelle could not tell where he went in her drunken state and now just started dancing in the street.

Travius left hand become engulfed in a green hue and he pointed at Anaelle. Her body then became overwhelmed by the same green glow and she felt herself lift off the ground and her body floated beyond her control. She then started quickly flying through the air. She had never felt such a lack of control in her life.

She eventually was pulled all the way to Travius who put his hand over her mouth and pulled them both to the ground behind the log. She still did not understand the situation they were in and thought he was just being rough with her.

She reached behind her and tried to stick her hands down his pants. He then took his free hand and managed to grab both of her wrists at once.

"Not now. Please!" He said in a harsh whisper. She realized he was being serious and then she saw the caravan ride past.

Once the caravan passed he took his hand off her mouth.

"Are they Reachmen?" She asked him.

"Looks like it, I've never seen them anywhere close to this far east before." He said confused.

"Is the Jarl giving them land too? That seems a bit too open, even for Kraldar." She said.

"I can't imagine he would. Aratore mentioned he saw some people wearing animal skulls as helmets a few weeks ago but I assumed he just ran into a warlock necromancer. I never even thought to make a connection with Forsworn out here."

Travius wanted to follow them but in Anaelle's state he thought better of it. They stayed off the main road and headed through the woods back to the city.

The forsworn knew they were there and waited until they saw the two disappear and then they stopped. In the dark, Travius did not see that the driver was gagged and the Reachmen behind him had a sword to his back. The Reachmen then pulled the cover off the carriage and there were three Khajit tied up in the back. The forsworn dragged them all from the caravan and slit their throats. They then removed their clothing and put it on themselves and dragged the bodies in the woods. Then, disguised as traders, they continued on with the carriage towards the city.

...

"Wretched cold!" Volonare said as he stepped outside the shack he had commandeered after his "escape" from the embassy cells. It was occupied by an elderly Nord couple when he found it. They were so close to the end of their lives that Volonare considered it a favor to them. They of course disagreed with that notion but he decided for them. It was barely fall and the evenings had already become burdensome to someone who grew up on a sandy warm beach like Summerset Isles.

Even after fifteen years in Skyrim he could never seem to accept any ice that didn't come from

Him. He started to mount his horse when he saw a figure that seemed to move with the foliage.

"Camouflage or not I can smell the stench of decay on you, little monster." He said as the hooded figure with the chameleon armor from Elenwen's office came into view.

"You have an impressive resolve, I'll Give you that, I would have jumped off a cliff by now if I were you" Volonare said to the strange undead creature.

The creature pointed at his eyes and then held up two fingers and then pointed at Volonare and held up one finger. He then changed the finger he was holding up to his middle finger.

Volonare let out a slight laugh.

"You certainly have both eyes don't you.

I'm sure my dear sister didn't send you to discuss anatomy though."

The creature handed him a sealed letter and then backed away until it disappeared in the foliage.

Volonare opened the letter and read it.

'Two Days' it read over a map of Skyrim with a small marking just outside of Winterhold.

"Prompt as always dear sister." He said and then destroyed the letter.

...

Casix and his army had made camp in the western mountain range of Winterhold. No one including bandits or even most wild animals would settle this hostile land, giving them a perfect hiding spot right underneath the protectors nose.

The forsworn look outs saw Volonare approach the camp and began a series of whistles. Volonare could not find any coordination or rhythm behind it but knew it was clearly an alert.

Two of look outs approached Volonare

"He's on the west side of camp. Head there directly. Don't approach, speak to or acknowledge anyone but him. Failure to follow these rules will leave you with no eyes at all." A lookout with a bear skull for a helmet said to

Him.

Volonare ignored the insult and simply nodded at the look outs as his horse strode through the camp. Volonare was expecting maybe one hundred men. What he saw was at least triple that amount if not more. He eventually found Casix yelling threats and insults at men training in a very rudimentary fighters pit.

Volonare found it quite interesting to see these men training with live weapons and no armor.

Volonare followed the request and spoke to know one despite every eye in the place being drawn upon him. Casix knew he was there but continued to yell at the men training for at least five minutes. Leaving Volonare to just watch, the more he subtly looked around the more he realized they weren't just forsworn here. He saw every race besides Nords and Imperials here.

"You bring your horse into my camp, elf?" Casix said as he finally acknowledged him.

"I apologize for any offense." He replied

"Few things mean less to me than an apology from the Thalmor. I have little time for you, on with it." Casix said impatiently.

"Have you hired mercenaries? Plenty here are certainly not your people." Volonare asked him

"I do not pay for swords like you people do. They are my men now. When do we attack? I'm growing impatient. My skin yearns for a new mark." Casix said

"Two days from today. Two days and you can avenge your father." Volonare said to him confidently.

"Yes. Avenge my father" Casix then rolled

His eyes, un noticed by Volonare as he was still looking at his men in the training pit.

We need to discuss our strategy and find our best course of action…" Volonare spoke before being interrupted by Casix.

"I need know such advisement from you. I need no help planning a siege. You show up to collect your prize and I'll collect mine. Now leave my camp. You're a distraction."

Volonare clenched his fists but maintained his calm. Casix was treating him as he treated others and it wasn't as great of a feeling on the other end of it. He did as asked and left the camp.

...

"What is it boy?" Aratore turned to his dog mud who had clearly been put on alert by something.

Aratore had been in western Winterhold for nearly a week now. M' Arques was concerned about a growing number of bandits and what many were describing as forsworn that had been attacking caravans in a usually desolate span of roads. He had been scouting the area and found plenty of activity. They all seemed to be moving towards a large camp in a valley.

Three days ago he found this abandoned hunting shack that perfectly overlooked the valley. He had been intently studying the camp and found that when a new group would arrive, whether the appeared to be soldiers or just settlers, none of them unpacked anything besides bare necessities. The carriages remained full. It was as if they had no intention of staying there long. They were congregating before making a mass migration. He had seen this before in Valenwood.

He saw nothing in his immediate area that should of been alerting the dog but mud had proven to have quite the nose and could often detect the presence of another creature long before even a trained scout like Aratore would.

He pulled out what had become his prized possession besides his pendant. Something he had coveted his whole life. A well made and strong collapsing telescope. He had it custom made and even had the flame and hammer symbol etched into it.

He used the telescope to spy on the strange encampment and at first saw nothing he hadn't been seeing for days until he looked towards the fighting pit. In his time spying on the camp he believed he had located the leader, or as close to a leader as a group of bandits and forsworn would have. A stalky but very muscular Briarheart, he had tattoos in an x shape from his throat and down through his torso. In the right side of his ribs he had several T shaped tattoos, down his were left several of what appeared to be very cruel drawn replicas of an Imperial Legion symbol at the top of the back of his neck were two tattoos of a dragon and several more designs ran down his spine that Aratore did not recognize. He could tell from the way people greeted him and how brazenly he would yell and strike people, that if he was in fact the leader, he was not a very nice one.

Something soon came into his view that was of much more interest and concern. He saw a tall Altmer with long blonde hair riding a horse talking to the Forsworn leader. He hadn't seen any Altmer in this camp before so he tried to get a better look at the elf. He was wearing a hooded robe and was facing a direction where he couldn't see the elves face. He watched them until he saw the elf ride off. When he left the camp he turned in the direction to where his back was facing Aratore so he could never see his face. Aratore had planned to stay another several days but his gut told him to head home immediately. If he started walking now he could make it back to the city before tomorrow.

...

THE NEXT MORNING

"Yes, this one has heard words of him, but the Reachmen are pretty secretive . I know he has been uniting clans. The Ink Son some call that one. The name coming from the tattoos he leaves as marks for killing enemies. Beyond this I do not know anything." M' Arques spoke to Travius and Vhornyak.

They stood in the backyard of his home while they watched Astrid play with Mud and Deena tended to what fall crops she could get to grow.

With the Ambassadors presence they had to be careful as to what they would say in council meetings. They kept the meetings brief and topic remained almost exclusively to the arena, tax allocation and intentionally misleading discussions of money.

This meant that more sensitive subjects were discussed individually and then re communicated through a series of private meetings like that are having now.

"Why here though? They've never been found anywhere but the Reach? Why leave some of the Best land and weather in Skyrim to move into a valley in a frozen tundra?" Travius asked.

"This one cannot tell you. This hold has been very safe thanks mostly to you two. The dangers of the wilds decided it was best to find a new home. This left plenty of space to hide. The city takes up such a small portion of the hold."

He said

"Yarwil sent word for me today. I'm headed now to see him and fill him in." Vhornyak said to the others.

"I saw several forsworn on a carriage two nights ago. We need to be suited up at all times I think. Someone needs to stay with the girls at all times too. My gut is telling me to be alert." Travius said

"Yeah, mine too." Vhornyak responded and they both headed inside to the armory.

...

Yarwil was preparing his research lab for a group of students coming today when he heard a knock on his door. He turned and saw Vhornyak who had already walked himself in and was looking around.

"You called for me?" Vhornyak asked as he looked at a shelf with various mummified hearts of all kind of different animals and some that were certainly human and elvish. "Wizards" he said to himself while he shook his head.

"I did. Two reasons actually. We have found several of the young children at the school house have shown some from signs of magical aptitude. Now, we would generally be wary of teaching magic to little ones but I see no harm in teaching children basic healing and protection spells. The trick with healing magic is it requires injury and illness to be able to practice with and sending groups of children to a priest to slowly attend to the sick won't keep their attention the way we need.

We could use someone who can withstand taking a few injuries and then letting the students tend to those wounds. I can think of no one who can withstand an injury quite like you. We would have an experienced healer on hand of course."

"You want me to be your test subject to stab me and let little kids attempt to heal me?" He asked

"Well….stab…slice, burn, freeze, shock……it's for the kids?" Yarwil stated realizing how this must of sounding on the other end.

Vhornyak just shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure. We can help train some little warriors. We started learning to fight at five in the strongholds. I'm in."

"I'm sure this will involve much less injury than that but thank you"

Yarwil then handed Vhornyak a small wooden box. He opened the box and found two vials of the gauntlet potions.

"Although I do appreciate the field study you gave these but I'm hoping now I can trust you to use these for the intended purpose?" Yarwil asked him.

Vhornyak took the box

"Yes sir, lesson learned."

"Good. We've been able to produce these much faster now. I actually have students on the way and we're going to put putting them in applicators so they can be used without the gauntlet. Do not ever swallow these by the way. They need to go directly into your bloodstream. Swallowing them will only make you sick"

"Noted." Vhornyak said

"Good. I'll meet you at the schoolhouse at the end of the day tomorrow if that works for you?"

"I'll be there" Vhornyak said as he walked out of the room.

...

A MONSTER OUT OF HIS CAGE

Jorgenson was polishing his displays in his armory when his young daughter Lydia walked in.

"Papa, some man from the Penis Occupier is outside" she said to him

He let out a slight laugh.

"The who know?" He asked her in between chuckles.

"The penis occupier. They asked for the Dragon whore so I know they are serious" she then flexed her muscles to imitate a soldier.

Jorgenson's wife, Ysolda, came in and picked up their daughter.

"Dragon BORN, dear. Your daddy is the Dragon BORN." She said to her and the she looked at her husband.

"Someone from the Penitus Oculatis is asking for you. He didn't tell much about why." She said to him and gave him a disapproving stare.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't invite them."

He said defensively and she just continued to give him that disappointed look

"I swear. I have no idea what they want." He said again as she just continued to give him the same judgmental face.

"Imperial agents are not supposed to come to our home dear." She did

"Ysolda, I am the Dragon Whore….I mean Dragon born. These things will happen." He said as he headed to the front door.

He opened the door to find a very solemn looking agent of the Oculatis standing at his door.

"Lieutenant Demetri, sir. "

He extended his hand to shake Jorgenson and was met in kind,

"I apologize for this intrusion sir but I simply did not have time to communicate with you through Proventus. I have some time sensitive information that you will want to know about." He said to him

"Coming to my home with that medallion on you is quite out of line, but I'll hear you out." Jorgenson said as he motioned for the chairs on his porch.

"I know you don't travel like you used to so you may not have noticed but The Reach, The Pale and Winterhold have seen bandit activity drop to almost nothing. This would seem to be a good problem to have but you know as well as I do that when the roads and wilderness become to safe it means something dangerous is lurking behind it. " the agent said

"Very true. Winterhold has its own reason for its safety though." Jorgensen stated.

"Maybe not though. My reason for coming here is not reports on Winterhold however. It's our reports from the reach. For nearly six months the presence of the Forsworn and Reach men as a whole has plummeted. Over the last three it's been non existent.

Our agents began tracking them and he found several of their camps and settlements looked like they had been abandoned, as if they simply packed up and left."

"Do you think they have given up on reclaiming the Reach?They've always coexisted with the Orcs just fine. Maybe they are moving to Wutherian mountains to try and settle there." Jorgensen asked

"We considered this possibility as well. Until we found the rest of the camps. The rest of the camps were destroyed and the remnants of battle on display." The agent said.

"The Reach men disappearing from Skyrim seems like a good problem to have. I'm guessing that's not why you're here" Jorgensen responded.

"They aren't leaving Skyrim, only The Reach. We found them in a valley, in Western Winterhold.

Have you ever heard the name Casix, The Ink Son of The Reach.?" The agent asked.

"I've heard the Ink Son from my men. We know he seems to be uniting the Forsworn Clans under his Banner and we know he has tattoos representing those he has battled. We never paid them much attention. Forsworn aren't the kind of enemy I created The Acolytes for." Jorgensen said, his voice indicating he realizes that may have been a mistake.

"He has done a good job of controlling information about him. Very few people outside of the reach know who he is by his own design. Those that do know have heard of how he is a unifier for the Reachmen. Building an army to allow the Reach men to live peacefully and be strong enough to keep the rest of society from further harm to them." The agent said

"And I'm guessing there is more to it?" Jorgensen asked.

"Calling him a unifier requires a bit of mental exercise. He's a Tyrant. He doesn't absorb these other clans through diplomacy or compromise like we've all been misled to believe. He takes them by force. He sieges their settlements. He rapes the other Briarhearts in front of their clan to set a tone of dominance. He picks which women he wants for his harem and which men he wants for his soldiers. The then chains the rest as slaves. The elderly are always executed. He's even been known to cannibalize other Briarhearts who gave him too much resistance, as well as slaughters the Hagravens, whom they consider sacred. The empire is so pre occupied on the Thalmor that they insist we ignore the potential threat he causes."

"I don't mean to belittle what you are telling me, but the Reach Men are, for lack of a better term, savages. We don't know enough about how they operate to assume this is abnormal behavior for them." Jorgenson responded

"I wish this was the worst I what I came

here to tell you but it is simply not. When we found their new settlement in Winterhold we found that it wasn't just Forsworn. They had bandit clans as well. It's why the roads have have been so barren. They are training together, fighting and bonding. By all accounts they all seem to be under the leadership of Casix.

Since some of the camps we found seemed like they were willingly vacated. You combine that with the fact that he has bandit clans under his leadership, he is obviously promising these people something." The agent then looked at Jorgensen before he continued.

"He's promised them a new home it seems." Jorgensen said

"I believe you are right. One do has to wonder though why he would need bandits for his army to colonize one of the most uninhabitable parts of Skyrim. They have been there for months but have done nothing been train. They have made no attempts to set up any kinds of structures. Most of the caravans remain loaded except for bare basic necessities. They have no intention of staying, they are mobilizing.

To make matters even worse. We've seen an Altmer occasionally coming to their camp and speak with Casix. He made a good effort to hide his face but one report says he had what appeared to have a blackened eye." The agent then looked at Jorgensen who was deep in thought.

"I knew he wasn't really in custody." He said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"If I may, we have one more factor to add into this mess. For some time now the Thalmor have been receiving aid from a militia of their sympathizers. For years they remained in Valenwood and Elsweyr. They were using this militia for the their plans your friends spoiled in Dustman's Cairn. Since then, they've been using them as muscle to help harass caravans.

Until about a week ago that was. They all seem to have been called to an abandoned fort in Eastmarch, those that weren't were seen on a series of ships on the northern coast." The agent told him, clearly glad to have finally gotten this all out.

"We all knew the Thalmor were going to retaliate eventually for what happened in the spring. How many men does the Casix have?" Jorgensen asked.

"Three to four hundred by our estimates. Much more than the two dozens agents we have spread out all through Skyrim." He answered.

"They are planning to siege the city." Jorgensen responded and began to stand up.

"I agree. From what our own spies and informants have told us, the Thalmor only know of Casix as he wished them to know. I don't know how much of this is Inquisitor acting in his own accord again or how much of this Elenwen's doing, I don't think they realized they're letting a monster out of its cage." He said and stood up himself.

"And even with this information the Empire fails to act?" Jorgensen asks.

"They said they cannot spare the resources at the moment. They simply don't take the Forsworn serious enough to extend their already thinly stretched legion." He said with shame.

"Myself and three other agents are willing to act where are superiors are failing, but we need you Jorgenson." He said.

"Most of my Acolytes are here in Whiterun. I'll gather them at once and head to Winterhold." He said and shook the agents hand and headed back inside.

Ysolda was standing right inside the door and had clearly been eavesdropping on the conversation. He gave her a hesitant look and she could read his face.

"I'll pack you some snacks." she said and kissed him on his cheek.