[X] My Assistant

[Lena Wolf]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum - just moved from Bethesda.net which is closing. I have been writing Lena's story for the past half a year or so, she travels in Cyrodiil and Skyrim, does stuff and lives her life. This is not a novel - it has a beginning but no end, until she dies, which is hopefully not for a long while yet. It is a saga, a feuilleton - as they used to say in the old days - the story develops as it is being written, bit by bit. I hope you like it.

I have more than a hundred entries written already, so I am not going to repost them all here, unless you really want me to. They are all published in my blog: MasserAndSecunda.wordpress.com which I started as a way to keep track of things for myself and keep everything in one place.

I shall now repost a few of those entries here, so as to introduce you to the characters and some key points that get referred to later on.

The running story takes place in the 4th Era, taking off in year 4E201. I had to twist the arm of the lore a bit to correct false accounts on a few things that allegedly took place in the 200 years since the Oblivion Crisis. But we all know how easily false accounts become "historical thruths", so I have no qualms about that. 😀 And yes, a lot of people that Lena met back in the day, were still around 200 years later. Considering how much mixing has been going on in Cyrodiil between men and mer for thousands of years, most people have some Elven blood in them, so the question of life span becomes rather academic.

Thank you for reading and I hope to engage with you all! You'll see me around - and I'll be reading so many good stories that people have posted here!

Yours -
Lena Wolf

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I am Lena Wolf. I was born on the 17th of Sun's Height, 3E417, in Cyrodiil to a Breton mother, and therefore was declared Breton. I have never been to High Rock, so when Hadvar promised to inform High Rock of my execution in Helgen later on, it made no sense at all. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. When I was 4 years old, my mother died of swamp fever, and our Argonian neighbour took me in. She was old already then, so we called her Gran. Gran always hinted that my unknown father was not unknown at all, just that it was best to keep it quiet until time comes. Time for what? Who knows. Wait and see.

As I turned 16, Gran got older still, and one day said there was something very important that she had to impart to me before her passing. She still couldn't name my father, but, she said, when the time was right, I should go to Skyrim to find out. How was I to know when that would be? Oh, not for a while yet, not for a long while. And she died.

Freedom at 16 proved exhilarating at first and cold and hungry soon after. Having tried this and that without much success and having had enough of goblins stealing my sweetrolls, I walked into Bravil's Mages Guild hoping to steal one of theirs. Instead, I found myself being thrust at a dinner table and loaded with all sorts of food, sweetrolls included. The mages took me in, taught me magic towards which I appeared to be inclined, taught me alchemy for the body, soul and enemies, and gave me a reason to venture into the caves in search of wisp stalks. The guards kept joking seeing me returning from my expeditions with yet another rusty sword or piece of armour, but the local smith fixed them up for me and taught me a few moves. Finally the goblins were getting their come-uppence!

Fighters Guild was not for me. Yes, I dealt with the headmistress's son in Chorrol and with the cowardly elf in Skingrad, and yes, the lich took some effort and lots of Freds to defeat, but I got bored with the routine and sort of quit. Well, got busy elsewhere. Free-lancing with Dark Brotherhood proved infinitely more fun, they didn't mind my vampirism, and Oblivion gates needed taking care of, too.

That disaster sorted, life got back to normal. Of course by then I found a cure for vampirism and joined the Arcane University, right on cue to face the King of Worms. Fortunately, Uncle Sheo decided to look in on us right about then, and the Shivering Isles provided a spot of sanity in a world gone mad. I still spend every autumn there.

So what do I do these days? I live. I potter about. I keep my home free from goblins and rats. I roast dreugh for dinner. I occasionally take a contract for another Ayleid sculpture or another bag of Welkynd stones. There's always a lich in someone's basement or a bunch of scamps needing a good home. And one day I'll go to Skyrim to find that important thing, but the time hasn't come yet.

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28 Last Seed, 3E433 – Lena’s Story begins

Lena Wolf's story begins at 16. Being quite young and still inexperienced, that last sweetroll she stole finally landed her in the Imperial Prison, and the story of the Oblivion Crisis was set in motion.

Everyone knows how that went, so we'll skip the details. Lena delivered the Amulet of Kings and was sent to Kvatch to fetch Martin, but went to Bravil first, stopped by the Mages Guild there hoping for a sweetroll that wouldn't land her back in Imperial Prison, got caught by the mages, but not handed over to the guard but fed and accepted into the guild instead... And what with one thing and another, she got completely side tracked by everything happening at once, including closing many Oblivion gates and fighting necromancers and vampires. She didn't realise what the Porphyric Hemophilia thing was until one morning she woke up a vampire herself! The mages still treated her well like before and she could progress in the guild, but the Fighters Guild wouldn't even talk to her - "We don't want your sort here!" The same with most merchants, but not all - for example the chap at the Main Ingredient in the Imperial City wasn't afraid at all and traded as normal, so we always shop there whenever we're in town.

Lena must have killed some non-bandit by mistake because Lucien turned up at night, and there of course at the Sanctuary she met another vampire and no one was bothered by her occasional feeding (although she usually didn't feed on guild members but rather on beggars and often went hungry as it came with benefits, not just curses). So eventually she progressed far enough in the Mages Guild that the Count of Skingrad hinted that perhaps they could help each other...

By the time she cured her vampirism and got to finally ousting Mehrunes Degon out of Cyrodiil, nearly 3.5 years have passed, bringing it to Sun's Dawn 3E437. The 3rd Era was coming to an end. Then Uncle Sheo decided to look in, and a mad prophet turned up in Anvil.

The Oblivion Crisis affair had her run around a lot and win a prestigious title, and I guess she should carry that title with pride, but in truth she'd rather forget about the whole thing, as well as Martin's panicked reaction there. Some Emperor he turned out to be! Perhaps it's true that you need to grow up as one.

With the Dark Brotherhood she advanced rather far, although not quite to the top. She only joined because Lucien said that being a vampire was fine and also he knew her mother. He probably lied about that, but who knows. She didn't mind the work, I guess she is not a do-gooder. So she wasn't even considering questing for the Knights of The Nine and simply killed the prophet. Oops! He, err, ate something rotten, it appears.

But the one title she enjoyed was that of Lord Sheogorath. What fun we had! Sanguine practically moved in to the New Sheoth palace, and Hircine had the time of his life running around the countryside chasing Gnarls. Why, even Vermina melted seeing the whole population of Dementia having nightmares all on their own. Meridia of course had to lecture everyone on their lack of virtue, so we sent her packing. But then Sheo himself returned, and in his usual charming manner first joined in and then kicked everyone out, Lena included. Jygg messed up his head, I'm telling you.

As for the Thieves Guild, Lena declined their every invitation. She's no thief. Gosh, I think I found a virtue!

The 4th Era saw Lena venturing out again, from now on always avoiding to deliver any suspicious amulets, and being watchful of the Hemophilia thingy. She had plenty of dealings with daedra - no, the closure of the Oblivion Crisis did not in fact prevent the daedra from entering the Mundus in the future, but it did cool things off a bit.

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12 First Seed, 4E195 - Flotsam

Lena Wolf returned from her stay in the Shivering Isles only to find that nearly 200 years had passed in Mundus in the meantime. She was no longer a "current" citizen, having missed the census for so long, and all her property had been repossessed by the Empire. Even her Mages Guild membership had been revoked. This was more than upsetting, and Lena boarded the first ship out of Anvil. It was bound for the Northern Realms.

The Northern Realms were kingdoms on the other side of the Great Maelstrom of the Middle Ocean. The journey was long and perilous, and even time itself was said to dilate along the way. People rarely made the journey more than once in their lifetimes, except for the ship's crew of course. Those sailors were tough, and inspired confidence. Lena was leaving.

The Northern Realms were at war. A constant war with each other and with the Southern kingdoms where Nilfgaard was building an empire. This had been going on for so long - for centuries - that people mostly ignored it, except when the menfolk got drafted to fight for the current king. The people still kept to the old country names, paying no heed to the king in charge.

Lena found herself in a small border town named Flotsam. It was a port on a major river and proved as refined as its name suggested. But the town had no resident healer, and Lena saw an opportunity. Her skills in magic and alchemy could be put to a good use, and with the help of a local herbalist she updated her herb knowledge and opened a practice.

Despite all odds, life in Flotsam proved quiet and largely uneventful. Trade flourished and there was no shortage of work for a healer. One day an old witcher walked in, badly wounded, looking to buy some herbs.

"I can't let you go anywhere" - was Lena's response. "I've got a bed free, you need to rest."

But despite Lena's best efforts augmented with the witcher's special potions, the witcher was not recovering. His wolf medallion kept buzzing - magic or danger, it was both, and he was dying.

The old man knew something though, or had seen something. He gave Lena his medallion and said that she should search for a white wolf with the same sort of trinket, and that it would make her complete once she found him. And then the old witcher died.

Wait, didn't we hear such a story before? First her Argonian grandmother telling her on her deathbed to search for something extremely important in Skyrim, and now this story about a medallion-wearing wolf?

But one day at the market Lena bumped into a fellow with white hair, and a shiver went down her spine. Yep, he wasn't looking where he was going and got her with the tip of his enchanted sword. A few choice recommendations were ready to roll off Lena's tongue when she spotted a wolf medallion around the fellow's neck. So, instead of giving him a piece of her mind, she politely enquired whether Master Witcher would be good enough to stop by her practice after hours because she needed his expert advice on a small, ah, matter. Flattery will get you everywhere, and come evening, the White Wolf turned up at her house.

"I am Geralt of Rivia - at your service."

Recalling the words of the old witcher, Lena was expecting a certain turn of events that would make her complete, at least for the night. But boy was she mistaken. The shiver that went down her spine back at the market, wasn't from any sword enchantment - it was her wolf medallion buzzing like mad near Geralt (Lena took to wearing the medallion because it went with her last name so nicely). The old witcher had re-enchanted the amulet with her essence, so it responded quite violently to another being with a similar essence. Lena and Geralt were related.

Having talked through most of the night, they got through a lot of Cyrodillic Brandy and Argonian Bloodwine, and having eliminated the impossible, the only remaining conclusion, no matter how far-fetched, was that they must be siblings. Having given up her first child with the unknown but obviously important Nord, Lena's mother kept the second child, and swore to raise her daughter in ignorance of the great heritage that made her son into the White Wolf and hoping that the little girl would be spared world-shattering responsibilities. Ha!

Since that chance meeting in Flotsam, Lena and Geralt never really lost sight of each other, although never paraded their connection either. As both of them were in the habit of regularly freaking out local world leaders, church heads and powerful sorcerers, it seemed prudent not to aggravate matters too much.

Geralt got embroiled in local politics despite his best judgement, then the war broke out for real with the Nilfgardian Empire invading the North. Death and destitution was everywhere. Lena made her way to Novigrad and boarded a ship back to Cyrodiil.

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Hauk Serc-Hanssen

Iver and Hauk Serc-Hanssen were twins born under The Lord on 21 First Seed 4E151. They were Nords, and as such were expected to become warriors. Nords value their traditions, and Nords living in Cyrodiil do so even more, although admittedly many of them have taken in too much of the mildness of Nibenay to be called sons and daughters of Skyrim. So when the boys started showing above average abilities in magic, their parents blamed the very soil of Cyrodiil for "mellowing" their children. The Serc-Hanssens were definitively the Nord sons of Cyrodiil.

"Well, if they are going to be mages, let them be battlemages at least" - was their father's verdict. And the boys were enrolled into education with the Mages Guild as well as training with the Legion.

At twenty, Iver and Hauk had joined both the Arcane University and the Imperial Legion, and have completed their Battlemage training. Then the Great War broke out. Iver was drafted into regular forces, but Hauk was sent to Skyrim to a special unit - scouts, messengers, liaisons, logistics, that sort of thing. At least, this was the official designation.

Nobody knows what that unit actually did in Skyrim, and those who know will never tell, so it's safe to assume they were maintaining a covert front behind the enemy lines. The unit wasn't large, so it was easy to disperse it without a trace after the war. Some even claim that the unit never existed - after all, Hauk had been seen on the front lines of many official campaigns... or was that Iver? Who could tell! They were twins, after all...

After the war, Iver and Hauk left active service with the Legion and returned to the Mages Guild, doing smaller assignments, training new apprentices, and generally settling back into a civilian life style. Iver got busy with the Guild and the University, while Hauk... well... Hauk kept disappearing from time to time, for several weeks or even months on end, then suddenly coming back looking like he had spent all this time outdoors and in cold water. Hauk looked out of place among mages that never left the comforts and security of the walls of the Imperial City, so he left his Mage's Staff and a few other important things with Iver at the University and joined the Legion again. Or had he ever left?

Years later, when Travis became the Arch Mage and banned necromancy, Hauk got into an argument regarding limiting the types of spells available to battlemages - the "code of conduct" was Travis' idea and Hauk disagreed. But arguments with the Arch Mage are doomed to failure, so not wanting to be banished from the Guild altogether, Hauk boarded a ship to Antaloor and was gone for several years - enough time to cool things off. Upon his return he was made to understand that although formally he would still remain a Mages Guild Evoker, he did not need to expect any assignments or promotions from the Guild.

At 50, Hauk found himself bored with nothing to do, and no family to take care of. Neither he nor Iver ever married, but Iver was still busy with the University and with the Guild, while Hauk... he wasn't exactly too old for the Legion, but there were no wars going on, apart from the usual regional conflicts that were as repetitive as they were pointless. Would he be interested in training up some recruits? No, thank you. Well, then... exactly. They had nothing of interest for him either.

One day Hauk stopped by the Arcane University to see Iver when he spotted a new member - a new apprentice, he was told. She didn't look new, she looked like she had done it all before and was simply going through the motions. She was also making some custom spells that were much too complex for a new apprentice. Who was she? Things didn't add up.

A few enquiries with the older members of the Guild made it very clear that whoever she was, Lena Wolf was not a novice and not a youngster, despite her youthful appearance. There was mystery there, some darkness perhaps, but Hauk was not a shiny new penny either. Lena was muttering to herself about doing some adventuring to raise funds for a house... raiding some Ayleid ruins in search of ancient statues and Welkynd stones... doing some contracts for the Fighters Guild - the sorts of things that "regular" warriors would rather avoid, like fighting liches and wraiths... What fun! Hauk would introduce himself and offer to join her. Let the new life begin.

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5 Sun's Dusk, 4E201 - Lena and Hauk meet

Skyrim can wait. Back in Cyrodiil Lena still has a lot to do. She needs to get back her house in Bravil which got repossessed by the county under the feeble excuse that Lena had been absent for a couple of centuries. So what! She had business in the Shivering Isles - time passes differently there, and longevity is not an issue for a vampire anyway... ex-vampire... What does it matter?!

The house got taken, and there's nothing left to do but to buy it again. Which requires funds, which in turn requires some serious adventuring.

Thinking these serious thoughts, and possibly muttering to herself, Lena spent some time at the Arcane University making custom spells and picking ingredients in that lovely garden of theirs, as well as shopping in the Market District. There, quite absent-mindedly, she bumped into something shiny. Looking up and shielding her eyes, she realised that she was looking at a highly polished suit of steel armour, probably the best looking steel armour in the whole of Tamriel. Inside it was a tall Nord on the better side of 40.

Hauk Serck-Hanssen was a Mages Guild battlemage, currently doing what all soldiers do in peace times - nothing. Hauk was a Mages Guid Evoker, just like his twin brother Iver (who insisted on dropping his last name out of false sense of modesty), but unlike Iver, Hauk was not a "proper" battlemage. "It doesn't become a battlemage to meddle with schools of Illusion or Conjuration - such mind-altering magic is for vampires and necromancers!" - you'd think Arch Mage Travis would have outlawed those schools along with Necromancy, given half a chance. Hauk took no notice of this new order of decent behaviour, and as a result his assignments became far and few between.

Picking up Lena's muttering about "needing to raid a few Ayleid ruins for Welkynd stones" and "going goblin hunting in Skingrad County", he put on his most gallant expression and introduced himself - "On behalf of the battlemages, may I welcome you to the Arcane University--" and then cleverly did not say "Recruit" or "Apprentice". Because this is not how you get into the good books of a young and pretty Breton who somehow does not seem to be in her early 20s as her looks might suggest.

But instead: "Can I be of some assistance on the goblin hunt, not that you would need any, of course?"

Why, what do you know! Adventuring with a friend is so much more fun! Lena's University life just got more interesting.

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24 Sun's Dusk, 4E201 - Dragons - The White Wolf

Later at Olav's the conversation was light, both Lena and Hauk avoiding the topic of dragons. Then Hauk could avoid it no longer.

"Tell me about the dragons in Skyrim."

"Well, there isn't that much to tell. I went over the border about a month ago - just before we met, in fact. You've heard about the Skyrim bandits that used to terrorise the border regions, well, I read they were finally defeated - again, so probably not for the last time. But it was safe to cross just then. My adoptive grandmother told me on her death bed that there was something important I had to do in Skyrim, but I never knew what. To do or to see or to find out - that was all unclear. I've been to Skyrim before a few times and nothing particularly important happened, so I didn't think this time would be any different.

"But this time it started strange and it continued even stranger, which is why I returned to Cyrodiil within a week.

"Firstly, as I was crossing the border, I got arrested by the Imperial Legion and sentenced to beheading - although they admitted that I was not on the list."

"That sounds a bit harsh!" Hauk interjected, although he could believe it perfectly. "Did they at least know what you've supposedly done?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was captured together with Ulfrick Stormcloack - the rebellion leader. He was the one they were after, and everyone else - me and another fellow - was coming along for the ride."

"Sounds about right. So how is it that you're still alive? Although I can see now why you are not in Skyrim."

"Oh, that has nothing to do with it. Just as they were getting started with the executions, a dragon attacked and sent everyone running for cover. It was breathing fire and chaos was complete. One of those rebels was trying to pull me to come with them, but I followed an Imperial soldier instead."

"That seems like a strange decision considering that the Legion was going to execute you!"

"Not really. The Legion is methodical and prefers to err on the side of caution - better execute one too many than one too few - but they are also level-headed, and I figured they'd reconsider my sentence, especially since I wasn't on their list to begin with. The rebels on the other hand, looked hot-headed, and anyhow I did not want to get embroiled in Skyrim politics."

"So who sent the dragon?"

"No one knows. But I think no one sent the dragon. I think this was a coincidence and the dragon business is unrelated to the rebellion. They also have Thalmor patrols everywhere searching for the cult of Talos - and that too is unrelated."

"Yes, we got ourselves in a right mess with the Thalmor."

"Well, that Imperial soldier took me to a nearby village - his uncle was a blacksmith there, and they made me welcome, I don't see why. But apparently helping the guy fight the rebels back in Helgen counted as 'saving his life', although I was mostly trying to save mine."

"I bet you fought bravely and impressed him, plus you didn't put an arrow between his shoulder blades. That counts for a lot in Skyrim."

"I suppose so. They asked me just to do one thing for them - to go to their local town and inform the jarl about the dragon, ask him to send some guards to this village in case a dragon turns up there. Ok, that's the least I could do. Plus, I ran into my brother there, and figured I'd be staying for a while."

"You have a brother?"

"I do. It's a long story for another time. He stayed in Skyrim, so if we go there together, you can't avoid meeting him."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world! When are we leaving?"

"Not tonight."

"I see" - Hauk felt that there was more. More about the dragons, more about the brother, much more of everything. Perhaps the best thing was just to let it develop at its own pace. Too bad that Nords are not blessed with patience... "Well, let's get back to the dragon then. Did you go to see the jarl?"

"I did. He thanked me and mentioned some errands that I might do for him, in case I was in need of coin. Fine, life was getting back to normal. Until a couple of days later a dragon attacked a watchtower causing chaos in the jarl's palace. Of course they will never admit it was chaos, but why else would they ask me of all people to help fight the dragon? 'You survived Helgen, you know more about dragons than anyone here!' I knew how to run away from one... but sure, I joined them."

"So how do you fight a dragon?"

"How do you fight any flying creature? With arrows or spells, what else can you do? We got it down and got it killed. An I absorbed its soul."

"Whoa!!" That was something else. It wasn't just about slaying a fearsome ancient monster, it was about taking over its power too. "You are Dragonborn?" Hauk knew exactly what it meant, what it implied and why Lena needed time to get her head around it. Each Dragonborn throughout history had a mission to accomplish, and choices to make, and none of it was easy.

"Yeah, that's what I discovered." Lena was relieved that she did not have to explain what it meant. She wasn't sure herself yet. "The Greybeards called me, but I haven't gone to see them, not yet anyway. Instead, I returned to Cyrodiil to get my head in order."

"And your brother?"

"He is not Dragonborn, if that's what you're asking. But he'll be there for when I am ready to go to Skyrim to find out more."

That wasn't what Hauk was asking, and they both knew it. But should Lena drop another bomb by saying that her brother was the White Wolf? Did Hauk even know who that was? Yeah, he probably did. He seemed to know a lot of things...

"My brother needed some time for himself. He's been through a lot in the last few years, so he came to Skyrim to get away from it all for a time, to get his own head in order. Our father was a Nord - that much we know - so Geralt figured Skyrim would be a perfect destination, a perfect change of pace."

"Geralt?" Yep, Hauk knew that name.

"My brother is the White Wolf."

Things were making sense now. The famous witcher was not Dragonborn, but it took more than an average person to become a witcher at all, and Geralt was quite a character. The news of the Northern Realms did not reach Tamriel very promptly, but eventually things became known, and some of them were even true. Hauk heard of the Wild Hunt that was tormenting the Northern Realms, and of the frost and ice that the Wild Hunt left in its wake. They were said to be wraiths - but what would wraiths want with the living? Why would they abduct whole villages at a time? Hauk thought it more likely that they were beings of flesh and blood coming from another realm looking for slaves, and the frost was simply their magic. The witchers would fight them, and it was said that an apocalyptic battle recently took place. The Wild Hunt was gone. For now or forever? The White Wolf was involved somehow, some said it was he who defeated the Wild Hunt king, other said no, the White Wolf was captured and was a prisoner himself, and someone else had to free them all... Whatever of it was true, it wasn't a walk in the park, and if the White Wolf was now here in Tamriel, then the Wild Hunt must have been dealt with. It wasn't in his character to run away. "His Nord blood wouldn't let him" - Hauk thought. "He finished his mission and came to seek out his roots."

"So what now? Are you going back to Skyrim at all?"

"Yes, I'll have to, I need to find out more, at least. But there is no rush, and my home is still here."

"Yeah, in Bravil" - Hauk remembered the effort that Lena put into getting back that house.

"Yeah."

The publican had been topping up their ale and mead for a long while already. Whatever those two were discussing, was keeping them drinking, and there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, they mentioned Skyrim - what better topic could a Nord wish for under his roof?

The regulars were finally going home, but Lena and Hauk didn't feel like sleeping. The conversation still hung in the air, and they just sat there, drinking silently for a while. They were getting more and more at ease with each other, no longer needing to talk.

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31 Evening Star, 4E201 - Lucien Lachance

"What did Lucien want?" - Asked Hauk at breakfast at Count's Arms.

"He... I thought you were asleep!"

"I was, until he banged the door on his way out. Who else comes to visit you in your sleep?"

That was solid logic, and there was no point arguing.

"He wanted me to rejoin the Brotherhood" - Lena conceded.

"Rejoin?"

"Yes. I was suspended after I refused to kill everyone in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary."

"And you lived?" - that was most unusual. The Dark Brotherhood wasn't just another Guild, transgressions came with a death sentence.

"Oh, they were sending assassins after me for a time until it transpired that the traitor was much higher up than anyone in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary - he was a Black Hand, and he was out for revenge after Lucien personally. That's a completely mad story" - Lena shook her head. "Then I was no longer the target and they let me be. Now they decided it was time I returned to the family."

"And will you?"

"Already have."

Hauk wasn't surprised. After Lucien's visit the night before, Lena disappeared for 24 hours. She returned during the night. Lucien's ways were rubbing off on her.

"So, if you were given a contract on my life, would you kill me?"

"First of all" - Lena was getting cross - "they would not give me a contract on a friend unless this was a test or a Purification Ritual. And second of all, this would be against my principles, so I'd kill the contract giver instead, and they know it. So you're quite safe from me" - Lena smiled.

"You put friends above your oath?"

"I do not serve Sithis. I have rejoined because Lucien did know my mother - he hadn't lied. When I refused to purify Cheydinhal, he exclaimed 'Just like her mother', and I learned later that indeed their paths had crossed."

That was as much as Lena was willing to tell, that was obvious. So Hauk dropped the topic.

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5 Morning Star, 4E202 - Lucien's offer

I've been promised the abandoned house in Cheydinhal for keeping a cool head and sparing them all back then. I was to perform the Purification Ritual with which I would break the tenet to never harm a brother. But were I to refuse, I would break the tenet to never refuse a contract. I did not believe the "evidence" and chose to refuse the contract. Another assassin was sent to perform the Purification, and failed. I had to face the Wrath of Sithis, but it wasn't my first wraith... Living assassins were sent after me, all in vain. Then the "evidence" that I discarded, was proven to have been fabricated. The traitor was much higher up and he was after Lucien Lachance personally, which of course broke a tenet of the Brotherhood. I was cleared, but it was considered best for me to stay away. Until now.

Lucien came to see me a week ago - they wanted me back. But they owed me, not just their lives, but their continued existence as members of the Brotherhood. Would I accept a promotion? Surely, I would make a superb Black Hand. No, thank you. I do not serve Sithis, and I dare to say it - I'll kill his wraith again if I have to.

"You are just like your mother. And your great-uncle, he too went rogue." Lucien hadn't lied, I received my great-uncle's will - he left me his sanctuary near Leyawiin. But he served Sithis, and I don't. I just want a normal house.

"A house? I think we can arrange that" - Lucien brightened up. "The Count here is not keen to have an ugly abandoned house in the city, but we are very persuasive. Plus, he still remembers - less than fondly - Morag Tong from his native Morrowind. I think he would be pleased if the house was no longer abandoned. But would you be willing to allow access to the Sanctuary through it?"

As I am the only member who likes to use that door, it isn't much of a problem. New members have to earn the right to use direct access, so new members need that route through the house, but I was the last new member to join, and that was 200 years ago. I would not worry. After the traitor used a new member - me - to try to get to Lucien, Lucien has been reluctant to accept anyone else.

"Go see the Count in a couple of days. What do you want to call the house?"

"The Wolf Sanctuary."

"How befitting" - Lucien smiled.

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5 Sun's Dawn, 4E202 - A visit to Lucien

Lena knew where Lucien lived and how to get there bypassing the guards. Of course she did, she spent a lot of time there herself. It was time to let Lucien know about her little enterprise. Lucien knew what's been done already and guessed rightly that she had plans for more.

On a piece of parchment Lena wrote a list of names.

She sealed the letter and left it on the table.

She returned a few days later. There was a brand new silver dagger where the letter had been. The barrel with poisoned apples had been unlocked. A bouquet of flowers lay on the bed: goldenrod, morning glory, lily of the valley, blue hyacinth. Good fortune, my dear - yours, always.

"The choice of a lily is... unusual" - Lena thought. "I would have expected something more neutral..."

She took the flowers. She knew that Lucien would see them in the Wolf Sanctuary kept fresh and understand her acceptance. But she wasn't laying ambrosia fruit on her bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

14 Sun's Dawn, 4E202 - Death and Resuscitation - Wolf House - Prince Sheogorath

"This isn't as crazy as I thought it might be" - Hauk was saying at breakfast.

12 Sun's Dawn

Having breakfast at noon is not crazy at all if you only went to bed at 4 a.m. as they did. They brought the tongs and calipers to Tove, and he paid Lena 5 septims for each one, resulting in a very tidy sum.

"Oh I insist - for your trouble."

"That wasn't crazy after all to drag them all the way to here" - Hauk started to see sense.

After that they had a job to do at Xedilian.

"Now that I had to kill the Gatekeeper again, I need to fix Xedilian" - Lena was trying to explain it to Hauk. "It will attract people that don't belong here and make them belong."

Xedilian was overrun with grummites. They had removed the resonator crystals and attached them to their magic staves which made them so much more dangerous. At one point four Deathbringers and a Magus swarmed on Lena and Hauk from all directions and got them surrounded. Lena was using a lot of poisons but they weren't as effective on these grummites as they were on the ones in the hatchery. The battle was ferocious and Lena got knocked out - and couldn't get up. When Hauk finally dispatched the last of the grummites, Lena was still on the ground. Not unconscious but dead. One of the Deathbringers apparently kept hitting her after she lost consciousness - he was determined to live up to his title.

Hauk tried healing spells on Lena, cure poison and cure paralysis, smelling salts and aloe sap, to no avail.

"Ok then, it's the old-fashioned way again" - he thought removing her armour for CPR.

Resuscitation was successful. Lena sat up, still dizzy but alive.

"That was some battle... Thanks for bringing me back" - she said watching Hauk sorting through a pile of potions, clothes and pieces of armour that he dropped in the rush to get her heart beating again. He was still casting healing spells at her and at himself, and the sweat on his torso was shimmering in the mist of restoration magic.

"We'll need to take a break now" - he said wrapping Lena in some robes from their pack. "You need to warm up - don't bother wearing these, you'll be warmer in a wrap."

Being a Battlemage was clearly different from being an Adventurer, and having gone through the Great War behind the enemy lines taught Hauk survival skills like no training ever could. He actually knew what he was doing.

...

After a rest with some food and drink, they put their armours back on and decided to continue going through Xedilian. After all, they seemed to be nearly done.

"So this is the frog that got me?" - Lena stood over a grummite that lay where she had gone down.

"That's the one" - Hauk confirmed. "He just wouldn't quit which probably saved my own life - I would have been overwhelmed by an extra one joining in."

"I'm glad you weren't" - Lena looked at Hauk realising that were the roles reversed, she would have done everything in her power to bring him back.

13 Sun's Dawn

Xedilian was restored and the first group of adventurers was taken care of. Knights of Order appeared too, and were dispatched. Lena and Hauk stood outside again, it was mid-morning. They hadn't slept, but neither of them wanted to just now.

"What's next?" - asked Hauk.

"We could walk back to Passwall and rest at the inn there for a while" - Lena pointed West - "or we could start towards New Sheoth and get distracted along the way" - she pointed North East grinning.

"East" - said Hauk and started walking.

...

It didn't take long and they ran into another ruin and decided to investigate. Xalara housed some zealots, and obviously had to be thoroughly searched for the Fork of Horripilation.

The Fork wasn't there, but they found some substantial loot in an urn held by a statue.

"Good thing real Hungers aren't nearly as big as this one" - remarked Hauk admiring the statue. "Very decorative though."

He was definitely getting into the spirit of the place.

Xalara was a bit of a labyrinth with traps, sliding wall panels, collapsed sections and newly dug out bypasses. They kept coming out near the entrance which would normally be welcome, but in this case it wasn't because Lena was determined to search every nook and cranny for the Fork. Of course it was all for naught, but you wouldn't know it until you'd done it.

Exhausted, they decided to eat the zealots' food and sleep in their beds. It was getting quite late anyway.

14 Sun's Dawn

In the morning they set off for New Sheoth, this time intent on getting there without distractions. The landscape was swampy, but the water wasn't deep, and they didn't expect any creatures apart from baliwogs. Then suddenly Lena got knocked out.

"Whaaa-?" - Hauk heard her yelp but couldn't see what attacked her. Summoning a dremora just in case, he felt a little like that Orc adventurer that fell victim to Xedilian's magic - how do you fight the unseen?

The next moment Hauk was hit from above by a Skulking Scalon - a creature with a power to turn invisible and jump high and far. So this was what knocked out Lena - a scalon's touch also carried an electrical charge.

Hauk staggered, but his dremora swung into action, and soon the scalon lay defeated.

"Ugh, those scalons can really surprise you" - Lena was saying wringing out her skirt. The swamp wasn't deep to walk in, but it did get you thoroughly wet if you fell in.

New Sheoth wasn't far, and they didn't tarry and longer.

...

"We need to go see the Prince about Xedilian but not in these wet clothes" - Lena said as they entered Crucible. "There's a house here that we can use - it was left to me by a chap I did a favour for." There was no need to explain what the favour for Hirrus Clutumnus was.

When Hirrus left Lena the house, she went to have a look and didn't like it. Too much blood, torture tools and self-flailing in there. But now her wet clothes under her iron armour were chilling her to the bone, and she was ready to make use of the house even with Hirrus' spirit still hanging about.

They entered. Someone had redecorated. Gone were the torture tools, blood stains and cobwebs. Gone was the gloomy atmosphere - it's amazing what a few tapestries can do. It was still a Dementia house, but it was now clean and welcoming.

Dylan. It had to be.

But Dylan himself wasn't there, so Lena and Hauk spent some time in the Wolf House - as it was now known - to freshen up and rest. There was food, good wine and mead, and even fresh sweetrolls... nothing that Hirrus would have kept there.

In the afternoon they went to see the Prince. Lena put on a Red Finery dress that she had found in the cupboard. Hauk couldn't take his eyes off her.

The Prince was galant, as always, making jokes and never letting you forget who was in charge. Lena let him get on with it, not argueing or reminding him of things past. They both knew it was just a façade. He sent her to get acquainted with the new Duke and Duchess - Thadon and Syl, again? Well, yes, the same ones, or may be their twins... But they won't remember you, so don't you worry. But didn't I cut Syl's heart out last time? Yes, you did, but we don't let such minor details get in the way. Off you go now and enjoy your felldew.

Coming out of the Palace, Lena noticed that the Flame of Agnon wasn't burning - the Saints and Seducers must have been quarreling again. She had work to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15 Sun's Dawn 4E202 - Another letter from Lucien

"Before I get embroiled in Shivering Isles politics, I need to return to Cyrodiil for a bit" - Lena was saying to Hauk at breakfast. "There are a few things I need to take care of, on my own." She looked at him somewhat uneasy.

"Of course" - Hauk nodded. "Give Lucien my regards. I'll stay here - can I use this house?"

"Please do" - Lena gave Hauk a long look. He was planning something. "But I don't think I'll be meeting Lucien" - she added.

"You'll see."

...

Returning to Cheydinhal, Lena found a letter waiting for her on the table at the Wolf Sanctuary. It was from Lucien:

Darling Wolf,

Come and see me at your convenience. We have business to attend to.

Yours -
Lucien

She went in the evening, planning to sleep at the fort if necessary, while waiting for Lucien to appear. She didn't have to wait long.

"I need you to go to Skyrim" - said Lucien pouring the wine. "There's a group there that calls themselves the Dark Brotherhood and is taking on contracts, but we don't have a branch in Skyrim and the Night Mother does not talk to anyone there. Go see what they are all about."

Lena heard of them when she went to Skyrim before, but because the Dark Brotherhood had a regional structure, she didn't expect to know any of them. Now it turned out they were imposters, which went some way to explain why they tried to kill her - and didn't know who she was. No one verified their contracts, obviously.

"How do you want me to approach them?" - she asked Lucien, helping herself to cheese and grapes.

"We'll bait them - we'll spread a rumour that you've gone after one of their contracts. They'll be in touch."

"If the Night Mother doesn't speak to them, then where do they get their contacts from?"

"From rumours, mostly. People know how to summon us - the real us - and so they perform the Dark Sacrament over and over, thinking that more is better, no doubt. Then, when no one comes, they start talking about it, and sure enough, soon afterwards someone appears."

"Your friendly neighbourhood assassin, here to help" - grimaced Lena.

"Quite. Ham or mutton?" - Lucien was taking roast off the spit.

"Mutton, please, and some of that orange chutney on top."

Two old friends sat down for dinner. Nothing unusual about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

19 Sun's Dawn, 4E202 - Back to Skyrim

Skyrim calls. But Lena wouldn't leave without seeing Hauk first, after all he was waiting for her in the Shivering Isles, and she didn't know how long she would be gone.

"And this time I am coming with you!" - Hauk was adamant. Ok, let's go.

Lena and Hauk crossed the border to Skyrim and reached Riverwood without anything significant getting in their way.

"Hello, brother" - Lena noticed Geralt on the porch of Sven's house. "Have you been talking to Sven's mother again? You know she spreads rumours."

"Yep, and where else do you think witchers get their contracts from?" - Gerald grinned. "Good to see you, sis. And I see you brought a Nord to Skyrim" - he nodded at Hauk.

"This is Hauk, we've been adventuring together back in Cyrodiil. Is there any food at the cabin? It's been a long way."

Lena always kept the hunter's cabin well stocked with supplies when she was around. She hoped that Geralt didn't leave it empty. He didn't, and soon the three of them were sitting by the fire with mead and roast.

"Hadvar is back in Riverwood" - Geralt remarked casually. "Something must be going on by the border. He claims he is on leave, but I don't believe him. He asked about you."

"Did he now? In what way?"

"Either he was sent to get you to join the Legion, or to prevent you joining the Stormcloacks."

"Well, there's no danger of that - I have no wish to meddle in Skyrim politics."

"Too late for that, I'm afraid. They all want you now - you're the Dragonborn. Why are you back, actually?"

"I need to find out more about this Dragonborn business, why I never noticed anything before, what it does exactly, except letting me shout, which is kind of neat but not world-shuttering. I mean, other people can shout too, and they are not proclaimed to be Dragonborn. Didn't Ulfrick kill the High King by shouting at him? Yet no one calls Ulfrick Dragonborn."

She didn't say anything about her investigation for the Dark Brotherhood. This was her business alone. Hauk was watching the exchange between Lena and Geralt and thinking how close they seemed, even though he knew they could not have spent that much time together - they only met fairly recently. And the difference in years... Geralt was much older then Lena, as he didn't "skip" nearly two centuries as Lena did while residing in the Shivering Isles. Yet he wasn't 250 years old as he should have been... Time must pass differently beyond the Great Maelstrom. Geralt looked just over 50, but was probably pushing 100 - you can't tell with witchers. His age only showed in the things he said - wisdom coming from experience.

The roast was significantly diminished and the mead bottles around them were nearly all empty, when they heard footsteps coming their way.

"Hadvar!" - Geralt saw him first. "I see you've heard Lena is back. Come and join us, before all of the roast is gone."

"This is--" Lena started introducing Hauk.

"Hauk" - Hadvar didn't look surprised at all. "Hello, old friend!"

Was that a secret handshake or some such that they exchanged?

"We've met during the Great War, but Hauk returned to Cyrodiil afterwards and I stayed in Skyrim" - Hadvar offered, making it clear that this topic was now closed. This meant only one thing - there was so much more to that!

The conversation turned to lighter things, to stories of recent adventures in Cyrodiil - Ayleid ruins, caves, battles with beasts and undead, comparisons of draugr of Skyrim with skeleton heros of Cyrodiil, that sort of thing. It was already dawning when Lena finally declared she needed a nap and went into the cabin, and Geralt went to Sven's house where he was staying - Sven's mother insisted he should use their spare bed. Hauk and Hadvar stayed by the fire a bit longer.

"How do you know Lena?" - Hadvar asked.

"Met her through the Mages Guild."

"Tracked her down?"

"No, that was a real coincidence. I spotted her at the Arcane University, thought she looked out of place somehow, made some enquiries... Then introduced myself and we've been adventuring together ever since. I was getting pretty bored without any work, you know. I didn't know she was Dragonborn until later."

"That she is, but it doesn't mean much in itself, I think we both know that. It's what she does with it, if anything."

"Is that why you're here?" Hauk didn't believe that Hadvar was hanging around exclusively on Legion business.

"Well..." - Hadvar looked a bit uneasy. "The Legion is not going to interfere unless she tries to join the Stormcloacks, which we don't believe she will."

"And?" - Hauk was not to be put off that easily.

"And... Are you two... Should I leave her alone?" Finally! The real reason.

"We are just friends at this stage" - Hauk wasn't about to burn any bridges either. "But she is not wearing an Amulet of Mara."

She wasn't, not at that point anyway. It wasn't that long since Lena returned from the Shivering Isles, found her citizen rights suspended, went to the Northern Realms, met Geralt, came back to escape the war there, ran around the Imperial bureaucracy to get her rights reinstated, and she was still in the process of recovering her repossessed property, and now also this Dragonborn affair added on top. Lena's life was too tumultuous right now for the Amulet of Mara! Perhaps later. Hadvar and Hauk both saw that, and each was willing to wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

20 Sun's Dawn, 4E202 - Hauk and Lucien

Jarl Balgruuf had made Lena a thane of Whiterun, granted her permission to buy a house within the city walls and assigned her a housecarl - Lydia.

"This is all extremely inconvenient" - Lena noted thinking over her investigation for the Dark Brotherhood at breakfast. "I hope the group here isn't going to be spooked by my status and will still take the bait and contact me."

Lucien had arranged for rumours to be spread that Lena was the one who murdered the woman at the orphanage in Riften in response to some young lad's summons. One small detail however: it happened before Lena returned to Skyrim, but Lucien summised correctly that the group of Skyrim assassins wouldn't know the difference. Information wasn't their strong suite. All Lena had to do now was wait for them to take the bait and contact her, and being a thane - even just in title - was very inconvenient for that.

"Jarl Balgruuf just wanted to be the first to claim the Dragonborn" - Hauk seemed to have read her thoughts. "You are here for Lucien, aren't you? No, no, don't tell me - it's your affair." He broke five eggs for an omelette.

"How did you know?" - Lena needed some answers now, and Hauk saw that.

"I didn't, but I guessed. You had no intention of going to Skyrim before, in fact in the past four months you've repeatedly said you were not ready. Then suddenly you were leaving immediately. It stands to reason you got an assignment to follow through, and that could have only come from Lucien."

"It could have come from any number of sources - the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild, the Legion, the... what do I know!" - Lena wasn't satisfied as yet. The omelette bubbled and squeaked in the pan filling the hunter's cabin with enticing aromas.

Hauk gave her one of his looks taking his eyes off the pan for a moment - oh please!

"The Fighters Guild does not operate in Skyrim, they are terrified of the Companions, so no. The Mages Guild or the Legion - I would have known, as I'm a member of both, and in fact you haven't joined the Legion yet, so don't exaggerate. What is left? A personal favour for someone? Possible, but I doubt it would have carried this urgency."

"Ok" - Lena conceded that he could have just deduced that, accepting a plate with half an omelette that Hauk handed to her. "But how did you know I was going to meet Lucien when I left the Shivering Isles? I didn't know it myself, I was just going to do a few things and come back."

"I know Lucien."

"How?"

Lena was pretty certain that Hauk had never been a member of the Dark Brotherhood. Of course one did not need to be a member to have heard of Lucien Lachance, but Hauk's knowledge of him seemed to be more than hearsay.

"Our paths have crossed during the War. No, he wasn't after me and I wasn't after him, but we appeared to have had the same target, although with a slightly different purpose. I wanted information, and I reached the target first. Admittedly, there wasn't much left to do for Lucien when he appeared, but I let him fulfil his contract. We had a chat and parted ways. So I got the feel for the man."

"Which doesn't explain how you knew I'd be meeting him" - Lena wanted to know more, Hauk's delicious omelette disappearing quickly.

"When Garrus mentioned that someone gave you flowers that you carefully kept fresh in an urgently ordered urn, I knew it was from Lucien. Garrus was teasing me of course, but I knew just why you kept them - a reminder of things past, a recognition of his gratitude, more than gratitude - lily of the valley, was it? Of course you kept it, regardless whether you felt the same or not. And goldenrod and morning glory - back to business, sister. You've been promoted, whether you know it or not, so a special assignment wasn't far off. I wasn't certain of course when it would come exactly, but I didn't think it would be too long."

Lena suddenly saw a whole different side of Hauk. There was a lot more to him than met the eye, even after some four months of adventuring together, all the fights, the wounds and the campfires shared. With everything he just said, he still hadn't told her a thing about his duties during the Great War - that information wasn't his to give, the Legion was keeping its secrets. The same as Hadvar - be convincing without revealing anything of importance.

"I see..." - Lena started thoughtfully, picking at a bunch of grapes, deliberately, one by one. "Well, since you've figured out that much, you won't be surprised when something odd happens. Come with me to High Hrothgar, I need to follow up on that Dragonborn business anyway, and I could use the company while... well, I could use your company" - she concluded firmly, looking straight at him.

"Not taking Lydia with you then?" - Hauk gave her a wink, slicing up some cheese. "'I'll protect you with my life!' She's very eager, you know."

"'I am swooooorn to carry your burdens' - yeah, right" - Lena was particularly annoyed by that line. "She'll only get in the way and get herself killed. I'm not the kind of thane she was hoping to get assigned to. Although you might have been one - we can bring her along, if you like."

Was it time for another one of Hauk's looks? Perhaps. But he kept it to himself and just laughed.

"Ask Wolf to come too" - he said. "I think he's had enough of Sven's mother."

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jul 8 2021, 07:19 PM

[Lena Wolf]

28 First Seed, 4E202 - Shrine of Azura - Sedor

"Well, now that we are in Cheydinhal, why don't we go North" - Lena suggested at breakfast. "I've always wanted to explore those ruins along the Northern road to Bruma."

"Have you been to the shrine of Azura?" - asked Hauk. "A sight to see."

"North it is!" - chimed in Jowan with enthusiasm.

The views were so beautiful that Lena didn't even insist on going at a run.

"For once!" - Hauk sounded relieved.

They got to the shrine of Azura - someone told Lena that the worshippers there were friendly. Well, they didn't attack, that's a plus.

"Do you mind - I'm trying to concentrate!" - one of them cut off Lena rather abruptly.

"Oh, Ok." She tried another one. "Hello!"

"You are in a holy place! State your business!"

"Umm..."

Did this go for "friendly" these days? Jowan turned around and walked off to enjoy the view of the mountains - he wasn't that patient.

"Tell me about this shrine" - asked Lena.

"People are filled with malice and prejudice these days. I won't speak with you unless you convince me of your good intentions" - said the worshipper, squinting in suspicion.

Lena turned around.

"Sheesh... speaking of malice and prejudice..."

No, Azura could sort out her own troubles, if that's what her worshippers were like. There were plenty of other adventures to be had. They turned West.

...

"Oh look - a cave" - Jowan noticed a wooden door in a rock. "I wonder what's inside - since there are no signs of anything here."

They tried the door, but it was locked.

"Another one of those magic locks" - said Lena stashing away Nocturnal's skeleton key. "Forget it - let's move on."

The continued along the mountain path.

"Isn't that an Ayleid ruin up ahead?" - Hauk pointed at some pillars. "That's more like it!"

Sedor housed ogres. Particularly large and ferocious ogres. The fighting was intense, with Jowan having to dash around to avoid getting hit - one hit by one of those ogres would definitely knock him out, if not crush his skull. Hauk took most of the crushing blows, and his armour was now dented all over again. Lena used a lot of poisons, and that was a big help, but still it wasn't easy.

Then, when they thought they were done, an arrow came from behind and got Jowan in the neck.

"Aaww!" - he spun around. "Bandits! Where did they come from?"

"Never mind that!" - bellowed Hauk. "And now you'll pay!" - he charged at them.

That arrow was poisoned, and Jowan was out of the game until the effects wore off. Lena pushed him into a side chamber and followed Hauk, summoning a clannfear - "Go get them!". Finally Jowan managed to get the arrow out of his neck and clear the poison - he was ready to fight again.

A scream and a thud made him jerk, then he heard people running in panic. He ran into the hall and saw Hauk on the ground with a dagger stuck to the hilt under his arm at an angle. A puddle of blood on the floor was quickly deepening.

"They got his heart" - he thought.

The screaming continued - it was Lena going against three bandits at once, one with a warhammer...

"Not good!" - Jowan thought. "She'll be next."

He slit his wrist and cast a spell. Everyone fell to the ground. Time seemed to stand still.

Hauk was dead.

[Lena Wolf]

28 First Seed, 4E202 - Hauk is dead - The Fade - Demons

"Send me after him! Send me into the Fade!" - Lena failed to resuscitate Hauk. "I've repaired his heart but he hasn't returned!"

"If he went to Sovngarde, there is no way back" - said Jowan grimly.

"He can't have! Not that fast! I don't believe it - I refuse to believe it! Send me there - I need to see for myself" - Lena was pleading now. "If he tells me he wants to stay, I'll let him."

"You've never been to the Fade" - Jowan was dubious. "You might not find him there, or the way back for that matter. I shall not be able to help you."

Lena was kneeling over Hauk's body. He fell in battle with the bandits, he wasn't just knocked out - one of the bandits had pierced his heart. Hauk was dead. Seeing him fall and not getting up, Lena was filled with rage and lost all caution. Jowan saw it and thought she'd be next to die. He slit his wrist and cast a mass paralysis spell. Everyone fell to the ground, as if time itself froze. Jowan threw the bandits into the side chamber and locked the gate. Paralysis was wearing off.

Lena was silently crying.

"I've got to try. Send me into the Fade. If I don't return, then so be it."

"All right" - Jowan was giving in. "But you realise that someone will have to die to let you do it? The ritual takes that much blood, and I can't give mine - I need to keep the portal open."

Lena looked at the groggy bandits in the chamber.

"Is the one that pierced his heart in there?" - she said with a hiss. "Use him! Use two, if you have to." Her icy look made the bandits stop groaning. "I won't be praying Arkay for their souls. Sithis take them."

...

Lena was walking through an icy landscape, struggling to stay upright against the blizzard. She could hardly see a thing. How would she find Hauk here? But she must try.

She noticed something ahead, glowing. A fire. She came closer. A campfire was burning cheerfully, with a pot of stew bubbling over it. The ground was warm, grassy. There was no blizzard, no wind. Hauk was sitting on a bench by the fire.

"Come and join me, Wolf!" - he called. "The stew is almost ready."

Was it that easy? Lena was wary - she knew of the illusions in the Fade, of spirits and demons that would try to bind her and keep her there, Jowan told her, he tried to prepare her as best he could. But this was Hauk, he was here, alive, smiling, she could just sit down with him on the bench and never leave...

"No" - she said, backing into the blizzard again. "You are not Hauk" - she sounded uncertain.

"Oh but I am!" - said Hauk, taking off his cuirass. "Look - here is the scar where you fixed my heart."

Lena took a step forward against her will. She had to see it, touch it, be sure.

"Come" - Hauk took her hand, pulling her gently towards him. "Kiss me."

"No, you are not Hauk!" - Lena screamed. "He'd never say that, never like this!"

She jumped back.

Hauk's face changed, he grew taller, he had a whip. It wasn't Hauk.

"You dare resist me, mortal?!" - the demon cried with Hauk's voice. He cracked the whip.

Lena ran into the blizzard.

...

"'You won't be able to fight in there as you are used to'" - Jowan's voice sounded in her head. "'You won't have your weapons' - that's what he said" - she thought trying to figure out what to do. "But magic? What about magic? What did he say about magic? 'Spells might not work the way you'd expect.' Oh" - she recalled. The danger she was in, started to dawn upon her. And the fact that she would probably wander in the Fade forever. Jowan wasn't exaggerating.

The blizzard lightened up, she saw a cave. Snowberries were growing by the entrance, bright red against the snow.

"As red as the blood I spilled in Whiterun that night" - Lucien came out of the cave. "Come inside."

She entered.

It was Fort Farragut.

"Come, let's have dinner" - Lucien waved towards the table. He walked over to the fire, started taking roast off the spit. "Ham or mutton?"

"Mutton with orange chutney, please..." - Lena murmured, recalling this scene. "You are not Lucien."

"Am I not?" - Lucien turned around, smiling. "But I am an assassin, sister."

He bared his dagger, advancing.

Instinctively, Lena drew her Sufferthorn. Wait, Jowan said she wouldn't have any weapons, so how..?

She was holding flowers - goldenrod, morning glory, lily of the valley, blue hyacinth.

"Ah, you kept my flowers" - Lucien said, his dagger vanishing. He was now close, pulling her into an embrace. "I love you." He kissed her.

"Lucien..." - she could hear herself say, or think. She so longed for him. At last...

"No, you are here to rescue Hauk, and this is not Lucien anyway" - a voice said in her head. "Lucien would never do that!"

She brushed the voice away. She didn't care.

"No, wake up!!" - the voice was getting stronger. "Now!"

A sharp pain in her neck made her jerk. A vampire.

She tore herself away, pushing the vampire with all her force. Her neck was bleeding profusely, a chunk missing. The vampire looked famished, his hunger fuelled by the sight of fresh blood.

"Run!!!" - the voice screamed in her head. She ran.

She was back in the blizzard, there was no cave and her neck wasn't bleeding. "Hauk, where are you?" - she thought looking around. Every direction looked the same.

...

"Stay sharp" - a voice said behind her. She twisted around. Hadvar. "Come on - this way."

Hadvar beckoned her to follow, he seemed to know where he was going. She followed.

They walked through the blizzard for a while, Hadvar leading, Lena not seeing how he knew the way. But Skyrim was his home, so she figured, he must have ways. They came to a crypt.

"In here" - he said. "I've set up camp, we can wait out the blizzard."

Lena was tired, frostbitten and hungry, so she agreed. She could not go back into the blizzard now anyway, she'd just die there. Hadvar passed her a bowl of stew.

"What are you doing back in Skyrim?" - he asked. "Not joining the Stormcloaks, I hope?" The polish on his Legion armour was reflecting the fire.

"Stormcloaks? No, not me" - Lena answered, eating and sensing that something was odd. But what?

"General Talius will have them all hang one day" - Hadvar said, looking straight at her. "The Legion always prevails."

"Where is Hauk?" - Lena asked, surprising herself. She didn't expect an answer.

"Oh, he was here" - Hadvar replied. "He wanted to stay in this crypt, but I told him it wasn't his time."

"What?!" - Lena jumped up. "So where did he go?"

"Back out" - a draugr was sitting where Hadvar had been. "To Sovngarde."

Lena ran towards the exit, then returned. Something that draugr had said...

"It wasn't his time, you said?" - she turned to the draugr.

"Sit down" - he resumed stirring the stew. "There is no rush, he won't get there yet." The draugr's piercing blue eyes were fixed on Lena's. "Why have you come?"

"I..." - Lena started, uncertain. "He fell in battle, and I was too late to bring him back."

"Then you must let him go" - the draugr said. "A Nord must die in battle."

"Perhaps, but not yet - it is not his time, you said it yourself!" - Lena felt that the draugr was tricking her.

"And who are you to him to demand his return?" - the draugr's gaze was hard to bare.

"I..." - she stumbled. "'Wolf is not ready to make any choices or decisions yet, it's not the time'" - Hauk's voice sounded in her head. Was it the time to make decisions now? Here, in the Fade?

"No, it's not the time" - another voice said in her head. "Get up and leave - this draugr won't help you."

"I am his friend, and I shall find him" - she said firmly and got up. The draugr followed her with his icy blue gaze.

...

The blizzard had stopped. A bright aurora was colouring the sky green, reflecting in the ice. The moons made the night into day. Lena was standing on a mountain top, overlooking the land below. She saw a camp by the water, with people gathered around the fire. She hoped they were hunters rather than bandits, and approached.

Several people sat by the fire, chatting and passing mead around. She saw Hauk - a pretty Dunmer girl was next to him, he was holding her close. They kissed, then went into a tent, lowering the door flap.

"They've been at it for days now" - one of the hunters said, looking at Lena. "Come and sit with us, you can wait for him if you like, but it might be all night" - he laughed, winking at her.

She sat down. What was she going to do? She had no claims on Hauk, she couldn't deny him a romance if that's what he wanted... Those slanted sanguine eyes always made him melt...

"What, here, in the Fade?" - a voice in her head sounded sceptical. "A bit too convenient, don't you think?"

"A Desire Demon?" - she thought, recalling Jowan warning her about them. "I think I met two of them already..." - she blushed to herself. "But if that's a demon there in the tent, then is that the real Hauk that she's seducing?"

"Or perhaps the whole scene is entirely for your benefit?" - the voice suggested. "A Rage Demon trying to get you jealous? A Despair Demon trying to make you give up?"

Was there a way to tell?

She looked at the hunters. They were chatting, drinking mead, roasting slaughterfish and salmon, and not paying her any attention. Wait, one was different... White hair... Amber eyes... Cat eyes...

"Come with me" - he said, pointing at another tent. "You asked for help at your practice" - he smiled, fingering his wolf medallion. "I am at your service."

She knew him, she was sure she knew him, but how? She could not recall. She was drawn to him... Another Desire Demon? She wasn't sure... she had to follow.

"I can teach you to fight better than anyone, I can make you into the Ultimate Assassin, I can give you more magicka than you can imagine, even rid you of the curse of the Apprentice" - the man with cat eyes said. "And of course" - he snapped his fingers - "I can give you any luxury you could possibly dream of." The barren tent was now overflowing with velvets and silks, fruit, wine, fine food - anything. "Just say the word. And you can have it all - there is no need to choose" - he smiled, inviting her to join him on the cushions.

"No need to choose..?" - Lena repeated, looking at him. "And what would you want in return?"

"Nothing!" - he laughed. "Stay here, enjoy yourself, learn, grow, or just relax and lay back - it's your life! Have it all."

"And... what about my friends?" - Lena was fighting a nagging feeling that something was off.

"Friends?" - the man looked at her in disbelief. "You mean the ones that thrust you here without a way out? Or the ones that turned away because you were a vampire? Or may be the ones that just wanted you in bed? Because why else would they bother? Which ones do you mean?"

A string of memories rushed through Lena's mind. Yes, she knew exactly who he was referring to. But wait, was it really that bad? What about... this other guy... what was his name again? Why was she here anyway? And where was "here"?

"Here is in this tent in Skyrim" - the man answered, as if he'd read her thoughts. "Your face speaks volumes - I don't read minds" - he smiled.

It all made sense now. She was lost, but now she found a place where she was wanted. The man was nice, he wasn't making advances, he was offering her food and drink, books to read and spells to learn. Why not stay a while. Relax.

She let herself fall on the cushions and closed her eyes.

[Lena Wolf]

28 First Seed, 4E202 - The Fade - Memories

"Wake up!" - a shock spell zapped Lena. "Up, up, on your feet now!" - a voice shouted in her head. She'd heard this voice before.

"What?!" - she got angry. "I'm warm and well fed, and the cushions are soft, what do you want from me? I'm not going anywhere! I am done!" She fell back onto the cushions, her anger fizzled out.

"Up, I said!" - the voice shouted, a shock spell zapping her again.

"Aaww! Get away from me!" - Lena rubbed the singed spot and went back to sleep.

"Now!!" - the voice bellowed and a rather more powerful shock zapped Lena.

"Hey!!" - she was on her feet. "I'll show you! Get lost!!"

The zapping continued, coming from the Ether itself, it seemed, as Lena could not see her opponent. She ran out of the tent.

The land around the tent was barren - not icy, not covered in snow, not even rocky. It was just grey, dull, stretching in all directions as far as the eye could see. She turned around to go back to the tent, ready to forget this interruption - there was obviously nothing to come out for. Zap! A lightning bolt got her to whip around.

"This way!" - a voice said and another lightning hit a bit further on. "March!" Zap.

"Ok, ok, I'm going" - Lena mumbled. This was the easier thing to do. Go see what the voice wants, then get back to the tent and sleep.

The voice led her for a while, showing the way with lightning bolts and zapping her into obedience.

"How much further?" - Lena complained. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to find yourself!" - the voice replied. "Surely, the Sloth could not have sucked all of it out yet?"

The Sloth... The man with cat eyes? The nice tent to rest for as long as she wanted... Yes, the Sloth Demon... "'He'll make you forget everything you knew, you'll sleep in his domain forever - be watchful'" - Jowan's voice sounded in Lena's memory. "'Friends? What friends?'" - she recalled the man with cat eyes. "What have I forgotten?" - she thought with horror.

...

The landscape changed in the distance. Lena no longer needed the lightning to show her the way, she went towards the change. Swamps. Overcast skies. Stench. Corpses everywhere - soldiers. A battlefield. She looked around - she was in the middle of it.

She saw fire in the distance. Not a steady burning campfire, but flashes of it, as if someone was using fire spells. She walked towards it. A different stench mixed into the stench of corpses - rotten flesh. Walking rotten flesh. Ghouls. One man was fighting a whole pack - a witcher.

He was successful. He stopped, turned the last ghoul over with his boot. Looked around, found the nest, put a bomb inside. "Filthy beasts" - he muttered. Then fell to his knees, exhausted. He was bleeding. White hair, amber eyes. Cat eyes. Wolf medallion.

"Geralt!" - Lena remembered the scene, remembered finding him there, pouring a potion down his throat.

"Hello, sis" - he had said.

She rushed to him now, she'd do it all over again, she grabbed his shoulders... he wasn't there. The vision faded away like smoke. The land around her was barren and grey again.

...

"He made me forget my brother!" - Lena was getting angry at the Sloth Demon. "But that wasn't all. What else?"

"Don't get caught out again, if you want to return" - a voice said in her head.

"Return? Return where?"

Wait, this was important. If she had to return, she first needed to remember why she had left, and where she was now. Because she must have had a purpose... Do something and return.

The voice was silent. She had to work it out on her own. At least she didn't need to be zapped into doing it now.

She started walking, doesn't matter which way, she already figured out how this place worked, whatever it was. You walked, things appeared.

...

She saw a fort in the distance. A crumbling wall around it, but the tower still intact, like any old fort in Cyrodiil or Skyrim. She entered. Something was different, but she didn't know what.

"Here we go again" - she thought. "What kind of demon now?"

She went through some passages and entered a large well-lit chamber. A strange contraption occupied most of free space: three tripods with mirrors and crystals, focussing a beam of light in the centre. A dark-haired woman in black and white was fiddling with it.

"No, he isn't there" - Lena heard her mutter. "Perhaps Philipa would know?"

She cast a spell and an image of another woman appeared where the beams crossed.

"Gosh, you look dreadful" - was her greeting.

"And nice to see you too, Philipa" - the woman in black and white said. "Do you know where Geralt has gone to?"

"Why would I?" - she looked indifferent. "I'm not the one who's desperate to sleep with him. Swallow your pride and ask Triss."

"I have" - the black-and-white woman answered. "She doesn't know. And I checked - he isn't with her."

"Well" - Philipa raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. "Perhaps you need to search somewhere else entirely. Since you've left our realm already. Why don't you ask her?" - she pointed at Lena and disappeared.

Lena was watching it and thinking that surely, she must know who they were... Who the woman in black and white was, at least... Geralt... she was looking for her brother. But why?

The woman in black and white spun around and saw Lena standing there, not recognising her. She zapped her with a shock spell. "Wake up! Remember me!" - her voice was familiar. Yes, somewhat changed, but it was the voice that's been following Lena around, and the shock spell only confirmed it.

"Stop zapping me" - Lena said. "I know you but I can't remember."

"Damned Sloth Demon!" - the woman clenched her fists. "Follow me" - she commanded and walked out. Lena followed.

...

"Well, if this doesn't work, then I don't know what will" - the woman gave Lena a steaming potion. "It's a memory potion. If it works, it will likely overwhelm you, all memories rushing in at once. You'll faint, but I'll be there, and when you come to, eventually, you should be all right. And remember everything."

"Should be?" - Lena didn't like the sound of it too much.

"Oh, just drink it! What have you got to lose?"

What, indeed? She drank. She fainted.

...

Lena woke up in a bed in a circular chamber, probably a fort. A dark-haired woman in black and white was sitting at a desk with her back to her. A faint scent of lilac and gooseberries filled the room.

"Yen?" - Lena sat up. "Are you a vision?"

"Not a vision, and it's good to have you back!" - Yennefer jumped up. "You remember me, what else?"

"Geralt is waiting for you" - Lena remembered Geralt's tired face back in Skyrim.

"But where is he? I searched everywhere..." - Yen broke off. "No, we'll talk about this later. What else do you remember? Do you know where we are?"

"'Send me after him! Send me into the Fade!'" - a voice echoed in Lena's mind, and she saw herself kneeling over Hauk's body. Now she remembered.

"The Fade. I am here to find Hauk."

"And not to succumb to demons" - added Yennefer smiling. "But I think you've learned a thing or two by now. Come, I'll help you."

"Thank you" - Lena took her hand. "Wolf is in Skyrim, he misses you."

The fort vanished. Yennefer had pushed Lena into a portal.

...

Mountains. Lena stood on a slope of a mountain, she was high enough so that all was white around her, but below, in the canyon, she saw grass and trees in bloom. This wasn't Skyrim - these were the Jeralls in Cyrodiil.

"Wait, wasn't it where we got into that fight with the bandits?"

She looked around, yes, it probably was. A figure was standing on a mountain slope further ahead - a man, perhaps? She started towards him.

"Hauk!" - she was close enough to recognise him.

"Hello" - he said, with a blank face. "Nice view from here."

Lena was taken aback - this wasn't the reaction she had expected. He didn't seem to even recognise her, or if he did, he didn't seem to care at all. Was that another demon? Or was that Hauk after a demon was done with him? She had to be cautious. "Don't succumb to another demon" - she heard Yennefer's words in her head.

"Hauk" - Lena started carefully. "Have you eaten? There's a campsite nearby, I've got mutton on the spit."

She didn't know if there was a campsite nearby, but she figured it would appear, if she wanted it to. Roasted mutton was Hauk's favourite, if he didn't respond, it wasn't Hauk.

"Whaaa--?" - he looked around, as if seeing her for the first time. "Wolf? What are you doing here?"

"Roasting some mutton, it seems" - she smiled. "Come on." She took his hand. It was warm.

...

"Wake up, wake up!" - someone was casting healing spells at Lena. The room was spinning. Wait... perhaps she should open her eyes.

A face of a dark-haired young man was coming into focus. "Come on, you're back, you must be back!" He was pale, but still casting spells.

"Jowan?" - Lena recognised him. "You've done it!" - she kissed him. "Hauk?"

"Sleeping" - Jowan looked embarrassed. "He's been back for a while already... But you... What took you so long? I could barely keep the portal open."

"But you have" - Lena got up. "I... got side-tracked" - she said, blushing all over. "Demons..."

"Say no more" - Jowan smiled. "I've been there, you know. You help someone, you think you're done, you let your guard down, and that's when it happens."

"Yeah..." There was no need to specify which demon got her - again.

"You're back, that's what counts" - Jowan said firmly. "The rest stays in the Fade."

[Lena Wolf]

29 First Seed, 4E202 - The Hidden Camp - Bruma - Rubies

"Is it midday already? How long have I slept?" - Hauk was crawling out of a low tent in the Hidden Camp. "Is this Sedor?" - he pointed at an Ayleid ruin nearby. "I feel like I drank too much last night... The dreams I had - you wouldn't believe!"

He sat by the fire with Lena and Jowan, stretching.

"Careful with that" - Lena touched his side. "It hasn't properly healed yet."

"Whaa--?" - Hauk looked at her suspiciously.

"Some of those dreams..." - Jowan started cautiously - "they were not all dreams, I think."

Hauk stared at them.

"Ok, stop beating about the bush and tell me what happened."

"You... died" - said Lena. "I had to repair your heart - it was pierced - so be careful with that scar in your side."

"Riiiight..." - Hauk touched the scar. "Yes, I see. This explains Sovngarde. Except... they didn't let me in. Said someone wanted me back... They'd let me in if that person stopped searching."

Lena turned bright red.

"I am sorry, it wasn't easy... It took me such a long time... And I did stop... once" - she looked at Hauk apologetically. "I couldn't have done it without Yen."

It was Hauk's turn to go bright red.

"You went after me..?"

Now Jowan was getting hot under the collar.

"Stop it, both of you!" - he jumped up. "It was all my fault, I opened the portal! Sacrificed two bandits to do it, too! Sithis will be pleased now."

"What?" - Lena and Hauk said in unison, staring at him.

"The more I do it, the closer he gets" - said Jowan, sitting down. "It's not that I do it a lot... But I had to this time!"

They sat in silence for a while, letting it all sink in. Just what each of them was willing to do for the others, including Hauk of course - he died, remember?

"Well..." - Lena took their hands. "I think that makes us friends."

...

"Do you want to spend another night here?" - asked Hauk, getting up. "Or shall we get going?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?" - asked Lena, looking uncertain.

"I didn't say let's go fight some more bandits" - he winked. "I was thinking more along the lines of following the road to a town - Bruma or Cheydinhal - and spending the next night at an inn."

"I wouldn't say no to a bed inside a house" - seconded Jowan. "And I've never been to Bruma."

"Bruma it is then" - Lena got up too.

The road to Bruma was remarkably devoid of fights, not counting a few wolves. The views were magnificent and the fresh mountain air did everyone a lot of good. They reached Bruma in the early evening.

"Jerall View Inn, I think" - Hauk looked at Lena and Jowan. "They've got better beds."

"And food" - added Lena. "Unless you wanted to go drinking at Olav's first?"

"Drinks first" - said Jowan decisively. "Then eat and sleep" - he gave them a wide grin.

...

"Iver!" - a tall Altmer girl ran up to Hauk and squeezed him in an embrace, kissing him before he could say anything (he didn't try). "Where have you been? It's been ages!"

"Ummm..." - Hauk's attempt at replying got swallowed in another kiss.

Lena and Jowan were watching with amusement, as well as the rest of the clientele at Olav's.

"Ahem" - Olav touched the girl on the shoulder. "Camia? That's not Iver."

Camia jumped back as if she got burned.

"What?! How?"

She was shifting her gaze from Hauk to Olav and back, Hauk looked perplexed but otherwise rather pleased with himself. Olav cleared his throat again.

"This is Hauk, Iver's twin brother."

Camia went so red, it couldn't be healthy.

"Here - sit down" - Olav pushed a chair towards her. "They look completely alike, so don't blame yourself for the confusion."

"I am very pleased to make your acquaintance" - said Hauk. "And to find out that my brother has such a charming friend."

"Oh I'm so sorry" - Camia found her voice. "Gods know what you must think of me!" She went red again.

"I wouldn't worry" - said Lena. "Hauk gets it all the time."

The look of outrage on Hauk's face was enough to diffuse the situation. Everyone laughed.

...

"...and then he zapped that ogre with such a force, that it just fell over and died!" - Camia was telling the story of how she met Iver. Apparently, he saved her from some ogres out in the wilderness.

"Yeah, that sounds about right" - confirmed Hauk. "Iver was always good with his shock spells. But if I may - what were you two doing there in the first place?"

"Hauk!" - Lena protested. "What kind of a personal question is that? Ignore him, Camia."

"Well, we were looking for rubies, of course" - said Camia as if it was self-explanatory. "In the Red Ruby Cave? To bind Fire Atronachs with long term binding" - she explained seeing that it wasn't in fact self-explanatory. "I'm from the College of Winterhold. I met Iver here in Bruma - the Mages Guild kindly sent a battlemage to help - that was Iver."

"And did you find any rubies?" - asked Lena knowing that the answer would be "no". Cave names were never so obvious.

"No, strangely enough, we didn't" - said Camia, still surprised by it. "Just the ogres." She looked at them all and didn't see any of them surprised. "Say, you look like you know your way around caves..."

"Err... rubies are rare..." - Lena started.

"If we find any, we'll be sure to save them for you" - interrupted Hauk. "I'll have Iver bring them over to you in Winterhold. A trip will do him good."

Camia blushed but accepted the offer with thanks.

...

"So what are you going to do about the rubies?" - asked Lena when they were on their way to the Jerall View Inn for the night.

"I have a few at home" - winked Hauk. "From Skyrim, in fact. They are a lot more common there, but Camia didn't seem to know that. Iver needs to go see her, or else he'll be fit to join a monastery soon."

Did anyone think that Bruma was the city of romance? No? Then they should reconsider.

[Lena Wolf]

30 First Seed, 4E202 - Bruma Mages Guild - Walking in the Jeralls

The first thing to do in the morning was to stop by the Mages Guild and see if they had any poisons in stock as Lena had used up a lot of hers in all the fighting.

"No, we don't really sell poisons, you know" - said Selena. "They don't make the right impression on people, according to the Arch Mage. I have a few ingredients you could use, but even that..."

"Traven and his rules of good conduct again!" - fumed Hauk. "Does the man have any grasp of reality? We need poisons for goblins and ogres, for Akatosh's sake!"

"Well..." - Selena looked sympathetic. "There's a cave not far from here - the Silver Tooth Cave - it's full of wisp stalks and cairn bolete mushrooms, although it does have goblins inside. But there's quite a lot of milk thistle and wormwood along the way, too."

"Yes, we passed it yesterday..." - Lena looked at Jowan and Hauk. "There was a fort nearby as well... But you must promise to hang back and let me take the lead in the fighting" - she turned to Hauk. "Until you're fully recovered."

"I'm recovered!" - protested Hauk. "I'm a battlemage, remember - I've had my share of cuts and scrapes over the years!"

"Yeah, and how many times have you died from a dagger in your heart before?" - asked Lena not giving up.

"Dagger in your heart? That sounds dangerous" - Jeanne walked in. "Nobody can survive that."

"Quite" - Lena replied, looking at Hauk with significance.

"Of course a Warlock like yourself would have no problem repairing the tear, I'm sure" - Jeanne continued. "Still, I'd say it would be a very cruel practical joke. Unless of course Hannibal Traven thinks otherwise" - she smiled brightly. Selene shook her head, suddenly remembering that she had a potion to mix. Volanaro walked out of the room.

"What?" - Jeanne looked around, perplexed.

"Nothing" - Lena and Hauk replied, and Lena turned to follow Volanaro. He had some interesting spells on offer.

"A Warlock, wow, congratulations! You've done well!" - Volanaro greeted Lena when they were out of Jeanne's earshot. "I remember when you came here for your recommendation... both times" - he winked.

"Yeah, these ranks keep stacking up" - said Lena - "even though it isn't magic that I do to earn them, but plain fighting. You'd think it was Fighters Guild. Doesn't feel right."

Lena looked at Volanaro - a mischievous smile was playing on his lips.

"Well, you remember that little joke we played on Jeanne? She was searching for her Manual for days... Can't cast a single spell without it, I think it is enchanted" - he winked. "But jokes aside, things might change here in a not too distant future. You do know why we are the only Guild Hall without a specialisation?"

"I do" - said Hauk. "But Wolf was away at the time, I think she might have missed it. I'll fill her in."

"Please do" - Volanaro shook Hauk's hand. "Considering her rank advances, she is likely to become involved."

Jowan remembered reading some books at the Mages Guild in Anvil.

"Oh, from before the..." - he caught himself. "Sorry. I read your charter - some pages were missing..."

"Exactly" - said Volanaro, looking at Jowan's wrists. "Come and join us after... you know. When things will have changed."

"Oh!" - Lena caught on. "If Kvatch was for Alchemy, then Bruma... I see. Yes, we shall probably see each other again then. Traven seems to think I'm his puppet."

"Does he know the colour of Warlock's robes?" - asked J'skar appearing next to Volanaro.

"He must be colour-blind" - said Lena, smiling.

"He is not" - replied J'skar. "J'skar thinks that Wolf has to be careful. Traven is trying to get her killed."

...

After some discussion, they decided to take another walk in the mountains, picking some milk thistle and wormwood along the way. Whether or not they'd make it to the Silver Tooth Cave, would become clear later on.

"We should take Jowan to the Frostcrag Spire" - said Hauk. "That's a sight to see!"

That was a good idea, and they could pick ingredients from the garden there too, although Lena admitted that she still hadn't furnished it.

"You own a mage's tower?" - Jowan was impressed.

"It was left to me by some long-lost relative" - she said blushing slightly. "Quite the eccentric, it seems, although probably not as evil as that other great-uncle."

The Frostcrag Spire was the same as last time: impressive on the outside and bare on the inside.

"And those teleports" - said Hauk shuddering. "Did I tell you how much I hate them? And here you have to use them to get from one floor to the next!"

"Yeah, not my idea of a home either..." - said Lena. "Perhaps we'll come across a mage who would be pleased with it."

It was nice to visit, but not to stay, and they continued their walk. They came to the camp on the Gnoll mountain and stayed there for lunch enjoying the views of Bruma. Then they took the Northern path back, passing by the Dragonclaw Rock.

"That is the way to Skyrim" - said Lena looking wistful. "Through the Pale Pass and onto Helgen."

"And you want to go there again" - said Hauk, reading her face.

"Yeah..." - she looked at him. "If you're coming with me. And no business this time, just exploring." She turned to Jowan - "This goes for you too, Jowan. There's a lot to explore in Skyrim."

Jowan looked at Lena and Hauk and shook his head.

"That's too cold for my liking. You two go, I'll wait for you here in Bruma" - he smiled. "I think Volanaro will make for an interesting acquaintance."

They returned to Bruma discussing preparations for the trip. They never made it to the Silver Tooth Cave - the goblins got off easy this time.

[macole]

"Yeah, not my idea of a home either..." - said Lena. "Perhaps we'll come across a mage who would be pleased with it."

Passing through Bruma I happened to read an add on the bulletin board. Thinking of picking up a suitable home for a mage I took advantage of the offer only to find that I too was underwhelmed by the tower.

[Lena Wolf]

"Yeah, not my idea of a home either..." - said Lena. "Perhaps we'll come across a mage who would be pleased with it."

Passing through Bruma I happened to read an add on the bulletin board. Thinking of picking up a suitable home for a mage I took advantage of the offer only to find that I too was underwhelmed by the tower.

I know. Lena is willing to give it away... almost free! She went to see what the upgrades were... Overpriced was an understatement. And all strictly for a single person without visitors or - gods forbid - friends who might spend the night. Why, there wasn't even a bathroom or a pool! It's almost like that Rowley Eardwulf character who clearly swindled her out of the actual contents of the Sanctuary - was a whole group of assassins supposed to share a single coffin? In particular AFTER they cured vampirism? Didn't think so. But then Rowley was a swindler, of course, whereas this Altmer lady in the Imperial City seems to have the actual stuff... Lots of magical artefacts, true, but so poor in life's comforts. So Lena figured it wasn't worth while. But someone might like it - with a few changes to the decor, I should think.

[Lena Wolf]

31 First Seed - 2 Rain's Hand, 4E202

The day saw Lena and Hauk cross the border to Skyrim, turning West from Helgen to say hello to Geralt at Lake View. Lena had something to add to that, too.

31 First Seed

"I saw Yen" - she said at dinner.

Geralt dropped his spoon, splashing the stew on the table cloth.

"What?! How?"

"Umm... She's been searching for you" - Lena decided to circumvent the question. "I told her where you went, she'll be coming over now, I'm sure."

Geralt smiled, his scars almost fading. Then the looked grim again.

"You didn't answer me - how could you have seen her?" He correctly deduced that not answering was not good news.

"I... umm..." - Lena wasn't quite sure how to say that she went into the Fade after Hauk when he died.

"She went after me" - said Hauk - "to get me to come back after some bandit stabbed me."

"Riiight..." - Geralt was taking it in. "And you came back... both of you... obviously. How did you do it?"

"A blood mage opened a portal..." - Lena really didn't want to go into it. "It's not important! The important thing was that Yen was there, looking for you - asking Philipa to help for Akatosh's sake! You should have told her where you went... She'll have to exit the... Fade... and then make her way to here... It'll be a while still, but she's on her way, so be patient."

This all came out as a flood.

"The Fade?" - Geralt blinked. "She went into the Fade looking for me?"

"She... well... she said she looked everywhere, asked everyone... No one knew. I suppose she thought you might have died" - suggested Lena. "Or may be it was an easier way to search? Sort of like from above?" - she offered hopefully.

"Right, no more tests then" - said Geralt, still looking worried but lightening up. "I'll need to see about finding a house - my own house now. She'll be here in a few months."

Having Yennefer arrive after all that trouble and not find a suitable accommodation was a far more dangerous prospect than travelling through the Fade.

...

"What brings you two to Skyrim again?" - asked Geralt when they were sitting out on the deck drinking mead. The evening was beautiful.

"We just wanted to relax" - said Lena, looking at Hauk - "and Hauk needs to recover from his wound."

"I'm recovered!" - protested Hauk. "I think it is you who needed a holiday. How many demons did you face?"

"Too many" - agreed Lena.

"Well, that's what friends are for" - concluded Geralt. "Like Letho going after the Wild Hunt with me... Even when I couldn't remember anything, I still knew he was a friend. Such things stay with you no matter what." He looked at Lena and Hauk and smiled. "So you decided to come to Skyrim to fight some draugr for entertainment, have you?"

"Dwelmer automatons, we rather thought..." - Lena smiled. "Those ruins we came across last time? We want to explore a bit."

1 Rain's Hand

Lena and Hauk set off in the morning going North. They didn't have any particular plan, but knew that there were quite a few Dwelmer ruins in that direction. Passing on the East side of Whiterun, they spotted a path into the mountains and took it. It led them to a cave, skulls and bones on sticks announced the falmer inside.

"And probably chaurusses" - noted Lena looking at Hauk. "What do you think?"

"In we go."

The Shimmermist Cave lived up to its name - warm mist hung in the air, and it shimmered. Literally. Quite romantic, if it wasn't for the poison-spitting giant insects and vicious falmer, also looking like insects in their chaurus chitin armour. One of the passages even opened onto a Dwelmer chamber, complete with a Centurion spraying superheated steam.

"Wow, you broke it!" - Lena could hardly believe her eyes when she finally caught up with Hauk, having led away a falmer nightstalker. "I didn't think it was possible!"

"Of course it is possible" - Hauk looked rather pleased with himself. "Shock spells disrupt their crystals, you know."

"Yeah, that's if you manage to zap them before they squash you with the hammer or boil you alive."

The fun had begun.

...

Continuing further North, they stopped at the Nightgate Inn for the night.

"Oh, there are two Dwelmer ruins not far from here" - the innkeep said when he heard what they were after. "Just to the South."

2 Rain's Hand

The weather was bitter cold, with the blizzard so thick you could hardly see three steps ahead of you.

"Let's hope we find those ruins quickly and go inside" - said Lena shivering. Her iron armour left her arms exposed, and she was slowly freezing.

"Have you considered wearing some furs under that armour?" - asked Hauk, but Lena pretended not to hear.

...
Irkngthand looked impressive. A large courtyard with a three-story building, all promising an interesting exploration. By the time Lena and Hauk had dealt with the bandit welcoming party, Lena started looking like a frost atronach.

"You need to warm up - now" - said Hauk, pulling her towards the entrance. "There's a campsite with a good fire right over there."

"Wouldn't it be better to find the door and get inside instead?" - Lena protested, looking around.

"Yeah, but do you see a door? Didn't think so" - Hauk was adamant. "We've scaled this side of the building several times now, and there is no door, well, there is one - but it's all blocked up. We'll look for another entrance later - once you've been defrosted."

He had a point. Lena had also conceded that her armour wasn't keeping the cold out, and pinched standard steel armour from the bandit chief. It was too big, but could be adjusted to fit her reasonably well.

"But it's so heavy!" - she complained. "Don't throw away my iron set - I'll see about padding it with fur later. And... can you carry it, please? I can't carry both..." Women.

Hauk sighed, but stashed her armour in his pack. Breton women were neither strong nor frost-resistant, but they did have certain other good points...

...

After a good rest and a meal, they decided to check whether the ruin could be entered from above - through a make-shift hatch in the roof. They found the hatch, but it was locked.

"Another one of those magical locks" - Lena gritted her teeth. "No, it's no use. What about that other ruin that the innkeep mentioned? Let's move on."

Raldbthar was just to the South East.

[Lena Wolf]

2-3 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - From Ralbthar to Ivarstead

2-3 Rain's Hand - Ralbthar

Slept inside, found some hay piles in falmer huts. The falmer had fires going, so cooked some food, too. Found an Aetherial Shard and a mechanism that we could not activate.

Took an elevator to the surface - the entrance is above the main entrance to Ralbthar.

3 Rain's Hand

It's still early, and cold. We rode East then South - found Mara's Eye pond. Beautiful. There's a small island in the middle, a boat moored on its shore. There must be something there.

Found a trapdoor, a small cave inside - also quite beautiful, if not for the vampires. But plenty of gold, so it's all worth while.

Hauk says I should have taken the vampire's armour - one red, one black, both sexy. Mmm... no. No, thanks.

Going South - passing Gallows Rock. Let someone else clear it out.

South of that - a shrine to Talos. Did you know that they now want you to pay 100 septims every time you want a blessing? It's not an "offering" if you get something in exchange, it's a purchase. I'll need to invest in Cure Disease potions.

Cradlecrush Rock. Don't want to get crushed today. Ride on.

Crossing the river, we see a spider, it picks a fight. Hauk zaps it. Spider spits venom. Hauk gets angry - "A true Nord never backs down!" This doesn't apply to true Nord spiders though because it tries to run away. Eight legs or not, but Hauk is angry and spider stands no chance. Note to self: avoid making Hauk angry.

We proceed South. Holiday is in full swing.

Stumbled on a path up the mountain with arches and steps - a crypt. Went to have a look-see. The door is unlocked, there's a young chap inside - Golldir. Seems nice. Asks us to help him deal with a necromancer - some family feud, and he decided to take it out on their dead. Goldilocks - err, Golldir - is terrified of the place, got locked up there as a kid or something. But he's brave enough to ask for help and admit a weakness, all good points in my book. We'll have a quick snack and go in. It's lunch time - Roach is already munching on thistle outside.

That necromancer was evil. But a strong mage! Used interesting teleportation magic - Dunmer. Telvanni? Probably not. I wish I had a friend in Morrowind.

We are headed to Ivarstead, but make a detour to see the geisers. Always impressive.

Mistwatch - bandits. At least they have the decency to warn. Leave them be.

Darkwater crossing. Volunteered to deliver a message to Windhelm. Wait, weren't we going in the opposite direction? What was I thinking!

Another detour to the Rift Imperial camp. Padded my iron armour with wolf fur, got rid of the heavy steel - the quartermaster was happy. "Oh look at this perfect sabretooth cat pelt!" - he said. "The commander will be pleased." We stopped for a meal because of course Optio Serck-Hanssen had to have a chat with the Legate. Well, at least it got us free mead.

Ivarstead - Vilemyr Inn. "Hello, love birds!" Oh, the innkeep remembers us. Ok, never mind.

Hauk's armour got scratched in the fight with the draugr, he spends the evening polishing it. I watch (he doesn't wear a shirt). Not sure how much sleep we'll get. But there's no rush to get up in the morning!

[Lena Wolf]

4 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Geisers - Windhelm - White Phial

There was no need to get up particularly early, and so they didn't. But eventually Lena was up - the smell of fresh sweetrolls tempting her out of bed. Hauk followed.

"Now that I promised we'd take this note to Windhelm, we actually have to go there" - she said, checking the saddle on Roach. "Straight through the geisers?"

"Let's go!" - Hauk was in the saddle going North.

...

"Straight through the geisers, she says!" - Roach was complaining loudly, even though Lena couldn't make out a word of it. "More like straight down the waterfall and off a cliff! For your information, there is no straight road between Ivarstead and Fort Amol!"

Lena was gingerly nudging Roach to descent down a nearly vertical cliff. In her defence, there were plenty of stepping stones and Roach didn't fall once.

"Do I look like a mountain goat?" - Roach wasn't going to let her indignation go unnoticed. "Or the Shadowmere? You've been around Lucien too much, that's what! It got into your head! Oh" - they stood on a road by Fort Amol - "and now someone zapped me!"

"I'll see you burn!" - a mage charged at them casting shock spells.

"Umm..." - started Lena unsheathing her sword, a fire playing in the other hand. "That's the wrong spell for burning."

But before she could do anything, the mage dropped dead at her feet.

"There's a perfectly good road down the mountain, you know" - Hauk said, putting out his own shock spell. "Do you want to clear out the fort?"

"Nah, leave them be" - Lena got into the saddle. "We are on holiday, remember?"

...

"If there ever was trouble, this is it" - Lena said nudging Roach away from the cabin. "The sort of trouble we should walk away from."

They found a riverside shack with a large bear sleeping peacefully inside, having dismembered and eaten the previous inhabitant.

"Shouldn't we avenge the unfortunate person inside though?" - asked Hauk moving away too.

"And what would that accomplish? It won't bring him back. Let's go."

The bear continued snoring.

...

In Windhelm they finally sold the loot that they didn't want to keep. War time prices meant that they didn't get much money for it. Still, it was enough for a meal and a room, and a few bits and bobs, too. They dropped off the note at the White Phial, sold their surplus ingredients and... got saddled with another fetch quest.

"If you don't want to help people, you shouldn't be asking them about their problems" - remarked Hauk when they were outside. "Wasn't there something else we needed to fetch from that very same cave? For another old alchemist?"

"A ring of perfect mixtures" - Lena recalled. "If this was a hidden laboratory of some alchemical genuis, then it is not surprising that it would contain several interesting items."

Back at the market a local farmer selling fresh produce asked Lena to deliver some nightshade extract to the court wizard.

"I'm stuck here manning the stall all day" - she said. "Would you be so kind? Gets you to see the Palace from the inside, too."

The woman was nice, so Lena agreed.

"How do you feel about going into the Palace?" - she asked Hauk as they approached the entrance. "Do you want to skip this one?"

"Whatever for?" - Hauk raised an eyebrow. "It's not like I'm wearing Imperial armour. And even then... Windhelm doesn't consist exclusively of Stormcloaks, you know."

"Not exclusively..." - Lena thought - "But close! Certainly among the Nords..."

But - what was it? "A true Nord never backs down!" Oh.

She needn't have worried though. Ulfric was too busy discussing the war with whoever he was discussing the war with, and the door to the upper level of the Palace was right by the entrance. The court wizard by the name of Wuunferth the Unliving (!!) turned out to be an elderly mage interested in any and all aspects of magic and no aspects of politics. Ulfric didn't need him, and he needed Ulfric even less.

"We are doing well leaving each other well alone" - he said. "Oh - the nightshade extract... thank you. Poisonous of course, but it also has other uses..." He didn't elaborate, and Lena didn't think it was her place to ask.

After the Palace of the Kings they needed a breath of fresh air and went to the Grey Quarter - the New Gnisis Cornerclub, to be precise. A lot less stuffy than the Palace, but instead filled with the air of discontent. The Dunmer were not treated fairly! No? No less fairly than the Nords in Morrowind. It goes both ways.

After lunch it was time to go find this treasure trove of alchemy - the Forsaken Cave.

The weather turned for the worse with the blizzard getting heavy, the icy wind howling. Lena's padded armour did a decent job of keeping the cold out, but her Breton blood wasn't sufficiently frost-resistant.

"You are turning blue again" - said Hauk. "You need a drink." He handed her a bottle of Nord mead. "It may not taste as sweet as Honningbrew or Black-Briers, but it keeps the cold out better."

Indeed, it worked. Lena felt warmer and the cold didn't seem to get at her so much. She made a mental note to buy Nord mead wherever she saw it, whatever the cost.

Forsaken Cave led to Forsaken Crypt, the burial place of that famous alchemist Curalmil. Of course, his draugr was guarding the phial.

"Umm... Curalmil does not sound like a Nord name" - said Lena looking at the pacified draugr. "What is he doing in a Nord crypt as a draugr?"

"Ancient Nords were more accepting of foreigners than modern ones" - said Hauk grimly. "If he made his life in Skyrim and was considered one of the people, they'd bury him in the Nord tradition. And it seems he was respected in life - he practically presides over this crypt."

They found the phial, but it was broken.

"Something tells me Nurelion is not going to be happy" - said Lena with regret. "Can't say I blame him. Well, let's take it back as it is."

They returned to Windhelm in the dead of night. The Candlehearth Hall was welcoming, as usual.

[Acadian]

Poor Roach, the mountain goat cliff runner!

'The Dunmer were not treated fairly! No? No less fairly than the Nords in Morrowind. It goes both ways.'
By Julianos' little teapot, this is ever so true! Having traveled most of Tamriel, the Dunmer of Morrowind and Altmer of Summerset are notably worse about treating outsiders than the Nords of Skyrim. That said, a breath of fresh air after leaving Ulfric's palace is always welcome.

[Lena Wolf]

5 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Stenvar - Ansilvund

"Well, what do you fancy doing today?" - asked Lena after they delivered the broken White Phial to Nurelion.

"Mzulft" - said Hauk decisively. "There's that Aetherium shard there, and of course the ruin proper. As well as a few caves nearby - who knows, they could be interesting. And..." - he hesitated. "Let's take Stenvar with us. The boy looked bored, he could use an outing."

"Hardly a boy any more" - Lena smiled. "He looks fully grown to me."

"Still a welp" - Hauk grinned. "And will probably complain about the cold in the caves. He always liked forts as a kid, always running off, and his mother going after him. His mother! She was a fine woman..." Hauk trailed off in memories. "I stayed with them quite a lot."

"Sounds like you knew his mother really well" - Lena prompted cautiously.

"Yes... Her husband had run off soon after the wedding, gods know what he was thinking - just as the War started. I met her right after that, running a farm on her own."

"So Stenvar..?"

"Is not mine, I don't think" - Hauk was looking into the distance. "I think she was already pregnant by her husband. But we'll never know, I guess. And" - he looked at Lena sternly - "he doesn't know it, so please refrain from any mentions of me possibly being his father."

"I think by now he would have guessed!" - Lena exclaimed. "He's old enough to know how these things work!"

Hauk glared at her.

"I said no. I don't want it talked about."

Well, that was final.

...

Lena was walking up to Stenvar's table at Candlehearth Hall and already heard his well-rehearsed pitch: "If it's a mercenary you want, then the strongest one is right here... Oh hello" - he recognised her from their brief encounter last time. "All on your own this time? Sorry, I forgot your name."

"Wolf" - said Lena. "And yes, I do need some backup - planning to explore Dwelmer ruins on the Eastern border."

"Wolf?" - Stenvar swallowed. "So that white-haired fellow last time..."

"Is my brother" - finished Lena. "But he's not here today. Coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" - Stenvar was on his feet.

"Your fee" - Lena handed him a purse.

"No, I couldn't..."

"Yes, you can. Or shall I just drop it off with the innkeep here?"

"Well, that's a bit excessive... I do owe her money, but not that much..." - Stenvar stashed away the purse. "Let's go."

"Hello Stenvar" - Hauk stepped out from behind a column. "Keeping well, I trust?"

"Optio..." - Stenvar did keep his voice down this time. He looked at Lena and Hauk and back at Lena again. "So why do you need me?"

"We had a hard time with Centurions in the last ruin" - Hauk offered. "And we thought it would be fun to meet up. And please just call me Hauk."

"If I knew you'd be there, I would have never taken the money!" - Stenvar exclaimed with indignation, reaching for the purse.

"Which is why Lena went to see you alone" - Hauk stopped his hand. "Keep it, you will be earning every bit of it, I promise."

...

Mzulft was a disappointment - it was locked.

"Blasted magical locks!" - Lena cursed putting away Nocturnal's skeleton key. "We'll have to see if Farengar in Whiterun has something to open such things. But until then we can't get in!"

The Stony Creek cave nearby provided a welcome opportunity to blow off some steam. The bandits were clever - they used runes and traps in the narrow passages, and Lena got knocked out a couple of times. But then Stenvar and Hauk coming behind her caused some surprise...

"Oh, this is one nice bow!" - said Lena picking up a bow from the chief. "Wait, this looks familiar... Look Hauk - it has a randomised enchantment! 'The Edge of Ruin' it's called... It was Syl's. I wonder what it is doing here?"

"Wasn't it yours at some point? I remember you talking about it" - asked Hauk examining the bow.

"Yes, it was... Or one just like it" - mused Lena. "A lot of things went missing while I was travelling between here, Shivering Isles and the Northern Realms..."

"Shivering Isles and the Northern Realms?" - Stenvar whistled. "And I haven't even been to Morrowind!"

"You stick with us, and soon you'll wish you never left Candlehearth Hall" - laughed Hauk.

Leaving the cave and following a dirt road South and into the mountains, they found a camp in front of a wooden door. A mage picked a fight.

"Now why is it never possible to talk to them calmly?" - asked Hauk looking around. "I do hope I just knocked him out rather than killed - he was just a novice!"

"He was told to guard the place" - said Lena. "His self-importance overruled his thinking. Let's go in."

Ansilvund looked like a mine, but turned out to be an excavation site of a Nordic crypt. They were greeted by draugr and more mages.

"This is strange" - said Lena looking at draugr wrapped in linen stacked along the walls. "Necromancy?"

"Looks like it" - agreed Hauk.

Stenvar sighed. "I prefer to fight bandits. At least when I kill them, they don't get up!"

...

It was snowing lightly when they came out. Ansilvund was the crypt of Holgeir and Fjori, now being defiled by Lu'ah al-Skaven in a misguided revenge after her husband fell in the Great War. A woman in grief using the grief of Holgeir to... what, exactly? There is no logic in grief.

They sat at the camp by the entrance, they needed a break. They didn't speak.

Lena couldn't help but think of that dagger through Hauk's heart and her own venture into the Fade after him. Jowan had given a piece of his soul to let her do that... She would never forget it, or the grief she had felt seeing Hauk dead on the ground.

She put her head on Hauk's shoulder, he pulled her close. She was silently crying. Hauk stroked her hair, letting the tears run.

Stenvar looked up from the fire, raised his eyebrows in a question. "I'll tell you later" - Hauk mouthed to him. For now they'd just sit there, by the crypt of Holgeir and Fjori, holding each other close.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 17 2021, 11:59 PM

[Lena Wolf]

5-6 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Tolvald's Cave - Kagrenzel

It was getting late, so they decided to spend the night at Ansilvund making use of the campfire and bedrolls inside. Lena turned in early, but Hauk and Stenvar sat by the fire for a while.

Stenvar was waiting for Hauk to tell him why Lena had been crying, but he didn't want to ask. When they were sure that she was asleep, Hauk passed Stenvar a bottle of mead, moved closer and started to talk quietly.

"It was just last week. Some bandit sneaked up on me and put a dagger through my heart."

Stenvar froze.

"I died. She went after me."

Hauk took a sip from his drink, staring in front of him.

"To Sovngarde?" - Stenvar whispered.

"To the Fade - the place you have to cross to get to Sovngarde. I stood there in front of the gates, but they wouldn't let me in - said someone was searching for me. They'd let me in when that person stopped searching."

They sat there in silence - it wasn't a story you heard every day.

"Which is why we came here for a bit of diversion" - continued Hauk. "Some diversion this crypt proved to be! But may be it's for the best. We'll try to find a Dwemer ruin tomorrow."

"Her grief was so intense" - said Stenvar looking at Lena sleeping. "But she's so young! Just early twenties by the looks of her..."

"Yeah, she looks early twenties... but she went through the Oblivion Crisis."

"Two centuries ago?" - Stenvar was taken aback.

"Yes, she was in her early twenties then" - Hauk confirmed. "But she isn't as old as that. Those other realms she spent time in - time passes differently there. She has probably lived around 50 years in all."

They sat drinking mead in silence for a while.

"You've got to keep her close, Da" - Stenvar said quietly.

"Yeah..." - Hauk was lost in thought. Then - something Stenvar had said jerked him out of it: "Da?"

"Oh, I figured it out a long time ago" - Stenvar smiled. "You must be."

"It's not certain. It could be your Ma's husband."

"That worthless git? No, I'd rather it be you."

"I wasn't around enough. Not what a father should be" - Hauk looked at Stenvar with unease. "I loved your mother though."

"It was the War - you were in the Legion. You were around more than many others. And you kept coming back until she died..."

"At which point I abandoned you!" - Hauk sounded guilty. "Something a father should have never done."

"I was almost twenty already! You didn't need to look after me any more!" - Stenvar protested.

"Yeah, I suppose you grew up by then..." - Hauk passed Stenvar more mead. "But still..."

"I'm glad you are back" - said Stenvar. "Ma was happy around you. We both were."

They sat by the fire deep into the night.

6 Rain's Hand

"Oh, something smells good!" - Hauk woke up to the aroma of toasted sweetrolls. Lena was cutting up fruit for breakfast. Stenvar woke up too.

"Did you two drink all the mead you could find here last night?" - she asked pointing at a pile of empty bottles.

"We might have done" - Hauk grinned.

"Where's my armour?" - Stenvar looked bewildered.

"Oh - here" - Lena tossed it to him. "I found some pelts, thought you could use a bit of extra padding, seeing how you kept complaining of cold yesterday..."

"Oh" - Stenvar turned bright red. "Thanks."

"It's like I said..." - Hauk laughed, but Stenvar glared at him and Hauk didn't continue.

...

"There's supposed to be a Dwemer ruin here to the East" - Lena was pouring over a map. "Kagrenzel. And no, I am not holding the map upside down."

"We must have taken a wrong path up the mountain" - said Hauk soothingly. "But here is a cave - you never know, it could be fun."

Tolvad's Cave was not a cave but a cave system. It was large, complicated and filled with falmer. Some Dwemer pipework was visible too, but whatever stood here once, had long collapsed. The caves also housed several ghosts of unfortunate Dunmer fleeing the eruption of the Red Mountain some two centuries ago.

"I suppose it is not surprising to find them here, so close to Morrowind. And they almost made it!" - said Lena with regret. "But the falmer got them..."

"The falmer nearly got us as well" - Hauk reminded her. "How many did we fight at once in that chamber with the waterfall? A dozen? More?"

"Definitely more if you count the chaurusses too" - Stenvar joined in. "This is a dangerous place."

It was nearly 6 p.m. when they came out, not sure what to do.

"Well, it's getting too cold to go searching for that other ruin" - said Hauk. "Let's return to Ansilvund for the night and try another path tomorrow."

They retraced their steps, and just as they were ready to dismount, Lena spurred Roach on and was gone up the mountain.

"Hey, don't get too far ahead!" - Stenvar shouted spurring on his own horse. Lena had found another path.

Indeed, that was the right path to Kagrenzel, and they soon saw Dwemer steps and stonework. They entered.

"Is that all?" - said Lena, disappointed. "Just the one chamber?"

They stood in a chamber with a high ceiling supported by several columns. In the centre there was a pedestal with a glowing orb over it and a couple of fresh corpses underneath.

"That orb looks like trouble" - said Hauk.

"Exactly!" - exclaimed Lena excitedly and grabbed it.

...

Lena came to lying on the ground feeling thoroughly wet and cold. Someone was removing her armour. She decided not to look.

"How are we going to get it to dry in here?" - someone said. The voice sounded familiar.

"We'll have to make a fire" - another familiar voice answered. "Or go without - we've got some clothes in the pack."

"She's still out though. And cold. Why is she not warming up? I mean, I hate cold but I warmed up already!"

"She's... well... she's got a condition."

Someone was rubbing Lena's body with oil - lavender? - as she slowly noticed the feeling returning to her fingers. The fog started to clear, too. She opened her eyes.

"Hauk!" - she tried to say, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"She's waking up!" - the other voice said. Stenvar.

"Oh good" - Hauk put away the oil. "Drink this." He brought a goblet to her lips, helping her to sit up.

It smelled... familiar. Lena drank.

Colour returned to her cheeks almost immediately. She sat up on her own, now holding the goblet, still drinking. The fog lifted.

"More?" - Hauk rolled up his sleeve, removing the clamp from his vein.

Yes, she needed more. Stenvar went pale.

...

"She was a vampire once" - Hauk was explaining it to Stenvar while Lena was sleeping off the lavander oil. "She took the cure, and she doesn't bite necks any more, don't worry. But she doesn't regenerate as well as she should, and sometimes she needs blood to recover. The cure isn't perfect."

Stenvar was still looking shocked.

"I fought some vampires before" - he shuddered. "They were terrifying. I didn't know it could be cured."

"It's hard to obtain - practically impossible for most, and as you can see, the side effects are... rather deadly."

They were sitting on an edge of a deep pool of water - the pond under a waterfall. The water was coming directly from above - so high, you couldn't see the source.

When Lena had touched the glowing orb in the Dwemer ruin, some mechanism was activated, the floor tilted and they were dropped into this pool right under a pounding stream. The shock of the fall and the ice cold water made Lena black out, and if it wasn't for Hauk and Stenvar, she would have drowned. They pulled her out, and while Stenvar was getting out of his own dripping wet armour, Hauk cut his vein and prepared a goblet of blood.

"She'll be back to normal when she wakes up" - said Hauk checking the bandage. "And she'll be angry with me for this - or at least she was last time I offered."

"Mmm... thank you, Hauk, I'm not angry" - Lena was waking up. "But what are we doing here?" She looked around.

"Didn't I tell you that orb was trouble?" - laughed Hauk. "Come on, there must be a path to the surface somewhere."

They followed the stream and eventually came out in the Stony Creek cave, now devoid of bandits after their visit the day before. Still wet and cold, they stood outside.

"Well, what now?" - Lena turned to her companions. "Where do we spend the night?"

"Ansilvund" - they pointed up the mountain.

Ansilvund. Again.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jan 20 2022, 09:41 AM

[Lena Wolf]

7-8 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Whiterun - Assassin's End - Irkngthand

"We need to go to Whiterun to see Farengar about opening those magical locks" - said Lena in the morning. "Then we can return here again and try entering Mzulft." [1]

"That's assuming Farengar actually has something suitable" - noted Hauk. "But if anyone does, that'll be him."

They set off West from Ansilvund riding over the geisers. Everything was quiet until Hauk and Stenvar got into a fight with a couple of giants at the Broken Limb camp.

"What?!" - Lena couldn't believe her eyes. "Are you two that bored?!"

"Always wanted to fight a giant!" - shouted Stenvar. "We can take them together!"

"What did they ever do to you?" - Lena shouted back, but no, Stenvar wasn't listening. "Surely Hauk should know better!" - she thought, but apparently he was having too much fun.

Thump! Thump! Thump! The giants got angry. Their thundering clubs shuddered the ground - there was no way for Lena to use any kind of targeting - bow or spells. Then... something flew through the air. No, not something - someone. Hauk got sent flying, landing in a pool, knocked out.

"He'll need a hand getting up" - figured Lena rushing to him.

"Ooh thanks" - he said. "Those giants aren't joking."

Next it was Stenvar flying through the air, landing on rocks and needing a healing hand. Lena gave up targeting giants and just kept running between Hauk and Stenvar trying to keep them alive.

Eventually, the giants were defeated.

"Well, at least let's get their cheese" - said Lena checking the mammoth cheese vats. "And let's find a road and just ride to Whiterun, ok?"

"Only if you promise not to touch any strange orbs" - laughed Hauk. He had a point.

...

Farengar had what they wanted - a ring of unlocking. Mzulft would be open to them now.

"Can you two hang back here for a few hours?" - Lena got up from a table at the Drunken Huntsman. "I need to check on something."

"I thought we said no business this time!" - Hauk protested.

"It won't take long, I promise!"

Lena was out the door. Some things never change.

There was a rumour of an old Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary East of Whiterun [2], and she had to investigate. She found it - and was able to enter, her enchantment from Cyrodiil obviously worked. A Dark Guardian recognised her - this one was a ghost.

"Sister" - one of the assassins greeted her with a nod.

"How does he know?" - she wondered. "And who are they?"

"We are not really here" - an assassin in Daedric armour addressed her, seeing her confusion. "We are the memories of the assassins that were here long ago, when the Dark Brotherhood still had branches in Skyrim. You were able to find the cave, and then to enter the Sanctuary, so you are a Black Hand. We greet you." He bowed.

"But I wasn't able to enter the Sanctuary in Dawnstar" - Lena remembered that failed attempt.

"The Dawnstar Sanctuary had been corrupted" - an assassin in mage robes joined in. "As was the one near Falkreath, as you have undoubtedly noticed. But this one is better protected, so the enchantment still holds. The Dawnstar Sanctuary has been sealed against misuse."

Lena walked around the Sanctuary. A dormitory, a store room, an armoury - everything you'd need, without the fuss.

"Are you bound to this place forever?" - she asked the assassin in Daedric armour.

"Not forever" - he replied, looking up. "We shall depart, now that you are here - even if you don't stay. You've found this place, and our task is complete."

"Thank you" - Lena murmured. This was certainly an interesting turn of events.

...

"Right, see - I'm back, and it didn't take long" - Lena walked into the Drunken Huntsman. Hauk was talking to a dremora, with Stenvar eyeing them suspiciously from a far corner.

"At least with that dremora hanging around here, Nazeem has not dared to come in!" - Jenassa was saying to Stenvar. "He seems harmless. Pays for his board, too!"

"That's not just any dremora" - said Lena in passing. "Sanguine!" - she ran up to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Drinking mead, thank you very much!" - Sanguine laughed. "And catching up on gossip" - he nodded at Hauk. "I hear you've been getting yourself into trouble again?"

"I never!" - Lena protested. "What have you been telling him?" - she turned to Hauk.

"Oh, you know, of daggers and strange orbs" - he winked. "Here - have some mead."

But Lena didn't want to stay too long.

"Come on - time to go" - she urged Hauk.

"Go where?" - he looked at her in disbelief. "The sun has practically set already."

"Enough time to make it to the Nightgate Inn before midnight" - Lena insisted. "I want to try Irkngthand tomorrow, now that we can unlock that door."

"I told you she's recovered" - Hauk turned to Sanguine. "Don't worry."

...

They rode in silence for a while, Lena going steadily North. Stenvar levelled his horse with Hauk's.

"She is friends with a Daedric Prince?"

"Yep."

"To the point that he's looking in on her?"

"Yep."

"What else are you not telling me?"

"Oh, there's plenty. You'll find out in time" - Hauk laughed.

8 Rain's Hand

"Well, here's Irkngthand" - said Hauk as they approached the ruin. "The entrance is on the top floor, and there's no way to get to it... unless you want to drop in from above?"

"Exactly" - Lena smiled.

Stenvar looked perplexed.

Dropping in from above meant climbing the mountain first. They spotted a path going up and took it.

"No, not again!" - Lena watched in disbelief. "Did you decide to kill all giants in Skyrim?"

But obviously they had to have the cheese, and so... Hrmnph. With the Tumble Arch Pass cleared, they continued their ascend.

"This doesn't look good" - said Hauk. "A Word Wall with a massive sarcophagus next to it. I bet it's a Dragon Priest."

"A what?!" - Stenvar started asking when he got hit by a firebolt that almost toppled him over. "Oh I see!"

The fight was intense at first, but then Krosis levitated a bit too far from the edge and... fell off. You wouldn't normally expect an ultra powerful Dragon Priest to commit such a silly error, but there he was, stuck between the rocks, not able to rise or to shoot spells upwards. Ha!

Lena summoned a fire atronach that graciously floated level with Knosis tickling the Priest with its own fire spells, all the while rather enjoying the firebolts. That, and Lena's and Hauk's ice spikes and thunderbolts eventually got him killed. Incredible.

Just below Shearpoint was a small plateau from which one could jump onto the roof of Irkngthand, and then hopefully onto the ledge with the door.

"I'll go" - said Lena. "Follow if you can, but don't worry if you can't. Wait for me down in the camp." And she was off before anyone could object.

...

Lena came out after 1 a.m.

"Finally!" - Hauk looked worried. "What sort of time do you call this?"

"The time to explore the ruin while avoiding the fighting" - Lena smiled. "For the most part." She dangled a sack with 21 falmer ears. "There was far more where this came from, and I didn't collect them all either."

"Anything else?" - Hauk looked suspicious.

"Yes, I ran into Brinjolf in there." [3]

"Oh" - Hauk's eyes darkened. "What did he want?"

"Well, he wasn't there for me. It seems I walked into something - he was evasive. I lost him somewhere among the falmer slave pens, I think" - she winked.

"So that's why it was locked" - Hauk concluded. "Damned Thieves Guild."

"So can we go back to the inn now?" - Stenvar yawned. "It's too cold out here."

The Nightgate Inn beckoned.

"Let's hope we can share in the fun in Mzulft" - said Hauk getting into the saddle. "That's another ruin with a magic lock."

"We'll find out tomorrow!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] PS4 mod "Ring of Unlocking".

[2] PS4 mod "Dark Brotherhood in Whiterun" with my own story.

[3] While Lena was exploring, a Thieves Guild quest "Blindsighted" got triggered. She tried to follow it through, but it glitched in the end, so she left the way she came. Brinjolf might be permanently stuck there now, so beware.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 20 2021, 01:49 PM

[Lena Wolf]

9-10 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Mzulft

They reached Mzulft before lunch and unlocked the door. All seemed quiet. Someone had disposed of the automatons already. Soon they came upon the first body: a mage, possibly from Cyrodiil.

"Mages Guild?" - Lena looked at Hauk. "No, these are not our robes. The Synod - a new group. They must have mounted an expedition, then things seem to have gone very wrong."

"Those machines back there were pretty broken" - noted Stenvar. "So what killed the mage?"

"I give you two guesses" - said Lena, fingering the sack with falmer ears.

"Oh."

"And let's not forget their insectoid friends!" - reminded Hauk. "There's one right there!"

"Well, you wanted to fight something that would bleed. Green blood ok for you?" - teased Lena.

Following the first flying chaurus, they came to a chamber where the mages had set up camp. Alas, all they found were more corpses. Falmer and chaurusses were lurking in the rocky passage ahead.

"Falmer are blind" - Lena turned to her companions. "So let's take advantage of it. Be very quiet and you can easily sneak up to them."

She cast a muffle spell and crouched, Hauk did the same. Stenvar shook his head and crouched. Lena went ahead, signalling them to wait. One, two, three falmer hit with poison arrows, not dead, but no longer at full strength, and they still couldn't hear her. She summoned a dremora and ran back.

The battle was sharp and short, with the dremora taking the heat with archery support from behind.

"There can be no other end" - the Churl returned looking pleased with himself.

"Thank you, my friend" - Lena said, patting him on the arm. He smiled but didn't answer.

"You talk to him?" - Hauk asked when the dremora was banished. "I thought they despised mortals."

"They do" - Lena confirmed. "But it doesn't hurt being polite. Besides, it is usually the same one that keeps turning up."

"I never paid attention to the ones I summoned" - admitted Hauk.

"Well, may be that's why they despise mortals" - smiled Lena.

...

It was nearly midnight but they were still wondering through Mzulft. They were getting tired and hungry.

"We should make camp or find a quiet corner to rest" - said Hauk. "This ruin goes on and on."

"What - sleep here? Among these machines?" - Stenvar didn't sound enthusiastic.

"Not among the machines" - Hauk corrected him. "I did say find a quiet corner. The Dwemer had living quaters here too."

They entered what looked like a town square with doors leading in four directions. All was quiet, someone killed the falmer and destroyed the automatons.

"The Synod mages" - Lena pointed at another dead mage. "They've put up a good fight!"

In one of the corridors between two locked doors stood a Synod mage over a falmer body. The first living Synod mage.

"Hello" - Lena greeted him. "I am so sorry for your friends. Come with us - you'll be safe now."

But he just stared at her and shook his head.

"There's an Imperial camp nearby" - said Hauk. "We'll send some Legionnaires to get you out. Stay here."

The mage looked up at the mention of Legionnaires and nodded.

"Let's go" - Hauk beckoned them on. "He's in shock."

They walked away. They would explore the door behind that mage later, first they needed rest. One of the other doors from the central square led to what looked like living quarters. There was a table there and a bed - all made of stone. They decided to spend the night in that chamber.

10 Rain's Hand

Sleeping on a stone bed was as uncomfortable as sleeping on the floor, so they didn't argue about places. Still, it was safe and they were tired. In the morning they went to investigate the last remaining corridor behind the Synod mage.

The mage wasn't there - he seemed to have found a quiet corner for himself too. They unlocked the door - and found another mage, and a camp. Behind it was a huge Dwemer sphere - a mechanism of some sort.

"This must be what the mages came to study" - said Lena. "Impressive!"

The second mage didn't want to leave either, so they let him be. There was another corridor branching off - and another locked door.

"Blessed be Farengar and his curiosity" - muttered Lena putting on the Ring of Unlocking again.

The lock clicked. The door led outside.

"What?!" - Stenvar couldn't believe it. "We could have been out already last night! I would have preferred to sleep with the bears rather than among those machines!"

"We didn't know where that corridor led" - Hauk tried to be reasonable. "It could have very well been another falmer infested passage, and we were tired and needed rest. Sometimes you just have to know when to stop."

Stenvar had to reluctantly agree than another long fight with the falmer could have turned out badly for them at that point.

They climbed down the cliff and found their horses waiting where they had left them - they were directly above the entrance.

"Well, where to next?" - asked Hauk looking around. "We've cleared this area, I think."

"The Imperial camp" - said Lena pointing up the mountain. "We promised those mages to send help. Then we'll see."

...

"And you are sure those ruins are not haunted?" - the soldiers that the Legate had sent to the ruins wanted confirmation.

"I guarantee you - they are not. And we and the mages before us have cleared out all of the falmer and chaurusses too" - Hauk sounded reassuring. "Most of the mages died doing it, sadly."

"When Optio tells you it's safe - it's safe!" - said the Legate glaring at them. "And you've got your swords, don't you? Off you go now, bring those mages here if they want to come, but don't insist if they don't."

"I don't blame them" - said Stenvar. "It's nothing like fighting bandits."

They sat by the fire recounting to the others what was inside Mzulft. Somehow fighting Stormcloaks paled in comparison.

...

"Should we be returning to Cyrodiil?" - asked Hauk looking at Lena. "See how Jowan is getting on with Volanaro?"

"Yes, I think it's time" - she looked pensive. "I've got a job to do in Skingrad, too... and another one also in Skingrad - that one's for Mages Guild. Something that the Count asked specifically for me!"

"Vampires - it must be" - concluded Hauk. "He knows you can be trusted."

"Well, we can go together, and even bring Jowan - it isn't as secret as that." Lena turned to Stenvar: "I guess we part ways then. Take care of yourself, Stenvar."

"Come and find me again next time you're around" - he got up. "I'll be getting bored at the Candlehearth Hall."

Lena and Hauk got up too, headed back to Helgen and over the border to Cyrodiil.

[Renee]

"Yes. I was suspended after I refused to kill everyone in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary."

Very much agree with this decision, and so does my one character who was going through Dark Brotherhood years ago (way back in 2011).

"How do you want me to approach them?" - she asked Lucien, helping herself to cheese and grapes.

This amused me. She's got a meeting with the Speaker about something so serious, and she's eating grapes with cheese.

Interesting how Hauk and Hadvar already know each other. I am up to Sun's Dawn 20 by now.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 22 2021, 02:44 PM

[Lena Wolf]

12-16 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Skingrad vampires

Lena and Hauk arrived in Bruma on the 12th, almost two weeks after they left.

"Good holiday?" - Jowan greeted them. He's been staying at the Mages Guild - Volanaro managed to convince Jeanne that it was a charitable thing to do to allow Lena's friend to stay with them, considering that Lena was a Warlock and had the ear of the Arch Mage.

"Yes, I think it was a good holiday, all things considered" - Lena decided. "I have things to do in Skingrad, so why don't we take a coach to there, and I'll fill you in on the way."

13 Rain's Hand

"What happened to the unicorn?" - asked Hauk at breakfast the following morning. They were staying at Lena's house in Skingrad where she used to have a stuffed unicorn in the bedroom. The unicorn was now gone, replaced by an alchemy lab behind a partition.

"Sent it to Skyrim" - she smiled. "Geralt was talking about getting a house of his own, so he'll need it. I doubt Yennefer will be able to bring hers from the Northern Realms."

That was that. She didn't take any further questions.

...

"Well, what do you think we should do?" - Lena turned to Hauk after they spoke to the Count of Skingrad. "Talk to the vampire hunters or go see the vampires for ourselves first?"

"I don't think we need to see the vampires" - said Hauk. "The Count wants them gone, it's understandable."

"Ok, hunters then. Let's ask around town."

...

"We're here to protect!" - said Eridor and continued talking until Lena couldn't take it any more.

"They are in the Bloodcrust Cavern!" - Lena had enough of it. "Go get them." Then turning to Hauk and Jowan, she added: "I have a headache! Let's go to the Two Sisters Lodge for a drink."

The Lodge teamed with vampire hunters.

"Well, there are no vampires here!" - Mog gra-Mogakh told them. "So stop sneaking around and start buying drinks!"

Which they did. Were they ever going to hunt the vampires?

"Well, they are not in a hurry" - said Lena in the evening. "I've got another job to do, and it may take a few days, I just don't know. Why don't you two keep an eye on the hunters while I'm gone? I'll leave in the morning."

"Is that far away?" - asked Jowan.

"No, it's right here in Skingrad. A closed party of some sort" - Lena explained. "And it is likely that everyone will have their own objectives there. I don't really know what to expect."

"Well, be careful" - said Hauk. "We'll keep an eye on the hunters."

15 Rain's Hand

Lena was gone for a day and a half, returning in the evening. She looked tired but satisfied.

"Unbelievable!" - she let herself drop into a seat with a goblet of wine. "The small talk nearly killed me!"

"I'm glad it didn't" - laughed Hauk. "But I know what you mean."

"Any news about the hunters?"

"Not as such, but they seem to have disappeared."

"Oh?"

"Mog gra-Mogakh complained that they scampered without paying, and that now she'll have to clean out their rooms as they left their 'filthy smelly stuff' behind" - explained Hauk. "I think they might be dead."

"We'll need to go check the cavern tomorrow, in case any of the vampires survived" - Lena was looking thoughtful. "I wonder what made them come so close to the city, and not any city, but Skingrad specifically. Were they hoping that the Count would welcome them with open arms?"

"Probably not, but there might be a reason. We should ask" - agreed Hauk.

"Aren't they just going to try to kill us on sight?" - Jowan couldn't quite imagine what this conversation would look like.

"That's what we need to find out" - answered Lena, looking straight at him. "When I was a vampire, I didn't attack people on sight. Many vampires don't stop being people. Some however do turn into wild predators attacking everyone. We need to find out what these ones are like."

"Tomorrow is going to be interesting" - concluded Jowan.

16 Rain's Hand

"Was that a hunter?"

They were standing over a corpse near the entrance of the Bloodcrust Cavern.

"Hard to say" - Hauk turned him over. A pale face stared at them. "He is not wearing armour - just clothes - but he's got a sword and a shield. Yes, probably a hunter - sucked dry."

They entered the cave. Another corpse - Eridor. No bite marks.

"Hello!!!" - Lena shouted into the cave passage. "Can we talk?"

Footsteps.

"You dare come in here?!" - a vampire appeared, claymore at the ready.

"Yes, I do" - said Lena calmly. "Not afraid to get infected and you won't like my blood. I want to speak to the head of this coven."

"And they?" - the vampire glared at Hauk and Jowan.

"They will kill you and spill your blood unless you cooperate. Now."

The vampire hesitated but then sheathed his weapon and asked them to follow. The matriarch was waiting in the next chamber, having listened to the exchange unseen.

"You wanted to speak with me" - she turned to Lena. "Speak."

"What is it you seek so close to Skingrad?" - asked Lena.

"We seek the cure - the Count has it" - the matriarch bared her fangs. "We shall terrorise the populace until we get it."

"Have you asked the Count for it?"

"No, but isn't it obvious? He is just sitting on it!"

"Well..." - Lena looked into the faces of the vampires at the back of the room. "You do realise that it has side effects?"

The matriarch stepped towards Lena and bit her neck. Lena didn't look worried - and Hauk held back Jowan who wanted to attack. The bite was but a scratch, a drop of blood appeared, the matriarch tasted it.

"Yes, you would know" - she said with satisfaction. "Come - we need to talk."

...

"As simple as that" - Lena looked at Janus Hassildor with urgency. "Leave them be, and you will never need to worry about vampires in Skingrad because these ones will defend their turf. And there will be no attacks on your people - they'll be keeping captives."

"Oh?" - Count Hassildor wasn't convinced yet. "Captives? Any of my citizens?" - he looked angry.

"No, just a pair of vampire hunters" - Lena smiled. "They weren't up to the job, it seems."

Count Hassildor smiled.

"Very well" - he looked at Lena intently. "But how did you convince them to forgo the search for the cure?"

"I told them that I still had to drink blood - and Hauk showed where he cut his vein for me... when I was close to death."

"You spoke to Vicente then" - the Count relaxed.

"It was a huge shock to learn that I still needed blood... but I've accepted it now. Some of the vampires in that coven may prefer suicide instead."

[Lena Wolf]

"How do you want me to approach them?" - she asked Lucien, helping herself to cheese and grapes.

This amused me. She's got a meeting with the Speaker about something so serious, and she's eating grapes with cheese.

Well, they are having dinner. Just because it's a business dinner, there is no reason to ignore grapes and cheese. Besides, these two have a history together, they are not exactly strangers.

Interesting how Hauk and Hadvar already know each other. I am up to Sun's Dawn 20 by now.

Well, they are obviously both in the Legion. And I always felt that there was far more to Hadvar than just being an ordinary soldier. He's not saying much, so that can only mean... yep, there's a lot more to him than what meets the eye!

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 22 2021, 03:55 PM

[Lena Wolf]

16-17 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Obligations - Fenris Bero

"Well, that was interesting" - Lena looked at Hauk when they were outside Castle Skingrad. "So Mannimarco has returned. Traven will want to know that - but should we hurry back?"

"I wouldn't hurry" - Hauk said slowly. "If Traven hasn't figured it out for himself yet, he isn't much of an Arch Mage."

Lena nodded. The information was important, of course, but she felt that the Count had simply used it to ask Lena's help with the vampire hunters. She would have given her help regardless though.

"Well, if we are not going to worry about Traven for now" - she continued, lost in thought. "Then there are a few obligations I need to follow up on. Namely, trouble has been brewing in the Shivering Isles with the Saints and Seducers quarrelling again, and also I need to check up on the Leyawiin Sanctuary - I had asked Borba to fix it up."

"Then I suggest Leyawiin first" - Hauk looked at her intently. "This seems important somehow. Surely it can't be just about the furniture?"

"It isn't..." - Lena blushed. "There's someone there. A slave."

"What?!" - Hauk and Jowan looked indignant. "You..?!"

"I didn't!" - Lena protested. "I didn't buy a slave! Or at least I didn't know I was buying a slave! I was buying the original furnishings left behind by my great-uncle, and suddenly there was a slave there as well."

"What does the trader have to say about that?" - Hauk looked stern.

"He... well... Let's just say he was a swindler and a slave trader, so I had to have Borba change the furnishings, but I can't just abandon that slave. Especially since he's a vampire."

"Riiiight..." - Hauk whistled. "That explains your sudden warmth towards the vampires in the Bloodcrust Cavern. So what do you intend to do?"

"I wish I knew" - Lena looked uncertain. "There's also a captive there - for the vampire to feed on. I tried to wake him up, but he seems to have been infected with Narcolepsy, so there's nothing I can do for him. And the vampire needs to feed. I want to make this slave into a free person again."

"That might not be so easy" - remarked Jowan. "In Tevinter - a neighbouring kingdom of where I'm from - slavery is so common, that many slaves have accepted it and don't even want to be free. And that's where Magisters kill and bleed their slaves for blood magic rituals - and the slaves... they just think it's normal! People get used to all sorts of things..."

"Then we should go to Leyawiin and check on this slave" - concluded Hauk. "What's his name?"

"Fenris Bero."

"What?! And you kept that for last?!" - Hauk laughed. Jowan looked at them with a blank face. "I'll tell you later" - Hauk promised. A lesson in the history of Morrowind was on the cards.

17 Rain's Hand

They took a coach to Leyawiin, arriving within a day. The Sanctuary was just a short walk from the city.

"Mistress!" - Fenris Bero kneeled before Lena as they entered the central hall. "You have returned!"

"As I said I would" - Lena replied. "Is there any food in the stores?"

"Yes, the Orcs filled it up" - Fenris pointed at the storage. "I haven't touched anything."

"Right..." - Lena looked at Hauk and Jowan. "Can you two take care of dinner while I talk to Fenris?"

She took him into the study and closed the door.

"Please don't kneel, you are not my slave."

"But Mistress!" - Fenris was confused but he remained standing. Lena sat down.

"Tell me about your life with Rowley."

"Well..." - Fenris seemed hesitant. "He... started by sending us out for assassinations, as he said, but he always insisted we bring back loot, and that's what got the others killed. I was lucky, I guess. Then, when I was the only one left, he kept me in his house... I tended to his garden and made his poisons for sale, and he... kept me chained most of the time... He'd come for satisfaction often enough, and if I performed well, he'd give me blood... Just enough to survive."

Fenris dropped to his knees, but Lena didn't insist he'd get up. His story echoed what she'd heard before.

"Then, when I was no longer good enough, he'd beat me, keep me hungry, not give me any water or food at all, and no blood... Then once I was weak and beaten, he'd come for satisfaction again... But in the last few years I was never good enough for him... He used to have other slaves, but they seemed to have gone... or died... Then suddenly he brought me here and said that I had a new master now - a Mistress - and good riddance. You bought me, and I am sorry I am probably no use or satisfaction to you either..."

Lena listened wondering more and more what to do with him.

"Fenris" - she started. He looked up. "Rowley is dead - I killed him." Fenris froze. "And you are not a slave here. Do you wish to leave?"

"You are sending me away, Mistress?" Tears ran down Fenris' face and he was shaking all over. "I... I have no where to go."

Lena had said the wrong thing. She sat down on the floor next to Fenris and put her arm around his shoulders.

"I am not sending you away" - she wiped away his tears not unlike Lucien had wiped away hers some weeks back. "I killed Rowley Eardwulf because he was a traitor - to my great-uncle, to the Dark Brotherhood, to all of you new recruits, and certainly to you. He did not deserve to live."

"And he was with the Crimson Scars, and you are with the Dark Brotherhood. I am ready to die by your hand, Mistress!" - he looked resolved.

"He was with the Dark Brotherhood before he was with the Crimson Scars, and that is why he had to die" - Lena replied. "But you are a different matter. You were not involved, and I absolve you. It is in my power - I am a Silencer."

"And who is your Speaker?"

"Lucien Lachance."

They were already sitting on the floor, so Fenris could not kneel. Still, he could prostrate himself before Lena, and there he was. Every attempt she made to tell him that his enslavement and suffering were over, seemed to have gone wrong. How do you bring back someone who's been a slave for over 200 years?

She let him lie there for a little while, then she propped herself up on an elbow and started stroking his hair. After a while, Fenris looked up, his grey Dunmer skin having a white undertone, his vampire eyes light pink.

"When was the last time you fed?" - Lena asked.

"I haven't touched the prisoner" - he said. "I hadn't earned it."

Weeks, then. Perhaps months. Now, try not to say the wrong thing again, Lena.

"I shall have work for you" - she said, lifting him up by the shoulders and looking straight into his face. "But I need you at full strength. Feed on the prisoner. Eat the food. My companions and I will stay here tonight and leave tomorrow, but I shall be back in a few weeks. You will need to come with me then. Be ready."

Fenris straightened up.

"Yes, Mistress."

She got up and left the room to join Hauk and Jowan at the table.

"Well? How did it go?" - Hauk asked.

"He's a slave" - Lena answered grimly. "He doesn't know how not to be."

[Lena Wolf]

18 Rain's Hand, 4E202 - Bravil - Shivering Isles

"Go on - you need to do it on your own" - Hauk and Jowan were seeing off Lena as she prepared to enter the Shivering Isles. "Sheogorath wanted you to do those tasks for Syl and Thadon, and you don't want me there getting under your feet" - Hauk smiled. "As much as I would love to." He kissed her on a cheek. "Jowan and I will explore Bravil while you're gone - I don't think Jowan appreciates the finer points yet" - he winked.

"Well, all right" - Lena conceded. "But don't let me catch you in that den when I'm back."

"No, we'll keep to the chapel."

Mmm. Whatever. Lena stepped through the portal.