Skyrim: The Faces of Death

by Blackdrag-rose

Rating: teen
Tags: Anthro, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Crossover, The Elder Scrolls
Length: 479755

Amaryllis, a changeling infiltrator for Chrysalis' hive, goes looking for her missing queen, but is teleported to a brand new world in the process, one that is unlike anything she's seen so far, while also being in the middle of a war.

Amaryllis, an infiltrator for Chrysalis' hive, searches Canterlot for her missing queen, but during her nightly visit to the city she is forced to flee and heads into the Everfree Forest, where she finds an unusual cave, one that ends up changing her fate and knocks her out in process. When she wakes up she finds herself in an unknown world, in a snowy land that rests at the northern end of the continent, in a body that isn't what she's used to having. From there she must relearn the skills of an infiltrator, discover how the people of this new world interact with each other, and either figure out how to get back to her home world, or get used to living in her new environment and killing people to make some gold.

(Skyrim/MLP Crossover)
(Part of the Demon War story series, but reading the others isn't required)
(Warning: involves Daedric Prince induced cow transformations and unusual theories to explain lore)

Published 2021-07-04 13:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-03-25 14:00:40 UTC

Interlude: Helgen

Amaryllis kept her mind focused on what she needed to do, which revolved around figuring out where she was, devising a plan to get back home, and, more importantly, making sure she didn't trip and fall into the snow that was all around her at the moment, which was something she did quite often due to the fact that she wasn't totally used to this sort of body and how all of the bipedal creatures walked. The reason she put walking at the top of her list was because all of the residents of this land that she had seen so far, which was only three right now, had been able to walk with no problems and she was going to need to do the same thing in some capacity so she could pass herself off as a native, though she also had to take a few moments to figure out if her magic even worked in this land. One thing she knew was that if her magic didn't work in this land, and she was stuck in a twisted version of her true form without being able to transform, than she was screwed, as it would mean that she would be forced to stick to the shadows and move at night, not to mention that she wouldn't be able to talk with anyone, which would cripple her changes of figuring out what she needed to do to get back home, but her situation would be worse if she couldn't walk. All she could do right now was try to mimic the movements that the she had seen the minotaurs use in the past, not to mention what she had seen while she was observing the nobles and their guard earlier, as this would prepare herself for when she finally reached an area where there were more people to interact with, because she didn't want her first impression to be her hitting the ground and making the people of this land think she was an idiot. Of course she knew that the ponies had their own methods of dealing with those they considered to be idiots, or at least that was what some of her fellow changelings thought, since they loved to share their opinions when their Queen gave them a bit of time off, but in this strange land she had no idea what the inhabitants did with those that they labeled as fools or idiots, so she decided to make an attempt to avoid being labeled as either of those titles.

Still, her best bet right now was to follow the path that the nobles were currently walking down, though she did so from a good distance so their guard didn't think she was planning on robbing them blind or attacking his employers before they could reach their destination, but she came to a sudden stop when she discovered a flaw in her plan, as there was a fork in the road, something that was revealed to her thanks to the snow that had been cleared from the path, and, since she had allowed the nobles to get so far ahead of her, she had no idea which route they had taken. Based on what she could see of the two paths the one on her left headed up into the hills, no doubt heading back into a snowy environment or something like that, while the path that was directly in front of her headed straight for what appeared to be a fort made out of stone, which might not be the best place for her to go right now, especially since it was possible that the nobles picked the safety of a fort over the snow. If the nobles really were at the fort, taking a moment to make sure all of their belongings were with them and that they hadn't lost some of them along the way, it was in Amaryllis' best interests to head down the other path and head somewhere else, especially since one or both of them could accuse her of stealing this set of clothing from them, hence why she turned to her left and headed down the path that would take her away from the fort. It only took her a couple of seconds to discover that the path she had picked out went up a little, instead of going down like she had seen during her glance down the other path, before eventually leveling out and curved a little as she descended downwards, though this did give her a chance to practice with her walking and improve her poor skills, allowing her to prepare for whatever might be at the end of the path.

She had no idea who would make a path like this, since it didn't seem to serve much of a purpose, but it got her away from the fort that she had spotted and it gave her some time to think about what she was going to do when she actually found someplace to stop and ask for directions, as she knew absolutely nothing about this land and was sure that anyone she asked was going to think she was weird, but that was something that would have to wait for a time, since she had no idea where the next fort or settlement might be located.

When she reached the highest point of the path, however, she came to a stop again as she noticed that there was another fort, one that seemed to be combined with a village or town of some sort, at the end of the path she was currently walking on at the moment, and based on what Amaryllis could see this one seemed slightly larger than the first one she had seen, despite the fact that she didn't have a chance to actually get a good look at the size of the previous fort. From her vantage point she could tell that she had two options, the first being to either head down the path and hope her magic worked in this world, to form a disguise so she could gather information about the land she was in, while the second was to test the wilderness for some time and see if she found anything that she could use, be it a weapon or some magical items, which would improve her chances of surviving in this world. At the moment she had no idea which option was the better one, as they both seemed to be as good as the other, even if both came with their own risks since she had no idea what lurked in the wilderness, animals to be exact, which only caused her to stand there for a few moments as she considered what she was going to do about the situation she was in right now, before she noticed something interesting that was near the area she was standing in and focused on it. What she found was a small group of people, roughly five or six individuals based on what she could see, walking down a path that the one she had been walking on met up with, one that wasn't the one she assumed the nobles had picked, and they all seemed to be the same type of people that the nobles were, though they seemed to be wearing armor that was identical to the guard she had seen earlier, and as she watched the gate of the fort, one of them to be exact since it looked like there were two, possibly three, of them for this fort, opened up and the group headed inside, though once everyone was on the other side the gate closed behind without delay.

In that moment she decided to test her power, where she closed her eyes for a moment and called up the image of the female noble, before changing the image so she looked younger and had slightly longer hair, though once she was done with that she reached for her magic and hoped it worked out... which was followed by the feeling of her body shifting for a moment, as when she opened her eyes she found that her body seemed to match what she had imagined, but without a mirror it was hard to tell if her face looked different.

"Thank goodness... my magic actually works in this world." Amaryllis commented, as she was happy to see that her powers still worked, while at the same time noticing that she had spoken in a younger version of the female noble's voice, like she was a young adult or something, before deciding that this was good enough for now, even though she would miss seeing her hooves, which had been replaced by she assumed the nobles feet looked like, "Okay, time to put this disguise to the test and see if I can't figure out where in the world I am."

Amaryllis still wanted to get back home, to continue her search for her missing Queen, not to mention find the rest of the scattered changelings, but for now she needed to focus on figuring out where in the world she was, the rules that those in this land lived by, and everything else that she might need to know so she could survive in this place for a short period of time, before even attempting to focus her efforts on how she was going to leave this land. Once she understood that this test was purely for information, and nothing else, she started down the path that was in front of her once more, this time finding it weird to walk without hooves, which only caused her to retreat for a few moments, so no one down in the town saw her, and practiced moving around with her new transformed legs, figuring that the practice would help her if she took to wearing these new forms. After a couple of minutes, where she felt somewhat comfortable walking in this form, like she had in her twisted base form, Amaryllis nodded her head and headed back down the path that would take her right to the gate that the group of soldiers had walked through, which told her that there had to be no password or code to get inside the town and she hoped that the same was true for her when she approached her destination, because if there was such a thing her plan would be ruined. It didn't take her long to connect with another path, which she assumed was the same one that she had avoided earlier, where she found that the two paths formed a single road once more, though it wasn't long before the same thing happened with the path the soldiers had come down, creating a single path that lead her straight to the gate of the fortified town.

She knew that if any of the other changelings had been in her position they would have avoided the town and would have gone off in another direction to search for someone to get information from, ambushing them on one of the roads if they found a vulnerable target to tackle, but right now she didn't have much of a choice in the matter and would have to deal with the guard at the gate before she could move into the city, hence why she was focused on the task in front of her and not much else right now.

"You there, hold and state your business." a voice said, where Amaryllis quickly stopped in her tracks and discovered that the guard she had been thinking about had already spotted her, which made sense considering the fact that he seemed to be stationed on the wooden walkway that allowed one to observe the road she was walking down, even though it did look like he was waiting for her to get close before he said anything else, something that snapped her out of her daze as she continued to approach the gate.

"I'm a soldier from Cyrodiil, sent here to help the garrison out," Amaryllis lied, because while she knew that she didn't look like a fighter, due to being dressed in common clothing, or maybe it was more like the clothing a lesser noble would wear, she was hoping that the guard didn't look too deeply into a single soldier arriving on their own, instead of with a group of fully equipped soldiers, like the last group she had seen a few minutes ago, otherwise she would be in trouble and would be forced to flee before he captured her.

"Is that so? You don't look like an Imperial soldier to me." the guard commented, revealing that Amaryllis' luck had to be terrible, not considering being dropped in an unknown land and her body being twisted into a new form, but for now the thought was about the fact that she might have run into the one guard who investigated and studied whoever came near the gate he watched over, before letting them into the town, but she hoped that he'd say something that would allow her to get into the town, "Where's your standard Legion armor and weapons?"

"Stolen by bandits a few days ago," Amaryllis replied, as she figured that there had to be bandits out there on the roads in this land, attacking unsuspecting travelers when they weren't expecting anything to happen, and that had been the reason the guard had been with the nobles, to protect them from the dangers of the road, something she was going to try to use to her advantage, "along with the horse that I was given, which had most of my provisions and camping gear, so all I have left is what you see right now."

The guard glared at her for a few moments with a frown on his face, which made her wonder if he had seen through her lies, because if he suspected that she was lying to his face, even if some of her lies were possible truths, then that would make things even worse for her in the grand scheme of things, as telling convincing lies, as long as one had accurate information, was a skill that most changelings developed, so losing such a valuable skill like that would be terrible and would cut into her chances of either surviving in this land or finding her way back home.

"Wulfir, open the gates for a moment." another voice said, which caused Amaryllis and the guard to turn their heads for a moment, glancing towards the sound for a second and discovered that there was a second guard up on the walkway that was above her, standing close to where the first one was standing, who she learned was named Wulfir, which was an odd name based on what she knew, and she knew what ponies called themselves, but she said nothing as she waited for either the gate to open or for the pair to tell her to leave.

"And why should I do that, Provis?" Wulfir asked, showing that he might not believe what Amaryllis had told him and that he was more than willing to prevent her from entering the town, which would mean she would have to look elsewhere for the information that she was after, as well as someone to feed on to regain her energy, if she still had that power anyway, before she became weak due to not feeding on any love for a long period of time, but that was when she noticed a shift as the pair glanced at each other.

"Just look at her." the second guard, Provis, replied, showing that he was more than willing to listen to what Amaryllis had told his partner and that he might actually believe her, which meant there was a chance she could get inside the town, get the information she needed, and get out before either of them noticed her disappearance, or at least that was what her current plan was, but she continued to remain silent and listen to them, "Clearly the road from Cyrodiil to Skyrim didn't treat her well, especially since it appears some bandits made off with her horse and the majority of her gear and supplies, so we might as well welcome her to Helgen, get her situated, and put her to work... besides, you don't want Captain Isania to yell at you for preventing an Imperial soldier from reaching their destination."

"Fine, but she's your problem, not mine." Wulfir stated, though that was followed by him walking over to an area where some steps were located, allowing him to disappear from Amaryllis' view for a few seconds, which was quickly followed by the gate in front of her opening inwards, allowing her to enter Helgen, while revealing that the guard in question was the same race as the first one, whatever race that happened to be, "Provis will show you around Helgen, so you can familiarize yourself with where all the buildings are located, and then escort you to the keep, where you'll be outfitted with a new uniform and some equipment, before you join the other soldiers that arrived before you."

Amaryllis would have said something to Wulfir, to thank him for believing her, due to someone else coming along and hearing what she had to say, but before she could open her mouth the Imperial soldier returned to his post after closing the gate the moment she was inside the town, leaving her standing next to Provis, who had come down the moment the gate started to close, to which she decided not to do anything stupid and just focused on listening to whatever she might learn over the next couple of minutes. Provis, true to what his fellow soldier had said, took her on a brief tour of the town, where she found out that a lady named Ingrid happened to own a food shop, one that was run in her own home rested near Helgen's western entrance, which was one of three entrances she had spotted earlier, during her studies of the town before she decided to make the attempt to pass through the gate and enter Helgen, a place that was quite nice despite all of the stone, straw, and wood that went into making the houses and structures. From there he pointed out the house that Torolf and his wife Matlara owned, along their son Haming based on what she learned, as well as a two story building that seemed to be owned by Vilod, who, according to Provis, made some pretty good mead that had juniper berries mixed into it, something that confused Amaryllis for a few moments, but that didn't seem to bother the soldier at all, claiming that anyone who visited Skyrim for the first time had no idea what sort of mead the nords made and that he would ensure she had some at some point before she had to leave Helgen. There was also an elderly miner by the name of Gunnar Stone-Eye that lived near the entrance she had walked through, and he was alone based on what she learned, but from what she could tell the residents of Helgen seemed to enjoy talking to him in their spare time and asking about his past, though at the same time Amaryllis knew that a miner wouldn't have any of the information she was looking for, not unless she was eager to learn about ores and the materials of this land, so she decided to cross Gunnar off the list as they made their way over to where the keep was located.

When they reached the courtyard of the keep Amaryllis found out that there were a few soldiers, where she guessed some had to be from the group she had seen earlier, getting ready for whatever exercise they would be working on, but instead of staying outside Provis lead her inside the door that lead to the barracks, where she found a number of beds lined up on one side of the room, a few tables on the other side, and a hallway that likely lead to the rest of the keep, but before she could really say anything her escort walking over to one of the nearby crates, opened the lid for a moment, and picked up something that was inside it.

"Here, this will do as a replacement for the armor you lost," Provis said, where he turned around and Amaryllis found that he was carrying a leather chest piece of some kind, one that seemed to match what he was wearing, and he also had a pair of pants that matched it, along with the boots, bracers, and a helmet, all of which belonged to the set of armor that the Imperial soldiers she had seen earlier were wearing, meaning this had to be the standard issue gear that all the soldiers wore, at least until they ranked up to the higher ranks.

Amaryllis took the armor that he was holding and stared at him for a few seconds, causing him to turn around and stare at the wall, indicating that some people in this land knew that it wasn't nice or appropriate to stare at individuals of the other gender while they were in the middle changing into something more appropriate, like switching one's casual attire for the armor of someone who either fought in a war or was planning on going on an adventure for some time, similar to the lone guard she had seen earlier, even if it was his job to guard the nobles. With Provis staring at the wall she carefully pulled off the attire that she had been wearing and quickly replaced it with the chest piece and the pants that had been given to her, finding that they went on rather easily, just like the clothing she had picked up on the road, which she carefully folded up for later, in case she needed something that was incredibly common in the future, since she wasn't planning on staying in Helgen all that long. Once that was done she looked at the boots and studied them for a few seconds, where she figured out how to slip her odd feet into the boots and made sure they wouldn't fall off, before turning to the bracers, which also went on easily, as all she had to do was just slip her arms through the straps and made sure they were tight enough, as in to the point so they didn't fall off while she was in the middle of training, walking, or whatever she might be doing at any given moment. Once she was done putting the armor on, and looked like many of the Imperial soldiers that she had seen so far, she let Provis turn around so he could see her handiwork, though instead of doing that the man walked over to one of the weapon racks that happened to be in the room they were in and picked out a steel sword, which he strapped to her belt before taking a step backwards so he could study her form and check her armor.

While he did that Amaryllis discovered something weird, which was that all the Imperial soldiers she had seen so far hadn't been carrying shields, to help them protect themselves from the dangers of this land, and that included the guard that she had seen with the nobles earlier, which was just strange, though the only reason she thought about the shields was due to the fact that a few happened to be resting on the shelves that were near the racks Provis had retrieved her blade from, as she spotted two types that appeared to be made out of a mix of wood and metal.

"There, now you look like an Imperial soldier again," Provis stated, showing that he approved of what he was seeing, even if all Amaryllis did was put on some armor and stood there like she knew what she was doing, though his words snapped her back to the area she was in and focused on him once more, before he turned towards the door they had used to enter the keep and started to walk towards it, "Oh, I'd recommend keeping a closer eye on that armor, because if you lose that set you'll have to pay for a brand new set, though you should be thankful you didn't lose the steel armor that the higher ups get to wear, as that's expensive to replace."

"Noted." Amaryllis replied, though she wasn't thinking about wearing metal armor, given that it would slow her down and make things much more difficult for her to move around, something that would require training to get used to, but even then she had to wonder how expensive a suit of steel armor had to be, especially since Provis said something about it as he walked towards the door they had walked through, before she considered what else she was going to have to do while she was in Helgen.

"Good, then it's time we got you to the training exercises and see how well you fight." Provis said, reminding Amaryllis of what Wulfir had told them when she was at the gate, something that she really wasn't looking forward to since this would definitely expose her as a fake, but she said nothing as she followed the soldier outside and discovered that the rest of the soldiers she had seen had been added to the garrison that was already here, and they were getting ready to start their various exercises, causing Provis to make sure she joined the line before doing so himself.

Amaryllis found herself lucky in the next few minutes, as the soldiers she had seen on the road, that had entered the fort ahead of her, were essentially novices, at least according to the soldier that was in charge of instructing them on how to fight and how to defend themselves, so she actually didn't draw that much attention when she fumbled with the weight of the steel sword she had been given, as one of the others had done the same, which seemed to annoy their instructor, who must have been hoping for more experienced soldiers for whatever was going on in this land. Despite not knowing all the correct motions that someone would make with a sword, which should have given her away immediately due to her lack of experience in such a field, she found that the other six soldiers were at the same level of skill that she had and that caused the instructor to simply sigh as he and the other soldiers, those that knew what they were doing, assisted them in learning how to use the weapons they were holding. This also extended to the other types of weapons that they had on hand, as the instructor made sure that each of them spent a few minutes practicing with the heavier weapons, like the greatsword, a larger version of a sword that needed to be used with two hands, or the warhammer, which was basically a weapon that had a massive metal head at the top of a long wooden handle, and the weight did cause Amaryllis to fall backwards a few times, as she wasn't used to wielding weapons that were as heavy as those were, and the battleaxe, a weapon that had a long handle as well, though at one end rested a curved head that was used to cut into whoever the owner was fighting at the time. Of course there was training with the smaller versions of the larger weapons, as in a single handed axe, which were just as long as one of the swords they had practiced with earlier, thanks to the handle being cut to match the length of a blade, and a mace, which was basically a metallic weapon that was as long as a sword or an axe and had a head that was more circular in nature, or at least had four blade sections which were arranged in the directions of a compass, which had to be painful to be hit with and was a little hard to use, just like all of the other weapons she trained with.

The weapons she found to be the easiest to use, oddly enough, were the bow, as all she had to do was draw an arrow and use it to pull the bowstring back, aim at one of the straw targets that were near them, and loose the arrow when she was ready, and even though her first couple of shots missed the circular straw target that was nearby, she started to get better as time went on, while the other weapon was a dagger, which was a much smaller version of the sword she was carrying, as she found that she could perform more movements with the smaller blade, as opposed to a slower set of movements with the sword itself.

When they finally finished training Amaryllis discovered that the soldiers were gathering for the next meal of the day, as in dinner based on the position of the sun, even though it was odd to see that the sun moved on it's own and didn't rely on an alicorn to guide it through the sky, something that informed her of something she didn't want to think about, that this definitely wasn't her home world and that she was somewhere else, before she pushed the thought to the side and joined the soldiers, even though it was another bad idea. She could tell that there was no love to be absorbed from the Imperial soldiers, as those of them that had loved ones in their lives left them back home and only talked about them to those they considered their friends, meaning she couldn't get any information about what they looked like from the soldiers, but that was followed by an incredible discovery, something that would change how she went about her stay in this strange place, as she was still planning on finding a way home. Whatever magic had brought her to this land, and reshaped her form to be able to walk on two legs, had also messed with her on a deeper level, as she could actually eat the beef stew that had been provided for them and could taste the flavors that went into making the dish, even if there weren't that many based on what she was tasting, while finding that it satisfied her hunger, meaning she might not have to worry about looking for love anymore, but determined that she could test that in the future. She also discovered that the land she was currently in was called Skyrim, the fort they were stationed in rested in the domain of Falkreath Hold, one of the nine areas that made up the entirety of the land, something that interested her as she listened to what they were telling her and learned a bit about the other Holds, and that they, as in the Imperial army, were currently dealing with a rebellion of some kind, as the soldiers mentioned something about one of the Jarls, the rulers of the Holds, murdering another one and starting a war with the Empire, all of which she found interesting as she ate her dinner with the soldiers.

What interested her was that the Captain of the fort, Isania she recalled, joined them after a while and seemed to take a seat at the head of the table, where all the big shots apparently sat while those that were under them sat together some distance away, but she didn't let that bother her, mostly since the hierarchy of the army didn't matter all that much to her right now, though based on what she was seeing it appeared that the Captain had something to say, considering that she was getting up and all the conversations died down instantly.

"Soldiers, I wish to share a bit of good news with all of you... we have captured Ulfric Stormcloak!" Captain Isania stated, all while having a smile on her face, where she paused for a few seconds to let the soldiers process that piece of information and what it meant for them, something that was followed by several of the soldiers cheering as they lifted their mugs into the air, even though it did tell Amaryllis who the commander of the rebellion was, even though it appeared the rebels had taken the last name of their commander, an odd choice to be sure, before everyone settled down as they noticed there was more news to be shared with them, "Right now Ulfric, several of his loyal followers, and a few other minor criminals are stopping at Fort Neugrad for the night, allowing General Tullius and a few other important figures the time they need to get here, so we can publicly execute the traitors and the criminals that were caught on the way here. By the time noon arrives tomorrow the leader of the Stormcloak Rebellion will be dead, his followers will have perished along with him, and the criminals will be gone from this world, restoring the peace to this land at long last, so I want all of you to go to sleep early tonight and wake up before the sun does, as we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

"What sort of criminals did the other soldiers catch?" Wulfir asked, as while he could tell that the Captain was finished with the major part of what she wanted to tell the group, something that Amaryllis caught as well since Isania turned like she was going to return to her seat and enjoy her dinner with the rest of the army, his words revealed that he was also curious as to who else might had been caught earlier, just so they could make sure they were ready for whatever tomorrow had in store for all of them.

"A nord who apparently stole a horse and some provisions, so he could flee to Hammerfell and escape his ordinary life, or at least that's his story," Captain Isania replied, though her tone revealed that she really didn't care about the rest of the individuals who had been captured by the other group of soldiers, as they were criminals and she likely felt that they were wasting their time with them, especially since they had the leader of the rebellion in their hands, before she decided to wrap up her statement so she could get to her dinner, "and a female khajiit that the Thalmor brought with them, one who has been accused of stealing from several of their patrols, one or two of their Embassies, and even killing a few of them while they're out in the field... she's also been accused of stealing supplies from the Legion as well, like horses and armor, and selling them for whatever coin she can get for them."

"Well, it looks like the person who stole your stuff has been caught." Provis commented, where he chuckled for a moment as he tapped Amaryllis with his elbow, reminding her of the tale that she had told him and Wulfir back at the gate, before they let her enter the town and one of them had escorted her to the fort, to get some actual armor so she could replace the common clothing she had been wearing, which had lead to the weapon training everyone had been tackled to the best of their abilities.

"Y... Yeah. It sure does." Amaryllis replied, as she was surprised that there was someone out there that had actually stolen a horse, with some supplies, and Provis was believing that it was the fake person that she had mentioned, though she was also surprised that none of the soldiers had bothered to ask her what her name was, as if they either didn't care or they had been too preoccupied with what they were doing to bother asking her that sort of question, but despite that she did have to wonder if the khajiit had been framed for a number of crimes that she didn't commit, before she decided to put it on the shelf for some time as well.

As they finished eating Amaryllis decided to ask a dumb question, purely to see if these soldiers were as unobservant as she thought they were, and that was 'what's a khajiit', making a few of the soldiers pause for a few seconds, before they started to laugh and said that she pulled a good one on them, like she was telling a joke or something, even though some of them decided to humor her before they left the dining hall. What she got after that was Provis reminding her that the khajiit were basically cat people and were generally thieves or assassins, or at least that was the general opinion on them despite the fact that there were a number of khajiit who had been great warriors and heroes, before telling her about the other races that existed in the world, such as the argonians, the lizard people who could breath underwater and just so happened to be treated horribly by the Stormcloaks, and the nords, who called Skyrim home, even though some served in the Legion and some stayed under Ulfric's banner. She also learned a little about the altmer, the bosmer, the bretons, the dunmer, the orcs, the redguard, and the imperials, who actually made up a great deal of the Imperial Legion, something that she had determined based on what she had seen so far, as the vast majority of the soldiers that were around her were imperials, and so was she thanks to the noble she had seen earlier, but said nothing about that and thanked Provis for the quick reminder. The other soldiers continued to laugh for a few more moments, still believing that she had been joking, and she made no attempt to tell them otherwise, least she reveal that she wasn't from this land or from Cyrodiil, like she claimed to be, but so far it appeared that all of them had bought her story and weren't questioning it, which she was grateful for since it allowed her to gain a good bit of information on the lands of this world and some knowledge of all the races she might encounter along the way, as some of them were interesting and made her wonder when she might meet a khajiit or an argonian for the first time.

When night finally fell, and both of the moons were out, another fact that surprised her since her home world only had a single moon, Amaryllis found that the beds in the room she had gotten her armor from was where the majority of them would be sleeping, even though she assumed that there had to be more beds for the rest of the soldiers, since some of them didn't stop in the room her group ended up in... but, instead of going to sleep, she laid on the bed for a moment as she remained awake, listening to the sounds of the others that were near her, where she waited until she was sure that everyone else was asleep before bothering to make her move.

Amaryllis wasn't planning on taking too much with her, since she was sure that a single piece of gear here and there would be overlooked by the soldiers, especially if they didn't bother to ask her what her name was when she arrived at the gate earlier that day, and she was sure that if she took too much from an area knew they would be looking high and low for the person she had presented herself as. That is why she picked up one of the bags that was resting by the door, a pack that someone could carry on their back from the looks of it, and carefully stashed the clothing she had been wearing earlier inside it, before going down the list of items that she would need later on, a list she created during her time in Helgen, all so she could be ready for this point in time. Since it appeared that the soldiers were letting her keep the armor that Provis had handed to her, which she was currently wearing, and also included the sword that was attached to her belt, she was able to cross the armor and sword off the list, rather she focused on grabbing one of the steel daggers that they practiced with earlier and stashed it inside her pack, before grabbing one of the light brown bows that she had used earlier and a quiver that contained six or seven arrows. She had the feeling that she would be hunting at some point in the near future and found that having a hunting weapon on hand was worthwhile, even if such a thing would require her to learn how to be a hunter at some point, before putting the items away as she looked for the rest of the remaining items on her list, as there was no telling when one of the soldiers would wake up and ask her what she was doing. She considered taking the coin pouch that was sitting on the nearby table, but decided to turn her attention to something that was more important, a map of the land that she was now in, which she rolled up and stuck inside the pack almost immediately, before heading towards the main door once more.

As she carefully opened the door, however, she quickly called upon her magic and snatched the small coin pouch from the table it was resting on, deciding that she might as well take it, due to the fact that she would have to buy some supplies at some point in time, which she slipped into her pack as well before slipping outside, where she closed the door behind her and then made her way towards the northern gate, which she had seen earlier that day. Instead of wasting time looking for the device that opened the gate, like she had heard Wulfir and Provis do earlier, she came to a stop and made sure no one was around to see what was going to happen next, where she counted herself lucky that everyone, as in every guard in Helgen, had gone to sleep so soon after dinner was over, to prepare for the arrival of Ulfric Stormcloak and the rest of his fellow prisoners, giving her the greatest opportunity she could have asked for. Once she was positive that no one was awake right now, and that the coast was clear, she finally undid her disguise and let the flames wash over her once more, finding that she was happy to be back in her natural form, even though it was different than what she had back home, and found something odd, the boots she had one didn't break from her feet turning back into hooves, rather they seemed to have changed shape to better accommodate her true form, meaning that she didn't have to worry about stealing boots all the time. After discovering that change she opened her wings a little and propelled herself over the wall that was in front of her, as she hadn't had the time to test her wings out and didn't want to crash, but so far everything seemed fine and it allowed her to land on the other side of the wall without anything bad happening to her, to which she made sure to hide her wings again, just in case someone was living in the area that was around the fort she had been in earlier, before she braced herself for what she was about to do.

The moment she was sure the coast was clear Amaryllis headed off down the path that was in front of her, leaving Helgen and the Imperial Legion behind, as she needed to start her quest to figure out how she was going to get back to her home world and resume her search for the missing changelings, and that meant finding her way to someone who knew the type of magic she was talking about, something that couldn't be accomplished if she stayed at Helgen with the soldiers or if she joined the Legion, though she had the feeling she was starting the journey of her life.

Wanderings: Embershard Mine

After departing from Helgen, without the alarm being raised since no one seemed to be up at this time, Amaryllis quickly darted behind a large stone that was along the path that she was following and paused for a few seconds, which was when she glanced back at the fort and studied it for the next couple of minutes, just to be absolutely sure that no one had seen her leave the keep with the gear she had stolen, or had seen her get over the wall in a way that likely wasn't normal for this world, before letting out a sigh of relief when her earlier thoughts were proven right. Once she was positive she was alone right now, with no guards coming out of the fort, she resumed moving and headed down the road that she was currently on, which would allow her to disappear in due time if luck was on her side, as the last thing she needed right now was the Imperial Legion chasing after her in an attempt to capture her and execute her for deceiving them and stealing some gear from them, especially since she was in a totally new world and everything was unfamiliar to her. There was another reason behind why she was thankful that she was leaving Helgen with no one noticing her, as it allowed her to get out of the area before the Imperial Legion clashed with the Stormcloaks, as she had the feeling that Ulfric's followers would come here in the near future to free their lord and return him to the front lines, allowing their army to return to its full power, and she'd rather not get involved with the battle that would likely unfold when morning arrived, hence why she was eager to get out of here and put Helgen far behind her. Part of her still couldn't believe the fact that she had landed in a land that was in the middle of a war, something that was almost unheard of back in Equestria, but for the most part it appeared that the conflict might be over soon and the land of Skyrim could go back to what it had been like before this started, given the fact that the leader of the rebellion was going to be executed tomorrow morning, based on what she overheard during dinner, though her feelings told her otherwise and made her want to steer clear of both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, just so she didn't get dragged into the ongoing conflict.

It didn't take her long before she had to pause for a moment, as there happened to be another fork in the path that was in front of her, where her only choices right now were to head to the right or to head to the left, and from what she could see there wasn't much difference between the two, as both of them looked like they headed down towards a river, or so she hoped based on what the map side, so she shrugged and decided to head down the path that was on her left, figuring that this decision wasn't all that important. Fortunately the light from the moons meant that it wasn't totally dark out, because if it had been totally dark out Amaryllis knew she would have been better served to stay inside the fort until the first hours of the morning arrived, but she knew that finding a place to rest for a couple of hours, to wait for the sun to come up, was the best move she could make, which was why she started looking for any small clearings that would allow her to hide for a time. What surprised her was that it only took her a couple of few moments to spot some smoke that was rising from an area in front of her, which meant there were people out here and a clearing that she could camp in for the night, if those who had set up the camp were kind enough to let a stranger join them, which caused her to summon her power for a few seconds as she shifted back into the form she had used to get into Helgen, figuring that creating a new disguise wasn't all that necessary and that whoever saw her outside the fort wouldn't think to report her to the Legion that was on the other side of the walls, before she resumed moving towards her current destination. As she got close to the camp, however, she found that three people were in the clearing that the smoke was coming from, where Amaryllis discovered that all three of them seemed to be wearing animal fur over their chests and their lower bodies, though while one of them had a bow the other two seemed to have axes, making her wonder if they were hunters that were camping for the night, especially since there were three tents around the campfire.

"Hello there." Amaryllis said, letting the group know that she was there and that she was talking to them, even though that was easy to tell at a glance since there was no one else in this area, but she did notice that the trio glanced in her direction not even a second later, showing her that they were alert and were looking for any threats before they went to sleep and started whatever shift system they had created for themselves, before she focused on why she was bothering them at this point in time, "Do you have room for one more by the campfire?"

"Look at what we have here boys, a lost Imperial soldier." one of the campers said, which was the instant that he and his friends, who were both male as well, got up from where they were sitting and turned to face her, all while each of them pulled out their weapons, almost like they were getting ready for a fight, but his words told Amaryllis that something was up and it made her wonder if she had messed up, "You picked a really bad time to get lost, friend, and I'm afraid that it's going to cost you more than a few coins."

Amaryllis recalled what she had told Provis and Wulfir at the gate, about a bandit stealing her stuff, and realized that this wasn't a camp for hunters, who could have been resting after a long journey to this place and would have started hunting in the morning, rather this was a bandit camp and they intended on taking everything she owned to make themselves a bit of coin, no doubt after taking from her corpse, even if she didn't have that much on her right now. She mentally cursed herself for forgetting about these guys, as she was sure that one of the soldiers back in Helgen had made a comment or two about the bandits of Skyrim being bolder than they had been in the past, but as the speaker took a step forward she focused on what was happening right now and pulled her sword out of the sheath it was in, because she had the feeling a fight was about to break out between them and wanted to be ready for it. The bandit that had spoken to her drew his own weapon and charged at her, where he brought down the head of his axe in an attempt to kill her before she had a chance to do anything, which was why Amaryllis surprised him by raising the edge of her sword and stopped the attack, causing the bandit to struggle with her as he attempted to push her weapon out of the way and cut her down, even though it was easy for her to see that he had a bit of strength behind his swing. One thing she noticed was that the other axe wielding enemy had his weapon drawn and that he was coming at her from the right, which was when Amaryllis was glad that she had kept her dagger on her belt, the steel one she had been practicing with earlier, as she pulled it out and parried the incoming attack, which surprised her second foe, as it looked like he felt that the attack would have been successful, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. The reason behind that thought was due to what else she was seeing, as the archer of the group seemed to be waiting on his companions, to see if he needed to step in or not, though she knew that such an action was going to cost them dearly, as she redirected both of her weapons and swung them at her foes, cutting into the arms of both her foes, causing them to yelp as they backed up and gathered near each other, doing nothing to stop the wounds from bleeding as they focused on her.

From what she could tell that they were regrouping and determining how to deal with her, as the two warrior type bandits were focused on her while the archer refused to pull his bow out, but she suspected that the moment she really hurt one of his friends, more than the light cuts on their arms, his passive nature would be thrown out the window in seconds and he would attack her as well, meaning she had to work fast before such a thing happened. A few seconds later the leader of the group, or who she assumed was the leader since he had spoken to her while the others remained silent, charged at her again while his friend came at her from the side, where Amaryllis jumped backwards a bit and wobbled a little as she landed, a sign that she still wasn't used to this form and how it walked, but she pushed that out of her mind and focused on what was happening in front of her, because one wrong move or step could bring about her end, which she wanted to avoid at all costs. The leader caught up with her and swung his axe at her side, where she quickly blocked with her sword and pushed the attack back with all her might, though she failed to account for the other bandit for a moment, who swung low and cut into the upper part of her right leg, causing her to curse herself for not paying attention, despite the fact that it was only a shallow cut, like they wanted to toy with her for a few minutes before they ended the fight. Unfortunately for them she wasn't going to give them the chance, as she focused her mind on her foes and lashed out with her longer blade, burying it in the chest of the bandit that had cut her leg, surprising him once more, before taking her dagger and driving it into the head of the leader, since he was still close to where she was standing, where she let go of the weapons and let her foes fall to the ground... though as the archer pulled out an arrow she channeled her magic for a moment and loosed a fireball at the third bandit, which struck him in the chest and knocked him off his feet, before he collided with a tree that was behind him and collapsed on the ground.

Amaryllis huffed for a few moments as she took in the fact that she actually killed someone, which wasn't something she did as an infiltrator, in fact all changelings preferred to capture and hide their targets in certain areas, instead of killing the one they wanted to replace for a time, something that causing her to sit near the fire as she thought about what she had just done as she stared at her new hands. She didn't feel guilty about killing the bandits, due to the fact that she had been defending herself from people that wanted her dead, but that didn't change the fact that she had ended the lives of three people that were living in the wild, even though she was sure the other residents of this land would be happy to be rid of those three, to clean up some of the roads and make things safer for the citizens of Helgen, but it still felt strange for her to take someone's life. In the end she decided not to dwell on the fact for too long, as from what she had been told while she was in Helgen there would be more people like this on the road and that she needed to be more careful as she started her search for someone who might be able to help her get back home, to put this behind her and focus on her search for the rest of her Hive, not to mention her missing Queen. With that thought in mind she pulled herself up from where she had been sitting and walked over to the three bandits that were now laying on the ground, who were definitely dead since she couldn't hear them breathing anymore, before she pulled out her sword and dagger out of the bodies they had been left in and cleaned them to the best of her ability, to ready them for whatever the future held for her. Once that was done she put them away and checked out the bodies for a few moments, finding a full quiver on the archer, at least twenty gold coins, or Septims as one of the soldiers had called them during her time in Helgen, which came from all three bandits, two small red potions with the word 'healing' engraved in the glass, and a piece of paper that looked like a map to a hidden treasure, located near someplace called Riverwood.

There was also a book resting nearby, Night Falls on Sentinel according to the title, to which she sighed for a moment and opened one of the healing potions, something that had the power to heal small wounds in seconds, which she learned from some of the Imperials while they were talking about things, and quickly downed it's contents, where she watched as the cut on her leg healed in a matter of seconds, almost as if it had never happened in the first place, though she did have a bloody cut in her pants leg that showed where she had been hit.

"Impressive. It takes a few seconds for the effects of the potion to hit, but its still impressive." Amaryllis said, though while she said that she had the feeling that if she had been injured on a different level, like halfway to death or something, the potion would have done little to her body, since this seemed to be a minor potion, the lowest kind according to what she knew, but she shrugged and stashed the other potion in her sack, before adding the book to her collection, as she figured she could sell it when she got to whatever town was along her path.

Instead of setting out again, and looking for a village or a town to spend the night in, which would have been safer for her in case there were more bandits that were part of the group she had fought, who would be furious with her the moment they noticed their friends had been slain, Amaryllis decided to use one of the three tents that were resting around the campfire and spend the night here, so when morning arrived she could meet it, get something to eat, and then be on her way before the escort arrived at Helgen, which was why she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Amaryllis woke up the moment the sun hit her face, signaling the start of a new day, and part of her hoped that she would awaken inside the cave that she had found the odd crystal tree in, as that would mean that everything she had seen was a dream and nothing else, but when she opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings she discovered that she was still in the strange world she had been teleported to, with the strange body that was now hers, and that she was resting in the tent she had used earlier. One thing that was interesting, at least to her, was that the disguise she had been wearing for her visit to the camp had fallen, revealing her true form once again, which meant that she had to be careful when she went to sleep, as she had no idea how the residents of this land would react to her true form and really didn't want to find out what would happen if they discovered she was capable of changing her shape. She sighed for a moment, as she couldn't believe that she was stuck in this strange land for real and that her body had been altered in such a way, but the only good thing that had come of this was that she didn't need to feed on love anymore, rather she just had to eat the various food items everyone else ate, which reminded her that she didn't actually take anything from the keep while she left, meaning she had no food, which was a mistake that she knew she was going to endeavor not to make again. Fortunately for her the few sacks that the bandits had brought with them actually contained some cheese, a few pieces of bread, and a couple of apples, where she sighed once more and sat on one of the tree stumps the bandits had been sitting before her arrival and their fight, allowing her to eat something before she determined which path she wanted to take once she was done with eating her simple breakfast, as she could continue down the path that was to her left or she could backtrack for a couple of seconds and head down the other path she had ignored yesterday.

A few moments later, once she was done with her light breakfast, Amaryllis got up from where she was sitting and stared at the road that was near the camp, where she found that neither really seemed to head towards any major city or village, or at least it sure looked that way right now, and while she wanted to get away from Helgen she decided that she might as well retrace her steps back to the last fork in the road and head down the other path she could have chosen, just to see what might be resting along it and what it might bring her to.

As such Amaryllis headed down the short walkway that was in front of her and returned to the road, where she turned to her right and walked along the part of it that she didn't walk on last night, since she just walked straight through the hill to reach the camp she spent the night in, which might have been a bad idea now that she thought about it and felt that using the roads would be best for her. It didn't take her long to return to the split in the path, something that she recognized due to the signpost that rested nearby, and found that one of the planks pointed towards the other path, to a place called that was called Riverwood, just like the map she had found on one of the bandits, where she turned towards the path for a few seconds and started walking down it, as it looked like there had been a second plank near Riverwood's and it revealed that there was a place called Whiterun in this direction. She knew that she could have continued down the road that had been to her left earlier and just head to the west, which would have put more distance between her and Helgen, but she had the feeling that heading down this particular path would take her to a place where she could ask for directions, sooner rather than later to be exact, instead of wandering around for hours before achieving the same result, as she suspected it would have taken her longer to reach a settlement if he went to the west. It wasn't long before the road curved and descended towards a river, like it was forming some sort of serpent shape for a few moments, though there were two things that she discovered that interested her, the first being the large ruins that rested off in the distance, at the top of a mountain peak that was on the other side of the river that was in front of her. The other thing that caught her eye was a set of three odd stones that seemed to be resting on a stone platform, like they had been here for years, and she walked up to them so she could study them for a few seconds, because she was curious as to what they were and figured that this might be the only time she would see these particular stones, plus there were no Imperials nearby and it gave her a chance to walk over to the stones without having to worry about them chasing her down.

When she stepped onto the middle of the platform she discovered that the stones had some images on them and that the stone on her right had some markings that resembled a warrior of some kind, the stone in the middle appeared to have a wizard or mage on it, and the stone on her left had a cloaked individual that had a pair of daggers, which she guessed was a rogue of some kind, where she tapped the thief in the head for a second, not that she expected it to do anything, before turning around and heading down the path that was behind her, only to stop a few seconds later.

"What do we have here?" a voice said, where Amaryllis looked at the path that was to her right, that headed up to the side of the cliff she had avoided, and found a lady wearing the same sort of armor as the bandits she had killed last night, who had her sword out and seemed ready for a fight, making it pretty clear what her intentions were, especially with the look that was in her eyes, "A lost soldier, on her way to whatever post she's been assigned to? Or a pretender, who stole from the Imperials and is wandering around in their armor? Either way it doesn't matter to me, not when all of your valuables will belong to me and my friends, as we have taken over Embershard Mine and kill anyone that dares to get too close to our base of operations!"

Amaryllis knew what was coming and withdrew her sword to parry the incoming attack, even though the bandit did push her back a little in the process, but at the same time she prepared herself and pushed her foe backwards, who did seem a little surprised by what she had done and that opened her guard for a moment, giving her the chance to cut down the bandit before anything else could happen, slicing through the lady's chest and leaving a diagonal gash that showed how she had died.

"Another bandit attacking me for my belongings, not that I had much to begin with." Amaryllis commented, though from what little she heard from the Imperials, during her brief stay in Helgen, there were plenty of bandits scattered across the nine Holds of Skyrim and not enough guards to take care of them, especially with the war that was going on right now, an event that might be over soon if Ulfric met his end, before she glanced at the path the bandit had come from and thought about this for a few seconds, "Hm, she did say that there were more of them inside the mine, and it's only a matter of time until they realize she's dead and start looking for her killer... I guess I might as well clear out this group of bandits, just to make this area safer for whoever lives here."

As soon as she said that, and focused on the fact that she was going to attack the bandits this time around, she headed up the path that the bandit had come from and found a door that had to be the entrance of the mine, due to the few wooden beams which seemed to be holding up part of the rock wall the mine had been built into, though as she opened the door and headed inside she did something different, she switched her sword for her dagger. The reason was because one of the Imperials she had listened to during her training session had revealed how a scout would sneak through an enemy's base, trying not to make any sounds that would alert their foes, and even demonstrated how a scout could take down one of their foes by cutting their throat, as if they were sent to assassinate an important figure for the enemy's side, or maybe take control of a fort without being discovered, both of which were dangerous and had serious consequences if their foes found them. She figured that she could give this a try, which is why she also decided to do away with her disguise for now, because if she was going to be sneaking through the area, in an attempt to mimic what the instructor had shown them for a few moments, she could afford to be in her natural form again, given that most ponies had a hard time finding her and the rest of her kind when they sneaked around an area, though the first thing she made sure to do when she entered the mine was reach out with her magic for a second or two and snuffed out the torch that was near her, knowing that it didn't need to be lit anymore, before following the path that was in front of her. Of course she did have to avoid the tripwire that was in the middle of the tunnel, which she felt was odd, but then glanced at the ceiling and found a rock trap of some kind, meaning that if she was careless she could have walked right into the trap and taken some rocks to the head, though she focused on the task at hand as she lowered herself into a crouching position and carefully moved forward, at a speed that would ensure that no one should notice that she was there.

That was when she came upon an open area that had some water flowing into it, meaning the mine had to be larger than she originally thought, before noticing that there were two bandits standing near a fire, who hadn't noticed her yet, so she expanded her magic and snuffed out all of the torches, to make sure there was plenty of shadows for her to hide in while she was here, as she listened to the bandits for a few seconds, just in case they had anything interesting to say or if one of them might revealed the locations of other camps.

"Aren't you worried that someone might wander in here?" one of the bandits asked, though based on what she could tell Amaryllis could determine that the speaker was worried that an adventurer or some soldiers might locate their base of operations and decide to clear them out, even though it would have been more shocking if she told them that she only knew about them thanks to what the bandit outside had said, but Amaryllis remained silent as she listened to what else the pair had to say, "The entrance to this mine isn't exactly well hidden you know, not like some of the entrances the other bandits use for their hideouts."

"This nonsense again? I told you, like I told you a few days ago, that we have someone standing guard outside." the second bandit replied, though his voice revealed that this was a common question he had to answer every now and then, which meant the other bandit was either slow or he didn't understand what he was being told, something that seemed to anger all of his allies, before the second bandit seemed to think about something else, "Also, don't forget the fact that we rigged up a rock trap near the entrance, so that way anyone that's not part of our group will activate the trap and alert us if anything happens. So stop your bellyaching and get some rest, your shift is coming up soon and I don't want you dozing off again like you did a few days ago."

The first bandit nodded his head, to show that he understood what his partner in crime was saying, before the pair walked over to the wooden ramp that connected to the walkway that was in front of Amaryllis, where she silently watched as the two went their separate ways not a few seconds after reaching their destination, something that caused her to remain in her current position and watch them. What happened was that the first bandit that had spoken knelt for a moment as he climbed into one of the bedrolls that rested near the wooden ramp, allowing him to fall asleep like his friend wanted him to, while at the same time the second bandit headed down the tunnel that was on the opposite side of the chamber they were in, meaning that Amaryllis was safe for the time being and gave her a chance to figure out what she wanted to do to move deeper into the mine. Her best bet, if she wanted to get through this area without alerting either of them to the fact that there was an intruder, and likely give away her position at the same time, would be to kill one of them while the other was nowhere nearby, as she was sure that if she killed one of them while the other was close by, like one standing on top of the ramp and the other near the bedrolls, the sound of her target falling to the floor or letting out their last noise would tell the other that something was wrong. As such she waited for the bandit that was walking around to leave the area that she was interested in, patiently watching him as he headed down a side passage in the tunnel in question, though as soon as that happened Amaryllis moved forward as silently as she could, as she had no experience in sneaking with this body and was worried that the bandit she was after would wake up before she reached her destination, as she carefully headed down the ramp and focused on her target.

What surprised her was the fact that the sound of her hooves touching the wooden boards she had to walk on didn't alert the sleeping bandit at all, as if he was sound asleep or something, which meant that she was able to sneak her way over to where he was resting and carefully moved her dagger like she had seen earlier, at first going for the throat before thinking of another target, which was when she brought it down towards the bandit's head, figuring that if she struck there it would be instant death and allow her to move deeper into the mine. Not even a few seconds later she pierced his brain and both of his eyes popped open for a moment, not that she expected something different to happen, only for his body to go still a moment later, which allowed her to pull her dagger free and quickly clean it before the other bandit returned to this area and found out that one of his friends was dead, even though she was still surprised that he hadn't woken up while she was walking down the ramp, but decided not to complain about it. To make it seem like nothing was wrong she took a second to shift the bedroll and made it seem like the bandit was actually sleeping, before heading up the ramp and used a little more of her magic to douse the remaining torches that she could see at the moment, to decrease the chances of the other bandit spotting her before she was ready. She had enough time to see that there were two paths on the other side of the chamber, one to her left and one to her right, but the right one ended in a dead end, a collapsed tunnel by the looks of it, which meant that the other bandit had gone to the left, though as she hid near the small passage her target had wandered down she heard a voice coming from it, causing her to be as silent as she could possibly be.

"...mead, mead, mead... would it kill him to get some beer every now and then?" the bandit asked, even though it was clear that he was talking to himself, due to the fact that it was only him and his friend in this part of the mine and that he was all by himself as he patrolled the area, but this told Amaryllis that the leader of this group of bandits had to be male, and that he wasn't allowing his subordinates to drink until they got a good haul or something, or at least that was her thoughts on what the bandit was talking about right now, "Stupid bees and their stupid honey..."

Amaryllis had no idea what the bandit was talking about, or why he was even talking about it in the first place, but the fact that he seemed to be absently walking around the area, while stopping every now and then so he could mutter a couple of nonsense statements to himself, established a pattern for her to follow, one that allowed her to sneak up on him and slit his throat, causing him to drop to the ground and go still after a few seconds. All of this was still fairly new to her, since she never actually killed anyone during the time that she followed Queen Chrysalis' orders, so she was still bothered by what she was doing and did her best to feel nothing since it was bandits that were inside this mine, though another thing she was bothered by was the fact that neither of the bandits had noticed she was even there, even though one seemed to be ready to fall asleep and the other had been bored out of his mind. It felt really weird, taking the life of another creature like this, which was something that not even the ponies of Equestria did, though the Royal Sisters were another matter since it was hard to determine what was true about them and what was made up, but in the end she justified her actions based on the fact that these bandits seemed to kill whoever they robbed, so by ridding the land of them she was doing a good thing, and she hoped the people who called this land home agreed with her. A few seconds later, once she was done with her reflection on the matter, and that she had killed a few people since her arrival in this strange world, she walked away from where she had been standing and explored the tunnel that the other bandit had come from, where she found that it brought her to a small room that had some wooden rails to prevent someone from falling into the water below them, not to mention a lever that she decided to pull, which lowered the wooden bridge she had seen earlier, which connected with the main wooden walkway that the bandits used to patrol this part of the cavern.

"Why is the bridge moving?" a voice asked, where Amaryllis stepped backwards, away from the lever, and found two more bandits walking out from where the tunnel on the other side of the bridge was located, though one of them had a bow and the other had a sword at the ready, showing that they knew something was wrong and that they were ready to search for whoever had activated the bridge that lead to the deeper part of the mine, "Didn't we tell the guys out here not to lower the bridge until they robbed someone?"

"Yeah, and that they would be waiting on the other side of the bridge to show us that everything was alright," the second bandit replied, confirming that they knew someone had found their hideout and had killed at least two of their allies, or at least that was what Amaryllis assumed based on what they were saying, before he glanced at his ally, who was staring at the rest of the chamber they were in, "Check out the entrance and see if the guard outside is still alive, even though I'm sure she's dead at this point, and I'll check the room that the lever is in... though if you find out whose responsible for this, knock them out so we can present them to the boss... he'll want to personally kill whoever is attacking us, before seeing if they have anything on them."

Amaryllis watched as the first bandit nodded his head as the pair reached the wooden scaffold that she had used to get to the area that the lever was resting in, though as the pair started to separate from each other, so they could investigate the two locations they had talked about a few seconds ago, she retreated to the entrance of the small tunnel so she could wait for the second bandit to come her way. Fortunately the pair didn't seem to mind the fact that the torches were out, which was rather odd since she would have been worried in their place, meaning that they might have assumed that the torches had gone out on their own and didn't pay them any attention, to which she quickly extended her magic once more and put out the rest of the torches that were near her, allowing her to slip into the shadows as the bandits finally separated from each other. She readied her dagger as the second bandit, the one that would be checking out the area she was currently in right now, drew closer to where she was standing, where he didn't notice her lurking in the shadows at all, though as he over to the entrance of the small tunnel she sneaked up behind him and slit his throat the moment he came to a stop, an action that dropped him to the ground in seconds, before she slipped into the shadows once more. In that moment she had to wonder if the bandit had heard her and had paused to turn around and investigate whatever noise she had made, meaning that she would have to be more careful in the future, if she did this sort of thing, before she heard the sound of some rocks falling, meaning that the darkness had caused the other bandit to miss the rock trap they had set up and that he had accidentally sprung it, but to be absolutely sure she headed over to the area in question and found that he had, in fact, been crushed by the trap.

Since it appeared that her current enemies were dealt with, and it didn't appear that anymore were coming, she took a moment to see what was in the pockets of the bandit she had taken out, finding a few gold coins and a pick of some kind, no doubt a pickaxe given that her targets were in a mine, before heading over to the entrance of this mine, where it took her a few seconds to locate the crushed bandit and picked up a few more coins from his body, including his arrows in case she needed them, though once she had everything from the two bandits she returned to the bridge and headed deeper into the mine, while making sure to crouch in case there were more enemies nearby.

As she walked down the tunnel that was in front of her, and kept her ears open for the sounds of bandits, she paused for a moment as she found a room on her right that appeared to be locked, given that she was able to look through an opening in the planks that formed the small room in question and found an iron barred door that happened to have a bandit who was sitting down in a chair near the door. What caught her interest was the few golden coins that were resting on the table near the slightly broken wall she was looking through, along with a brown bag that seemed like a coin purse or pouch of some kind, a book resting near the coins, a weapon rack that had an iron greatsword and an iron warhammer on it, and a large brown chest that seemed slightly important, as it was definitely larger than the chests she had seen in the fort and it might mean there was treasure inside it, or at least the loot the bandits had collected so far. For a moment she considered using her magic to pick up the coins while the bandit was distracted, since she knew that having a decent amount of gold would help her while she explored this land, to pay for food and whatever else she might need, but before she could make up her mind she backed away from the opening as the bandit got up, inserted a key into the lock of the iron door she was guarding, and opened the door so she could check out the room for a few seconds, but, when she found that nothing was wrong, she walked back to where her chair was located and made sure to lock the door behind her. Amaryllis sighed for a moment as she switched her dagger for the imperial bow she was carrying and walked up to an area where she could see the bandit, though she had to extinguish the nearby torches to make sure the bandit didn't see her at all, and when she was in position she remembered what the soldiers at Helgen had shown her as she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and readied it, just like what she had done earlier.

With the arrow ready she raised the bow and carefully focused on the bandit that was sitting in the chair, since she knew that approaching her foe wasn't the best decision and from this angle she might notice her if she used her magic, before she loosed the arrow and watched as flew through the air, where it went right into the bandit's chest, something that did cause the bandit to let out her last gasp before her life left her body. Amaryllis was surprised by the fact that she had hit her target, since she had no experience in using this sort of weapon, save for her training in Helgen and her exercise with it had been against straw targets, but in the end she determined that the fact that the bandit appeared to be wearing leather armor didn't do much to protect her from taking an arrow like this, especially one that was lodged in her chest, before she shook her head and got up from where she was crouching, as the sound the bandit had made suggested she had died in seconds. She took a few seconds to retrieve her arrow, along with the coins that were in the bandit's pocket, before finding the key that had been used on the prison-like iron door, where she slipped the key into it and unlocked it once more, allowing her to enter the room without having to worry about bandits interrupting her, even though she made sure to keep her ears open in case the rest of the group just so happened to come looking for the rest of their group. She picked up the coins that were resting nearby, along with the coin purse and the book that was resting near them, and then opened the large chest that had interested her, where she found a number of coins scattered around the bottom area, a golden ring that had some sort of enchantment on it, due to a slight shimmer on the metal, a single amethyst, and a steel mace, to which she carefully picked up the coins, ring, and the gemstone, which she placed in her own pack, before closing the chest as she focused on the path that had to take her to the back entrance for this mine, if there was one.

Once she was done with the room, and had cleared it out as best she could, she followed the path that brought her to a larger chamber that had a waterfall of sorts near a tunnel that she assumed would let someone leave the mine without going through the main entrance, along with a bridge that connected the two sides of the chamber, but after taking all of that in she focused on her main targets for a few seconds. From what she could tell there were three more bandits in this area, where one was patrolling the area between the bridge and the exit tunnel, almost as if they were making sure no one used the back entrance to ambush them, the second was down in the area below her, working at what she assumed was a forge, and the third appeared to be sitting at a table, ignoring his companions. Since it appeared that none of the bandits were even paying attention to the area that she had walked out of, nor did they seem to care about their companions taking their time to check things in the first half of the mine out, this actually worked to her benefit, Amaryllis crouched in the shadows once more and readied another arrow, as this time she knew it would be best if she took all three of these enemies out in rapid succession without them seeing what was going on, or that was her plan right now. As such her first target was the archer bandit that was going from the bridge to the exit and back, given that she suspected that he had to be the most observant of the three that she could see, where she focused on her target for a couple of seconds, due to the fact that she was waiting to determine the pattern that the bandit was following, before shifting her stance as she let go of her arrow, which raced through the air and quickly struck her target near where she assumed the heart was located, and, due to the noise of the bandit at the forge, neither of the remaining bandits seemed to notice that one of their friends had fallen. In the following moment she pulled out a second arrow and loosed it not a few seconds later, where the bandit at the forge collapsed as she fell into heated area that the metal was being heated in, since the forges of this world appeared to be open, though Amaryllis remained silent as the final bandit shifted his head for a few seconds, as if he was curious by the lack of noise, before returning to whatever he had been doing, a meal or a drink most likely.

Amaryllis was thankful that the bandits in this chamber were so used to the noise of the forge, be it while it was in use or when the bandit who operated it took a break, otherwise she was sure that they would have noticed when their friends fell to the ground or failed to show up during their patrols, which would have alerted the others to the fact that she was here, before she moved away from where she had been crouching and got a better angle on the final bandit, who quickly fell once she loosed one last arrow.

She waited for a few moments, just to be absolutely sure that none of the bandits were still breathing, and that there were no more lurking in the rest of the chamber, before she got up from where she was crouching and moved up to gather all of the items that the bandits had on them, namely the arrows she had used, a number of gold coins that she would have to count later, a few picks, and an interesting book on a table, one that she could sell with the book she picked up from the previous room. Other than that she also found a side room that had a few coins laying on a table, with a coin purse, a few gems, as an amethyst, a garnet, and a ruby to be exact, before she discovered a chest near the wall, which had around fifty golden coins inside it, which she gathered and added to the collection of coins that she was gathering, all from killing the bandits of Skyrim and taking their loot. By her estimates she had about three hundred gold, maybe closer to two hundred and fifty, but, based on what she was told back in Helgen, this was nowhere near enough for her to do anything, meaning she was going to have to get a decent price for the gems she had acquired, since they had to fetch a good price, though, at the same time, she made sure to gather some of the food the bandits had scattered near where the third one had been sitting, finding that they had a variety of meat laying on the table and hanging off a rack. She really had no idea how long it would take for the meat to spoil, since this was her first time working with such a thing, but she wasn't about to let good food go to waste, which was why she grabbed the loafs of bread and cheese as well, figuring that she could use them to make sandwiches if she was desperate. A few moments later, when she was sure that she had everything that she could use in the near future, Amaryllis headed for the back exit and headed out into the land of Skyrim once more, to see if she could reach the village she had noticed the name of earlier, when she looked at the signpost, as it was time to get back to her main goal and figure out how to get back to her true home.

As soon as she stepped outside Amaryllis noticed that it was lighter out than when she went into the mine, which she was fine with since she knew she had been in the mine for less than an hour, before she paused as something massive roared, which was when she saw a large black dragon, a menacing beast that was different from the dragons she was used to seeing back when she was following her Queen's orders, who flew over the area she was in, plus the ruin she had spotted earlier, and quickly disappeared as it headed to the north... even though Amaryllis headed for the village to the east so she could get under cover, because there was no telling if such a creature would come back to this area and she wanted to be out of sight if it did come back this way.

Wanderings: More Bandits

Amaryllis eventually came to a stop as she reached what appeared to be one of the entrances for Riverwood, which, based on what she could tell at a glance, seemed to be similar to the ones in Helgen, where these ones were mostly made out of stone and had wooden posts that were connected to a cover of sorts, which would allow any guards who were positioned in this town to watch the roads and keep an eye on travelers, even though it didn't look like there were any guards in this place, an odd fact when she noticed it. The only different between Riverwood's entrances and Helgen's entrances was that Riverwood's weren't connected at all, as from where she was standing it was easy to see two gates, at the very least, and it didn't appear that they were linked in anyway, and there weren't any wooden gates attached to either gate, which meant people were free to come and go as they pleased as they traveled between the main cities of Skyrim, transporting goods and other things in the hopes of selling them. Before she entered the small town the first thing she did was make sure she had her female imperial disguise on, before someone spotted her and possibly raised an alarm due to her true form, while the second thing she did was sit off to the right of the entrance, outside of the town to be exact, and counted the coins she had taken from the bandits in the mine, though she was surprised that she had recovered nearly three hundred gold coins from them, which also included counting what had been inside the small coin pouch she had taken from Helgen. That told her that it was a good thing she had taken care of the bandits, otherwise they would have robbed who knows how many more people and killed those who were waylaid by them, before she took a moment to move all the coins into one of the more thick sacks that she was currently carrying, which could serve as her coin container for the foreseeable future, and then slipped it into her pack for a second, though once that task was done she picked herself up and braced herself as she headed into the town that was her current destination, since she had no idea what was going to happen as she searched for a way back home.

The first thing she quickly noticed, as she slowly walked down the street and took in the sights, was that there happened to be a number of different races living in this small town, where she recalled that there were many races that called Tamriel home, something that she had learned during her brief time in Helgen and didn't get to learn too much about before her rather sudden departure, but at the very least that lesson had given her enough information to work with, allowing her to fill in the blanks on her own. From what she could tell the man that was to her left, who happened to be wearing an set of clothing that looked like the attire of a smith and was tending to a forge, was a nord, which had to be true for the little girl that was watching him work the metal and the older lady that was talking to him about something, before she spotted a man with pointed ears and white hair, who resembled a bosmer, from what she had been told, though his attire made her think he was a hunter, given the bow and quiver on his back. There was another lady walking down the street and was also heading her way, who was wearing clothes that one would wear around a house, that entered a building that looked like the general trader for the town, a building that she was going to have to visit before she left, though the lady appeared to be an imperial, just like her disguise, meaning whoever was inside the trader was either a nord or an imperial. Other than those three races she really didn't see any of the other ones that she had been told about, as there were no other elves in this town and she didn't see any khajiit or argonians wandering around, though for now she decided to focus on why she had come to this town and what she needed to do, which was sell off her useless junk and then get directions at the inn, which seemed to be close to the entrance that was further up the street she was walking on, a building that happened to be resting near the town's other gate, which she knew to be the eastern gate and that meant the one she walked through had been the western one.

As she continued down the street, however, she paused as she spotted an old lady staring up at the sky with a shocked look on her face, informing Amaryllis that she must have seen the black dragon as well, though that was when a young man, no doubt the lady's son, came out of the house she was standing in front of and placed a hand on her shoulder so he could take her back inside the building, though as they headed back inside the house Amaryllis heard the old lady say that she saw a dragon and her son didn't believe her at all. Instead of worrying about the old lady and her son, which she knew would have delayed her for some time, she continued down the street and focused on the general store, since she wanted to sell off the gems and other bits of loot she had acquired from the bandits, though she also learned that it might be best if she didn't tell anyone that she saw the black dragon that flew over the barrow, since it appeared that people were being treated as being insane for mentioning that. As much as she would like to warn people about the black dragon, and what it could mean for this land, she decided to keep it to herself for now as she entered the general trader, the Riverwood Trader based on what the sign outside the building said, and quickly found that the imperial lady she spotted earlier was arguing with someone that had to be her brother, based on what they said as she entered the building. It appeared that neither of them had really noticed that she had entered the building, meaning that whatever they were arguing about had to be very important to them, but from what little she could gather the store had been broken into and they had a priceless item due to the theft, a golden claw by the sounds of it, which told her it had to be an ornament of some kind and didn't have much of a purpose in everyday life, not that she really cared about it. What she discovered was that there was a counter that was shaped almost like an L, except for the fact that both sides were the same length and one of them was attached to the wall that was opposite of the door she had entered through, and she could tell there was a second level, based on the nearby wooden stairs and the fact that it was slightly larger than most buildings, while the other side of the counter was open so the person who sold things could talk with whoever came to visit, which happened to be the brother of the imperial lady that had entered the building before her.

"Oh, a customer!" the brother said, just noticing the fact that Amaryllis had entered his place of work and was currently in the middle of looking around the room, no doubt suspecting that she was looking for something to buy, before he nodded to his sister, as if saying that whatever they were arguing about would have to wait until later, where she headed over to the table that sat near the fireplace, which opened up the area in front of him, "Greetings, I am Lucan Valerius, owner of the Riverwood Trader, and this is my sister, Camilla Valerius, though I'm sorry you had to overhear us argue for the last few minutes."

"It's alright, I wasn't listening to the argument at all," Amaryllis replied, showing the brother and sister that she hadn't been listening to them all that much, even though their statements had given her a good idea as to what might have happened last night, before she focused on why she had come to this building in the first place as she reached into her pack, so she could pull out the various items she wanted to sell before she left this small town and moved on with her quest, all while approaching the counter as Lucan leaned forward to see what sort of items she had for him.

Amaryliis had assumed that Lucan and Camilla would be annoyed by someone not taking an interest in the fact that their store had been broken into and their golden ornament had been stolen, something that the ponies and the various other creatures of Equestria would have been if someone did that to them, but here, in the land of Skyrim, it appeared that most travelers weren't interested in the flights of shopkeepers, not unless they were adventuers who were looking to become heroes or make a name for themselves. Given that information Lucan was more focused on business and less on the fact that his ornament had been stolen from him, where he watched as she started to pull out the items that she wanted to sell and raised an eyebrow for a moment as he stared down at the gemstones that she had taken from the mine, even though he briefly glanced at the pair of books she had picked up along the way, before she added the ring she had picked up to all of the items in front of her. He stared at the pair of amethysts, the garnet, the ruby, and the ring she had picked up earlier, meaning that they had to be the most expensive pieces, or so Amaryllis hoped, for a time before glancing at the book that was on the counter, where it looked like he might be thinking about what sort of price he could offer her, before he came to a decision and offered her two hundred and fifty gold for the gems and the ring, with another twenty-five for the book, where she wasted no time in trading the items over for the gold, since she knew that she would need the coins in the near future. Once that transaction was done, and she had the coins on her side of the counter while Lucan stored his new stock in a small basket, no doubt storing them in a temporary space until she left the trader, she took a few minutes to browse the rest of Lucan's wares, mostly to see if he had anything she might need for her quest, something that seemed to please both him and his sister, indicating that most people came and sold things before leaving, with only a few of them staying and buying things from him.

What caught her attention was a book that had a purple cover what what appeared to be a gateway of some kind on it's front side, because Lucan told her what a number of the items were, fully expecting her not to know what most of it was since he assumed that she was from Cyrodiil, no doubt because of her disguise, but she was thankful for him giving her all sorts of information on the various items he had in stock, especially this book, since it revealed what sort of items were in this land and gave her an idea on what she might need in the future.

"This is something I acquired from a traveler that came through a few days ago," Lucan said, as he could tell that Amaryllis was interested in the tome and was curious about it, while his sister rolled her eyes and focused on something else for the next couple of minutes, even though she would have to listen to her brother talk about one of the items that he should be selling, "she sold me the tome for next to nothing, as she only accepted ten gold in exchange for it, but from what she told me the spell that this book teaches gives the reader the knowledge on how to summon a personal chest, which appears in the area front of the caster. According to what I was told, this spell allows the user to store whatever they want inside of it, and as much as they want, without the fear of running out of room, which would allow someone to raid an entire barrow of all the treasures that are inside it, or carry most of a shipment while only carrying a single bag on them... it sounds like a useful spell, but, well, I don't have the skill or knowledge to use magic, so I'm afraid that I would mess up this spell in some way, but someone like you, or a wandering mage, might be able to wield this spell."

"Out of curiosity, how much are you asking for it?" Amaryllis inquired, because if the spell was that good, and it could carry anything she wanted while freeing up her bag for the more important stuff, it almost sounded like the sort of investment she needed to make, for the betterment of her quest to find a way back home, but she wanted to be sure that it wasn't horribly expensive and would be out of what she could buy with the gold she had on hand, otherwise she would have to leave it behind and maybe come back for it at a later date.

"One hundred and fifty coins is what I'm asking for it." Lucan said, which informed Amaryllis that, despite the many uses the spell had for all sorts of people, be they adventurers or heroes, it wasn't as desired as the rest of the other spell tomes that existed in the world, the ones that people charged more for than the common spells, and that she had enough gold to buy the tome if she really wanted it, even though it did sure look like Lucan wanted her to purchase it after everything he had just told her.

In the end Amaryllis gave back some of the coin she made from selling the gems, the ring, and the book earlier, all while claiming a spell that might be useful in the future, once she figured out how to use it, though once she had it in her hands she thanked Lucan for his time and headed outside, leaving him being the one who came out ahead in that exchange, but if he was able to give her that many coins for the items she had traded him she was sure that he could double the coins he had given her. Since the trader wasn't the best place to get information on the rest of Skyrim, at least in her mind it wasn't, she focused on walking down to the rectangular shaped building that was near the edge of town and headed inside the Sleeping Giant Inn, figuring that she could get some ideas on where she could go from the innkeeper or one of the other patrons, since there might be a traveler or two that she could talk to and get some information from. What she discovered was that there was a large fire pit in the middle of the area that the patrons gathered in, along with a few tables lining the wall in front of her and the wall to her left, where she quickly spotted a few doors that lead to the bedrooms, and a few chairs on her right for people to sit in, some resting in front of tables that people could sit at and have some fun while they stayed in this place. From what she could tell it was still rather early for the other patrons to arrive, as the only ones that were in the inn were the innkeeper, an old breton lady that was standing near the counter as she dusted the floor, and the person she assumed was the cook and bartender, a nord man who was older than some of the nords she had seen so far, only that was when the breton stopped what she was doing and walked over to the counter that the nord was standing on the other side of, making her wonder if another argument was going to break out, which would be a terrible experience since it would cause travelers to flee without spending any coin on the establishment.

"Orgnar." the lady said, sounding like she had remembered something while she was cleaning the floor, though it was easy for her to assume that the nord was the one she was talking to, since he was the only other person in the building at the moment, though at the same time it looked like the bartender was ignoring her as he thought about when their normal patrons might arrive and start spending their coins on food and drink, before the lady huffed and got ready to repeat her statement, "Orgnar! Are you paying attention to anything that's going on?"

"Hard not to." the nord, Orgnar, replied, his tone revealing that their relationship might not be the best in the world, as it seemed like his partner raised her voice at him all the time, to pester him about anything and everything that might have happened in this area, while he maintained the same tone whenever he spoke to her, though at the same time he shifted his gaze away from the door Amaryllis used to get inside the inn and focused on the lady for a few seconds, showing that he did know there was a customer inside the building, "What seems to be the problem?"

"I checked the vats earlier and it appears that the ale is going bad, so we're going to need to get a new batch as soon as possible." the lady stated, where Amaryllis had to wonder how they could have let one of the items that they sold to their patrons get this close to going bad, without replacing it no less, but she remained silent as the lady stopped for a moment, as she had been turning towards the alchemy workbench while she talked, and then sighed as she turned towards Orgnar once more, "Did you hear what I just told you?"

"Yep, I sure did. You said the ale's going bad." Orgnar answered, though it appeared that he was focused on the fact that Amaryllis had entered the inn and might be a customer for some time, instead of worrying about the ale, but this did tell her that once everything was said and done he would ensure that the ale was replaced, or whatever it was that people in this world did when their vats started to go bad, even though it did look like his partner had no idea that someone had wandered into their inn.

"I guess you don't have potatoes in your ears after all." the lady commented, showing Amaryllis that Orgnar was used to this sort of treatment and just blocked out part of what he was told, given that he did nothing as the lady said that, which was just odd and made her wonder why he even put up with her, especially since she had a habit of insulting him and his intelligence, before she turned towards the alchemy workbench and started to pull out some ingredients, even though it did seem like she had one more thing to say, "Just make sure we get a fresh batch in soon."

For a moment Amaryllis wondered what was up with this land, where people seemed to be have arguments with someone else whenever people entered the various buildings, be it in this small town or the other settlements, the latter being her reasoning after everything she had seen so far and had to wonder if the owners were hoping that someone could assist them in their struggles, like how Lucan would have wanted someone to recover the claw or how the lady might want the next shipment to be picked up, before she pushed the thought away and approached the bar that Orgnar was standing at, so she could get the information she needed and get out of here.

"We've got rooms and food." Orgnar stated, as he waited for Amaryllis to come to a stop at his station before speaking to her, though at the same time Amaryllis noticed that the lady paused for a moment as she glanced up from the workbench she was working at, showing that she was interested in who came into the inn, despite the fact that Amaryllis didn't have any plans on staying in Riverwood for too much longer, "We also have drinks as well. I can cook if you want something to eat. Ain't much else to tell."

"Sorry, I won't be staying long. I just stopped to rest my legs before the next part of my journey," Amaryllis replied, as that was a partly true statement that anyone would believe, that she was just a random stranger that was passing through the town and would be gone in no time, especially if she made it seem like she had somewhere she needed to be by a specific deadline, before she considered something as she focused on Orgnar, "Though I am curious if you have any rumors about what's happening in the other Holds."

"Rumor has it that Ulfric Stormcloak has been captured and is going to be executed sometime today, but I'll believe that when we see his head." Orgnar said, though Amaryllis knew that this rumor was true, as the Imperial soldiers that she had spent some time with wouldn't have celebrated like they did if what their Captain had told them was a lie, but she decided to keep her mouth shut for now as the cook continued with what he knew, "Other than that some visitors from Windhelm, who were heading to Falkreath to visit someone, said that there's a dark or cursed child, depending on who you're talking to, by the name of Aventus Aretino whose been trying to contact... the Dark Brotherhood."

"The Dark Brotherhood?" Amaryllis echoed, mostly because it wasn't an organization she had heard of, which made sense since she had been in Skyrim for about a day and had no idea what all the various groups were in this land, though at the same time she didn't really think Orgnar needed to have the pause when he was mentioning the name of the group the boy was trying to contact, but she wasn't about to argue with him and just let him talk the way he wanted to, since it did give her some information on the rest of the land.

"They're a group of professional assassins," the lady commented, where Amaryllis noticed that she was now done with the work she had been doing and was moving to do something else with her spare time, which happened to be her moving all of the potions she had made, a fair number of healing ones based on the red coloration of the liquid, over to a basket that was near Orgnar, allowing her to move away from the door that lead to the area the owner of this inn slept in, which had to be the pair in front of her, before she considered something as she faced them, "though I've heard that they have fallen on hard times lately, so it's possible that they might be dying out soon and that poor boy can move on with his life without inviting that darkness into Windhelm."

"Other than that, there's not much else to tell," Orgnar said, revealing that nothing really exciting was happening, despite the presence of a dragon in Skyrim, which she was keeping to herself due to how that old lady was treated, by her own son no less, before the cook pulled out something from behind the counter and placed it in front of her, which turned out to be a slip of paper, "though if you're working for work, and don't mind bloodying your weapons a bit, the Jarl's men left this bounty letter here a few days ago."

Amaryllis picked up the letter for a few moments and found that it was an order from the Jarl of Whiterun, Balgruuf the Greater, to all able bodied men and women of his Hold, where the letter detailed that the bandits in White River Watch were harassing, robbing, and attacking both civilians and travelers, along with ordering the death of the bandit leader in exchange for a reward of some kind, before being signed by who she assumed was the Steward. She didn't even say that she would take the bandits out or that she was even looking for work, meaning that she had to be careful when she was talking to people, but, at the same time, Orgnar didn't seem like he was pushing it on her, rather, since she had presented herself as a soldier that was traveling, it seemed more like a warning if she was heading to the east, and the lady, Delphine according to what Orgnar said, revealed that the bandits were close to a four way intersection not far from Riverwood, one she would be able to see if she headed for Whiterun. One group of bandits had already been defeated by her, even if she could have avoided bothering them in the first place, but even as she thought about it she realized that this group was a bit more dangerous since they were causing more trouble for the Hold than the ones that had been in the mine earlier, or at least that was her opinion given this information, which meant that they had to be taken out at some point, be it by her or by someone else. Considering the fact that no one else seemed interested in facing the bandits at White River Watch, and were more interested in leading their ordinary lives, she guessed that she could spent an hour or two clearing out the cave and making sure there were no more bandits to harass the people of Whiterun, or the people that were traveling all of the roads that lead to the city that was the center of this Hold, based on what she could figure out by looking at the map of Skyrim anyway.

In the end Amaryllis excused herself from the bar and sat down in one of the chairs near the fire pit, making it look like she was resting from her journey, while in reality she was considering what she wanted to do next before she left Riverwood, in terms of seeking someone to help her get back home or help the people of this land to help her get to her goal, and she remained that way for a couple of minutes, which gave the other patrons time to actually come into the building and sit at the various tables, giving her the perfect chance to slip out while the owners were distracted by their customers, after she reached a decision on what she wanted to do.

Once Amaryllis was outside the inn, however, she paused for a few seconds as she spotted two newcomers enter the town through the entrance she had walked through earlier, though while one of them seemed to be one of the Imperial soldiers she had seen yesterday, and she was certain she had seen him at some point, the other person was someone she hadn't encountered before and caused her to focus on them for a couple of moments. The second newcomer was a khajiit, the cat-like people she had heard the other Imperial soldiers talk about before the Captain made her announcement, though she could also tell that the person was female by how their body was shaped, and the mounds on her chest, while her fur seemed to be a light brown or creamy color, which had black markings that seemed to be part of her fur, just like the cats Amaryllis had seen in Canterlot from time to time. The khajiit even had cat ears and a cat tail, matching the coloration of her body, not that Amaryllis wasn't expecting her to have those features thanks to what she learned earlier, and her face was also pushed out in a muzzle, like a cat's would be, which just confirmed that the khajiit's were cat-like people and that the argonians, if she ever met one, would be lizard-like people, though the only interesting thing about her, that she could see from this distance, was what appeared to be a set of three diagonal lines across her face, between her eyes. That told Amaryllis that the khajiit must have been in a fight at some point in her life and had scars from whatever happened that day, though the last thing she was able to see, before the khajiit and the Imperial soldier started to enter the blacksmith's house as the nord in question did the same thing, was the pair of iron swords that the khajiit was wearing on her belt, like she liked to use two weapons and no shields, an interesting style to use since it allowed someone to have two weapons as they fought whoever was in front of them. The really interesting thing was that the khajiit, before heading into the house in question, paused for a few seconds, as if she knew that somone was watching her, and glanced in Amaryllis' direction not even a moment later, where Amaryllis quickly turned towards the eastern path, which would allow her to leave the town without the khajiit knowing that she had been staring at her, and since she didn't hear anyone calling out to her that told her that she was fine for the time being.

As she headed down that path that would take her to the four way intersection she had been told about, which would also allow her to find White River Watch, Amaryllis realized that she was going to have to change her disguise before the next time she interacted with someone, along with finding a new outfit to wear, because she was sure that everyone in Helgen had noticed her disappearance this morning and she didn't want that soldier to follow her once he was done with making sure Riverwood was safe, or whatever he was doing in the town. For a moment she considered changing into a khajiit, just to try it out, or maybe one of the other races she had seen in the last hour since she left the mine, but for now she decided that, since she was close to where the people of Skyrim lived, it was best if she kept the imperial disguise on, at least until she found somewhere safe to change back into her natural form or into a new form, provided she found some gear that could replace her current armor. One of the things she had to be careful about was the wolf that chased a rabbit onto the path in front of her, where she paused for a few seconds as she watched something interesting, because the wolf actually charged into the water that its prey had jumped into and swam across the river as it followed its target, before she shook her head and moved forward, so she could focus on her goal again, since worrying about the wildlife was a waste of time, especially since the wolf had ignored her. It wasn't long after that event that she had to pause again, only this time she was looking to the northwest, where a large city rested in the middle of a plains, no doubt built on a large hill of some kind that had been molded into it's current shape, and while there was a wooden wall that protected the city there was also a large castle or keep of some kind at the highest point of the city, where she assumed the Jarl and his Steward resided, ruling the Hold from the safety of the castle, though she had to admit that it was an impressive city from where she was standing and would no doubt see what was inside it soon enough.

Directly in front of her rested another building, a large one that she would investigate later, while off to her left were what appeared to be a few houses and a farm, but instead of worrying about those locations she followed the path that was in front of her and found the crossroads that she had been told about, where she headed to the right and spotted the cave entrance that had to be White River Watch, the home of the bandits she had been told about and had to wonder if they had tackled any caravans lately.

It didn't take her long to walk over the bridge and find a dirt path that had to lead to the entrance of the cave that was her destination, as she had decided to take out the bandits in question, though when she got close to the entrance she found a small camp outside it, complete with two bandits that immediately attacked her without saying a single word, unlike the last bandits she had encountered, one swinging a sword at her and the other one loosing arrows in her direction. Amaryllis moved out of the way before the first arrow could hit her, forcing the archer to pull out a few more arrows as the bandit in question readied herself, allowing her to parry the attack that was coming at her with her sword, before she pushed the bandit backwards and swung downwards, cutting a diagonal gash into his bare chest, making her wonder why someone would be a bandit and not wear anything to protect themselves. As soon as the bandit fell she backed off and avoided the next arrow that the archer loosed at her, though instead of approaching this foe she pulled out her bow and returned fire, hitting her foe in the chest and caused her to stagger for a moment, which was the best time to approach her and take her out with a swift sword swing to the chest, delivering another diagonal gash that cut through her armor, before she sighed once the bandits was dead and investigated the camp for anything she could use. The only things that she found were the arrows from the archer, the gold both the bandits were carrying, a locked chest that she had to open with one of the picks she had collected earlier, which contained some coins and a small red potion, which weren't worth locking inside a chest in her mind, and a note that the male bandit had been carrying, something that interested her and caused her to open it the moment she held it in her hand. According to what was written on it the note revealed it was addressed to Rodulf, her first foe in this area, who apparently had a habit of sneaking in and out of this hideout and played pranks on the watchman of the camp, a figure who had to be on the other side of the entrance, who was also the uncle of the leader of these bandits, to which she lowered the note for a moment as she considered a plan of attack that might be better than wiping out the entire group of bandits.

Her plan was simple, she was going to take on the form of Rodulf and make her way through the bandit camp, to reach the area that the leader happened to be resting in and take him out to bring chaos to these guys, hence the reason she took a moment to recall the voice that Rodulf had used, before she cut him down anyway, and was thankful that he had given her a few samples of what he sounded like, otherwise this would have been far harder than just wandering through the cave in question. She also prayed that this guy was well liked by the rest of the group that she would be walking by, otherwise she was sure that one little incorrect movement or comment could make them on high alert, but there was a chance that they might assume 'he' was drunk or something and just ignore 'him', causing her to think about to what happened when she visited both Helgen and Riverwood earlier. Based on how easy it was to convince the people of Riverwood that she was a wandering soldier, and didn't have time to sit down and eat something at the inn, she was sure that this had a high chance of success, but she was planning on preparing herself in case things went south on her, like they did in Canterlot, so she didn't have to run out of the cave with a bunch of bandits chasing after her, which would likely annoy the guards of Whiterun a bit. As such she shifted back into her new base form and then took on the form of Rodulf, where the first thing she did was make sure her new form was identical to the dead body she was borrowing it from, before double checking the voice, since she didn't want that to fail on her either, though once she was sure that she had copied Rodulf exactly, only with better armor, she braced herself and headed into the cave, knowing that it was time to see if she could pull this off or not.

When she entered the cave she found an old nord man who was sitting at a table that was a few steps in front of her, and he seemed to be staring at the wall while ignoring the book that was right in front of him, though the interesting thing was that when Amaryllis took a step forward the nord turned his head slightly, but the way he was looking around for a few seconds told her that he had to be blind, which was an odd thing since he had to be the watchman that the note had told her about earlier.

"Eh? What's that sound? Who's there?" the old nord asked, proving that he had to be blind, as all he heard was the sound of Amaryllis stepping on some of the stones and he was alert, or as alert as one could be since he couldn't see what was around him, which had to be rather annoying since it prevented him from doing anything besides sitting at this desk and staring at a rock wall, before he seemed to consider something for a few seconds, "Rodulf, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Amaryllis replied, where Rodulf's voice came out perfectly, just like she had hoped it would, and as soon as she said that it looked like the old man was relieved to hear that it was someone he knew, instead of an intruder or two, something that would have been when he called his allies down to fight them off, even though that was a wrong thought to have, since an intruder was standing near his location.

"Good to hear. The boss was looking for you earlier, said he'd be up at the summit waiting for you." the old nord said, where he turned his head and continued looking at the wall in front of him, almost as if he was dismissing 'Rodulf' and was returning to what he had been doing earlier, but Amaryllis stayed put in case there was anything else the old nord wanted to say before she moved on, "Better not keep him waiting."

Amaryllis said nothing as she walked towards the opening that was behind the old nord and found some wooden stairs that allowed her to reach the level that was above her, which she took and walked like she belonged here, though as she did that she picked up one of the sacks that were off to the right, which had likely stored some potions or food inside it at one point in time, and stored it with everything else that was inside her pack. Her thought was that since the Jarl and his Steward were posting a reward for the leader of this group of bandits, regardless of how much they were offering for such a deed, she might need to bring some sort of evidence with her to show that she had taken out the bandit in question, so they didn't accuse her of lying to them, meaning she needed to take the head of the bandit leader, which she didn't want to do and was only doing it since she didn't want them to call her a liar. She knew that there was a good chance that this wasn't necessary and that she was wasting her time in gathering a bag to hold the head of the bandit leader, but she felt that it was better to be prepared and prove that she was telling the truth, instead of not having it when she found out who the Jarl and Steward were. Once she came to that decision, and braced herself for what she was going to do, Amaryllis just continued on her path and walked into the next chamber of the cave, where she overheard a pair of bandits discussing an interesting subject, as it sounded like they were planning on doing something to the blind watchman, confirming that he was the uncle of the bandit leader that she was here to deal with, and it sounded like they were planning on disposing the blind man in the near future, but the conversation died down as she approached them. In that moment Amaryllis assumed that Rodulf was either disliked among this group or the other bandits were a little smart and were keeping their mouths shut, as if they knew that their fellow bandit was in trouble with their leader and didn't want him to rat them out, but she paid them little mind as she followed the path that was in front of her and headed deeper into the cave, so she could focus on what she was doing and hoped that none of the bandits tried to stop her.

There was a third bandit near the pair that had been talking about the blind watchman, who simply looked at her as she walked by him and headed up the stone ramp that was behind him, allowing her to head up to a level where one of the alchemy tables rested, though that meant that at least three of the bandits in this cave were planning on turning on their leader's uncle, which might work to her advantage. She had to assume that the bandits were either using the natural materials of this cave to make poisons for their attacks on people that came this way or they made useless potions to sell to people somewhere nearby, to swindle them of their money, but she paid it no mind as she continued walking, as she really didn't want to be stopped by one of the bandits before she reached her destination, as that might ruin her chances of completing this misison. A few moments later she found another chamber that she would have to walk through, one that was at least twice as tall as the previous one, and she found four bandits in this area, though while three of them appeared to be nords, wearing the same fur and scaled armor as the group she had walked by a few moments ago, there was a green skinned orc with them, wearing an identical set of armor. It appeared that the orc and one of the nords were talking about taming a wolf, who was being kept in a nearby cage of sorts and was being starved by someone so it would submit to their wills easier, though it seemed that the orc knew that the wolf couldn't be tamed and was waiting it out, to weaken it's strength to the point where it would be easy to kill, so he could move on to taming a dog or something else as the gang's attack animal. Amaryllis remained silent as she walked up to the uppermost level of this chamber, where she found a path that seemed to take her back outside and took it as the bandits focused on what they were doing, ignoring her for the most part, but when she stepped outside she found a buff nord, wearing steel armor, that was sitting in a chair and happened to be looking out at the roads that were near the cave, no doubt so he could plan their next attack, before he noticed her standing there.

"Ah, Rodulf, you got here faster than I thought you would, considering the last time I had to talk with you," the bandit leader said, to which he got up from where he was sitting and turned to focus on the roads, as in giving the roads his full undivided attention, which Amaryllis knew was a terrible mistake on his part, especially since he was standing with some railing in front of him and a drop behind that, "Did my uncle say anything to you, other than the fact that I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes?"

"No boss, he only said you were looking for me." Amaryllis replied, though since it appeared that her target wasn't paying attention she shifted back to her original form and kept the voice modification for now, just in case she needed to say something else before she did the deed, but even as she did that she slowly pulled her dagger out and readied herself for what she was going to do.

"I know you like to mess with my uncle, but I have an assignment for you," the leader stated, where he beckoned to the road that Amaryllis had used to get to the camp that was below them, as if there was something important about it that he had determined from the time he had spent looking at the roads, though Amaryllis really didn't care what he had to say at this point, "One of the last shipments we were able to capture mentioned that there should be one or two more coming from the east, additional deliveries to Whiterun, and with the war going on we'll be able to capture them before they arrive at their destinations. Rodulf, I need you and your partner to keep a close eye on the road for the next few hours and delay the cart when it gets near us, so that way we'll have the chance to join you and liberate the goods that the merchants are bringing to Whiterun, even if it means killing them like the last group we stopped."

Amaryllis frowned for a moment as she made up her mind, because since it appeared that the leader had more to say to Rodulf, about their plans to harass Whiterun, it gave her an opening that she wasn't expecting, as she could crouch near his backside and raised her dagger, without him noticing what was going on, before she reached up and drew it across his throat without wasting a single moment. That cut off whatever he was going to add to his previous statement as his life faded from his body, which fell onto the wooden platform she was standing on, something that she moved out of the way of before gripping handle of the nearby battleaxe that was on the table, which she lifted into the air for a moment, due to it being made out of steel and not iron, before bringing it down to remove his head, which happened in seconds and let her stuff it into the sack she had brought with her, before she set it off on the side. After that she removed the coin pouch that the bandit leader had attached to his armor and then pulled off the gloves that he was wearing, as they appeared to be enchanted and that meant they might sell for a better price when she entered Whiterun, before turning her attention to the large chest the leader had been sitting near, which just so happened to have a set of unenchanted leather armor, without the helmet inside it. The other items of note inside the chest were the coin pouch that she claimed, which had to have at least two hundred coins in it from the size, a few rings with gems in them, a couple of red, blue, and green potions, and a few gems that weren't like the ones from Embershard Mine, those being a sapphire and emerald, but she took all of it and closed the chest's lid, before packing her loot away, picked up the sack containing the bandit leader's head, and then jumped over the edge of the railing, so she could hover down to the entrance and be on her way.

She was sure that these bandits, without their leader and the watchmen that had been outside, would fall into disarray in the near future and fight among themselves, leading to more casualties and reducing their number as they tried to find a new leader to replace the old one, but that was a problem for another day, as right now she was headed to Whiterun to tell the Jarl and his Steward the good news, and then she could figure out what to do after that.

Wanderings: Whiterun

As Amaryllis walked away from White River Watch, after landing outside the entrance, she couldn't believe how easily she had gotten away with pretending to be Rodulf, with little to no information on her disguise, and had made her way to the location of the gang's leader, who even thought that she was the bandit he had asked his uncle to talk to when Rodulf had entered the cave again, but in the end it all worked out and she was pleased with what had happened. She had the goods that had been stolen from the previous merchant groups those bandits had robbed, what was left of it anyway, and had taken out both the small group that had been acting as their scouts and their leader, meaning the remaining bandits who were inside the cave would be at each others throats in no time, once they realized that their leader and scouts were dead anyway. That also meant that a few of them were going to be around in the next few hours, as she was sure that some of them would end up dead once the fighting started, which would give the Jarl of Whiterun the ability to devote more of his guards to either protecting the roads or keeping the people inside the walls safe, something they would be happy to hear when she delivered the news. Either way she was sure both the people that were visiting the city and those that lived there would feel much safer once they learned that the bandit leader she had taken out was dead and his gang was going to self destruct without him, allowing her to focus on walking down the dirt path and heading in the direction of the city, given the fact that she had news for the Jarl and his guards. One thing she remembered to do, before she got too close to the bridge that lead to the outskirts of the city, was make sure that she changed into the leather armor that she had picked up, which would make it look like she was a wanderer and not a soldier, just in case she spotted that khajiit from earlier, and made sure to change into the form of a female nord that would go unnoticed, meaning that she would be able to slip away once the bounty was collected.

As she drew closer to the city she noticed that the building she had seen earlier, which was now on her left, was called the Honningbrew Meadery, no doubt a place where the owner made alcoholic drinks for the people of this province to buy and drink from time to time, where she learned its name thanks to the sign that was outside the building, though for the most part she didn't care about it and decided to ignore as she continued walking. Also to her left were a few houses and some plants, meaning that this had to be one of the farms that existed outside the city, though it was hard to confirm or deny that thought since it didn't appear that anyone was working at the moment, even though she did pause again when she saw something weird, even though there were plenty of weird things in this world and part of her was sure that there were plenty more for her to see. There was a large humanoid creature that happened to be laying in a heap near one of the small stone walls that made up the farm she was standing near, where the creature, which she assumed was dead and not sleeping, seemed to be wearing only a loincloth and had been carrying a large club, though judging from the cuts in it's arms and the arrows sticking out of it's chest she had to assume that a group had taken the creature down rather recently, since it didn't look like it had been killed in the last couple of days. Another reason why she thought that a group had taken it out was because there were three warriors, two ladies and a male, that happened to be further along the road that she was traveling and while two of them were definitely warriors, based on their armor and weapons, the other was an archer, meaning they had to be the ones who had brought the creature down, and she noticed that the male warrior and the lone archer were nords while the female warrior was an imperial, something that interested her a little since they seemed to have some decent skills and could bring down some rather powerful foes.

Amaryllis decided to follow the trio of warriors to the front gate of Whiterun, though as she did so she kept her distance from them and noticed that there were four khajiits near the stables, right outside the stone walls that lead the way to the main gate, though it appeared that they were merchants and had set up a temporary camp, no doubt because they were planning on leaving at some point in the near future. One thing she quickly determined was that the khajiit she had seen earlier wasn't with them, otherwise she was sure the lady in question would have been sitting near the rest of her kind or would have been on guard duty, or rather that would be the case if she was part of the caravan, before she focused on the walls and the fact that there were several posts where the guards could keep an eye on what was going on outside the city, just in case bandits tried to attack the city and rob those on the other side of the large wooden walls. It wasn't long before the three warriors reached the main gate and headed inside without a word from the pair of guards, who were apparently protecting the gate and were allowing those that lived inside or outside the walls to pass as they wished, but visitors, on the other hand, had to talk with them before they were allowed inside, and the reason Amaryllis knew that was because there was a familiar khajiit standing near the guards with an annoyed look on her face. One of the guards, the same one that allowed the group to enter without a single word, stepped away from the khajiit and made sure that his full attention was on Amaryllis, which meant that she'd have to answer a question or something to get inside the city, even though it did look like the khajiit was a little annoyed by what was going on, but she kept her tongue as she tried to find a way to get by the guards so she could enter the city, making her wonder what in the world she had done since escaping Helgen, since she had been with that one Imperial soldier she had seen earlier, before she focused on the guard.

"Halt. Jarl Balgruuf as asked that the gates only open for official business today," the guard stated, though that statement caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow for a moment, because that made her wonder what in the world had happened to cause something like this to occur, while at the same time she had to wonder why she had bumped into the same khajiit twice in the same day, the latter being the weirdest thing she had seen so far, "State your business, or wait until tomorrow to come back."

"I'm here in regards to your bounty on the leader of the White River Watch bandits," Amaryllis replied, where she held out the sack that contained the head of the bandit she had killed at the summit of the camp in question, though it appeared that her statement had caused the other guard to stop what he was doing and look over at her as well, almost as if she had done something remarkable in their eyes, before she opened it to show them what was inside it, so they could see she was telling the truth, "as you can see I killed their leader and I'm here to collect the bounty."

"Aye, that's old Hajvarr Iron-Hand alright." the guard remarked, having looked into the sack that Amaryllis was holding at the moment, confirming her thoughts that this guy had been a real nuisance for the guards and for the Jarl, giving her the name of the individual she had slain, before he backed up and jerked his thumb towards the gate for a few seconds, as if he was indicating that it was okay for her to enter the city, "Very well, you may enter Whiterun and head to Dragonsreach, the large castle at the highest point of the city, to tell the Steward about your success."

"Thank you." Amaryllis said, as she was happy that she had the thought to bring the head of the bandit leader with her, to show the guards that she was telling the truth and not making up a lie to get into the city, but before she headed through the gate, and made her way to Dragonsreach, she glanced to her right and noticed that the khajiit was still thinking of how to get into the city, causing her to turn to the guard for a second, "Um, I know it isn't my place to ask what's going on, but is there a reason why you aren't letting her enter the city?"

"She claims that she's coming from Riverwood and that she saw a dragon destroy Helgen," the guard replied, though his tone told her that he didn't seem to believe what he had been told, meaning that the guards either didn't notice the large black dragon that flew over the mountain that was to the south, which had to be impossible considering how big it was, or he believed that it was a fragment of his imagination and happened to be ignoring anyone who told him otherwise, while it looked like his partner didn't seem to care at all.

Amaryllis paused when she heard that, because while she didn't know the people of Helgen all that much, given the short period of time she had been inside the town and its fort, she did think the pair of soldiers that helped her deserved more than what apparently happened, being wrecked by the same dragon she had seen earlier, and probably being burned to death in the process, before she decided it was time to say something and hoped that the guards believed her and didn't call her a liar.

"Well, that's because she's telling the truth," Amaryllis said, knowing that it was possible that the guards might think less of her for saying something like this, though at the same time the khajiit seemed surprised by that news, that she might have seen the same dragon that she had seen earlier, hence why she focused on revealing what she knew on the matter, even if she wasn't planning on tracking the beast down or anything, "I was passing through Riverwood earlier this morning and saw a dragon that was as black as night fly over Bleak Falls Barrow, where it seemed to be heading this way, but this is the first time I've heard of it destroying anything."

She only knew the name of the barrow because Lucan mentioned it while he was talking to his sister, since that appeared to be where his golden claw had been taken, though as she said that the khajiit seemed to be thinking about what she had just said, meaning she might be trying to place whether or not they had seen each other earlier, while the guards seemed to be whispering to each other for a few seconds, before they separated and faced the pair, causing her and the khajiit to focus on the guards.

"Very well. One person saying they saw a dragon is usually taken as someone being high on skooma, but two, in the same day, is hard to ignore," the second guard said, where he moved out of the way and beckoned to the gate, where the khajiit lost the slightly annoyed look that had been on her face, which had been replaced by a smile, though Amaryllis knew that the guard was returning to his post so they could wait for more visitors or new orders, "You should head to Dragonsreach as well and report this to the Jarl... he'll want to know about a dragon that's flying around his Hold and attacking whoever and whatever it pleases."

Amaryllis nodded her head as she and the khajiit headed through the gate, where she finally got her first glance at the city of Whiterun, where buildings that were similar to those in Riverwood rested in front of her, while she had to walk over a stone bridge to reach the streets of the city, giving her a chance to see that guards were keeping the peace while the rest of the city's citizens were wandering around, going about their daily business, though for now she had one destination and she wasn't about to stop until she reached Dragonsreach.

"Thanks for the assist back there." the khajiit said, as she was happy to be inside the city at long last, given that she had a very important piece of information to hand over to the Jarl, though at the same time she turned towards Amaryllis for a moment and patted her on the back, as if it was another way of saying thanks, but Amaryllis didn't mind the gesture, even if it was clear that the khajiit might have something else to say before they left the area the gate was in, "So, you really saw the same black dragon that I saw?"

"So it seems." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she started to walk forward and left the area that the main gate was resting in, as she wanted to reach Dragonsreach and inform the Jarl, not to mention his Steward, about her deed and get the reward for Hajvarr's death, but once that was done there was one other thing she needed to know before she even though about leaving the city, which was when she thought of something else as she glanced at the khajiit, "Did it really wreck Helgen?"

"Yeah, I got a good view of it as it landed on one of Helgen's towers, just before the executioner was about to cut my head off and end my life," the khajiit stated, reminding Amaryllis of the fact that she had been brought in by the Thalmor, on the charges of being a criminal that needed to be executed, or something like that, but it also told her that everyone she knew in Helgen had either died in the attack or managed to escape before they perished, though the only thing she was happy about was that she had escaped before that happened, before the khajiit sighed as she considered something, "I'm still mad over what happened to me, as those guards just arrested me and accused me of being a thief, when I've never stolen anything in my life, and confiscated all of my stuff, especially the swords that I was carrying, before the Thalmor had me sent off to Helgen... sorry, I shouldn't bother you with what happened to me earlier. Anyway, the answer to your question is yes, the black dragon wrecked Helgen and burned it to the ground, or at least I assumed it was burned to the ground since it was on fire when Hadvar and I fled the town, especially since it was clear we couldn't hurt that dragon, though I'm hoping that it was just my imagination and that he flew off because he was hurt."

"Hey, its fine, something bad happened and you felt the need to vent." Amaryllis commented, though that made sense to her, as the dragons back home, from what she knew, were hard to take out when they got into a fight, which was a reason why she and the rest of her Hive had tried to avoid getting in a fight with them, but, with how different her world was from this land, there was no telling what was different about the dragons, not counting the size of them anyway, though she still had to wonder why the Thalmor were so interested in executing this one khajiit.

"Anyway, my name is Za'kera," the khajiit said, her tone indicating that she was willing to share her name with someone who was a total stranger, especially when she considered that the person in question had helped her get into the city so she could speak with the Jarl, since she needed to tell him about what she had seen in Helgen, the fact that a dragon had destroyed it, and that said dragon had flown in the direction of Whiterun, or at least it sure looked that way when she had emerged from the burning town, before she glanced at Amaryllis, "What's your name?"

"Kirsta," Amaryllis replied, because from what she had seen so far there weren't many people in Skyrim that had first and last names, so giving the khajiit, Za'kera, a name like that seemed to be fine, at least in her mind anyway, and, at the same time, she turned up the stairs and headed to the district of the city that was ahead of them, one that had what appeared to be a dying tree, a temple of some kind, and an overturned boat that seemed to be where the three warriors from earlier were entering, even though she continued towards the massive wooden castle.

"It's nice to meet you." Za'kera stated, though at the same time it didn't appear that there was much else she wanted to talk about for the moment, but, even as they reached the other side of the district and started up the stairs stone stairs that were in front of them, she seemed to think of something else to ask, like she was killing time before they reached the large building that was where they were heading, "You know, you have very unique eyes... I've never met anyone that has one red eye and one yellow eye."

Amaryllis knew that someone would have noticed her different colored eyes at some point in time, because the strangest thing about her was happened to be the fact that her eyes stayed the same color, regardless of the form she took, and it was something that only the most observant noticed for some reason, so even if she tried to take on a disguise with blue eyes it would come out in her unique colors, but she knew what to say in this situation, as it was something she said when this came up in the past.

"I was told that my eyes meant I was destined for greatness, but so far I'm inclined to disagree," Amaryllis replied, as that was something she felt was never going to come true, regardless of what she had been told in the past, but it was the best thing she could say in this situation, especially since no one had ever questioned her statement and tried to get a clearer answer from her, though based on what she could see it appeared that Za'kera was just fine with her statement, which she was happy to see.

"Well, I've never heard of something like that, but I'll take your word for it," Za'kera said, where she shrugged as the two of them headed up the longer set of stairs and approached the large castle that was their destination, though while they did that they walked by a few more guards, who were patrolling the area and were making sure the people were safe as they went about their day, so if something happened, like someone broke the law in some manner, one or more of them would rush towards whoever did the deed and arrest them.

Amaryllis said nothing as they reached the large imposing door of the castle and pushed it open, where they found a large open room in front of them, with some stairs that would allow them to reach what appeared to be an eating area of some kind, though she did find a number of nords standing around, going about their business, a female dark elf that happened to be staring at them, and a dragon's skull that was resting on the wall above the area that the Jarl seemed to be sitting in, which she felt was very dangerous in case it fell, but before she could do anything the dark elf approached them.

"What is the meaning of this interruption?" the dark elf asked, though what worried Amaryllis was the fact that the dark elf had drawn the sword that had been sheathed on her belt, almost as if she and Za'kera had walked into the castle at the wrong moment or something, especially since she was staring at them, though she hoped that a fight didn't break out, as the guards would run to aid the dark elf and not her or Za'kera, "Jarl Balgruuf is currently in the middle of talking to his Steward, about matters concerning the rest of the Hold, and is not receiving visitors right now."

"I'm here about the bounty on the leader of White River Watch," Amaryllis replied, where she tapped the sack that she had placed the head in for a few seconds, something that caused the dark elf looked at it and raised her eyebrow as she did so, but the one thing she was happy about was the fact that there was no blood dropping from the sack, otherwise she was sure that someone would have screamed at her for ruining the floor, "but I can wait for them to finish whatever they're discussing, before telling them that Hajvarr Iron-Hand is dead."

"I see. Well, they'll be happy to hear that bit of news, given recent events," the dark elf commented, almost as if she was indicating that something bad had happened recently and it was bothering both the Jarl and the Steward, which had to be pretty bad if both of them were focused on it, something that Amaryllis thought about and considered the fact that they might be talking about the dragon, though she followed that up by switching her target and looked at Za'kera, "What about you? What brings you to Dragonsreach?"

"I'm here because a dragon attacked and destroyed Helgen earlier today," Za'kera answered, though at the same time the dark elf and all of the people around them paused what they were doing, which told Amaryllis that, despite the fact that the pair of guards at the front gate didn't believe them, everyone in this building instantly believed what she had just said, and even she was surprised by their reactions, which was good news since they would be able to accomplish their tasks with ease, before leaving to do whatever else was on their minds.

"Are you referring to the black dragon we spotted earlier, who flew over Bleak Falls Barrow and disappeared after flying off into the distance?" the dark elf inquired, confirming Amaryllis' thoughts that someone had seen the dragon that she and Za'kera had seen, though the look on the Jarl's face indicated that he might be stopping his conversation with his Steward to listen to what was going on in front of him, where the Steward did the same thing and focused on them for a time, like they were waiting to hear the information that was coming towards them.

"I am. That is the same dragon I saw earlier today, and who my new friend here saw at some point this morning, as it flew over the barrow," Za'kera replied, though this was good for her, since it meant that those guards she had been stopped by must have been inside one of the buildings inside Whiterun and hadn't seen the dragon in question, meaning they had no idea it even existed in the first place and that whoever had seen the beast had likely come to the castle to tell the Jarl the news, which had to be why he and the Steward had been talking when they arrived.

"Irileth, stand down. I wish to speak with them about this matter." the Jarl, Balgruuf as the dark elf named him, stated, to which the dark elf, who was called Irileth, sheathed her sword and backed away from where the pair was standing, so she could take her place to Balgruuf's left, as the person Amaryllis assumed was the Steward stood on his right, which let the pair approach the Jarl of Whiterun and come to a stop when they were on the same level as his throne, "So, is it true what you just said? That you were at Helgen and that you saw this dragon with your own eyes?"

"Yes, it's all true. The Imperials were executing the Stormcloaks they had captured, right in front of their leader's eyes, but before they could get too far the black dragon landed on one of the towers and started attacking Helgen," Za'kera stated, though while she said that Amaryllis was silent, because this really had nothing to do with her, given that she had been nowhere near Helgen at the time of the attack and had no idea what had happened to the town until she encountered the khajiit, and she suspected that Irileth already knew that the one they wanted to talk to was Za'kera, which was just fine with her, "I managed to get away from Helgen without getting seriously hurt, along with a few survivors, but the last time I saw the dragon it was headed this way."

"By Ysmir, Irileth was right!" Jarl Balgruuf stated, his tone revealing that, while he might have been skeptical of a dragon being sighted by the dark elf, he had taken her word for it and hadn't questioned it, but now, however, he knew that what he had been told was correct and that now was the time for them to do something about it, before he turned his head a little and stared at the man to his right, "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our ancient walls, against a dragon that attacked and wiped out an entire town?"

"My lord, we should send some guards to Riverwood at once." Irileth commented, showing that her position, whatever it was, meant that she took the safety of her Jarl's people into consideration and made sure they were safe, even if the cause of all of this was a dragon, something that Amaryllis assumed had been gone for a long time or something, based on how everyone was reacting to it's arrival, meaning Balgruuf had to be grateful to have her as part of his staff, "It's in the most immediate danger, out of the other villages and towns that are scattered throughout our Hold, especially if that dragon is lurking in the mountains..."

"No, we shouldn't be doing something like that, as the Jarl of Falkreath might view that as a provocation!" the Steward, Proventus as Balgruuf called him, exclaimed, almost as if he was worried that sending a few guards to Riverwood would cause more bad things to happen for him and the rest of Whiterun, even though Amaryllis and Za'kera, despite not having a plan to do this, raised their eyebrows in surprise, since he didn't seem interested in protecting anywhere else that wasn't Whiterun, "He might assume that we're preparing to join Ulfric's side, by posting more guards to a smaller village or town near the border of his Hold, and that we might attack him when the time is right. We should not..."

"Enough!" Jarl Balgruuf snapped, his tone revealing that he was used to Irileth and Proventus arguing about what they should be doing, regardless of what the situation was, and that the only way he could get them to stop this was by raising his voice at them for a few seconds, as both of them bowed their heads a little and waited for him to speak, to which he sighed for a moment before thinking about what else he wanted to say to them, "I won't stand by while a dragon burns my Hold, attacks the settlements under my care, and slaughters my people! Irileth, I want you to send a small detachment to Riverwood at once, to help protect them from future bandit attacks and to keep an eye out for this dragon, just in case it shows up again."

"As you wish, my Jarl." Irileth replied, though Amaryllis was sure that the dark elf was happy that Balgruuf was willing to go along with what she had said, especially since she wanted to keep the people of his Hold safe from whatever dangers they might be up against, even if one of those dangers happened to be a dragon that was capable of burning an entire town to the ground and kill a bunch of Imperial soldiers that were in the middle of executing some Stormcloaks, and she gave her Jarl a slight bow before leaving to fulfill the order.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties." Proventus said, though his tone suggested that he still didn't agree with the idea of sending a small amount of guards to Riverwood, to protect them and aid them from any other future attacks, as if he was worried that the Jarl of Falkreath might take it the wrong way when he heard the news, while also showing that he wasn't going to pursue the notion anymore, as he also bowed his head a little and seemed to be a little lost as to what he needed to do next.

"That would be best, especially since this warrior over here has something for you." Jarl Balgruuf stated, where he took a few seconds to gesture to Amaryllis, indicating that he must have heard what she had done, killing a bandit leader that had been a plague on the travelers in their Hold, before that Za'kera had said anything about the dragon she had seen, hence why he allowed them to approach his throne, "As for her new friend, I think there is something else you might be able to help us with, if you're willing to lend us your aid for a few more hours."

"I'd be more than happy to lend you guys a hand," Za'kera replied, to which Jarl Balgruuf nodded his head and got up from where he was sitting, where he headed over to one of the side rooms that Amaryllis had noticed earlier, where it looked like a mage might be living and working in the chamber in question, and Za'kera followed after him without delay, where Amaryllis stayed where she was standing and silently wished her new acquaintance luck in whatever the Jarl wanted her to do, even though it likely had something to do with the dragon.

Once they were no longer in the same area, and Irileth left to get some guards to reassign to Riverwood, Amaryllis focused on Proventus and informed him that she was there for the bounty on Hajvarr Iron-Hand, along with the fact that she had proof to show she was telling the truth, but the interesting thing was that Proventus didn't seem to care about the sack, he actually seemed a little frightened by such a thing, though that didn't stop him from handing over a sack that contained one hundred gold coins, which she accepted with a smile on her face. With that in hand she walked away from the Jarl's throne and headed towards the door so she could head outside, though as she did that she noticed that Za'kera and Jarl Balgruuf were talking to someone who was dressed in mage robes, like a court wizard or something, but she paid it no mind as she slipped outside once more, showing the guards that while they had seen the same dragon both of them had come under different reasons, so since hers was done her time in Dragonsreach was at an end. She was sure that the Jarl wouldn't ask Za'kera to do anything stressful or really time consuming, or at least she hoped so, but at the same time she didn't want to get dragged into a quest to figure out how to take down the dragon that she had seen, as she assumed that such a thing would be hard and potentially pointless, to which she pushed it out of her mind and focused on what she was going to do next. She could easily head outside and use the carriage to travel to one of the other Holds, to speak with one of the other wizards the lived in this land, but it made her wonder why there wasn't a school for that or something, where someone could ask a number of masters about whatever was on their mind, though as she walked down the steps, and returned to the district that the dying tree was in, she spotted a pair of redguards, a man and a lady, that appeared to be arguing with each other.

As she reached the tree, however, the pair seemed to have reached the conclusion of their discussion, as the lady walked away from who Amaryllis assumed was her husband, or at least significant other, who seemed unsure of what he should do at the moment, giving her the chance to approach him and see if she might be able to help him out, if she was inclined to do so, and right now she was since it gave her something else to do while she looked for a way to get back to her home world so she could resume her search.

"Is something wrong?" Amaryllis asked, where she came to a stop near the reguard for a moment, mostly due to the fact that she knew that the city's guards would be busy for the foreseeable future, given that they would be keeping an eye out for the dragon who had wrecked Helgen, who Irileth had seen and who both she and Za'kera had reported the existence of to Jarl Balgruuf, meaning that none of them would be able to help him out, so she was interested if she could aid him in some manner.

"Oh, not really, it's just that my Saffir doesn't like the fact that I've been spending so much time looking for the sword that my father used while he was alive." the redguard replied, though his tone suggested that, while he was annoyed by the outcome of the conversation he had with his wife, he didn't want something bad to happen to her, before he sighed and turned his head to look in the plains to the west of the city, even if he couldn't see them thanks to the stone wall that kept that side of the city safe, "It's an incredibly important sword to me, as my father was able to feed his entire family with the gold he made, by using that sword to kill bandits and make his home a better place for everyone, and I'm not about to let it gather dust in some thief's trophy room."

"Do you have any idea where the sword might have been taken?" Amaryllis inquired, because if the redguard had an idea as to where the bandits that had taken the blade might have run off to, like she assumed he did based on everything that he had said so far, she would be able to head to the location in question, use a disguise or her skills to slip in, take out the bandits so they didn't bother the rest of Whiterun, and claim the sword for him, which she would then return to him once she was done with whatever cave or ruin the bandits were holed up in.

"I managed to track them to a small cave that's called Redoran's Retreat," the reguard said, though at the same time, since he determined that Amaryllis might not know the area in question, he gave her specific directions that would allow her to find the cave in question, where she had to head to the west and turn to the north at the fork in the road that was near Fort Greymoor, before turning to the west again after crossing a stone bridge, which would be around the time that she could see the cave off to her right.

Amaryllis nodded her head and stepped away from the redguard, Amren as he called himself, and focused on seeing what else the people of this city had to offer her, just in case someone else had a task of some kind that needed to be done at some point, before she headed outside to explore the plains and see what they had, as her current plan was to get a few more gold coins, to put her closer to a thousand, before leaving the city. There was a nord near her position that seemed to be preaching in front of an impressive statue, which seemed to be of the Divine known as Talos, though as she stood by the dying tree for a moment she decided to listen to the priest, even if no one else was near the statue, where he spoke of how Talos used to be mortal and that he ascended to being one of the Divines, turning the Eight into the Nine, and that he had reshaped Cyrodiil for the warriors that had followed him in the past, or at least that was what she gathered from what the priest was saying. What was impressive was that the priest had the nerve to declare that the elves, who she assumed were the Thalmor that some of the Imperials had mentioned before she fled Helgen, couldn't tolerate such a thing, hence it likely being a reason behind starting the Great War and them forcing the Empire to outlaw all worship of the new Divine, while stating that the Stormcloaks needed to rise up and restore Skyrim to what it had been, before the sermon appeared to be over, allowing her to leave before he started his entire speech again. Once she departed from where the priest was standing she headed down into the market that she and Za'kera had walked by earlier, since they had focused on getting to Dragonsreach and telling the Jarl about the dragon that wiped out Helgen, but now that she didn't have to worry about that she focused on the people that were around her and the buildings that were nearby, to see if there was anything she could use or any stores she needed to head into before she departed from the city to resume her mission.

There were a few merchants that owned some of the stalls, where they sold jewelry, meat, fruit, and some odds and ends that anyone might need, while the three major buildings that were near her contained The Bannered Mare, which she had to assume was the inn, Arcadia's Cauldron, which appeared to be an alchemy shop, and Belethor's General Goods, a shop she might want to stop at before she left the city, to see what sort of goods it had and if she might be able to offload some of the stuff she had picked up earlier.

Once she figured out what the other buildings were, and noticed that there were a few houses around the market area for some of the residents of Whiterun lived in, she decided not to bother stopping at one of the shops and headed down the street once more, where she neared the main gate in time to see Irileth giving her orders to a trio of guards, who nodded their heads in acknowledgement before departing from the city, and a few seconds later the dark elf headed up another set of stairs so she could return to Dragonsreach. Since it appeared that everyone else in the area was busy focusing on what they were doing, be it beating on some metal with a hammer, walking down the street, or trying to sell something to visitors, Amaryllis headed for the main gate and focused on what she was going to do once she was on the other side of it, as there were several things she could do and needed to come to a decision soon, even if most of her focus would be on her primary mission. Interestingly enough neither of the guards who had stopped Za'kera earlier, and prevented her from entering the city until she arrived to confirm her story, said anything to her as she passed through the main gate, as if the city was back to normal or something, where she turned to her right and headed back down the path that had brought her to the front gate of the city, even though Amaryllis figured that they were entirely focused on making sure no bandits approached the city and no dragons suddenly appeared around the nearby area. As such she was able to walk away from the gate without interacting with anyone, though not a few moments later, when she reached the first arch that lead up to where the main gate rested, she found that there were a few people standing near the four khajiit she had seen earlier, as one of them, who she assumed had to be the leader of the group, was sitting in front of the main tent while the remaining three were either doing chores or were protecting their leader, though it was nice to see that some people were currently in the middle of trading items with him, either buying something that he had or selling an item to him, meaning some did understand that not all khajiit were thieves or criminals.

Just seeing the khajiit again made Amaryllis think about something, where she jumped over the small wooden fence that was off to her left, near a building that rested near the stables, a structure that had to be a house, and headed behind the building in question, where she would be out of view of everyone for a few seconds and would be able to do what she was thinking about without any distractions. Once she was sure that no one could see her, if even for a few moments, she let the flames wrap around her for a few seconds and her form shifted once more, though this time around, instead of taking on the form of the imperial lady she had worn earlier, or any of the other forms she had used so far, she took on the form of one of the khajiits that the citizens of Whiterun were talking to. She remained in her original gender, though she used a brown fur color, with a number of black spots here and there, and had similar markings to what Za'kera had, but she did leave the scars out of this disguise, as she didn't want anyone to confuse her with Za'kera, even though the only ones who knew anything about the khajiit were back in Cyrodiil, but given that the Thalmor had arrested her, seemingly on charges that were completely false, Amaryllis felt it was best to alter the form and create her own disguise from what she had seen so far. While she made sure that her armor adjusted to having a tail, for when she decided to return to her normal form, she had to admit that her new form made her feel more agile, and she honestly had no idea why she thought that, but in the end she stopped messing with her armor and walked out from behind the house, where she headed towards the road and continued walking into the distance, as she had the feeling that taking some time to explore the plains that rested all around Whiterun was going to be rather exciting, but once she was done exploring she would continue with her quest to find a way back home and resume her search.

Wanderings: On the Road Again

The first thing Amaryllis did after walking out of Whiterun, and nodding to one of the guards that happened to tell her to stay safe while she was traveling the lands of Skyrim, almost if he knew she wouldn't be back for some time and wanted to wish her well in the way of the nords, if she was right about that away since it was a little hard to figure them out, was take a few moments to hide behind the house near the stables and switch back into her new khajiit form. There was something about this form that appealed to her, which might be the fact that it was sort of similar to her new base form, or maybe it was some other reason that she hadn't discovered yet, which she might figure out in due time as she explored the various lands of Skyrim, but for now she wasn't going to think about it as she emerged from her hiding spot and returned to the road, where she was pleased to see that no one had noticed her do that. This time around, instead of heading to the right, like she did to find Amren's sword, she turned to the left and headed back to the crossroads that had allowed her to reach White River Watch, where Hajvarr Iron-Hand and his crew had been hiding until recently, though this time around she had a different route in mind, since it would be boring to travel down the same roads and see the same things, something she could do once she had a better idea of the layout of Skyrim's provinces, which would be around the time she might start flying around to save herself some time. Her plan was to walk down the road that was in front of her until she got to the crossroads near the Honningbrew Meadery, a place that she had heard several guards talk about while she was leaving the city, as if recommending it to her, though once she reached the crossroads her plan was to head to the left and cross over the stone bridge that was over there, instead of heading to the right, which would take her back to Riverwood, or crossing over the other small stone bridge that would bring her to the former bandit camp, though her main reason for this decision was that it looked like heading to the north and then turning to the east at some point appeared to be one of the quickest routes to get to Windhelm.

It didn't take her long to reach the crossroad in question, nor did it take her more than a few seconds to pick out the path she wanted to follow, though as she headed to the north, which would eventually connect with crossroad that allowed the residents of this land to continue to the north and head to Dawnstar, or to the east and head to Windhelm, she nodded to one of the guards that was walking by and was a little surprised that the guard returned the gesture, meaning that there had to be people in this land that were willing to give the khajiit a chance, instead of believing them all to be thieves like the rest of the nords.

After seeing that guard Amaryllis focused on the area around her, where she found two farms to her left that, based on all that she could see, definitely didn't belong to the same family, as they were separated from each other, due to a fence that rested between them, and based on the fields that were near them it sure looked like the owners of both locations were trying to grow the same types of food, be it wheat, potatoes, or whatever else they were trying to grow. Another thing that seemed to confirm her thoughts was the fact that one of the owners walked out of their house and talked with the owner of the other farm, about what she had no idea since they were a good distance away from where she was walking, not that she really cared about their conversation, but judging from the looks on their faces, and the faces of those that were near them, it looked like a disagreement of some kind was unfolding. Considering what little she knew about the Companions, and what they did for all of Skyrim, there was a chance that this argument would be settled not by both owners coming to an understanding by just talking to each other, rather it might be settled by one of the two owners calling upon someone from the Companions to beat the other into submission, as one of the nords that was in The Bannered Mare the previous night made a comment about such a thing happening in the past. At the same time she also knew that the Companions would ask for some sort of price for such a deed, a few coins or something like that to head down to this location and beat some sense into the owner that needed to be taught a lesson, though since this wasn't something that Amaryllis wanted to get involved in, as it looked like things were starting to heat up between the two owners, she decided to continue down the road she had been following and wondered what else she would discover... even though it didn't take her long to spot a small rat creatures resting nearby, a skeever based on what she recalled being told in Helgen.

Once she noticed the skeever Amaryllis drew her sword for a moment, just in the off chance that it rushed at her and tried to bring her down, given that some creatures wanted to kill travelers for whatever food was on them, and waited for a few seconds to see if it would rush over to her, though that was when the critter charged at her location with the intention of biting into her legs and inflicting a poison or disease upon her, where she dodged the incoming bite and swung her blade downwards for a few seconds, allowing her to take the rat's head off.

While she might have questioned whether or not it was right to kill someone, like the bandit groups that plagued this land and set up their camps everywhere, camps that rested near the various roads that connected the Holds, she didn't have a problem with killing little rats like this, as she had learned that they were disease carriers and didn't want to catch one, to which she quickly wiped her blade in the grass, sheathed it, and then moved on. From there she found that the road was heading downwards, because it was a hill and she was on the downwards portion of it, which was fine with her, but not a few seconds later she spotted an interesting landmark, one that happened to be further down the road she was currently walking down and was a decent sized stone tower of some kind, one that was far smaller than the one she had spotted on the left of the road that lead to Fort Greymoor, though that was when she noticed that there happened to be a fight going on right outside the watchtower, three Whiterun guards facing off against three bandits, which seemed rather odd due to the fact that the bandits at White River Watch weren't like this. She would have helped them take down the bandits, even though it was three against three and some might think it was disrespectful to barge into someone else's fight, but as the first two bandits fell, being cut down by the highly trained guards, the third one dodged the next attack and then dropped his sword, where he started to run away from the guards, so he could save himself from being killed or captured for all of the crimes his group had committed, and he was heading right for the road that Amaryllis was walking on. In that instant she decided that, since he was going to involve her in this fight in some manner, she might as well do something to aid the guards, so she withdrew her dagger from its sheath and hurled it through the air for a few seconds, where it slammed into the chest of the fleeing bandit when he got close to her, stopping him in his tracks and knocking him to the ground, but he was alive and well, as she had aimed for an area that would knock the wind out of him and make it easier for someone to capture him, though to make sure he didn't get back up she placed her right foot on the bandit's chest and held her sword out, stopping the bandit from getting any funny ideas.

"Good job catching him." one of the guards said, where Amaryllis waited for a few seconds and made sure that the guards were coming to collect the bandit, since there was a chance that they might just loose an arrow into him from afar, to put an end to this assault, though it looked like capturing him was what all three guards were thinking of and she aided them in their mission, hence why she heaved the wounded bandit onto his feet when she speaker approached her, while at the same time making sure to recover her blade as well, before she turned the bandit over to them, "This one will be taken to the Dragonsreach Dungeons, where he'll serve his sentence for the foreseeable future, though if he complies and tells us where the rest of his gang is we might be lenient and reduce his time, depending on the Jarl's mood when he feels like spilling the beans."

"Well, have fun with that." Amaryllis replied, where she made sure to clean her weapon, since some blood had gotten on it due to her actions, before she sheathed it and made sure that the guards didn't need any help with what was happening around their watchtower, but once she knew that they were just fine she turned back to the road and resumed following the path, leaving the guards to finish their job and ready the bandit for the journey back to Whiterun, where she was sure someone would likely heal him before extracting whatever information he had on the rest of his lawbreaking friends, if he had any to share in the first place.

She had to admit that she wasn't expecting bandits to attack that watchtower, after seeing the ones in the fort ignore the larger one down the road from where they were stationed, though the guards showed that they didn't need much help in protecting the area they had been stationed in, allowing her to turn her focus back to the road and the potential hazards that might be in her way, like wild animals, bandits, or other people that wanted to kill her for the sake of stealing her stuff and selling her gear in one of the cities. What was further down the route she was taking was a wagon that had a horse in front of it, meaning it was pulling the wagon and its owner to whatever location the driver happened to be heading to, but that was when she noticed that one of the wheels happened to be broken, as one happened to be resting off to the side of the wagon, on her left and the wagon's right, meaning that whoever the wagon belonged to had to be annoyed by the fact that they had been delayed by something like this. The owner, as she soon found out, was a man that was dressed up in a set of attire that looked like red jester's outfit with black in certain places, like the gloves, boots, and the collar around his neck, which meant that he was standing out among all the people of Skyrim, but, at the same time, she had to admit that there was something about this situation that made her want to stop and ask the man if he needed assistance, even if she had no experience in fixing wagons. The worst thing that could happen is that the man could tell her to buzz off and fix the problem on his own, meaning that she would lose out on a few seconds, but that didn't stop her from deciding that she might as well see if she could offer him some help, especially since it appeared that the guard that was patrolling the road seemed to be ignoring him, though the guard was wearing a uniform that wasn't the same yellow color that belonged to Whiterun's guards, which had to mean that she was close to an intersection between the borders of the Holds, which was good news for her when she recalled the route she was taking right now.

As Amaryllis approached the wagon, however, she found that the man was staring at the wheel that had broken off of the wagon itself, meaning that he likely didn't have the tools necessary to repair the damage, though what really caught her attention was the large crate that was being shipped to whatever destination the man was heading to, one that was large enough to be transporting a number of different things, even a coffin she suspected, before she focused on the man that was standing nearby.

"Agh! Bother and befuddle!" the man declared, where he finished looking at the damage and returned to his position near the edge of the crate, something that Amaryllis was sure had happened a few times before she even knew this man was in this area, though it didn't look like he even noticed her presence, indicating that he was so focused on the wagon that he didn't notice anything else in his immediate area, or rather he was so focused on the crate and whatever happened to be inside it, "Stuck here! Stuck! My mother, my poor mother. Unmoving. At rest, but too still!"

"What seems to be the problem?" Amaryllis asked, because while she knew that most people would declare the man to be insane and walk away, leaving him to deal with his problems on his own, she was going to see if she could assist him and get him on his way, due to the fact that his wagon was blocking part of the road and might annoy whoever came down the road in the near future, though she had seen a few insane ponies in the past, like Pinkie Pie, and they were all accepted by those that were around them, not that such a thing mattered right now as she focused on the man.

"Poor Cicero is stuck. Can't you see?" the man inquired in return, almost as if he was accusing someone of not seeing what the problem was with their own eyes, but, at the same time, he seemed to think of a better way to handle things, instead of being angry with her, and continued talking, with the same tone that he used a few seconds ago when he declared that the wagon was stuck, "I was transporting my dear, sweet mother... well, not her living body anyway. Its her corpse! She's quite dead. I'm taking mother to a new home, a new crypt, but... agh! Wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke on me! Don't you see?"

Amaryllis was a little surprised by that, as she would have assumed that the man, Cicero as he called himself, would have taken the time to bury the corpse of his mother where they lived, wherever that village, town, or city rested in the various provinces of this strange and odd world she had ended up in, instead of bringing her to Skyrim to be buried somewhere here, but decided that, since she really didn't detect any hint of him lying to her, that she might as well help him get on his way so he could reach the new crypt, before bandits came to bother him.

"Is there anything I can do to help you get moving again, so you can continue moving your mother?" Amaryllis asked, as it looked like anyone else that might have passed him recently had ignored his plight, due to his nature as a jester and the tone of his voice, even though she wasn't terribly bothered by what she was seeing at the moment, thanks to the fact that she got used to some ponies that he reminded her of, but she was hoping that he would give her some information to go on so she could help him get on his way.

"Oh! Oh yes! Yes, the kindly stranger can certainly help!" Cicero declared, where he broke into a little dance for some odd reason, though it wasn't as odd as everything she had seen during her short time in Ponyville, back when she investigated the town in question, before he stopped his routine and pointed up the nearby hill, where Amaryllis found a house resting only a few minutes from where they were standing, "Go to the farm, the Loreius Farm, which rests just a minute or two from the road. Talk to Loreius, as he has tools that he can help me me with! But he won't! He refuses to lift a finger to help me! Convince Loreius to fix my wheel! Do that, and poor Cicero will reward you... with coin! Gleamy, shiny coin!"

Amaryllis almost told him that she didn't want a reward for helping him, that she was doing this to help him transport his mother to her new crypt, but then decided that the people of Skyrim must really like giving out rewards when they were helped, regardless of what that help was, so she nodded her head and headed up the hill, knowing that Cicero was going to keep talking to the container that his mother's casket was in until she returned with news, as odd as that sounded the moment she thought about it... though what she found to be interesting was that Loreius, as she soon discovered, was an imperial and that the lady who was sitting in a chair nearby, who she assumed was his wife, was an altmer, but she didn't really pay that much attention to that fact, rather she turned towards the field, where the person she needed to talk to was working, so she could get this over with.

"Oh, for the love of Mara. What now?" Loreius demanded, showing that he wasn't in the mood to entertain visitors and that Amaryllis had a few moments to explain why she was here, before he likely attempted to force her off his property with the tools that he was using at the moment, while at the same time his wife glanced up from whatever she had been doing since they had left their house this morning and seemed a little annoyed that Loreius was getting angry at those who approached their residence.

"Sorry to interrupt your work, but I've come to ask if you would be willing to set aside a few moments of your time to help a man out." Amaryllis stated, to which she gestured towards the path she had walked up and made sure that Cicero was the one she was pointing at, including the wagon that really needed some help, something that caused Loreius to glance down at the road once more and seemed like he was utterly annoyed by everything, "He really needs some help fixing his wagon, so he can deliver his mother's casket to her new crypt."

"You mean that Cicero feller?" Loreius inquired, just to be sure that they were talking about the same person, which told Amaryllis that he didn't even pay attention to her when she was showing him the person that she was talking about, and that also gave her the impression that getting him to help Cicero might be harder than she originally thought, given just how annoyed he seemed to be, "Tell me something I don't know. Crazy fool's already asked me to go down there and help him about five times now... seems he's not satisfied with my answer. Why can't he just leave us alone?"

"Other than the fact that you're the only people around here he can get help from?" Amaryllis commented, because from what she had seen so far the only reason that Cicero was bothering Loreius and his wife was because they were the only people around here that could help him, which also meant that his mother had been very important to him while she was alive and that he didn't want to leave her casket alone, for fear of it being robbed or stolen if he went to Whiterun or the farms up the road to get some help, "Besides, I really don't see what the problem is, as I'm sure that he'll pay you for a few minutes of your time, which sounds like a bargain to me."

"PAY ME? You think this is about money?" Loreius snapped, showing Amaryllis that what she had said might not have been the best thing in the world, but, at the same time, she was having a hard time understanding why he didn't want to spend a few minutes to help someone in need, so he could return to his work without having constant interruptions all the time, because if she didn't get him to help Cicero she was sure that the jester would find someone else to help him out, before resorting to drastic measures, "Have you seen the man, or stared at the clothing he's wearing? He's completely out of his head. A jester, here, in Skyrim? There hasn't been a merryman in these parts for a hundred years, and he's transporting a giant box, which he claims has a coffin inside it, and he's going to bury his mother in a new crypt... mother my left eye, he could have anything in there, such as war contraband, armor and weapons, skooma... there's no way I'm getting involved in any of that."

"Look, he's a stranger is an unfamiliar land, and he doesn't feel comfortable leaving his mother's casket alone for more than a few moments," Amaryllis said, though she had no idea why she was trying so hard to get Loreius to see that he was being foolish and that he could accord to help Cicero for a few minutes, especially since the imperial wanted to focus on his work and helping Cicero move would allow him to do just that, but, since she had started this line of conversation, she figured she might as well reach the end of it, "Surely your gods would want you to do the right thing and help Cicero out with his problem."

"What? And just who in Mara's name are you, anyway?" Loreius asked, his tone showing that he might get hostile in the next few minutes, regardless if it was because of something Amaryllis said or if it was due to Cicero coming to ask if she had made progress asking Loreius for help, but she was committed to doing the right thing and wasn't about to back down now, "You come here, out of nowhere I might add, asking about the fool and telling me what to do with my tools and time. And for what? To help a... a... a fool!"

"You know it's the right thing to do, don't you?" Amaryllis inquired, though this time around she did something that wasn't normal for a changeling, she didn't use any of the tricks she had learned over the years and waited to see if simply talking to Loreius would convince him to do the right thing, without her interference anyway, though if it failed she was going to have to excuse herself and return to Cicero, to give him the bad news, before resuming her own journey and leaving this place behind.

"Look, I... I..." Loreius started to say, but in that moment he looked over to his wife, who must have been listening to the entire conversation, and the anger seemed to melt away almost instantly, where he sighed and focused on Amaryllis once more, only this time looking a little kinder than before, meaning he must have gotten tired of being angry and annoyed at everything that was happening around him, "You're right... you're absolutely right. Feller might be nutters, or he might be completely sane. But fact is that he needs help. If I turn him away, after all the times he's asked for help, what kind of man does that make me? Look, um... thanks for helping me see past his strange appearance and my fears of what he might be carrying inside the crate he's transporting. And... and I'm sorry for my unneighborly reaction when you showed up earlier. If you talk to Cicero again, you be sure to tell him that I'll be down to help him in the next few minutes."

Amaryllis was surprised that she got Loreius to change his mind and help Cicero, even if it was due to his wife giving her some help in that regard, to which she wished him and his wife a good day and headed back down the hill, where she did pause for a moment to see the man walking to where the tools were being kept, showing that he was staying true to what he had told her, before she smiled and resumed walking so she could share the good news with Cicero, who was pacing around the crate his mother's coffin rested inside.

"Poor mother... Her new home seems so very far..." Cicero commented, once more focusing on the fact that he was being forced to stop in this area, by a broken wheel of all things, and that he couldn't get to the location that the new crypt was located in, before seeing Amaryllis coming his way, to which he turned towards her the moment she came to a stop near him, where she could tell that he was debating whether to be happy that she was back or be saddened by the fact that she might not have good news for him, "Have... you spoken to Loreius yet?"

"I have, and he's agreed to fix your wagon." Amaryllis replied, as she knew that the news would do wonders for Cicero, especially since she had no idea how long he and the wagon had been sitting in this area, other than the fact that Loreius mentioned that Cicero had asked for help five times so far today, and it was only nine in the morning, making her assume he had been here all morning and hadn't given up on trying to convince the man to come help him with his problem, so he could leave and locate his mother's new crypt.

"You... you did!? He has!?" Cicero said, where she could see that the news stunned him for a few seconds, almost as if he had been worried that she would have been told no as well, before a wide smile appeared on his face as he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed for a moment, giving her a hug to show his appreciation, before he pulled himself away from her and started to dance once more, "Oh stranger! You have made Cicero so happy! So jubilant and ecstatic! But more! Even more! My mother thanks you! Here, here. For your troubles! Shiny, clinky gold! A few coins for a kind deed! And thank you! Thank you again."

Cicero didn't stop dancing as he picked up one of the sacks that rested near the rectangular container and presented it to Amaryllis, who took it and watched as the jester continued to dance to whatever tune he was following, something that he must have picked up in one of the taverns and inns that rested in the cities he passed through, but before she even looked at the amount of coins she had been she determined that trying to give any of it back would likely be taken as an insult, so she wished Cicero well and continued down the road. After a few moments she came to a stop near one of the small stone walls, putting some distance between her and Cicero for the time being, and opened the pouch, where her jaw dropped as she stared at the amount of coins that were in the sack that she had been given, as by her best estimates there were a fair number of coins inside it, way more than any amount she had gotten at any point during her previous travels, where her count came out to seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty coins, if her count was right anyway. For a moment she had to wonder what Cicero did for a living, if he was able to part with so much coin in a single instant and without a second to even think about what he was doing, but, at the same time, she decided that it wasn't her business to bother everyone she encountered in this land and tried to figure out what they're professions were, to which she put the pouch in her pack and continued walking down the road, even though she knew that she was going to have to store the coins at some point, as it might cause thieves to come after her if they knew how many coins were on her. As she departed from the area, however, she did turn around for a few moments to look back and found that she was in time to see Loreius walk down the path to where Cicero's wagon was resting, meaning that he was going to fulfill what he told her and help the jester get on his way, so he could get back to his own work without constantly being interrupted, to which she nodded her head and continued following the path that would eventually bring her to Windhelm.

As she walked down the road that was in front of her, and made sure to follow the few signposts that were along the way, Amaryllis did pause every now and then to take in the sights that were along the path, as in glancing at the trees that were around her, the various bushes that were resting near them, which were partly covered in snow, the odd number of short stone walls that had been constructed to help someone see the direction they were supposed to be moving in, which did form a road of sorts, and a couple of stone ruins that looked sort of like what she saw attached to Bleak Falls Barrow. Of course she didn't have a good view of that crypt, since she was looking at it from far away, but it appeared that the nords who called this land home, or at least the ancient nords, liked to build these large crypts to honor their dead, something she was going to have to learn about later, just to ensure no one thought that she had no idea what she was talking about, even though playing the visitor to a new land might work as well, which she could test out later. The other thing she had to watch out for were the wolves that liked to pounce on travelers that weren't paying attention, because one of them tried to ambush her with two more of it's friends when she stopped to look at a giant's camp that was off to her left, one that happened to rest under a large rock that served as a roof of sorts, and she had to cut them down with her sword before she could move forward again. That taught her that a number of the creatures that lived in this land wanted to kill her, for whatever their reasons were, which meant that she needed to be more careful as she traveled the lands and made sure she knew where all the major towns and cities were located, even though her current mission was what she was focusing on for the time being, as she knew there would be more time for her to go sightseeing once she figured out what that kid might be doing, trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood, and if she could convince him to stop and get on with his life, or see if his target was a bandit or someone who deserved what was coming to them.

After the wolves taught her that lesson she thought she was done with being interrupted by things that were around her, unless she wanted to stop and see what was around her, as about ten minutes later, when she was close to the fork in the road that had been her next destination, she was stopped by a dark elf that was wearing leather armor over most of her body, carried two daggers in his hands, steel ones to be exact, and had a hood over his head that made it look like he was trying to hide who he was.

"All right, hand over all of your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish." the dark elf demanded, showing that he was a thief and that he wanted everything that Amaryllis had on her at the moment, which meant that he must have seen her count every coin that had been inside the sack that Cicero had given her for helping him with his problem and that he had marked her as someone to rob of everything she had, regardless of the value of her items, even if he had seen her from a distance and had rushed over to ambush her.

"I'd like to see you try." Amaryllis replied, because while she didn't have much on her, save for the coins that she had been gathering ever since she arrived in the southern part of Skyrim, she wasn't about to hand over everything that was on her to some random thief, especially when he was threatening to kill her if she didn't comply with his demands, which was why she pulled her sword out of it's sheath again, though this time, since her foe was planning on using two weapons against her, she made sure to level the playing field by drawing her dagger as well, so she could parry his attacks until she found an opening to deal with him.

The thief growled and charged at her, where he swung his arms and started attacking her, to which Amaryllis raised her weapons and parried the attacks that were coming at her, finding that this guy must have been a novice thief that wasn't very good at the skills that made a great thief, and at the same time she found that his attacks, despite having a good deal of speed, were easy to overpower. That meant that it would be rather easy for her to break his guard and cut him down in a matter of seconds, where she broke his defenses and pushed him backwards, but this did teach her that she had to be very careful with the gold she was carrying on her person, otherwise she would only bring more of his kind to her and then she would never be able to reach Windhelm, or any of the other cities that she could be visiting in this land, which would only get annoying after a time if such a thing were to happen. The thief, interestingly enough, didn't step down when she continued to parry his attacks, as if he was too focused on what he was doing, so she decided to end the fight and parried his attacks in such a way that allowed her to force his arms open, to move his weapons away from his body, before driving her blade into his chest, this time aiming for the heart, something that surprised him when it happened and was followed by him dropping both of his weapons so he could grip the sides of her sword. A few seconds later the thief went limp and she pulled her blade from his chest, where she cleaned it on his armor and then looked at what he had on him, where it appeared that he had a lockpick on him, five gold coins, and one of those weird gemstones that she had seen in Farengar's quarters, something that she would have to learn more about at some point in the future, when she found another mage to converse with, but after a few more moments she found nothing else that she could collect and possibly sell once she reached her destination, as she wasn't going to take the armor with her.

Once that was done, and she didn't see any other thieves in the area, she continued along the road that was in front of her as she sheathed her weapons once more, knowing that, at some point during her travels, she was going to need them to defend herself from the dangers that seemed to plague Skyrim, as in the random encounters that weren't in the caves or ancient fortifications that had been built all those years ago. It took her a few more minutes to reach the fork in the road that was her next destination, where heading to her left would take her to three different cities, Dawnstar, Morthal, and Solitude apparently, while the road on her right would take her to Winterhold, Windhelm, and Riften, or at least that was what the sign said as she glanced at the various pointed signs that showed her which direction each city was in, to which she withdrew her map for a second. Based on her map she knew that the signs were right in some way, despite the fact that Riften was to the southeast from where she was currently standing and Winterhold was to the northeast, but at the moment she wasn't going to question the signpost and continued moving along her chosen route, as it was getting closer to being the middle of the day and she'd rather be inside one of the cities. She figured that, based on what she heard from some of the patrons in The Bannered Mare and the Imperial soldiers, that she could spend half a way just walking from one city to another, and right now, when she looked at the sky for a moment, she could tell that it was getting closer and closer to being noon, meaning that the information had to be correct in some manner. She guessed that, between having to fight the pack of wolves, take down the thief, and stopping to help Cicero, it made sense she would lose an hour or two, which was combined with the time she spent walking on the road, but, at the same time, she was hoping to, at the very least, reach Windhelm before night fell, to find out where that Aventus boy was hiding so she could see what sort of help he needed, though if she found a town with an inn before such a thing happened she figured a night's stop would be a lot better than continuing through the darkness.

As she thought about that, however, she paused and glanced to her left for a moment, where she found one of the nordic ruins that dotted the land and found some bandits, two of them to be exact, guarding the entrance of the ruin that was embedded in the mountainside, though instead of wasting time and engaging them, like she did with most of the bandits she had seen in the past, she paid them no mind and continued walking, as she didn't want to draw them to her, like she did with the thief. One of the other things she noticed, and hadn't really paid much attention to thanks to all of the things that had been interrupting her train of thought, was the fact that she transitioned from a warm environment and entered a more snow filled area, which made sense because Skyrim was the province to the north, so seeing snow every now and then was a nice change of pace. Another thing she noticed while she walked was that there was a massive mountain, or at least two peaks that were pretty close to each other, off to her left and they stretched high into the sky, meaning that to see what was on the other side she would either have to find a route through the mountain or go all the way around it, a venture that would take time, energy, and a lot of provisions, which she might do later if she really cared about it, hence why she focused on the road once more. Some time later, likely ten or twenty minutes later by her estimates, she found what appeared to be a small building that resembled the Sleeping Giant Inn from Riverwood, meaning that someone had built a rest stop of sorts that happened to rest between Whiterun and Wildhelm, or Windhelm and Dawnstar, something that depended on which direction the traveler was coming from, though it also meant that whoever owned it might have a good number of customers come visit them, for room, food, or a place to rest. Despite her desire to get to Windhelm, and find that boy she heard about, she walked over to the inn and found that there was a small lake near it, with half a bridge on it so people could fish on it if they wanted, before heading inside the building so she could do something she should have done while she was in Whiterun.

From what she could tell she must have arrived in the inn at the time where there weren't many customers, given that it wasn't quite noon yet and there weren't many travelers on the road right now, so that allowed her to take a seat for some time and pull out the spell tome she had purchased, the one that would allow her to summon her own personal chest, and opened the tome. As she read the pages, and studied the words, she discovered something interesting, and that was the fact that the book was imparting the knowledge of the spell to her, like she was actually learning the spell without having to practice, which made her wonder if all of the spell tomes in Skyrim were like this and mentally cursed herself for selling the spell tome she had found in the mine earlier, as it would have been worth taking a few seconds to test her theory, but she would have practiced with any new spells anyway, just to be sure that she understood the instructions and knew what each spell could do. After a period of time, like five minutes, Amaryllis closed the book and stared at her right hand for a moment, wondering if she could actually cast the summon chest spell now, before she focused her mind for a second or two as a small purple sphere appeared in her hand, which happened after she formed an image of what she was trying to do in her mind, mostly so she could replicate what was inside the nearby spell tome, making her wonder if it was working or if she was going to blow something up, before she glanced down at the floor and aimed at an area that was near where she happened to be sitting, where she cast the spell and waited to see what happened as the magic vanished. Not even a few seconds later a rectangular chest, about the width of her sword, appeared in front of her with an interesting light blue color that made it look it like was something that had been created, rather than something that existed, but it wasn't like the other chests she had seen in this land, not that such a thing bothered her all that much since she was sure that there were more types of chests that she hadn't seen yet.

According to the tome she could put anything inside the chest, dismiss the chest, and then, when she summoned it again, be it here or somewhere else, that item would still be inside the chest, to which she opened the chest and watched as part of the top opened, where she unhooked her sword from her belt and placed it inside the container, which appeared to contain an infinite storage away of some kind, before closing it and banishing it with a wave of her hand... though a few seconds later, when she summoned it beside the innkeeper's bar, she found that the sword was still inside it, bringing a smile to her face.

"I'm so glad I bought this spell now," Amaryllis commented, where she retrieved her weapon and then, to make sure none of the thieves tried to bother her again, she pulled out her coin pouch and stored the vast majority of her gold inside the chest, the only difference was that it gave her the chance to indicate how much of her gold she could place inside it, just like the tome said, so she left herself with a hundred gold and then dismissed the chest after closing it, as this was a load off her mind and allowed her to focus on other things.

Once the deed was done she headed outside, where she noticed that the innkeeper must have been busy elsewhere in the inn since she had no idea who owned this building, the Nightgate Inn according to the sign that was in front of the inn, but this gave her the chance to rest her legs a little, not that she needed to rest, and gave her the chance to learn a brand new spell, which she would definitely use multiple times in the future, though instead of staying inside the inn she walked over to the door so she could leave. The moment she was back outside she returned to the road and continued in the direction of Windhelm, though she quickly found something that would have stopped her, as there were a group of at least five or six wolves at the bottom of the hill that she would be walking down, only the wolves were taken care of by some chainmail wearing soldiers, the Stormcloaks if she was recalling things correctly since she recognized the blue coloration of the set of armor they were wearing, but, at the same time, these guys also served as the guards for the city she was heading to, so they were basically the guards and the soldiers of an army at the same time. One thing she noticed was that some of the guards didn't seem happy to see her walking on the road, which told her that some people might not like seeing a khajiit walking on the road and might have problems with allowing one to enter their cities, even though Whiterun seemed to be different, but as she walked passed them she decided that she could always change into another disguise when she finally reached her destination, like a nord disguise or something. There was also a cave off on her left, just a few more steps down the road from where the wolves had been, and she didn't see any creatures hanging outside the entrance, meaning that the wolves were likely the ones that had been calling the cave home and had come out to attack the Stormcloaks, which had been a terrible idea for them, but instead of drawing attention to herself she focused on what she was doing and less on what was going on around her.

As she continued to walk along the snow covered road, which apparently was either made visible by wagons or by the various travelers that wandered the lands, Amaryllis noticed that the road she was following turned back to dirt after five minutes, allowing her to see the direction she was heading in much more clearly, even though it was obvious that many used this road and that was why it was so clear, despite all the nearby snow. There was also a fork in the road that would let her reach one of the other Hold cities, Winterhold to be exact, even though she decided to put off heading up there to visit the College that was the centerpiece of the city, as she wanted to think about the answer that Farengar had given her for a few more days, before seeing if the mages at the College could tell her anything different about traveling to different worlds. She really didn't like the idea that she might be stuck in this land, forced to adapt to an entirely new lifestyle and give up on her quest to find her Queen, but right now it was looking like that was the reality of her situation, as much as she wished it wasn't, and hoped that, when she went to go visit the College, she could learn something that would tell her otherwise, but she didn't want to hear the same answer twice in a row, hence the wait between talking with Balgruuf's own Court Wizard and the mages in the College. Her thoughts were interrupted again when she spotted what appeared to be a circular burial mound of some kind, almost as if a large creature had been buried here at some point in the past, making her wonder if this was an area that a mammoth had been buried in, because if a dragon had been buried here than she was sure that bad things were going to happen to the people of Windhelm, especially when she considered what she had heard about Helgen. In the end she pushed that thought out of her mind and continued down the road again, where she spotted what appeared to be a lumber mill near the bottom of the river that had been to her right for some time, which also had a few areas that served as small waterfalls, and, as she headed towards the mill, she found someone camping between the two waterfalls, though she paid the imperial no mind as she continued down the road.

It only took her a few more minutes to reach the center of the area that the mill called home, with two houses resting near where the mill sat, no doubt where the workers and the owner of the area lived, but at the moment it appeared that the people who lived in this area were busy with their work, so she only stopped for a few seconds before continuing towards the bridge she had seen earlier, even though she did have to wonder if the imperial had been a worker of the mill or if he was just a traveler like she was right now. When she continued down the road, however, Amaryllis spotted a stone city that rested in the distance, with a grand stone bridge standing high above the water that connected the city, which was built on one side of the river, to the road that she was on, which happened to be on the other side of the river, though she had to admit that it was an impressive city from where she was standing. Fortunately it appeared that the road she was following was pretty straight forward and any wild animals had been taken care of, as she spotted two dead wolves resting near the next stone bridge, meaning either the guards were out clearing the roads or another traveler was taking care of them so someone else didn't get hurt. As such it didn't take her all that long to reach the stone bridge, which allowed her to walk up to the larger bridge that bring her to the gate that served as the entrance to Windhelm, though as she walked up to where the gate rested she focused on the guards that were outside it, because if they shooed her away that would mean khajiits weren't welcome inside the city, but, oddly enough, the pair just stared at her for a few seconds as she approached them, while doing nothing to stop her as she headed inside the city, meaning that not all of the guards hated khajiits. When she was on the other side of the gate, however, she quickly found two nords, males by their bodies and appearing to be a little drunk, standing nearby with a female dark elf, who looked annoyed over something, though it quickly became clear as to why she was upset, as the nords were upset that the dark elves in Windhelm weren't helping the Stormcloaks fight off the Imperials and free Skyrim from the Empire.

What really upset the dark elf was that the nords even accused her of being an Imperial spy, which infuriated her more as the words left the accuser's mouth, who even laughed at the idea before threatening her with a nightly visit, to teach her a lesson, or something like that, while the other seemed unsure of what they were doing, something he might pass off due to being drunk right now, before the nords walked away, either so they could find a drink or so they could bully someone else. Since it appeared that the dark elf didn't want to be bothered at the moment, not that Amaryllis could blame her, she let the lady wander off, where she may or may not talk with her before she left the city and resumed her exploration of the Holds of Skyrim, before she focused on the fact that she was here for a specific reason and set out to find the boy that she had heard about during her time in the Sleeping Giant Inn, even though she had no idea where she might find Aventus or his household. Fortunately it wasn't as hard as she thought it was to find the house that she was looking for, as she walked to the right of the main gate and found a nord child and another female dark elf standing near a building, down the street that was to her left, where she walked down the street and happened to be in time to hear the kid mention that the house he was standing near happened to be where Aventus Aretino lived, where he was in the middle of performing the Black Sacrament, or had done it and was trying again. Fortunately the dark elf convinced him to leave the house along and they walked away from it, which was perfect timing in Amaryliis' eyes, so she sneaked up to the front door, made sure no one was watching this area of the city, and then used one of her lockpicks to unlock the door, which was rather easy since she was able to unlock it within a matter of seconds, all without alerting someone as to what was going on. With that done she slipped into the building and found that she had to walk up some stairs to reach the area that Aventus was in, or at least she assumed he was up there, because she could hear a voice that sounded like a kid's, to which she carefully walked up the stairs and found a messy room, complete with a side chamber of sorts were a young boy was in the middle of stabbing a skeleton with a dagger, which rested in a circle that was made from candles.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." Aventus chanted, though his tone suggested that he was growing tired of this and that he was hoping for someone from the Dark Brotherhood to come and speak with him, so he could finally stop what he was doing and get back to a normal life, something that might have been stolen from him at some point in the past, and it looked like he had no idea that he had a guest inside his house.

"Are you all right?" Amaryllis asked, because now she was wondering what she was doing here, as it appeared that this young boy was doing this strange and profane looking ritual, calling out to a "Mother" of some kind to send one of her children to him, to do whatever it was that he wanted them to do, even though it did sound like he was planning on the death of someone that had wronged him in the past, which she guessed made sense when she considered the fact that the Dark Brotherhood was a group of assassins.

"Finally! My prayers have been answered!" Aventus declared, to which he instantly stopped what he was doing and got up so he could face Amaryllis, though his tone told her that he was clearly expecting her to be what he had been waiting for and that she was stuck doing his task, whatever that task happened to be, "It worked! I knew you'd come, I just knew it! I did the Black Sacrament, over and over. With the body and the... the things. And then you came! An assassin from the Dark Brotherhood."

"Yes... of course... the Black Sacrament..." Amaryllis replied, as she wasn't sure what she should make of the situation she had found herself in, because while she was an infiltrator for the Hive, which involved gathering information for the rest of the Hive and her Queen, she wasn't an assassin, in fact there was no one inside the Hive that had such a position since all of them preferred to bind their targets and take their places, even though Aventus seemed to think she was one and was currently acting on that piece of incorrect information.

"It took so long... so very long. But now that you're here, you can accept my contract." Aventus stated, showing that he might have disliked what he had been doing to the body, as Amaryllis wasn't even going to ask how he assembled all the parts to make this ritual work, especially since she was sure that it had to be hard for a boy like him to get his hands on a few of the pieces that were in front of her, including the heart that was inside i, but that he was also happy that she had come to talk with him.

"Contract?" Amaryllis inquired, though this time she didn't even bother to try and say anything in an attempt to make him see that she wasn't an assassin or a member of the group of assassins, rather she was going to listen to him and see who he wanted her to kill, because if it was a bandit leader, or one of their underlings, she would be okay with that, given that they wronged all sorts of people and the situation might be that his parents had been killed by such a bandit, meaning she could ease his pain in some manner.

"My mother, she... she died. I... I'm all alone now." Aventus explained, though at the same time Amaryllis felt a terrible rage build up inside the body, meaning that whoever he wanted dead must have done some incredibly terrible things to him, and anyone else that he might have been friends with, before he glanced at part of the room that was behind her, which meant something bad there might tell her more if she wanted to know everything, "So they, the Jarl and Steward of this city, sent me to that terrible orphanage in Riften, a place called Honorhall. The headmistress there is an evil, cruel woman. They call her Grelod the Kind, but she's not kind at all! She's terrible... not just to me, but to everyone there. So I ran away, and came home... and performed the Black Sacrament. Now you're here! And you can kill Grelod the Kind!"

Amaryllis was a little shocked that Aventus wanted the lady that was in charge of the orphanage he was sent to dead, due to how Grelod treated the orphans that were sent to her, but, since it appeared that Aventus was fully expecting her, as an 'assassin of the Dark Brotherhood', to fulfill the contract he had just told her about, to which she sighed and decided that this was something she would think about later, to which she headed outside and left the boy to whatever he did while he waited for something to happen. She had no idea that she would be getting into this sort of situation when she decided to come here and see what Aventus' problem was, and part of her was wishing that she had gone somewhere else, though for now all she could do was travel to Riften and see how terrible Grelod was with her own eyes, and whether or not she truly had to die for the crimes that Aventus was accusing her of committing on him and all of the other orphans in that orphanage, before continuing her journey to see more of Skyrim's Holds.

Wanderings: Innocence Lost

As Amaryllis walked away from the Aretino Residence, where Aventus lived for the time being, she took a few moments to really consider what she had been asked to do, which was make her way to Riften, which happened to be to the southeast of where Windhelm was located, find her way to the Honorhall Orphanage, no doubt after asking for directions or taking a bit of time to figure it out on her own, and then kill Grelod the Kind, who, according to Aventus, was the evil headmistress that was in charge of the building. Part of her really wanted to forget about what she had just been told, to leave Aventus to his problems and find something else to do with her time, until she decided to head to the College of Winterhold and see what the mages there could tell her about heading to another world, to see if what Farengar had said was true or not, while the other part of her actually wanted to head to Riften and see just how bad Grelod was with her own eyes, due to the fact that there was a chance that Aventus was blowing things out of proportion. Basically that meant that the boy just hated the lady that had been watching over him and the other orphans, and was bringing her down due to his personal feelings on being displaced from his home, which would make Grelod innocent if he had been lying to her about the evil he had seen, but due to her abilities she could tell that he had been telling the truth, in part anyway, meaning he felt that Grelod needed to be punished for something, hence the ritual he performed. In order for her to get to Riften she would have to walk down the road that lead out of Windhelm, follow a certain path, and spending half the day to get to the city in question, which would mean that she would arrive at some point after most of the shops were closed, save for whatever inn might be inside Riften, though as that thought came to mind she remembered seeing something that could make her journey to the next city that much easier, and that was the fact that two of the Hold cities she had been to so far, since she arrived in Skyrim, had a carriage outside the city, with a driver tending to them, so she could ask the one outside the city if he could take her to Riften, which she was more than willing to pay for since she had walked all the way to Windhelm and wasn't eager to walk across a great distance again.

Based on the prices of what she purchased in the past, food for the most part, she had to assume that the prices for the carriages would be reasonable as well, and with the drivers having a predetermined path to follow, given all of the roads that connected the Holds, there was the possibility that she could reach the city even sooner than what she was thinking, which might make it a worthwhile investment. That was when she decided that she might as well head to Riften and see if she could figure out if Aventus was telling the truth about Grelod and her methods, if she was an evil lady who hated kids and treated them poorly, because she had the feeling that she could pick up another bandit bounty, or something else to do, after she checked out the orphanage and the headmistreess. Of course if she fulfilled Aventus' contract, and ended up killing Grelod the Kind like he wanted, there was the chance that the guards would be alerted by someone screaming, be it the orphans or whoever helped the old lady out, since she was sure Grelod had someone helping her, and if that were to happen she would have to flee the city before being discovered and caught by the Riften guards, to which she sighed and headed for the entrance of the city. One thing she wasn't worried about was the guards questioning her as to why she had entered the city and was now leaving it, after about ten to twenty minutes, because, based on what she could see, those who served as the guards didn't seem to care that much about visitors, unless they were bandits or were causing sort of commotion in the city, so since she wasn't either of those people she knew that she would be able to leave the city without the guards giving her a second glance, and even if they did come looking for her, for whatever reason, she could use her powers to change shape and lose them. While she was thinking about that she noticed that she was able to reach the main gate of Windhelm, to which she walked through it and started to cross over the long stone bridge, heading over to where the stable was located, on the other side of the bridge to be exact, and eventually found that the carriage driver was sitting at the front his carriage, waiting for someone to come along to hire him.

"Need a ride?" the carriage driver asked, showing that he was more observant than what Amaryllis was thinking, but at the same time she guessed that it made sense due to the type of profession that he was dedicating his life to, since he had to make sure whoever used his services arrived at their destination without delay or being harmed, and he even focused on her as she came to a stop near him.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Amaryllis replied, though she was happy to see that the carriage driver was friendly, which was better than some of the other people she had seen since she arrived in this land, especially when she thought about that pair of nords she had seen after just entering Windhelm, who might find themselves in jail if they went through with their plans to bother the dark elves of the city, before she opened her pouch and got ready to ask the important question that was on her mind, "How much are you charging per ride?"

"It depends on where you want to go." the carriage driver answered, his tone revealing that he always answered this sort of question when someone new approached him and asked to use his services, and, more importantly, that he wasn't annoyed by her asking him how much the ride would be, before he focused on revealing what his prices were and if she needed to pull out more to pay for using his services, "It's twenty coins for any of the major Holds, which are Windhelm, Whiterun, Solitude, Markarth, and Riften, while it's fifty gold for one of the smaller Holds, as in Falkreath, Dawnstar, Morthal, and Winterhold."

"Well, I'd like to go to Riften." Amaryllis stated, as she felt the prices were a little weird, due to the fact that she felt that the higher price should be for the main cities and the lower price should be for the minor cities, before coming to the decision that it might be due to the fact that many visited the main cities and none visited any of the others, so he needed more coins to go out of his way, to which she quickly pulled out the twenty coins and handed them over to the carriage driver, to show that she was willing to pay the price.

"Excellent choice." the carriage driver stated, where he took the coins and counted them for a few seconds, just to make sure Amaryllis wasn't trying to cheat him out of the price he had stated, before he nodded his head and slipped the coins into his own coin pouch that rested near his feet, where some boards rested to keep the sack from moving around too much or spilling while he was traveling, before he gestured to the area behind him for a few seconds, "Climb in back and we'll get underway."

Amaryllis nodded her head and climbed into the back of the carriage immediately, which was the moment the driver used his reins and the horse that was drawing the carriage started to move, where they turned to the left and she discovered a new path that she hadn't seen earlier, as in when she was walking to Windhem to be exact, which happened to be the one they would be taking, but it made her happy since it appeared that they would be taking a route she hadn't walked down before coming to Windhelm. As they started to travel along the road that would bring them to Riften, and Amaryllis could take in the sights without having to worry about the dangers of the land, one of the things she noticed was that there was an inn close to where the city was located, about five minutes from Windhelm by her estimates, and it looked like all of the other inns she had seen while he was exploring the provinces of Skyrim, which meant that the interior had to be the same as the other inns she had been inside. On her right she spotted another river, one that was just as large as the one she had seen while she was walking to Windhelm, which happened to merge up with the other one near the city they were leaving, but, at the same time, she did wonder what sort of fish called the rivers of Skyrim home, something she knew she could figure out if she asked one of the fishermen about it, if she found one and they were willing to spend a few seconds answering a few questions. Of course, since she had nothing to pass the time with, she decided that she could ask the carriage driver about the land and see what he knew, acting like she was a foreign visitor that didn't really know anything about Skyrim and the different Holds that made up this province, and once again she was happy to see that the driver wasn't annoyed by her questions and had answers to give her, because if he had been annoyed she was sure he would have kept quiet as they headed for Riften, leaving her in the dark about the rest of the land.

The first thing she learned was that the carriage driver's name was Alfarinn and that he was one of the five carriage drivers that worked for the whole of Skyrim, not counting those who served in the Legion or the Stormcloaks, meaning that only the major Hold cities had someone like him and his companions waiting just outside each city, which she found to be a tad bit odd, especially since she felt that the people of the smaller Holds would definitely use the carriages if they were there, waiting outside the cities in question. After that Alfarinn informed her that Windhelm was an old city, build by Ysgramor and his Five Hundred Companions a long time ago, which meant that the palace she had briefly seen, the Palace of the Kings, was one of the more ancient buildings in the entire city, even though she was sure the entire city was ancient, since she had no idea how long it's been since the time of Ysgramor and his group of warriors, and the carriage driver had next to no information on that to share with her. He also told her that the dark elves were forced to live in the slums of the city, the Grey Quarter, due to one or two of the laws that the Jarl, a man called Ulfric Stormcloak, had passed during his time as ruler of the city, while the arognians, the other race that called the city home, were forced to live outside the walls and had an area near the docks that served as a resting place for them, though instead of reacting to the name, since she knew the figure in question a little thanks to the Imperials, she acted like she didn't know him and let the carriage driver go on as he continued talking. After that Alfarinn went on to describe Eastmarch, which was the name for the Hold that Windhelm was the capital of, to her, revealing that there were sulfurous pools and rocky crags here and there, there was an area that had an ancient stone wall that was said to have the dragon language carved into it, if one believed the tales about such a thing anyway, two dwarven ruins if one looked close enough, and was home to a number of animals, such as deer, sabre cats, wolves, trolls, bears, and even the odd giant or two, complete with their mammoths.

As Alfarinn told her about Eastmarch, however, Amaryllis spotted several of the things that he was talking about, as it took a few seconds to locate a lone hill off to their right, further along the road, which had to be the one that the dragon wall he had mentioned was located on, while off to their left she spotted an odd ruin that seemed to be constructed out of pipes, gears, doors and who knew what else, while everything seemed to be made out of brass or bronze and was built into the side of the mountain, just like the nordic ruins she had seen so far. She had to assume that the strange ruin had to be one of the two dwarven ruins that she had been told about, which looked like a place that would be noisy and filled with who knew what, but as soon as she saw it Alfarinn informed her of something interesting, the makers of those large ruins, the dwarves, were long gone at this point in time, though no one really knew what happened to the race, as if they had been there one day and gone the next, which was rather odd when she thought about it. Since it was clear that this was the extent of Alfarinn's knowledge on the dwarves, since he stopped talking after mentioning that, Amaryllis let it slide as he continued talking about something else, though for a moment she did wonder if the College of Winterhold would have some ideas as to what happened to the race, before deciding that her original goal was more important, even if one mage believed traveling to another plane of existence to be impossible. The other thing that interested her was that all the wild animals seemed to ignore them as they made their way to Riften, which was very odd when she considered it as well, but she didn't put much thought into it, as not being interrupted by the wildlife every now and then made things much better in her mind, especially since there weren't any bandits for her and Alfarinn to worry about, which even Alfarinn found to be weird, since he usually had to deal with one or two attacks from small bandit groups during his travels, even if most of the time he had a hero being carried between two locations to take them down.

Amaryllis wasn't sure what was going on, as this ride seemed to be the opposite of what happened when she was on her own, walking from Whiterun to Windhelm and stopping every time something or someone tried to stop her, despite the fact that she stopped to help Cicero out on her own, but she was happy to have some peace and quiet, instead of having to kill everything that wanted to kill her or rob her, allowing her to relax a little before they arrived at Riften and before she was forced to make a decision on what to do about Grelod.

It was well into the evening when they reached Riften, a walled city that had a few watchtowers lining the road that lead to the main gate, though it wasn't the strangest thing Amaryllis had seen since she had noticed the dwarven ruins her guide had pointed out to her, and she had spotted the second one higher up in the mountains, and the bandit run fortress that Alfarinn avoided, one that was done the road from the city and made her wonder why the guards didn't bother clearing it out to clear the roads once more. She was still surprised by the fact that no one had tried to stop them on their way to the city she wanted to visit, something that also shocked her companion at the same time, given what he was used to seeing during his travels, but in the end they were able to reach their destination, where Amaryllis spotted one of the other four carriage drivers, Sigaar she recalled, waiting on his carriage as he glanced at those who came near him, simply waiting for someone to hire him so he could leave Riften for a time. Since it was getting close to the time where the more dangerous beasts wandered the roads, and his horse was tired from the long journey, Alfarinn was planning on stopping here for the night and then head out after a few hours of sleep, however many that turned out to be she had no idea, but that meant he wasn't going to be available if she wanted to go somewhere else, once her business in the city was complete, meaning that it would be Sigaar's turn to have a customer, even though this city looked like one that would see many people every day and the carriage might be gone once she came back outside. In the end, however, Amaryllis thanked him for the ride and that he was willing to share so much information with her, before she climbed out of the back of the carriage and touched the ground, where she stretched her arms and legs, including her tail, and jumped a few times to make up for the fact she had been sitting for a few hours, only to stop when she was ready to go.

She paused for a few moments, as it appeared that the Riften guards didn't seem to care about khajiits as much as the guards in Eastmarch, though she guessed that whatever had changed her body had also given her the ability to maintain her disguises for a longer period of time, which was great since she didn't have to drop them all the time, but when she approached the front gate the guard on her right stepped forward to stop her, making her wonder if her thoughts about them were wrong and they were going to show her what they thought of khajiits.

"Hold there visitor." the guard stated, where Amaryllis stopped and stared at him, because she was curious as to why he was stopping people who were visiting the city, as the guards of Whiterun had the dragon to use as an excuse and she hadn't seen any dragons, as Farengar believed that more might be around Skyrim, since she spotted the black one when she was leaving the mine some time ago, while the guards of Windhelm just ignored her, "Before I let you enter Riften, and take in the splendor of the city, you need to pay the visitor's tax."

"Visitor's tax?" Amaryllis asked, as it was outrageous that someone would try and extort money from people that were going to be visiting the city, and potentially be spending money on things that were being sold, and she didn't need her natural senses to tell her that this guard was lying about something, because she felt this was ridiculous and wondered if there was a way for her to break the scam completely, without the guards calling her a liar and throwing her in jail for not playing by the rules, "What's the tax for?"

"For the privilege of entering the city of course." the guard replied, though his tone suggested that she should just bow her head and hand over whatever price he asked of her, which she imagined he would be informing her of soon, while it was also clear that if she didn't abide by his statement both he and his partner, as there was another guard to her left, would get up from where they were standing and then force her into submission so they could arrest her, while confiscating all of her goods as well, no doubt in the name of her breaking the law, "The tax is one hundred coins... ah, what's the matter? Can't pay the tax?"

"Oh, I'm sure I could pay this 'tax', but I won't." Amaryllis answered, though this time she kept her hands at her side and focused on the guard that was in front of her, as she was hoping that he would see reason and understand that this "tax" was ridiculous and that he should do away with it immediately, while noting that the other guard had paused, meaning she might be able to get away with this and not have to pay anything, "Clearly this is a shakedown, and I'm not going to fall for your little money making scheme."

"All right, keep your voice down... do you want everyone to hear you?" the guard said, his voice lowering so only she could hear him, as if he really wanted to keep this money making scheme a secret from the other visitors, of which there were none at the moment, but at the very least it appeared that he was willing to listen to what she was saying, even if it was to some degree, while his partner in crime returned to focusing on the road that lead to the gate, "I'll let you into the city, as long as you don't tell anyone about what you just learned, just let me unlock the gate first."

Based on that statement she had to assume that he would allow her to enter the city as long as she said nothing about his scheme, meaning that this form was locked to that promise and any other disguise she used would have to go through all of this in the future, though she nodded her head and watched as the guard walked up to the gate, where he slipped a key into the slot and seemed to unlock it, allowing her to approach as he backed away and returned to his post, which let her enter the city at last. Riften, as she soon discovered, was a town that must have been built near a lake, because she could tell that there was a canal of some sort near a building that looked like an inn, though she was incredibly lucky that there was no one around for the moment, which made sense when she considered the fact that it was nighttime and would be midnight at some point in time, giving her time to look around the city and discover what sort of buildings were where, so she could build a map of the city in her head for whenever she came back to Riften. In addition to the inn she also found a number of interesting houses, which really just looked the same, all of them had two stories, and had been arranged in a row, stopping at what appeared to be the temple, though one of the larger buildings in the area appeared to be the place where the Jarl lived, as they seemed to have the better homes out of everyone in their Hold, though there was a circular market not far from where it was resting. What really surprised her was that Honorhall Orphanage, the building she was currently looking for, rested to the right of where the stairs that lead to the building the Jarl lived in were located, though, at the same time, that made things easier for her as she approached the door and opened it, where she slipped inside the building and prepared herself for whatever she found inside, while noticing that there were no guards to notice this going on, allowing her to focus on her task.

The first thing she discovered when she entered the building was that the first room she entered happened to be a waiting room of sorts, something that had to work with how the adoption process of Skyrim worked, while beyond that rested a chamber that had a dining table that seemed large enough to sit a fair number of kids, six and possibly two adults, and she spotted two doors near the area the table rested in, but that was when she heard an elderly voice speak up and she came to a stop so she could determine who it belonged to.

"Those who shirk their duties will get an extra beating." the elderly voice said, one that sounded like it belonged to an old lady, which would fit what little Aventus said about Grelod the Kind, though at the same time Amaryllis felt that the owner of the voice was annoyed about something, something that caused her to crouch for a moment and sneak up to the wall that was in front of her, where she paused at the opening as she got ready to peak at the room it was connected to, as it had an opening that likely lead to the area the kids slept in, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Grelod." a number of voices replied, where Amaryllis could tell that there were a few young boys and a young girl in the group that Aventus had been part of for some time, until he ran away and returned to Windhelm to perform the Black Sacrament, though it was easy for her to tell that all of the kids sounded like they were getting tired of their lives and what they were being subjected to, even if they didn't have the power to do anything about it, meaning it was possible that she had been told the truth when she spoke to Aventus.

"And one more thing!" Grelod snapped, her tone revealing that this was something important that she wanted to tell the children that she was supposed to be watching over, though based on what Amaryllis had heard so far she knew that it couldn't be anything good, not if what she had been told in Windhelm was true, but she remained silent as she waited for the lady to finish her statement and hurt the kids even more, "I will hear no more talk of adoptions! None of you riff-raff is getting adopted. Ever! Nobody needs you, nobody wants you... that, my darlings, is why you're here... why you will always be here, until the day you come of age and get thrown into that wide, horrible world. Now, what do you all say?"

"We love you, Grelod. Thank you for your kindness." the orphans said, though even as they said that Amaryllis could easily tell that this statement was forced and none of the children meant it at all, showing that they disliked the lady that was in charge of the orphanage and were hoping for things to change, even though it also appeared that Grelod hadn't noticed it yet and felt that they were being truthful when they said it, meaning she was going to continue with her life and not care for the kids at all.

"That's better. Now scurry off, my little guttersnipes." Grelod said, her tone not changing at all, which indicated that she really didn't care for them and was waiting for the day when they came of age so she could close the orphanage and do something else with the rest of her life, though before Amaryllis could move she had the feeling that there was one more thing she could learn if she remained still, "Constance! Hroar's crying is keeping me up at night. I'll give you one chance to talk the tears out of him, or he's getting the belt."

"Please, just let me take care of it. It's not a problem." another voice said, one that was female and sounded like the owner was much kinder than Grelod was, and much younger at the same time, though it appeared that Grelod scared everyone to some degree, from what she had heard so far, and that Constance was terrified of her, but she also heard a whimper for a few seconds and determined that it had to be coming from Hroar, meaning the kids were still present and this was just another excuse to make sure they fell in line with her demands.

Amaryllis growled for a moment, as she couldn't believe what she was hearing right now, as before she had felt that what she had learned in Windhelm might have been the tales of a kid acting out against those who had been watching him and the others, but now, after listening to Grelod for a few minutes, she came to realize that the tales were true and Aventus was tyring to save his friends, to which she gripped the handle of her dagger and withdrew it from it's sheath, where she stared at the blade for a moment and came to a quick decision on what to do next. She might not be an actual assassin, or a member of the Dark Brotherhood, nor did she know the rules that were associated with such a role, but based on what Grelod had said, to both the orphans and her assistant, she was willing to take up that role for a few moments, because all of this seemed far too cruel for the children to go through, to which she moved forward and investigated the area of the orphanage she hadn't seen yet, the room the kids slept in. As she appeared in the opening between the rooms, however, she found that there were three young boys and a young girl resting on the beds, who had been the voices she had heard and who had responded to Grelod's first statement, but as they spotted what was in her hand, her dagger, none of them said anything as they got up from their beds and walked to the dining table, which did worry her for a moment, though she ignored what just happened and focused on the old lady. Fortunately it appeared that the lady hadn't noticed her yet, as Grelod was focused on staring at the door that likely lead to her room, as if she was tired or was thinking of retiring for the afternoon, but that just made things easier for her, especially since she really disliked this one person more than most of the individuals she had encountered in the past, and that was saying something when she thought about some of the more annoying ponies and those she had met since arriving in this world.

"Aretino, that little bastard! How dare he run away from me!" Grelod stated, this time appearing to speak to herself as she opened the door in front of her and entered her room, apparently without caring if the orphans overheard what she had to say, though Amaryllis could tell that whatever she had to say was going to be bad and that it would only make her want to kill the old lady even more, "I can't wait until I get my hands on him, because when I find him I'll give him a beating that will make him regret even running away... maybe I'll break one of his bones as well, to give him a lesson that will haunt him for the rest of his days!"

That was the final straw for Amaryllis, to which she started crouching and followed Grelod for a few seconds as she walked into her room, who still didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, especially since the children went quiet, as they seemed to be watching what she was doing, to see if what they were seeing was actually happening, before she reached up and sliced open Grelod's neck, killing her in seconds and dropping her body to the floor, allowing her to stand up and wipe her dagger clean. What she was expecting was for someone to call her a murderer, and she was in that moment, after seeing the old lady perish before their eyes, but what she wasn't expecting was for the children to start cheering as they rushed over to Grelod's body, proclaiming that they had been worried when Aventus fled, as it appeared that Aventus had told all of them that he would be contacting the Dark Brotherhood once he was back in Windhelm, so he could arrange for Grelod to be killed by an assassin, but now they were happy that Grelod was gone, as it meant that Constance could finally take over the orphanage. Some of them even thanked her personally, thinking that she was a member of the order of assassins that she was still learning about, but this time she didn't bother to correct any of them, rather she let them continue their cheering, which, oddly enough, didn't bring any guards to investigate the noise, before excusing herself so she could head back to Windhelm and tell Aventus the news, since he deserved to know that she had sided with him and did what he had asked her to do. As she walked outside, however, she still found that none of the nearby guards were willing to investigate the noise that was coming from the orphanage, though she had no idea why they were ignoring it and, at the same time, found that she really didn't care enough to figure it out, so she headed back through the main gate, found Sigaar tending to his horse, and purchased a ride back to Windhelm, where she figured she could get some rest on the way there, even if it would be a bumpy ride for part of the journey.

Sigaar, as it turned out, didn't seem to mind the fact that Amaryllis wanted to get some sleep on the ride to Windhelm, in fact he actually appeared to be expecting that sort of thing, given what time it was and the fact that everyone who hired his services in the past, at this time, usually did the same thing, and was more than willing to remain silent as she dozed off for a time, to which she nodded her head to show she understood what he was saying. Before she did that, however, she glanced back at Riften and thought about Grelod for a few more seconds, because she had originally felt that Aventus was blowing things out of proportion, in order to get someone to help him, but, as it turned out, he had been telling the truth about the old lady, that Grelod the Kind had been a tyrant in her own orphanage, treating the kids like they were nothing and making sure they felt like trash for even existing. Even if this land was different from Equus, and it was vastly different with everything she was learning as she explored the rest of the frozen land, she couldn't just leave those kids to their fate and force them to live their lives under Grelod's thumb, hence why she hoped that Constance could give them what they really needed, while also mending the wounds that the old lady left behind, something that would take time to heal, or not depending on how deep the scar ran. The main reason she wasn't sticking around Riften, even though she could disguise herself as someone else, was just in the off chance that one of the guards put the pieces together, that a khajiit entered the city, murdered the caretaker of the orphanage, and then disappeared, only for someone else to be leaving the same area she was last seen in, as there was a slim possibility that someone would figure it out, but if she left, however, they would soon forget about the deed and she would be free to explore the city on her own time, the next time she came back to Riften anyway.

In the end, after thinking about all of that, Amaryllis stretched for a moment and then dozed off, hoping to get a few hours of rest before Sigaar arrived outside Windhelm, though if that didn't work she could always check into the inn and see if they had a room available for a few hours, which would allow her to get some rest before she figured out what sort of task she wanted to do next, be it hunting down more bandits or whatever might reveal itself to her once she gave Aventus the news he was waiting for.

As it turned out the carriage came to a stop outside Windhelm about an hour or two before everyone would be getting up and starting their day, which was seven in the morning, meaning that Amaryllis got at least seven to eight hours of sleep, which really surprised her, meaning that it was around give in the morning and meant it would allow her to enter the city with ease, slip into Aventus' house, and gave him the news that he was waiting for. Once Sigaar announced that they had reached their destination, and made sure the horse came to a stop as well, Amaryllis thanked him for the ride and climbed out of the back of the carriage, where she stretched her arms and legs for a few seconds, since they were stiff from how she slept, before heading across the long stone bridge and walked towards the city's main gate. The guards, as she quickly discovered, did look at her as she walked towards the gate, much like they did the previous day when she came to the city, but none of them tried to stop her as she walked inside, where she was happy to see that the nords that were picking on the dark elf lady the last time she entered the city weren't doing it again this morning, even though it was too soon for her to really know that, before she headed to her right and made her way to the Aretino Residence, where Aventus would be waiting for her to come back. She was sure that, in time, he would hear of the fact that Grelod was dead and that someone had killed her, but, at the same time, she felt that he deserved to know that she had done what he had asked when she had came to check on him, before the news of Grelod's death spread to all of Skyrim, or at least the parts that happened to know that she was in charge of the Honorhall Orphanage, hence why she turned to the right of Windhelm's main gate and headed for her current destination.

It took her a few minutes to reach the door to Aventus' place, where she found that a few guards had been patrolling the streets of Windhelm and were ignoring the building, no doubt believing it to be cursed in some manner, though she waited for the guards to be looking somewhere else before she slipped inside... though when she climbed the stairs, and turned towards the main room of this small house, she found that Aventus was waiting near the doorway between the area she was in and the larger room.

"You're back!" Aventus said, his tone indicating that he was happy to see her again, especially since he had asked her to do something for him, which was when he focused on what he had asked her to do the last time she had been here, where it was clear that he was conflicted over wanting to know if she was successful or not, before he readied himself for whatever information she had to tell him as he focused on her with a determined look on his face, "So, about Grelod the Kind. Is she... you know?"

"Dead? Yes, I killed her last night, before taking the first carriage back here." Amaryllis replied, as she knew that this was what Aventus wanted to hear, that she had done to Riften, listened to the horrible things that Grelod had planned for the other children, and him if she got her hands on him, and had taken out the old lady for her crimes, before departing from the city before the guards could catch her so she could deliver this news to him, to which she remained silent after those words left her mouth.

"Aha! I knew you could do it! I knew the Dark Brotherhood would help me and the others!" Aventus exclaimed, something that told Amaryllis all she needed to hear, as it meant that Aventus hadn't been seeking out the group of assassins to save his own skin, given the threat that she heard Grelod mention earlier, rather he did it so he could save the friends that he had made during his time in Honorhall Orphanage, to eliminate the one that abused them, before he rushed over to one of the walls for a moment and searched through one of the sacks that he had laying around the room, only to rush back to where she was standing, "Here, I know the Dark Brotherhood usually expects some sort of payment from those that call upon them, in the form of piles of gold, but this is all I have to offer, and with it being a family heirloom it should fetch you a nice price to cover the contract."

Amaryllis found that Aventus was offering her a dinner plate, one that appeared to be made out of silver and happened to have a few elegant markings that made it look like something the rich families would have in their houses, though instead of telling him to keep it, which would have been an insult based on what he had said, she just took it and nodded her head, to indicate that she'd make sure she got a good price for it, which brought a smile to Aventus' face as he rushed to get his things together. Based on what she could figure out the boy was going to make his way back to Riften, so he could join his friends and celebrate Grelod's death, so she decided not to interrupt him and quickly left the house as he worked, leaving him to his own devices as she slipped the plate into her pack, something that she would think about selling at some point in the future, since she was sure he had been telling the truth about how expensive it might be. Once she was back outside the house, however, Amaryllis decided that it was time to visit the inn and get something to eat before doing anything else, as she had skipped dinner in favor of getting back here to tell Aventus the news, so she was definitely hungry, to which she set out for Candlehearth Hall, the inn of Windhelm, and hoped that they were willing to serve khajiits, otherwise she would have to go somewhere private and change into a more appropriate form that they would be willing to talk to. It didn't take her all that long to reach her destination, since it was close to the city's main gate, though what made her pleased was that the innkeeper, Elda Early-Dawn, was more than willing to sell things to her, even if she had been a little surprised by such a thing, due to the fact that most of the people in this city didn't like foreigners, but that didn't stop her from buying a few things, mostly some cooked chicken and some of the cheap wine, because they didn't have water, tea, or milk from Elda, which put a smile on the innkeeper's face as they exchanged coins and food.

She found it to be extremely odd that they didn't serve normal drinks in this inn, as she would have purchased some milk if they had any since she wasn't much of a wine drinker, even when she was back in Equus she didn't touch the stuff, but, since there didn't appear to be that much inside the bottle she had purchased, she knew that this would be over quickly and then she could think about what she was going to do next, since she hadn't considered what her next objective might be, after figuring out what Aventus wanted. Once she had her food and drink she headed upstairs and found some seats, away from the bard that was currently singing about how the Stormcloaks would defeat the Empire and drive them from Skyrim, making it a war song to inspire others into action or something, where she sat down at one of the empty tables and relaxed a little, allowing her to eat the cooked chicken she had bought, before pouring some of the wine into one of the cups near her and drank it, though she could tell it was cheap because it didn't impact her ability to think about things, like other wines did. Once that was done she turned and glanced at the area that the bard was currently singing in, though as she did so she noticed a female nord with blond hair sitting off in one of the corners, seemingly ignoring everyone that was around her, so she decided not to pay attention to that particular area and tried to relax as she thought about what she was going to do now that Aventus had been helped out. There really wasn't much for her to do, other than ask one of the innkeepers for work or if they heard any new rumors lately, which had lead her to Aventus, and she could always undo her disguise outside the city and fly to Bleak Falls Barrow, to see if Za'kera was still in the area and if she needed help with Farengar's task, before she sighed and reached for her cup again, even though that was around the time that she noticed that the blond haired lady had walked over to her table and seemed to pass by her, causing her to raise an eyebrow as she wondered why the stranger had come this way in the first place.

Once she was sure that the stranger was sitting down, and not standing nearby, she noticed that there was someone else in the inn as well, a male nord who looked much buffer than everyone else, wore a set of leather armor over his body, and nothing on his arms, hands, feet, or head, which showed that he might be arrogant in believing that nothing could do any damage to him, while his weapon appeared to be a battleaxe, a steel one anyway. What was interesting was that he made his way over to where the lady was sitting, where it appeared that they were together and must have met up after the odd warrior had gone out to slay some bandits or something, but she decided not to let that distract her as she poured some more of her cheap wine and drank it like she had done with the last cup, where she recalled that the entire meal had only cost her about fifteen to twenty pieces of gold, but that was when her world started to tip, as if part of her wine had been watered down and the rest was designed to get someone drunk, which seemed impossible. She staggered for a moment as she tried to get up, as the one thing that was wrong with this situation was that being drunk would affect her natural abilities and she'd drop her disguise at the worst possible moment, as that was what she learned from her studies, but ended up falling down a bit, hitting her knee on the floor as she felt a hand touch her. It was getting hard for her to really focus on anything, but from what she could see the nord lady she had spotted had rushed to her aid, making some rather bold claims about knowing her and that she was going to take her back home, so she didn't make a fool out of herself in the drunken state that she seemed to be falling into at the moment, while the male assured everyone else, as in the bard and those who were downstairs, that everything was fine.

That was the last thing Amaryllis remembered as she seemed to pass out, in the arms of a total stranger no less, and the one thought that she had, before her mind went blank, was that she knew that when she woke up again she was going to be in trouble, given that this was going to cause her disguise to fall at the worst possible moment and allow everyone that was around her to see her true form, though time would tell if she was right or if she was wrong.

Wanderings: The Abandoned Shack

Amaryllis moaned as her world finally came back to her, slowly at first so it didn't overwhelm her and cause her to go into a panic, though what little she could see at the moment was more than enough to make her incredibly worried, and even a tad bit fearful if she was being honest with herself, because right now she could tell that she wasn't in Windhelm anymore, much less the house of the pair that had tried to help her. She discovered that she was in a small wooden shack that was likely out in the wilderness, away from anyone that might stumble upon this place and ask questions as to why it was out here, instead of closer to one of the Hold cities, something she was able to determine based on a path or two in the ceiling that looked like it might be breaking from the elements that were around the structure, though it also got rid of her being able to screaming for assistance, if she wished to do so. Of course, since she was a changeling, screaming was usually one of the actions that none of her kind tried, not unless they were incredibly desperate, so she immediately ruled that out as she was able to make out more of her surroundings, which turned out to be a worn out bed, a chest that had been opened by someone, and a bookshelf, which happened to be near what she assumed was the door that served as the entrance for this building. Once she had a better understanding of what was around her, even if there might be more to this place that she hadn't seen yet, she took a moment to glance down at her body, where she found that her natural skin was back and that meant that her wings had to be out as well, where she moved them for a moment and felt them move not a couple of seconds later, before she glanced up at her forehead and noticed that she see her horn as well, indicating that her earlier thoughts had been correct, that the drunken nature she had somehow slipped into, all from cheap wine, had undone the disguise she had been powering and caused her to return to her true form, meaning people either knew about it or that the pair had saved her in time before she had been able to revert to her current form.

The former was the last thing she needed, since it meant that someone might have seen her true form, but the only way she was going to find that out was to return to Windhelm and see if the guards had anything to say, to which she pushed herself back onto her hooves, so she could stand, but before she even attempted to leave the shack she found someone, a lady based on the figure, sitting on top of the bookshelf, wearing a red and black uniform that hid most of her body and her face, as all she could see were her eyes and the area around them, though she had the feeling she knew who was in front of her, especially since she seemed to be looking at an assassin.

"Sleep well?" the assassin asked, almost as if she was feigning being concerned for Amaryllis' well-being or something, as that was what she was feeling at the moment, though at the same time she wondered if the figure was the same lady that she had seen in Candlehearth Hall, moments before the drunken state came upon her, which made her wonder where the male might be hiding, but at the same time she knew that not answering the question would likely cause the assassin to attack her, and no doubt kill her if she put her mind to it.

"I guess so, considering that I slept on the floor," Amaryllis replied, deciding to be smart and just answer the question, as she wanted to figure out what in the world was happening so she could get out of here alive, which meant that she needed to remain on the assassin's good side and see what her captor had planned for her, where she paused for a few seconds and glanced around the rest of the area that was around where she had been resting for some time, just to see if there was anything else she might have missed, before focusing on the assassin again, "Where are we?"

"Does it matter?" the assassin replied in kind, which gave Amaryllis the feeling that she was being played with, that this was some sort of amusing game to the killer that was in front of her, something that she didn't agree with and kept her mouth shut about, as keeping those comments to herself would make sure she stayed alive, before the lady tilted her head for a few seconds while she considered something, "You're warm, dry... and still very much alive. That's more than can be said for old Grelod, hmm?"

"You heard about that already?" Amaryllis inquired, because she was assuming that this was either the afternoon of the day she had been consumed by the drunken fit or the day following it, where she hoped that the lady would be able to tell her something at some point in time, because being left in the dark about things might lead to a terrible fate and that was what she wanted to avoid, since death was the one thing she wanted to stay away from, as in her death, though what the lady said surprised her a little bit.

"I heard about what you did from Aventus himself, when I went to talk to him about his contract." the assassin said, which meant that she must have spoken to the young boy moments after Amaryllis left his residence and must have been ticked off that someone else had gotten to him first, but, interesting enough, the lady didn't sound pissed off at all, which she was really worried as she thought about it, "Besides, half of Skyrim knows about what you did, even if they don't know who did it. An old hag gets butchered in her own orphanage? Things like that tend to get around... oh, but don't misunderstand my words, as I'm not criticizing what you did. From what I've heard, from the orphans that saw you, it was a rather good kill... the old crone had it coming as well, and you saved a group of urchins to boot. Ah, but there is a slight... problem... that we need to discuss."

"A... problem?" Amaryllis found herself asking, because she couldn't help it, everything the assassin was saying made her think that it was her who was going to die right now, since she had stolen a kill from the Dark Brotherhood, and she was waiting for the lady to reveal what her fate was, as she had the feeling that to do such a thing, and to walk away without any sort of punishment, would either damage the reputations of the group of assassins, or would boost it and cause them to kill the one who dared to steal from them.

"You see, that little Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood... for me and my associates." the assassin stated, as if Amaryllis was a child that needed everything explained to them, but, at the same time, she was just fine with that, due to the fact that the longer the lady talked the longer she stayed alive so she could figure out how she was going to get out of this situation, before the assassin tilted her head again, "Grelod the Kind was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract. A kill that you stole... which means it's a kill that you must repay."

"You... want me to kill someone else?" Amaryllis inquired, though while she was fine with killing bandits, since they were a blight on the land, plaguing the roads and robbing everyone that they came across, she was worried that the assassin was going to ask her to kill someone that was innocent and didn't deserve to die, or maybe they would be someone like Grelod and totally deserved their fate, to either be slain by someone they annoyed or having an assassin sent after them for their misdeeds, "Who do you want me to kill?"

"Well now, funny you should ask me that question." the lady replied, to which she nodded to the area that happened to be behind Amaryllis, an area she hadn't had the time to look at since she had been worried about the building she had found herself in when she woke up, but she remained focused on the assassin in case she was trying to trick her into lowering her guard for a few moments, "If you turn around, and look at the other half of the building, you'll notice my guests. I've 'collected' them from... well, that's not really important. The here and now, that is what matters right now. You see, there's a contract out on one of them, and that person can't leave this room alive, but the question is... which one is it for? Go on, see if you can figure it out. Make your choice, make your kill. I just want to observe... and admire."

Amaryllis waited for a few seconds, just to make sure the lady wasn't going to try anything, before turning around to look at the other half of the building that they were in, where she found three individuals bound with their hands behind their back and their heads covered by sacks, while also kneeling on the floor as they waited for something to happen to them, and found that each of them were different from each other, and since she didn't hear any steps behind her that told her that the assassin had been telling the truth. The one on her left was a nord, she could tell from the way his body was built, and it appeared that he was some sort of warrior, even though he was wearing the scaled armor she had seen a number of people wear since her arrival in Skyrim, though his weapon seemed to be missing, which made sense when she thought about the situation they were in, where she checked her belt and found that her dagger was present, again making sense given that this was a test of some kind, before she focused on the targets once more. The one directly in front of her was a female nord, a housewife or someone who wandered around one of the cities that were scattered across the land, much like a few of the individuals she had seen during her time in Whiterun, though she seemed to be someone who might be innocent and didn't deserve to be here, something she would determine in time, since there had to be a reason for them to be imprisoned in this seemingly abandoned building. The final captive rested to her right, which appeared to be a male khajiit that was wearing fine clothing, but that could be a way to distract her, as she knew many people in Skyrim blamed the cat people for things missing and people dying, basically calling them thieves and assassins without proving that any of them were actually guilty, so she assumed that this was a way to distract her from the true target, given that this felt like a game to her as she considered what the assassin had told her so far and what she had felt earlier.

Based on just the races they were she could easily condemn the warrior to his fate, just because there was the chance that he had killed someone in the past and that part of that person's family might have performed the Black Sacrament to kill him as an act of revenge, but as she thought about such a thing she found it hard to condemn both the housewife and the khajiit, due to the fact that both of them could be innocent until someone told her more about them, to which she faced all of her targets, as it was time to talk to them for a few seconds and see if her thoughts were correct.

"Is this about the raid last week?" the warrior asked, showing that while he and the others couldn't see what was going on around them, due to the hoods that each of them were being forced to wear over their heads, they could still hear what was going said around them, indicating that all three of them had heard the lady say that one of them needed to die for Amaryllis to leave the shack they were in, "I told Holgrim that there was no honor in killing sleeping men, but he wouldn't listen to me! It wasn't my fault, I swear!"

"Truthfully, I'm not sure what this is about," Amaryllis commented, where she was referring to why the lady had decided to pick the three of them, out of everyone in the land, to test her in a manner like this, even though it was clear that someone might want the warrior dead for his crimes against one's family members, but she also kept her voice low so she could talk with the three captives and see if her thoughts were correct, leaving the assassin in the dark while she figured out who the contract might be on, "Anyway, who are you?"

"My name is Fultheim. I'm a soldier." the warrior replied, his tone indicating that he was willing to answer the question and that he wanted to live, something that Amaryllis wasn't surprised by, since she might do the same thing if she had been in his position, before she got the sense that there was one more thing he wanted to tell her, to convince her to spare his life and let him leave this place, "Well, a mercenary, to be exact. You know, a... a sellsword. I've lived in Skyrim all my life, that's all! I'm a nobody, really. So can't you just let me go?"

"Maybe. Tell me, would someone... pay to have you killed?" Amaryllis inquired, though it was hard to ask someone if they had any enemies that wanted them dead, for one reason or another, and she knew that it was likely to freak Fultheim out in the process, but she was hoping to get through this as quickly as possible, all so she could get to the other two and do the same thing with them, as once she had all the information she needed she would come to a decision on who needed to die and then deal with whoever her target might be.

"What?! Oh gods, I don't want to die!" Fultheim exclaimed, though if that was supposed to cause the other captives to freak out and battle their restraints, in an attempt to get out of here, neither of them seemed to be doing anything, which meant that the lady had done a good job making sure each of them were bound and couldn't escape, even though Amaryllis was sure that she had help in that regard, as the male had to be somewhere nearby, likely outside the shack, and would rush in if he heard the lady command him to do so.

"Look, just answer the question," Amaryllis said, where she turned her head slightly and glanced back at the lady that was watching her, who seemed to be enjoying the show and was letting her take her time at the moment, which unnerved her a little bit since she wasn't totally used to something like this, before focusing on Fultheim again, as she knew what sort of fate was waiting for them if they didn't play along, a fate all of them likely wanted to avoid, "otherwise the lady you heard me talking to might kill us all."

"Okay... I don't know if someone would pay to have me killed!" Fultheim replied, showing that he really had no idea why he had been picked for this, even though he wasn't aware of the fact that this was a test of some kind, and that only freaked him out even more, even though it was also clear that he was thinking of something, anything, that might explain why this was happening to him in the first place, before he paused for a second, "I mean, I'm just a soldier. I've killed people... when I was ordered to. Maybe there were some times... some times where I got carried away? But war is war, right? Nobody could blame me for that. Could they?"

As much as Amaryllis hated to admit it, and she really hated to admit it, the fact that Fultheim, by his own admission, killed more people than he was ordered to meant that someone might have figured out he killed someone important to them and wanted revenge, even if he claimed such a thing happened while a war was going on, which made her take a second to wonder how many wars this land had seen, but, before she lashed out at the warrior with her dagger, she decided to speak with the other two captives and see if they were as innocent as she thought they were.

"I don't have time for this nonsense." the lady in the middle of the captives stated, showing that she didn't much care for everything that was going on at the moment and that she wanted her hands unbound immediately, so she could depart from this area and return to what she had been doing before finding out she had been kidnapped, and Amaryllis could feel her annoyance radiating from where she was currently resting, "I've got a home to keep and children to feed. Now let me out of here!"

"So, who in the world are you?" Amaryllis inquired, because if she was going to ask that question to Fultheim, which gave her a decent chunk of information for her to make a decision on who needed to perish, she figured that she might as well make sure the other two got the same questions, that way she could get some good information on who they were and what they did before this happened to them, which would eventually allow her to made up her mind on who she needed to kill to get out of this shack.

"It's none of your damned business who I am!" the lady snapped, where Amaryllis could also feel her anger as well, due to her being upset over what was happening to her right now, something that would have caused any other assassin to just get this over with and kill her first, but since it was her asking the questions, and not someone else, she could take her time and get the information she needed before making up her mind, "If you're going to kill me, just do it already! As Mara is my witness, if I didn't have this damned hood on right now I would spit right in your face..."

"Okay, I guess I don't really need to know who you are and what you do for a living," Amaryllis admitted, though there was one question she needed an answer to before she moved on to the khajiit, even though she was sure Fultheim might be the one that the contract was for, given everything he had told her when she questioned him, while noticing that both the lady and the khajiit tilted their heads for a moment, indicating someone else was listening to her and might be forming a series of answers for her, "Would someone pay to have you killed?"

"Excuse me? What kind of question is that?" the lady asked in return, though her tone indicated that she would likely tear Amaryllis apart if she wasn't bound at the moment, which also showed that she might have the same unlikable personality when she was dealing with the people that lived in the city, town, or village that she called home, which could explain why someone might want her dead, as her personality might be the key, "I'm a woman living in Skyrim with six children and no husband. I don't have the time or patience to be 'nice.' Do some people look down on me? Have I made some enemies? You're damn right I have, and I'll kill anyone who tries anything!"

Amaryllis was hoping that by asking the lady these questions she would be able to determine who the target was and that she only had to kill one target, especially since the warrior had been a strong case for who the contract was for, but from what she had discovered so far both Fultheim and the lady could have had someone pay to have them killed, as revenge in Fultheim's case and to take out an enemy in the case of the lady, which really didn't sit well with her, something that she thought about as she focused on the khajiit at long last.

"Tell you what, if you release me from my bindings, and let me leave this place, I promise that I won't have my associates hunt you down like an animal and butcher you in the street." the khajiit said, his tone indicating that this sort of thing must be common for him, as he was taking it rather well in comparison to his fellow prisoners, which made Amaryllis worry that all three of them were potential targets for a contract, since the way the cat was speaking made her wonder if he might be a criminal of some kind, before he tilted his head for a moment and likely had a smile on his face right now, not that she could see such a thing, "It's a win-win for everyone."

"So you say." Amaryllis replied, though in that moment she was really beginning to doubt her initial thoughts that any of the captives were innocent and deserved to live, as Fultheim proved that he was guilty of killing more people during the war he had mentioned, while the lady indicated that she had many enemies in the area that she called home, which truly made her wonder if the khajiit was like them, and given her new thoughts about him she suspected that she wasn't going to like his answer to her next question, "Who are you?"

"Ahhh, I am Vasha, at your service. Obtainer of goods, taker of lives, and defiler of daughters." the khajiit replied, where he spoke in a rather calm manner, despite the situation he was in, though his words told Amaryllis that he was likely a thief, a murderer, and a potential rapist, which just opened up a number of reasons as to why someone would pay to have one of the Dark Brotherhood's assassins kill him, and he didn't feel worried about his chances of surviving this situation at all, an odd thing considering what he had just admitted to her, "Have you not heard of me? Perhaps I will have my people carve my name in your corpse, as a reminder."

"Lovely." Amaryllis stated, because now she was positive that none of the captives in front of her were innocent and that all three of them could have a contract out on their heads, which just made her decision that much harder than she had been expecting it to be, but, at the same time, she had one more question to ask Vasha before she made her decision, as it was the same that the others had answered a few moments ago, even if one had answered truthfully and the other had just ignored her question for the most part, "Tell me, would someone pay to have you killed?"

"Me? Ha! Are you serious?" Vasha inquired in return, to which he chuckled for a few moments, as if he felt that part of this situation was funny and deserved to be laughed at, even if he was really laughing at Amaryllis for a few seconds, only to stop after a few moments as he gave her the answer to her question, something she determined based on the position of his head, "Fool! Don't you get it? I live in the shadow of death every day. A knife in every doorway, a nocked arrow on every rooftop! If one of my enemies wouldn't pay to have me killed, I'd take it as a personal insult... and, judging from what has been going on, someone did pay for me to be killed."

Amaryllis backed away from the three captives for a couple of seconds, as she wanted to think about the insane situation that she had found herself in after helping Aventus with Grelod, and her little drunken episode, because it brought about her waking up in this shack and being told that she had to kill one of the captives, due to one of them having a contract on their head, but all three of them had reasons why someone would want them dead, making her decision that much harder than it needed to be. Of course the assassin put her in this situation without giving her a hint as to who the contract might be for, to add to the fun of this game, and now that she knew more about the captives she wasn't sure she could let any of them leave this place, as all of them had done something in the past to piss someone off or, in Vasha's case, had wronged too many people over the course of his life and couldn't be allowed to live. Vasha, for sure, needed to die before he went out to do more of the crimes he had mentioned, but Fultheim and the lady were making her think about the decision, due to both of them having a potential contract on them as well, which made her wonder if there were multiple options as to how she could go about this, like kill two of them instead of one, or all three of them and leave nothing to chance, in case she picked the wrong target. There was also the slim chance that none of them had a contract on them and that this was a sick game to make her kill someone on command, even if all three of her targets could have one on them, but, from what she had felt in the assassin's voice, the lady who was watching this unfold hadn't been lying, which meant that someone in this room had a contract on their head and that someone had to die, so she focused on the captives in front of her as she finally came to her decision.

She drew her dagger and her sword for a moment, showing the assassin that she had come to a decision at last, and then advanced on the captives, where she brought her dagger down right into Vasha's head, killing him instantly, before leaving it there as she moved on to Fultheim and cut off his head, only to spin around and cut down the lady who had been right between the pair, as she had decided to leave nothing to chance, not after hearing their responses, but once the deed was done, and all three of the captives were dead, she retrieved her dagger from Vasha's head and cleaned her weapons, only she was shocked and surprised by how easy it was for someone like her, a person who likely a mostly peaceful life back in Equestria, to end the life of another, much less a group like this.

"Well, well, aren't we the over-achiever?" the assassin commented, speaking for the first time since she let Amaryllis turn around and focus on the captives that had been kneeling behind her, though at the same time she removed herself from the bookshelf and touched down on the floor so she could walk over to her, where she glanced at the individuals that had been set up for Amaryllis earlier, where her tone suggested that she was pleased, "Three possibilities, three victims. Must have been one of them, right? So why take chances..."

"You told me to kill one of them, and I did so," Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she didn't feel sick about what she had done, rather it felt natural for her to kill someone, just like what she felt when she killed Grelod the Kind earlier, making her wonder if this was her calling, to be an assassin in a distant land, especially since it might make use of the skills she had learned during her time in Chrysalis' Hive, before she turned her attention back to the topic as she focused on the assassin that was watching her right now, "besides, with what all three of them had to share with me, I couldn't let any of them leave this building."

"Indeed, and, at the same time, you understand what was important about this," the assassin stated, though this time her tone revealed that she was very pleased with what Amaryllis had done, in killing all three of the captives like that, making her wonder if all of them had a contract on their heads and the line about only one having a contract on them had been a little lie to motivate her to act, but she said nothing as the lady continued, "When I gave the order to spill blood, by killing someone, you followed it without hesitation, without asking me any questions as to why I wanted such a thing to happen... despite the fact that you did ask the captives more to learn who might have the contract... and, more importantly, you did this without a hint of remorse... most impressive."

"So... I take it I'm free to go now?" Amaryllis asked, because that was the main reason she had done this, not to prove that she was a killer that was capable of killing people on command and didn't feel any remorse for what she had done, despite the fact that she actually didn't feel any guilt for what she had done, given that two of them were criminals, in two different manners, and the third was someone who annoyed everyone else to the point where she might have hurt someone in the past, rather she had done this because she wanted to leave this building with her life intact.

"Indeed you are, and you're repaid your debt to the Dark Brotherhood, in full no less. As such, here's the key to the shack that we're in," the assassin replied, to which she produced a key from one of her pockets and handed it over to Amaryllis, which meant that the door had been locked the entire time, something she would have figured out in a matter of seconds had she approached it and tried to open it, though she accepted the key and let the lady return her hand to her side for a few seconds, "but why stop at a single assassination? Despite whatever feelings you have towards killing people, whether you think it's fun, a chance to test your skills, or that it fills you with a sense of justice, I can tell that you would make a fine assassin, with some additional practice, so I think we can take our relationship to the next level. I would like to officially extend to you an invitation to join my Family, the Dark Brotherhood."

Originally Amaryllis thought that this was just about fulfilling one or more of the brotherhood's contracts in a unique way, by kidnapping and testing someone that had taken one of their contracts, to make sure they didn't do something like that again, but this piece of information left her stunned, as she was quite surprised that the assassin felt that she had the skills necessary to join the order of assassins, and yet, despite what she was thinking, she had to admit that she was interested in what the assassin had to say.

"Good, I can tell that my invitation has piqued your interest," the assassin continued, showing that she was observing how Amaryllis reacted to what she was saying and that this happened to be the sort of reaction she was hoping to get with her statement, even if she was still shocked by everything that had happened since she spoke to Aventus, though she stayed silent as she allowed the assassin to continue with the rest of what she had to say, no doubt giving her instructions on the next step she had to do to join the group, "Now then, in the southwest reaches of Skyrim, in the Pine Forest, you'll find the entrance to our Sanctuary... it's just beneath the road, hidden from view. When questioned by the Black Door, answer with the correct passphrase: 'Silence, my brother'. The door will recognize you as a member of the Dark Brotherhood, allowing you to enter our hidden Sanctuary. Once you're inside, well, your new life with begin. I'll see you at home."

"Wait, before you go, I have one thing I would like to ask," Amaryllis said, because while this was a lot to take in, that she was being offered an invitation to the Dark Brotherhood, there was one thing that she hadn't been told yet and knew that it was important if she decided to join the order of assassins in the future, though her words caused the assassin to stop in her tracks for a moment and glance back at her, as she had turned the moment she stopped talking, but it was clear that she was interested in what her question happened to be, "Who are you? And who was that nord that was with you, back when I noticed you upstairs in Candlehearth Hall?"

"That's right, I never did tell you my name, did I?" the assassin replied, though it was in that moment that she pulled the hood that was covering her head back and revealed a blond haired lady that was likely between forty to fifty years old, by Amaryllis' estimates anyway, who only smiled at her as she stashed the hood away for now, before focusing on her once more for a few seconds, "I am Astrid, and I'm the leader of the Dark Brotherhood... and the nord you saw me with, who is back in our Sanctuary right now, is my husband, who you'll meet in due time. And who might you be?"

Amaryllis knew that she hadn't given anyone in this land her real name yet, mostly because she had been terrified of them finding out that she wasn't from this land and had powers that no one else seemed to have, but Astrid, based on what she could tell, wasn't frightened of her at all, rather she seemed interested in what sort of being she was and how she might help the Dark Brotherhood, given that the organization was declining, based on what the innkeeper of the Sleeping Giant Inn had told her earlier.

"My name is Amaryllis, and I'm a changeling... a shapeshifter, if you will." Amaryllis stated, deciding that, since Astrid had seen her true form, there was no point in her hiding the truth from the assassin, though at the same time, to prove that her power was what she said it was, even if Astrid had seen her shift back into her new natural form, she let the magic roll over her body for a moment before Astrid raised an eyebrow, as she had taken on the assassin's appearance within a matter of seconds, "See? I can look like whoever I want, even sound exactly like them."

"I was right, you would make a good assassin." Astrid said, as while it was weird to see her own reflection staring at her like that, where a few moments ago she had been looking at someone else, she had to admit that this proved she had been right in offering an invitation to Amaryllis, as it meant that she could be anyone she wanted to be and could get close to all the targets that might be handed to her in the future, before she headed for the door and opened it with what appeared to be a second copy of the key that she had handed over.

That definitely wasn't the reaction that Amaryllis was expecting, making her wonder what Astrid had gone through to not be stunned or shocked by her powers, but as she headed outside, and found that she was in an area of Skyrim that looked like a swamp of sorts, she found Astrid climbing up on a black horse with glowing red eyes, and a saddle that revealed that it was associated with the Dark Brotherhood, before departing from the area, leaving Amaryllis to think about everything she had learned so far. Once she was sure that Astrid was gone, and hadn't turned around to come talk to her again, the first thing she did was let the flames dance over her body once more, allowing her to return to her original form, though as soon as that was done she spread her wings, as she felt that this was a good time to see if they still worked in this form or if they had been ruined by whatever had brought her to this world, as it would tell her if flight was possible or not, and she hoped the former was the correct option. Fortunately it only took her a few moments to flutter her wings and take off, to which she started to leave the ground behind as she moved higher into the sky, where it didn't take her long to figure out that her wings worked just fine, that nothing bad had befallen her when she came to this world, to which she turned in the direction of Whiterun and took off for real, so she could leave the swamp behind. The reason she was heading to Whiterun was because the people there seemed willing to help someone that was a traveler, giving them directions to the various places of the land, and it was the best place she could think of that would allow her to figure out where the Fine Forest was located, as she was considering joining up with the Dark Brotherhood, because if Astrid was willing to accept her true form she had to wonder if the other assassins might do the same thing. One thing she kept her eyes open for, besides random people on the road and soldiers that were watching any of the forts that might be along her path, was the black dragon she had seen a few days ago, because it was sure to attack her and she didn't want to be anywhere near it, though for the most part it didn't seem like the beast might be in Skyrim anymore and that she wouldn't have to worry about it, but that didn't stop her from keeping her guard up in case she was proven wrong.

She also had to admit that Skyrim was quite beautiful from the air, since she was able to look down at the landscape that was below her and not have to worry about the various dangers that were wandering around the wilds, looking for people to kill, but it wasn't anything like her home, that much she knew, though that didn't stop her from taking in the sights as she flew over the land, because if the mages at the College of Winterhold told her that traveling between worlds was next to impossible, as Farengar had told her, than this would be her home for the rest of her life and she'd have to get used to what Skyrim had to offer her.

Thanks to the area that the shack was located in, the fact that she had no idea where most of the landmarks were located, and the fact that Amaryllis went a little slow to figure out where in Skyrim she had been resting, it took her a few hours to get near Whiterun, though when she finally reached her destination she made sure to hide herself behind some rocks and returned to the khajiit form she had gotten used to wearing, because for some reason she liked this form over the other disguises she had created so far. Once that was done she headed towards the main gate of the city once more and took a moment to nod to the guards when she reached the area near the gate, who seemed to be focused on something else at the moment, possibly more bandits or something like that, and not on a lone traveler that was walking on the road, which allowed her to into the city without delay, where she made her way back to The Bannered Mare, as it happened to be the best place for her to gather information. The first thing she did, however, was use some of her coin to purchase something to eat, chicken and milk, as they seemed to have that in stock and the innkeeper knew that not everyone wanted to have a bottle or two of mead when it was barely noon, as she had arrived about two hours before noon, though that didn't stop her from being happy to see a simple drink on the menu, especially after what happened in Windhelm. Once she was done with the innkeeper she sat down and ate her meal, though she also did two things, the first one was listening to the other patrons about the news that they had to share, where all of them mentioned the recent murder of Grelod, meaning this was the first time they were talking about it, before turning her attention to Hulda, which was when she asked about the Pine Forest. What she learned was that the Pine Forest covered a large area of the southern part of Skyrim, not far from the borders of Cyrodiil and Hammerfell as it turned out, and that the settlements that rested in the forest were the city of Falkreath and Riverwood, though Helgen had been counted among that number until the dragon burned it to the ground, an interesting piece of information that she barely thought about as she focused on the more important information that she needed to acquire before she did anything else.

Getting directions to Falkreath, the area that had to be the closest to her destination, was rather easy, as all she had to do was follow the road that would take her to Fort Greymoor and continue on from there, until turning left when she found the signpost with the city's name on it, something that rested at the bottom of a decent sized hill and would taken her by a mill at some point, not to mention a few caves and maybe a ruin or two, which might be dangerous given that bandits liked to hide in those locations. The other route she could take went through Riverwood, headed up to Helgen, and then moved around the edge of Lake Ilinalta, before finding a road that would, eventually, take her down to the wooden walls that had two functions, a marker of the city's border and served as the city's protection against attackers, though judging from what Hulda told her it should be easy to get to Falkreath, meaning that getting lost would be hard for her to do, unless she took a step off the path and headed into the wilderness for some reason. Of course she didn't tell Huilda the reason behind as to why she wanted to head to that part of Skyrim, due to the innkeeper assuming she was here to see the sights and take in the land that was around her, and she wasn't about to correct the lady at all, rather she thanked her for the information and, when she was finally done with her meal, she excused herself and headed outside the inn so she could get underway once more. There was something odd about this situation that compelled her to head to the Sanctuary and see the Dark Brotherhood with her own eyes, to see what they were like when they weren't killing people, and possibly seeing whether or not she could actually do what they did for a living, and she was sure that the feeling wouldn't leave her alone until she actually sought them out, hence the reason why she was focused on heading to the area Astrid had told her about and not flying in the opposite direction.

As she departed from Whiterun, however, Amaryllis had the feeling that things were about to get interesting for her, likely in more ways than one, and was looking forward to seeing what she learned when she finally met the Dark Brotherhood, and, more importantly, if she had the skills to be an assassin, like Astrid seemed to think she did, otherwise she might have to find another calling to continue living in this land.

Interlude: Sanctuary

It took Amaryllis a few moments to leave Whiterun and return to the road that she was used to walking on since she had arrived in this land, where she turned to her right and headed in the direction of Fort Greymoor, so she could figure out where the signpost she was looking for was located, to give her an idea of the direction she had to head in this time so she could reach her destination, which was due to the fact that she still had no idea where all of the cities were located and felt that it would take some time before she didn't need to rely on the map for basic directions. As she did that Amaryllis also discovered that the Khajiit caravan had departed from outside the city and moved on to the next area that they were going to set up shop in, and the four cats likely had some horses to help them carry all the goods they were selling, otherwise it would take them forever to reach the cities that they visited, or at least that was her thought on the matter since she truly had no idea how they moved things from place to place and knew that the cats might not want to share that information with a total stranger. The other thing she noticed was that this day was actually quite nice, as there were no clouds in the sky at the moment, where she realized that she hadn't been paying attention to when she flew back to the outskirts of the city, and, more importantly in her mind, nothing seemed to be on fire, which was great since that meant the black dragon she had seen earlier wasn't destroying everything in it's path or had ignored Whiterun entirely, though that did make her think about Za'kera for a moment. She was slightly curious if the Khajiit had made it to the barrow that was near the small village of Riverwood or if she had gone off to another part of Skyrim, she could have left the land for all Amaryllis knew and was trying to get back to her previous life, but even as she considered all of that she didn't change the direction she was heading in, where she choose to believe that Za'kera had gone to Bleak Falls Barrow and that all the enemies inside that place were already dealt with, while the Khajiit was looking for whatever the Jarl and his Court Wizard had asked her to find to help with the dragon problem, even if Skyrim didn't seem to have such a problem since she hadn't seen any dragons in some time, which she was thankful for.

As she thought about all of that Amaryllis discovered that she was able to cross the distance to the watchtower with ease and was able to get closer to Fort Greymoor, where she was sure the bandits she had seen earlier were still occupying due to there being no banners on the outside of the fort, meaning that she would have to be careful as she passed through the area in question, since there was a chance that the bandits might notice her and rush out to try and rob her of everything she had on her right now. What she found out was that none of the bandits that were watching the road, as she spotted a few of them walking on the upper parts of the wall, seemed to care about her, meaning they either attacked larger groups, like a caravan, attacked rich looking people, or they waited for adventurers or soldiers to come and investigate the ruined fortress so they could ambush them as a team, where the last option seemed be the best course of action in her mind, or at least it was for the bandits. Still, she was happy that she didn't attract the attention of the bandits while she was on the road and that she was able to continue walking without problems, because she had a single destination in mind this time around and really didn't want to be stopped by anything or anyone, even if that was something that was going to change at some point in the near future, as she knew, from her previous walk from Whiterun to Windhelm, that interruptions were common in Slyrim and that one was going to happen at some point during her journey. Of course, just to prove her point, a pair of wolves burst out of some of the bushes further along the road she was following, before where a bend happened to be resting, and rushed over a lone deer that was grazing on the other side of the same road, where the deer panicked and rushed off into the distance, heading into the plains that rested off to Amaryllis' right and disappeared within a couple of seconds, and both wolves followed it without delay, leaving the road clear once more. She was a little thankful that the deer had come out when it did, otherwise she would have killed the wolves in self defense again, like she had done a few times so far, before she continued along the path that was in front of her, only to stop again as she spotted something she felt was a little odd, as she found a farmer that was in the middle of walking a cow down the road, where she found that the cow had some strange markings painted onto it.

"I'd stay away if I were you." the farmer said, where he waited until he was closer to where Amaryllis was standing before saying anything, though his tone revealed that he must have said this a few times since he set out from whatever farm he had come from, only to lay a hand on the painted cow for a moment, which only made her curious as to what was going on now, since Skyrim was a land with many strange customs and she was always learning something new, which was why she focused on the Nord while she waited for him to continue speaking, "I'm on my way to a nearby giant camp and I can't guarantee those beasts won't think you're part of the offering... just keep your distance from us and you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"Offering?" Amaryllis asked, as this was the first time she was hearing about such a thing, which only made her wonder if there was anything the farmer could tell her before he continued on his way to the camp that was his destination, where she assumed that the camp had to be somewhere near where they were standing, even though she didn't see anything that could be offered to the tall creatures that lived with the mammoths, something that lead to her asking the question before she moved on, "What are you offering them?"

"The cow, of course." the farmer replied, though his tone revealed that he didn't think any less of her for not knowing what he was doing, once more due to the fact that he must have explained himself to several other travelers before she ended up stopping him, before he got to explaining what he happened to be doing, just so he could reach the camp and get his over with, which would allow him to return to his farm and get back to his work, "Others do it differently, but I have found that an annual offering usually keeps the giants away from our livestock... of course, some folks think it's superstition, and others think it's a trick to make farmers lose precious animals, but I truly believe that it works. The reason I believe that is due to the fact that I have yet to have a giant kill any of my livestock, in all the years I have been tending to the farm, which means there must be some truth to what I'm doing, though the paint is a way for us to let the giants know that we're giving the cow to them willingly, like a peace offering."

"Oh, I see." Amaryllis said, because while she doubted the giants were smart enough to realize what some of the farmers were doing by offering a cow or something every now and then, to keep them from attacking the farms, she also decided not to bring up those doubts in front of the farmer, who clearly believed the system worked and that he had been lucky to have not lost any animals since he took over his farm, to which she shelved her thoughts and focused on the farmer once more, "Well, good luck on making your delivery to the giant's camp."

The farmer thanked her for wishing him luck as she moved further down the road, only this time she didn't bother to look back and see if he was moving towards his destination, as she had the feeling that he would reach the camp and make his offering, hopefully surviving the encounter, so he could head back to his farm, where he, his family, and their farm would be safe for some period of time, or at least until he had to pull aside another cow and make another offering to the giants, repeating the danger he had faced during this journey. Truthfully she suspected that the Nords might have conditioned the giants into believing that if they stayed quiet, and don't hurt anyone, they might get some free stuff every now and then, a cow or some other animal to be exact, and that if they attack people then the Nords will send guards or adventurers to kill them, but in the end she decided to just ignore the entire thing and move on with her journey. One thing she was sure of was that if the farmer had walked along the part of the road she still needed to traverse, which she was sure of, than that meant whatever wildlife was supposed to be in this area had moved on for a time, which gave her a brief window to reach Falkreath before a sabre cat or a pack of wolves came back and attacked her, a window of opportunity that she didn't want to waste given the dangers of the land. Of course just thinking about such a thing seemed to be the trigger for some wild animals to approach her, as not four minutes after she parted with the farmer Amaryllis heard a few howls and spotted a pack of wolves, three of them, rushing towards her position, to which she sighed as she pulled her weapons out and used them to defend herself, cutting down one wolf rather easily, before injuring the second one with a bad cut to it's side and knocked the third one away from her with a wild swing as it lunged at her, even though she was sure she cut into its neck, given the fact that it stopped moving a few seconds later. With two of the wolves taken care of she decided to let the other one limp off the road and tend to it's wounds before it fell over, mostly because a number of animals were smart enough to retreat when something like this happened to them, but, as it turned out, the wolf charged back at her not a couple of seconds after she thought that, possibly in the manner of seeking revenge for it's fallen packmates, so what Amaryllis did was wait for it to get close to her and dodged to the side as she cut into it's side, causing it to collapse once her attack was done.

Once all three wolves had been taken care of, and she was sure there weren't any additional enemies or wild animals in this area that might want a piece of her, Amaryllis sheathed her weapons and glanced at the wolves, mostly because she had heard tales of adventurers finding rings and necklaces inside the stomachs of wild animals, but she wasn't about to do that and decided that it was time to leave, to which she departed from this area and continued following the path that she had taken, which should bring her to Falkreath. As she continued walking down the road she discovered two caves off on her left, which were separated by a few minutes walk once she reached the area the second one was in, where she had to assume that they weren't attached to each other, but they did appear to be potential homes for animals, which meant that there was the possibility that she could be attacked again, hence the reason she kept moving and made sure to keep one of her eyes on the caves, just in case a saber cat came outside or something. It took her about ten more minutes to reach the signpost she had been told about, the one that would show her the direction to Falkreath, but even as she came to a stop she noticed that further along the road, maybe five to ten minutes away, was a slumbering sabre cat, and that there was another strange burial mound, like the one she passed on her way to Windhelm, near the small stone walls that lined out where the road was. She still had no idea what those mounds were supposed to be and should have asked someone in Whiterun about them before she left, given that Farengar likely knew what they were supposed to be, but while she was curious about them she also wasn't about to waste thirty to forty more minutes to walk back and ask the question, while at the same time flying wasn't an option, as there were too many eyes on the road, so it would have to wait until she made it back to the city in question, if she remembered the question anyway. After thinking about all of that Amaryllis focused on the path that she would have to follow and started to walk up it, where she found that the road to Falkreath started with a hill that was almost diagonal, meaning she would have quite the climb ahead of her and made her happy that she gotten a good meal before attempting this walk, otherwise she would have run out of energy before reaching her destination, and that wasn't counting the top of this hill.

It took her another ten to fifteen minutes to reach the top of the hill, where she determined that it had been a good climb and realized that a carriage would have had no trouble riding through this area, had she bothered to hire one before she left Whiterun, something she didn't even consider until right this moment and she nearly slapped her forehead the instant she realized she never considered the option, but she didn't let those thoughts stop her as she continued to follow the path that was in front of her, due to the fact that Falkreath was still further away from where she was standing. After a few more minutes she glanced to her left and found Lake Ilinalta resting off in the distance, a landmark that everyone in Skyrim seemed to know, and while it was an amazing area, like she had heard, she did see an old fort that had sunk into the water at some point, but it didn't look occupied and she wasn't about to waste her time seeing if there were any treasures inside it, since she was sure that it had been looted by bandits or travelers some time after sinking into the lake, even though she was sure a group of bandits were likely living inside it, to hide from the guards and the soldiers who protected this land. Another thing Amaryllis noticed while she walked was that off on her right there was a shack, not quite the size of the one she had been brought to by Astrid, as that one was easily twice the size of this one, but from what she could see there was a pair of hunters that seemed to call this area home, as they seemed to be in the middle of discussing a hunt or something and didn't pay attention to the road she was currently walking on, where she focused on her journey and continued moving. One other thing in the area that caught her attention was a small house that was off on her left, one that just so happened to be attached to a mill, making her wonder why the residents of the building would prefer to be all the way out here and not be closer to civilization, given the potential dangers that could be out there, but then decided that it wasn't worth worrying about and continued to follow the road once more, all while keeping an eye out for the area Astrid had told her about.

A few minutes later she reached a fork in the road and prepared to head to her right, as that was the direction she felt that she should be going in, only to be attacked by a pair of skeletons that had come back to life, though they were rather easy to put back down, since all she had to do was swing at them once and reduce them to a pile of bones, and before she knew it she was on her way once more, even though she did wonder where in the world they had come from and if there had been a necromaner in the area, practicing their 'art' on the dead. From what she knew necromaners were common in Skyrim and they had a pretty bad reputation for defiling the tombs of the honored dead the Nords cared for, using any of the bodies within to do their dirty work, and she knew all of this thanks to everything she overheard before this point, but she wasn't about to call a necromaner's attention to her and continued walking down the path she had picked out, mostly to get out of the area before the vile magic user noticed her presence and decided to attack her, since those types were always looking to add more soldiers to their undead armies. She quickly noticed that there was a ruined tower and a small ruin along the right side of the path, after taking care of the pair of skeletons and leaving before a necromancer could see her, but when she reached the section of the path that the small ruin was in she came to a stop as she noticed something odd that was in the area that was at the bottom of the hill she was walking on, and that was a black door of some kind that looked out of place, including a small black pool of water that reminded her of that horse she had seen Astrid ride off on, a pair of clues for new assassins no doubt. As she walked down to where the door was located she discovered that there was a large skull on it, with a bright red hand print in the forehead area, a dagger near what she assumed was the handle, and what she assumed was a dead person, as if to illustrate that this was a place where the Dark Brotherhood lived while they weren't busy killing people, and, at the same time, it seemed to be emitting a faint heavy breathing noise, along with what she assumed were heartbeats, something that would drive off any sane individual and likely make them come back with some guards or something. If Amaryllis was being completely honest with herself, and she decided she might as well be that way for a time, the black door was totally creepy, that much she knew from just looking at it and the area that was around her right now, which meant she had to be in the right place, since she followed Astrid's directions to the letter and came to the door she had been told about, which meant that she had one thing to do before she entered the Sanctuary and met Astrid's Family.

Amaryllis stood there for a few moments, wondering if she was really going to do what she was thinking of doing as she stared at the black door, especially since she was just an infiltrator and everyone she had killed in Skyrim was mostly self defense, which should scream that this shouldn't the path she should be following, before she steeled herself and walked up to the creepy black door that happened to be resting between her and the area the Dark Brotherhood called home, as there was no going back if this worked.

What is the music of life? a creepy voice asked, one that sounded like it was coming from behind the grave, or at least that was Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter since this was the first time she had heard something like this, though at the same time the voice confirmed something that she had been told earlier, about being questioned by the black door, which wasn't as insane as she had originally thought it would be, especially since she had just heard the door speak in it's creepy grave-like voice.

"Silence, my brother." Amaryllis replied, though at this point she was committed, because if what Astrid had told her was correct the black door would forever recognize her as a member of the Dark Brotherhood, no doubt allowing her to enter and leave the Sanctuary without having to answer that question ever again, and without having to speak to this black door every time she wanted to enter or leave this place, and she suspected that if she left, without heading inside, Astrid would come looking for her again, either to kill her or drag her back here.

Welcome home. the voice stated, stretching out the words for a moment, while making it sound just as creepy as it was when it first spoke up when she stopped in front of it, though that was followed by a faint glow appearing around the edges of the door, like a sign for her to enter the Sanctuary for the first time, though she patiently waited for everything to stop glowing before she did anything, just in case acting early caused something bad to happen with the black door, only to find that nothing happened and the door returned to it's eerie state.

Amaryllis braced herself and pushed the door open, where she found a tunnel with some stairs that likely lead her to the first main chamber of the Sanctuary, complete with old banners baring the symbol of the Dark Brotherhood, along with a lit scone and a stone bench near the bottom step, to which she walked down the stairs and heard the black door close as she did that, meaning it was magically enchanted to close itself if the assassins didn't do it themselves, which she figured was rather handy at times, before she focused on what was in front of her. The first chamber of the Sanctuary contained a few shelves that had useful items on them, books that likely spoke about the various deeds that the brotherhood had accomplished over the years, a few mugs and bits of pottery, and, likely the most important thing of all, a set of armor that rested near a tunnel that lead to the main chamber that the Sanctuary was built around, even though said armor seemed totally different from what she had seen Astrid wearing earlier. To her immediate left rested a doorway that appeared to lead to a decent sized room, one furnished like the various bedrooms she had seem since her arrival in Skyrim and it had a bed fit for two people to sleep on, but she decided not to go in there, because she figured that it had to be Astrid's room and suspected that the leader of the brotherhood would likely be pissed off is she went looking for things in her personal bedroom. Near the door rested a stone table with a map of the land laying on it, with a stone chair resting up against the backside of the table, between it and the wall, and an iron dagger laying on the table, even if there were a few more that had been stabbed into the map, almost as if all of this was supposed to keep track of where the contracts came from, or at least that was an idea since she honestly had no idea what she was looking at, before she focused on the important figure that was in the room with her and turned her attention away from everything else for a time. Standing in the frame of the tunnel that lead to the main chamber, while leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, was none other than Astrid, though as Amaryllis approached the tunnel she could see that the leader of the group of assassins seemed happy to see her again, even though it made her question how the lady had gotten back here so fast, when she didn't have any wings of her own, which wondered if the odd horse was to blame for the deed.

"Ah, I knew you wouldn't be far behind me, given those wings you possess." Astrid commented, where she spoke up the moment Amaryllis stopped near the frame of the tunnel, where her tone showed that she was happy that her thoughts about her had been correct, that Amaryllis would come to the Sanctuary, especially after what happened in the shack, and answer the black door's question, to which she thought about something for a few seconds, "I hope my directions helped you find the place without too much trouble."

"They were incredibly helpful." Amaryllis replied, where she decided not to say that, as someone who wasn't familiar with the land she was now calling home, she had to find someone that could tell her where the Pine Forest rested and obtain directions from them, which was part of the reason that it had taken her some time to catch up with Astrid, though it was in that moment that she focused on the more important part piece of information she needed to know, "So, now that I'm here, what's going to happen now?"

"Well, what happens now is you start your new life in the Dark Brotherhood." Astrid answered, her happy tone staying as she said that, indicating that she firmly believed that Amaryllis would be a good addition to the group of assassins, and that she was of the opinion that Amaryllis would soon see what she was talking about, even if it would take the changeling some time to come to terms with this lifestyle and everything else that came with being an assassin, before she focused on something else that needed to be said, "You're part of the Family now, after all. This, as you can see, is our Sanctuary... you won't find a safer place in all of Skyrim, so get comfortable."

Amaryllis thought about it for a few seconds, as the way Astrid talked about the rest of the assassins, as in calling them her Family, reminded her of the other changelings in the Hive, where they were one big family when she thought about it for the first time since arriving in this land, and determined that the two had to be similar in some regard, and, at the same time, it was like a small void had been filled, even though it would take her some time to get used to having a family again, after losing her own family some time ago.

"I'm honored to be a part of your Family, Astrid." Amaryllis said, because if her thoughts were correct, and there was the chance that she was wrong, she felt that being respective and thankful for the chance was the best way for her to go right now, even if the other assassins might not feel the same way and think less of her for this, though she didn't want to upset Astrid or anyone that might be listening to them at the moment, since there was a chance that someone might be resting nearby and she didn't want to tick them off either.

"Our Family, my dearest sister. It's our Family now." Astrid replied, where her tone revealed that this had to be a common occurrence when new members were being introduced to the Family and their new lives, that they said 'your Family' when they formally joined the Dark Brotherhood and she corrected them to make sure they understood the fact that they were now part of the Family, before she shifted her stance as she prepared herself for something that would no doubt surprise Amaryllis and possibly put a smile on her face, "Together, united as one, the Dark Brotherhood can accomplish anything we set our minds to... but you must be anxious to meet the others and to get to work. I'm in the middle of arranging a job for you, a major contract that isn't like what that Aretino boy asked you to do, but I do need another day or two to iron out the rest of the details, so until then you should go see Nazir, who handles collecting and distributing the smaller contracts to the other members of our Family, after determining how hard each of them might be. And, according to everything that I have heard, the Night Mother will soon arrive at our Sanctuary, so things will get even more interesting when she and her Keeper finally arrive, but that's for another time, as there is one thing you'll need that I haven't given you yet... the armor of the Dark Brotherhood. May it serve you well in all of your endeavors."

Amaryllis found that the reason Astrid had been shifting her stance was so she could pick up the bundle of clothing that was laying to her left and present it to her, where she actually let Amaryllis move into her room for a few moments so she could have a small amount of privacy, something that was followed by her nodding her head and headed into the room so she could slip into her new attire and see how it looked on her, even though she had a faint idea due to what she recalled from when she first met Astrid. Once she was inside the room she carefully took off the armor she had been wearing for a long time, which had served her well so far, and slipped on the black and red armor that was identical to what Astrid was wearing, as well as an identical pair of gloves, though the interesting thing was that the boots had been modified to fit her unique hooves, as when she shifted back into her base form for a moment she found that they had shifted as well, which was rather interesting, and that the armor even had slots for her wings, informing her that Astrid must have taken her measurements to make these modifications. Even the hood had some slight modifications, so it could fit over her natural form and whatever disguise she put on, especially with her horn, but once she had all the armor on, and had pulled back the hood for now, she put her old armor away and walked out of the room, where Astrid nodded her head to show her that she approved on how she looked, before going back to where she was leaning, which caused Amaryllis to focus once more and realized that there was something she wanted to ask before it slipped her mind.

"So, can I ask you a question, since I'm new to this land and everything that calls it home?" Amaryllis said, where Astrid turned and looked at her, her face showing that she expected questions and that she would attempt to answer them to the best of her ability, which was why she only had one thing she wanted to ask about right now, though she did wait for a few seconds for Astrid to nod her head, to show that she was okay with being asked questions, "Thanks. Who is this 'Night Mother' that you mentioned?"

"The Unholy Matron, the Shrouded Lady, the Mistress of the Void... she goes by many names." Astrid replied, which told Amaryllis that she had to be some sort of important figure or statue that was important to the Dark Brotherhood, or even a person that they worshiped in some manner, but she remained silent as she listened to what her new sister had to say on the matter, to which Astrid shook her head for a moment and focused on her answer, "At some point in time Sithis supposedly gave a woman five children and she, in turn, killed all of them to gain his favor, becoming the Night Mother, if you want to believe that sort of thing. Today, well... she's a skeleton, an ancient corpse that's being brought to this very Sanctuary by her Keeper, who should have arrived in Skyrim a few months ago based on the letters he sent me, as he was coming from Cyrodiil due to her crypt in Bravil being destroyed, and I gave him specific instructions on how to reach our Sanctuary, but I have no idea why he's been taking his sweet time getting here... not that it matters, since the last letter I received from him indicated that he should be here soon."

Amaryllis was surprised by the information she was given, even though it raised more questions, like who Sithis was supposed to be and whatnot, but for now she figured that she would head down the stairs and see if she could find the other members of her new Family, though as it turned out everyone was standing near a small waterfall, which she wasn't going to ask questions about since she knew there weren't any streams heading into this area, and from the laughter it was clear that all of them found something to be incredibly funny.

"Again! Again!" a voice said, where Amaryllis determined that it came from the Argonian that was standing near a short walkway that had been carved into the cave they called home, though his scales were green colored and it appeared that his weapon of choice was a steel sword, an odd choice since she had assumed that assassins were supposed to use one or two daggers when they killed their targets, meaning that there might be more to being a member of this group than what she initially thought and that each one seemed to have their own choice of weapon, before she focused on the group that was in front of her, "Do the part where he tries to buy you some candy."

"Okay, okay. Wait." the next assassin replied, which turned out to be a little girl that was no more than ten years old, or at least by her estimates anyway, since she had no idea how to tell the age of the kids of this world, but even then something like this only made Amaryllis wonder what was going on with this group, that they would go so far and employ children to kill their targets, while also making her wonder if there was more to the little girl than what she was seeing at the moment, especially with her red colored eyes "Here we go. 'Ooh, you are such a pretty little girl. Would the sweetie like a sweetie? Oh yes, how about some chocolate?' 'Oh yes, please, kind sir. My mama and papa left me all alone, and I'm so very hungry. I know a shortcut to the candy shop, through this alley'. 'Oh yes, very good. Very good. My it is dark down here. Oh, but you are so beautiful. Such a lovely smile. Your teeth... your teeth! No! Aggghh!!'"

It was quite easy for Amaryllis to determine that the little girl had to be talking about one of her latest contracts, that all of them were taking some time to relax and share stories before they were sent out to fulfill another one by hunting down a new target, something that had to be coming up soon since it looked like everyone was present, before she thought about what the little girl had done and felt that she did a decent job of trying to replicate the voice of the man she had been sent to assassinate, causing the others to laugh for a few moments, either at the voice or how she killed her target.

"Oh Babette, but you are so wicked." the female Dark Elf stated, revealing that the name of the little girl was Babette, even if she had spoken the moment everyone had stopped laughing about Babette's last target, though Amaryllis said nothing as she observed her new Family and waited for them to finish what they were doing, as she had the feeling that the tales weren't done yet and that one or two might have something else to add, especially since this was the best way for her to gather some sort of information on all of them before she actually approached them, even though she was sure that one or two of them had already noticed her arrival.

"What about you, Festus?" the Redguard asked, who wasn't dressed in the attire of a Dark Brotherhood assassin, just like how Babette was wearing normal clothes to make her blend into a crowd, and was actually dressed in what Amaryllis had to assume was the attire of his people, while carrying what appeared to be a scimitar on his belt, though it appeared that he was talking to the older man, who had wrinkles on his face and carried no weapon, making her wonder if he was more of a magic user, "How did that last contract turn out?"

"Oh, yes, please, old man. Regale us with your tales of wizardry..." the other man said, the one who wore two pieces of the attire that Amaryllis had been given, the shirt and the pants to be exact, though his tone confirmed that Festus preferred to use magic to assassinate his targets, something that she hadn't even considered and suspected would be hard to pull off without someone detecting his presence, while at the same time none of the other assassins made a move to stop the man, informing her that this had to be common as well.

"Ah, the young and stupid... always mocking the experienced and brilliant." Festus replied, his tone revealing that this was definitely a common occurrence when they were going over what happened on their last contracts, before he sighed and focused on what he was going to say, almost like he enjoyed his last mission and that he might be reluctant to share what had happened with his Family, before he focused on the others, "My contract went very well, I'll have you know. I decided to try out a new spell, just a little something that I've been working on in my spare time... came 'this' close to turning that priest inside out... damned messy, if I'm being honest."

"And what of your latest, Arnbjorn?" the dark elf asked, showing that she was very interested in hearing what the rest of her Family did, even if Amaryllis felt that turning someone inside out was horrible, even if Festus didn't go into all that much detail about the deed, something she was thankful for since it could have convinced her to just leave and not come back to this place, while at the same time the dark elf revealed the name of the muscular man that let Amarylllis know who Festus was, even though she was sure that Arnbjorn was the one who had been with Astrid back in Windhelm, before that drunken episode she had, "Something about a Khajiit... it was a merchant, correct?"

"Oh, a big doggy chasing a little kitty! How adorable!" Babette stated, as if she found something humorous about the entire situation, either due to Arnbjorn's nickname being 'big doggy' or due to there being something that Amaryllis didn't know, like maybe he could transform into a more beast-like form, like a werewolf or something, which could explain such an odd nickname, or it could be that they liked to tease him and knew that he wouldn't lash out at them no matter what they did to him, to which Amaryllis waited for someone to react to her statement.

That, of course, was followed by nearly everyone else in the area laughing at Babette's statement, showing her that nearly everyone in the Family considered the thought to be funny and that they weren't afraid to let Arnbjorn know their opinions on the matter, who growled for a few seconds and revealed, without saying anything, that he didn't share their thoughts and might be getting tired of the nickname, before the rest of the assassins finally stopped laughing so they could hear his response to the questions he had been asked.

"I am not adorable, it was not funny, and he wasn't a merchant." Arnbjorn stated, his tone revealing that, while this also seemed to be a common occurrence that they went through, of which there were many common occurrences in Amaryllis' eyes, Arnbjorn didn't like the jokes about dogs, he didn't like being called adorable, and he certainly didn't like any of his Family members assuming that his targets were weak merchants, meaning part of him had to be a proud warrior and liked to have a decent fight with his targets, "He was a Khajiit monk, a master of the Whispering Fang style, but now he's dead... and I have a new loincloth."

Amaryllis wasn't sure why that statement needed another round of laughter from everyone, but at that point it was clear that all of them were done talking about their contracts, meaning she had missed what the Argonian and the dark elf had done before her arrival, but since they hadn't dispersed yet she knew that they were eager to meet her, hence the reason she finally approached them, or more accurately Nazir, who she assumed was the Redguard, though there was a chance that her thoughts were wrong and the one she was looking for could be one of the members of her new Family, which she knew would take some time getting used to thinking about.

"So you're the newest member of our dwindling, dysfunctional little Family." the Redguard remarked, where some of the other members of the Family nodded their heads, while the others said nothing as he spoke up, indicating that they all seemed to be curious about something, which only made Amaryllis wonder what they were thinking about, even if she had some ideas on that matter, "We've heard some things about you, in the time between Astrid's return to the Sanctuary and your arrival... the incredible shapeshifter."

"Changeling, actually, but that's the basics of what I am," Amaryllis replied, though she guessed everything that she told Astrid back at the shack had been transferred to the assassins that were around her, no doubt to warn them about the person that would be joining them in the near future, before she let the magic wash over her and quickly returned to her true form once more, even if one of the assassins, Arnbjorn, did jump when she did that, "this is what I look like when I'm not wearing a disguise."

"Fascinating," the Dark Flf said, where she and Festus approached her for a moment and looked over her body, as her thoughts about her abilities seemed to be correct, there was no one like her in Skyrim, at the very least, and that some of the people she encountered might be interested in seeing her power in action, before the Dark Elf focused on her face for a few moments, while Festus had to be seeing how she channeled magic or something, even though it was a little hard to read the elderly man's face, "and you can take on whatever form you want?"

"But of course," Amaryllis answered, where she immediately shifted her form into that of Farengar Secret-Fire, the Court Wizard of Whiterun, so that her first statement came out in his voice, surprising the assassins for a moment, which was actually kind of interesting, even though it only confirmed that her power was unique in this world and that most people had no idea how to react to a shapeshifter walking among them, "Sure, I can create a new disguise on a whim, like the one I was wearing a few seconds ago, but a more perfect disguise comes from studying the subject I'm going to be taking the place of, that way no one notices anything odd when I finally make my move... or at least that was what I was taught when I was learning how to master this power."

"Astrid was right, that power will come in handy for you, when you tackle your first real contract," Babette said, her tone revealing that she approved of Amaryllis' powers and what she could do with them, as it seemed like the two of them had a slight advantage over the other assassins, even though one of them was sure of what the other's power was due to her having no idea what sort of skill or power Babette had, before the rest of the group separated from each other, indicating that this was all they wanted to see for right now.

"Well, now you've met everyone in our Family," the Redguard stated, though at the same time Amaryllis dropped the form she was wearing and remained in her natural form, because this was the first time in her entire life that she had found someone, much less a group of individuals, that didn't run when they witnessed her transforming, before he beckoned to two of the others before they disappeared into the depths of the Sanctuary, "I know you know most of our names now, from overhearing us going over the details of our last couple of contracts, but you should at least know that our Dark Elf sister is called Gabriella and that our Argonian brother is called Veezara... I am Nazir, in case you were wondering where I had run off to."

"I'll have to talk with all of them later, but it's nice to meet all of you." Amaryllis admitted, because if these assassins, her new Family, were going to treat her like one of their own and not scream because of her true form, or outright try to end her life because of what they saw, than she figured that she could try to learn more about them, before she recalled the reason why Astrid had her come down here so quickly, "Anyway, since you guys were talking about contracts, Astrid told me that you might have some smaller side contracts for me to take on, while she finalizes the last couple of details on my first major contract."

"Did she now?" Nazir asked, though his tone revealed that he was only messing with her, that he knew that Astrid wanted him to give Amaryllis some work so they could see how well of an assassin she truly was, indicating that the small test back in the shack had only been the beginning, which made sense due to everything she had seen so far, before Nazir focused on what he had been thinking about before the others talked about their contracts, "Well, as it turns out, I happen to have a few lingering contracts we haven't had the chance to complete just yet, and there are more of them, dribbling in from time to time. I'll assign them to you, and the rest of our Family, as they become available, not to mention that I'll assign them based on the skills of the one that's asking me for more work. Finally, and most importantly, these contracts are to be completed at your leisure."

"Really?" Amaryllis asked, because while she understood the system of making sure the more experienced assassins took on the harder contracts that were being offered, so the newer assassins didn't get themselves killed by something that was far beyond their current skill level, she was surprised that they could be completed whenever the assassin that was assigned them wanted to do the deed, instead of the clients having a time limit on their target and expecting someone to take care of the target on time, "That sounds... incredibly simple."

"Trust me, it is." Nazir stated, where Amaryllis got the feeling that, while he agreed with what she said, it was how he and his Family had operated for some amount of time and there was no changing that right now, meaning that all she could do is get used to how the Family worked and accept whatever contracts he had for her, even though she suspected that her first couple of assignments would be a lot simpler than what Arnbjorn and the others had been given so far, or at least it would be that way for a time, before Nazir shifted his head for a moment, "I'll be honest with you, these aren't particularly glamorous assassinations, and most of them don't pay that much either, especially with the war going on, but they'll keep you busy until something more interesting comes along. If you want my advice, just do the contracts when you're able to, as none of the targets I'm going to give you will be going anywhere anytime soon, so there's no real time limit, meaning you are free to stalk your targets for however long you want to and strike when you think the time is right. I also tend to give contracts out in groups, so everyone usually has two or three to do at a time, purely depending on how many I have on hand, so you can either hand them in one at a time or turn in the whole group when all the names have been crossed off the list I'll give you, either way works for me."

"I understand." Amaryllis said, as everything she learned from Nazir made sense, even if she was unfamiliar with how a group of assassins was supposed to operate, since she was an infiltrator and not someone who actually killed those that she was spying on, but the system that he had in place seemed to work quite well for the Family and she saw no reason to challenge it at all, to which she braced herself for what she was about to say, "Well then, I guess at this point all I can say is hit me with the first list of contracts you have prepared for me."

"Very well then." Nazir replied, where he reached into a small pouch that he kept at his side and pulled some small slips of paper out of it, where she caught the names of the other members of their Family, indicating that he was already prepared for when the others came to him for their next contracts, before pulling out a slip with her name, confirming the fact that Astrid had informed everyone about her arrival, if everything else before this point wasn't enough evidence to tell her they had been expecting her arrival, "I have three targets available for you at the moment, to go with your current level of skill, and if you improve your skill as you take on these contracts I might give you some of the more challenging stuff when you return. As it stands your first targets are the beggar Narfi, an ex-miller by the name of Ennodius Papius, and a mine boss called Beitild, perfect targets for someone like you, and when you're done with them, if you're still alive that is, we'll see if I have more for you."

"Okay, and where would I find these people?" Amaryllis inquired, because based on what little she had been told she had to assume that they were spread out across the whole of Skyrim and the nine Holds that everyone lived in, which was why she needed a general idea of where each of them lived so she could figure out what route she was going to take when she left the Sanctuary, though to be honest she felt that taking out a beggar, an ex-miller, and a mine boss, as the first round of targets, seemed like they were easy targets and one even felt like it could possibly be a mercy killing.

"Narfi is located in Ivarstead, which is located near the base of the Throat of the World," Nazir stated, though he didn't move to get out a map or anything, something that told Amaryllis that she was going to have to memorize where her first set of targets were located and then either check her own map or the map that was near the entrance, which she was fine with doing as she waited for him to give her the information that she had asked for, "Ennodius, last I heard, was living in a small camp that's up the road from Anga's Mill, which rests to the west of Windhelm, a location you may or many not have passed by on your way to see Aventus, and Beitild lives in Dawnstar, a city on the northern coast of Skyrim."

Amaryllis thanked him for the information and pulled out her map for a few seconds, where she found that Dawnstar was where Nazir said it would be, since this was the first time she had gone looking for it after someone mentioned it, while at the same time finding out that the Throat of the World seemed to be close to Whiterun, or at least that was what the map was making her think due to how it was designed, even though her memory of the mountain told her it had to be further than what she was considering. Based on those two points she guessed that her best course of action would be to head up to Dawnstar to figure out where Beitild lived and take her out when she was ready to do so, then head along the road that would bring her to Windhelm so she could take care of Ennodius, before heading down to where Ivarstead was located, to find and release Narfi from his torment, which would then allow her to circle back around to Falkreath, to turn in all three of her first contracts and see what else there was for her to do. Once she had an idea of where she needed to go, and the order that she was going to go in, she slipped the map back into her pack and explored the rest of the Sanctuary, mostly to see what else the group of assassins had to live with, and to see the area that would be her home for the rest of her life, or at least it sure seemed that way, before she even considered leaving the area so she could head to her first target. The first room she came to, after leaving the main chamber where everyone seemed to gather when talking about their contracts and sharpen their weapons for the future, was a small room that had two interesting tables, one that was used to take the various components of the land, flowers, roots, and a number of other things, to make poisons and potions, while the other was one of the arcane enchanters, something she didn't know how to operate at all. It appeared that Babette liked to sit in this area, due to the small table that was near the left side of the room, where a decent sized spider was walking around and seemed to dip it's legs into the small pool that was near it, though Amaryllis had to assume that it was a pet or something and continued her exploration, leaving Babette to do whatever it was she was doing.

She headed down the stairs that were on the right side of the crafting room, as she was going to call it, though when she reached the bottom of the short set of stairs she found what seemed to be the eating area, as two long tables had been put end to end, to serve as a place where the Family could eat, if they wanted to be near each other, though she was sure the others would come here first thing in the morning before heading out to do whatever it was that they did, at least until it was time to go do a contract. The other things in the eating area were the fireplace, where one could cook their food, a pair of stone thrones, and a stone tablet that was incredibly faded, but, from what she could see, it used to be something important to the Dark Brotherhood, like a set of rules they used to follow or something, which had to be the rules of the older generations of this organization and had likely stopped being followed rather recently, as she assumed that it would have been in pristine condition if they were still being followed by the Family. From there it was a simple matter for her to walk up the wooden stairs that lead to the upper level of this room, which actually wasn't above the eating area, which was where she found what had to be the sleeping area for the rest of the Family, since Astrid's room was near the entrance of the Sanctuary, but before she moved forward she noticed that Nazir, at the very least, had walked into the eating area she had just been in and seemed to be snacking on some bread at the moment, which was rather odd in her mind and wasn't something she was curious about. Instead of worrying about Nazir, and what he was doing, Amaryllis continued exploring the rest of the Sanctuary and found that there were a few more rooms, one that seemed small and had a stone bed, which she had to assume belonged to Babette, a room that didn't seem like it was being used all that much, even though it had a bed for someone to sleep in and a table for them to sit at, and a chamber that rested behind the odd circular glass panel she had seen from where Nazir and the others had been when she first entered the Sanctuary, though based on what she knew this had to be an important room of some kind, meaning she'd figure out what it was in time.

The Sanctuary was interesting, that much she could determine from what she had seen, and she had the feeling that, in time, she would fully integrate herself into the Family that she had joined, even if that meant getting used to the idea of becoming an assassin and fulfilling the contracts she was given, but she was eager to see what the future held for her and her new Family, after she completed her first set of contracts and came back to turn them in, as something told her that once the Keeper arrived great things would happen for them all.

Brotherhood: On the Road Once More

Despite the fact that Amaryllis knew that the other assassins were waiting to hear about her skills, and what she needed to do to improve as an assassin, she ended up spending a few hours inside the Sanctuary, just talking to her new Family and getting to know them a little, while at the same time revealing a few pieces of her past as well, turning each talk into a full conversation between her and the others. In fact the first person she ended up talking to was Babette, mostly because she was curious as to why the Dark Brotherhood would employ a child to fulfill contracts, no matter how good they were at killing people, and was surprised to learn that Babette was actually a vampire, a long-lived creature that would retain their form for many years, until they either cured themselves of their vampirism or died. Babette explained that the reason she was like this was because she had been bitten by another vampire three hundred years ago, when she was ten years old, before becoming a blood sucking vampire herself, something that she was perfectly fine with and didn't seem to be in any hurry to cure, if such a thing was possible in Amaryllis' mind, something that only came from her lack of knowledge on the subject, since it was possible that the vampires of Skyrim were different from the ones in her home world, according to all of the tales anyway. Another thing she also discovered was that Babette was rather fond of fooling people by playing the innocent girl routine and even tried to pass herself off as a kidnapped girl when Amaryllis approached her, something that she might have bought had she not seen Babette talking with the other assassins like they were her family or comrades, and Amaryllis knew that feeling an individual's emotions would have told her the truth, but she did admit that it would fool anyone that didn't know the little vampire. She also found out that Babette, thanks to her long life, was a master alchemist, capable of creating powerful poisons and potions for the members of her Family, provided they had the coin to cover the cost of the ingredients, while also being told that the spider was called Liz, and that it was friendly to all members of their Family, showing that it was like a pet that they treated rather well, even though it seemed to like Babette more than Festus and the others.

After talking with Babette for a time, and learning what she could about the vampire and the spider, Amaryllis got up from where she had been sitting and headed over to another part of the Sanctuary, only to found Gabriella sitting nearby, which she guessed made sense considering that there weren't all that many places for someone to sit in this place, given the lack of rooms and whatnot, especially when most of the stone chairs were broken from age or were covered in supplies, such as herbs or metal ingots for example, making it hard for someone to use them. Gabriella, from what she discovered, was more than willing to talk about herself, since she had seen what Amaryllis had done with Babette, and she admitted that she enjoyed moonlit nights, taking long walks on the beach, knitting, and unicorns, which actually came as a surprise to Amaryllis, even though she knew that they wouldn't be like the unicorns from Equestria. That statement was followed by Gabriella admitting that she once went for a seaside stroll one night, that happened to be a moonlit night oddly enough, and found a unicorn, something that she stabbed to death with her crochet needle, which worried Amaryllis for a moment, as that wasn't what she was expecting to hear when she asked what sort of things Gabriella liked to do, but at this point it seemed like comments like this might be normal in Skyrim and that she would have to get used to hearing similar tales, as everyone seemed to have one odd tale. The interesting thing about this particular assassin, at least in Amaryllis' eyes, was the fact that she claimed to be an accomplished seer, much like Olava the Feeble in Whiterun, which was when Gabriella made the bold statement that the old lady was even even stronger than she was, and there was even the fact that she had already seen the day she died, but, interestingly enough, she couldn't quite place the circumstances or events that would lead to that event. Amaryllis wasn't so sure why someone would want to see the future and determine the day that they would finally meet their end, especially if they couldn't see what was the cause of such a thing, but she found it interesting and moved away from Gabriella once the conversation was done, before heading down into the eating area, where she found Festus, Nazir, and Veezara sitting at the table.

As it turned out Nazir already knew what she wanted to ask him, as in learning more about him, and he revealed that he was a Redguard, in case Amaryllis had a hard time determining what the different races of the land looked like, even if she figured out that he was messing with her, before revealing that his past was long and storied, something that he wasn't about to share with someone he had just met and didn't trust all that well, as well as informing her that blood was a shade of crimson he could scarcely describe. The part that Amaryllis latched onto was the part where Hammerfell, the land he came from, was to the southwest from where their Sanctuary was located and that it was a barren and rocky place, with the vast Alik'r Desert taking up the vast majority of the land, mostly because this happened to be the first time she heard anything about Hamerfell and it interested her, though to gain more information she would have to earn Nazir's respect or something to get him to tell her more. Veezara, on the other hand, was more than willing to share some information with her, apparently finding that it would be best to keep their new sister informed of who they all where, and revealed that he was a Shadowscale, which was an Argonian that was born under the sign of the Shadow, one of the constellations of this world, and that at one point in time he had been an assassin that was working for the King of Black Marsh. In fact he also told her that he believed that he was the last of his kind, the last Shadowscale to be exact, and that the ancient tradition would die with him, once he met his end, but he also told her that he, like everyone in this Sanctuary, trusted in Astrid and her judgement, especially the fact that they would follow her orders until the day they met their end and their Family was broken, which he didn't see coming for the foreseeable future, not with her joining them. After asking Veezara and Nazir a few questions, and getting some interesting answers in the process, she found that it didn't take her long to find out some things about Festus, like he was a prodigy when it came to the magical arts of this world and that he had been able to cast the more simple spells with ease when he was one, was completing complex incantations by the age of three, and, based on what he said, was apparently resurrecting corpses when he was seven, all of which he was proud of.

The other interesting fact she discovered was that he had been a teacher at the College of Winterhold, where he left after two years of teaching due to how safe it felt and the fact that none of the other mages really appreciated the art of the Destruction school, something he had dedicated his life to, which had to be spells like Fireball and Ice Spike, based on what he told her when he explained the various schools of magic to her, mostly in the sense that he determined that she had an interest in the subject and wanted to enlighten her. Amaryllis decided that this would kill two birds with one stone, as she had originally planned to visit the College at some point in the future and see if she could find someone to answer a very important question of hers, but the moment she asked Festus about traveling to another world he told her the same thing that Farengar had told her back in Whiterun, that it was impossible, given that she was thinking of going from a world like this one and traveling to another one, instead of moving from this world and going to one of the realms of Oblivion, which was possible to some degree. That cemented the fact that she was stuck in this world in her mind, which also meant that she was going to have to get used to the land she had been sent to, before shrugging and thanking him for answering her question, even if it wasn't something she wanted to hear since it meant that her quest to find her missing Queen was over, leaving Queen Chrysalis trapped in whatever location she had been moved to, though she was sure someone would find her at some point in time. At the same time, however, she recalled what she knew about the Dark Brotherhood, which she had to admit was very little and that such a thing would have ashamed her missing Queen had she heard about this, and guessed that she would focus on honing her skills, respecting her new Family and what rules they had, and doing all the contracts that she was given from this day forward, to become a skilled assassin, to which she focused her attention away from the simple fact that she was trapped in this world and made sure to focus on proving herself to Nazir, Festus, and the rest of her new Family members, since they seemed to be holding her to a higher standard due to her powers, where only time would tell if she met them or not.

"You seem disappointed by something." Veezara commented, as while he knew it would take some time for Amaryllis to truly open up to them, and reveal even more about herself, like they had done for her while they were chatting since her arrival in the Sanctuary, he could see that there was something she had been thinking about and was disappointed by the answer that Festus had given her, even though, according to every tale he and the others had heard, she wasn't the first one to be disappointed by what the elderly assassin said.

"Well, my original quest, since arriving in this land, was to find a way back home, and this is the second time I've been given that answer," Amaryllis replied, as she found that trying to lie to a group of assassins that could kill her in an instant if they so desired to be a bad thing, especially after they took her into their Family, so she figured telling the truth to them was a good idea, before she shrugged for a moment, to show that she wasn't bothered by the answer all that much, even if she knew it would take some time to get over the reality of her situation, "I have learned that I can't go back to where I came from, and I have accepted that fact now, which means all I can do is dedicate myself to the Family and prove Astrid right, that one day I'll be a skilled assassin like the rest of you."

"You'll have to tell us about the land you come from, though I can understand if you want to wait before going that, since a few of us are doing the same thing," Veezara said, his tone revealing that he was more than willing to wait for such a thing to happen, especially since this first set of contracts Amaryllis had been given would test her skills as an assassin and there was always the chance that someone could kill her while she was on the job, as it had happened a few times in the past, so if she returned from this, and was successful in taking out her targets, he would be one of the first to ask her about the land that she had once called home and learn more about the quest she had mentioned.

Amaryllis nodded as she pulled herself from the chair she had been sitting in, showing them that she would be happy to share some of her tales about the land she came from with them, before she moved and sought out the last member of her new Family, Arnbjorn, who she discovered was in the main chamber that everyone had been gathered in earlier, when she first arrived in the Sanctuary, where he was working on making sure his weapon was ready for his next assignment or two, meaning he was sharpening his battleaxe. As soon as she came to a stop she repeated what she did with the other members of the Family, asking them about themselves and their past, only for Arnbjorn to inform her that he was actually Astrid's husband and that she had a tendency to not tell new recruits that, so they wouldn't think she was playing favorites or something like that, something she kind of agreed with and said nothing to as she waited for him to continue speaking, even though it did seem like Arnbjorn had been expecting her to leave before he sighed and continued talking while he worked on his weapon. The interesting part about all of this was that he had a tendency to call people by nicknames, like beef roast, hamshank, and a few others, before he informed her that the only reason he was trusting her wasn't because he liked her or anything, in fact he didn't like new recruits until they proved themselves to him, and the only reason he was talking to her like this was because Astrid trusted her, which was strange since she figured she would have to learn Astrid's trust by completing her objectives. The other fact that Amaryllis found to be interesting was that Arnbjorn was a werewolf, something that he admitted without her having to ask him anything that would reveal this information, and that he had a few more things to tell her, like the fact that he enjoyed killing things, challenging animals or fighters, that he had once been a member of the Companions and left due to them finding his methods disturbing, that he hated annoying people, and, oddly enough, he despised the color blue, due to it giving him headaches apparently and caused her to note not to wear that color when she was near him. Once she learned all of that, however, Arnbjorn went back to his sharpening and focused on that once more, to which she walked away from him as she wondered what she was going to do next, as now that she knew a few things about everyone in her new Family, save for Astrid anyway, there were two things she could do, either stay here for the rest of the day and prepare herself for the first set of contracts she had been given, or she could leave now and see what the land had to offer her as she headed for her first target... but it didn't take her long to come to a decision on the matter.

Amaryllis bid some of her new Family members farewell for the time being, mostly Babette and Veezara, as they were the ones that seemed the most friendly out of all the people she had encountered in the Sanctuary, especially since the others were either busy with their own actions or weren't paying her too much attention, before she quickly walked back over to the tunnel that held the entrance for their Sanctuary, where she opened the black door, finding that it didn't speak to her like when she stopped in front of it earlier, and headed outside. In that moment she found that she must have been inside the Sanctuary for a longer period of time than what she originally thought, as the sun was setting and that it was closer to the time of the day when the civilians of the Holds would likely be heading to the local inn for an hour or two, for food or to hang out with a couple of their friends, or they would be heading home to eat dinner, relax a little, and then go to bed before rising with the sun tomorrow morning, to do whatever the new day held for them. Part of her knew that moving in the shadows like this was good, since it would make it hard for potential enemies to see her and attack her, but, at the same time, she wasn't totally familiar with this land and knew that she would have to be careful while she was exploring the lands of Skyrim, especially since some of the more dangerous creatures and individuals would be coming out while the rest of the Holds went to be. Before she set out, and started on the path to Dawnstar, she pulled out her map and looked at it once more, mostly to refresh her memory before she left this place, where she found that the eerie glow of the black door gave her some light and allowed her to see what she was looking at, where she found she could either head back to Whiterun and take the path she used to reach Windhelm, only turn left instead of right at the fork in the road, or she could head in the direction of Rorikstead, which would take her to the small city of Morthal at some point, or she could head by Redoran's Retreat and find the seemingly hidden path that appeared to go over the mountain, which would be dangerous since there was no telling what sort of creatures might be guarding the path in question and might be more deadly than what was on the roads she had to pick from.

Since Nazir said that there was no real time limit on her contracts, since they weren't going anywhere, she decided to take the route that ran through Rorikstead, as it would allow her to see more of the land and, at the same time, potentially give her a chance to practice her skills on any bandits that she came across, before she put her map away and started walking up the hill on her left, so she could return to the stone path she had walked down earlier and retraced her steps as she headed for the top of the hill, all so she could head down to the plains of Whiterun once more.

As Amaryllis started walking the first thing she spotted was the odd ruins that were to her left, which had been to her right when she walked down this road earlier, and while she was interested in seeing what was in there, based on what she had found in the chests of the bandit camps she had cleared out, she decided not to bother with it right now and continued on her way, since she was sure it was full of either undead or necromancers, two types she didn't want to deal with right now and turned her attention away from the ruins in question. A few minutes later she glanced at her right again and noticed the ruined tower she had spotted earlier as well, only this time around she could see a light coming from the top, meaning that someone had to be calling that area home, especially since it allowed them to see everything that was in the area that was around them, before she shook her head for a moment and turned to the left when she reached the fork in the road, so she could head down the path that would let her pass by the lone mill she had seen earlier. She still found it odd that there was a mill so far from town, which in a way she guessed was good since it allowed them to better access the trees that were around them, and about ten minutes later, when she walked by the area that the mill called home, she found two people working outside that she assumed were the owners of the mill, but while she knew it was odd for them to be out at this time, especially since it was dark out and that meant it was harder to see what they were doing, she decided not to bother them and continued walking down the path that was in front of her. From there she spent a few more minutes and found the cabin that the pair of hunters called home, who had to be sleeping at the moment, given that no one was resting around the campfire and she heard some snoring as well, while a few minutes later, when she was further down the path, she discovered a new cave that she hadn't see earlier, when she was walking up the hill earlier, before noticing that nothing was in front of it and, more importantly, that she didn't need to stop for anything, to which she focused on walking down the hill, as it would bring her to the fork in the road that she was looking for.

Of course, since it was nighttime out and all she had was the light of the moons to show her the path she was following, it took her about fifteen to twenty minutes to reach the area she had been heading towards, where Amaryllis came to a stop for a few moments as she reached the fork in the road, though instead of taking the path on her right, and walking back to Whiterun, she turned towards the path that was on her left and started walking towards Rorikstead, so she could see what else this land had to offer her.

Not a few minutes away from the fork she had been trying to reach was another fork in the road, this one heading off in the direction of Markarth, one of the other Holds that made up Skyrim, which she determined was a place she would have to visit at some point in time, maybe when she wasn't focused on becoming a better assassin, a thought that still seemed strange to her, despite what she told the members of her new Family. Sure, she had some talent for the art of stealth, due to being an infiltrator for the Hive, but going out and killing people was never something she did for her Queen, and yet, despite her original thoughts on the matter, she found that taking out bandits didn't bother her and she had no problems doing the same to Grelod, who doomed herself the moment she heard the old lady speak to the children. In that moment she sighed and continued walking along the path she had chosen, as she knew that if she spent too much time thinking about what she was doing, giving up on her quest and taking up the life of an assassin, it would be morning and some of the predators would be out and about looking for prey, something that she didn't want to be given that some animals had a decent amount of strength in their bodies. Though thinking about the sabre cats and wolves brought up an interesting observation, as she found a few dead animals resting on the right side of the road, two sabre cats and three wolves, but while it looked like they might have fought each other, and someone that was passing by moved their bodies out of the way for any carriages that used this road, she had to assume that a soldier had done the deed, to make the land safer for everyone who traveled the roads. Regardless of which thought was correct, as either of them could be, she was happy that the road was cleared, mostly because it meant that she didn't have to spend some time fighting the wildlife on her way to Dawnstar, though as she walked she remembered something she had forgotten to do when she left the Sanctuary, where she let the magic wash over her body for a moment as she changed back into her Khajiit disguise, even though she took a second or two to make sure everything was in order before resuming her journey.

She honestly had no idea know why she liked this particular form so much, but it was one she could use with little effort to learn the differences between her natural form and this one, even though she was a little disappointed in herself for not realizing that she had forgot to put on a disguise when she left the Sanctuary, since she had dropped it to show her Family her true form, and there was always a chance that someone could have seen her change forms, hence why she stopped for a moment and glanced around her surroundings. Of course there didn't appear to be anyone around this area, or out in the plains that were near where she was standing right now, but she knew that it was better to have a disguise on and not take any changes, especially in a land that might not like her natural form, even if her new Family seemed to be one of the few exceptions to that rule, something she was going to have to get used to, since the rules were slightly different than what she was used to, with a few being the exact same. As she thought about that, however, she knew that her new Family weren't the only ones that seemed willing to accept creatures like her, as from what she heard the ponies in Ponyville had been doing the same thing, but with no way to get home there was nothing she could do but accept that this was her fate and move on with her life, though this time around, when she thought about that, she made absolutely sure that this was the last time she considered something like that. Skyrim was her home now, there was no changing that fact, and the Hive that had been her family for years was gone as well, replaced with a brand new Family, even if they were different from what she was used to being around, but something told her that she could make it through this and find her place, even if it was with a group of assassins and that she would eventually develop the skills that would put her on the level of Nazir, Babette, or even Astrid. Once she came to that conclusion, and was ready to stop thinking about it, Amaryllis continued following the path that was in front of her and headed in the direction of Rorikstead, as it was the first major area that was along the route she was taking would come to, followed by the city of Morthal and finally Dawnstar, though to get to her destination she would have to take a winding path to reach her destination, based on what she recalled from the map and what was on it.

It took her some time before she reached an area where a small path branched off from the road, where she found that it lead to a hole in the ground, or more like one of the caves that she was starting to see a lot more of lately, but for now she decided not to bother with it and kept walking, as it had taken her between ten to twenty minutes to reach that part of the road and she knew that if she knew stopping to see everything that was around her she wouldn't be able to reach any of her destinations and she'd lose her chance to fulfill her contracts. As she soon discovered it took her the same amount of time to find something else, as in a stone monument of some kind that was resting off to the right of the road she was walking on, maybe a marker for some ancient battle or burial site, since it was likely built by the Nords and they seemed to like marking the various areas of the land in some manner, meaning that she'd have to ask someone about it to figure out what it was used for. Other than those two things she didn't see much, other than another fortress somewhere on the hills to her left, like an hour walk from where she was, and what appeared to be a camp on the other side of the massive hill that she was staring at, though from this far it was hard to see what the second area really was, especially with the time of day, so she decided to ignore it and continued walking. After that the road was pretty empty, as no one else was out this late at night and there was no reason for most of the animals to care, so she was able to make it to Rorikstead in about twenty minutes, where she found a few houses and farms resting near an inn, which she decided to enter, as it was late and she figured she might as well get some rest before the next leg of her journey.

One thing she discovered was that the only person that was up at the moment, who was likely sleeping behind the counter until someone opened the door, was the owner of the establishment, a Nord man that was dressed in a white shirt and a tan pair of pants, though he was more than willing to rent out the room for an entire day, even though Amaryllis wasn't sure why every innkeeper decided to say that sort of thing, when she only needed it for a few hours, though he explained that it was a common rule for them to follow, given that some travelers required a decent amount of time to rest before leaving for the next leg of their journey. In the end she decided not to focus on that as she headed to the room that she would spend a few hours in, as when morning arrived all she was going to do was eat breakfast and leave the small village, but one thing that interested her was that the pair of guards she had seen when she reached Rorikstead hadn't charged at her and demand that she pay for her crimes, or something like that anyway, though that was when she cast her gaze down to her armor for a second. She figured that someone wearing the armor of the Dark Brotherhood would have been rushed by the various guards of Skyrim, either to send the individual to jail or outright kill them before they murdered someone, but from the looks of it the Family likely changed the look of their armor every now and then, to make sure their members go unnoticed for a time, which was fine by her, or maybe the guards didn't know what the armor looked like and just kept an eye on suspicious individuals. At the same time she had to wonder if it might be a good idea to weave a spell over her body and make her armor appear like the leather armor she had been wearing earlier, which was an illusion spell that she and the other changelings learned when they were young and didn't use all that much, based on the strain it put on their mana reserves, but in this new world, where she had found that her mana was no longer connected to her need to feed on love, she had to wonder how long she could hold that spell up for in this world. In the end Amaryllis sighed and laid on the bed, because the thought was a good idea and she might try it in the near future, just to see if she could actually use the spell and really disguise herself while she wandered the land, before she let out a yawn that lasted for a few moments and then drifted off to sleep, so she could rest and recover for what she was going to do in the morning.

As it turned out she slept for about six to seven hours, which she felt was more than enough, and as soon as she got up she purchased something to eat and made sure that she had enough energy to get through part of the day, though for the moment she wasn't stressed for coin, where she felt that keeping the majority of her gold inside her personal chest, which she could summon and dismiss whenever she wanted, was the best strategy so she didn't draw the attention of bandits or anyone that was looking to steal something from her. She had to admit that it was an interesting spell, one that wasn't like what she had seen in her home world, not that she knew much about the magic that the unicorns practiced and used all the time, and she determined that she going to use it every now and then, depending on the situation and how much stuff she was carrying on her, since this might also allow her to carry off vast amounts of treasure without wearing herself down in the process, which might have been what the spell was intended for before it seemed to vanish from what the mages of this world used to learn about magic. While she ate her breakfast she found that the innkeeper, Mralki, didn't want his son Erik to become an adventurer and wanted him to remain here, in Rorikstead, much to his son's annoyance, though while she felt that it was a little unfair for Mralki to decide the path of his grown son's life, and not listen to his son at all, she did come to the decision that she shouldn't get involved in this at all, least he have the guards escort her out of the building or something for sticking her nose into someone else's business. Other than that it seemed like everyone else that called the village home was eating in this morning, in their own homes to be exact, and that the innkeeper didn't seem to mind what was going on right now, especially since he had a paying customer and it seemed like it had been a few days since he had one, though after some time Amaryllis finished her food, thanked Mralki for the room, and then headed back to the room for a moment so she could banish her summoned chest once more, before departing from the inn so she could continue along the path that was leaving Rorikstead and resume her journey.

Amaryllis found something interesting as she followed the path that lead out of Rorikstead, which headed towards another fork in the road according to her map, and that was that there was one more house off to her left, where she assumed the owners were farmers and were quite busy working on their field, especially since she thought she spotted someone doing just that, up on top of the hill she was walking by, but in the end she focused on following the path and continued walking towards her destination, which just so happened to involved heading down a hill so she could reach a river.

"You picked a bad time to get lost, friend." a voice said, stopping Amaryllis as she was partway down the hill that she was walking down, where she spotted a chest in a cart in front of her, though off on her left were two archers and off on her right were more bandits that were coming out from the rock they were hiding behind, all of them looking like they wanted to kill her and take her stuff from her corpse, even though she noticed that of her soon to be enemies were Nords, instead of a mix of races, like she was expecting.

"What do you mean I 'picked a bad time to get lost'?" Amaryllis replied, as she had no idea why bandits would say that to someone when this was a public road that everyone used to get from one part of Skyrim to another, even if there were a number of other routes they could use, though at the same time she drew her dagger and dodged the incoming attack from the bandit that was in front of her, before driving her blade into his chest and then shifted her stance so she could lift her foe into the air and make him take two arrows to the back, only to pull back seconds later as she focused on the rest of the bandits, "This is a public road, with people coming and going all the time, and I just so happen to be on my way to one of the other major cities, so there's no way I could have gotten lost, as you claim I have..."

"Just kill her and take her stuff!" another bandit stated, which happened to come from a Khajiit that must have been right behind a rock or something, since this was the first time Amaryllis had noticed her, where she noticed that the first bandit she had taken out was male, by the look of his body, leaving the two archers as Nords, though what the Khajiit said made Amaryllis focus on the fight and less on trying to convince her opponents why the opening statement they had picked was a bad one, when they could have said something else.

Instead of taking out the Khajiit, who was trying to run her through with her blade, Amaryllis targeted the two archers that were readying their next arrows and were getting ready to loose them, as they seemed to be the more immediate threat and she wanted to make sure they had been taken care of, especially since the Khajiit seemed to have terrible aim and just missed her repeatedly, meaning there was no reason for her to take this foe out yet, and that was counting the fact that at least one of the archers didn't want to hit the Khajiit. Fortunately things worked out in her favor, either due to the archers only having one arrow at the ready or not being prepared for when the leader of their group shouted at her to stall her for a time, which allowed her to get up close to the first archer and drive her dagger right into his head, though as the other archer readied his bow, however, she jumped backwards and let the arrow fly through the area she had been standing in a few seconds ago. Of course that left her with the Khajiit she had left behind, who was coming to stab her in the back and split her open like a purse, as that was what she told her, but she had one other weapon on her, the sword she had taken from Helgen, which she drew and parried the incoming attack with ease as she recalled what she had been taught in the brief time she had been in the now destroyed town. While she might be a novice at wielding a blade like this in battle, as she found daggers to be better suited for her and the fact that she was choosing to be an assassin now, her memory of all the movements allowed her to parry the incoming attacks as the remaining archer readied another arrow, one he planned on putting in her chest so he could kill her, but the mistake her foe made was that he stood nearby and let the Khajiit stall her for a few seconds. As soon as the archer was ready Amaryllis dodged the incoming arrow and ended up freaking out the Khajiit in the process, since she had to dodge to the side and nearly got hit with the attack, to which Amaryllis quickly rushed at her first target and swung her sword, where she cut the archer in half before another arrow could be readied and then turned around to parry another attack that came from her remaining foe, only for her to twist her sword to the side so she could knock her foe's blade to the side and stab the Khajiit in the chest.

With the way clear, since all the bandits were dead, Amaryllis retrieved her steel dagger and cleaned it, before putting it and her sword back in their sheathes, which was followed by her collecting the coins that the bandits had, picked up the arrows that were laying on the ground and what the archers had been carrying on their backs, and discovered that one of the archers was carrying an Imperial bow, one she had seen some of the soldiers at Helgen carrying, so she switched it for the one she wasn't using and continued down the hill, as she discovered that the chest was nothing more than a simple distraction, especially since it was totally empty.

As she walked down the hill, to make up the time that she had wasted with the bandits, she noticed that there was a sabre cat some distance in front of her, resting at the bottom of the hill to be exact, and for a moment she wondered if she was going to have to kill it to move on, but, to her surprise, a deer ran by where the cat was resting and caused it to get up and chase after it, where they seemed to head to the river that was further down this path and disappeared in due time, which opened the way for her to move forward. She didn't know if her luck was good or if she had picked the perfect moment to be walking down the hill, but either way it worked out to her advantage, allowing her to continue along the path she had chosen without having to worry about an animal trying to kill her, like the wolves she had seen at the start of her journey in this land. One thing she had to think about was the river that was in the middle of her path, as it appeared that some sort of wooden fort had been constructed on the other side of the stone bridge that she had been planning on walking across, one that wasn't flying the red or blue flags she had seen so far, which were the signs of the side that watched over this area and everything that was around it, where the red flags indicated that the Imperials owned it while the blue flags did the same for the Stormcloaks, meaning this fort either belonged to the Hold it was in or it belonged to bandits. Given that she was just attacked by bandits, and she didn't see anywhere for them to rest during the night, she had to assume the camp belonged to bandits and that they would attempt to get some of her gold before allowing her to continue on her journey through this area, meaning this was a toll road, which informed her that her options were either pay the toll and move on, kill them and clear the area out, or just go down the path of the sabre cat and deer had run along and jump over some stones to get to the other side of the river, even if that meant she might annoy the cat in question.

When she got closer to the bridge, however, she discovered that the bandits were already under attack by a small force of soldiers that were wearing a green colored version of the chainmail armor the guards of Whiterun were wearing, which told Amaryllis that they had to be the guards of whatever Hold she was in, but that didn't stop her from rushing over to where the battle was happening so she could assist them. As it turned out there were five guards attacking the bandits, sticking together and not separating from each other, and while the bandits were focused on attacking them Amaryllis jumped up some rocks and dropped down behind one of the archers, where she slit his throat and then headed up the wooden stairs to cut down another distracted archer, eliminating two enemies so the guards could focus on the rest of the bandits they were fighting. From what she could tell the leader of these bandits was wearing an impressive suit of steel armor, the plate version she believed it was called, and seemed to have no problems letting his fellow bandits attack the guards that were invading their domain, a battle that the guards appeared to be winning since none of them were dead and the bandits ended up losing another one by the time Amaryllis was done with her two foes. Of course, since it seemed that the leader was preoccupied with having his fellow bandits attack the guards, and was trying to get them to cut down some of their enemies, she noticed that the leader's defenses were lowered, so she crouched for a moment, just to be sure he hadn't seen her yet, before carefully making her way over to where he was located, where she was thankful for the sounds of battle, otherwise she was sure he would have heard her in some manner.

In the end she was able to get up right behind him, without him noticing her at all, and readied her dagger, where she reached forward and made sure that her left hand pulled the leader's head back as she pulled her right hand backward a second later, allowing her dagger to cut through his neck and kill him, causing his body to fall to the ground without much resistance, where she stood up after doing the deed and found that she was in time to watch the guards cut down the last bandit that called this place home, before they put their weapons away.

"You have our thanks, friend," one of the guards, who Amaryllis assumed was the leader of their group, said, though at the same time the rest of his group seemed to take a break and make sure that none of them were seriously wounded, if the red potions they were handling were any indication, before the speaker gestured to the bandit leader that she had cut down from behind, "that man has been a thorn in the Jarl's side for a long time, and she finally sent us to take care of him and his group of bandits so we could restore order to this road. Help yourself to whatever he had on him and the chest that no doubt carries his loot, as you deserve some sort of reward for assisting us, though we'll salvage what his friends were using and put them to good use back in Morthal."

Amaryllis opened her mouth to respond, as she was more than happy to help them take out a group of bandits, since she didn't like them either, and that she would gladly take some sort of reward for her efforts, even if she hadn't done much in the grand scheme of things, but before she could actually say anything to him there was a thundering boom in the air and all of them glanced up at the sky for a moment, as they were all caught off guard by the sound that had stopped everyone from having a short conversation about the bandits.

Dovahkiin. a voice said, one that sounded old, like an elderly person had said it, and sounded like it was coming from someplace that was quite far from where she and the guards were standing, like from a mountain or something like that, though while she had no idea what was going on right now it was clear that the guards did have some idea of what the noise was all about, even though it did seem like it had been rolling thunder or something like it, making her wonder what in the world they had just heard.

"What in the world was that?!" Amaryllis asked, because she had no idea who in this land could project their voice to the entire land like that, even though back home she wasn't sure if either of Canterlot's princesses could do something like that, even though she knew of a few tales that spoke of something that was called the 'Royal Canterlot Voice', but she was sure that someone could tell her something about what just happened, hence the reason that she made sure to direct the question to the nearby guards.

"That was the voice of the Greybeards, summoning the Dragonborn to High Hrothgar," one of the other guards spoke up, though his tone revealed that he understood that Amaryllis was not from Skyrim and that she didn't know much about the various things the Nords held as their sacred traditions, something that he wasn't about to hold against her since he knew there were a number of visitors that didn't know this either, before he considered what they had just heard as he said the rest of what was on his mind, "such a thing has not happened for centuries, not since Tiber Septim was summoned, back when he was Talos of Atmora... it makes one wonder what could have caused them to do such a thing, and who among us could have the honor of being the next Dragonborn, along with learning the power of the Thu'um."

Amaryllis had to admit that she was a little lost by what he was saying, about a group called the Greybeards, a hero that the Nords called Dragonborn, the fact that no one's been called for a really long time, the Thu'um, and the talk of Talos, who she thought was a god until this moment. It was clear that the guard didn't have much more to say, as he was more interested in speaking to one of the other guards, so Amaryllis simply collected the gold the bandit leader had on him, as well as picking up a few healing potions from the shack he had been living in, before staring at the large chest that was in the bedroom, which had a magical staff, a gold pouch, and a few other things laying around, so all she took was the gold and the staff, as she figured she could sell the staff at some point. Once that was done she started to leave the shack and spotted a key laying on a nightstand, to which she shrugged and pocketed it as well, figuring that it must have gone to the chest and that since the leader hadn't locked the chest it served no purpose, meaning it could be traded in for a few coins as well, when she decided to stop in a town and sell some of the loot she had picked up so far. As soon as she was done with the shack, and bid the guards farewell so she could continue on her journey to Dawnstar, the group of guards headed into the small shack and continued looking for gear they could salvage, causing her to shake her head as she left them to their business.

She wasn't sure what was going on in Skyrim, what with the dragons and the summoning of the Dragonborn, whoever that was, but she was absolutely sure that it had nothing to do with her and that she would never cross paths with the one who had been chosen to fulfill some great prophecy or something like that, so she focused on her current mission and wondered what other dangers the road had in store for her.

Brotherhood: Visiting Dawnstar

As Amaryllis continued to follow the road that was in front of her, and put the decent sized bandit camp behind her, she had many things to think about, because while she was sure that she was never going to cross paths with the Dragonborn, who seemed to be a legendary hero for the people of Skyrim, she knew nothing about them and what made them hold such a sacred place in the hearts of the Nords. Then there were the Greybeards, who she had to assume were masters of the Thu'um, whatever that was, based on what the one guard said when he tried to explain what was going on, but all that did was leave her with more questions than answers, which was a little annoying if she was being honest, especially when she considered the fact that the Greybeards also called Tiber Septim to them at one point in time. The reason that part was even a tad bit confusing was because everything she had learned about Talos, which wasn't a whole lot since she had been focused on other things, lead her to believe the being in question was a god, not a nordic hero of old, though that did make her wonder if the Nords were revering him because he was a hero and was incorrectly thinking of him as a god, but that only made her determine that she would have to ask someone else what the truth of the matter was, when she had a chance to do that anyway. And then, to top all of this off, there was the matter of the Greybeards being able to shake the sky itself with their voices, or at least that was what the guard said and she could confirm thanks to the fact that she felt it happen, which meant she didn't want to bother them or even tick them off, as there was no telling what else they could do if that was a small sample of their power.

In the end Amaryllis found that she had learned nothing thanks to that experience, making her more confused as to what was going on in the rest of Skyrim, and she determined that trying to figure out what was going on would only make her even more confused, which was the reason why she was going to focus on walking to Dawnstar for the first side contract she had been given.

One thing she discovered as she followed the road was that whoever built the roads of Skyrim sure liked to build close to the rivers, as the stones that made up the path she was following were just a few steps from the water that was off on her left, and she knew that it would be easy for travelers to restock their water if they ran out, but even so it just seemed odd for it to be so close to the road. At least it was better than looking at what was on her right, as all there was in that area were rocks, grass, and weeds, with some flowers growing here and there, but for the most part there wasn't much to look at, hence the reason she focused on the area in front of her and occasionally looked at the river, just to see if there were any other routes that could be taken to reach this area, potential shortcuts and dangers that needed to be avoided in the future. The other thing she noticed was that she didn't seem to be making good time, as it seemed like it took her roughly an hour to reach this spot, meaning that, if the map of the land was to be believed, she would arrive in the city of Morthal just after noon, if her estimates were correct, meaning that she would likely arrive in Dawnstar sometime after eight. Of course that might work to her benefit, since some people would be heading home around that time of the night and some would be heading to the local inn to socialize for an hour, before turning in for the night, giving her the chance to study Beitild and the town, before deciding on how she was going to carry out this assassination and what escape routes she had. She was sure that if those guards had noticed that she was wearing the armor of the Dark Brotherhood they would have tried to stop her before she killed anyone, which would have been annoying since she didn't want to be cut down by anyone, but fortunately it appeared that her thoughts about Astrid and the others changing the armor every now and then seemed to be correct.

After some time walking, an hour by her estimates, Amaryllis found something that worried her, as some distance in front of her she found an overturned carriage that was resting near one of the short stone bridges of the land, where she spotted a pair of dead merchants, who happened to be on either side of the carriage, and a dead horse that was still tied to the front of the carriage. She paused for a moment and searched the area for any clues as to who had killed them and their horse, though all she found were some ugly looking arrows that seemed to have been dipped in some sort of liquid, before they had been used to hurt these people and kill them, but since she had no idea who could have made these ugly arrows it was hard to reach a decision on the culprit, so she decided to leave the mystery for the guards. One thing she did find out was that anything of value the merchants had on them had been stolen, as neither of them were carrying any gold pouches and the crates they had been carrying seemed to have been stolen in the last few days, making her wonder if the bandits at that camp were to blame or if there was another group of people in the area that needed to be taken out so the various travelers could feel safe again. Since it appeared that there wasn't much she could do, in terms of figuring out who was behind this and if she could avenge them, Amaryllis walked away from the carriage and continued down the road that she was following, knowing that someone would take the time to figure out what had happened and take out those responsible for the deed, so she focused on her current task once more. As she walked away from the river, by following the road in front of her, she spotted something interesting, and that was the fact that there must have been a split in the path that was on the other side of the bridge, as there was a fork in the road in front of her, only instead of her having to pick from two paths it appeared that two paths were merging into a single road, which made things must easier for her this time around.

A few minutes later she found herself stopping once more, though this time around it wasn't because of something that had been attacked or someone that was walking on the road with something she considered to be odd, like that one farmer with the painted cow. This time around she spotted a lone dog, whose fur was light brown, sitting off to the side of the road, almost like it was staring at the road for some reason, though when she stopped the dog turned towards her and barked for a moment, before getting up and heading into the trees that were nearby, where she spotted a shack off in the distance, just a minute or two from where she was standing. Since she knew time wasn't off the essence, due to the fact that none of her targets were actually going anywhere in the near future, other than the locations they called home, she decided to see what the dog wanted and followed him over to the shack in question, where she found some bread, apples, carrots, and a freshly caught rabbit hanging from one of the beams, before noticing the dead Nord that was resting in the bed on one side of the shack, with the dog sitting near him with a sad look in it's eyes. That was when she spotted a small journal resting near the dead Nord, which she picked up first, as she had the feeling that it could tell her what happened to the man, and found that he had contracted something called Rockjoint, a disease of some sort, something she guessed he had been unable to treat either earlier this morning or late last night, which caused his death by the looks of it. The journal also mentioned that the Nord had one last companion, a dog by the name of Meeko, who Amaryllis had to assume was the dog next to her, and that he was sure Meeko would be able to look after himself until death claimed him, something that wouldn't happen for a long time, as it seemed that the dog was in the middle of his natural lifespan and that it would be a number of years before he passed away, though once she stopped reading it she returned the journal to where it had been resting and considered what she had learned for a few moments.

Amaryllis knew that most people of the people in this land would probably leave Meeko alone and be on their way, due to the fact that they had satisfied their curiosity on what the dog wanted, but, since she wasn't like the people of Skyrim, she asked the dog if he wanted to come with her, instead of staying here for the rest of his days, even though she knew that he couldn't actually speak, and it didn't take long for Meeko to let out a happy bark to show he liked the idea, or at least that was what she assumed he was thinking. Since she now had a traveling companion, which she was going to have to tell all of her new Family members about when they got back to the Sanctuary, the first thing she did was gather the bits of food that hadn't spoiled yet, including the rabbit, as she was sure they could find an inn somewhere and cook some of the bits she had found. Once that was done, and she was sure that she wasn't leaving anything behind, she headed for the area of the shack that the front door would be in and headed outside, though she made sure to pick up the pricey looking book, chapter six of the A Dance In Fire series, and add it to her pack, as it was another thing she could sell off when she reached the next town. With that done, and the shack cleared of everything she could salvage, the last thing she thought about doing was burying the Nord, instead of leaving him resting on the bed like this, but Meeko seemed against the idea and growled whenever she tried to move his former master, so she dropped the idea and headed back to the road, this time with Meeko letting out a happy bark in the process, as if he liked being on the road. She was sure that she had spent at least ten minutes inside the small shack, trying to figure out what Meeko wanted from her and discovered that his former master was dead, but in the end she felt that this was a good thing, that the dog could see more of Skyrim and possibly have a good adventure, before she focused on the mission that was constantly getting interrupted and continued walking down the road that would take her to Dawnstar.

As it turned out there was another stone fortress about fifteen minutes down the road, off to her left to be exact, though what interested her was the fact that there were a number of skeletons scattered around the entrance area of the fort, all appearing to have been freshly killed, meaning that there must have been a necromancer or two who had been living in the fort. The reason she considered that was because there were two dead ladies laying on the ground near the entrance that would allow someone to enter the actual building of the fort, and the skulls on their black robes confirmed that they were necromancers, one of the worst kinds of magic users in her opinion since they were using their magic to constantly try and raise the dead for some odd purpose. Based on the fact that those guards had said they were from Morthal, the city that would be down a path on her left in the near future, she had to assume the necromancers had engaged some of the guards and had been beaten for their crimes of raising the dead, and possibly hindering the merchants that were on their way to one of the other Holds, which told her that they either cleared the entire area out or it was just the exterior of the fortress they had taken on, but, in all honesty, she wasn't about to mess with some mages that liked to raise the dead and kept moving down the road she was following. Amaryllis was sure that someone else would come along at some point in time and start looking at the recently slain undead, for anything of value, but she wasn't about to stick around and see if there were any other necromancers in the area, hence why she and Meeko were leaving this for someone else to bother with in the future, especially since she was more interested in aiding her new Family and proving herself as an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood. The only other thing that she noticed while she and Meeko followed the road, other than the rather decent stone bridge that allowed them to cross over the river that they eventually came to, were a group of robe wearing priests, who seemed to be wearing steel plate gloves and boots, walking in the direction of the fortress she had passed by earlier, either to put the undead back where they belonged, or they were heading elsewhere.

Due to her curiosity Amaryllis stopped them for a few seconds and asked them who they were, since this was the first time she had seen people like them, where she quickly discovered that the three Nords in question weren't wandering priests, which was what she originally thought the moment she spotted them, rather they were Vigilants of Stendarr, servants of the Divine that was known as the God of Mercy and Compassion, and that the three of them were in the middle of a very important mission. That important mission, according to the leader of their group, a female Nord who was accompanied by two male Nords as she found that they carried maces, was that they had heard rumors of a vampire residing in a fort near Morthal and were on their way to cleanse the area of its filth, as in a pack of blood suckers and not just a single one, meaning that they happened to be ready for battle and wouldn't stop until all of the vampires were dead. Amaryllis took a moment to think about what they had said, where she considered telling them that it might be possible that the guards of Morthal had already taken on whatever dangers were inside the fort and cleared it out, but, due to the fact that she didn't check the inside of the fort herself, she wasn't about to lie to the group, so she wished them luck and moved out of their way, allowing her and Meeko to watch as the Vigilants continued on their way to the fortress they had walked by about five to ten minutes ago, before she sighed as she continued walking. She knew that she had encountered some rather strange and odd people since her arrival in this land, but she wasn't expecting to meet so many odd characters on the roads of Skyrim, even though they were nothing compared to the ponies back home, with the exception of a few she had seen so far, though she hoped that no one else attempted to stop her and speak with her, otherwise she had the feeling she would never make it to Dawnstar.

It was a little after noon by the time Amaryllis turned to the left and descended into Morthal, with Meeko keeping up with her, though from what she could tell, as she walked down the hill that lead into the city, she had been wrong to call Morthal a city, as it was a small town that seemed to rest of the edge of a marsh. The first building on her left seemed to be the most important, as there were several citizens of the town trying to get the man that was standing in front of the front door to the building to do something, with one of them mentioning the Jarl and something about a wizard, so she had to assume the man on the stairs was the steward. From the looks of it the townspeople were afraid of something and were trying to get the Jarl to help them, where the tone of their voices indicated they couldn't believe they had a terrible person ruling over them since she continued to reside in her house and do nothing to aid them, but in the end Amaryllis ignored the crowd and walked around them, where Meeko followed her as she made her way to the Moorside Inn, where she could have them cook up the rabbit and a few of the items she picked up from the shack, so they could replenish their energy for the second half of their walk. As it turned out the Moorside Inn was nothing like the inns she had been in so far, save for the shape of the building, as there was almost no one inside it, save for the female Reguard innkeeper and a male Orc that was sitting in a chair on the right side of the room, who seemed to be in the middle of fiddling with some of the instruments that the bards of Skyrim used when they were preforming. Jonna, the Redguard that owned the inn, was more than happy to have a customer and got to work preparing the bits of food that Amaryllis handed her, along with fifty coins for her services and some water, though all that happened the Orc got up from where he was sitting and started to sing a song he had been taught, likely at a school or something, though what she discovered was that his singing was horrid and that it was nothing like what she heard from the other inns, which kind of make her wish Lurbuk, which was what the Orc was called, was one of her contracts, just to rid the world of his terrible singing.

As it turned out Jonna knew that Lurbuk's singing was bad and would have thrown him out a long time ago, if she had any paying customers to speak of, since there was little reason for one to stop in Morthal and with the war going on it had less travelers than before, but the Orc was paying for one of the rooms and she wasn't about to get rid of someone who was actually a paying customer, even if she disliked how he sang and whatnot. Amaryllis guessed that she couldn't fault that logic, as having money to pay her rent was a good thing and it didn't make sense to chase away the only person that was giving her payment for one of the rooms, but, at the same time, she suspected that Lurkuk might have some stuff inside his room, items that could be sold off at some point, if he was lacking funds, so maybe putting him out of his misery would help Jonna with her business, in some way. Of course she didn't want to cause a disturbance by killing Lurbuk, especially since he wasn't one of the contracts she had to fulfill, even though he sure seemed to be the type that someone might call on the Dark Brotherhood to deal with, so she decided to just ignore him for the time being and focused on her meal, but she did make sure to take a moment to make sure Meeko had something to eat as well, that way they were both ready for when she decided to leave the inn and continue on the road to Dawnstar. Despite ignoring Lurbuk, by not turning to look at him, the Orc insisted on coming over to the counter she was sitting at to talk with Jonna, where he mentioned that he was thinking of composing a song about her and wanted her opinion on which attribute of hers he should focus on, as if he was proposing to her or something, which caused Jonna to inform him that she wasn't at all interested in the thought of being immortalized in song, causing him to inform her that she would regret this, like she was missing out on letting the next generations know of her beauty, as he went back to what he had been doing earlier.

By the time Amaryllis was ready to leave Morthal, where she and Meeko left the building and started to depart from this small city, part of her wished she hadn't stopped in the first place, as Lurbuk had no skill in the art of being a bard and didn't seem to notice it, and that part of her really wanted to head back into the inn and put her dagger in his head, but instead of doing that she just sighed and continued along the path that was in front of her, making sure to keep this place in mind for later, in case a contract for Lurbuk appeared in the future.

As she walked down the road, however, one of the things she found to be interesting was all the snow that rested in the area around her, especially since they were so close to a swamp, but at the very least it didn't appear to be the colder months of the year, so she and Meeko were just fine and didn't have to worry about the cold claiming them, even though she knew that winter in this land had to be harsh on everyone. At the same time she glanced at the sky and noticed that it was around one o'clock in the afternoon, meaning she must have stayed inside the inn for about thirty minutes, given the time it had been when she arrived in Morthal, though this did tell her that her earlier thoughts on the time might be more accurate, that it would definitely be close to eight o'clock by the time she reached her destination, meaning she might not have time to see what Beitild was up to before she returned to her house, which would force her to wait until morning, as she didn't want to risk being seen entering her target's home, but it would give her some time to get the layout of the city so she could plan out her first true assassination. After about fifteen to thirty minutes later she found another carriage that seemed to be under attack, though this time around it appeared that a pair of mages were in the middle of dueling a pair of bandits, but instead of fighting near the carriage, which had a dead horse, the small group moved into the wilds as she heard the sound of them fighting each other, only to hear the sounds of wolves joining in as they tore into the people that were apparently invading the area they called home, something that caused her to raise an eyebrow as she waited to see the outcome of this skirmish. As it turned out neither the mages or the bandits were the winners of the battle, as the group of wolves, while sustaining injuries that would heal in time, ended up taking out both of their foes and wandered back to where their home rested, to which Amaryllis decided not to bother the wolves and returned to the road that she and Meeko were following, though she was happy to see that her new companion didn't want to tangle with the wolves either, especially after hearing what they were able to do.

Some time passed before she came across something else, which was off to the right this time around, where she found a small mining town by the name of Stonehill, as that was what the sign said, which had one actual building on one side of the road leading into it, a road that happened to lead straight to the opening of the mine, something that must make the lives of the miners that much easier when people come for their shipments. On the other side of the road she spotted a number of tents that were wrapped around a campfire, which she suspected was where all the workers gathered when they weren't working in the mornings and evenings, as in before and after their hard day of mining, so the fact that she didn't see anyone outside, save for a lone guard, meant that everyone was inside the mine and that they were mining for whatever ore happened to be inside the mine, like iron or silver. As such she decided to keep moving, as she was burning daylight and there was no telling when she was going to arrive outside her destination, especially since there seemed to be too many distractions happening in the areas that she was walking through, meaning this part of Skyrim seemed to be much more violent than the other parts she had walked through over the last couple of days, something that had to be far more annoying to the merchants who traveled through this part of Slyrim. That thought was proven true about an hour later, as Amaryllis had to stop walking the moment she found a large group of Imperial soldiers battling a large group of Stormcloaks, with neither side actually killing the other or cutting off their limps, rather when someone went down they were ignored for the most part, unless they used a healing potion for a spell to heal themselves, but in her eyes it seemed like they were almost having a mock battle and not engaging in a war to decide the fate of this land, like she had heard that one Imperial Captain in Helgen mention during her short time there.

The annoying thing was that the two groups were covering a large section of the road and that meant it was going to be a pain to get around them, especially since there was a good chance that one of the soldiers could see her if she decided to transform back into her natural form and fly over them, meaning she had to find a way to get around this mock battle, all without getting caught up in whatever they were doing. A few moments later Amaryllis came to a decision, where she just turned around and headed back down her side of the road, as she was retracing her steps, before she turned and headed around the rocky area that was to the right of the path she had been following, as she was sure that she could cut across to another road and bypass the mock battle that was going on right now. It took her some time to get to the area that she had been thinking about, only to find that there was a second mock battle going on in the area, which made her pause for a moment as she considered her options, as she was sure that if she went around the mountain that was to the left of the road she would find yet another mock battle taking place, given that they seemed to be infesting this section of Skyrim, so her only options were to either climb on the rocks near the first battle, and hope she didn't get pulled into whatever the Imperials and Stormcloaks were doing, or simply wait them out, which could take forever since she had no idea how long they would be doing this before they finally stopped. Since it appeared that this was going to go on for a time, and would end with no clear winner, Amaryllis decided just to climb the rocks to the right side of the road she was following, where she made her way around the first mock battle she had discovered, and then drop down behind the soldiers so both she and Meeko could continue on their way to Dawnstar.

As she did that, however, she was forced to waste even more time getting back to where she had stopped the first time around, even though that allowed her to climb up on the various rocks and make her way around the battle, but that also allowed her to see that there was another dwarven ruin just over the hill the rocks were on, one that seemed to be home to a number of bandits that were hoping to be ignored by the two armies, though for the time being she decided to ignore them and found that, since she didn't get near their sentry, they didn't bother her either.

It took her a couple of minutes to do that, while avoiding either side focusing on her and Meeko, but in the end the two of them reached the other side of the road that was behind the first mock battle, where she faced the road that she had been trying to get to and started walking once more, as she was ready to put this experience behind her and focus on the reason she had come all the way out here. As she walked down the road the only interesting thing she spotted, while not counting the area that the dwarven ruin was located in, was another one of those odd circular mounds that seemed to be scattered across the land, though what they were used for she really had no idea, even though she could ask someone if they knew what the mounds were supposed to be, just to have that information herself. Sometime after that a pair of wolves, with white fur to show they lived in the snowy part of Skyrim, decided to attack them and make a meal out of her and Meeko, to which Amaryllis defended herself by using her sword as she dodged the incoming attacks, while at the same time her new companion growled and bit one of the snow wolves, causing it to yelp in pain for a moment. She could see that these snow wolves were used to the harsher climates of the land and that they were able to take a bit more damage than the wolves she had seen in Whiterun, but even then neither of them really stood that much of a chance and soon she and Meeko were standing victorious over them, allowing her to clean her weapon and be sure Meeko hadn't been hurt during the battle. Once she was sure that neither of them had been injured, where she found that both of them had been lucky this time around, Amaryllis continued walking down the road and Meeko followed after her, though she was eager to get to Dawnstar so she could rest and take some time to figure out where her first target was located, if Beitild happened to be outside anyway. After that, and the mock battles they had left behind, the only other interesting thing on the road was off to their left, which was a ruin that had a pair of skeevers calling it home, a ruin that was a good distance from where the mock battles and the dwarven ruin rested, so Amaryllis was sure she had spent a great deal of time trying to travel from Morthal to Dawnstar, and that the entire trip from Rorikstead was almost an entire day.

Eventually she and Meeko came to a stop as they reached the area that would allow them to gaze upon Dawnstar, the first location Amaryllis needed to visit, where she found that the town she had been walking to was more of a fishing town, with a single ship by the looks of it, along with being a mining town, due to the fact that Beitild owned a mine in this area and provided work for some people. There were a fair amount of houses, enough for this to be significantly larger than Morthal, meaning there had to be a decent number of people living in this town, while at the same time there seemed to be a good number of guards wandering around the town, each wearing a dark grey version of the armor the guards of the other Holds wore. Of course, thanks to those mock battles, she had lost a good amount of time and it was well into the evening when she arrived outside the town, at least between six to six-thirty, or seven at the latest if her thoughts about the time were wrong, which she felt made sense due to the fact that she had started her journey close to the lower half of Skyrim and had gone to the upper half of the province, something she knew should have taken at least a day to do, maybe two depending on how long it took someone to get from place to place. As she walked along the upper walkway of the town, where the Jarl's residence and the inn rested, she discovered three interesting things that she felt she could check out, even if they had nothing to do with her current mission and were more of a distraction as she carefully looked for the person she had come to kill. The first thing was that there were two mines in this town, one happened to be at the end of the path she was walking on and the other happened to be near the dock, the second thing was that there seemed to be an argument going on in front of the Jarl's residence, with someone that had to be the Jarl talking to two citizens, and the third was that another building had two other people, a lady and a man in some odd crimson robes, who also appeared to be having an argument at the edge of town.

As Amaryllis took all of that in, and noticed that some of the people seemed exhausted, far more than what a normal work day might inflict upon a group of people, she came to a stop on a rock that allowed her to look out over the port city, due to the fact that there was a ship in the middle of the water that was some distance in front of her, though as she did that, and considered how she was going to find Beitild, she noticed a guard was walking in her direction and based on what she was seeing it sure looked like he wanted to talk to her.

"Now, I know who you are. And... and I know your business..." the guard softly said, waiting until the moment that he was standing near Amaryllis and Meeko to talk, though she figured out that he didn't want anyone else to hear what they were talking about, just in case the Jarl decided to punish him for not doing his job or something, or maybe there was another reason that would become clear to her as she listened to what he had to say, "Just, please... these are good folk we got here. Mostly..."

"And here I was thinking the brotherhood had changed their armor recently, to prevent the guards of the Holds from discovering who we were," Amaryllis commented, keeping her voice low as well, to respect what the lone guard was doing at the moment, before she sighed and considered what she was going to do now, especially since someone knew that she was here to kill someone and would likely arrest her the moment she made her move, "So, whose disturbing the peace of your town at the moment?"

"Beitild and her husband, Leigelf, have been fighting frequently, about which of the two mines are the best and which of them owns the most profitable one," the guard replied, though as he said that he beckoned to the mine that was at the end of the path Amaryllis had been following, where she found a lady shouting at her workers and threatening them that she would fire them if they didn't do as she said, something that told her that she might have found her target and didn't have to waste time tracking her down, "Beitild owns Iron-Breaker Mine and her husband owns Quicksilver Mine, though right now they're sleeping in two different houses until they resolve their argument... which I have to assume is the reason that you're here, to resolve the issue in it's entirety, either because they've grown tired of their game or someone wants the argument to disappear."

"I guess so." Amaryllis said, because originally she really had no idea why Beitild had a contract on her, but after taking a moment to observe her from afar, and take a few moments to hear what she was saying, she had to assume that one of the citizens of this town had grown tired of the arguments she had with her husband and wanted it to end, before visitors got the bad idea about Dawnstar, before she addressed the pressing issue that was worrying her, "So, are you going to arrest me and throw me in jail?"

"No. This is the first time you've been to this town, and, as far as I know, you have committed no crimes," the guard quickly replied, which surprised Amaryllis for a few moments, since she was so sure that he was going to arrest her before she even had a chance to fulfill the contract that she had come to complete, though as the guard shifted his stance, like he was about to walk away from her, she could tell he had one last thing to say, "as long as no one sees you commit a crime, such as stealing something, breaking into a house, or assaulting someone, no bounty will be placed on your head, meaning the guards of that Hold won't come after you."

Amaryllis nodded her head for a moment as the guard walked away from where she was standing, as it appeared that he got the idea that she might be new to being an assassin and he was offering her a reason why someone would want the pair to stop their arguments, almost like he was silently asking her to do what she came to do and then disappear before someone noticed her, so she focused on her mission and what she had been told. What she ended up doing was walking down the path like she was just visiting the town and taking in the sights, despite the fact that the guards were no doubt keeping an eye on the residents that were still outside their houses, but so far it appeared that Beitild was too busy to pay attention to what was happening around her at the moment. One thing that worked in her favor was that the man that Beitild had been shouting at, and seemed to be pushing him to work until he dropped, stopped working as soon as eight o'clock was upon them and headed for the inn, where Beitild mentioned something about the Nord being a drunk and, in her eyes, that he was unreliable, before heading inside the mine, which seemed to be the perfect place to do the deed if the other workers weren't aware of the fact that their boss was entering the mine. Amaryllis followed Beitild into the mine, after making sure that Meeko stayed outside until she returned, and quickly discovered that there was no one around the entrance, before hearing the the sound of someone swinging a pickaxe at one of the walls, though her target showed no sign of knowing she had been followed and even came to a stop at the bottom of the path she had been following, where she seemed to be thinking about something, no doubt what sort of harmful words she would shout at the other miners that worked under her.

In that moment Amaryllis discovered the perfect opportunity to do what she had come to do, where she crouched and walked down to where her target was standing, where she pulled her dagger out and quickly did what she came to do, which was the moment that she pulled Beitild's head back and sliced open her neck, just like she did to some of her earlier enemies. Once the deed was done, and she was sure her first target was dead, she quietly laid the body on the ground, so she didn't alert the miners by letting a body crash to the ground, even though she was sure the sound of them hitting the walls would prevent them from hearing anything else, before sheathing her blade, shifting back into a standing position, and then turned around so she could head outside. It took her a few moments to return to the surface, where she was able to return to Meeko without delay, and took a moment to wonder what she should do next, as in should she leave the town now, before Beitild's body was discovered, or should she could rent a room at the inn to rest for the next leg of her journey, since she was heading back to Windhelm, which was half a day's walk from where Dawnstar rested. Resting here would allow her to check out the other argument she had seen earlier, one that didn't seem to be on the level of what Beitild and her husband had been doing lately, but based on what that guard had told her she actually did the residents of this town a service by ending the feud between the two. A few seconds later she decided to spend a few more moments in Dawnstar as she walked down the path and headed towards the building the oddly dressed man was standing in front of, where it looked like he might be waiting for someone to come and talk to him before he turned in for the night, though as she walked down there she walked by a guard, who gave her a slight nod, indicating that he had to have been the one she talked to earlier and that they were happy that peace was returning to their town, meaning he must have seen her enter the mine and come out not a few seconds later, before she focused on what she was going to be doing next.

"And here comes my first visitor." the red robbed man said, speaking the moment that Amaryllis and Meeko came to a stop in front of what Amaryllis had to assume was his house, though at the same time the lady he had been arguing with was long gone, meaning she didn't have to deal with her before she left Dawnstar and started on her trek to the area her next target was located in, "My friend, the Museum of the Mythic Dawn is open!"

"Museum of the Mythic Dawn?" Amaryllis asked, because the way the man said the name of the group it felt like those that heard it would instantly know who he was talking about, despite the fact that she really had no idea who the group had been or why someone would do something like this, though at the same time it seemed like the man wasn't annoyed at all by the fact that she said that.

"Yes. My collection of artifacts from a group that toppled an Empire." the man replied, though his tone turned to one that had a bit of excitement to it, indicating that he was happy that someone had come to his museum and was showing some interest in what he had collected over the years, before he looked over her for a few seconds, "Why don't you come in? You can browse the displays, and then, once you've had a chance to do that, we can talk about a particular job that you seem perfect for."

Amaryllis had no idea what the man was talking about, as she only came down here to see what was going on and not get dragged into a museum, but, at the same time, she had to admit that she was a little interested in a group that had, at one point in time, brought about the downfall of an empire, no doubt the one that came before the one that the Imperial soldiers worked for. As such she followed the man into his house and found that it was divided into two halves, one that looked like a place that someone would sleep in and the other seemed to be the actual museum, which consisted of four display tables that were no doubt locked, to keep the artifacts inside them safe in case someone came looking to steal what the man had collected. While she looked at the various items he had collected the man explained that the tapestries that were both inside and outside his house, which she was only now noticing and spotted a dawn shaped marking on the items in question, had been hung outside the hideouts of the Mythic Dawn, and that he had gone to a lot of effort to find any that had survived after the cult's destruction. The thing that weirded her out was the fact that the robes that were inside one of the display tables, which the man happened to be wearing, were made out of yarn that had been dyed in sacrificial blood, giving the robes the color they had, making her wonder why anyone would want to wear something that had been dyed in such a manner. The only other things of interest were the four tomes that were in one of the displays, the Commentaries of the Mysterium Xarxes as they were called, which happened to be linked to the blasphemous book written by Mehrunes Dagon himself, which the man explained had been destroyed after the Oblivion Crisis, except for a burned page that he had in his collection.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the scabbard that rested in one of the displays, alone she noticed, and it appeared that it was big enough for a dagger to fit in, but what sort of dagger it was connected to she had no idea and had a feeling this job the man wanted her to do was linked with the missing weapon, the last piece he needed to complete the museum he had been working on.

"Okay, what's this job you want me to do?" Amaryllis asked, because she knew it had to be about the missing dagger and the fact that having it would allow the man to complete his collection at long last, as there were collectors back home that would do the same thing, hire ponies to find missing relics for their museum collections, which would no doubt bring more people running once he had everything he needed.

"A little history, first." the man replied, which was actually fine with Amaryllis, because it might give her an idea as to whether or not she should help him find the missing weapon and add it to his collection, especially since she wasn't all that familiar with this land and the strange things she was discovering with each passing day, "After the Oblivion Crisis, a number of groups cropped up, all of them dedicated to wiping out remained of the Mythic Dawn, as there were a few safe hideouts that the Champion of Cyrodiil hadn't found, hideouts that these groups came across later. One of these groups ended up finding Mehrunes' Razor, the personal artifact of Dagon, and, seeing how they couldn't destroy the artifact of a Daedric Prince, the members of that group decided to split it into three fragments and pledged to keep them apart from each other, forever if need be. That was almost one hundred and fifty years ago, and, to the best of my knowledge, the pieces of the Razor are still being held by the descendants of the group.... and, as it so happens, those descendants are right here, in Skyrim."

"I take it you want me to hunt down the remaining descendants and claim the fragments?" Amaryllis inquired, though at the same time it sounded like a simple job to do, just locate the people in question, find a way to take the fragments from them, and then return the pieces to the man in front of her, all while maybe picking up some gold for her efforts and a few pieces that she could sell off.

"Indeed I do." the man answered, to which he turned towards a pack that was laying on the floor and opened it for a few seconds, where he withdrew a journal of some kind and handed it out for her to take, which Amaryllis did so, as she had the feeling it would tell her more about the people in question, or at least where the man was able to track the various fragments to, before losing them, "That journal contains all the notes I have on the three people that, to the best of my knowledge, are the current holders of the Razor's fragments, though two of them, Ghunzul and Drascua, are supposedly dangerous marauders, while Jorgen lives somewhere in Morthal. I'll also gladly pay you for the fragments of the Razor, and I won't ask you any questions when you return with them."

Amaryllis suspected that the payment part had been added in at the last second, to catch her attention and make sure she helped the man get what he wanted, to which she nodded her head and headed outside, as this time around she was going to rent a room at the inn, get some dinner, and then get a good nights sleep before morning arrived, that way she could be ready for whatever she and Meeko might find on their journey to where her second target was resting.

Brotherhood: The Lumberjack and the Beggar

After finding Beitild and killing her where someone wouldn't have noticed her do the deed, and checking out the building that the second argument she had spotted had been in front of, something that had allowed her to discover that the man who owned the structure had created a museum and that he wanted her to find some blade fragments for him, which he claimed went to an artifact of a Daedric Prince, Amaryllis entered the inn that was near the edge of town, so she could rest for a bit and get ready for the morning. What she discovered was that three of the local girls were talking to someone who was wearing orange colored robes with a yellow hood, a priest by her estimates, where they mentioned some nightmares that seemed to have infected the town, which explained why some of Dawnstar's residents seemed more exhausted than she was expecting, though she did think that such a thing was interesting due to the fact that she knew that one of the Princesses in Canterlot had some sort of connection to the realm of dreams, so she had to assume that such a realm was real for this world as well. From what she overheard some of the townspeople were experiencing the same dream over and over again, or the same nightmare over and over again based on what they had been talking about when she and Meeko entered the inn, but Erandur, the priest the girls were talking to, claimed that he was doing everything he could at the moment and merely asked that the people of this town put their faith in Lady Mara, even though it did appear that he might be at a loss and had no idea how to proceed. The girls that had gathered near him thanked him for the assistance he was able to offer them and returned to their duties, as one stayed inside the inn, meaning she was the serving girl that tended to the patrons, while the others headed back outside, no doubt heading home to talk with whoever they lived with, which told her that they had done what they had come to do and were returning to whatever it was that both of them did at this point in time.

Amaryllis had no idea what the priest was going to do to combat the nightmares, especially the incredibly persistent ones like the people of this town were experiencing, based on what they had described to the priest, but right now this wasn't something she was going to bother with, not since she had two more targets to take down before returning to the rest of her Family, not to mention the fact that she was planning on tracking down the three fragments of the Razor, which would take some time to accomplish.

The first thing she did was make sure she and Meeko had some food for the evening and that the room was rented for the period of time they would be visiting the town, before she sat down near the fire and pulled out the journal that the man from the museum had given her, though it was in that moment she discovered that his name was Silus Vesuius, meaning she wouldn't have to refer to him as "the man" anymore. The journal itself really didn't give her all that much information to go on, even though Silus claimed that it would be helpful to her in some way, but what she was able to figure out was that Jorgen resided in Morthal and that he knew the location of the Razor's hilt, Ghunzul was the leader of the Cracked Tusk Bandits, a group who Silus suspected operated near the city of Falkreath, and that he was in possession of the blade fragments, while Drascua was somewhere in the Reach, an area named Dead Crone Rock, and that she had the pommel stone. Some of the information interested Amaryllis, such as the fact that one of them seemed to be near the area that the Sanctuary was located, meaning she could likely claim that piece either when she returned to her new Family or when she left once she had the next set of targets, while all of the information that had been put into finding out about the group that claimed the Razor didn't catch her attention as much as she suspected Silus was hoping for, because she didn't have an interest in that part of the journal. In the end, however, she decided that it was worth looking into, especially since Silus was willing to pay for the fragments of the ancient weapon, before she put the journal away and relaxed a little, as walking all day was tiring, that had to be said, but until she was more familiar with Skyrim and where all the important places were located, something that would take some time, she was going to refrain from flying everywhere, but once she had a better grasp of the land she might use her wings more often.

Once she was done thinking about all of that, and made sure everything was put away, she retired to the room she rented and turned in for the night, where Meeko laid down near the bed and closed his eyes as well, showing that he was tired from all the walking and that he needed some rest, to which she smiled for a moment before she did the same thing, as they would need to be well rested for tomorrow morning and the next leg of her journey, since they would be heading to Windhelm and then Ivarstead.

When morning arrived Amaryllis and Meeko rose to meet it, though the first thing she did was expand a little more of her magic to make it look like she was wearing leather armor, complete with a hood instead of a helmet, though once that was done she made sure to grab something for breakfast as soon as they left the room she had rented, which they ate for a few moments as a couple of townspeople came in to chat with the innkeeper and get something to eat as well. A pair of guards came into the inn as well and sat down close to where she and Meeko were sitting, as she was at a table near the counter, where she overheard them talking about what had been discovered earlier that morning, like an hour ago based on what they had said, making her wonder if the workers had discovered Beitild's body, and if so it sure took them a long time to notice that their angry boss was dead. One of the guards mentioned that he could have sworn that he noticed an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood somewhere in the town last night, but given how late it was he had chalked it up to his imagination getting the better of him, causing his partner to sigh as they removed their helmets, revealing that they were Nords, not that she was remotely surprised by that fact, and ate the food that they had ordered from the innkeeper, brought to them by the serving girl. Amaryllis suspected that the first guard was the one she had talked to last night, in fact his voice sounded like what she had heard last night, and when she glanced at them for a moment she found him staring at her for a second, before giving her the shortest of nods, without his partner noticing the movement, and went back to his food. That was all the confirmation that Amaryllis needed, the guard recognized her despite the fact that she had taken a few moments to change her armor's appearance, granted it could also be due to the fact that she was still in her Khajiit disguise, but for the most part he didn't seem interested in arresting her, especially since she had done the deed when no one was around to witness Beitild's death, along with the fact that this ended her feud with her husband, something the townspeople had been annoyed with for a long time.

Once she was done with her food, and Meeko had finished off his as well, she stood up, made sure she had paid for both the food and the room, and took a moment to make sure all of her possessions were in place before leaving the room and headed outside, to which she and Meeko turned to their left and headed down the path that would allow them to leave Dawnstar, before someone figured out that she was the one who killed Beitild and came after her.

It didn't take her and Meeko that long to make it back to where the fork in the road was, where she glanced to their right for a moment and spotted the ruin they had walked by yesterday, one that seemed to serve no purpose these days, but as soon as she noticed that she turned her attention back to the path in front of them and resumed walking, as she knew that the road would bring her back to Windhelm, where she could look for Ennodius and cross off the second name from the list of targets Nazir that had given her. Part of her was hoping that this part of her journey would be quiet and that she wouldn't run into so many obstacles again, especially some of those mock battles, as that particular obstacle had wasted more time than she was willing to admit, but she was barely twenty minutes away from Dawnstar before a pair of wolves decided that they would make a nice snack and decided to attack her and Meeko. Fortunately she only had to worry about her new companion for a few seconds, as Meeko growled and rolled out of the way as the wolf that went for him tried to bite him, only to spring back up and bite the wolf in the neck when it's guard was lowered, to which Amaryllis turned her attention to her own foe and dodged the incoming attack as well, before drawing her blade as she cut into the wolf's side and took it out, which was the moment that her companion snapped his foe's neck and let go. Meeko happily barked as Amaryllis cleaned off the blood that had gotten on his muzzle, which belonged to the wolf he had killed, and once she was satisfied the two of them continued down the road that was in front of them, all while making sure to avoid the giant camp that was off on their right, as Amaryllis knew that neither of them could handle a creature like that, even if she used her magic to fight it.

The road, as Amaryllis soon discovered, was full of twists and turns this time around, instead of being rather straight like the rest of the roads she had walked on so far, but she was fine with that and focused on making sure they didn't get lost on the way to Windhelm, as all she had to do was find the fork in the road that was near where Cicero had been and she would be able to find her way to the mill her target was located near. She knew that the rest of the journey, from the fork to the mill, would be rather easy since most of the obstacles had been removed when she made her way to Windhelm the first time and that meant it should be smooth sailing for the most part, though part of her knew that she should expect to run into trouble, given that she was in a new land and all, so she decided to keep her guard up a little as they walked, just in case her smooth sailing was ruined. About an hour after their departure from Dawnstar Amaryllis noticed a small fort off to their left, where she spotted a few bandits walking up on the upper walkways, no doubt looking for people to rob and kill to make their day interesting, but instead of tangling with them she continued down the road before the bandits noticed her and Meeko, as she was sure they would attempt to stop her if they knew she was there and right now she had no desire to mess with bandits. Normally she would stop and remove the bandits, especially after her encounters with the couple of bandit groups at the start of her quest, though she was sure there were other adventurers that were currently in the middle of their own journeys and that they would take out the bandits they came across, meaning it was only a matter of time until this group was found and taken out by someone, hence why she ignored them and Meeko remained silent as he did the same thing, showing he was smarter than a normal dog.

Half an hour later she was forced to stop as she found a brand new mock battle going on between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks, though at the same time there were a few things different than what she found near that dwarven ruin, where the first fact was that both factions appeared to be fighting over a fort, though what was more important to her was the fact that she and Meeko could walk around the wooden walls and not get dragged into the battle. Of course she knew it would be hard for either side to notice her, given that they were in the middle of a fight and that they had no problems tearing down the bandits that were trying to kill them, as based on what she knew bandits loved to reside in ruins and had a problem with anyone who tried to liberate such a place for either side of the war, hence why they were trying to tear all of the invaders apart. Thanks to the fact that all three sides were so engaged in their battle Amaryllis and Meeko were able to bypass them by heading to the side of the fortress, where they carefully moved around the wooden wall and for a few seconds as they headed towards the road that was on the other side, which would allow them to get back on track, though she was hopeful that none of the soldiers or bandits spotted them at this point in time. A few minutes later both she and Meeko were on the other section of the road, walking away from the fortress that everyone was so keen on fighting over, even if the two major factions didn't seem in the mood to kill each other, allowing her to refocus on what she was doing and forget about what they had just seen. Of course there also happened to be a large frostbite spider further down the road, likely five minutes from the fortress, but her luck continued to be good as a small group of Imperial soldiers cut the creature down and then continued their charge towards the keep, no doubt reinforcements for the battle, something that caused Amaryllis to shake her head as she continued down the road, deciding not to think about what was going on in the fort that was behind her and just focused her attention on where she was going.

Another hour of walking later brought a smile to her face, as she and Meeko had managed to reach the fork in the road she was looking for, without encountering any major obstacles that they would have to fight their way through, save for bypassing the battle for the fort, to which she continued along the path she had followed not that long ago, heading in the direction of Anga's Mill once more, as that was the name that Nazir assigned to the mill she walked by when she decided to check on Aventus.

She and Meeko spent the next hour and a half following the path she had followed to reach Windhelm, where she spotted the inn she had stopped at and learned the summon chest spell that she used every now and then to store the majority of her gold in a safe place, as well as the odd cave that was further down the road, one that had been cleared out by some of Windhelm's guards. As she suspected the road was clear of obstacles, thanks to the guards that had walked up and down this area earlier, meaning they were able to make good time this time around, though she did pause a couple of times to let Meeko do something else for a few minutes, like roll around in the snow or play with the odd stick that he wanted her to throw, showing that he could fight and that he could have fun, that he wasn't like a war dog or anything like that, but at least he wasn't depressed by losing his old master like that. She did see a bear with a white coat laying by the lake, where she suspected that it was likely resting as it waited for something to come near the area that it was sleeping in, since there wasn't any blood anywhere near it, but since she didn't want to disturb it, even if she was far from where it was resting at the moment, she continued walking and eventually Meeko joined her. Other than that there was nothing else for her to worry about, allowing her to focus on reaching their destination and playing with Meeko when he wanted to take a break, though she knew that the moment they got close to the hill that overlooked the area that Ennodius lived in she would have to focus on her mission and hope that no one else happened to be in the area, otherwise she would be waiting there, until the perfect opportunity arrived for her to complete her second assignment. Not a few minutes later they reached the area that she was looking for, where she spotted the man she had spotted the last time she came through this area, still resting between the two small waterfalls in this area, but before they got close to him Amaryllis had Meeko stay near some rocks while she got ready to do what she had come to do, as she knew that a slight sound would alert her target and she needed silence for this to work.

Meeko laid down, showing that he understood her order, where she walked forward and dropped her illusion spell, which would allow anyone who might be looking at this area that an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood was at work, though it wasn't long before she came to a stop at a point that gave her a good view of where her target had decided to hide out for a time, as she decided to linger near a rock wall which happened to be in a diagonal line from where Ennodius' camp was resting. Not a few seconds later she decided to take this particular target out with her bow and one of her arrows, to which she pulled one of the arrows out and glanced around the area that she was in, quickly finding that there was no one else in the immediate area, as no one had been walking on the road behind her and there was no one coming up the hill that was in front of her, something that lead her to position her arrow as she readied herself. Once she was ready Amaryllis quickly pulled the bowstring back as she raised her bow, recalling her lessons for a few seconds, before she carefully aimed at her target, as she only had one chance to hit her target, because if her arrow missed Ennodius was going to hear it and run for the hills, which wouldn't be that bad since she could kill him where no one could witness it, but it would be annoying and time consuming. She waited for a few moments, as it looked like her target was moving a little as he took in the river that his camp was set up near, before she loosed the arrow and watched it fly through the air, though before the arrow hit it's mark Ennodius turned around for a few seconds, like he was going to get something out of his tent, which was the instant the arrow struck his chest, causing him to look down at it for a few seconds as a look of disbelief appeared in his eyes, only for him to fall forward and collide with the large rock his tent was near, where he went still after a moment or two, which informed her that the second target had been taken care of.

"That's not what I was expecting, but I'll take it." Amaryllis commented, because she was expecting Ennodius to move out of the way when he started to move, though she was perfectly fine with this turn of events and quickly used her magic to hide her assassin armor again, changing it to leather armor again, which would also make people suspect that she was a hunter and Meeko was her companion, before returning her bow to where she usually kept it and beckoned for Meeko to join her once more.

With her second target taken care of, and Meeko returned to her side with a happy bark, Amaryllis set off for Ivarstead, the location of her final target, the beggar known as Narfi, but based on what little she knew it appeared that this was more of a mercy killing, rather than letting someone like him spend the rest of his life in the state it was in, which really made it the oddest assassination out of the entire group she had been given. Beitild she could sort of understand, since the lady had been fighting with her husband all the time, especially out in an area where the public could see her, and she guessed that Ennodius made sense as well, as he must have irritated someone and then fled from a duel or something like that, but, no matter what she considered, Narfi seemed a little out of place when she considered the list of targets she had been given back in the Sanctuary. In the end she guessed that the Dark Brotherhood didn't ask questions about why someone wanted another person dead and only focused on the reward that came from each contract, a low amount of gold based on what Nazir had told her earlier, which she determined was something that she was going to have to get used to, especially since she was a member of the Family and would be expected to kill whoever happened to be on her list. Once she came to that decision, that she was going to have to stop asking questions about things, she turned her attention to her last target and considered what the best route to Ivarstead might be, where she pulled out her map again and looked at it for a couple of seconds, where she found that she would have to turn right at the next fork in the road and follow it for some time, before she would have to make a few more twists and turns so she could reach her destination, no doubt late into the evening if the trek from Rorikstead to Dawnstar was any indication.

In the end she stopped for a moment and considered what she was going to do, as she was going to walk over half the province to get to her next target, again she mentally added, and as much as she liked to walk around this land and see what it had to offer, in terms of locations and people to interact with, spending all her time doing that seemed like it might be more of a waste. After taking a minute or two to think about it she turned around and headed back to where she had loosed the arrow from, which seemed to confuse Meeko for a second, before she made sure no one was coming towards them from either direction again, where she found no one approaching them, and then dispelled all her disguise, allowing her magic to wash over her body once more as she returned to her true form. Once that was done she expected Meeko to start barking or growling at her, given that this was the first time he had seen her like this, but in the end he was unfazed by what he was seeing, meaning he had to have seen a lot of weird things with his old master, before Amaryllis started her wings and floated off the ground, as it felt good to use them again and made her consider just flying around to her targets in the future, to save time and energy. Once she was ready to depart from this area she carefully picked Meeko up, where she found that the dog remained as still as he possibly could, since this was the first time he was experiencing this sort of thing as well, and took off as she headed in the direction of Ivarstead, though she made sure to go at a speed that didn't freak Meeko out, while also making sure that they made good time and reached their destination as soon as possible, all so she could start her final assignment before heading back to the Sanctuary.

As she flew over the land of Skyrim, however, she glanced down at the areas that they were passing over and spotted a few places that were interesting, as at one point there was a cave with a small camp off to her right, along with a large dwarven ruin further up the hill, with a fortress resting over on her left, on the other side of a small mountain or hill, so that meant the two areas were separated from each other. It wasn't long before she passed over where a lake was located, with another fortress, smaller than the first one, a minute or two away from it, from her perspective anyway, but the other thing she noticed was that the snow was disappearing and was returning to the green landscape that almost matched the plains that were near the city of Whiterun. Far off to her left rested the sulfurous pools that she had seen during her trek from Windhelm to Riften, when she was going to kill Grelod the Kind, and the lone mountain that was in the middle of it all, an area she was planning on staying away from at the moment, hence the reason that she continued towards her own destination and flew over yet another fortress, this time occupied by what she assumed were mages. Near that fortress rested a waterfall that had a cave at the very bottom of it, meaning that either bandits or some wild animals called that area home, but she wasn't about to head down there and see what was inside the cave, as she was focused on what she was doing and made sure to head higher into the air, before one of the mages at the fortress noticed that something had flown through the area. When she reached the top of the waterfall she noticed that it went on for quite a while, as the river it was attached to seemed to be long and it likely went by Ivarstead, something she was sure her map would agree with if she looked at it, but that meant she needed to find a good place to land so she could set Meeko down and shift into a disguise before she approached the village her final target was located in.

Since she was carrying Meeko, and wasn't going as fast as she could have, it took Amaryllis about an hour to get near the small village that she was looking for, though when she spotted Ivarstead off in the distance she started to look for a place to land, though when she found a small cave at the base of the hill that went right to the village she knew she had found the perfect spot to land. Fortunately it seemed like the brown skinned beast that had called the area home, a troll if she remembered what she had been told correctly, wandered out of the opening it lived in and chased down a deer that dared to wander by the cavity, which gave Amaryllis some time to land near the edge of the small cave and set Meeko down, who seemed to understand that now wasn't the best time to make noise and kept quiet. While the troll was distracted Amaryllis let the magic wash over her body and reverted back to the disguise she had been wearing earlier, the Khajiit with leather armor, though while she was happy to be in this form again she was starting to wonder if it needed a name, just like some of the more creative disguises she formed back in Equestria, but decided that she could worry about that in the future, to which she and Meeko headed up the hill and left the area that the troll lived in behind. She was sure that the troll would catch the deer and then drag it's dinner back to it's cave, where it would rest until the next traveler came near it, but she was planning on being somewhere else when that happened, as she focused on Ivarstead and the fact that her third and final target was a simple beggar. She was still under the impression that Narfi was more of a mercy killing, instead of what she had learned when she visited Dawnstar and found Beitild, screaming at one of her workers and showing her why one of the other citizens of the town might've wanted her slain by an assassin, though she guessed that this was more of a way to help new assassins become thoughtless killers or something, to which she sighed and quickly decided that she would think about this at some point in the future, when she had time to do so.

It didn't take them more than five to ten minutes to reach Ivarstead and walk up the path to the inn, allowing her to see that there were six total structures in this village, two buildings that looked like houses, one of the nordic barrows she had been told about, a mill that no one seemed to be working at right now, the inn, and a ruined house that was on the other side of the river, where she spotted a man in ragged clothing standing near the water, like he was thinking about his life and what he should do with it. The other thing she had to focus on was the imposing mountain that was near the small village, the Throat of the World one of the Imperial soldiers had called it, the location of High Hrothgar and the mysterious Greybeards she had learned a little about, who had called the Dragonborn to study with them, or at least that was what the guards she had encountered not that long ago. She wasn't totally sure that she believed the tale that the guard had told her, even if he and the others seemed convinced that such a thing was happening, despite the fact that they claimed this hadn't happened for centuries, meaning they should have no way of knowing what had happened as well, regardless of what their stories said, but if there was a hero going around, taking the fight to the bandits and the other villains of the land, that meant she could focus on her work and her future. Once she considered that she turned her attention to those who were in Ivarstead, where she could see there were only four guards in this village, where they slept she had no idea since there didn't appear to be any barracks in the area, unless they took turns sleeping in the inn and had a permanent room that only they could use, though there was a chance that she was wrong and that these guards actually rotated out with the ones who were stationed in Rift. Regardless of which option was right, be they living in the inn or switching with a few guards from Riften, she knew that there were only four guards patrolling Ivarstead at the moment, meaning that she had to be careful with how she approached her last target, especially since she was sure that Narfi was over on the other side of the river, calling the ruined building his home, and right now he was in full view of everyone, so she had to figure out a good plan that would allow her to complete her final assignment.

As such the first thing she did was head into the inn, something that gave both herself and Meeko some peace and quiet, as she did know that flying like that had to freak the dog out and this would allow him to rest for a time, while also allowing her some time to come up with a better plan of attack for when she focused on Narfi, though as they entered the inn she found that the owner and the serving girl seemed to be in the middle of a discussion. As such neither of them noticed her enter the building, nor did they notice her as she took a seat close to the fire, while Meeko did the same and laid down in front of her, though while both of the individuals in this building talked she took her time thinking about the information she had learned since her arrival in Ivarstead. From what she knew it was still early in the evening, between two to three by her estimates, meaning it would be some time before she could use the shadows to her advantage, but in the end it really depended on what Narfi did and if he moved from the part of the river that he was standing near, as that was in full view of everyone else, so a guard would be able to see her kill him without any problems. Of course sitting in the inn and doing nothing really didn't sound like a good idea, no when she considered what all of the others did when they went out on their contracts, but Nazir did say that she could take all the time she needed to stalk her targets, which meant she could afford to spend a few hours doing something else, at least until Narfi did something that created an opening for her to use to get to him. That would require her to be outside, to see what was going on and if Narfi deviated from whatever pattern he was used to living at this point in time, so for now she decided that she and Meeko were going to rest for a time before she even considered going after the poor beggar, which would allow her to get the mercy killing out of the way and return to the Sanctuary so she could report her success to her Family, where hopefully Astrid would have her first real contract ready for her, since such a thing interested her to some degree.

While she sat there, thinking about what to do next, she overheard the innkeeper talking to the serving girl, apparently chewing her out for going near the barrow that was near their village, as apparently it was haunted and he was terrified of the ghost leaving to do them harm, hence the reason that he was trying to prevent people from heading over there to see what the commotion was about. Truthfully it sounded like someone had made up a story and was trying to make people run away from the barrow, like a treasure hunter that didn't want to share anything with anyone and would go to great lengths to make sure they weren't bothered by the nearby villagers, but she did wonder if it might be worth her time to go check the barrow and see if there was anything that could be done about the spirit, just to make things easier for the few people of Ivarstead. That would, of course, mean she would have to confront the innkeeper before heading to the barrow, just to let him know that someone was thinking of checking the area out and seeing if there was a spirit keeping people from entering the resting place of the ancient nords, though before she came to a decision two of the guards entered the inn and took a seat in front of the counter, no doubt so they could chat with the innkeeper or the serving girl about how their days were going, even if they seemed to be uneventful. What was odd was even then, with the conversation broken, neither the innkeeper or the serving girl seemed to notice her and Meeko, but that was fine with Amaryllis, since neither one of them really needed to eat at the moment and it allowed her some time to think about how she was going to tackle this assignmant, especially since she wanted to be out of the village without wasting too much of her time on figuring out a plan that would work without the other guards noticing her actions.

A few minutes later the door opened again, though this time around Amaryllis noticed that two people walked inside the inn, where one of them was a Nord lady who happened to be wearing steel armor, not the plate kind, and she had a steel greatsword on her back, indicating that she was a warrior and that she would cut down whoever stood in her way, though the person that she was traveling with, which caused her to pause for a few seconds, happened to be the Khajiit Amaryllis had seen outside Whiterun, Za'kera if her memory was correct, though it seemed like they were focused on something else at the moment.

Amaryllis watched the pair for a few moments, because she was a tad bit curious as to why she was running into the same Khajiit over and over again, where they talked to the innkeeper and inquired about High Hrothgar and the Throat of the World, as in what one would expect to find along the way up to where the Greybeards resided, and the innkeeper was more than willing to tell them what he knew, along with informing them not to mess with the barrow on the other side of town, confirming some of Amaryllis' earlier thoughts. Za'kera, upon hearing that the crypt might be haunted, offered her assistance to the man, since she could tell that it was impacting the village and was driving people to move away, even if the innkeeper and serving girl hadn't said anything about that, but they were both happy to have someone look into what was happening at the barrow, despite the innkeeper's earlier attempts to make them not check the crypt out. After that the pair retired to one of the tables for a moment, where it appeared that they were relaxing a little as they planned their next move, and the warrior mentioned the troll that Amaryllis had ignored, that it was a good foe to test themselves on, while Za'kera seemed torn between heading up to High Hrothgar and helping the people of this village out. Amaryllis had to wonder if one of them was the Dragonborn, or if they had heard about the Greybeards from someone and wanted to pay their respects to the legendary figures of this land, though based on everything she had seen so far she suspected that if one of them happened to be the nordic hero it had to be Za'kera, given that she was a hero in Cyrodiil and was no doubt replicating her actions in Skyrim. Of course something like that made her wonder why the Thalmor might want to execute someone like the Khajiit, especially since keeping people safe meant that everyone else didn't have to expand any of their resources in keeping the land safe, though it seemed like Za'kera was adjusting to being a hero in Skyrim, despite the fact that it would take some time to get the reputation she had back in Cyrodiil.

Eventually, about thirty minutes later by her estimates, Za'kera and her companion got up from their seats and walked out of the inn, apparently coming to a decision on what they should do with their time, though Amaryllis waited for a minute or two before doing the same thing, so she could see if the situation outside had changed to the point where she could do what she came to do and then get out of here before one of the guards noticed what she was doing. As she did that she found Meeko walking with her, not that she was surprised by such a thing, but once both of them were outside she took a moment to glance at the rest of the village, where she found that the guards were no longer outside, the people who lived in Ivarstead were either inside their houses or the inn, and Za'kera headed into the crypt with her companion right behind her, no doubt to check out the ghost and the stories that the innkeeper told her about. Part of her felt it was really odd for everyone in the area to just suddenly clear out for a time, especially since she could see Narfi right now, who was walking into the ruined house that he was allowed to stay in, but, at the same time, she wasn't about to object to the villagers and the guards making her mission that much easier, to which she made sure Meeko stayed near one of the trees near the inn, to make it look like he was doing his business outside, before allowing the appearance of her armor to return to normal as her magic shifted for a second. As soon as that was done she walked over to the river and found a few small stones in the water that one could use to jump across the stream, without touching the water at all, which she used before she touched down in the area that Narfi had been standing in when she first arrived in this small settlement, where she carefully looked around the area as she sought out her target, as she didn't hear any sounds that would suggest he was doing anything, to which she walked over to the entrance of the ruined house and quickly discovered what her target happened to be doing, as Narfi had laid down on a bedroll and seemed to be sleeping.

In the end she silently walked over to where Narfi was resting, while making sure she was crouching to avoid being heard by her target, as it appeared that doing so prevented people and animals from hearing her, before running the edge of her dagger across his neck, silencing the poor beggar and completing her third contract, meaning that it was time for her to return to the Sanctuary to relax until either Astrid had information on the prime contract or Nazir had more work for her to take on. A few moments later Amaryllis emerged from the ruined house, after cleaning her blade like she did when she finished off her targets, she headed over to where Meeko was waiting and glanced around the area that they were in, all to see if anyone had come outside while she was dealing with the beggar, only to find that no one had come outside, which lead her to letting a wave of magic wash over her body once more. Once she was back in her true form, and she spared a few seconds to stretch her wings, she picked up Meeko and took to the air without delay, as she wanted to get out of the area quickly and not waste time walking around the tall mountain, something that would take a few hours and she was a little eager to tell her Family that she had been successful in taking care of her first set of assignments, before checking in with Astrid about what to do next. She was positive that someone would notice that Narfi was gone and would investigate his ruined house, only to find his body, but since one of them had mercy killed the beggar, something she was sure about, she knew that the individual in question wouldn't lose any sleep over this being done, while at the same time most of the citizens who called Ivarstead home would likely be pleased to have an eyesore taken care of and that none of them would have to worry about Narfi anymore, though she focused on something else as she left the small settlement behind and flew towards the Sanctuary.

At the same time she was still interested in the fact that she and Za'kera kept running into each other, because three times was more than just a coincidence in her mind, which made her wonder if they might cross paths again in the future, which would be really weird if they did see each other again, even if she would likely be in a disguise when she spotted Za'kera, but she knew that only time would tell as she left Ivarstead and headed out into the wilderness once more.

Brotherhood: Raldbthar and the Pommel Stone

Amaryllis found that her luck was the same as she was leaving Markarth, as the carriage driver and the owner of the stables were still asleep, which made sense since it was still around ten to eleven at night, and the guards that were supposed to be outside seemed to be in the middle of changing positions with their replacements, giving her a small window to leave the area before there were people that could see her. Instead of hiding behind the stables, like she did when she arrived outside the city ten to fifteen minutes ago, she simply reverted back to her original form on the steps, as she figured that since there was no one outside to see her do it there was no harm in transforming in front of Markarth's main entrance, before she took to the skies and flew away from the city. As she flew through the air she decided to just cut across the land of Skyrim and get to Windhelm as quickly as possible, so she could ask around and see if there was anyone that could tell her where the ruin she was looking for, Raldbthar as Muiri called it, was located, as she was sure that someone in that city had to know the exact location of it. There was also the chance that she could just stop by all the dwarven ruins on the way and attempt to ask the bandits if Alain was there, but that was the more foolish idea, because then she'd have to fight off a number of them before being able to take to the sky and move onto the next ruin, so in the end she settled for her current plan and flew through the air at the same speed she was using earlier.

While she did that, however, she passed by another camp that was filled with the people that were living in the wild, the same people that she needed to be careful about, though one thing that interested her was that the mountain they were camped near had a hole in the ceiling, revealing a seemingly forgotten ruin, one that she decided to ignore for the moment as she focused on her contract.

The other points of interest that she passed over during her trek were some more ancient ruins, the nordic type by her estimates, ones that happened to be home to the aggressive wild people that seemed to call this region of Skyrim home, before spotting Rorikstead off in the distance, where everyone was no doubt sleeping peacefully before they got up and went about their day. It took her thirty more minutes to reach the snowy part of Skyrim again, where she flew over some giant camps, who actually seemed to be sleeping as well, and a number of ruins that bandits seemed to be holed up in, along with Fort Greymoor and the city of Whiterun off in the distance, locations that were hard to miss since she had been inside one and close to the other. After that the next area that she recognized, before reaching the road that would take her to Windhelm, was Loreius' farm, where she had encountered Cicero for the first time, though a few minutes later she spotted two dwarven ruins that were close to each other, at least from her perspective they were, as there was a whole side of a mountain between them. One of the ruins was on the same level as that lake she had seen the bear earlier that day, when she decided to stop walking and start flying, while the other one was higher on the mountain, meaning that they likely weren't connected at all, but that made her wonder which of them was her target and which of them she could ignore for the foreseeable future, all while lending aid to her decision to ask the Windhelm guards.

By the time she reached Windhelm it took her about an hour a thirty minutes, after leaving Markarth, and when she reached her destination she landed on the bridge and moved into the shadows that were near the area the stables were in, which allowed her to shift her form into something more believable, a female Nord that was dressed up like Muiri, as she assumed the type of clothing the lady had been wearing was common in Skyrim, but also younger looking, so people would think that she was looking for revenge as well.

"What are you doing out here, at this time of night?" a voice asked, where Amaryllis turned around for a moment and found that a guard had been walking up the little ramp that was to the right, something she had missed, but fortunately it seemed like the man was getting tired and might not have seen anything, though it did tell her that she needed to be more careful in the future, "Don't you know that there are werewolves, vampires, burglars, and assassins out there at this time of night, looking for easy prey to capture in their webs?"

"I know, I was just looking for a ruin called Raldbthar." Amaryllis replied, as she suspected that there might be some other creatures or people that operated during the night, even though it was funny that the guard should mention assassins, considering that she was one now, before she focused on the reason behind why she was looking for the ruin, "I head that Alain Dufont called that ruin home and I've been trying to find it, but since none of the ruins I've seen have any markers to indicate which is which I can't tell if I've seen the ruin or if I've missed it."

"If you walked by Anga's Mill, than you certainly missed it." the guard stated, though he let out a sigh at the same time, as if he was buying what Amaryllis was presenting to him, that she was looking for Alain Dufont for revenge as well, though she wasn't expecting it to be this easy to get the information she needed, meaning that the Nord in question seemed like a breaker of hearts, "Raldbthar is located across the river that the mill is located on, and there's even a path that leads right up to the front entrance of the ruin, where Alain Dufont likely has some of his fellow guards keeping an eye out for wannabe heroes. If you want him dead, my advice is to hire out a few of the Companions, from Jorrvaskr, the mead hall that they call home, and they'll be sure to clear the ruin out of bandits and, more importantly, bring you Alain's head to prove he's dead."

"That... that sounds like a good idea." Amaryllis said, where she made it sound like she was suddenly having second thoughts about the entire thing, that she lost her nerve and couldn't go through with what she had planned, to which the guard, instead of taking her inside the city, had her follow him down the road that lead away from Windhelm and brought her to Kynesgrove, an inn that she passed by earlier when she was heading to Riften for the first contract.

She had no idea why the guard thought that bringing her here was the right thing to do, especially since no one was outside at the moment, before he excused himself and headed back to Windhelm, where Amaryllis caught him muttering to himself about how all the sweet and innocent girls of the land were having their hearts broken by Alain, though that did inform her that Muiri, despite what she said, was the only one that had the nerve to called upon the Dark Brotherhood to deal with Alain. Once she was sure that the guard was gone, and that there was no one around to witness what came next, she reverted back to her original form and took off, heading to the west once more, though this time around she kept the guard's directions in mind as she looked for the ruin that was her destination, because now she had the feeling she knew which of them she needed to focus on. It didn't take her all that long to retrace her steps back to where the mill rested, as that was fairly close to Windhelm, but once she did that she headed for the mountain side that contained the second dwarven ruin she had spotted, the one that was higher up than the first one, and spotted some white furred trolls that were likely tougher than their brown furred counterparts in the areas that weren't covered in snow. From there she found the entrance that the guard had spoken of, with three bandits standing outside the door that would allow her to enter the ruin, one of them standing on the lowest part of the steps and the other two positioned near the door, but far apart so that if anything happened to them it might not be easy for them to notice what happened.

Fortunately she was able to move around the upper part of the entrance and drop down behind the tents that were resting outside the door the bandits were guarding, where she let her magic wash over her as she shifted back into her assassin form, but she remained still for the moment, just to make sure that none of the three bandits were looking for anything or anyone. When it became clear that none of the bandits were patrolling the area, as they seemed to be doing the same thing they were doing when she approached them a few moments ago, she silently moved out of the area that she was hiding in and carefully approached the bandit that was the closest to the area that she had landed in, before she withdrew her dagger from it's sheath and quickly cut open the bandit's neck, killing him instantly. She made sure that the body didn't crash to the ground, as that was a surefire way for the other two bandits to hear what was going on and move to investigate what was going on, but once she was sure neither of them were moving from where they were standing she set the body down and remained in the sneaking position as she silently walked over to the next bandit. As it turned out even her meager skills in the art of stealth were more than enough to deal with the challenge that was ahead of her, as she was able to approach the second bandit and cut him down without the third one, who was standing on a lower level than the two she had taken out, noticing what was going on. While she was sure that anyone else would have entered the ruin at this point, instead of taking everyone out, she was different and didn't feel like leaving a bandit behind, so she carefully sneaked down to where the final bandit was standing, somehow without her turning and looking at the stairs she happened to be walking down, so it was rather easy for her to cut the bandit down, just like her friends, before she turned around and headed back to the door so she could head inside the ruin.

Once she was inside the ruin she found that the first chamber that she had access to had two stone pillars that were connected to the ceiling, some metal openings in the floor, a brass door that had been knocked down at some point in the past, and two bedrolls off to the left, where a single bandit was sleeping at the moment, though from what she could tell this ruin seemed to be large, just like Windhelm and Markarth were large, and that it might take her some time to find the person that she was looking for.

Amaryllis did find that there were two paths in front of her, where she could walk forward, through two vents of fire that didn't seem to be anywhere near stopping, and maybe unlock the gate that was at the end of the path, which would allow her to enter what seemed to be a massive chamber, or she could head to the left and make her way around an area that likely had more bandits for her to take out, but it did seem to be a tad bit safer. The first thing she did, however, was silently approach the sleeping bandit and quickly silenced him without wasting time, where she headed into the area that was in front of her and turned to the left, as she wasn't about to deal with the fire and, more importantly, she disliked bandits and was more than willing to take them all out, both to make Skyrim safer and to practice her skills. While she did that she found that the next area she walked through was as a short hallway that brought her to a somewhat longer and wider hallway, one that seemed to head in the direction of the larger chamber she had spotted earlier, and, as it turned out, there was a bandit that was walking over to one of the collapsed rooms that was at her end of the hallway. With his back turned towards her, and there being no other bandits in the immediate area, Amaryllis carefully approached her next target and sliced open his neck, before turning towards the path that was in front of her and found some pipes that were wrapped around some structures in this area, but she did stop for a moment as she spotted one bandit standing near a decent sized fireplace and another bandit that was sleeping on a stone bed of some kind.

She stared at the scene for a few seconds, as she knew that if she approached the bandit near the fire he would see her coming, both from how he was standing and because the fire was sure to cast her shadow over the wall, but in the end she came to a decision that would help her move the bandit, even though she was sure the other members of her Family would have just cut them down and move on with the mission. What she did was use a bit of her magic to levitate one of the brass pieces that was laying on the ground, which she was sure the makers of these ruins had created at some point in the past, and hurled it into the shadowy corner of the area, where the bandit in question seemed to hear the noise and the sleeping one just rolled over and faced the wall. She watched as her next target moved over to the area that the sound came from, moving from their post, and proceeded to patrol the area for a few seconds, no doubt looking for someone that had made the noise, and when their back was turned Amaryllis carefully rushed over to where she had put the brass object in, as the moment the bandit announced that it must have been their imagination, that they might have imagined the sound, she slipped in behind him and cut him down. After that she headed over to the sleeping area and quickly cut down the sleeping bandit, where she left the room the three bandits had been in and found that she had two paths to pick from, a locked passage and an open one that headed down into the larger chamber, where she headed to the right and descended towards the area she assumed Alain was in.

When she neared the bottom of the ramp she was heading down she found two bandits sitting in chairs, which just so happened to be in a pool of what looked like some flammable liquid, with a well dressed man standing near them, who had a warhammer of some kind on his back, but based on her limited knowledge she figured that the one that was well dressed was Alain Dufont, the target she was after. Instead of using fire to torch the two bandits that were too stupid to clean up the area they were sitting in, as that would be rather easy and it would alert Alain to the fact that someone was lurking in the shadows, she used her magic to mess with the odd spherical contraption that was resting near them, as she made it point at the ramp for a few seconds, which was long enough for Alain to order his friends to investigate what was going on, and, in his eyes, stop whichever bandit was messing with them. She stopped messing with the contraption as soon as the bandits started towards her position, where she waited in the shadows of the passage and made sure the pair walked by her as they went up to investigate the area that the other bandits had been located in, but luckily for her one of them stopped near the top of the passage as the other moved onward, giving her the chance she was looking for. It was easy to wait for a few more seconds, allowing her to end the life of the bandit that suddenly stopped, to prevent his friend from hearing the noise instantly and reacting accordingly, but as the other one noticed the dead bodies, however, that was the moment Amaryllis appeared behind him and put him down as well, leaving only Alain Dufont.

Interestingly enough Alain moved around the area his friends had been in, apparently waiting for them to return so he could inquire as to what they found, but when his back was turned, and his guard was lowered for a moment, Amaryllis seized her chance and walked into her target's shadow, where she reached up and slew him like all the other bandits she had killed so far.

Once that was done she stood up and turned around, so she could retrace her steps and head outside, but before she did anything else she turned towards the warhammer, which was a long staff that had a cylindrical head attached to the top of it, with spikes to hurt one's foe, and stared at it for a few moments, debating whether or not she needed to take it as proof or if she could leave it here. The reason was because she was sure that no one actually required proof that a deed was done, rather they took someone's word at face value, with very few even questioning what was going on, so it was easy to come to the conclusion that no proof was needed to tell Muiri that Alain was dead, but, at the same time, she felt that leaving the warhammer might be the wrong move, so she sighed and picked it up from where Alain dropped it, where she found that it was much lighter than what she assumed it was. She had to assume that this meant the weapon was far more deadly than what people thought it would be, though at the same time she was no expert when it came to weapons and was glad she was mostly using her dagger to get things done, as she was sure the two-handed weapons were outside the type of weapons she was capable of using in battle. With the warhammer in hand, and Alain laying dead on the floor, Amaryllis turned around and headed for the entrance, pausing here and there to collect the small amounts of coins that the dead bandits had on them, before finally reaching the door so she could head outside, where she found that it was still nighttime and that it was likely some time until morning arrived.

Since she was sure that Muiri would be sound asleep at this point, and wouldn't be expecting any news about Alain's death for some time, Amaryllis decided to head back to Windhelm, mostly to get some rest and plan when she would make her return to Markarth, to which she opened her wings again and took off, heading back to the city that had gotten her started with the Dark Brotherhood. Fortunately, thanks to the cover of darkness that was disappearing as each hour passed, she was able to return to the city in the same amount of time it took her to get to Raldbthar, where she suspected that it took her roughly an hour to make the round trip, and she landed in the same area she had landed in earlier, only this time she was sure there were no guards in the area. This time around she didn't bother with a Nord disguise, rather she shifted back into her Khajiit form and slipped the warhammer onto her back, while making sure the appearance of her armor was the leather she had been wearing earlier, as she was sure that walking into Windhelm with any sort of armor that belonged to the Imperials would be a reason to throw her in jail, as if she was a spy or something. Even though she knew that the guards of this city, who were soldiers in the Stormcloak army, didn't like outsiders visiting their city, they didn't seem to be the type that would assault her out in the open, and even if they did she had one or two spells from her home world that might help her escape, but for now she focused on what she was doing as she walked towards the main gate so they could enter the city once more.

As she approached the main gate, however, she felt the eyes of the guards on her and knew that something was going to happen before she even entered the city, but instead of reaching for her dagger, like someone else would do if they felt this way, she remained calm and came to a stop as one of the guards walked over to her, before coming to a stop himself as he focused on her.

"That weapon, it's Aegisbane, isn't it?" the guard asked, informing Amaryllis of the weapon's name, which meant that it might belong to someone in Windhelm and that the guards might think she stole it, given the nature of the race she picked for her current disguise, before he thought about something for a moment, "It was the sigil of clan Shatter-Shield, before Alain Dufont and Muiri stole it from the grieving family only a few days after Friga was murdered, and last I heard one of them went into a dwarven ruin to hide, while the other was forced to flee to Markarth."

"Well, I went into Raldbthar earlier, after finding that the bandits outside were dead," Amaryllis replied, though as she said that both the guard in front of her and the guard to her left were immediately interested in what she had to say about the ruin, or, to be more specific, Alain Dufont, the leader of the group of bandits, which was more than enough reason for her to continue her explanation, "and from what I could tell someone else had killed all the bandits inside the ruin, without any signs of self defense, and I found Alain laying on the floor, dead I might add, so I looted the place, took this weapon, and came here to sell off a few pieces before I moved on."

"Looks like someone got tired of Alain Dufont and hired the Dark Brotherhood to kill him." the other guard said, to which he and the first guard chuckled at that, as if they found something to be funny, even if he had no idea how truthful his statement was, before he focused on Amaryllis and the weapon that she was carrying at the moment, "You know, you might get a reward for returning that weapon to one of the Shatter-Shields, and they'll be happy to hear that someone took care of Alain, even if they might wish for the same to happen to Muiri."

Amaryllis nodded her head, to show that she understood what the guards were talking about, before finding that one of the guards followed after her and showed her where the house the Shatter-Shields lived in, one that was near where the shops were located, though it was a rather impressive looking house and so were the houses that were beyond it, even though the guard indicated that one of them was no longer being occupied at the moment. She wasn't expecting one of the Shatter-Shields to come to the door if she knocked on it, but she did so anyway, as the guard wanted to make sure that the warhammer was turned over to it's rightful owner, showing that he still didn't trust her due to her Khajiit disguise, but in the end a young Nord lady, about Muiri's age, unlocked the door and revealed herself. It was in that moment that she met Nilsine, the other target that her client wanted her to take care of, as a side objective that she determined wasn't part of the actual contract, and it didn't take her long to recognize the weapon that Amaryllis had recovered from Alain's body earlier, so much so that she immediately woke up her parents so they could see what had come home. Before she knew what was happening the entire Shatter-Shield family was offering her a reward for the weapon, just like the guard had said, and she decided that letting the family have their treasure back was the right thing to do, but she was caught off guard when the mother handed her a sack containing two thousand coins.

In the end, since they insisted on her taking the reward, Amaryllis took the sack and knew that she would be calling her personal chest in the near future, to store the majority of the coins inside it to lighten her load, though since it was night out, and would be that way for a few more hours, the family didn't welcome a total stranger into their house, which was understandable, but Nilsine did seem like she wanted to see her again one day, maybe to get to know her and hear the story of how she acquired Aegisbane from the one that stole it from her family.

With the deed done, and the door was closed, Amaryllis and the guard went their separate ways, where she walked to another part of the city and, upon finding that no one was around her, she summoned her chest for a moment and did what she thought about earlier, storing most of the reward inside the chest, leaving her with roughly five hundred gold total, mostly from what she collected from those she took out. Of course that included putting all the coins that she got from Nazir into the chest as well, which was two thousand two hundred and fifty gold coins from what she counted, but she was rather impressed that she had between five to six thousand septims at this point in time, especially since she had only been in Skyrim for nearly a week. Once that was taken care of, and she was sure no one had come running at the sound of her personal chest being summoned, she shifted back into her original form and took off, leaving Windhelm behind so she could focus on Markarth and the fact that Muiri wouldn't be up when she returned to the city, meaning she needed to find something to do before morning arrived. As she considered that thought, however, she remembered what was inside Silus' notes and recalled that one of the keepers of the three fragments of Mehrune's Razor was someone near Markarth, so all she had to do was figure out where Dead Crone Rock was located and then see what sort of defenses the people of that area had, before looking for the fragment.

It took her an hour and twenty minutes to get back to Markarth, where the chances of her hiding were getting limited as the sun got higher and higher in the air, but for now she still had an hour or two more before it was time for the people of the city to get up and start their days, to which she landed and took on the appearance of an Argonian traveler, a form she was sure the people of the city would forget about once she left. What she did was seek out one of the guards, as they seemed to be the greatest source of information in the entire land, instead of the citizens that were wandering the land all the time, and she found one standing near the area that the two bodies had been in earlier, where she discovered that the bodies were gone and the guard seemed bored out of his mind. The guard informed her that the ruin she was looking for was to the south of the city, where he and the other guards assumed it was the highest point of the area in question, but he warned her at the same time, informing her that the Forsworn were dangerous individuals and that whatever she was looking for in that area wasn't worth it, as even the toughest of mercenaries had trouble dealing with the Forsworn and the Hagravens that lead them, even though there was generally only one of those creatures in each of the ruins the wild men lived in. That interested her a little, as she had to assume that the person that held the fragment she was looking for might be one of the mysterious Hagravens, so what she did was thank the guard for the information and headed to a different area of the city, to make it seem like she was having second thoughts on the matter, before making her way up to the highest point of Markarth, the tower the guards apparently called home, so no one would see what came next.

She found that no one was around the area that she stopped in, meaning she must have been between the night shift switching with the day shift, so she switched back to her original form and took off, where she departed from the city and headed in the direction that the guard had indicated, knowing that she would have to be careful since her target was in one of the camps she knew would be hyper aware of what was around their base. Her best course of action was to locate a lone Forsworn, assassinate them like she did the bandits in Raldbthar, hide the body so the others didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and then take their form as she sought out the Hagraven that held the Pommel Stone of Mehrune's Razor. It was similar to her plan for taking out the small group of bandits that were in White River Watch, she just killed the pair that were outside, used one of their appearances as a disguise, and made her way to the summit to take care of the leader, and since it had worked out so well she figured it was okay to use that tactic again, so she focused on trying to find Dead Crone Rock, as that would help her figure out what she needed to do next. The only thing she was worried about was the fact that the Forsworn might have a system for making sure no one was trying to infiltrate their camp or impersonate one of their people, but she would have to wait and see what they did when she arrived at her destination, though she did hope this didn't end in her making them chase her back to civilization.

It took her fifteen minutes to find the ruin in question, which was rather large if she was being honest, since she was looking at the exterior of the area, and, as it turned out, there was one of the aggressive wild men, a lady by the looks of it, wandering near one of the entrance of the ruin, but, from what the guard told her, she would have to walk up the stairs and head to the upper area.

What she did was quickly land and hide behind one of the stone pillars, somehow not alerting the Forsworn as to the fact that someone happened to be visiting her camp, and quickly found that she was able to cut open the lady's neck when she walked by the area she was lurking in, allowing her to hide the body in the bushes as she quickly shifted her form to match the lady's, and that included the armor. Personally, she found that the armor of the Forsworn was kind of skimpy, in terms of what everyone else in Skyrim was wearing, but she put that thought aside and walked towards the stairs, finding that none of the other Forsworn glanced in her direction, meaning that things might be working in her favor, so she kept moving like she belonged here and hoped things stayed this way. When she neared the top of the stairs, however, she found one of the men standing in front of a tent that contained a troll, meaning they were training creatures for some big event in the future, but she paid no attention to the man, who wasn't even paying attention to her, and headed up towards the next doorway that would take her to the area that the guard had told her about. On the other side of the door she found a table that was cracked in half, though she paid no attention to that as she walked up the stairs on her right and headed up to a tunnel that had a Forsworn sitting at a wooden table on the other side of the tunnel, but there was also a circular staircase halfway to where the lady was sitting and that was what she walked up, so she could figure out where her target was located. At the top of the stairs she found two more Forsworn that seemed to be doing nothing but sitting around, waiting for their leader to give them orders, and when she came to a stop at the top of the stairs, as there were two paths she could pick from, she found that the closest member of the group turned to face her, no doubt interested in what she was doing.

"You heading to talk to Drascua?" the Forsworn asked, though his tone suggested that he was bored out of his mind and was hoping for something interesting to happen in the near future, while at the same time the other Forsworn poked her head out of an opening to see who he was talking to, before spotting Amaryllis and sighed, as if she was bored as well and didn't want to be bothered at the moment.

"That's right." Amaryllis replied, because if the Forsworn was going to inquire as to what she was doing, and suggest that she was going to see the person that was listed in the small journal she had been given, she was going to play along and use this to the best of her ability, especially since it appeared that none of them seemed to have any measures to make sure someone was telling the truth and that they weren't lying to pass through the area.

The Forsworn turned to the person that was in the room behind him and had them walk over to the lever was resting, where they flipped it and the iron bars that just so happened to be blocking one of the paths raised up, allowing her to head to where Drascua was waiting, to which she nodded her head in thanks and headed through the opening, where she followed the passage and headed through the door that was at the end of it. Once she walked through the door she found one of the more menacing members of the Forsworn waiting on the other side, though it appeared that he was more focused on heading back inside the ruin and left her along the in the area, to which she headed up the wooden stairs that were in front of her and hoped that her target was at the top. What she soon discovered, when she reached the top of the stairs and came to a stop, was a decent sized area that had a few posts that had some soul gems at the top, a mysterious wall that was written in an odd language, a large chest that likely had some good gear inside it, and, what held her focus, was a creature that looked like a cross between an old lady and a raven, who shuffled around the area she was standing in and seemed to be focused on something else. As Amaryllis walked into the area that the Hagraven was in, and focused on how she was going to take out the creature that held the Pommel Stone, the hag turned her head for a moment and it appeared that she was muttering to herself, something about a new arrival, the wilds, and a number of other things, but, since she was distracted, it gave Amaryllis the opening she was looking for.

As Drascua focused on the stone slab that was in front of her, and the goat that rested on it, Amaryllis walked behind her, where it appeared that the Hagraven thought she was here for a power boost or something like that, and silently drew her dagger, before cutting open Drascua's neck and killed her in seconds, dropping the body to the ground, where she made sure to hide it behind the slab so the Forsworn didn't realize what was going on for some time. As she did that she found a pure black stone that seemed to have some sort of otherworldly energy to it, where she had to assume that this was the Pommel Stone she had come looking for, to which she smiled for a moment as she slipped it into her pocket and focused on collecting the rest of the loot in the area. The chest, as it turned out, had some of the elven armor she had seen the Thalmor wearing, minus the gauntlets and boots, a staff with a dragon's head carved into the top, and a steel axe that had a frosty aura to it, where she claimed the items, and the sack of two hundred coins that were off to the side, and made sure all of them were in her pack, before finding a gleaming stone on the stone slab. It reminded her of the one that was in Astrid's room, meaning that she might know what it was, to which she picked up the stone and added it to her collection of loot that she was leaving with, but once that was done she switched back to her original form and took off, heading back to Markarth so she could see whether or not Muiri was wandering around the city so she could deliver the news, get the payment, and then head back to the sanctuary to see what else Astrid had for her to do.

Fifteen minutes later she was back in Markarth, as she landed near the guard tower and switched to her assassin form as she headed down the stairs, because from what she saw back in Dawnstar the various guards of a city kept their eyes on members of the Dark Brotherhood, but, at the same time, they waited to see whether or not they did anything before arresting them, though it didn't take her long to find Muiri, who was standing outside a building that she assumed was the store her mentor owned.

"You're back?!" Muiri said, even though she nearly exclaimed that in the process, which would have brought some guards over to see what was going on, where this showed that she wasn't expecting Amaryllis to return so quickly and that she was worried about the contract they had talked about earlier, before calming down as she focused on the reason why she was talking to someone from the Dark Brotherhood and what she had asked her to do the last time they had seen each other, "Well, what news do you have for me? Is Alain Dufont... is he...?"

"He's dead. I infiltrated Raldbthar, found out where he was hiding, and killed him, while also reclaiming Aegisbane so it could be returned to it's rightful owners." Amaryllis replied, informing the young lady that the contract had been fulfilled to her specifications, that Alain Dufont was dead and that she never had to worry about him hurting anyone else, even if she was more interested in revenge than anything else at the moment.

"Thank you, that bastard got exactly what he deserved... but last I heard, Nilsine was seen walking around Windhelm with a smile on her face, so I guess you decided not to kill her as well." Muiri stated, though that told Amaryllis that news must travel fast in Skyrim, even though it was a rather large place and her wings allowed her to travel between two points in a fraction of the time, before she sighed and pulled out a sack she had been carrying, "I have to admit that I'm... rather disappointed in your decision. Here's the payment for killing Alain, and nothing for letting Nilsine live. Just remember, that was your decision, and it makes me question the word of the Dark Brotherhood."

"Let me offer you a word of advice: if you wanted Nilsine dead that much you should have said that she was part of the contract, as in two kills for the price of one." Amaryllis said, as that was her understanding of the rules of the group she had joined, that they only killed individuals that the contracts were for, even if some would have likely done the optional kill as well, so saying that Nilsine wasn't part of the contract, like Muiri had done, meant that she didn't have to kill that person at all, though she did accept the sack that contained her payment.

Instead of being annoyed by that statement, like she assumed her client would be after being confronted in such a way, Muiri actually stood still for a few seconds as she took in that information, as if understanding that she might have messed up what she said earlier, before Amaryllis departed from the area and headed towards the main entrance for the city, as it was time for her to head back to the Sanctuary and inform Astrid of her success with this assignment, before seeing what the future held in store for her.

Brotherhood: The Second Fragment

Since it was around seven or eight in the morning, and everyone in Markarth was out and about going about their days like they usually did, Amaryllis found that leaving like she had done earlier was a no go, as there were a good number of guards leaving the tower they slept in and a good number of civilians wandering around the city, so the only thing she could do was walk through the main gate of the city and head outside. Of course the owner of the stables and the carriage driver were outside, one of them tending to the horses that they watched over, and any others that were brought in by visitors, while the other tended to his carriage and made sure it was ready to go, for when someone wanted to head to one of the other major cities that rested throughout Skyrim. Since both of them were out and about, and there were guards watching the road and the skies, that meant she couldn't just shift back into her true form and fly away, not until she was sure that no one could see her, but, at the same time, she understood that the guards being posted outside again meant that they had to be done working on the crime scene and had likely closed the case. She was still of the opinion that there had to be a reason for the man to go crazy and attack a visitor, when he could have easily snapped elsewhere and kill a native to Markarth, but, at the same time, she understood that the guards wanted to quickly label the man as the source of the disturbance and leave it at that, so she put it at the back of her mind and continued walking.

It took her fifteen to twenty minutes to get from Markarth's main gate and reach the part of the road that would make it impossible for the guards or the other people of the city to notice what she was doing, and she made sure that there was no one around that would be able to see this, before she shifted back into her original form and took off, this time heading back to Falkreath and the Sanctuary her Family called home.

There wasn't much for her to do on her way back to the Sanctuary, other than look at the scenery as she flew above the land, but one thing she did make sure to do was take a slightly different route so she could avoid the areas that the Forsworn camped in, because she knew that they would be onto her in no time and that she had gotten incredibly lucky when she was tracking down the first fragment of Mehrune's Razor. Just thinking about the artifact again made her recall that one of the remaining fragments she needed to find was located in Morthal, one that she could likely ask for and the man would hand it over, no doubt having grown tired of keeping that fragment hidden from the world, but, at the same time, the second fragment was somewhere in the Hold she was heading towards. Her knowledge of the land was terrible, which made sense considering that she had only been in Skyrim for about a week, so she would have to find a guard and see what they could tell her about the ruin she was looking for, because Drascua had been in a ruin and she was expecting Ghunzul, the orc guardian of the second fragment of the relic, to do the same thing. Of course she wouldn't do that right away, as she had to report to Astrid and tell her that the contract was done, along with getting some rest and something to eat before she did anything else, as she had been flying none stop and she was sure that she might fall asleep soon if she didn't get some rest, but all she was doing was blaming the excitement from a real contract on her decision to head out the moment she learned of her first major contract.

The other thing she thought about was Za'kera, the Khajiit she had seen several times so far, something that was odd when she considered how many times they had run into each other or happened to be in the same area, even if Za'kera had no idea that Amaryllis was even there at times, and wondered if they would bump into each other again, which would be strange and understandable at the same time, given what's happened so far. She had the feeling that the Khajiit was important in some manner, especially since she went from wearing the armor of an Imperial soldier, despite her not seeing Za'kera at Helgen before it's destruction, to wearing the armor of an adventurer, the leather armor to be exact, and had gained a female warrior that had accompanied her to Ivarstead. Part of her wondered if Za'kera was the Dragonborn that the Greybeards had called for, back when she was helping some guards from Morthal deal with some bandits, but the only way she would know the truth is if they encountered each other again, and if she was right in her thoughts, about the monks calling for the Khajiit to study with them, it would be a long time before such a thing happened. She also couldn't forget about the black dragon she had seen, a creature that had devastated Helgen, killed a number of soldiers, and then fled after doing whatever it was that it was trying to accomplish, but so far there hadn't been any dragon sightings in the entirety of Skyrim, so it was hard to even guess what the beast had been doing since it wiped out Helgen.

In the end it took her the same about of time that it took her to go from Falkreath to Markarth, where she landed in front of the black door and headed into the Sanctuary, though as she walked down the steps, and stretched a little as she did so, she found that Astrid was waiting in the first room that everyone went through when they entered this place, and it appeared that she was most eager to see if she returned from this contract, which was why a smile appeared on her face as Amaryllis came to a stop, as if she was proving Astrid's thoughts about her being a natural assassin right.

"Ah, you're back. So, how went your first real contract?" Astrid asked, showing that she was interested in hearing what Amaryllis thought about the contract that she had just finished, though at the same time Amaryllis wasn't about to ask her how she knew the contract was finished, because Astrid was more experienced in this sort of field and she had the feeling that the guards that knew she was a member of the Dark Brotherhood sent reports to some location so Astrid would know if a contract was finished ahead of time, even despite the fact that Amaryllis could fly, "I'd wager that it was more exciting than what Nazir's been offering you."

"I have to admit, it was rather exciting, being asked to kill someone who was hiding inside a dwarven ruin," Amaryllis replied, as it had been far better than anything Nazir had asked her to do so far, even though she knew that part of it was to test her skill as an assassin, and despite herself she found that she was excited for what her next contract was, be it one of the lesser side contracts or another major one.

"That's good to hear... and, from what my little ravens tell me, you handled yourself well and taught Muiri a lesson at the same time," Astrid said, her tone revealing that she was pleased with what Amaryllis had done, meaning that she had been right about the fact that if a client wanted two people dead they needed to word it in such a way, instead of saying that one of them wasn't part of the contract, like Muiri had done, "Most assassins would jump at the chance to take a contract that has more than one target, without really thinking about it, but you, on the other hand, understood how she worded her desires and realized there was only one target to fulfill the contract. It seems I might have been right about you being a born assassin, even if you don't believe that yourself."

"We'll see. I'm still getting used to this sort of life." Amaryllis replied, and that was the truth, because while she was okay with taking out bandits, and sort of understood the townspeople she had been sent after, she was still getting used to the idea that she was using her skills for something other than infiltration and taking the place of someone in a town, village, or even the city, before she focused on the matter at hand, "So, what's next?"

"So eager to prove yourself, that's good." Astrid stated, though Amaryllis considered that to be the wrong thought at the moment, as she was more interested in seeing if there were any other contracts to do, but she said nothing as Astrid considered what had happened to the Sanctuary lately, before facing her again, "Unfortunately I don't think there are any additional contracts available at the moment, as Nazir left to go see if the Holds had anyone that might have performed the Black Sacrament and, if there is someone like that, who they want killed, so you're free to do as you wish for now, but once he returns he should have some work for everyone."

Amaryllis was pleased to hear that piece of information, that she was free to do as she wished, so she headed into the main chamber and made her way over to where the sleeping area was located, where the majority of the Family appeared to sleep, as there were more than enough beds for everyone, though as she did that she recalled the other two rooms she had seen, each with their own bed. The small room with the stone bed was likely Babette's room, who appeared to be out at the moment, since she didn't see the little ancient vampire anywhere, while the room with the collapsed wall, which was just passed Babette's room, was where Cicero was sleeping, who appeared to be quite tired from his journey and moving the crate into a more appropriate area, which would have happened after she left to speak with Muiri. That made her curious about something, as she headed towards the larger room that had the stained glass window and stopped when she opened the door, because near the circular stained glass window rested an iron coffin that seemed more refined than what she had seen in this province so far, granted that she hadn't actually invaded a tomb to see what the coffins were like, but even as she stared at it she knew that the Night Mother was inside the coffin, waiting to find the Listener. From what she was told the Listener was the only person that could hear the voice of the Night Mother, though given the age of the corpse she knew that there had been multiple Listeners over the years, just never two at the same time, and she was the only one that revealed who they were, by speaking into their minds.

In the end she turned away from the coffin, mostly due to how tired she was, and found a bed that wasn't occupied by one of the other Family members, where she climbed into it and started to let sleep claim her, though Meeko jumped up to join her, showing that he missed her while she was gone, before she closed her eyes to get some rest, as she knew food would come later, when she was refreshed and wasn't getting closer to collapsing where she was standing, which would have caused the Family to laugh at her.

It was well into the evening when Amaryllis finally woke up from her slumber, more due to the fact that her hunger got the better of her and demanded that she wake up, but this time around, as she had discovered back when she first landed in this world, the hunger was more for actual food and not the love energies that she and the other changelings used to feed on, something she wasn't going to miss. It had been a pain in the rear to get enough love to fuel the entire Hive, especially with how the love energies were divided between the lower ranked changelings and the higher ones, like the Queen and her most trusted officers, but that was before Thorax rebelled and saved the rest of the Hive, even though she disagreed about how he went about things. She was sure there could have been a way for them to make things work, for all of them to never go hungry again, but, in the end, Queen Chrysalis had disappeared from the face of Equestria and none of the other changelings had heard anything, meaning they had no idea what her movements were or if she was seeking refuge with one of the other villains for a time. Of course she had been pulled to Canterlot because of a rumor, one that clearly hadn't been true and, as it turned out, whatever happened that night, when she entered that strange cave, must have been the reason she was suddenly brought to this world, unable to return, hence the reason she found herself a new calling... and, more importantly, no longer found herself burdened by the hunger of her old life.

Just thinking about all of that made her get off the bed and head down into the eating area, all while finding that Meeko had joined the rest of the Family downstairs, where it appeared that meat, cheese, and all the other food items that Skyrim had to offer had been placed on the table, to which she sat down next to Veezara and joined her Family for the evening meal, though even as that happened she knew that some of them were curious about her and might ask her some questions about her, the changelings, or even the contracts she had taken on so far, just like they did when she first entered the Sanctuary. As it turned out her Family was more interested in having her talk about the contract she had just completed, since it was her first major contract, and she wasted no time in telling them about how she flew to Markarth, avoiding the Forsworn camps as best she could, before arriving in Markarth to find Muiri. She could tell that they were interested in her and her abilities, meaning shapeshifting wasn't a common skill in this world and they were eager to hear what she did with it, where she detailed her visit to the stone city, her meeting with the scared client, who turned brave when Amaryllis revealed that the brotherhood had come to help her, and then her swift departure from the city. She then went to tell them about her meeting with the Windhelm guard and the discovery of where Raldbthar was located, since she was still learning the locations of all the ruins and whatnot, before revealing her decent skills as an assassin as she made her way through the ruin, killing the bandits before they knew she was there and even distracting those that had been in blocking parts of her path to her target, before killing Alain Dufont and claiming his warhammer as a prize.

When she went into the end of the contract, however, she also made sure to inform her Family that she had returned Aegisbane to the Shatter-Shields, not to gain access to Nilsine, like someone else would have done, rather to help the family move on from the loss of one of the daughters being killed, before revealing why she hadn't killed Nilsine, despite Muiri stating that she would have given her more gold if she did so, which actually impressed her Family, even though she knew that most of them, if they had been given the contract, would have done things differently.

"You said that you took some time to infiltrate a Forsworn camp and kill their leader," Veezara commented, as that was the one thing that bothered him the most, especially when he recalled the fact that Amaryllis went out of her way to avoid the camps in the first place, while at the same time finding that the others were looking at him for a moment, as if they were curious as to what he was going to say next, "What could have possessed you to do that, when there was no reason for you to endanger yourself in such a manner?"

"This." Amaryllis replied, where she reached into the pocket that she was keeping the Pommel Stone in and pulled it out, something that was followed by her setting the fragment of Mehrunes' Razor down on the table so the others could look at it for a few seconds, though she refrained from placing the red stone on the table as well, as she didn't want Astrid to think she had taken the one from her room, "While I was in Dawnstar, taking out Beitild, the owner of a small museum was having an argument with someone and that made me interested in what they were talking about, though the man has asked me to recover the fragments of the final relic he wants for his museum, a weapon he called Mehrunes' Razor, and this is the Pommel Stone that the leader of that camp was carrying on her."

"The artifact of Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Change and Destruction," Gabriella stated, as she knew about the relic in question, and it was possible that some of the other members of the Family did as well, though even as she thought about the relic it was clear that she was curious as to where the other fragments were located, hence the reason she focused on her new sister again, "Did this man say where the other pieces were located?"

"The notes Silus gave me indicated that one of the fragments is somewhere in Falkreath, in a ruin known as Cracked Tusk Keep," Amaryllis replied, though she was hopeful that one of her Family members could point her in the direction of the ruin in question, as it would be nice to have two of the fragments, so all she would have to do next is head back to Morthal, likely on one of her future contracts, and find the remaining fragment, "the other is being held by Jorgen, who lives in Morthal, and should be the easiest of the fragments to acquire."

"Cracked Tusk Keep, that's to the west of here." Veezara commented, as he had seen the ruin in question, during one of the times he was wandering the roads near their Sanctuary, to be sure there weren't any troublemakers around the area that the black door was in, and knew that it was fairly close to where they were positioned, "If you follow the road that our Sanctuary is under, and head in the direction of Falkreath, you'll find a small split in the path that heads to the west, which will eventually bring you to where the ruined keep is located, though those orcs are aggressive and will loose arrows at anything that gets near them, be it animals or people."

Amaryllis nodded her head, as she was happy that her Family knew the area that the keep rested in, where she was a little surprised that it was so close to where they were located, but, at the same time, they informed her that it would be dark in three hours, so now might be the best time for her to slip out and grab the fragment, which was a fact that she couldn't deny at all. Even so she had two options, the first was to impersonate an orc and pretend that she wanted to join the group of bandits, which would take her right to the leader, while the other was look for an opening that would allow her to infiltrate the keep, kill the leader with no one noticing, and then figure out where the fragment he was guarding was located, only to slip out before anyone realized what was going on. In order to figure out what she should do, however, she came to the decision that she needed to see the keep in question, to which she excused herself from the table and headed towards the entrance of the Sanctuary, where her new Family wished her well and said that they would be seeing her again in no time, showing that they had faith in her skills. Once she was back outside she opened her wings and took off, though she decided to approach the keep from the southern side, so the Orcs wouldn't be able to see her until she had determined what method she wanted to use to get inside, and even if they did see her she could always pull them into the trees and lose them, opening a way for her to get inside now that she thought about it.

It took her ten minutes to locate the keep in question, where she found that there were a few Orcs positioned outside the keep and happened to be staring at the area in front of their base, as it appeared that some wolves were fighting a lone bear and they were waiting for the fight to be over, so they could swoop in and kill whoever won, but that meant their attention was elsewhere. Another thing that worked in her favor was the fact that there was an opening at the very top of the keep, one that looked like it was a hatch and likely had a ladder attached to it, which seemed to be the best way for her to enter the ruined structure, to which she smiled for a moment as she quietly landed on top of the area the hatch was in and found that it wasn't locked at all, much to her surprise. As such she opened it as quietly as she possibly could, so none of the Orcs noticed what she was doing, and climbed down the ladder that was on the other side of the hatch, making sure to close it once she was inside, though what she discovered was the room she was heading down into had a fireplace and a bedroom, where an Orc was sleeping in the bed and didn't seem to notice that someone was invading the keep. She also discovered that he was sleeping in his armor, like he was expecting to be woken up by the other Orcs at some point in the near future and wanted to be ready for what the future held for him, but, instead of giving him the chance, Amaryllis lightly touched the floor and sneaked over to where the Orc was laying at the moment, where she suspected that this had to be Ghunzul, a dangerous criminal according to her notes.

Fortunately it appeared that her target slept without his helmet on, meaning that it was incredibly easy for her to pull her dagger out and slit his throat, just like she did to Drascua, killing him in a matter of seconds, something she was okay with since it appeared he was a bandit, but, as she searched the room, she found no signs of the blade fragments, which the Orc was supposed to be in possession of, though she did find a key and a rather large chest, where she took only the bag of septims before closing the lid, as the rest looked like a spare suit of armor, which was too heavy for her to lug around right now, which made out of steel and a few iron weapons.

"Boss, is something wrong?" a voice asked, no doubt hearing the lid of the chest hitting the bottom half, as Amaryllis was a little annoyed by the lack of the fragment that she was looking for, before an idea came to mind and she smiled, as the Orc that had spoken would help her locate the area that the blade fragments were in, to which she quickly took in Ghunzul's form and shifted into it, which included his steel armor, before heading towards the door.

"No. Nothing is wrong." Amaryllis replied, speaking in what she hoped Ghunzul's voice was, since all she had heard was the moan that had escaped the Orc's mouth as she ended his life, before she opened the door that separated the room she was in from the rest of the keep, where she found an Orc hunter standing at the table in front of her, "Tell me, did I tell you where the fragments to a special blade are located?"

"Y... Yeah. They're through that door, down the stairs, and located at the end of the hall," the Orc answered, where his tone suggested that he believed that this was a test of some kind and that he was hope that he had gotten the answer right, to which Amaryllis nodded her head, showing the Orc that he had gotten the question right, even though she had no idea if that information was correct or not.

Amaryllis closed the door behind her, hopeful that the Orc didn't go into Ghunzul's room, before she headed down the stairs and found the door in question, where she opened it and followed the short hallway that brought her to a room that had a second entrance, one she hadn't seen from the outside, and some metal rods that blocked the way to the door the orc had mentioned. As it turned out there was a locked box of sorts near the blockage and she found that there was a keyhole on top of it, where she pulled out the key she had taken from the Orc she had killed and slipped it into the hole, though when she turned it she found that it was what unlocked the box, revealing a button that she pressed, which caused the blockage to lower into the ground and allowed her to walk down to the door. On the other side of the door she found a passage that took her to a gated off area, while passing two more small rooms that were blocked off, but she ignored them as she stopped in front of the blockage that stood between her and the area the blade fragments were located in, only to find that there were two levers, one on the left and one on the right, that, when she pulled them, lowered the two sections of iron bars and allowed her to enter the area the fragments were in. She remained still for a few seconds, finding that there were a few tripwires in the area in front of her, no doubt rigged to traps of some kind, so instead of walking over to the fragments she engaged her magic and lifted them into the air, before pulling them over to her and deposited them into the small sack that the septims she had taken from Ghunzul's chest had been located in, before slipping the sack into her pack and locked the gate before heading back to the door to this area.

It took her a few moments to get back to the box, where she tapped the button to seal the door and then used the key to lock it, before making her way to Ghunzul's room, pausing to tell the Orc that she had spoken to that she didn't want to be disturbed unless it was absolutely necessary, before closing the door behind her, where she switched back to her original form and climbed the stairs, before departing from the keep without the Orcs even knowing what she had done to them and their leader.

With her business with Ghunzul and his group complete, and the second fragment was in her possession, Amaryllis landed some distance nearby and quickly put on the appearance of a female Bosmer, mostly due to the fact that she spotted a female Argonian resting in front of a tree with an ebony handle resting on her back, meaning that the head of the weapon was currently hidden by the brush that was near her, and she seemed to be wearing leather armor, though the main reason she did this was because some Thalmor were walking down the road, heading to where she and the Argonian were standing. She could have continued flying and head back to the Sanctuary, to wait and see how long it would take for Nazir to return with contracts for her and the others to take on, like any sane individual would do, but there was one question she wanted to get off her chest before she did that, and the only ones that could answer it were the Thamlor, who were rather hard to find at times. The Thalmor in question were all males, all walking like they were superior to all the people that called Skyrim home, and the looks on their faces didn't make her like them at all, so she was hoping that she could get her answers and leave without drawing them to her, but given how aggressive some of the people in this land had been towards her, when she walked on the roads between the cities, she had the feeling that they would lash out at her anyway, due to the nature of her question. That was why she landed behind some trees, instead of anywhere near the road that they were walking on, before emerging from her hiding place so she could get some answers before heading back to the Sanctuary, even though she was sure that her arrival had caused the Argonian to shift her gaze, meaning she might have a watcher in case things turned south.

"Listen here, 'citizen', you had best move along, before we arrest you for interrupting official Thalmor business," the elf said, though at the same time his two companions rested their hands on their weapons, indicating that it would be a bad move to attack them and that they were ready to strike at anyone that annoyed the leader of their group, though it wasn't hard to tell who that was.

"Oh, sorry, I was just heading to Falkreath, when a question popped into my mind," Amaryllis stated, coming off like a traveler that wasn't trying to cause trouble for anyone, though at the same time this would likely be the only chance she had to ask a question like this, hence the reason she was going to get this off her chest now and then move on to where her Family was waiting for her to return, "What's wrong with worshiping Talos?"

"It's immoral to worship a man, and, thanks to the White-Gold Concordat, it's also very illegal. Any citizens that are faithful Imperial Empire would know that." the elf stated, though at the same time he beckoned with his hands and both of the elves behind him drew their swords, almost as if he felt that there was more to Amaryllis than what she was telling them at the moment, but she made no motion to draw her own weapon, making it look like she was too scared to draw it, just to defuse the situation, "Perhaps there's something you wish to confess?"

"No, I asked that wrong." Amaryllis replied, because there was a reason why this matter bugged her so much and she really wanted to get rid of it before she did anything else, because it would also help her understand the point of this war, even if the two sides seemed to be doing nothing major at the moment, "I know that worshiping Talos, as a Divine, is illegal and that anyone who does so should be arrested for going against the laws the Emperor creates, but I'm more interested in why it's apparently illegal to worship the hero of Skyrim that Talos used to be."

"The worship of anything but the Eight Divines is immoral, regardless if they're a hero or a made up god," the elf stated, revealing that it didn't matter what someone worshiped, because if they were to worship Sithis, for example, the Thalmor apparently saw that as going against their own religions and the rules of the Empire, meaning these elves would have no problems attacking anyone that worshiped someone that wasn't one of the Eight Divines, before he glanced over to the tree that was resting nearby, "You there, Argonian, do you believe what this Bosmer is saying? Would you openly admit to worshiping someone, even though it's against the law to do such a thing?"

"Belief is a strong thing in this world, and I do believe in Talos," the Argonian answered, which surprised Amaryllis for a moment, as she wasn't expecting the Argonian to say something like that, but it seemed to annoy the Thalmor enough that they charged at her and forgot about Amaryllis, who slipped into the shadows and waited for an opening to reveal itself, as she wasn't about to let the lady die like this, all because she wanted to answer this question and move on with the rest of her life.

As it turned out, much to Amaryllis' surprise, the Argonian didn't need help, as she burst into action the moment the first of the Thalmor were close to her and pulled her weapon with her, revealing that the head of her weapon wasn't the head of a battleaxe, like Amaryllis thought it would be, rather it was curved, more like a scythe, and while the handle was black the head seemed to be stained a crimson color, almost like blood, and there was a thin eye near the top of the handle, one that looked like it might actually be staring at the area it was in. In no time at all the lady jumped into the air and avoided the pair of fireballs that were coming her way, which actually told Amaryllis something very important, that being that the robe wearing members of this group of elves were mages, before the Argonian landed behind the mage and swung her weapon, allowing the curved head to slice through her target with ease, which was understandable given the cloth nature of the robe he had been wearing when the attack happened, and in no time the figure was laying dead on the ground, all while the other two came at her. From there she blocked the incoming attacks that the two warriors were throwing at her, showing Amaryllis that she had to be a skilled fighter of some sort, before one of the elves lost their head, due to the edge of the scythe cutting through where their neck was located, though at the same time the Argonian, where Amaryllis could see all of the dark gray scales her body had, just so happened to have a grin on her face that showed her that was she had to love fighting to the death and enjoyed killing those that opposed her. The second warrior didn't fare much better than the first one did, especially since he was fighting the Argonian alone, as she dodged his attacks and then, when a hole in his defenses was spotted, his foe swung her scythe and cut right through his chest piece like it was made out of paper, all while showing Amaryllis that ebony was one of the toughest metals in this land, before she pulled the scythe out of her foe's chest and let the elf fall to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

The Argonian, with the deed done, returned the scythe to her back and walked down the road, heading away from the city of Falkreath while leaving Amaryllis to wonder what in the world had just happened, before deciding that she would think about this later, once she returned to the Sanctuary, went on a job or two, and then returned to report the good news to the rest of her Family, even though she was curious what the return of the Night Mother really meant and what it might mean for everyone.

Brotherhood: Interesting Turn of Events

As it turned out nothing interesting happened when Amaryllis returned to the Sanctuary, other than her telling Veezara that she had acquired the blade fragments she had been looking for, so all she could do was relax and chat with the rest of her Family, as Nazir was still out gathering information of the latest contracts that he heard whispers about, and, according to what Astrid said, he was supposed to be back in the morning, which would be the time that everyone should have some more work to do, once more at their leisure. She still felt that there could be a better way for them to know when someone had done the Black Sacrament, like they write down what they want done and leave a note in a specific location that the guards don't know about, so one of them could collect the notices and return them to Nazir, who would take over things from there, before handing out the work. From what she could tell no one seemed to dislike how things were being ran and, in the end, she decided not to bother pitching her idea, since Astrid was the one in charge and it seemed unwise to question her authority, even when it came to suggesting things, so what she did was hang out with Veezara and, at times, Cicero, to get to know them a little better as the rest of the evening wore on. It was during the transition into nighttime that she discovered that there was a small hole in one of the ceilings, one that allowed them to peer outside and get an accurate reading of what time it was outside, which was actually a good use for such a hole, especially since no one had noticed where the hole was from the road.

Amaryllis was amazed by what the Dark Brotherhood was able to do, by hiding themselves under a road that no one seemed to bother with, especially with the black pool that happened to be outside, and suspected that this was why it had gone unnoticed for such a long time, as it seemed whoever came down this way simply wanted to move on and not stop for anything, except for that Argonain she had seen earlier. That lady was the only person she had seen, in the whole of Skyrim, that was carrying a scythe on her back, a weapon that didn't seem to really match what everyone else was using, but, at the same time, she proved that such a deadly and dangerous weapon was useful, especially with her skills since she had taken out three Thalmor agents without breaking a sweat. She was also the only person that had stayed in this area for more than a few moments, something that interested her a little, but for the moment her focus was on learning more about her Family members, how they operated, and the various contracts and potential rules that she might have to abide by, conditions that, if she did them correctly, would learn her a bonus when she completed the major contracts. All of this came from Gabriella and Festus, since they were more than willing to tell her more about how they operated and what she needed to focus on, but the main thing everyone seemed to agree on was that each of them had their own style when it came to completing their contracts and that she needed to find her own, even though all of her Family members knew that she already had a good start on figuring her style out.

Eventually all of them turned in for the night, with Astrid and Arnbjorn taking turns keeping watch for Nazir's return so they could figure out who was doing what in the near future, and while Amaryllis really didn't need to rest, after all the hours she spent sleeping that day already, she went to sleep as well so that when morning arrived she could be ready for it and whatever the day could throw at her.

When morning arrived once more Amaryllis found another reason to be happy, as Nazir had finally made it back to the Sanctuary and he admitted that he had some work for everyone, more than he initially thought he would find when he went out to collect more contracts, so it appeared that there might be two rounds of contracts for everyone to tackle, a statement that caused the rest of the Family to cheer. Amaryllis, on the other hand, did follow their lead a little, as she was curious as to what targets she would be given this time around, hopefully nothing as bad as mercy killing a beggar, but only time would tell what sort of contracts Nazir had in mind for her, given that he was the one that determined who got what contract, even though he likely worked with Astrid to get good results. One of the other things she noticed was that Cicero, the Keeper of the Night Mother, didn't actually get any work at all, due to his role as the Keeper, meaning that he had to stick close to her coffin and protect her, but that didn't stop him from interacting with the rest of the Family and hearing about all the contracts that they went on, no doubt so he could imagine doing something like that himself, or to remember the days before he became the Keeper. She had the feeling that Cicero was bored, being forced to tend to the Night Mother and nothing else, but she was more than happy to spend some time with him and make sure he wasn't regretting his decision to bring the Unholy Matron to this Sanctuary, even if the others deemed him a little mad, something she could get passed thanks to her time in Ponyville.

Amaryllis and the others spent a good portion of the morning relaxing, working on the various professions that they used when they were out in the field, or even reading, while Nazir worked on determining who got what contract before handing them out, before she noticed Astrid standing near the doorway that lead to the main chamber, who moved her head when she was the only one looking at her, to which Amaryllis got up from where she was sitting and had Meeko stay with the others, before following Astrid all the way to the room that the leader of this Sanctuary slept in.

"Astrid, is something wrong?" Amaryllis asked, as she noticed that the lady that had recruited her into her new Family did seem to be worried about something at the moment, even if none of the other Family members had been around to see this, to which she closed the door behind her and hoped that there was no one around when they talked about whatever was bothering Astrid.

"Yes... it's Cicero." Astrid replied, because while Amaryllis knew that Astrid didn't hit it off with the jester, no like some of the other members of the Family did during the last couple of days, she honestly didn't feel that she was in any position to feel that the man was a threat to her and her rule, not when the only thing that could actually do such a thing was the Listener, the only person that could hear the Night Mother, "Ever since he arrived at this Sanctuary, and we had our first meeting, his behavior's been... well, let's just say erratic would be an understatement, as I strongly believe the fool is truly mad. But it's worse than that, as he's locked himself in the Night Mother's chamber several times since he moved her into that room, where I've heard him talking to someone, in hushed, but frantic tones. What I want to know is who Cicero is speaking with, and what could they be planning, though I fear treachery is at the heart of this matter."

"Well, he did just finish a journey that involved carting the Night Mother and her coffin to Skyrim, all the way from the crypt in Bravil, alone I might add," Amaryllis said, as she felt that Cicero was trying to unwind from the long journey and the way he was doing it in seemed to be strange to Astrid, who didn't seem to think very much about what she had said, which wasn't the first time someone decided what she said was worthless, "though if you want my opinion on the matter, you might be acting a little paranoid over all of this."

"Maybe so, but a healthy dose of paranoia has saved this Sanctuary before," Astrid stated, showing that, while she was fine with Amaryllis telling her exactly what she was thinking at the moment, without her getting annoyed by such a thing in the first place, she expected the changeling to assist her in figuring out what was going on right now and if there was a traitor among their Family members, "and my gut's telling me that the demented little fool is up to something."

"Very well." Amaryllis replied, to which she let out a soft sigh, as she couldn't believe that this was even happening at all, especially when she had a good idea why Cicero might be acting a little weird, but she had been wrong before and she knew that she could be wrong about this as well, even though she felt that Astrid was just overreacting to Cicero and the arrival of the Night Mother, "What is it that you want me to do about this?"

"Dear sister, I need you to steal into that chamber, and eavesdrop on their meeting." Astrid said, showing Amaryllis that she must have been thinking about this since the moment she first heard Cicero talking in that room, which hadn't been for all that long since he had only moved in not that long ago, though she did glance at the fireplace for a moment, like she was thinking about something else at the same time, "Even with your skills and abilities, it will be no use clinging to the shadows, as Cicero and his accomplice will see you for sure. No, what you need is a hiding place, somewhere they would never think to look... like inside the Night Mother's coffin."

"The... coffin?!" Amaryllis said, as just the thought of opening that ancient coffin and slipping inside, where the ancient and preserved corpse of the Night Mother rested, grossed her out a little, and there was another reason why she felt that this was a bad idea, something she decided to voice, "I'm pretty sure that's disrespectful to the Night Mother, possibly to Sithis as well, and will set Cicero off if he opens the coffin during his next meeting."

"Be that as it may, we have no other choice." Astrid replied, where her tone told Amaryllis that she was expecting her to go along with her ideas and not question her decision, even though this time she did detect a level of annoyance in her voice, meaning the more she refused Astrid the more angry with her she would become, to which she just admitted defeat and waited for her to finish her statement before she did anything else, "You need to remain unseen! Now go, before they meet. And report back to me with whatever you learn."

Amaryllis departed from the room and acted like nothing was amiss, where she found that the rest of her Family were where she had left them and it appeared that no one had moved to the room the Night Mother resided in, but in the end she sighed and walked over to that room, as she decided that she might as well get this over with so she could see if Astrid really was going crazy over Cicero arriving. The metallic door near the stairs that lead to the first small room, which was where Astrid's room was located, was locked at the moment, no doubt in preparation for the meeting that was supposed to be happening in the near future, to which she headed over to the other one and found that it was unlocked, allowing her to slip inside the room. She was surprised that she was coming face to face with the coffin a second time, especially since she had come to see what it looked like after Cicero had placed it where it was supposed to go, before she steeled herself and walked up to it, where she rested her hands in the opening between the two sections that formed the lid and pulled them apart. That also surprised her, as she would have thought that Cicero kept the coffin locked, to keep the body of the Night Mother preserved and whatnot, though it was possible that he was going to tend to her after the meeting and was preparing the coffin ahead of time, but she stopped as she stared at the well preserved corpse of the Night Mother, a shriveled thing that was bound by rope, and hoped that the Unholy Matron, at the very least, wouldn't strike her down for what she was about to do.

In that moment she heard Cicero humming, where she had to determine that the jester was close to this room and would be entering it in a few moments, to which she turned around as she climbed into the coffin, where she closed the lid and sealed herself off from the world for a time, though she hoped that the jester completed whatever meeting he was going to have rather quickly and then departed so she didn't have to stay in the coffin for too much time.

"Are we alone?" Cicero asked, showing that he was already speaking to someone, even though Amaryllis hadn't seen or felt anyone else when she entered the room the coffin was in, so either one of the other Family members had walked into the room with him or he had entered the room alone, where the latter meant that he could be talking to the Night Mother for some odd reason, "Yes... yes... we are alone. Sweet solitude. No one will hear us, disturb us. Everything is going according to plan. The others, I've spoken to them a little, and they're coming around, I know it. The wizard, Festus Krex... perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child."

Amaryllis knew that Cicero had been talking to the others, she was even someone that he had talked to, though not in the matter that he did to the others, and she didn't recall anything about those conversations that would make her worry about one of the others turning on Astrid and the Sanctuary, so she was sure Astrid was being paranoid and that there was no reason for them to be worried about the Family turning against each other.

"What about you? Have you... have you spoken to anyone? No.... No, of course not. I do the talking, the stalking, the seeing and saying! And what do you do? Nothing!" Cicero stated, where his tone revealed that he seemed to be annoyed about something, where Amaryllis, once more, felt that the journey to this Sanctuary had taken it's toll on him and that he was trying to relax, now that he had reached his destination, before he let out a sigh to show that he was calming down and his anger had faded, "Not... not that I'm angry! No, never! Cicero understands. Heh. Cicero always understands! And obeys! You will talk when you're ready, won't you? Won't you... sweet Night Mother."

Poor Cicero. Dear Cicero. Such a humble servant. a voice said, where Amaryllis turned her head a little, a slight bit of movement that wouldn't cause anything inside the coffin to move, as she was wondering who was speaking to her this time around, as this reminded her of when she touched that stone and a voice spoke to her, even though she was positive that this was a different voice speaking, But he will never hear my voice... for he is not the Listener.

"Oh, but how can I defend you?" Cicero inquired, showing that he was definitely frustrated over something and that he didn't mind venting to the coffin that the Night Mother resided in, which was likely something that had allowed him to stay somewhat sane during the journey to Skyrim, even if that told everyone else that he might be a little crazy in the head and made them wonder if he was plotting against them, "How can I exert your will? If you will not speak? To anyone!"

Oh, but I will speak. I will speak to you. For you are the one. the mysterious raspy voice said, though this time around Amaryllis glanced at the corpse that was behind her, as she was sure that the seemingly ancient voice was coming from it, meaning that someone knew she was in the coffin, and that someone was the Night Mother, which told her more than she was expecting to discover, Yes, you. You, who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones. I give you this task... journey to Volunruud. Speak with Amaund Motierre.

"Poor Cicero has failed you." Cicero stated, though this time his tone told Amaryllis that he was depressed by what he was feeling, which made her feel sorry for the man, because it appeared that he was searching for something, or someone as she recalled what he had told her before this point in time, and he was afraid that he was never going to fulfill whatever promise he had made to the Night Mother, "Poor Cicero is sorry, sweet mother. I've tried, tried so very hard. But I just can't find the Listener."

Tell Cicero the time has come. the Night Mother said, where this confirmed Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, as three times was more than enough for her to realize what was going on, that Cicero had come here to find the one person that could hear the voice of the Night Mother and, as it just so happened, she was the person that he was looking for, even if he didn't know that piece of information yet, Tell him the words he has been waiting for, all these years: "Darkness rises when silence dies".

In that moment, as the voice of the Night Mother disappeared, a line of light appeared in front of Amaryllis' eye, where she watched as the lid of the coffin opened and revealed Cicero on the other side, just like she told Astrid might happen once the 'meeting' was over, and a look of pure fury appeared on the jester's face as he realized that there was someone else inside the coffin, confirming her suspicions that this wasn't a good thing.

"What? What treachery is this!" Cicero declared, where his voice raised to the point where it seemed like he might be close to shouting, which would inform the rest of the Family that something had happened in this room, but Amaryllis suspected that no one would come running, except maybe Astrid, "Defiler! Debaser and defiler! You have violated the sanctity of the Night Mother's coffin! Explain yourself! Speak, worm!"

"Cicero, this isn't what it seems to be. I can explain." Amaryllis said, speaking fast to make sure the jester didn't pull out his dagger on her and cut her open before she could tell him what was going on, even though she wasn't going to tell him about the fact that Astrid had asked her to spy on him, despite the fact that what she had just learned confirmed what she had thought earlier, that Astrid was the one that was being paranoid about things, "The Night Mother spoke to me! She said 'I am the one'."

"She... spoke to you?" Cicero replied, where a flash of hope appeared on his face for a moment, showing that he had to be thinking about the person that he had come looking for, before that was replaced by the look of fury once more, almost as if the truth of the matter caused him to be even angrier with her, "More treachery! More trickery and deceit! You lie! The Night Mother speaks only to the Listener! And there is... No... LISTENER!"

"Wait! She told me to tell you something as well," Amaryllis stated, as she was surprised by how quickly Cicero went from happy, to angry, and back in a matter of seconds, but she figured that it had something to do with his position as Keeper and the long journey he had been on, before noticing that he had paused for a moment, allowing her to tell him whatever she had to say, as if he was waiting for something, "She said to tell you, 'Darkness rises when silence dies'."

"She... she said that? She said those words... to you? 'Darkness rises when silence dies'?" Cicero asked, though this time his tone seemed to change back to being hopeful again, to which Amaryllis nodded her head, to confirm that those were the words she had been told, before a look of shock appeared on the jester's face, which was accompanied by a small smile appearing not a few seconds later, "But those are the words. The Binding Words. Written in the Keeping Tomes. The signal so I would know. Mother's only way of talking to sweet Cicero. Then... then it is true! She is back! Our Lady is back! She has chosen a Listener! She has chosen you! Ha ha ha! All hail the Listener!"

As soon as he said that, and seemed to realize that there was a Listener at long last, a full smile appeared on his face as he started to dance in front of her, showing that he was incredibly happy about what was going on, meaning that he might actually forgive her for invading the Night Mother's coffin, since she was the only person that could hear the voice of the Unholy Patron, at least for now.

"By Sithis, this ends now!" a voice said, to which Astrid, with her unique dagger drawn, burst into the room by using the door that had been locked earlier, where she glanced around the room as she looked for the traitor that didn't even exist, especially since she misunderstood what Cicero was talking about during the short periods of time he came into this room to talk with the Night Mother, before she glanced at the jester and the room, "Back away, you demented fool! Whatever you've been planning is over! Amaryllis, are you all right? I heard the commotion. Who was Cicero talking to? Where's the accomplice? Reveal yourself, traitor!"

"I spoke only to the Night Mother!" Cicero stated, though this time his happiness wasn't ruined by what Astrid had said, not to mention that her sudden arrival in the room did nothing to slow him down, showing that he was incredibly happy about what was going on, even though he reached the end of his dance and turned to face the Leader of this Sanctuary, all while Amaryllis removed herself from the coffin, "I spoke to the Night Mother, but she didn't speak to me. Oh no. She spoke only to her! To the Listener!"

"What? The Listener?" Astrid inquired, as she knew the tales about the legendary figure that was able to hear the voice of the Night Mother, but, even as she thought about that, she didn't like what she was hearing and focused on the jester for now, while Amaryllis walked over to where she was standing, as she knew that they would have a short conversation on all she had learned, before they determined what to do next, "What are you going on about? What is this lunacy?"

"It's true, it's true! The Night Mother has spoken!" Cicero cheered, once more showing that he was pleased with what he was able to do, by finding the Listener, and he wasn't afraid to show Astrid and Amaryllis just how happy he was by this turn of events, and it almost looked like he was in the mood to dance once more, even though he kept himself still and focused on the pair that was near him, "The silence has been broken! The Listener has been chosen!"

"When I heard Cicero start screaming, I knew he had discovered where you were hiding, and, to be perfectly honest, I had feared the worst might happen." Astrid explained, though she didn't even admit to the fact that hiding inside the coffin of the Night Mother had been an incredibly bad idea, especially since Cicero was the Keeper and would have noticed if there anything that was out of the ordinary, if he didn't open it to check on the Night Mother, before she focused on Amaryllis once more, "Are you all right?"

"Yes... I'm fine." Amaryllis replied, because while part of her was still wrapping her head around what had happened over the last couple of minutes, with what Cicero had done and the ancient voice that she had heard, she was physically fine and there were no cuts in her armor, showing that the jester had stopped to listen to what she had to say, instead of going crazy on her for breaking into the coffin.

"Then what in Sithis' name is going on?" Astrid asked, because while she knew what the jester had said, even though she was ignoring the man that was now humming as he tended to the Night Mother, showing just how happy he was by this turn of events, she was still trying to figure everything out, "Cicero said that he spoke to the Night Mother, but he also said that she spoke to you? Is this just more of the fool's rambling?"

"No, it's the truth. The Night Mother spoke to me." Amaryllis answered, though she still found it odd that she, out of all the people in this Sanctuary, had been chosen to become the Listener, especially because of the fact that she was from an entirely different world and was still getting used to being a member of the Dark Brotherhood, before she focused on the exact words that she had been told, "She said that I was 'the one'."

"Okay... so Cicero wasn't conspiring with one of our Family members, to bring ruin to our Sanctuary, rather he was just talking to the body of the Night Mother?" Astrid said, repeating the information that she had just learned, though at the same time Amaryllis nodded her head a few times to confirm that her thoughts were correct, but she could tell that all of this was hard for Astrid to wrap her head around, "And the Night Mother, who, according to everything we know, will only speak to the person that she has chosen as the Listener... just spoke... right now... to you?"

"That's correct." Amaryllis replied, though she really didn't see what part of this situation was hard to understand, as she felt that it was rather straightforward when one thought about it, even if she was still getting used to the idea that she was the Listener, the only person that could hear the voice of the Night Mother, meaning that she would likely hear the ancient voice again at some point in the future.

"By Sithis..." Astrid said, her tone revealing that she was shocked by what she was hearing and what it meant for her and her Family, while no doubt mentally blaming Cicero for bringing the Night Mother here in the first place, like she was afraid that Amaryllis might use the title and position to usurp her power or something, given what she had learned from Cicero after his arrival, before she focused on what else she might learn from the newest member of the Family, "And... what else did she say?"

"She told me to head to Volunruud, to speak with Amaund Motierre." Amaryllis answered, though while she had no idea where the crypt was located, as she was assuming that Volunruud was one of the numerous nordic crypts that happened to be scattered all across Skyrim, but she was interested in seeing what sort of person she had been tasked with talking to, since the name meant nothing to her.

"Amaund Motierre? I have no idea who that is." Astrid admitted, showing Amaryllis that she wasn't alone in having no idea who the Night Mother had been talking about, meaning it was likely someone that was from one of the other lands that were near Skyrim, even though they had come to Skyrim to talk with the brotherhood, before she considered the piece of information that interested her, "But Volunruud... that I have heard of. And I know where it is."

"Well, should I head out and talk to this man? I'm assuming that he has a contract for us." Amaryllis asked, because based on what little she knew about the Night Mother and the Listener, which was less than what everyone else knew about the pair, she did understand the fact that the ancient corpse heard the Black Sacraments and informed her chosen Listener about them, instead of the ineffective method Astrid and the others used, meaning they might have an important client to talk to in the near future.

"Hmm? No. No!" Astrid stated, where she turned to the side, as if she was going to leave the room they were in, while at the same time Amaryllis noticed that Cicero was glancing at Astrid, like he might be a little annoyed with her about what she had said, though all she did was remain still as she waited for the leader of the Sanctuary to tell her what they were going to do next, "Listen, I don't know what's going on here, but you take your orders from me. Are we clear on that? The Night Mother may have spoken to you, but I am still the leader of this Family. I will not have my authority over this Family so easily dismissed! I... I need time to think about all this. Go see Nazir, do some work for him. I'll find you when I'm ready to discuss the matter further."

Amaryllis, finding that the conversation was over and that Astrid was leaving the room they were in, sighed as she did the same thing, as she turned around and walked out the door she had used to get into this room, where she headed back to the eating area, where she found that Nazir still sitting at the table, though he did look up from the slips of paper that he had been looking at, the lists of contracts for her and everyone else, just as she came to a stop near the table.

"Astrid wanted me to see you and get the new list of contracts you have for me, assuming that you're ready to assign them to myself and the others." Amaryllis said, though she was really hoping that the new list Nazir had created for her this time around contained some challenging people for her to take out, maybe someone similar to Alain, but she would have to take whoever was assigned to her.

"Well then, your timing couldn't be better. As it turns out, I've got two new contracts for you." Nazir replied, which told Amaryllis that the amount of contracts he had found was enough to give everyone at least two targets, with a few of them being given three if they were lucky, so it made her interested in who her targets were, "One rather easy assignment, and another that should prove quite a challenge. Your first target is an Orc bard named Lurbuk, while the other is a vampire by the name of Hern. Happy hunting."

"Wait, Lurbuk, as in the bard that lives in Morthal?" Amaryllis asked, as she remembered what she had felt when she and Meeko had stopped in the city's inn, to rest for a short period of time before continuing to Dawnstar, though that was when Nazir nodded his head to confirm what she was saying, because she could kill two birds with one stone, "Well, when I was in Morthal earlier, during my hunt for Beitild, I heard his singing and determined that he was, by far, one of the worst bards I had ever heard, and his singing would have offended the ponies back home. I know where to find him, though I have no idea where Hern lives."

"He resides in Half-Moon Mill, a mill you likely passed on your way to Rorikstead," Nazir stated, where Amaryllis remained silent as he said that, as she did know where her second target was located, hence the reason she nodded to indicate that she understood what Nazir was saying, who seemed to smirk for a moment as she did that, "I'd wish you luck, but, given your abilities, your targets need all the luck in the world to avoid being taken out by you."

Amaryllis said nothing to that as well, rather she took the list that contained the names of her new contracts, before she made her way towards the entrance of the Sanctuary, where she found that Arnbjorn and the others must have left while she and Astrid were dealing with Cicero, no doubt to complete their own contracts, so she said farewell to Meeko as she headed outside, only to notice that it was an hour or two passed noon. Once she was back outside she spread her wings and took off, as her first target was to the north and should be quite the challenge, or at least that was what Nazir had said, and she was looking forward to seeing how challenging this contract proved to be, as a vampire had to be a harder target than anyone she had gone after so far. At the same time she found that her earlier thoughts about Lurbuk having a contract placed on him to be correct, though the surprising part was that she was the one that was being allowed to take the terrible bard out, instead of someone else, but, at the same time, since he was in Morthal she could get the third piece of the Razor, so she could return the fragments to Silus the next time she was near Dawnstar. It really seemed strange that one of her next targets were in Morthal, especially since she was just there a few days ago, but she wasn't about to argue with Nazir's decision and the pair of targets he had picked out for her, to which she set her sights on the mill that was her first destination and braced herself for whatever she found in that area.

It didn't take her that long to reach the immediate area that was around Half-Moon Mill, where she landed nearby and looked around the mill, as she was curious as to where her target was and where Hern's wife happened to be, as she was sure that the two people she had seen in this area the last time she came through here were husband and wife, and that added an extra layer of difficulty to this contract. The best hiding place she could find at the moment were some trees to the south of the mill, hence that was where she landed and switched to the form of the Bosmer she had taken earlier, just to ask the Thalmor a question, and made it look like she was a hunter, instead of an assassin, to which she had her bow at the ready and an arrow drawn, all to give her the appearance that she was tracking something. From what she could see neither Hern or his wife seemed to have noticed her at all, or if they did they weren't making any sudden movements that would tip her off, but for the most part it seemed like they were busy chopping wood and working on the mill, just like they had been doing the last time she came through here, meaning she would have to wait for her chance. Fortunately only a few minutes went by before the wife stopped working and headed into the house that was near the mill, leaving Hern to work alone for a time, meaning this was the best opportunity she had to take her target out, to which she moved like she was hunting a deer or something and then raised her bow, where she found that Hern still wasn't looking in her direction, which was good for her.

She let the magic wash over her as her true armor was revealed once more, where she loosed the arrow and watched as it flew through the air, only for the arrow to strike Hern's chest, causing him to stagger for a moment as he realized that he was under attack, but the force of her attack, coming from behind, seemed to be enough to make him stagger right into the moving blade of the sawmill, something that sliced his neck wide open. From there Amaryllis quickly rushed over to where Hern had fallen, before his wife came outside, and checked his body for a pulse, where she found that her attack had been more than enough to take out the vampire, meaning he had to be rather weak for such a powerful being, before she reverted to her true form and took off, as that was one target down and she had one more to the far north. She was sure that Hern's wife was going to be devastated when she found her husband dead, but, based on what she knew of the people of Skyrim, vampires weren't all that welcome and seemed to be disliked, or at least that seemed to be the case, so the reality of the situation should be that the wife should count herself lucky that she had been freed from Hern's grasp and could move on with her life. For now all Amaryllis had to focus on was getting to Morthal, find and kill Lurbuk, and then track down Jorgen so she could get the fragment he had, then maybe return to the Sanctuary to see if Astrid wanted to talk about what the Night Mother had told her earlier, as she was sure not listening to the Unholy Matron was a good way to bring misfortune to their Family.

As it turned out it only took her fifty minutes to reach Morthal, where she landed on the hill that lead down into the city and switched to an Argonain disguise this time around, because if she showed up in her Khajiit disguise she was sure that someone would wonder what she was doing back in the city so soon, but for the most part the guards ignored her and she was able to make her way to the inn without delay. Almost as soon as she entered the inn she was assaulted by someone, Lurbuk to be exact, singing a song to the innkeeper and some of the patrons, some who appeared to be ready to get up and stab the Orc for his bad taste in music, so killing him might not make anyone react as they would in other situations, like if she had done in Beitild out in the open, instead of in the mine. As such she walked over to where the innkeeper was standing, who seemed to be more focused on the Orc and telling him to stop before he chased her patrons out the door, before she slipped into one of the rooms, putting her out of everyone's sights for the time being, and switched back into her assassin attire, before readying another arrow as she crouched near the doorway. The reason she was picking this method was because the people of Skyrim had a hard time seeing people when they were like this, except for thieves and other shadowy people, but Lurbuk, who was busy singing his terrible song, didn't notice what she was doing and she came to a stop as her arrow lined up with the Orc's chest, where she loosed the arrow and let it fly, knocking her target to the floor in a matter of seconds.

Once the deed was done she shifted her armor back into the traveler armor she wore, not to be outed by the guards as an assassin, and walked out of the room, finding that no one seemed to care about Lurbuk and were actually happy for the first time, before she headed outside and found one of the guards so she could ask about Jorgen, who pointed her over the bridge and to the house that was on the outskirts of the city, where she found a Nord leaning against the side of the building, who she assumed was the person she was looking for.

"Excuse me, are you Jorgen?" Amaryllis asked, because she wanted to get this conversation done quickly so she could get back to the Sanctuary, report her successes to Nazir, and then see if Astrid had come to a decision, to which the Nord glanced in her direction for a few seconds, as if to see who was talking to him, before turning his attention to the mill that no one seemed to be working at right now, "I'm looking for the hilt of Mehrunes' Razor."

"I'm sorry friend, I am Jorgen, but I have no idea what you're talking about." the Nord replied, showing her that if the notes she had been given were correct, and this Nord really was the keeper of the final blade fragment, Jorgen was lying to make her go away and never return, and she could tell that he knew more about the hilt than what he was saying, once more thanks to her natural abilities, meaning she had the right person and would be out of here in no time.

"Is that so? Silus Vesuius says otherwise." Amaryllis stated, though she was hoping that the Nord would just give up the fragment and let her be on her way, despite the fact that it appeared he planned on being a little difficult by not telling her anything about the fragment, even though she was sure he had it somewhere, either on his person or in the house that he owned, since it wasn't something he could just throw away.

"I've heard of him. My father had suspicions about him being connected to the Mythic Dawn... I guess, in the end, all of his suspicions were true." Jorgen said, to which he let out a sigh, showing Amaryllis that he didn't seem to care about all of this and that he just wanted to be left alone, regardless of whether or not he kept the hilt, and it allowed her to form an idea in her mind, so this could reach it's end that much quicker, "Listen, I don't need this. My family wasted eight generations keeping the hilt of that cursed Razor safe from a dead cult. As far as I care, it can stay locked in my house."

"Well, since you don't seem to care about it, why don't I take it off your hands?" Amaryllis asked, because it seemed that Jorgen wasn't like Ghunzul and Drascua, who would fight to keep their fragments safe, rather he wanted nothing to do with the fragment and seemed like he wanted it gone, even if it would be some time before she gave the fragments she had to Silus, "Look, I'm not going to threaten you for the fragment, but just know that I'm the only one that will ask nicely, as Silus seems rather interested in claiming all three pieces of the Razor and, from what I've heard, he might have hired some dangerous individuals to claim them... but if I take the piece, and hand it over, he won't be sending anyone else to harass you in the future."

In the end that seemed to be the ticket that got her the fragment, as Jorgen considered what she said, a lie that could have easily have been the truth, before heading into his house for a few seconds, where he returned a few moments later with the hilt of the Razor, to which she thanked him and headed out of the city, leaving the man with the knowledge that no one would bother him about the fragment ever again, all while she set her course for the Sanctuary, to see if Astrid might have come to a decision on what she had learned earlier and what it might mean for their Family.

Brotherhood: Broken Silence

The hour long flight back to the Sanctuary gave Amaryllis time to think about her future, as the Night Mother had picked her, of all people, to be the Listener for the Dark Brotherhood, the only person that could hear her voice and relate what she had said to the rest of the Family, an honor to some and a curse to others, even though she was really caught off guard by this turn of events. She wasn't a native of this world, not like the rest of her Family was, had barely been here for more than a week, and now the Night Mother had picked her to be the Listener, though she would have to ask around and figure out exactly what this meant, as she was sure both the Unholy Matron and Astrid were expecting big things from her in the future. Of course there was the fact that Astrid was worried about losing her authority over the rest of the Family, even if Amaryllis didn't desire the position at all, but there was no telling what was going to happen when she returned to the Sanctuary and found Astrid, especially since she was beginning to sense that Astrid and Cicero were going to continue to clash with each other, in some manner, until one of them got hurt. She really didn't want the Family to fall apart, so soon after she joined them, but she couldn't blame anyone if such a thing happened, since it seemed that Astrid was being paranoid and that such a thing would likely come back to bite her in the rear at some point in the future.

In the end Amaryllis sighed as she descended down towards the black pool, where she stretched her arms and legs as soon as she landed, before heading inside the Sanctuary, where she was eager to tell Nazir the news about her contracts and then seek out Astrid so they could talk about what they had discovered, only to find that Astrid was standing near the bottom of the stairs, no doubt waiting for her to return from her contracts.

"I knew it wouldn't take you long to get back, not with your skills and those wings of yours." Astrid said, as it was easy to assume that the short list of contracts wouldn't have kept Amaryllis busy for too long, not when she had been given two targets to take out and could fly to where they were located, before she let out a sigh as she considered what she was about to say, which did interest Amaryllis a little as she came to a complete stop, "Listen, we need to talk."

"Of course, Astrid. What is it?" Amaryllis inquired, though while she knew that the conversation would be about what had happened in the room the Night Mother and her coffin rested in, and what they had learned earlier, she also knew there could be more to the discussion than just that, so she waited to see what the leader of the Sanctuary had to say before she bothered to say anything else.

"Look, something is happening here." Astrid replied, where she glanced back at the stairs that lead to the next area of the Sanctuary, where the waterfall rested and where most of the Family gathered when they wanted to talk about the last contracts they went out to complete, as if she was looking in the direction that Cicero and the Night Mother's room were located in, before turning to face her once more, "I'm not sure entirely what that something is, but... well, that's something we need to figure out. If the Night Mother really did give you an order to talk to a contact, like you said she did, we would have to be mad to ignore such a thing... and I think that most of our Family would agree with me on this, that we really won't need any more of that, since Cicero has brought quite enough madness to this Sanctuary. So go... go to Volunruud. It's a crypt, pretty far to the northeast. Talk to this Amaund Motierre, if he's actually waiting in that crypt. And let's see where all this leads, hmm?"

Amaryllis was a little surprised by how quickly Astrid had accepted the fact that the Night Mother might have spoken to someone in the Family, especially since she was still coming to terms with that as well, but, at the same time, she had to admit that she was eager to see what sort of person had performed the Black Sacrament and what sort of contract they wanted the Dark Brotherhood to fulfill. The first thing she did was get the exact location of Volunruud, which, according to the map that Astrid stood over, was to the north of Whiterun, possibly to the west of the farm that Cicero was stuck near earlier, so she had a general idea of where she needed to go and bid Astrid farewell, before she headed up the stairs and walked back outside once more. Once she was outside the Sanctuary again she took to the skies and quickly turned to the northeast, so she could get to Whiterun, only this time she made sure to move faster than before, because she knew that this had to be an important contract and she didn't want to keep the client waiting, as she had the feeling that he, and she was assuming that based on the name, was waiting in the crypt, patiently waiting for someone from the Dark Brotherhood to arrive and set up the contract he wanted them to complete. She was also sure that, once the others arrived from their own contracts, Astrid would tell them the news about her being the Listener and the fact that she was out seeking what the Night Mother told her about, if they arrived at the Sanctuary before she returned, which was a possibility since she had no idea where the others had wandered off to for their contracts.

With her increased speed it took her twenty minutes to reach the crypt that rested near the farm that Loreius and his wife owned, where she landed before the entrance and headed inside, only to immediately find a dead person a few steps in front of her, but it didn't appear that he was the person she was looking for, much to her relief since she knew Astrid would be upset if something happened to a potential client before the contract could be arranged. As she walked down the stairs, and headed towards the first chamber of this crypt so she could search for Amaund Motierre, the skeleton that was sitting in the throne to the left of the dead Nord rose from where it was sitting and picked up the old sword that was laying off to the side, only to fall apart when Amaryllis hit it with her dagger. It appeared that whatever magic had brought life to the skeleton only worked for sneak attacks, to catch foes unaware, but she was more than ready for it and had taken it out rather quickly, allowing her to enter the first major chamber for this crypt, where she found four paths she could take, each looking like they were promising in their own ways. The one that caught her attention, however, was one that was off to her left, because there were a number of corpses, preserved in a manner that was similar to the Night Mother, or at least from her perspective that was the case, that had been armed with ancient nordic weapons and, in some rare cases, even ebony weapons, like the midnight black sword and battleaxe that were on the floor, items that she would pick up when she left this area, as she was sure she could sell them to someone for a decent price.

Other than the corpses she found a door that looked like it had been opened and closed recently, to which she made sure her brotherhood armor was on, and the mask was slipped over her face, before she pushed the door open, where she found two people standing near one side of the chamber the door lead her to, one being a male Breton that was wearing some rather nice and expensive clothing while the other was a male Imperial that was a soldier, if the heavy steel armor of the Imperial Legion was anything to go by.

"By the almighty Divines! You've come. You've actually come!" the Breton declared, where his expression revealed that he was surprised by her sudden arrival, while at the same time his tone suggested that he had no idea if the ritual he had performed would even work, despite the fact that it worked for everyone else that did it, even if people didn't talk about the fact that they performed the ritual, "This dreadful Black Sacrament thing... it actually worked!"

"Indeed it did." Amaryllis replied, where she had to wonder why people were so surprised when they learned that the ritual actually worked, even if there had been no Listener for a quite a long time, based on everything she had learned from asking Cicero and the other members of the Family, before deciding that it was time she got down to business and figure out what in the world was going on at the moment, hence the reason she focused on the Breton so she could learn why she was here, "Amaund Motierre, the Night Mother has heard your pleas."

"Yes, um... So it would seem." Amaund stated, his posture showing that, while he was excited about what was going on at the moment, he was also nervous, which she could confirm by what she was feeling from the man, especially since she could sense that he was hiding something, which only made her even more curious as to what he wanted her and her Family to do, "Well, I won't waste your time. I would like to arrange a contract... several, actually. I daresay, the work I'm offering has more significance than anything your organization has experienced in, well, centuries."

"Go on." Amaryllis said, though now this was interesting, because it seemed like the man knew what he was doing, as in making sure to say that he had more than one target, instead of saying he had one and then asked for more than what the contract was for, and she was sure that Astrid and the others would be eager to hear the news when she got back, as soon as she figured out who the targets were anyway.

"As I said, I want you and your organization to kill several people. You'll find that the targets, as well as their manners of elimination, quite varied. I'm sure someone of your disposition will probably even find it enjoyable." Amaund stated, as if he was talking to a normal assassin that actually cared about that sort of thing, and part of Amaryllis was starting to care like the rest of her Family did, but she was hoping he'd give her the names of the targets that he wanted the brotherhood to eliminate for him, "But you should know that these killings are but a means to an end, for they pave the way to the most important target. The real reason I'm speaking with an assassin, in the bowels of this detestable crypt, is because I seek the assassination of ...the Emperor."

As soon as Amaund said the title Amaryllis nearly froze, as it was one thing to kill someone that was causing problems for a city or to kill someone that was a threat to the entire Hold, and there were people like Alain, but hearing that the Breton wanted her and her Family to kill someone as important as the Emperor of Tamriel, who ruled the Empire that the Imperial Legion swore to serve, seemed like something that was out of this world.

"You want us to kill... the Emperor?" Amaryllis inquired, because she needed a few moments to wrap her head around that piece of information, as she knew, without being told anything, that the Emperor had the highest level of security out of most of the important figures in all of Tamriel, so much so that everyone in her Family would have to stop what they were doing and work together to tackle the main target of this contract, and that wasn't counting everyone else that lead the way to the Emperor.

"That is correct." Amaund replied, though where one might expect the man's tone to be a little disappointed at having to say such a thing, or the fact that Amaryllis wasn't overjoyed by the news, Amaryllis detected that the man seemed to be a little worried about something, though what that something was she had no idea, "Of course I realize that what I ask of you and your organization is no small thing, rather, I know I'm asking a great deal from all of you. But you represent the Dark Brotherhood. This is... what you do, no? You must understand, so much has led to this day. So much planning, and maneuvering, and now, it's as if the very stars have finally aligned. But I digress. Here, take these with you. They need to be delivered to your, um... superior. Rexus, give her the items."

The soldier in question, who apparently went by the name of Rexus, walked forward and withdrew two items from a small pouch he was carrying, where Amaryllis received a sealed letter, which no doubt contained all the information that Astrid would need to understand what the man was asking them to do, and a diamond shaped necklace that looked like it might be rather expensive, especially with the small ruby that was in the middle of the necklace and the fact that it seemed to be made out of gold, while she had no idea what the design was supposed to represent.

"The sealed letter will explain everything that needs to be done." Amaund explained, almost as if he was telling this to someone that couldn't piece together all that information on their own, but Amaryllis still felt that there was something more to the Breton than what she was seeing at the moment, something that she couldn't quite place her finger on right now, even though he kept talking as he finished his explanation, "The amulet, on the other hand, is quite valuable... you can use it to pay for any, and all, expenses."

"Very well, I'll take this to my superior at once." Amaryllis replied, to which she placed the items in her pack and stood still for a few seconds, just to make sure that neither of them were going to attack her or say something more to her, but when neither Amaund or Rexus made a move she turned around and walked out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her so the pair could have their privacy before they left the crypt.

With the letter and amulet in hand, Amaryllis quickly collected the two ebony weapons she had found on the ground and found that, despite how heavy the battleaxe was, she was able to lift both of them and walk around like she didn't have a heavy item on her, to which she tilted her head for a moment, because it was hard to understand this land and the strange physics that she was discovering, before she headed for the entrance as she put the weapons away in her pack, where she was still amazed that large items could fit into the small storage area. Once she was outside, and she was sure there were no enemies in the area, or spies that were watching the crypt, she took to the air and departed from the part of Whiterun that Volunruud was located in, and she made sure to use the same speed that she had used to reach the ruin in the first place, so she could deliver the news to Astrid and see what she wanted them to do next. As she flew through the air, and headed for the Sanctuary, she knew for a fact that there was something different about Amaund Motierre, as he seemed different than anyone she had encountered so far, and she had encountered quite a fair number of people during her stay in this world, but she couldn't place her finger on what was different about him, though what she immediately ruled out was him being one of the Daedric Princes, due to the fact that the Oblivion Crisis had sealed their kind in Oblivion, based on what she had been told, and due to the fact that the man didn't seem to be radiating a commanding voice like Meridia did when she touched the beacon. She did briefly consider the possibility of Amaund being one of the Divines, but then ruled that out, as the Divines were worshiped by the Empire and it didn't make sense for one of them to want the head of said Empire to be killed by the Dark Brotherhood, so she discarded that idea and kept thinking about why she felt that the Breton was different from everyone else.

In the end she found that she couldn't determine why Amaund was so different from the other people she had seen so far, to which she sighed as she landed in front of the Sanctuary's entrance about twenty minutes after leaving the ruin she had found the client in, where she opened the door and headed down the stairs, though she wasn't at all surprised to see that Astrid was still up, meaning she could inform her of what was going on without having to wake her up, as she was sure that the news she had was going to amaze her.

"Excellent, you're back." Astrid said, her tone revealing that she had been thinking about the man and what he could have asked them to do, due to the fact that the Night Mother had heard his pleas for help, before she turned around and faced Amaryllis, where she found that the leader of her Family seemed torn between hoping she had good news to tell her and hoping that all of this was a joke, so she could forget about the Unholy Matron and Cicero, "All right, so what did you find out? Did you meet this Amaund Motierre and figure out what he wants us to do?"

"Yes, I found him and his protector in Volunruud," Amaryllis replied, informing Astrid that she had found the man she had been told about, in the location he was supposed to be in, and let her tone reveal that there was more for her to say, even if it was something that she was still coming to terms with, especially when she thought about how important the target was to the rest of Tamriel, before she focused on the bomb she was going to drop, "Amaund Motierre wants us... he wants us to kill the Emperor."

"You're joking!" Astrid stated, where both her tone and her face revealed that there was next to no way she could even believe what Amaryllis was telling her, not that Amaryllis blamed her based on her own thoughts, and she glanced in the direction that the metallic coffin rested in once more, almost like she was going to leave the room and strangle Cicero for bringing this nonsense to her Sanctuary.

In that moment, before Astrid moved from where she was standing, Amaryllis reached into her pack and pulled out the pair of items she had been given, a motion that stopped the leader of the Family in her tracks as she stared at them for a few seconds, her mind appearing to have slowed down for a few moments as she took in what was in front of her, which was a reaction Amaryllis expected from anyone that was told this bit of news and saw these items.

"What's this?" Astrid asked, though this time her tone revealed that she was thinking of this less like an elaborate joke of some kind and more like the actual truth, despite the fact that it was clear she needed further confirmation on what was happening at the moment, while Amaryllis also noticed that she was focused on the potential reputation her Family would gain from such a thing.

"According to Amaund, the letter explains everything he wants us to do." Amaryllis explained, though at the same time she looked down at the items once more, as she was a little curious as to what the letter said, despite the fact that she did know that whatever was inside it wasn't for her to lay eyes on, as the client had told her it was for her superior and no one else, and she was going to follow that order, "The amulet is for any expenses we encounter along the way."

"By Sithis, you're not joking." Astrid replied, though that was when a look of shock appeared on her face as she glanced at the items, as she was expecting this to be a joke or something equally silly, but discovering that Amaryllis was telling the truth, that they were being hired to assassinate such an important figure, had shaken her a little, to which Amaryllis stood there as she waited for any further instructions, "To kill the Emperor of Tamriel... the Dark Brotherhood hasn't done such a thing since the assassination of Pelagius. As a matter of fact, no one has dared assassinate an Emperor of Tamriel since the murder of Uriel Septim VII, and that was two hundred years ago..."

"Surely the Night Mother wouldn't misdirect us?" Amaryllis inquired, but while all of this was news to her, since she knew nothing about this world and it's history, save for the Oblivion Crisis that seemed to be connected to Uriel Septim VII, her brief knowledge of the figure that was known as the Unholy Matron told her that the Night Mother wouldn't do something like this to the Dark Brotherhood, rather she would make sure that such an assassination was passed along to the Family, one way or another.

"No, she certainly wouldn't." Astrid stated, her tone revealing that she was agreeing with Amaryllis, though even as she said that there was something she was focused on, something she wasn't going to share right now, and she stared at the items Amaryllis had in her hand, like her thoughts and the items were connected in some way, "And... for whatever reason, she chose to relay Motierre's information to you, the newest and most inexperienced member of the Family... no offense. I don't know exactly what's going on here, if you're the Listener, or this is some fluke, or what. But what we now have before us is... an opportunity."

"I'm assuming that you want accept the contract?" Amaryllis asked, because it was like Astrid had said earlier, it was sheer madness for them to ignore the Night Mother and not follow through on what she had told them, even if what she gave the Family was a contract to kill a number of individuals that paved the way to the Emperor of Tamriel, which would likely put them in the history books if they succeeded in their mission, even though she was sure that the others would be far more interested in the payment at the end of this.

"You're damn right we'll accept it." Astrid declared, her tone showing that she was finally back in control of herself and that she was now thinking clearly, as she had accepted what was happening and wanted to roll with it, before deciding to tell Amaryllis part of the reason why she wanted to accept this so badly, before telling the others the news, "If we pull this off, the Dark Brotherhood will know a fear and respect we haven't seen in centuries. You think I'd abandon an opportunity to lead our Family to glory? But, to be honest, all of this is so much to take in. I need time to read the letter, to understand what Motierre wants us to do, and figure out where we go from here. And then there's this amulet..."

"What are you thinking?" Amaryllis inquired, though she had the feeling that they needed to find someone that could tell them something about it and what went into making it, as her own thoughts on the matter was that it was a nice piece of jewelry and it wasn't something that someone would easily part with, and she could tell that Astrid might actually be thinking the same thing she was thinking.

"I'm thinking we need to get the amulet appraised." Astrid said, confirming Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, though she did stare at the piece of jewelry for a few more moments as she thought about what was going through her mind at the moment, before shifting her gaze to Amaryllis, "I want to know where it came from, how much it's worth, and if we can actually get away with selling it. And, as it turns out, there's only one man who can give us what we need... Delvin Mallory. He's a fence, a private operator, who works out of the Ratway, which is located in Riften. Give me the letter, so I can review it while your gone, as I want you to take the amulet to Mallory. Find out everything you can about it, and sell it to him if he's willing to take it off your hands. He'll offer a letter of credit... that's fine. Delvin Mallory and the Dark Brotherhood have... history. He can be trusted."

"Right." Amaryllis replied, to which she handed Astrid the letter and then slipped the amulet back into her pack, before turning around and headed outside once more, because everything she had learned so far told her that this was going to be a very important operation and that Astrid wanted to make sure everything was checked out before the Family started the biggest contract of their lives.

As soon as she was outside Amaryllis took to the sky and headed to the east, as she intended to hit Riften in an hour and a half, more than enough time for her to seek out the nighttime residents of the city, if there were any, and figure out where the Ratway was located, so she could find Delvin and see what this amulet really was, and, more importantly, if he was willing to buy it. Based on what little she had been told she had to assume that Delvin was a thief, or maybe someone that made jewelry, hence the reason Astrid mentioned him specifically, and she had to admit that she was a little eager to see who the man was and what he had to say in regards to the amulet she was carrying. At the same time she was also a little curious as to what the other contracts that Amaund Motierre wanted them to take out, to reach the Emperor, even though she understood that she would know the targets once her Family knew them, since she was sure that this sort of thing would require all of them to work together to get the job done. She still felt that there was something about the man that made him different from the rest of the people she had seen, but her conclusions only told her that she might be overthinking things and that her time would be better suited towards focusing on what she was doing and nothing else, to which she focused on flying and made her way to Riften.

Thanks to the speed she was flying at it took Amaryllis an hour and five minutes to reach Riften, as while she had used one of her faster speeds she knew that she hadn't been using the same speed she used to get to Volunruud, though she made sure to land near the main entrance, by the wall to the gate's left, since the guards couldn't see her over there, and quickly switched into her Khajiit form before she was spotted. Once that was done, and she made sure that she looked like one of the travelers, she headed for the gate and found that the guard that had tried to get her to pay a fee to enter the city was either no longer at this gate or his boss had told him to stop that scheme, but either way it didn't matter that much to her as she walked through the gate and entered the city again. She found that not a lot of people were up, which made sense since it wasn't the time of day when all of the people got up and wandered around the cities and towns that they lived in, be it setting up shop for the day if they owned a shop or were out shopping, but right now the only residents she spotted were the guards, not to mention a Nord that looked like he was ready to beat someone up. That meant that finding her way to the Ratway might be more difficult than she first thought, since she figured that the guards wouldn't be willing to help her locate Delvin, meaning that her only hope at the moment might be the angry looking Nord that was standing off to her left, even if he wasn't her first choice, to which she readied herself and walked over to him.

"I don't know you." the Nord stated, speaking the obvious, since neither of them knew each other and it was unlikely that such a thing would change, but Amaryllis said nothing as she waited for him to stop talking, as it appeared that most of the people in Skyrim liked to go through a few things before they allowed someone else to talk about something, which was rather odd when she thought about it, "You in Riften looking for trouble?"

"No, I'm just passing through, looking for someone before I head to Whiterun." Amaryllis replied, indicating that she wasn't here to cause chaos for the residents of the city and hoped that the man wouldn't start anything while she was looking for the Ratway, though there was no telling what some people would do and knew that she needed to be ready for anything, even though her hands were nowhere near her weapons.

"Oh yeah? Well, I got news for you; there's nothing to see here." the man stated, completely ignoring the fact that she had said that she was looking for someone, meaning that he seemed to think she was a tourist or something, though all that told Amaryllis was that she needed to get the conversation done and find someone else that could help her locate the Ratway, "Last thing the Black-Briars need is some stranger sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."

"They won't have to worry about me." Amaryllis said, though at the same time, since it was clear that the man didn't want to talk about anything, she decided to ignore him for the foreseeable future and walked into the heart of Riften, an action that caused the Nord to get up and walk to another part of the city as well, but thankfully he was heading to one of the other areas and she was less likely to see him ever again.

Amaryllis spent the next ten minutes wandering around the market area of Riften, not that she could buy anything since it was still dark out, looking for the entrance to the Ratway that would allow her to find Delvin and ask him about the amulet she was carrying in her pack, and she spent a small portion of that time thinking about asking the guards if they knew where that area was located. As it turned out she didn't need to ask them anything, as they seemed to buy into the fact that she was a traveler and that she would be leaving once she did what she came here to do, though as she walked around the area she was in the guards made several comments about the Ratway, that it was the home of the Thieves Guild, that it rested under the city and that it was no place for decent folk, and that there was even a tavern of some kind down there, the Ragged Flagon. When she was near the orphanage, where Aventus was likely resting since he said he was planning on returning since Grelod was dead, one of the guards actually pointed down to the lower level of the city, the canal to be exact, and pointed out a door that had a iron door some distance in front of it, indicating that the door would take her to the Ratway and, eventually, the Ragged Flagon, which seemed to be her true destination. As such Amaryllis dropped down into the area that the guard had pointed out, made sure that no one was watching her movements, and then headed down towards the set of doors, making sure to close them behind her as she finally entered the Ratway and started the next stage of her search for Delvin, all while shifting back into her assassin armor.

As she walked down the stairs that she found on the other side of the door, however, she found a path that lead her right to a bedroll that was near a fire, but with no one near it, and a tunnel that brought her to a wooden bridge, a very simple one from the looks of it, meaning that someone had been through here recently, before finding a door that had to be what she was looking for. As such she opened the door and walked through it, where she discovered a very large chamber that looked like the center of a sewer, meaning she should stay away from the water until she was outside, though one thing she did find was that there were a few people sitting at the tables in the area known as the Ragged Flagon, which seemed to be open at the moment. From what she could tell there was a lady walking on the deck above part of the water, wearing what Amaryllis assumed was the armor of the Thieves Guild, another lady that was leaning against one of the posts near the first lady, an innkeeper that was behind the bar, a man that was standing near the entrance as some sort of guard, and a man, who was older than most and seemed to have no hair, that was currently sitting at one of the tables, apparently thinking about something. The first thing she did was approach the man that was guarding the Ragged Flagon, who didn't seem to care about her being there in the first place, but he did answer the question she had for him, as she asked where she might find Delvin Mallory, as they had business to discuss, and he answered by beckoning to the man that was sitting at the table, alone she noticed, before crossing his arms as he looked at her.

Amaryllis thanked the man for helping her and then walked over to where Delvin happened to be sitting, where she took a seat in front of him and hoped that he was in a good mood, and was willing to entertain a visitor for a few minutes, while noticing that the ladies and the innkeeper were keeping an eye on her, in case she caused some trouble for them, and it wasn't long before the man she was here to see looked up at her.

"Ah, now you must be lost." Delvin said, though she noticed the look in his eyes, as he had glanced at the armor she was wearing for a second and decided not to pay much attention to it, as she could have easily killed a member of the Dark Brotherhood and took the armor from their corpse, and he was trying to get her to leave, "Best ya scurry off while you're able. The Ratway, well, it has a habit of swallowing up the uninvited."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Amaryllis replied, where she found that Delvin seemed interested in what she had to say while the others seemed to return to what they had been doing before she arrived, even though she knew that they would turn on her the moment she tried something, hence the reason she was sticking to the reason she came here so she could leave once her job was done, "Delvin Mallory, the Dark Brotherhood requires your services."

"Oh... I see. Well now, how is Astrid doing these days?" Delvin said, his tone not changing as he said that, meaning that he did know why Amaryllis was here, once she told him that she was here for her Family anyway, and that he was ready for whatever was going to be asked of him, where he focused on her as he considered what they were going to talk about for the next few minutes, "Tell her to stop by some time. We can have a drink, maybe catch up. Ah, but we can discuss that later, yeah? Tell me, what does the Brotherhood need this time around?"

"What can you tell me about this?" Amaryllis asked, to which she pulled out the amulet she had been given and placed it in Delvin's hand, as he had extended his right hand the moment she spoke up, showing that he already understood part of the reason that she was here, where she let go of the amulet and watched as Delvin stared at it for a moment, still not showing any reaction to what was going on.

"Let's see... where oh where did you get this?" Delvin commented, showing Amaryllis that he already knew what he was holding at the moment, though that was when he raised his left hand and beckoned for her to stop, as if he was telling her that he wasn't being serious about hearing where she had gotten the amulet, before he focused on the information he was going to tell her, "Don't answer that... I really don't want to know. This is an amulet from one of the members of the the Emperor's Elder Council, where each amulet is specially crafted for each member and are worth a small fortune... ain't something you'd give up lightly either. Look, it ain't my business ta tell the Dark Brotherhood its business, but if you killed a member of the Elder Council, you'd better belie..."

"Trust me, we didn't kill one of them." Amaryllis stated, cutting Delvin off before he accused her and her Family for a death that none of them were responsible for, though what interested her was that the man didn't resume the statement she had interrupted, so she decided to get back to the main reason behind why she was here as she looked at the amulet once more, which Delvin glanced at as well, "Will you buy it?"

"Buy it? This? An Elder Council amulet?" Delvin inquired, his tone revealing that he was a little surprised by the fact that he was being given an opportunity to acquire a nice amulet like this, before a small grin appeared on his face as he set the amulet down and reached into his pack, which meant Amaryllis had to be on the right track, and it wasn't long before he found what he was looking for in the pouch, "Oh yes. Oh yes, indeed. Wait just one moment... here. It's a letter of credit. Usable, by Astrid only, for any service or item I can provide, as per our standard arrangement. You bring that back to your lovely mistress, with my regards."

Amaryllis found that Delvin had a piece of paper in his left hand, the letter of credit Astrid had told her about, to which she thanked him for helping them out and made sure to take the piece of parchment, as it was what she had been sent to get in exchange for the amulet, before excusing herself as she pulled herself from the table and headed back towards the entrance of the Ragged Flagon, as it was time to return to the Sanctuary once more. The moment she was back in the area known as the Ratway, and no one from the underground tavern could see her, she shifted back into her traveler disguise as she headed for the surface, as she was eager to get out of here before someone tried to rob her, because she had no way of knowing what the other thieves would attempt before she left the city. To her surprise, however, she was able to get back up to the upper level of the city and found that the guards weren't paying attention to the area the entrance of the Ratway was located in, meaning she was able to get back up there rather easily and headed back towards the gate she used to enter the city. What was interesting was that a thief, dressed in a brown version of the armor she had seen Delvin and the others wear, was attempting to break into one of the houses and stores that were scattered throughout the city, where the guards seemed to notice the motion as well and zeroed in on where the thief was located, loosing arrows at the man as he attempted to flee, providing Amaryllis with a distraction so she could exit the city without anyone watching her as she did that.

Thanks to that it didn't take her long to get outside the city walls and return to the area she had landed in, where she shifted back to her true form and took off, heading back to the west so she could bring Astrid the news that she had sent her out to get, as she was sure the leader of her new Family would be interested in the information she had recovered from Delvin, just as it interested her quite a bit.

It took her another hour to cross the distance between Riften and Falkreath once more, where she spent the time thinking about the things she had learned and what had happened since the Night Mother had spoken to her, but all she could figure out was that things were about to get interesting for her and her Family, especially since it seemed like Astrid and the others were in need of something more challenging. She was sure that going after the Emperor was going to excite all of them, especially with all the layers of security that he had to have, though she would only know something like that once she got back and talked to the others again, even if the only one that would be annoyed would be Cicero, due to the fact that he was the Keeper and couldn't stray too far from the Night Mother. There were other things she would have to ask the rest of the Family about in the near future, about their feelings on the contract they had been given and what they were going to do to take them all down, but she was sure that Astrid would have something to tell her once she returned to the Sanctuary and told her the news. The other thing she was happy about was that there were no flying objects causing her to move from place to place, like the massive black dragon that had been near Riverwood for a short period of time, as that would have ruined her mood for a long time, not to mention case her to deviate until it fled, allowing her to focus on the task she was completing at the moment.

By the time she stopped considering everything that has happened to her since she arrived in this land, and what she was doing, the next thing she spotted was the black pool that rested outside the Sanctuary, to which she landed in front of the black door and headed inside, where she walked down the stairs on the other side and found Astrid standing at the table once more, no doubt going over the information that was in the letter and the map of Skyrim, before she stopped what she was doing as Amaryllis came to a stop near her.

"Good, you're back." Astrid said, her tone revealing that, now that she's had the time to read the letter and has seen what Amaund wanted them to do, she was eager to learn what Amaryllis had to share with her and let the last pieces of the puzzle fall into place, before she started dishing out orders to the Family and got them started on the massive contract that they were being hired to do, "Well, what did Mallory have to say? Is the amulet authentic?"

"Yes, according to Delvin it's definitely authentic," Amaryllis replied, as the information concerning the amulet had been quite interesting and she knew Astrid would feel the same way, even if it might have nothing to do with the contract they had been given, but that was her own opinions on the matter and knew that Astrid would determine whether or not it had something to do with their new contract, "and it's one of the amulets that are specially made for members of the Elder Council, meaning its worth a small fortune."

"The Elder Council?! ...Oh, now that explains quite a bit." Astrid stated, where at first she sounded a little surprised by the information she had been given, that the amulet had been worn by a member of the Elder Council, before she paused for a moment as a light smile appeared on her face and she chuckled for a few seconds, before she stopped and focused on Amaryllis once more, "Motierre, you naughty, naughty boy. Hiring the Dark Brotherhood to help you rise beyond your station... it's delicious. Tell me, was Mallory willing to buy the amulet from you?"

"Indeed he was." Amaryllis answered, to which she reached into her pack and withdrew the letter she had been given, in exchange for the Elder Council amulet Amaund had given them, before she held it out so Astrid could take it and make sure everything was in order, all while hoping that she could finally learn who their first target was, "Here's the letter of credit that he gave me, when I asked if he was willing to buy it."

"Splendid." Astrid replied, to which she took the letter of credit and opened it for a moment, where the small smile turned into a smirk as she looked at the information that the piece of parchment had for her, before she closed it and took a moment to slip it into her pocket, "Then we're ready to begin our operation... or, to be more specific, you're ready to begin taking out the targets on the list, as you're the one the Night Mother spoke to, after all. Now then, I hope you have a nice suit or dress to wear, because you're going to a wedding."

"A... wedding?" Amaryllis inquired, because that sounded like the strangest target for her to go after first, someone that was getting married to the love of their life, and silently hoped that there was a reason as to why Amaund wanted them to take out someone on one of the biggest days of their lives, because right now she wasn't seeing a connection between such an event and the Emperor.

"Well, more like the public reception, as the wedding, from what I've learned, was earlier today." Astrid said, where it was easy to tell that she was annoyed with something, that she and her Family hadn't heard about the event until it was over, but, at the same time, there was another bit of information for her to tell Amaryllis, so she had all the pieces of the puzzle before she left to set the wheel in motion, "It should be a lovely affair, even if it's the day after the wedding. You'll mingle with the guests, eat some cake... stab the bride. Oh yes, you've got to kill the bride, at the public reception of her very own wedding... and they say romance is dead."

"Okay, that's good to know." Amaryllis replied, though that was incredibly odd, that they had been given the contract to kill a few people, before reaching the Emperor, and the first target just so happened to be having their wedding on the day they were given the contract, where tomorrow seemed to be the best day to take them out, but it was a coincidence that she wasn't going to ignore, "So, who's the target?"

"Her name is Vittoria Vici." Astrid stated, where her tone revealed that she and her Family had been keeping their eyes on specific targets in Skyrim, even if they didn't know about the wedding until now, and she was willing to impart some of the information she had to Amaryllis, to ready her for the contract in question, "She oversees the East Empire Company's business holdings in Solitude... in fact, the wedding was held in that city, at the Temple of the Divines. Her death will cause an uproar, which is exactly what we want, and, with her position, the Emperor will hear about it in no time. Vici is likely to address her guests frequently, as is the wedding custom... if you kill her when she does that, I can promise you that you will receive a significant bonus when you get back."

Amaryllis nodded her head in understanding, as she heard about the bonuses and that she would be required to do some odd things to get them, but instead of heading out immediately, to see what Solitude was like, she decided to turn in and get a few hours of rest, before asking the others for their opinions on the matter and then, when that was said and done, head out to take care of the first target on their list.

Brotherhood: Unforgettable Wedding

Amaryllis slept for six hours, giving her plenty of rest so she could be energized for the day that was ahead of her, but the first thing she did was get up and head down to the area that the others were in, as it was time for breakfast and both she and Meeko were hungry, but even as she did that she noticed something as soon as she reached the area the dining table was in. Everyone in her Family, and that included Cicero, was excited about the contract that she had brought to them, the assassination of a few minor targets and then the Emperor of Tamriel, if she was reading the various smiles on their faces correctly, and she could tell that a few of them were slightly annoyed that Astrid was giving her that honor, even if she'd rather let someone else do it. However, since it was Astrid giving out the orders, none of them were going to complain and were ready to roll with it, hence the reason they were talking about the various assignments they had been given, as it seemed that Gabriella was keeping an eye out for a commander of some kind, Festus was reading a cookbook for some odd reason, and the others seemed to be more focused on gathering more information or doing whatever Astrid asked them to do in the future. Amaryllis was sure that some of them might have been given a target that followed the one she was going to kill, Vittoria Vici, but there was no way for her to know, not until she actually went to Solitude and killed her target, so she focused on getting breakfast and talking to her Family, as she was sure that some of them might have some bits of information for her, in regards to her current contract.

As it turned out Veezara was absent, no doubt having been sent out to do something for the contracts that they were going to be going in the near future, but Nazir did give her a warning about the fact that the crowd might get riled up once the bride was dead, so it might be in her best interest to avoid taking risks for this contract, as if he was saying that she should get in, kill the target, and then get out before the guards sought her out. Gabriella, interestingly enough, had left an elven bow in the area that the reception was going to be held in, just in the off chance that they had been given a contract to kill someone in this manner, and indicated that she was more than welcome to the bow, as it would be a good long ranged weapon to kill someone with, where Amaryllis considered the option. Babette, on the other hand, told her about the area that the reception was going to be in, describing it in great detail so she had an idea of what to expect, before she mentioned that there was a balcony that Vittoria Vici would address her guests from, which that just so happened to have an old stone statue resting right above it, and that old meant weak. Amaryllis knew what the small ancient vampire was suggesting, as she was sure that with some light tampering she could knock the statue over and crush the bride while she was addressing her guests, as Astrid wanted her to do, but now she had a decent number of ideas for when she arrived in Solitude to tackle the contract.

Once she was done talking with her Family members, and had finished her breakfast as well, she excused herself for a few moments and headed back to the area that the stone table the map of Skyrim was in, because she had the feeling that Astrid was still standing in that area, thinking about the contract and what orders she would give to the rest of the Family, and, sure enough, she found Astrid standing there, staring at the two pieces of parchment she had been given, the orders from Amaund and the letter of credit from Delvin.

"Ah, Amaryllis, you're up." Astrid said, showing that she noticed the changeling that was standing near her and quickly set the letters down on the table, as she had the feeling that they would be having a short conversation before either of them did anything else today, though as long as Amaryllis took out the target she didn't care what she did with the rest of her time, as this was their one chance to take out the target in the manner that would help them out, "I see that there is something you want to talk about."

"I'm mostly curious if there's anything else you can tell me about this contract, before I head out." Amaryllis replied, as while she was still weirded out by the fact that their target was just married to someone yesterday, and that these two days should be the best days of her life with her new husband, she was still a member of the Dark Brotherhood and that meant she had to be ready to kill whoever was on the list Amaund gave them.

"Well, as I said, this is a public kill, but how you do it is entirely up to you." Astrid stated, as she knew that Amaryllis was still a novice at this sort of thing and that she was still learning how to be an assassin, but she still felt that the changeling had the potential to be a good assassin, once she had some additional training to be exact, "Arrow to the throat? Knife in the belly? It's your choice, so long as it's loud and messy. Because of the current political climate, thanks to the war, people are going to assume the murder is related to the bad blood between the Legion and Stormcloaks. In any event, when Vici dies, it's going to be complete pandemonium, so it's best to have your escape route planned out in advance."

"Okay, that makes sense." Amaryllis said, as she sort of figured part of that out on her own, especially when she took what the other members of their Family had told her a few moments ago, but that was when she asked the question that had been bothering her since she learned who her target was and what she did for a living, as she was sure that Astrid would have some sort of answer for her, "What's Vici's connection to the Emperor?"

"An excellent question." Astrid replied, though she wasn't surprised that Amaryllis was asking something like this, as she was different from the other assassins she had encountered over the years, and she was more than willing to share this piece of information with her, "Vittoria Vici, as it turns out, is the first cousin to our dear Emperor, Titus Mede II. Vici has obvious Imperial connections, thanks to her position and her relation to our target, while her husband has ties to the Stormcloaks. Their union is a step toward reconciliation, a way to end the war without bloodshed, but if there's a murder at the wedding... well, not only will such a thing stall the peace process, it will send shockwaves throughout the entire Empire. The Emperor's hand will be forced, meaning that he'll have to travel to Skyrim to deal with the aftermath... and he'll find the Dark Brotherhood waiting for him."

"Wait, she's the cousin of the Emperor?" Amaryllis inquired, to which Astrid nodded her head, confirming that what she had just been told was the truth, though that instantly raised several additional questions in her mind, though she settled for asking the one that was bugging her the most, even though she had the feeling that everyone in her Family would have a different answer if she asked them, "Why didn't the Emperor attending her wedding?"

"From what we can tell, he actually had a trip to Skyrim planned for months, no doubt for the wedding and to see the civil war come to an end with up, but he cancelled it at the last minute, much to his cousin's dismay." Astrid replied, which told Amaryllis that the people of Skyrim must have been told of the Emperor's arrival ahead of time, just to tell them that he was coming, so many of them were likely disappointed to hear he wasn't coming at all, especially since some might have made preparations for his visit, "Seems the Emperor realized his presence in this province would necessitate a more direct role in the ongoing hostilities, a role he was, obviously, unwilling to take... but all that will change with his cousin's murder. Everyone will think it was motivated by the conflict between the Imperial Legion and Stormcloaks... and the Emperor will be forced to come clean up the mess."

"I see." Amaryllis said, though at the same time she thought about what she had learned just now, because while she did understand that the Emperor might have cancelled the trip due to the ongoing war, a war that didn't seem to be taking place since both sides seemed to be waiting for something to happen, she also knew that he could have disguised himself as a noble and visited Skyrim in secret, to see his cousin get married, so from what she could gather there was something else that had stopped him from coming here, making her wonder if there was something else they had missed.

"Anyway, I think it's time you headed to Solitude." Astrid stated, as they knew there was a short window of opportunity for them to kill Vittoria Vici while she was in front of a crowd, allowing the blame to be passed to either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks, and that Amaryllis should leave now, to make sure the deed was done, "It's time to give the Emperor some real motivation to visit Skyrim."

Amaryllis nodded her head and departed from the Sanctuary, as she knew that it would take at least an hour to an hour and a half to reach Solitude, though since she wouldn't be flying at night this time she would have to fly a little higher to avoid being detected by whoever was on the roads, especially since she was going to have to find a location where she could land and change form once she reached the city, which was more time wasted. As soon as she was outside she took to the sky and headed to the northwest, because that was the direction that Solitude was in if she was correctly recalling what was on her map, and she made sure that she was high above the ground so no one would be able to see her, and even if they did they would think she was something else, like a bird. While she flew through the air, however, she thought back to the first part of people she had seen when she arrived in this province, the pair of imperial nobles that were on their way to a wedding, the one that had just happened based on what she remembered, so there was a chance that they might be at the reception, since the man had been wanting to talk to Vittoria about some sort of business deal. Part of her felt that it was rather odd for someone to arrive a week to a week and a half in advance, if they were only planning on staying in Skyrim for a day or two to attend the wedding, but this land was still strange to her and she decided that such a thing didn't need to be worried about, because even if the man and his wife were in Solitude they would never recognize her, since they hadn't spotted her before they continued on the road.

It didn't take her all that long to reach the area that Rorikstead was located in, as she wasn't flying fast like she was when she was heading to Volunruud or Riften earlier, rather she was flying at a decent speed that would allow her to reach her destination in no time, hence why she believed that it would be closer to the hour mark, since Solitude was so far away from where Falkreath and the Sanctuary were located. Not a few minutes later she found the bandit infested area that the Morthal guards had taken care of, which she figured would be empty of bandits and might have been torn down by some adventurers or something, but the reality was that there was a brand new group of thieves living in the camp, meaning that whoever the Jarl of Morthal was might be sending out the guards again, not unless a hero came by this area and took care of them first. Not long after that she spotted the shack that Meeko had been staying in, with his dead master, and she could see the bodies of several spiders resting around it, all dead from where she was, and maybe some black bugs that were hard to make out, but instead of wasting time on investigating what happened recently she continued on her way and put the shack behind her, happy that she had gotten Meeko out of there before whatever had happened had struck the area the structure was in. The other thing she noticed was the interesting looking stone bridge that connected two halves of the road together, on the way to Solitude to be exact, and while she was sure that it was an important landmark of some kind, maybe connected to the village near it, she paid little attention to it as she continued to the north, so she could arrive at her destination and look for the area her target was in.

As she soon discovered it was rather hard for her to miss Solitude, as it was built on a natural arch that overlooked the large body of water that happened to be directly below it, allowing her to understand why this was a nice area for ships and a trade company, and it appeared that all sorts of people were walking around the area, moving crates from one position to another, meaning no one would notice her. Of course, just to be sure, she flew under the arch and landed on the road that lead away from Solitude, no doubt wrapping around to another smaller location of some kind, and made sure that she was out of sight, before shifting her form to resemble the imperial lady she had seen earlier, the first form she had worn and modified to make her look different. She did pause for a moment, as out to the north she could have sworn that she spotted a large ship of some kind, resting in the water about thirty minutes from the docks, from where she was standing, but when she looked away and then glanced back towards it she saw nothing, meaning she had likely imagined the entire thing and shook her head, deciding that it was time to focus on why she was here and started to walk towards the docks so she could head to the main entrance of the city. Not even a minute later she stopped as she found a wooden door that was covering a short tunnel, one that ended in a circular stone staircase that seemed to spiral upwards, where a smile appeared on her face as she used it, as she had the feeling that it would allow her to enter the city without having to talk to the guards at the front gate.

A few minutes later she turned to her right as she spotted a second tunnel, one that brought her to an iron door that wasn't even locked and was easily opened, though just as she stepped outside she made sure that her attire wasn't the armor of the Dark Brotherhood and that she was in the guise of a noble, a female Imperial noble, though she could make some changes once she figured out where her target was located and determined how she was going to go about bringing an end to Vici's life. She found that all of the buildings in Solitude were made out of stone, though it was nothing like how Markarth had been crafted, and she was sure that there were a number of other things that were different between the two cities, though she did notice that there wasn't a river or waterfall inside Solitude, which made it different from some of the other major cities she had been in. Some of the residents of the city were already walking around, minding their own business as they either went shopping or were heading home to drop something off so they could do something else, to which she started walking as well, as she was looking for a place where a crowd was gathering, the sign that she had found the reception that her target was holding with her husband. Fortunately it seemed rather easy for her to locate the area in question, as she could hear some music being played from where she was standing, a lute and some other instruments based on what she listened to, and she followed the noise, only to find herself in a small courtyard that was in front of a rather large temple, completed with two rows of seats, guests talking and arguing about things, and some servers that had some drinks and food for everyone to enjoy.

"Typical Imperial rot." Amaryllis heard the elderly man state, where he stared at the old lady that he was arguing with, though she was more surprised that none of the other guests seemed bothered by what was going on, to which she made it look like she was a guest as well as she listened to the pair argue, "You speak of Skyrim like you know the land and its people. You're from Cyrodiil! You know nothing about us! Nothing!"

"Oh, I know enough about you and this land." the old lady remarked, her tone revealing that she didn't much care for the old man and what he was talking about, even though it appeared that she might have some relation to the bride, even if she was focused on something that was less important at the moment, "I know those trouble-making Stormcloaks refuse to submit to Imperial authority. Such seditious behavior. Why it's treason!"

"And about what happened when the elves marched into your beloved Cyrodiil?" the man stated, almost as if he was trying to prove a point about something, where Amaryllis came to realize why the rest of the guests were ignoring the pair as they did this, mostly since it was slightly ruining the mood of the reception, "When everyone took up their weapons and challenged them, wasn't that treason? Against the Dominion? Huh?"

"Why that's not the same thing at all!" the lady stated in return, her tone revealing that she was getting annoyed with the man and that she had half a mind to attack him, regardless of what was going on at the moment, despite the fact that there were some guards, who weren't from the Legion or the city guard, watching the party, "The Dominion were invaders. Conquerors. We had to fight them, to preserve our own way of life."

"My point exactly." the old man replied, though as soon as he said that he walked away from the old lady, almost as if he had driven what he was trying to say home, like he was on the side of the Stormcloaks and that he was all for pushing out the Imperial Legion, just like what apparently happened when the Dominion invaded Cyrodiil, but both Amaryllis and the other guests were pleased to have the conversation come to a stop.

The next group of people that she saw were a man and a lady that were sitting at a pair of throne-like chairs that were at the head of the party, with the lady dressed in white clothing that seemed to be a wedding dress, indicating that she had found Vittoria Vici, meaning all she had to do was wait for her to move and start her speech, since that was what she was waiting for at the moment. Something that she found out was that Vittoria was humming a happy tune, showing that this was a good day for her and her husband, to which Amaryllis walked away from the area that the reception was being held in and explored the part of the city that was around it, knowing that she had some time before her target made her move and forced her hand. There were two other important buildings in the area, one that looked like the headquarters of the Imperial Legion, based on the flags, the pair of soldiers that were standing near the entrance, and the group of soldiers that were in the middle of training, and an even taller building that seemed to be connected to the circular tower the stairs she had walked up to get into the city was located, though she wasn't sure what the second building was for. Fortunately there was a set of stairs near the Legion Headquarters, which took her up to a walkway that covered a good bit of the area, including bringing her over to where the old statue that Babette had mentioned was located, but as she did that she did spot an elven bow laying in the area that Gabriella said it would be in, just out of reach for a normal person. Since she wasn't like everyone else in this land, however, Amaryllis made sure that everyone was too busy with the party, and it did seem like no one was glancing up on the walkway she was on, to which she used some of her magic and lifted the bow up to where she was standing, which she grabbed it and ducked behind some cover before she was spotted.

From what she could tell the bow was enchanted with a potent frost enchantment, as opposed to some of the weapons she had found so far, ones that had fire or shock enchantments, all designed to help the wielder weaken their foes, but, at the same time, she was also sure that it might also damage someone in another way, one that she wasn't familiar with, so Amaryllis slipped it into her pack and decided that she would have to ask Gabriella about it once she finished her task and returned to the Sanctuary.

After a few moments of waiting, however, she heard the sound of someone moving and glanced over the shorter part of the wall, where she found that Vittoria and her husband were on the move, to which she quickly headed over to where the old statue was located and crouched behind it, making sure that she was out of sight and that her armor was on, even if Astrid believed that the murder would be placed on either side, and waited for a few seconds. She guessed that all of the guests would be too drunk to notice an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood ending Vittoria's life, hence the reason they would pass the blame to the Imperials or the Stormcloaks, or at least that was how she was validating Astrid's thoughts on what would happen after the deed was done. Her thoughts were interrupted a few seconds later when she heard all of the guests, as in everyone from the local beggar to the pair that had been arguing with each other when she arrived, quiet down as they waited for what was to come, the speech that would be followed by the rest of the reception, meaning she would have to be ready to move quickly, because if she missed her chance she would have to rely on other methods to get the job done, even if it meant the bonus, which she didn't care for, would be lost.

"Honored guests, and good people of Solitude." Vittoria said, where Amaryllis peered around the statue and found that both she and her husband were currently standing on the small balcony that was right below where she was hiding, meaning all she had to do was push the statue and the entire thing should fall down, if what Babette said had about it's age was to be believed, "I just wanted to take this time to thank all of you for being here today, to thank you for sharing this wonderfully happy day with myself, and my..."

In that moment Amaryllis pushed on the statue with all her might and the large part of it that happened to be hanging on the edge, right above the area the lovebirds were standing in, broke off from the rest of the stone and fell down on top of Vittoria and her husband, crushing Vittoria in the process while her husband remained unharmed, even though he had fallen to the side the moment it happened. She waited for a moment, to let the dust clear, before the guests started to shout over what had happened, some outraged and passed the blame onto either the Stormcloaks or the Empire, while the guards started to search the area for whoever had killed the bride, which was the sign for Amaryllis to shift back into her noble disguise and walk down the stairs, so she could be out of the area before the guards saw her. In fact she was in front of the Legion Headquarters when she heard the sound of someone fighting, where she glanced back, acting like a concerned citizen, and spotted Veezara fighting a few of the city guards, though it didn't take her long to figure out what was going on, since she had been wondering why he had been missing when she got up this morning. Astrid was likely a little worried that she wouldn't be able to escape once the guards got excited by Vittoria's death, since they would be looking for her killer, and had no doubt asked Veezara to be here ahead of time to make sure she got away without being seen, to which she briefly nodded her head when her brother was looking in her direction, even if he had no idea that she was over there, and removed herself from the area as quickly as she possibly could.

Her escape route, as it turned out, was the same way she had gotten into the city, where it didn't take her long to get back to the door that lead outside and she leaned against the wall for a moment, to be sure no guards were coming to see where she was going, where she shifted back into her true form and braced herself, as it was time for her to leave, only to be stopped when Veezara appeared by her side and closed the door behind him.

"We should get out of here, before they think to check the stairs." Veezara stated, where his tone indicated that while he was pleased with what Amaryllis had done so far, and was proving that Astrid's thoughts about her were correct, it also told her that he wanted to get out of here, before the guards found them and killed them for the death of Vittoria Vici, as she was sure that there was no chance for a prison sentence if they got caught.

"I was thinking the same thing." Amaryllis replied, where she opened her wings for a moment and caused her brother to look at her for a few seconds, where Veezara was no doubt thinking about what she was going to say next, as she had a good way to get out of here without the guards figuring out where they went, "Do you want to experience what it's like to fly through the air?"

Veezara quickly accepted the offer, just as Amaryllis expected he would, to which she walked behind him, grabbed onto his arms, and then took off, carrying him into the air as she headed in the direction of the Sanctuary, making sure to avoid being seen by the people at the dock while making sure that her grip on her brother was good, as she didn't want to drop him while she was flying through the air. One thing she discovered was that Veezara was really light, as she had originally thought he would be heavier if she tried something like this, but that was good news for her, as her strength would be able to hold up for a longer period of time, allowing her to focus on flying as her brother looked down at the land that they were soaring over.

Amaryllis spent an hour flying through the air, making sure not to go too fast so Veezara could enjoy the view while she focused on what she was doing, before she reached the area that the Sanctuary was in, where she carefully descended towards the ground and let her brother touch down first, where he stretched his arms for a moment as she landed beside him. She could tell that Veezara enjoyed the flight, even if it was something that no one in this land had experienced and would likely question the sanity of whoever said they had done such a thing, but instead of worrying about her brother, who was perfectly fine, she headed towards the black door and opened it, where the two of them descended into the Sanctuary so they could give Astrid the good news. As Amaryllis reached the bottom of the stairs, and reached the first chamber of the place she and her Family called home, when they weren't wandering the land for one of their contracts, she found that her thoughts were correct on where the leader of their organization was standing, as Astrid seemed to enjoy standing near the stone table, even sitting in the throne-like chair on the other side of it at one point, though Astrid did turn around as she and Veezara came to a stop near her.

"Ha ha! The news is everywhere!" Astrid said, where both her tone and the look on her face revealed that she was very pleased with what had just happened, though at the same time Amaryllis tilted her head for a moment, because it was impossible for the leader of their Family to know the news when it happened only an hour ago, "Vittoria Vici, the Emperor's cousin, butchered at her own wedding! Well done! Let's see his eminence try to ignore this."

"Wait, how could you know about that already?" Amaryllis asked, because while it was good that Astrid, and possibly the other members of the Family, were happy about this turn of events she was confused by what was going on right now, and she could tell that both Astrid and Veezara were wondering what she was talking about, "I just killed Vittoria Vici an hour ago, and I can fly much faster than most people can run, which includes moving faster than the carriages, so how could you already know that she was killed at her own wedding?"

"I'm not sure if you've seen them, but there are couriers that deliver important news to the various Holds and can track down whoever they have to deliver a package to," Veezara answered, to which Amaryllis turned towards him for a couple of seconds, as she was curious as to what he was talking about, while he thought about what he was going to tell her, as in before Astrid told his new sister what the next objective was, as he knew that there was another target to be taken out so they could get to the Emperor, "I talked with Festus about this a few times in the past, as I was curious about something, and he told me that the couriers must have some sort of secret Alteration magic that allows them to move from place to place, like from Solitude to Falkreath for instance, and they also have a Clairvoyance spell that allows each of them to track who they're delivering letters to, regardless of where that individual is located. With Vittoria Vici's murder, and the uproar that we caused in Solitude, the couriers were likely sent out the moment things calmed down, to inform the other Jarls of the other Holds of what has transpired, hence the reason that the news got here before we could."

"Magical couriers... I guess that makes sense when you think about it." Amaryllis commented, though she really didn't buy the fact that the Jarls had magical people that could track someone, regardless of where they were, and deliver letters and packages to them, as well as quickly delivering important information to the rest of the land, but she wasn't about to argue with Veezara, because if Festus said it was that way she had to believe him, regardless of how ridiculous the explanation seemed to be.

"Anyway, with Vici's murder, you've started us down a path that the Dark Brotherhood hasn't traveled in centuries, the assassination of an Emperor." Astrid said, where she nodded her head and Veezara headed down into the next chamber of the Sanctuary, though as that happened she withdrew a pair of items, a piece of parchment that contained a spell that she was going to give Amaryllis and the more important thing, Amaryllis' reward for the contract, "And now, your rewards for a job well done. The first is a unique spell to summon a legend of the Dark Brotherhood, whose soul serves us now in death, as his body once did in life. The second, of course, is the bonus I mentioned earlier, for killing Vittoria Vici while she addressed her guests, as I instructed. Gold... simple and pure. Spend it as you will."

Amaryllis took the piece of paper and found that it contained the spell that Astrid had mentioned, meaning that she could learn it while she was resting, before the next assignment, as she knew another one was coming her way once her rewards had been claimed, and discovered that the bag had one thousand and five hundred coins inside it, which she was going to store in her chest later, though for now she focused on Astrid once more.

"Now then, it's time to proceed to the next stage of the plan." Astrid stated, where she still had the smile on her face, as this contract was definitely the best thing that she and the others could ask for, especially since everyone in Skyrim felt that they were fading away, and she knew this would put them back in the minds of everyone, before she focused on what she needed to tell Amaryllis, "Go and speak with Gabriella. She's been helping me arrange your next contract."

Amaryllis wasn't surprised to hear that the rest of her Family were working on the other parts of the set of contracts they had been given, especially after seeing that Veezara had been sent to help her when she came in to deal with Vittoria, to which she headed down into the Sanctuary and sought out Gabriella, as she was interested in hearing who she was going to be going after next and what sort of rules she would have to follow this time around.

Brotherhood: Breaking Security

Amaryllis found that the rest of her Family was present inside the Sanctuary this time, instead of someone having been sent off to another part of Skyrim, to spy on one of the targets they had been given, meaning that they had either scouted out the other potential targets in the past, in case someone wanted them dead, or had heard some general knowledge on them and weren't bothering themselves with verifying the information. In the end she guessed that it really didn't matter, as she had the feeling that she would be the one stalking the targets with the information she could gleam from her Family and what each of them knew, so it would be up to her to get everything she needed, before putting an end to her next target's life so they could move on to whoever was next between them and the Emperor. Based on her own experience she knew that one of the targets had to be in charge of the security, as taking someone like that out would leave the Emperor vulnerable for some time, but after that she wasn't sure who else needed to be killed so they could get at their true target, and she had the feeling only Astrid and Amaund knew the entire list of targets at the moment, leaving certain members of her Family to focus on whoever they were assigned to watch over. All of these thoughts came to a stop as she walked by where the forge area was located, where she spotted Arnbjorn having fun with Meeko, something that she wasn't expecting to see, but she said nothing as she nodded her head and tracked down Gabriella, as it was nice to see that the rest of the Family had accepted Meeko was one of their own.

In the end she found Gabriella sitting at the table that the Family usually shared their meals in, even though it seemed that everyone else was busy doing other things at the moment, so all Amaryllis did was sit down and focus on her sister, as she was eager to see who her next target was, the reasons behind why they had to die, and what sort of rules she had to follow this time around.

"Dear sister, I've been eagerly awaiting your return." Gabriella said, though Amaryllis knew that, since her sister was a seer and could see the future, or at least her own personal future from what she remembered, she was more referring to her own belief that she was a born assassin and was coming into her own as the days went by, "So, how was the reception in Solitude? The couriers made it sound like the Stormcloaks were behind the murder, to stop all attempts at peace so the war would continue, but I'm more interested in hearing the truth about what happened, even though I'll be asking Veezara the same thing later."

"To be honest Gabriella, there isn't much to tell." Amaryllis replied, as her first contract, the one for Muiri, had been rather interesting in how she approached it and what she had done when she finally killed Alain Dufont not to mention what she had done after the deed had been done, though she did remember to pull out the bow she had been told about, so her sister could see it again, "I did find the bow where you left it, in case you were told to kill someone at their wedding, but I didn't have the time to get into position and use one of my arrows to take out Vittoria while she was giving her speech... rather, I just dropped part of the stone statue on her and crushed her between it and the edge of the balcony."

"It's still a fascinating way to take someone out," Gabriella stated, to which she took the bow for a moment and stared at it, as if she was remembering what she knew about it and why she had crafted it, before she handed it back to Amaryllis, who set it aside for the moment, so they could focus on the next target that needed to be taken out, "That bow is Firiniel's End, named after an elf I was in love with, who was a member of our Family a long time ago, but in the end he betrayed us and I was the one that used this very bow to end his life, hence the reason it has 'End' as part of it's name... I wanted you to have it, regardless if you found it or not, to help you with your future contracts."

"I'll be sure to keep it safe and use it when I'm able," Amaryllis said, though she was surprised that the bow even had a name and that it's history was that Gabriella had used it to kill someone that she loved, even though he betrayed the Family and was likely going to bring them down from the inside, but she carefully put it back inside her pack so they could move onto the real reason why she had come to see her sister.

"Now then, onto the matter at hand." Gabriella said, where both she and Amaryllis turned their attention away from the bow, and the history that it had, and focused on what they were actually going to talk about, especially since they had been busy fulfilling Amaund's contract, in their own ways to be exact, though it wasn't hard for Amaryllis to determine that her sister was interested in the next target, "I'm sure that, upon your return from Solitude, Astrid informed you that I have been working on preparing your next contract?"

"That she did." Amaryllis replied, as she wasn't surprised that Gabriella knew the true reason behind why she had come to see her, since the bow was something she had been planning on asking her about later, once she had the details on her next target, before she braced herself for what she was about to say, as she was curious as to what she needed to do this time, "So, what can you tell me about my next contract?"

"With the Emperor's arrival in Skyrim now a certainty, his security service, the Penitus Oculatus, will need to begin its preparations immediately." Gabriella stated, where Amaryllis focused on what she was hearing, as she needed to know everything that her sister knew if she wanted to do this contract correctly, especially since this one was already shaping up to be different from the ones she done so far, "Security is being handled by a man called Commander Maro, a well liked and respected warrior within the group. Astrid and I have devised a plan to break the man, and in doing so, cripple the Emperor's protection. You are to slay the commander's son, Gaius Maro, and, once he is dead, plant false evidence on his body, to implicate him in a plot to kill the Emperor, a plot that is nothing like what we have planned."

"I understand." Amaryllis said, though she was surprised by this sort of tactic, that they were going after the son and not the father, but the part about the false plan made sense, as it would throw off the rest of the Penitus Oculatus from their true plan and might make them lower their guard, or at least that was her thoughts on the matter, and she was a little curious if Gabriella agreed with her.

"From what we know, Gaius Maro is set to leave the Penitus Oculatus outpost at Dragon Bridge by the end of the day, and inspect the security of every major city in Skyrim." Gabriella continued, though she did smile for a moment, as she was happy to see what the newest addition to their Family seemed to have gotten passed whatever was bothering her when she first joined the Family, no doubt her uneasy about killing people had gone away, before she returned to the topic that they were talking about, "You are to head to Dragon Bridge, observe Gaius Maro's departure, and then follow him. Waylay him in one of the cities, and send his soul to Sithis. Once he's dead, plant the incriminating letter on his body, and let fate take care of the rest. Oh, and one final thing..."

"Yes?" Amaryllis inquired, because she had the feeling that this was about the bonus she could earn for this contract and hoped that it was better than more coins, as she honestly didn't care much for the money that she was being given for these jobs, but the only way she would know what the bonus was if someone told her what it was ahead of time, which may or may not happen.

"To earn your bonus, do not kill Gaius Maro in Dragon Bridge, or on the road." Gabriella said, which was when exactly what Amaryllis was waiting for, the restrictions on what she was allowed to do and what she wasn't allowed to do for this specific contract, which was still odd when she thought about it, but she knew that there was more to be said and kept her mouth shut, "Kill him in one of the major cities that he will be visiting. There, the body will be discovered quickly, as will the letter implicating Gaius Maro in the plot to assassinate the Emperor. Do that, and Astrid has authorized me to grant you a rather unique bonus. It is a special token, to be given to Olava the Feeble, in Whiterun. Olava is an old and dear friend, and a powerful seer. The token entitles you to a reading of your future. It's an opportunity one should not pass up."

Amaryllis raised an eyebrow for a moment, as she wasn't expecting that to be the bonus for this contract, though she had to wonder if the seer was even able to see her future, given the simple fact that she wasn't from this world, but, at the same time, she knew that the only way she would be able to figure out if Olava could do such a thing was to get the token, and that meant killed Gaius in Solitude, Markarth, Whiterun, Windhelm, or Riften, as those were the five major cities that were scattered across Skyrim, which lead her to ask an interesting question.

"You wouldn't happen to know Gaius Maro's schedule, would you?" Amaryllis asked, as a schedule would be incredibly helpful in this situation, especially since it would likely detail which city he was supposed to visit on which day, which would allow her to plan out her attack and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike, especially since she could arrive in the next city he was supposed to be heading to and ambush him after he arrived.

"Unfortunately, no one in the Sanctuary knows what his schedule might be, so your best option is to follow him after he leaves Dragon Bridge... however..." Gabriella said, which interested Amaryllis for a moment, as she was all for following her target, if that was her only option, but it seemed like there was something else she could do to boost her chances of tracking down her target once he left the village, "there is one other option. We do know that there is an actual written travel schedule, somewhere in the Penitus Oculatus outpost, so securing that would, obviously, be most beneficial... if you don't mind entering the small outpost and seeing where the piece of paper is being kept."

"Okay, that I can do." Amaryllis replied, because with her powers all she had to do was wear the form of a member of the security group, as she was sure they had been at Vittoria's wedding, as the pair of odd soldiers she had seen, and walk into the small building like she belonged there, before another question came to her, "Out of curiosity, why are we going after the son when it would be easier to cut the head off the snake, by killing the Commander?"

"Killing Commander Maro would do no good, as he would just be replaced by someone else." Gabriella said, showing her that this idea had been covered already and that both she and Astrid had determined that keeping the father in power was the right way to do things, meaning that all she could do was accept that fact, before she continued with why they had come to such a decision, "No, we need him to remain in charge, but... distracted, weakened. Implicate and kill his son Gaius, and the Commander will be grief-stricken and humiliated, his family name ruined, which will cause their security plan to fail. The best part is that the Emperor and the other guards will be lulled into a false sense of security, thinking an assassination plot had already been discovered and foiled."

"That makes sense." Amaryllis conceded, though she hadn't considered the fact that framing the son would wreck the father's family name, which could potentially ruin anything the man had planned for the future, if everyone thought that his son was involved in a plot to kill the Emperor, especially from the guard that was sworn to defend him and protect him while he was visiting the other provinces of the land, "So, where can I find Dragon Bridge?"

"It's a small town that's not easy to miss, since it rests near a one of a kind stone bridge," Gabriella replied, though she had the feeling that Amaryllis knew where the town was located, as she could see the look of realization in her sister's eyes as she pieced together the location in her mind, "it also houses Skyrim's only Penitus Oculatus outpost. The outpost was established by Commander Maro when he first arrived in Skyrim, several months ago, when he began preparing for the Emperor's initial visit, but when the Emperor cancelled the visit he remained in Skyrim, to make sure it was kept clean in case someone forced him to make a change to his plans."

Amaryllis knew what Gabriella meant, especially after what she had done in Solitude, but that was all she had in the way of questions, so she figured that she would be on her way soon enough, though that was when the other members of her Family joined them for lunch, informing her of how much time had gone by since she returned from Solitude and the reception she had ruined. She was fine with this, as she wanted to relax a little anyway and talk with her Family before she went charging off to do her next contract, though while Astrid was somewhere else, no doubt preparing for the contract that followed the one she would do soon enough, Arnbjorn did inform her that he felt his wife was making a mistake, that this contract was perfect for him, only for Nazir to tell him that he had to abide by Astrid's wishes like everyone else. Festus was of the opinion that she should scorch Gaius' face off, instead of doing things like an assassin, and Babette informed her that talking to either the son or the father was a bad idea, as they were there to protect the Emperor and talking to either one of them might either spook them or cause them to lash out if they felt threatened. Veezara, on the other hand, had scouted out the Penitus Oculatus a few times in the past, on Astrid's orders, and knew that they were skilled fighters and that a direct confrontation with them was a bad idea, so it was best if she let her target leave the area, which would allow her to kill him someplace else.

In the end she agreed with what Babette had said, that talking to the targets was a bad idea, and from what she had seen in Solitude, even for a few seconds, she also knew that Veezara was right as well, that fighting the Penitus Oculatus was also a bad idea, so her method would be finding the schedule, something that would be easy with her powers, and then set a trap for Gaius when he reached one of the other cities. Once she came to a decision on what she was going to do, and how she was going to complete this contract, she got up from where she was sitting and headed for the entrance of the Sanctuary, where she paused to make sure Meeko was okay before heading outside, where she took to the skies and headed back in the direction of Solitude, as she knew where Dragon Bridge was located. She had to assume that both Gaius Maro and his father had been in Skyrim at the time of Vittoria's wedding, even though the father had been here for a longer period of time, so that meant her target was likely getting the last of the details from his commanding officer before he started to inspect the five major cities, meaning she would have a brief window of opportunity to see what he looked like before he disappeared on her. This would be an interesting challenge for sure, and her Family seemed to agree with that fact, and the only thing she needed to remember was that when she finally killed Gaius inside one of the cities all she had to do was slip the note she was now carrying onto him and escape before she was seen, though that all depended on which city she eventually did the deed in.

It took her an hour to reach the area that Dragon Bridge was in, though she landed on the edge of the stone bridge that was opposite of the village she had been told about and shifted her form to look like a common traveler, an Imperial male in the same clothing she had seen the other travelers wear, making her look like someone that the guards and other residents of the village wouldn't bother remembering, before she spotted a pair of soldiers that were standing in a house that was opposite of the inn, dressed in the armor of the Penitus Oculatus.

"Father, you worry too much." the younger looking soldier stated, who Amaryllis assumed had to be Gaius, since she was under the impression that none of the other members of the security group would call the Commander that sort of term, though she walked over to where the inn was located, pretending that she was a poor traveler and not someone that had been sent to study the departure of the one that would be studying the security of the major cities that were scattered all over this province, "I'll be fine."

"I know you will." the other figure, who was older than the first one, replied, though it was easy to determine that he was Commander Maro, the father of Gaius Maro and the head of the Penitus Oculatus, who was going to be wrecked by the death of his son and everything else that Gabriella told her about earlier, "But all the same, remember everything I have told you over the years. Just stay alert while you are walking the roads of this province, and, when you get to each of the major cities, quickly make your observations and move on to the next city."

"I understand the instructions, father, but you're being paranoid." Gaius said, showing that while he had respect for his father, and everything he did for the Empire, there were things that he didn't like and it appeared that there might have been a few conversations that Amaryllis had missed, meaning he might have been in Skyrim for a longer period of time than what her Family members originally thought, "I'm inspecting the security of the cities, as you have told me countless times since our arrival in this province, not charging off to join the Legion to stop the Stormcloaks. There's not a whole lot that can go wrong."

"Son, when the Emperor wants to travel to a province that's in the middle of a civil war, with neither side gaining any sort of ground, anything can go wrong." Commander Maro countered, where part of his tone suggested that he might believe what some of the other residents of Solitude believed, that one of the factions that were fighting each other could be the ones that ordered Vittoria's death, and the other part suggested that he was keeping an open mind as he looked at the shadows, like he was looking for an assassin or something, before focusing on his son again, "But you already knew that, despite the fact that you like to think about things in your own way. Either way, it's time for you to get started on your duties, so all I can do is wish you good luck and pray for safety during your travels."

"Farewell, father. I'll return as soon as I'm able." Gaius replied, his tone revealing that he was happy that his father was letting him go so he could tend to his duties and make sure the major cities were safe for when the Emperor arrived in Skyrim, even if he was likely only going to be visiting Solitude for the entirety of his visit, before he turned to the side and headed up the hill.

Amaryllis turned for a moment and noticed that her target was heading in the direction of Solitude, no doubt to hire the carriage so he could head to which of the five major cities was his first destination, though she remained where she was standing and watched as Commander Maro walked back into the building that was behind him, one that had the flags of the Legion, to show who they were protecting, to which she sat down on the bench and pulled out her map, to give her the appearance of a lost traveler. Interestingly enough she found that the Commander walked out of the building he had walked into a few minutes later and headed to the inn, where he stared at her for a few seconds, seeing the traveler guise that she was wearing, before heading into the building that was behind her, no doubt to get something to eat and drink before heading out to do his own duties. Once that happened she made sure that there wasn't anyone in the immediate area and quickly shifted her form again, this time appearing as a member of the Penitus Oculatus, and she walked over to the building the Commander had walked out of, where she found that there was one other member of the security group that must have been on the night shift, as he was sleeping at the moment. From what she could tell there were four beds, meaning there was a member she hadn't seen yet, who could be a thorn in her side if they arrived before she found what she was looking for, and a table that was near the fireplace, meaning she had to be careful as she looked for the schedule that would tell her which cities Gaius would be visiting on which day.

It didn't take her long to spot a piece of parchment that was on the table, one that seemed important, which was why she picked it up, stored it inside her pack, and headed outside, where she shifted back into her traveler form once she knew the coast was still clear, where she walked out of the village and didn't stop until she came to the first fork in the road, as that was the moment she hid in the shade and pulled the piece of parchment out to see what sort of information it had for her, so she could form a plan of attack.

"Let's see here, what is Gaius Maro's schedule?" Amaryllis commented, even though she knew that no one was near her, and this would make it seem like she was talking to herself like one of the few crazy people she had seen, to which she opened the piece of parchment and looked at it for a few seconds, as it was definitely a schedule that her target was supposed to follow until he was told otherwise, "On Morndas he's supposed to be in Solitude, Tirdas puts him all the way in Windhelm, Middas has him over in Riften, Turdas places him right in Whiterun, and Fredas is when he goes to Markarth, which leaves both Loredas and Sundas to be spent as he wishes."

Amaryllis considered that information for a moment, because Gaius was heading to Solitude at the moment, where she had originally assumed he was going to get the carriage to head to his next destination, but she wasn't entirely sure what the day was, due to not paying attention much attention to it, meaning she had to find someone that knew what day it was, without looking like she was stupid. Fortunately she spotted a lone traveler walking her way, a Nord wearing a set of clothes that make him look like a traveler and carried an iron sword on his waist, which meant that he must have walked by her target a few moments ago, but this was the perfect time to ask him what day it was and determine which city she had to go to next. With that thought in mind she slipped the schedule back into her pack and resumed walking, making sure to stop when the Nord hailed her and told him that she was having a good day, before inquiring as to what the date was, only to find that it was the 24th of Last Seed, which was on a Sundas this year, where she thanked him and continued walking towards Solitude. There was a problem with the date the Nord bard had told her, because she had just killed Vittotia Vici a few hours ago in the same city that Gaius was heading at the moment, where the security would be heightened thanks to what she did earlier that day, meaning she either had to follow her target, and wait for a chance to strike inside Solitude, or wait for the 26th to arrive so she could attack him in a different city.

In the end she determined that she was going to have to wait to see what the situation was like in Solitude, to see if the guards were much more active thanks to what she had done earlier or not, before she made her move against Gaius, though she knew she was going to have to shift her form again, due to the fact that he had seen her in this guise already and might be worried if he saw her again. As such she shifted her form into a male Bosmer hunter as she walked down the road, which was the perfect chance for her to pull out Firiniel's End and slip it onto her back, to complete the look she was going for at the moment, and made sure to pull out some of the arrows she had in her pack as well, that way her new disguise was much better than it had been earlier. It didn't take her long to reach the area that the carriage and it's driver were in, where it appeared that the man didn't seem to be getting ready to leave, before she spotted Gaius walking up to the main gate of Solitude, meaning he was either getting supplies or he was actually spending the rest of the day making sure the rest of the city's defenses were fine for when the Emperor arrived. She braced herself and followed him into the city, making sure to keep a safe distance from him so her target didn't think he was being followed by someone, but what she discovered, upon entering Solitude, was that none of the city guards seemed even remotely worried about Vittoria's death earlier that day, though thanks to her powers she knew they were waiting to catch the guilty party and make them pay for the crime they had committed.

Interestingly enough the pair of guards that were on the other side of the main gate, and were making sure nothing bad happened to the city, were on opposite sides of what happened earlier, as one of them felt nothing but shame, due to the fact that the Emperor's cousin had died in Solitude, while the other didn't seem bothered by that, stating that Vittoria had guards and it wasn't the city guard's fault that someone ended up killing her at her own reception, but when they started to argue about what they should feel she moved on, deciding not to waste time with them.

What she discovered, as she carefully followed Gaius around Solitude, was that he had a number of locations that he wanted to visit on his free day, and the first one was, oddly enough, the Temple of the Divines, the building that she had been outside a few hours ago for her last contract, and it appeared that the benches and the rest of the celebration items had been packed away already, but Vittoria was right where she left her, crushed underneath the part of the statue that she had dropped on her. Of course she couldn't follow her target into the small courtyard, rather she walked up to the area that she had been in earlier that day and stood in the shadows, looking down into the area that Gaius was in, where he seemed to be saying farewell to the Emperor's cousin, which made sense seeing how she was related to the Emperor, who he was sworn to protect, before he headed inside the temple. She knew that he had to be praying to the Eight Divines for protection, since he would be traveling the harsh roads of Skyrim and wanted the gods that the Empire worshiped to watch over him when he started his duties, or at least that was what Amaryllis would do if she were in his shoes, but she remained hidden in the shadows and watched over the temple's entrance, that way she would be ready for whenever her target moved to leave the building. When Gaius finally stopped praying and left the temple an hour had passed, a very boring hour for Amaryllis since she really didn't want to lose sight of her target, but once he was on the move she made sure to follow him from a safe distance, just to be sure he knew no one was following her, though to be absolutely sure she shifted into an Argonian hunter that was wearing leather armor, different from her previous disguise, and it seemed that her target had no idea she was even there.

As it turned out he headed into the building that the Imperial Legion used as it's headquarters and she stayed outside for a few seconds, as that was the one place she didn't want to head into, because if she killed Gaius there it would be next to impossible to leave, especially if everyone was up and moving around the place, so she headed back to a higher point and watched the entrance of the building, waiting to see if he was going to leave at all.

When another hour went by, and it was clear that Gaius wasn't coming back outside, Amaryllis sighed and headed to the inn, as it seemed she was going to have to wait until the morning to do anything, especially since her target was going to stay inside one of the areas of Solitude she didn't want to do the deed in, mostly because of all the guards that would be present and would likely hear the sound of a body dropping. The innkeeper at the Winking Skeever was more than happy to rent her a room and prepare something for her to eat, since it appeared that she would be spending what remained of the day in Solitude, pretending to be a patron of the inn as she waited for morning to hit, which seemed to be the best time to kill Gaius before the guards even knew what was going on. There were a number of customers that seemed to be enjoying themselves, despite the fact that Vittoria Vici had died earlier that day, and that told Amaryllis that only those that were close to Emperor's cousin would have felt anything after her murder, which was rather odd since she knew that if such a thing happened in Equestria there would be many ponies mourning the loss of whoever perished, which was just another way that this world was different from her home world. All she did was take one of the smaller tables and eat her food, making it look like she was a patron that enjoyed coming to the inn while not engaging in drinking until she couldn't see anymore, though while she did that she did notice two people, a Bosmer and an Argonian, both male, focus on her for a few seconds, before deciding it wasn't worth talking to her.

Eventually she decided to turn in for the night, after finishing what she had ordered, and headed upstairs, where she found a nice room that was different from the other inns she had stayed in, giving her the feeling that all of the houses in this city were like this, before she closed the door and fell asleep as soon as she hit the covers, though she intended on waking up before anyone else did so she could get the deed done quickly.

In the end she slept for seven hours, going from ten at night to five in the morning, which was when she climbed out of the bed, made sure everything was in order, and headed down the stairs, where she found that not even the innkeeper was awake, which made sense due to the fact that everyone had to sleep at some point, though she pushed that thought aside as she headed outside and returned to the streets of Solitude. There she found that several of the guards were up and about, but it seemed more like the night shift was heading back to the building they were supposed to sleep in so they could change with the guards that held the day shift, meaning there would be a slight opening for her to kill Gaius without anyone noticing what she was doing. None of the residents of the city, not even the beggar, were out, confirming the fact that she had a slight opening, hence the reason she started to walk around Solitude and kept her eyes open for her target, as she was positive he would be using this opportunity to start his observations of the city, without anyone spying on what he was doing, and all she had to do was find him. Interestingly enough she found that her thoughts were correct when she spotted Gaius walking down the street that she was on, heading towards the Blue Palace, where the Jarl resided, either to see what was going on in that building or to look at the defenses that were nearby, but that would put a hole in her plan if he went into the Jarl's palace. As such she waited for the perfect opportunity, where Gaius stopped for a moment to stare at a building that seemed to be very important to the city, and, once she was sure no one was around, she switched back to her true form and her true armor, before sneaking up on Gaius and used her dagger to cut his life short.

With the deed done, and Gaius' body was laying in the middle of the street, Amaryllis quickly pulled out the letter she had been given earlier and slipped it into the pack that her target happened to be wearing, where she removed a second piece of parchment that happened to be a letter from his father, something she discovered by opening it, which caused her to come to a decision as she took it, to make sure everyone felt he was plotting against the Emperor, before she took off and headed for the highest point of the city. The reason she was sticking around was to make sure the city guards noticed the body and the letter, that way the news of the false plot could spread like wildfire and would, somehow, reach Falkreath before she even got there, but she knew she could be patient and waited for a time, making sure her eyes were on Gaius' body and that no one could see her from where she was standing. It took the guards that were the day shift about thirty minutes to leave the building they all slept in, though once they started making their rounds one of them found the body within a couple of seconds and called to the others, where Amaryllis watched as one of them pulled out the incriminating letter, opened it, and started showing his fellow guards the information he had received, all of them sounding shocked by the news. In that moment, with all of the guards distracted by the false piece of information that she had planted, as per her orders from Gabriella and Astria, Amaryllis took off and headed back to the Sanctuary, as it was time to tell the others the news and see what the next target Amaund wanted them to take out was, as she had the feeling that they were close to striking out at the Emperor in the near future.

It took her an hour to get back to where the Sanctuary was located, especially with the speed she used to fly through the air to get back here so quickly, to which she landed near the black pool and headed through the black door, where she found Gabriella waiting in the area that Astrid was usually standing in, either meaning their leader was still asleep or she was off doing something else.

"Ah, Amaryllis, it's good to see that you made it back so quickly." Gabriella said, though the smile on her face indicated that the news of Gaius' death had already reached Falkreath and the rest of Skyrim, or, to be more exact, the fact that he had been planning on betraying his oath by helping kill the Emperor that he swore to protect, even if that was entirely false and was simply a way to make the guards feel that there was nothing for them to worry about, "I have been anxiously awaiting your return."

"As you no doubt know, Gaius Maro has been killed and the letter has been placed." Amaryllis replied, as she was sure that the magical couriers had already delivered the news about what she had done an hour ago, despite the fact that she could fly from one spot to another rather quickly, even though Skyrim was a large place and it should have taken them longer to do such a thing.

"Yes, we all know you have completed your contract. You have done well, and have earned both your reward, as well as the bonus that I told you about earlier." Gabriella stated, her tone revealing that she was happy with what Amaryllis had been able to do since her arrival in the Sanctuary, as it appeared that she was a natural assassin, just like Astrid believed her to be, before she handed over a large pouch that had one thousand and five hundred septims and, more importantly, a small gem that looked like a sapphire, but made of glass, "But you should know that we have a more pressing matter that we need to deal with. It's... Cicero. There was an incident earlier, while you were dealing with your target. You should proceed into the Sanctuary and speak to Astrid, she'll explain what happened."

Amaryllis sighed as she accepted the items, as she was hoping that the rest of her new Family would have accepted Cicero, without something like this happening, to which she turned towards the stairs and started moving towards the main area of the Sanctuary, the area that the pool of water was in, because she was seriously hoping that nothing bad had happened while she was following Gaius Maro through the streets of Solitude.

Brotherhood: Curing Madness

Amaryllis walked down the steps leading to the main chamber of the Sanctuary, where she continued to hope that Astrid hadn't done something to Cicero while she was gone, because she actually liked the jester and had welcomed him into the Family with open arms, but she readied herself for whatever she was going to see when she finally passed the area that was near the stairs. That was when she found the rest of the Family standing around the area that Veezara usually sat in from time to time, when he didn't feel like joining the rest of them at the dining tables, but it looked like someone had stabbed him in the side, if the small pool of blood that was on the ground around him was any indication, and that told her that what she had been thinking earlier was incorrect. Babette seemed to be in the middle of treating him, no doubt giving him one of the potions she could make, but that was when Amaryllis noticed that someone else was missing, due to the fact that Astrid's husband was missing, making her wonder where Arnbjorn had wandered off to, though she had the feeling that everything would become clear when she spoke to Astrid. Amaryllis said nothing as she came to a stop near her Family, mostly so the others could finish any conversations they were having without her interrupting them, though it mostly looked like they were focused on what had happened while she was gone and nothing else, even though Babette was in the middle of something right now.

"Just try to relax, Veezara." Babette instructed, her tone revealing that she felt sad about what had happened earlier, while at the same time she seemed to finish what she was doing, as she pulled back from her brother and made sure that the wound was healing like it was supposed to, meaning it was more of an over a few minutes, instead of the instant one Amaryllis had used at the beginning of her adventure, "Let the elixir do its work. You'll be feeling better in no time."

"Achh." Veezara growled, showing that either the healing process hurt more than Amaryllis thought it would, or the wound that was slowly closing was worse than she thought, while at the same time Veezara offered Babette a weak smile, no doubt to show his thanks before he said anything to anyone, "Thank you, dear sister, you are most kind. I'm afraid that the jester's cut feels as bad as it looks."

"Damn it, this never should have happened!" Astrid exclaimed, her tone and the look on her face showing everyone in the chamber that she was pissed off about what had occurred earlier and that she couldn't believe what she had seen, and everyone focused on her while she did that, as they knew better than to try and calm her down when she happened to be like this, "We knew better... we knew better, and still we let our guards down. Agh!"

"I'll admit, even I'm having a hard time disagreeing with you..." Festus said, where Amaryllis got the feeling that he had been hoping for good things with the arrival of the Night Mother and her chosen Keeper, and she felt that the arrival of the Listener should count as something like that, but he didn't say anything else, letting the others know that this wasn't what he was expecting when Cicero arrived.

"Amaryllis, I'm pleased to see that you have returned from your contract, and that you killed Maro and planted the fake evidence like we asked," Astrid said, where she and the others finally noticed that Amaryllis was standing there, not that she was trying to be invisible or anything, meaning that it was time for them to get to what had happened and for her to learn what she needed to do next, "but we've got a much bigger problem right now!"

"I know, Gabriella mentioned something about Cicero as soon as I returned to the Sanctuary." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time this really wasn't what she was expecting when she came back to her new home, to find that one member of the Family was wounded while two more were missing, as she assumed that Arnbjorn had decided to tear Cicero apart for what he had done to Veezara.

"The fool went absolutely berserk!" Astrid stated, once more revealing how annoyed about the situation she was, even if the others might be getting tired of hearing her talk about it, before she gestured to Veezara for a second, almost as if she was pointing out something that was pretty obvious "He wounded Veezara, tried to kill me, and then he fled, all in a matter of moments... I just knew that lunatic couldn't be trusted. Look, we've got to deal with this situation... you've got to deal with this situation."

"Me? You want me to tackle this situation?" Amaryllis asked, because she felt that someone else should be the one to head out and chase down Cicero, especially since they were stressed for time since they had no idea what the Emperor was going to do once he learned about Gaius' death and the supposed plot that he was involved in, before noticing that Astird was serious about what she had said, to which she sighed, "Alright, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to find that miserable little fool and end his life!" Astrid replied, though she knew that Amaryllis would ask such a question, especially since she seemed to be the most attached to the insane jester, due to the fact that she was the only one that really put up with his actions and and his madness, before she thought about something else, "But first... I need you to find my husband and make sure he's all right. After the attack, Arnbjorn flew into a rage, one that was unlike all the others I have seen in the many years I've known him, and I'm worried that something might have happened to him. When Cicero left the Sanctuary... well, Arnbjorn went after him and they both quickly disappeared into the wild. Before you leave again, I want you to search Cicero's room... maybe there's something in there that can shed some light on where the jester might have gone, where he might hide. Let me know the minute you find anything important... I've got to see to Veezara, and calm everyone down."

Amaryllis said nothing as she headed to the room that Cicero slept in, though as she did that she heard Astrid take a few seconds to thank Veezara for rushing to her aid when the attack happened earlier, informing her that the leader of her Family had been behind ticking off Cicero, but she put that thought on hold as she reached her destination, where she only had to look around the room for a few seconds and found five journals, meaning she had some reading to do before she could figure anything out. The first journal mentioned that the jester was keeping his own record of his life, from a certain point, and that it appeared he started just after the Sanctuary he called home, the Bruma Sanctuary, was purged in some manner, and even mentioned the previous Listener, someone named Alisanne Dupre, along with a few contracts that he fulfilled during his time in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. As she read the second journal she discovered that one of the other Sanctuaries had been closed and it's members integrated into Cicero's Family, before learning that the Lucky Old Lady statue, whatever that was, had been destroyed, leading to a number of members of the Family to rush to the Night Mother's crypt to protect it, only for that to result in the death of Alisanne Dupre and nearly everyone else in that area, save for the one who carried the coffin to Cicero's Sanctuary. What was interesting was that the third journal spoke of the time that Cicero was appointed to become the Night Mother's Keeper, how he wasn't always a jester and that his last contract, before officially becoming the Keeper, had been to kill a jester, one that he was honored to know by what was written on the page.

The fourth journal detailed the downfall of Cicero's Sanctuary and the Family that he had known, and his awakening as the "Fool of Hearts" as he called himself, before the final journal, the last, revealed what Astrid had told her when she joined the Dark Brotherhood, the letters between her and Cicero and him coming to this Sanctuary with the Night Mother, before revealing that there was a second Sanctuary in Skyrim, in Dawnstar, and he even wrote down the phrase to get through the door, to which she closed the journal, put all five of them in her pack, and returned to where Astrid was located, who turned towards her as soon as she noticed her walking down the stairs.

"Good, you're back." Astrid said, as it had been a few minutes since she sent Amaryllis to raid Cicero's room and see if she could find anything that would tell them where the jester ran off to, where Babette and the others had finally moved Veezara to the beds so he could rest and recover his energy, before she focused on the task at hand once more, as she stared at Amaryllis, "Did you find anything in that jester's room?"

"Yes, I found all five of Cicero's journals." Amaryllis replied, though while part of her felt that it was wrong for her to even take the journals in the first place, even if it was on Astrid's orders, she knew that she was going to run into Cicero again and felt that he could have them back, mostly since it seemed to be the only place that the phrase to get through the black door was located in, information that was rather important in her eyes.

"Excellent." Astrid stated, because that was good news, as it meant there was a very real possibility that the jester had written something down that would doom him, along with telling her where her husband might have wandered off to in his blind rage, before she calmed down, as she was sure she was getting excited thinking about the death that would visit Cicero in the near future, and focused on what she had just learned, "Do they mention where he might be headed?"

"Yes, an abandoned Sanctuary in Dawnstar." Amaryllis answered, to which she reached into her pack and withdrew the fifth journal, the one that contained the piece of information that was the most important out of everything she had read so far, in terms of Cicero's journals, just to show Astrid that she had found something, "And he even wrote the phrase down, meaning I can get inside the ancient Sanctuary with ease."

"The Dawnstar Sanctuary? What reason could he have for hiding there?" Astrid inquired, as that really didn't make that much sense to her, before she held up a hand to stop Amaryllis from answering the question she had just asked, as part of her didn't care and that part was winning at the moment, "Never mind, it doesn't matter. You need to leave. Now! Every moment counts, so I want you to take my horse. His name is Shadowmere. You'll find him outside, by the pool. Let's just say he's... one of us. Find Arnbjorn, make sure my husband's all right, and then enter that Sanctuary and send that jester's twisted little soul to the Void, in as many pieces as possible."

"Um, Astrid, I don't need Shadowmere," Amaryllis said, where Astrid turned and looked at her for a few seconds, as if she couldn't believe that she was talking back to her on this manner, before she spread her wings for a moment and flapped them, all to remind her of the fact that her anger towards Cicero made her forget about them "I can just fly to Dawnstar. It's much quicker than riding across Skyrim."

"Well, you should let him out anyway, because chasing after you will be good exercise for him." Astrid stated, showing that she didn't much care for the reminder, not when she was annoyed by what Cicero had done, and she walked away before Amaryllis could say anything else, indicating that this conversation was over and that she wasn't going to listen to anyone that wanted to challenge what she said.

Amaryllis sighed as she debated on what she should do about this situation, as she had no idea if she should follow what Astrid wanted her to do or if she should go to the Dawnstar Sanctuary and tend to Cicero in a different way, but she did know that the Night Mother seemed fond of Cicero, as she even called him a humble servant and even sounded like she liked having him as the one that tended to her. There was also Sithis, the Dread Father, and she was sure that doing this would piss the godly being off, something that seemed like a bad idea, so in the end she sighed and headed for the black door once more, as she had two things she could do while she was making up her mind, even though part of her did know what she wanted to do. As she walked outside, however, she happened to hear the sound of hooves running across the ground and looked around for a moment, finding that there was no one around her, before there was a boom, almost like thunder, as she turned towards the pool of black water, where the horse she had seen Astrid ride, back at the shack she had woken up in, happened to be standing in the middle of the water and was staring at her. She knew that this was Shadowmere, but, even though she knew that Astrid wanted her to take him, and ride him all the way to Dawnstar, she wasn't about to do that and took off without wasting a second, though as she started to fly in the direction of her first destination she did look at the ground and noticed that the horse was following her on the road, meaning that people would be seeing a riderless horse chasing something, but she just sighed and focused on her objective, as there would be time to worry about Shadowmere later.

Her first destination was Whiterun, as she now possessed the token that would entitle her to a reading of her future, by Olava the Feeble, even if she wasn't entirely sure that such a thing could happen since she was from another world and whatnot, but she felt that it was worth trying, hence the reason she took the short flight from the Sanctuary to the city that was in the middle of Skyrim. As soon as she reached her destination she landed behind one of the farm houses and made her form something different, this time going for a Nord traveler, more like a close female version of the bard she had seen when she was following Gaius to Solitude, and once that was done she walked out from where she was hiding and started walking over to where the city's main gate was located. Instead of spending too much time exploring Whiterun, all to find the person she was looking for, she asked one of the guards where she could find Olava and was directed to the first house that was right behind the blacksmith's shop, where she just happened to be standing near, and was told that if Olava wasn't there she was likely in the Bannered Mare. She thanked the guard and headed over to the area in question, where she found an old lady sitting on a bench outside the house that she just been told about, though it appeared that she had just finished the tea she had been drinking, or whatever she had been drinking since everyone seemed to use the same metal mugs and it was hard to tell what someone was drinking at any given time. Amaryllis pushed that thought away as she walked over to where the lady was sitting, as she was hoping to get this reading over with before she came to a decision on what to do about Cicero, and sure enough the old lady set down her mug as soon as she was done with it, before glancing up at Amaryllis as she came to a stop, though it appeared that she might already know why she had come to visit in the first place.

"You have come to Olava for a reading, haven't you?" the old lady inquired, where she made no efforts to hide the fact that she was the person that Amaryllis was looking for, nor did she try to hide the fact that she did readings of the future, just like Gabriella said she could, though she knew the lady had more to say and said nothing as she let the old lady say what was on her mind, "Sorry, pup, but I'm not quite in the mood for that today."

"Really? That's too bad, as I have this token that I was told to give you." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she did know that people could get burned out when they did something too many times, she had seen several ponies have that happen to them and it caused them to experiment to find their creativity again, and that was even true for a select few of the changelings in her old Hive, "But, if you don't feel up to it, maybe I can schedule an appointment for sometime in the future, when you're feeling better."

"Token, you say? Let me see." Olava said, as that was the part that she focused on, not the fact that Amaryllis was one of the few people who were willing to come back when she was feeling better, something that she actually liked since she knew there were so many that wouldn't do such a thing, before Amaryllis pulled out the glass token and showed it to her for a moment, where a look of surprise appeared on her face, "Oh, goodness me, you're a friend of Gabriella's... I should have known that just by looking at you. Well, I guess we both know why you're here."

"Gabriella told me that you could see my future, and that it wasn't something I should pass up." Amaryllis replied, as that was what she had been told when she was informed of the bonus for hunting down Gaius Maro and killing him when he was inside one of the major cities, though she still felt she was somewhat lucky that events had happened like they did, otherwise she could still be out there, chasing her target until he arrived in one of the other cities.

"Yes, I can do that, but it's not something I do lightly, mind you, and there the fact that it's not as specific as you might want. But yes. I will do this for you." Olava stated, though that made sense to Amaryllis, since the future could be changed based on what someone was told and how they acted from that point forward, before she beckoned for Amaryllis to sit down and she did so, leading the old lady to place her hands on either side of her head as she focused her mind on what she was doing, "Please, relax your body and free your mind..."

Amaryllis found that it was rather easy for her to do what Olava was asking her to do, and she closed her eyes as well, even though she wasn't asked to do such a thing, but she was sure that the old lady appreciated her assisting her to some degree, and banished all her thoughts so her mind would be a calming sea, all to give Olava a direct path to whatever she was looking for... and before long she felt something about the old lady change, which meant that she must have found something, despite her earlier thoughts.

"Olava, what do you see?" Amaryllis asked, because if the old lady was actually able to see her future, despite the fact that she was from a different world and everything else she had thought about, it made her curious as to what she might learn, regardless of however small that piece of information could be, and she could tell that she was about to learn what the old seer had discovered.

"There's a cave. No, not a cave. A... home? A place you feel secure. You will find safety there... sanctuary. I see snow, lit by the star of dawn." Olava replied, where Amaryllis got the feeling that she was entirely focused on what she was seeing and that she wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her, not that anything was happening at the moment, but she was interested in the fact that Olava was speaking of the Dawnstar Sanctuary, meaning that it would definitely play a big part in her future, "And you are not alone, as there are others. A child of night... a stalker of the sands? Oh, but before you are family, there will be blood. Such blood. Wait! There's something else... A potential for adventure, and wealth. It is a ruin, ripe for the plunder. Deepwood Redoubt. Far to the northwest... Through there is... Hag's End. The last resting place of an assassin of old. A Dark Brother, who bequeaths his ancient earthly possessions... to you."

"Is... Is there anything else?" Amaryllis inquired, because that was a lot to take in, as it sounded like something bad could happen in the future and that she, Nazir, and Babette would be the only ones to survive it, though at the same time she was interested in the ancient member of the Dark Brotherhood and his armor, along with the possibility of there being something else she could learn.

"Maybe. There's a cave... a ruin, one not like Deepwood Redoubt. One that brings an end to something, but also gives way for something to replace it... and the sign of Akatosh... that is all I see." Olava stated, though as she said the Divine's name Amaryllis noticed that the old lady seemed to become weary, which made sense considering that looking into the future could be quite draining, regardless of how skilled one was, or at least that was Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter since she never tried this sort of thing before, "Now... now please. I find myself very weary all of sudden."

Amaryllis nodded her head, thanked Olava for even agreeing to do this for her, even if it was the token that had made her come to the decision, and then headed for Whiterun's main gate as she left the lady to whatever was going to do with the rest of her day, though once she was outside she made her way to the plains, to get as far away from the residents of Whiterun as she possibly could. The moment she was sure that she couldn't be seen by someone she reverted back to her true form and took off, this time heading to the northwest, because there was too much for her to think about and she knew that finding the ancient member of the Dark Brotherhood would be worth the time, and it might give her the chance to come to terms with what she had learned. It was almost like Olava was saying that she saw disaster in her future, that her Family was going to experience something that would reduce their numbers in some manner, and that she, Nazir, and Babette would be the only ones to survive whatever was coming, but it was just like what Olava had said, the future was never as clear as one wanted, so there was a chance that what she had seen would never come to pass. The part about the Dawnstar Sanctuary made her wonder if it was possible for them to expand into a second location, that way half of the expanded Family could deal with part of Skyrim and the other half could take care of the other part, though such a thing would require recruiting more assassins into their Family, something Astrid might not be ready for. The last bit that she had been told, about a second ruin and everything else, didn't make much sense to her either, and she had the feeling that she would forget about it in due time, so she turned her attention to her flying and where she was headed, as she had no idea where Deepwood Redoubt was located and would need to ask someone for directions.

After an hour of flying she touched down outside Dragon Bridge once more and took on a brand new disguise, a dark elf mage that was looking for a lost relic, and when she walked to the other side of the bridge she asked the first guard she found where she might find the ruin she was looking for, playing it off as that the item she was looking for was last seen in the area of the ruin, only to learn that it was to the west of where they were standing, as she would have to follow the path that lead out of the village and follow the path on the left until she came to Volskygge. Amaryllis pretended to know the area that the guard was talking about and he seemed to believe her, letting her go with a warning that there were reports of Forsworn and bandits in that area, meaning that death was the only thing she would find if she wasn't careful, to which she thanked the guard and went on her way, leaving the small village behind once more, even though part of her had to wonder how many times she would have to pass through this area in the future. She was a little surprised that she would be dealing with the Forsworn again, as she had been positive that her last encounter would have been the only encounter, but, at the same time, she had an advantage that all of the other adventurers and travelers didn't have, and those were her natural changeling powers. As such she made sure that she was a far enough distance away from Dragon Bridge and shifted back to her true form so she could take to the sky once more, which was the moment that she headed in the direction the guard had pointed her in, though it wasn't long before she found a decent sized ruin built into the side of a mountain, which had to be Volskygge.

With the nordic ruin located she landed nearby and took on the shape of the Forsworn, the same one she had killed when she was looking for the Pommel Stone of Mehrunes' Razor, and walked over to the steps that were close to where the ruin happened to be resting, which was when she found a small area with four members of the Forsworn standing guard over an entrance into Deepwood Redoubt. Of course, since she appeared to be one of their type, the guards only glanced at her as she walked up the stairs, almost as if they didn't care about her, which allowed her to walk over to the wooden door and enter the first of the two ruins, as Olava's words indicated that she had to go through one ruin to get to the second one, which was the one that held the armor she was looking for. On the other side of the door she found what appeared to be a wrecked nordic ruin, if the burial chamber she walked into was any consideration, and at the end of the short passage she was in was a close iron door, the barred type, that wasn't even locked, so all she had to do was open it and walk into a corner that caused her to turn towards some stairs. Those, in turn, allowed her to access another part of the ruin, where she found two Forsworn standing near a fire, in an area that gave her a decent view of a blocked passage that would require her to move elsewhere to gain access to it, and a tunnel that one more Forsworn was standing in, but what he seemed to be doing was making sure the swinging blade trap in this particular tunnel was fine, otherwise it would be useless if an enemy attacked them... not that it mattered since the only potential enemy was walking through the ruin like she belonged there.

Amaryllis found it a little amusing that none of the Forsworn, not to mention the other groups she had infiltrated so far, had thought to stop her while she was in disguise, because that would have put a stop to what she was doing at the time and force her to fight them, but they were just letting her walk around like she was one of them, without answering any questions, which made things too easy for her.

As soon as she was passed the tunnel with the swinging blade trap she found a room with an iron door that looked like it might need a key to open, though before Amaryllis even started to look for the item in question one of the female members of the Forsworn just so happened to unlock the door from the other side and walk into the area she was in, and she seemed to be mumbling about how she had to replace the frost traps every time they went off, which seemed like a common occurrence based on how annoyed she looked. Of course that offered her a way forward and she took it without wasting any time, where she had to jumped over a pressure plate to avoid being punctured by the spike wall that would move if she touched the plate, before walking up the walkway until she reached the covered bridge she had spotted when she entered this area. The two Forsworn that walked along the bridge didn't seem to mind that she briefly touched the pair of wind chimes, made out of bones, that had been hung from the top of the cover, where they paid her next to no mind as she walked by they and headed to the area that another Forsworn was in, sitting at a table that faced the wall in front of her, though she ignored the lady and walked through the door that was at the end of the passage. From there she discovered that she was outside once more, where she followed the path that happened to be in front of her and came to a stop when she found a massive area that could house a small army, which it appeared that the Forsworn were in the middle of creating, and she knew that getting through the fifteen to twenty members of the clan would be hard, without one of them trying to stop her and talk to her.

Amaryllis looked out at the area that she was in and came to the decision that her only way to get through this was to fly over to the entrance that would take her to Hag's End, the location that the ancient armor was in, and then hide in the shadows until all the Forsworn stopped looking for her, even though she knew there was a chance she might have to fly out of here if they didn't stop searching, as there was no ceiling to this area and they were surrounded by mountains, so she was bound to be seen by someone. In the end she sighed and reverted to her true form, because she knew that this could be the most dangerous thing she was going to do so far, especially in the middle of the day, before she launched herself into the air and flew towards the building that would allow her to access Hag's End, though it didn't take more than a few seconds before the Forsworn were organizing themselves and readying themselves for battle. She had known that this was coming, but as she headed towards her destination she spotted an area above the entrance, one that couldn't be accessed by anything that was near it and had a small river running through it, to which she shifted her course and landed in the snowy area, where she leaned on the side of the mountain and watched the Forsworn as they ran around the area, looking for her so they could put her down. Several of the Forsworn pointed in the direction she had headed, no doubt talking to their superiors as they searched for her, but, to her amazement, Amaryllis watched as the annoyed force of natives eventually gave up their search and returned to what they had been doing before her arrival, as if they believed that she had flown off and wouldn't come back.

She sighed for a moment as she jumped down to the entrance of Hag's End, as she was still surprised by the fact that the Forsworn didn't search for her for more than a few moments, but she wasn't about to question that as she took on the shape she had used to get through Deepwood Redoubt, before entering the ruin that was her destination, because she wanted to get out of here before someone stopped and questioned her. When she entered the ruin she found a large wooden door in her way and opened it a little, where she spotted a Hagraven and two witches that seemed to be talking about something, though none of them noticed her and, oddly enough, they opened the smaller door that was right behind them and started to walk towards the next room in the ruin. Amaryllis paused for a moment, to be sure that none of the enemies came back into this chamber, and eventually moved forward when she heard another door open, meaning that her potential foes were moving to another part of the ruin, something that was confirmed when she heard a bridge above her move into place and noticed that the Hagraven was leading four witches somewhere, likely a ritual chamber or something. Fortunately it appeared that none of them noticed her, otherwise she was sure that the Hagraven or one of the witches would have paused to question her, but since none of them had spotted her, and none of them were stopping for anything, she was able to make her way into the tunnel and follow the path that the first group had followed, only to come to a stop a few moments later when she reached the second room of the ruin, a room that had a not so hidden secret compartment that needed a switch to be pulled.

Oddly enough she found that the lever that was connected to the hidden wall was to the left of the stone, all she had to do was walk around the throne that was in the middle of the room, and when she did that the stone lowered into the ground, revealing a small tunnel that didn't go anywhere, but the most important thing she discovered was the body that was right in front of her. The armor the corpse was wearing was mostly black and red colored, where the black sections seemed to be the interior of it and the parts that rested on top of someone's arm or chest were red colored, where a black hand print seemed to be engraved on the upper part of the chest piece, and there were parts of the arms and legs that had small spikes on them, giving the armor a deadly appearance. There was even a cape that seemed to reach the back of one's legs, which went with the look of the armor, and a cowl that was different from what she was using at the moment, as it just so happened to cover the person's face and there was a metal portion that seemed to cover everything that was right below the nose area. This was what she was looking for, an interesting suit of armor that was unlike anything she had seen so far, and what she did next was take off the armor that the body was wearing, which was when she found that it was a long dead skeleton that the armor was covering, oddly with no smell coming from it, and she replaced her current armor with the new set, where she found that the gloves had sharpened points to make the fingers look like claws, which was an interesting design decision in her mind.

It didn't take her long to claim all the armor and put it on, where she looked at herself and found that she truly looked like an assassin of old, instead of wearing what Astrid and the others wore, along with the fact that the armor seemed to be made out of metal plates and leather, though while the metal could be ebony it was incredibly light, almost like the old armor she had been wearing, meaning she wouldn't be weighed down by a heavy suit of armor.

With that done Amaryllis looted the large chest that was near the corpse and discovered that there was a pair of ebony gauntlets and some coins, along with a spell book or two, so she took all of that, backed out of the small tunnel, and then sealed the door so no one would find it, even though she was amazed that none of the enemies she had seen had even spotted the area in question, before she smashed the lever to ensure it was never opened again. Once she did that she turned around and headed back the way she came, where she discovered that the ancient armor must have a couple of enchantments that were like the armor she had been wearing earlier, as she couldn't hear anything coming from her at the moment, meaning that her foes might not be able to hear her either. As she considered that information she knew the first thing she was going to have to do, once she was done with her errands, was find a ruin with some bandits and see if they could hear her, because if her enemies couldn't hear her with this armor on than she knew she had found something great, as she was sure the armor would protect her from all sorts of damage and boost her skills, which would make her a true assassin that should be feared. Of course she had to put her thoughts on hold for a moment as she reached the door that would take her back out into the area that the large force of Forsworn called home, though this time she walked out there with a smile on her face, as all she had to do was revert to her true form and take off, where she could head over the mountain that she had used to hide from her pursuers and head to the east, meaning that none of the Forsworn would even realize the intruder was gone and would spend days looking for someone that didn't exist.

One thing she discovered while she was flying was that the enchantments the ancient armor had were interesting, as the boots actually shifted to match her hooves, as if they were made for hooves and not normal feet, and that the cape didn't get in the way of her wings, rather it seemed like it wasn't even there at all, meaning that it would likely shift when she changed into a new disguise, making this a wonderful gift that she wasn't expecting to find when she learned what Olava had to tell her earlier that day. As soon as she figured out what was going on she came to the decision that she would have to test the armor at some point in the future and see if it had any limits, as she was positive that it, like her and everyone else she had come across so far, had some sort of limit and she knew that knowing what sort of limits the enchantments possessed would come in handy for the future. Now that she had the armor, however, she turned her attention to her next destination, Dawnstar, as it was time to hand over the fragments of Mehrunes' Razor, get paid for all the hard work, even if she didn't care about the septims all that much and was only going to take them since people in this land insisted on paying people for their efforts, and then head to the Sanctuary that Cicero was in, so she could determine what she was going to do with him. She knew that, once she arrived in the abandoned area that he was hiding out in, she would come to a decision, but for now her mind was on getting to the city in question and dealing with Silus, because once that was done she could deal with the bigger fish that Astrid sent her to deal with.

It was around two in the afternoon when Amaryllis landed down the road from Dawnstar and changed her form again, as she returned to the Khajiit form she had been wearing when she first talked to Silus, since he would be expecting her to be the person he had spoken to and not someone else, before she entered the city and made her way towards the building that happened to be the closest to where the black door to the other Sanctuary was located in. Of course she made sure to look like she was an adventurer that was wearing iron armor, gauntlets, and boots, minus the helm, instead of looking like a member of the Dark Brotherhood, as there was no telling if the guards that knew she had been here to kill someone would come after her or not, and she'd rather not tangle with them. As she walked down to the dock area, which only had the same boat she had seen the last time she was here, she spotted a Nord that seemed to be the owner of the second mine in this city, the Quicksilver Mine, the mine that Beitild had been fighting with before her demise, and she overheard the man say that he wasn't going to miss her, referring to her as a sabre cat for some odd reason. While she was doing that she heard the sound of hooves coming up from the road behind her, where she glanced back and found Shadowmere coming to a stop with a determined look in his eyes, though she chuckled as soon as he came to a stop and continued walking towards the house that was her destination, as he had done exactly what Astrid had told her he would do, but at the very least it would allow her to get Arnbjorn out of here, once she found him anyway.

Her first stop was Silus' house, where she found that the man was standing near his collection, something that he was focused on and only glanced up from for a few seconds as she entered the building, though when he spotted her he did turn away from the displays and waited for her to say something, almost as if he was dreading asking her if she had found any of the fragments he had sent her to collect.

"I have good news for you, Silus. I have all three fragments of the Razor in my possession." Amaryllis said, to which she approached the man for a moment and reached into her pack, where she noticed that the man seemed to be excited by what she had just said, before she started to withdraw the items and handed them over to him, "Here you go, the Pommel Stone, the Hilt, and the Blade Shards, just as you requested."

"All at once! You're efficient. I like that. Here's your reward." Silus replied, to which he carefully stored all of the pieces he had been given in another sack, something that interested Amaryllis since she was sure that he would have put them on display with the rest of the stuff he had, before he handed her a bag that was heavier than some of the other rewards she had been given so far, "Finally, all of the pieces of Mehrunes' Razor are in my hands. It's time I let you in on something, there's a fourth piece, one that I collected a long time ago. That scabbard in the display case, built to house the Razor and contain it's power. And there's one more thing, I know how to put all the pieces together and reforge the Razor. We just need to take the pieces to Dagon's shrine and contact the Lord of Change directly."

"Do you really think Dagon will repair the Razor?" Amaryllis asked, because while part of her didn't care, since her part in all of this was over, she was curious if the Daedric Prince could actually reverse the damage that had been done to the weapon and make it whole once more, so she was a little torn between helping Silus out and heading to the Sanctuary that was just around the corner to check if anyone was there.

"Ever since I was a little boy, I felt this strange sense of destiny surrounding the Mythic Dawn cult, and now I finally know what it is." Silus said, where he walked over to the case that contained the scabbard and unlocked it, which was when he added it to the sack that contained the other pieces, with a big smile on his face, before he turned towards her once more as he headed for the door, "Don't you see? Fate has led you to me and to the pieces. Dagon has to answer our call. We're so close. I'll meet you at the shrine."

Amaryllis watched as Silus headed outside and started running for the area she had landed in, before she wanted into the city, to which she sighed and guessed that she would have to follow him at some point, but, before she did that, she just turned around and headed to the area that the Black Door was located in, where she walked around the large stones and found what she was looking for, along with a wounded Arnbjorn sitting near the door.

"I should have guessed that Astrid would send you to check up on me." Arnbjorn commented, informing Amaryllis that he was just fine in some ways, as his tone sounded the same as it had been when she last saw him, but, at the same time, she knew that the cut in his side was going to take some time to heal, especially since she didn't have any healing potions on hand and didn't know how to use the healing magic of this land, something she needed to correct for the future, in case she found herself in this situation again.

"That she did," Amaryllis replied, as she wasn't surprised that Arnbjorn quickly figured out that Astrid had sent her to find him and Cicero, especially since Shadowmere was standing behind her, waiting for someone to ride him no doubt, but that was when she focused on the wound, finding that Cicero was definitely skilled with his dagger, "You're in no condition to be running into battle anytime soon."

"What gave it away?" Arnbjorn stated, though that was when he chuckled for a moment, as if he found something to be funny and she had to guess that it was because she happened to be stating the obvious, before the pain of his wound caused him to stop chuckling and made him focus on her again, "Yeah, got to admit that little jester is actually pretty good with that butter knife of his. But don't worry, I gave as good as I got."

"I assume that Cicero made it through the Black Door?" Amaryllis inquired, because she could see a trail of blood that lead right to the door in question, meaning that the person she was here to deal with had to be on the other side, but for right now she was going to take care of Arnbjorn to the best of her ability, which was why she had Shadowmere come over to where she was standing so she could put her brother on the horse's back.

"Yeah, I guess so." Arnbjorn said, showing that he must have lost his target at some point and had followed the blood to this area, which could mean that Cicero wasn't here at all and could have fooled him by leaving a false trail, before he focused on something important as Amaryllis helped him onto Shadowmere's back, "By the looks of it, this has to be an old Sanctuary of some kind. I would have followed him inside, but I don't know the phrase to open the door."

"Don't worry, I know the phrase." Amaryllis replied, as she found that it was fortunate that Cicero had written it down in one of the journals he had left behind, otherwise she would have been forced to stake the place out and wait for him to leave for food and other essentials, which would have been the only chance for her to get him, before she shook her head and focused on what she was doing, "Shadowmere will take you back home, so Babette and the others can tend to your wound before it gets worse, though I'll deal with Cicero and meet up with you guys when I'm able to."

"All right, you convinced me. Doubt I'd be much good to you anyway, since the little fop cut me pretty deep, but I did slash him good in return." Arnbjorn stated, informing Amaryllis that Cicero was also injured, so it would be a while before he tried to leave the Dawnstar Sanctuary again, and while she thought about that he seemed to think of something else to say before he was taken out of the area, "Pretty sure I severed an artery earlier, before he slipped into the old Sanctuary. Don't know what you're going to find in there... but you can probably just follow the blood."

Amaryllis said nothing to that and watched as Shadowmere ran off with Arnbjorn, heading for the Falkreath Sanctuary like she had instructed, and she waited for a few moments before seeing the horse disappear as it headed out of the city, which was the moment she reverted to her true form and flew around the other edge of Dawnstar, as she wasn't about to deal with Cicero. Her plan was to find Silus, get the Razor reforged, and then leave the man to his own devices, as she felt that it would be as simple as that, but as she flew in the direction the man had gone in she found him running by a giant's camp about ten to fifteen minutes away from Dawnstar, and luck seemed to be on his side since the giant and the nearby mammoth were focused on a small group of bandits, which were taken out in rapid succession. Amaryllis felt that Silus was a fool to be doing something like this, or utterly mad because of what she had given him, as he also ran up a hill that happened to be close to where some black robed figures were fighting some figures that had steel on their arms and legs, but she followed the man from the air, just to make sure nothing terrible happened to him. Fortunately that appeared to be the end of the misfortunes that Silus encountered, as he was able to spend the next twenty minutes running along the side of the mountain, only shifting his course when he arrived at the base of a massive statue, one that Amaryllis had never seen before, and she noticed that the being it depicted had four arms and four weapons, but she had the feeling that it was Mehrunes Dagon.

As Silus ran up to the shrine, however, Amaryllis landed at the base of the stairs and shifted back into her Khajiit form, all armored up once more, before she headed up the stairs as well, giving herself a few moments so it didn't look like she had been right behind him the entire time, and when she reached the shrine she found that Silus, despite being winded from the long run, was excited for what he was about to do.

"Oh, good, you followed me here. I'll place the pieces on the altar, and Dagon should speak to us." Silus said, showing little to no surprise over the fact that Amaryllis had walked up the steps and had joined him, though that was the moment that he walked over to the rectangular shrine and placed the four pieces of the weapon on the stone, arranged in the form of a square for some reason, before he held his hands in the air, "Mehrunes Dagon, the Lord of Change, we have brought your Razor to you. We beg you, please bring the blade's full glory to Tamriel again... odd, it's not working. Why don't you give it a try? Just put your hands on the altar."

Amaryllis raised her eyebrow at that, especially since Silus didn't give Dagon much time to hear his voice and respond to what he had said, which was a bad sign since it showed that he didn't much care for the Prince, or at least for whatever the powerful being was doing at the moment, before she approached the altar and placed a hand near the pieces, as that was where she felt a slight bit of power resting.

You. Mortal. You are worthy of speaking to. a powerful and commanding voice said, one that Amaryllis felt should belong to one of the more powerful Daedric Princes, as she was sure that Dagon was much stronger than Meridia, but she said nothing as she waited for the Prince to continue, because she knew he had something he wanted to say, before he even considered doing what Silus wanted him to do, You have claimed the pieces of my Razor. It has been an amusing game to witness. But Dagon does not declare a winner while there is a pawn on the board. Kill Silus. He and his family have served their purpose.

"As you wish." Amaryllis replied, though this time it wasn't because she wanted Silus dead or anything, it was more due to the fact that she was sure this Prince would actually materialize, despite what she had been told earlier, and smite them both if they refused to do what he wanted them to do, and as she said that she noticed that Silus had heard what the Daedric Prince asked her to do and had the feeling that it was a game of kill or be killed, as the winner would get the Razor and be able to do whatever they wanted with it.

Now then, may the best pawn win! Dagon declared, his tone revealing that he had set this game up so that all of the people who brought together the pieces of the Razor would have to fight each other for the relic, which really made things unfair for Silus, since he was facing someone who had gone up against two dangerous criminals and lived to tell the tale, even if the truth was something entirely different, but that didn't stop him from readying himself.

The moment Dagon stopped talking Silus lashed out with lightning, trying to strike Amaryllis before she even had a chance to react, but she was able to roll to the side and avoid being struck by the attack, and as she stood back up she let go of the disguise that was currently on, allowing her true form and armor to be known once more, which actually caused Silus to freeze in terror for a moment. Amaryllis suspected that part of the fear was because she was an unknown species, with the horn that her new armor opened a new opening for, the wings that unfurled from her back, and everything else that set her apart from the creatures the man was familiar with, while the other part was the fact that he likely recognized the symbol on her armor, the hand that represented the Dark Brotherhood, an order of assassins. Just seeing the armor was likely the cause behind him pausing and the fear that was coming from him, almost as if he believed that his quest to have the Razor remade was at an end, and in a way he was right, as Amaryllis pulled her steel sword out as she walked towards him and drove it into his chest, allowing Silus to fall to the group in a heap, though this time she decided to leave the blade behind, as she didn't need a sword to fight her foes, she only needed her dagger, or, to be more accurate, the Razor that she originally didn't want when she set out to assist Silus.

I am pleased, mortal. I will give you my Razor. Use it to wreak havoc on Tamriel. Dagon spoke, his tone revealing that he wasn't lying to her, that even though the battle had come to a quick end, thanks to Silus freezing and allowing her to deal with him like that, he was still amused by what he had witnessed since she took on the task to collect the fragments of his Razor, You have been a worthy tool. Place your hands on my altar one last time, and you will witness the power of Mehrunes Dagon for yourself.

Amaryllis did as she was told and placed her hands on the stone rectangle once more, where the pieces of the Razor were lifted into the air and she watched what happened next, as the blade shards fused together to form a single blade, and fused to the part that was connected to the hilt, while the Pommel Stone slipped into the base of the hilt, before the reformed weapon returned to the scabbard, allowing her to take it and replace the sheath of her old sword. In that instant Dagon declared that he had one final test for her and sent out a pair of creatures that were wearing terrifying armor and were wielding large weapons, greatswords to be exact, and while their skin was dark gray colored they had red markings on their faces and had red eyes, complete with horns that coiled back towards the back of their heads. Instead of sticking around, and dealing with the pair, Amaryllis took to the sky and departed from the area, as she wasn't foolish enough to fight the pair of creatures that Dagon had summoned to fight her, though she could have sworn she heard the Prince laughing as she left the shrine behind and headed back in the direction of Dawnstar, as it was time to tend to Cicero and come to a decision on what to do with him. Part of her wondered if she should bring Silus back to the city and inform them that something else had killed him, passing the blame to the creatures that had been summoned after she took the Razor, but, with those two still standing there, it was best that she leave the area and come back later, to see if they would disappear with time.

It didn't take her long to return to the black door that served as the entrance for the Dawnstar Sanctuary, where she made sure that no one saw her as she landed in the area, which would be hard to do since she went around the city and landed in an area that none of the residents should see, before she approached the black door and tapped on it, as it was time for her to deal with Cicero.

What is life's greatest illusion? the Black Door asked, speaking the question that someone would have to answer, with the correct phrase, before they were allowed to enter the Sanctuary, though it spoke in the same tone and style that the door to the Falkreath Sanctuary used when she first found it, not that she was expecting anything different from the sinister black door.

"Innocence, my brother." Amaryllis replied, because that was the phrase that was in Cicero's journal, and since he was able to get inside this Sanctuary with that phrase she knew it had to be right, but she readied herself for what was going to happen next, as she knew the door was going to allow her to enter the area that her target was in and she had no idea if he had any traps to protect himself.

Welcome home. the Black Door stated, just like what happened with the other Black Door when she answered the question it had asked when she arrived outside the Falkreath Sanctuary, which was when Amaryllis nodded her head and pushed the door open so she could head down the stairs that were on the other side and see what this Sanctuary was like, before seeking out Cicero so she could end this madness.

Amaryllis found an incredibly short tunnel that brought her to the stairs, which brought her down to what she had to assume was the first chamber of the Sanctuary, one that was different from what the Falkreath Sanctuary had, since that one had Astrid's room attached to it, but what was interesting was a set of jester's clothing that looked similar to what she had seen Cicero wearing, before she walked up to the door that was in front of her.

"Listener! Is that you?" a voice asked, one that seemed to echo throughout the entire Sanctuary and it almost seemed like Cicero, as that was who the voice belonged to, had raised his voice so she could hear him from wherever he happened to be hiding, like he was trying to distract her while she looked for him, "Oh, I knew you'd come. Send the best to defeat the best. Astrid knew her stupid wolf couldn't slay sly Cicero. Oh, but this isn't at all what Mother would want. You kill the Keeper or I kill the Listener? Now that's madness."

"Indeed it is." Amaryllis commented, even though she was mostly speaking to herself at that moment, though as she opened the door and walked forward she found that there were a pair of ghostly assassins, who had drawn their weapons the moment they appeared and seemed to be walking over to where she was standing, and she knew they were the ones that Cicero had mentioned in his journals, though she had an idea to get around them, "Stand down, guardians of the Dawnstar Sanctuary, for I am the Listener of the Drak Brotherhood, chosen by the Night Mother, and I seek to converse with the one chosen to be the Unholy Matron's Keeper."

The ghosts looked at her for a moment, then glanced at each other, before sheathing their weapons and beckoned for her to follow them, where one of them passed through the iron bars that were blocking the path into the lower area of the Sanctuary and pulled the lever, lowering the bars in the process, only for them to lead her to a door that they unlocked for her, one that let her enter a passage that had another door in front of her, and when she opened it she found Cicero laying on the ground in the middle of decent sized chamber.

"You caught me! I surrender! Ha ha ha ha!" Cicero stated, where he chuckled as he said that, showing that his wound wasn't as bad as Arnbjorn thought it was, meaning that it was possible that he had used a health potion before she had arrived in the Sanctuary, but Amaryllis found that none of the ghosts were following her into the chamber, meaning that this was between her and the person she had come for.

"There is only one cure for all of this madness, Cicero, and that's me." Amaryllis replied, as she knew that Cicero could recognize her by her voice and her unique features, but at the same time she came to a stop near the jester, who glanced up at her as she did that, though it appeared that he might have something more to say before she did the deed, as if he thought that she was going to kill him, even if he was surprised by how quickly she had reached his hiding place, almost as if he didn't consider the ghosts turning on him like this.

"Oh, I like that! Very good, very good! Creative!" Cicero said, where the smile on his face and the tone of his voice told Amaryllis that he was happy with what she had said, though she patiently waited for him to stop talking before she told him what her decision was, as he no doubt knew why she was here, "But killing me would be a mistake! Oh yes. You would displease our mother, hmm? For she's your mother too, isn't she... Listener? Walk away! Let poor Cicero live! Tell the pretender Astrid that you did the job! Stabbed, strangled, drowned poor Cicero! One little itty bitty lie!"

"Cicero... I'm not going to kill you." Amaryllis replied, because that was the decision she had come to, that Cicero was part of the Family, despite what Astrid wanted her and the others to believe, and he had stood up for the Night Mother, as she had to assume that someone had said something that set him off, probably Astrid she guessed, and she could see the look of surprise on the man's face as she turned around, "I'll tell the guardians to tend to your wounds, to make sure you don't die, and then, when this business with the Emperor is done, I'll come back and set things right."

Cicero didn't say anything as she left the area he was in, where she made sure the guardians headed in there to tend to his wounds, before she headed for the exit, as it was time for her to return to Astrid and tell her the news she wanted to hear, before focusing on the contract they had been hired to do, as it was about time they wrapped it up and moved on with whatever the future held for their Family.

Brotherhood: Hunting the Gourmet

With her task in the Dawnstar Sanctuary completed, in her own way to be exact, and there was nothing else she had to do in the area, Amaryllis took to the air and headed to the south, as it was time for her to return to the Sanctuary she called home and meet back up with her Family, to tell them what she had done and then move on with the rest of the contract that Amaund had hired them to do. She had left Cicero in the capable hands of the ghostly guardians of the Sanctuary, who would make sure the wounds that Arnbjorn dealt to him were healed before he tried to do anything else, as she was sure that he would attempt to do something now that she had spared his life, due to the fact that she couldn't bring herself to kill one of her Family members. Sure, she was a little annoyed by the fact that Astrid had asked her to do such a thing in the first place, even if she didn't know all the details of what set Cicero off, but she could guess and determined that she would ask the man the next time she came to this Sanctuary, though she was going to return to Astrid and tell her the news she wanted to hear, especially since she didn't ask for evidence of the deed. She would have thought that the leader of her Family would have asked for something like that, to be sure she didn't pull a fast one on her, but, since she didn't say that, she was able to use such a thing against Astrid and hide the fact that Cicero was alive, meaning no one would go looking for him until the contract they were on was complete.

Of course, as soon as she thought about that, Amaryllis wondered what sort of target the Family, or more specifically her, would have to take out next, as she got the feeling that Astrid and the others were using this contract to test her and see how skilled she was, in the art of being an assassin, instead of everyone taking turns and taking out one target a piece, but if they wanted her to be the one to kill all the targets she was going to follow their orders and expand her skills, as well as test out her new armor in the process.

As she flew over the land of Skyrim, however, she saw next to nothing that was interesting, as it was the same things she had passed hours ago, when she was first heading to Dawnstar to hand Silus the pieces of the Razor she was now carrying, so that meant she didn't have to focus on the ground as much as she had done in the last couple of days and allowed her to think about the future. She was sure that whatever contracts came after the Emperor weren't going to be anywhere near exciting or challenging, though since it appeared that her Family had survived on those lesser contracts she guessed it was fine, though at least with her being the Listener they could hear about the Black Sacraments the instant they were performed and send someone to set up the contract immediately, instead of having to rely on the ineffective method Astrid was using these days. Of course she was sure that all of this was going to annoy Astrid, since it seemed that she didn't like the Night Mother, the role of the Listener, and everything that was in the past of the Dark Brotherhood, but, at the same time, she was sure that she could abide by what Astrid wanted them to do, even if it seemed to be the wrong thing to do, given what was going on at the moment. The only other person this would annoy would be the Night Mother, since Astrid would be ignoring her and the contracts that she could be offering her and the rest of the Family, but she knew that time would tell what was going to happen next and she knew that the Night Mother was patient and would wait for the right time to speak once more.

It took her an hour to return to the pool of black water that was outside the Sanctuary, where she landed near it and started to approach the black door, so she could enter her new home and speak with Astrid and the others, though she did pause for a moment as she found Shadowmere hanging outside the structure, who simply stared at her for a moment before appearing to nod his head, only for her to sigh as she headed inside and quickly found that Astrid was still standing at the table she liked to stand at, and she turned to look at her the moment she walked down the steps.

"Arnbjorn is safe, and for that you have my thanks." Astrid said, her tone revealing that she was actually happy that her husband had returned from his rampage, due to the fact that Arnbjorn had charged off the moment Cicero fled to the Dawnstar Sanctuary, though the fact that the man was able to outrun a werewolf was actually rather impressive, before she focused on something more important in her eyes, "But what of the fool? Did Cicero meet his end?"

"Yes, Cicero died in the Dawnstar Sanctuary, laying in a pool of his own blood." Amaryllis replied, because while she didn't like to lie to someone like Astrid, purely due to the fact that she had taken her in and gave her a Family to replace what she had lost, there was the fact that she had asked her to kill one of her Family members, something that didn't sit well with her, so she was okay with telling a lie at this point in time, especially since she was a changeling and lying was one of the things they were good at.

"Excellent. Once again, you've proven yourself a born assassin." Astrid stated, where the smirk on her face revealed that she was pleased that the jester got exactly what he deserved, for trying to kill her earlier, before she let out a sigh of satisfaction and faced Amaryllis once more, "Tell you what, why don't you hold onto Shadowmere a while longer? He's a fine steed, and hasn't been ridden nearly as much as he should lately, even if all he'll do is run after you while you fly from Hold to Hold. And now that this Cicero mess has been mopped up, and the jester has paid for his crimes, we can get back to the matter at hand, hmm?"

"Right. So what's my next task?" Amaryllis inquired, though the reason she had asked that was because she knew that the contracts were hers and no one else's, meaning that whoever Amaund Motierre wanted them to kill was someone she was going to hunt down and kill, following the odd restrictions and rules that Astrid and the others told her about, which did make her wonder what sort of rules the next contract would have.

"There's just one more target before we strike out at the Emperor. Have you, by chance, heard of the 'Gourmet', or read his cookbook?" Astrid answered, where Amaryllis thought about the question for a few seconds and then shook her head, because she couldn't recall hearing about the person or seeing a cookbook that the person might have written at one point in time, something that caused Astrid to shrug for a moment, "Well, it's become quite a phenomenon. According to both Motierre and what we have been able to find out on our own, the Gourmet is scheduled to cook for the Emperor at a special dinner in the near future. You'll kill him, steal the Writ of Passage he's carrying, and assume the roll of master chef. Festus has been spearheading this part of the assassination plan. He's close to uncovering the identity of the Gourmet, so you should report to him."

Amaryllis nodded her head, to show that she understood what she was being told, and headed down the stairs that lead her to the main part of the Sanctuary, though as she looked for Festus she found that Arnbjorn was just fine and, what she felt was more important, that his wounds had been healed upon his return to the Sanctuary, and he even seemed happy to see her again, before she headed into the eating area and found that Festus was sitting at the table, alone this time, where she took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"There you are. Took your sweet time dealing with Cicero, hmph?" Festus stated, because while he and the rest of their Family were interested in her and her powers, which she had seen back when she first joined the Family, it did seem a few of them were still thought they were better suited for the contracts that Astrid was giving her, before he focused on what they needed to talk about, "Now let's get down to business. Astrid told you about the Gourmet, I hope?"

"She told me that I need find him, kill him, and take both his Writ of Passage and his identity." Amaryllis replied, a task that did seem rather well suited for someone like her, since all she had to do was study the Gourmet for a time and get a good understanding of how he acted towards the people around him, meaning that no one would be able to tell the difference between her and whoever happened to be the Gourmet.

"Quite so." Festus said, his tone revealing that he was happy that Amaryllis knew what she was supposed to be doing once she left the Sanctuary and started the hunt, once they were done with their conversation anyway, before he returned his focus to what they were talking about, "But first you'll need to learn who he is... assuming, of course, that the Gourmet actually is a 'he'. For all we know the Gourmet could be a woman."

Amaryllis said nothing for a few moments, choosing to remain silent while Festus was talking, though while she knew that she would have to hunt down the famous chef and kill him, as that was what Astrid had told her, she was surprised by the fact that none of them seemed to know who the Gourmet was, meaning they had no information on the person and that her Family must have wasted a large amount of time looking for the clues that brought them to this point.

"You know, maybe I was wrong about you after all. Anyone who's smart enough to shut up and listen to their elders can't be all bad." Festus continued, showing that Amaryllis' silence had earned her some points, even if she was focusing on the point that none of them knew who the Gourmet was and the effort that had currently gone into figuring out who the chef was, before he pulled out a book and placed it in front of her, "In my, um, investigations, I came upon this. It's a copy of the Gourmet's cookbook, but it's not like all of the other copies that exist throughout the provinces. If you open it up you'll find that it's signed! Seems to be a message from the Gourmet to one Anton Virane, and, while you were busy with all of the other contacts, I've tracked Virane to the keep in Markarth, where it would seem that he's the cook."

"And you're sure that Anton Virane knows the Gourmet's true identity?" Amaryllis inquired, though at the same time she picked up the book in question and opened it for a moment, where she found the message that Festus was talking about, where it appeared that both of the people they were talking about loved Breton cuisine and that Anton had to be from High Rock, based on what the message said.

"I believe he does." Festus answered, revealing that he was very sure of what he had found out in his investigations, even if it had taken him some time to come to this conclusion, but he was keen on sharing what he had found out and did want Amaryllis to be ready for the next stage of their glorious operation, "Therefore, you are to obtain that information from Virane, as in who the Gourmet really is, and where he can be found. Oh, and when you're done with Virane, kill him. Loose ends and all that. Next, you'll have to... Are you still paying attention?"

"Oh course, Festus. Please continue." Amaryllis stated, showing that she was paying attention to what her brother was saying, especially since she closed the cookbook that had been placed in front of her and set it to the side, as she felt like looking for it again in the near future, purely because of the fact that she was going to be impersonating the Gourmet and would need some understanding of his recipes.

"Hmph." Festus stated, almost as if he was annoyed by something she had said, though she was fine with him and his sounds, because some of the changelings acted this way about things and it was easy to get used to what they were doing, before he opened his mouth again, "As I was saying, you'll need to kill the Gourmet, of course. But, as you were told, you'll need to get his Writ of Passage, so you can take his place. Oh, and if you can, hide the body, because the longer it takes for anyone else to determine his real identity, the better. Now off with you!"

Amaryllis did not leave the Sanctuary after talking with Festus, as she had done previously, rather she remained near her brothers and sisters and recovered her energy, as she had spent the better part of the day flying around Skyrim, to get the armor, the Razor, and to deal with Cicero, and she was sure that Anton wasn't going anywhere, so she was fine with taking a short break before continuing with the contract. Her plan at the moment was to leave the Sanctuary just before the sun came up, meaning that she should be able to reach Markarth just before everyone got up and started their daily activities, giving her the perfect chance to find Anton, talk to him for a few moments, and then get out of there before one of the other chefs or a guard caught her in the act of taking care of the loose end this venture would create. From there it would be a simple matter to track down the Gourmet, observe them while they interacted with whoever was around them, and then find the perfect opportunity to end the famous cook's life and dispose of the body, which would then allow her to come back to the Sanctuary for the final stage of their operation, the assassination of the Emperor. Of course that thought bugged her to some degree, though not for the reasons that anyone else could guess, as she had heard that the person that lead the Empire was supposed to be in Cyrodiil, but from what she could tell he was already here, in Skyrim, meaning he must have been close to the province when his cousin was killed, though that still didn't seem right. She thought back to the time when she saw the shimmering boat, one that she could neither confirm or deny the existence of since it was so far away from where she had been standing, meaning it was possible that the Emperor had been coming to see his cousin anyway, to surprise Vittoria, but she still felt there was something to this that didn't make sense.

In the end, however, she stopped worrying about the fact that the Emperor had gotten to Skyrim much faster than what she assumed was possible for this world and focused on what she was doing at the moment, chilling with the rest of her Family, as she knew that when the morning came her focus would be on the contract and nothing else, and eventually went to sleep when it was time for her to get some rest.

When the first rays of morning arrived Amaryllis woke up with them, where she dropped down into the eating area and grabbed herself some meat, cheese, and bread, which she combined into a sandwich and ate as she headed towards the Sanctuary's entrance, though once she was outside she took to the air and headed in the direction of Markarth, while making sure to finish her breakfast before doing so, just so she didn't lose it along the way. Thanks to what Festus was able to find out she knew that her first target was Anton Virane, the only person that knew who the Gourmet was, because last night she had asked her brother about the people who knew the Gourmet's identity, as she was sure there had to be a few people who were keeping it a secret. It was then that she learned there was another reason for killing Gaius Maro, as he would have been the one the Gourmet talked to, when he came to the dinner he was supposed to prepare, and with him there it would have been impossible to fool him with a disguise, but, thanks to her earlier actions, his father was now the one guarding the entrance to the place the Emperor would be in, and he had no idea who the Gourmet was. Not only was the man going to be distracted by the death of his son, and the plot he appeared to be involved in, he would have to accept whoever had the Writ of Passage as the Gourmet, meaning she could pretend to be anyone at that point in time and he'd believe her, something that caused her Family to chuckle, as the Gourmet's insistence of keeping his identity a secret was going to cost the Emperor his life.

Once she remembered all of that she focused on her flying and made sure to avoid the Forsworn camps to the best of her abilities, as she didn't want them to see her up in the air and try something funny, but fortunately none of the camps that she flew over seemed to have anyone that was awake, which meant that she had discovered another good reason for leaving the Sanctuary when she did.

An hour later she flew over the entrance of Markarth and landed in front of the guard tower, where she quickly shifted her form into that of a traveling chef, as she had seen one of them a while back and knew that they wore a white apron that seemed to cover their entire body and a white hat on their heads, just like the ones from Equestria, though she made it seem like she had no gloves, since none of Skyrim's chefs had any, and simple shoes. Once that was done she walked down the stairs and followed the path to Understone Keep, the area that Anton Virane was in, and nodded to the guards that she walked by, as half of them seemed to be falling asleep and wouldn't remember her, while the other half didn't seem to care about a simple chef walking towards the keep. Of course they saw her as a young Imperial lady, not her true form since that would be a foolish move to make, so she was able to enter the keep without anyone questioning her and started to make her way towards the throne area, because she was sure that the kitchen was nearby, though when she arrived in the area in question she heard a man order some people around and found two chefs that were heading out of what had to be the kitchen, both looking like there were some items they had to buy before the Jarl got up. To some that would appear as an odd coincidence, that she was looking for the kitchen and that the chefs that worked in it gave her the location of the room she was looking for, to which she walked up the steps and headed towards the kitchen, where she found a Breton chef moaning as he looked at the stock of food that they had.

"Excuse me, are you Anton Virane?" Amaryllis asked, deciding to approach the situation like she was new to the area and that she was looking for someone specific, where one would assume that she was looking for a job and came dressed up for such a thing, though before the Breton even turned around she closed the door behind her, that way no one would see what happened when they started talking.

"Yes, I am. And yes, for the hundredth time, I am a Breton!" the man stated, showing Amaryllis that most people must have asked him what he was when they first met him, which was why he seemed to be a tad bit more upset right now, but she said nothing as he turned around to face her, as she wanted him to finish what was on his mind before she focused on the reason that she was here, "I was born in High Rock. And then I came here. I am not a Reachman!"

"There's no need to get upset, because I know who you are, and where you're from." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she readied herself, as she had the feeling that what she did to Silus was going to be the key to her getting what she needed to know, even though she was referring to showing the man the mark of the Dark Brotherhood, as that would freeze him for a time.

"Who are you?" Anton asked, this time showing that he might be more cautious than one would originally think, as he did notice that the door was now closed, something he knew hadn't happened when the other chefs went out to get what they needed for the next couple of days, but he didn't reach for a weapon, which meant that he was waiting to hear the response that Amaryllis had to give him, "What do you want from me?"

"What I want, Anton, is information." Amaryllis answered, though as she said that she pulled out the cookbook from her pack and showed it to the man, to indicate that she was looking for the author of the book and the creator of the various recipes that were inside it, before she actually said it out loud, since it seemed that Anton was doing his best to seem like he had no idea what she was referring to, "Who is the Gourmet? Where can I find him?"

"The... the Gourmet?" Anton stated, almost like he was inquiring about what she had just said, showing that he was likely pretending to have no idea what she was talking about earlier, before a fierce look appeared on his face as he drew the iron dagger that seemed to be his weapon, "Never! I don't know you got your hands on that cookbook, or how you figured out where I worked, but nothing will betray my trust. I'll take the secret of the Gourmet's identity to my grave."

"Oh Anton, I never said that you had to take the secret to your grave, only that I wanted to meet the Gourmet and talk with him about something." Amaryllis replied, though she turned around when she said that, as she had come up with a new idea on how she was going to get the man to tell her what she needed to know, and it was different than revealing she was a member of the order of assassins that everyone feared, "Of course, the Dark Brotherhood would be able to get that information in no time... you wouldn't want them to come looking for you, do you?"

"The Dark Brotherhood!?" Anton very nearly exclaimed, proving Amaryllis right once more, that the mere mention of her Family's name caused people to freeze when they heard it, before she glanced back a little and found that he seemed to be thinking that she might perform the Black Sacrament on him to get the information, which was when he lowered his dagger and raised his hands, "Now... now wait a minute. Let's not get hasty. I mean, surely my friend wouldn't want me to endanger my own life. Right? Look, his name is Balagog gro-Nolob. He's an Orc! The Gourmet's an Orc! He's staying at the Nightgate Inn. That's all I know! Now... now you won't call upon the Dark Brotherhood to kill me, right?"

"Of course, Anton. Thank you." Amaryllis said, where she put a smile on her face and made it seem like there were no hard feelings between them, as she never said that she was from the Dark Brotherhood and her statement made her appear like she was a fan of the Gourmet that would do anything and everything to meet her idol, even deliver a warning to the Breton in front of her, but even then she was surprised by how easy it was to get Anton to reveal the information she and her Family had been looking for.

"Okay. All right. Wonderful. You're welcome! I'll just be on my way, then..." Anton stated, though that was the moment he made a terrible decision, as he turned his back to her and returned to what he had been doing before she arrived in the kitchen, showing that he actually believed that she wasn't an assassin and that she was just an adoring fan of the Gourmet, and was risking his life for no reason.

Amaryllis took the moment that was presented to her and shifted back into her true form, where she approached her target from behind and discovered something interesting, her new armor didn't even alert Anton to her presence, so she was able to run the edge of the Razor across his neck and killed him within seconds, only for her to revert back to her chef disguise and walked out through the door, making sure to close it so the guards didn't see the mess she left in the kitchen and then headed away from the room itself. As she headed for the entrance of the keep, however, she found that the two chefs she had seen earlier, the ones that ran out of the kitchen when Anton ordered them to get some ingredients and other food stuff, entering the keep with the items that they had purchased, though they were in for quite the surprise when they returned to the kitchen. After passing by the chefs, who didn't even turn to look at her as they headed towards their destination, Amaryllis headed outside and found that the guards hadn't moved yet, meaning she might be able to use the area in front of the tower before the city woke up, which was why she headed for the guard tower and quickly put the keep behind her. It didn't take her long to find that there were no guards around her destination, and none of the people who called the city home seemed to be heading to their stores, so she quickly shifted back to her true form and took off, this time heading in the direction of the Nightgate Inn, as she had the feeling she knew where the inn was located, as she might have passed it at one point before she joined the Dark Brotherhood.

As Amaryllis headed to the east she flew over the hills, streams, caves, ruins, and everything else that she had seen the last time she flew over the Reach, where she continued to make sure to avoid the camps that the Forsworn had set up and even spotted a Stormcloak camp along the way, though they appeared to be in the middle of a fight with a group of Forsworn that wanted them to leave. It was interesting to see the soldiers fight, since this time they were actually fighting to the death and not sparing with the Imperial Legion, something that she was still trying to make sense of, but at the very least it appeared that the soldiers had the skill to keep themselves alive, as they weren't the ones falling at the moment, rather it was the Forsworn that were being cut down. Part of her felt that it was a shame that the soldiers were here to fight the Legion, even if they didn't seem to be killing anyone at the moment, as it seemed the Stormcloaks could do some good if they were redirected towards the enemies in the Reach and not the Imperial Legion, but that was her opinion and it didn't match up with what the commander of the army wanted to do, so she pushed the thought back and resumed her flight, as she knew that staying in one area for too long was asking for someone to spot her, so she focused on what she was supposed to be doing and nothing else. Of course she did turn back for a moment and watched as the leader of the Forsworn forces was cut down by the leader of the Stormcloaks, as in the Captain of this particular squad and not the one they were serving, which prompted them to celebrate what they had done, providing the perfect chance for her to slip out of the area without being spotted.

While she flew to Nightgate in she passed by a few familiar places, namely Whiterun and Volunruud, but she did so in a way that would prevent the bandits, travelers, and guards from seeing her, though after an hour and fifteen minutes she finally reached her destination, where she carefully landed on the road that was near the backside of the inn, as no one was on the road at the moment, and shifted into the form of a female Breton that was just traveling to Riften, by using the wrong road on accident. Once that deed was done she walked around to the front of the building and headed inside, as it was time to see if she could find Balagog gro-Nolob and see if she could learn anything about him and his mannerisms, the keys that would allow her to imitate him when it came time to kill the Emperor, but as she entered the building all she found was the innkeeper and a drunken person who carried what appeared to be a katana with him. The innkeeper didn't seem to mind having another customer, since it seemed to be one of the slow times of the year, but when Amaryllis sat in front of him, and ordered one of the pieces of food that looked like a snack, she learned that there was definitely an Orc that happened to be staying at the inn, though he was paying enough rent to where the man could afford to close or sell the inn and retire, something that he was thinking about doing. Since the man was more than willing to talk about her target, and what he liked to do, Amaryllis let him, where she found out that the man either couldn't remember the Orc's name or had been paid to forget it, though Balagog did like to hang around the inn, sometimes went out to stare at the lake that was near them, and sometimes sampled the wine that was in the basement, and she also learned that he was a writer, which explained his cookbook.

Once the innkeeper was done talking about Balagog, and Amaryllis had finished the snack she had ordered, she got up and excused herself, claiming that she wanted to check out the lake for herself, along with making sure she didn't bother the orc if she saw him, before heading outside, where she knew her target wasn't inside the inn, nor was he near the lake, meaning he had to be in the basement. Fortunately, if her memory was correct, there might be a second way to enter the basement, without having the drunk man and the innkeeper see her, and that was a hatch that she had spotted on the ground near the backside of the inn, one that was half covered in snow, almost as if people didn't use it as much as they used to and had forgotten about it. As such she walked over to where it was, made sure there was no one coming towards the inn, and then opened the way to the basement, where she shifted back into her Khajiit assassin form as she reached the final step and closed the hatch behind her, as she was now in the basement and she could tell that whoever was down here hadn't heard her coming down the ladder. She discovered a number of barrels that likely contained wine and ale, the drinks that most people who visited an inn seemed to drink, before she found the door that would take her back up to the part of the inn she had been in a few minutes ago, though that was when she paused in the shadows as a figure emerged from the room that was near the door, where she smiled as a well dressed Orc walked over to one of the wine barrels and poured himself a little sample of the product, something that he seemed to enjoy as he talked to himself about the taste and how it would work well with a new recipe he was thinking about.

She watched Balagog for a time, stalking the shadows as he tasted a few of the other barrels, even went outside to see him stare at the lake, just like the innkeeper said, before he eventually returned to the basement after an hour of just standing out in the cold, spent staring at the lake and talking to himself about his ideas, but as he returned to the solitude of the basement Amaryllis was waiting for him and sliced open his neck before he even knew what happened. With her mission done, and her target was dead on the ground, Amaryllis quickly searched his pockets and found a piece of paper that said that whoever held the piece of parchment was the Gourmet and that they were allowed access to anything they needed to fulfill the duty of the Emperor's personal cook, something that she pocketed immediately. The moment she had the Writ of Passage, as she was sure that was what the piece of parchment had to be, she searched for a good place to hide the body, so that the innkeeper wouldn't come looking for the Orc when the next rent was due, before finding a rather large barrel that didn't have a lid on it, one that contained nothing and was rather had to climb up the side. In that instant Amaryllis lifted Balagog's corpse with her magic and pulled it over to where she was standing, to which she moved it into the barrel and let the Gourmet fall into the base of the barrel, where no one would be able to find him for some time, and, to make sure no one thought to check the barrel, she found the lid behind it and moved it with her magic, that way it would take some time before someone thought to remove it.

Once that was done she headed through the hatch that she had used to get down here and headed outside, where she made sure to close the hatch and then assumed her true form as she took off, though this time around she headed back to the Sanctuary, because with the Gourmet dead, and his Writ of Passage collected, it was finally time for her and her Family to deal with the Emperor and put an end to the contract at long last.

The flight back to the Falkreath Sanctuary was uneventful, as all she did was fly and make sure no one saw her while she did that, all while keeping her eyes on the ground to see if there was anything interesting that was happening, but in the end she reached her destination with ease and found that Shadowmere was waiting for her upon her return, meaning he hadn't left when she did. When she entered the Sanctuary she found that Astrid was still standing at her table, just like all of the other times she had returned from one of her contracts, though as she entered the main chamber she quickly found that Meeko was happy to see her and made sure that she knew it, where she pulled the hood back and smiled as she rubbed his head for a few seconds, showing that she was happy to see him as well and resolved to play with him for a time once the contract was done. A few minutes later Meeko headed off to see what one of the other members of their Family was up to so he could hang out with them, or just enjoy their company, to which she chuckled and started to look for Festus as she returned her hood to it's proper place, restoring the look the armor gave her when someone gazed upon her, if they spotted her anyway. It didn't take her long to locate her brother, as Festus was in the eating area that all of the members of their Family ate in, whether alone or together, and he was even sitting in the same chair that he was in when they talked about the Gourmet yesterday, meaning it was either his favorite chair or it just so happened to be where she saw him whenever she entered this area.

"So, the prodigal murderer returns." Festus commented, where a slight smile appeared on his face, as he was pleased to see that Amaryllis had returned from her contract and he knew that she must have news for him and the others, which was why he was focused on her and nothing else at the moment, even if the rest of their Family were tending to their own interests at the moment, "Did you take care of the Gourmet?"

"Balagog gro-Nolob, or the Gourmet, has been slain as well." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she let the magic wash over her body for a moment, where Festus raised his eyebrow for a second as she took on the form of the Orc she had just taken out, even though this was one of the weirder forms she had taken on, before she pulled out the piece of parchment she had acquired, "I can assume the identity of the Gourmet without anyone realizing that something is wrong, since I know how he talks and acts."

"I gathered you had completed your task, given what you did for the last couple of contracts, which means you not only killed the Gourmet, but disposed of the body as well." Festus stated, his tone informing Amaryllis that he did believe what she was telling him, as she looked and sounded like someone that she had been stalking for a time, including the fact that none of them knew where the Gourmet had been and no one had reported the disappearance of anyone, "You've also got the Writ of Passage. Splendid... oh, and word has come in from Markarth that the keep's cook has met an untimely demise. You performed your duties to the letter."

"All I've ever wanted to do is help my Family rise to greatness." Amaryllis said, because despite what she had felt when she first joined the Dark Brotherhood, where she felt that she couldn't make the situation she had found herself in work and couldn't learn the skills of an assassin, she had discovered that her skills as an infiltrator allowed her to adapt to this sort of life and she found that she did enjoy part of what she did.

"Hmph. I was wrong about you. I see that now... maybe we all were." Festus commented, showing Amaryllis that he now considered her one of the best assassins that they had in the entire Family, even if she had started as a total novice when she first joined them, before he pulled out a pouch that contained one thousand, two hundred, and fifty septims, likely the reward for this contract, and added a special silver ring that had an amethyst set in it, "Here's your payment. And... a little something else, as well. From me, to be exact, to serve as your bonus for this contract. Consider it my way of apologizing, for being so damned curmudgeonly! It's a special ring called the Nightweaver's Band. I wore this for many years, but I want you to have it now. It'll give your magic and sneakiness some much needed 'oomph'. Now, you had better get some rest before you see Astrid, as it's nearly time for the final stage of this grand and glorious operation!"

Amaryllis wasn't sure that she necessarily agreed with Festus' enthusiasm, since he and the others seemed overly excited by the fact that they were actually going to kill the Emperor, but she was committed to this and knew that she would see this through to the end, where she decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing and readying herself for the final stage of their operation, and then they could focus on the future.

Brotherhood: Emperor's Last Meal

Amaryllis spent the rest of the day, the 26th of Last Seed according to her Family members, hanging with her brothers and sisters, listening to what they were talking about while Meeko sat next to her and let her pet his head as they heard about the various contracts that the others had tackled over the last week, when she was flying around Skyrim and was chasing down the targets she needed to take out. Babette had the honor of taking care of Deekus, an Argonian that liked to salvage sunken ships with his natural abilities, Ma'randru-jo, a Khajiit wizard that was traveling with one of the few caravans she had seen during her travels, and Anoriath, a Bosmer that lived in Whiterun and hunted in the plains around the city, though she was able to take out Deekus before he escaped into the water, took out Ma'randru-jo while he was sleeping, and stalked Anoriath while he was hunting. Gabriella had the task of killing Agnis, an old Nord maid that cleaned up Fort Greymoor for whoever occupied the fortress, where she had to get around the bandits that called the fort home and took out the old lady, without the bandits even knowing that she had been there, once more proving that she was quite skilled. Veezara took out the Nord that served as the Housecarl for the Jarl of Falkreath, a man called Helvard, and a Dark Elf wizard called Maluril, who happened to call one of the dwarven ruins home, while Arnbjorn had fun causing chaos on a pirate ship, where he hunted down and killed the Redguard captain, Safia, along with the majority of her crew, as one of them just so happened to be in Solitude when he attacked the ship.

She found that all of them had some interesting targets, along with the fact that Astrid's skills had to be rusty since it did look like their leader took none of the contracts and even admitted that it had been some time since she actually bloodied her blade, especially since she had been planning on taking out Grelod, before she shared her stories with her Family, so they had a better understanding of what she had done for each contract, while not saying anything about Cicero and the fact that she spared him.

Eventually the day came to an end and Amaryllis climbed into one of the beds, as she knew that she needed to have all her energy for the next contract, since this was an important event for her Family and she didn't want to ruin all of their hard work, regardless of the fact that she was the one that killed all the targets Amaund wanted them to kill, as they were excited for tomorrow morning and she wouldn't disappoint them. Of course one of the things she overheard, before she drifted off and fell asleep, was her Family talking about the Gourmet and the fact that he was an orc, something that they had considered by never really put any weight behind, but she let them talk about what was going on and what she would be doing for the Sanctuary in the near future. When morning arrived Amaryllis rose with it and joined the others in the eating area, though while they had breakfast she made sure to go over the cookbook that Festus had given her one more time, just to make sure she remembered the recipes when she reached the area that the Emperor would be in, as she was posing as the Gourmet and would need to know all of them for the future. Festus and the others nodded their heads as they saw that, as they agreed with what she was doing and knew they would have done the same thing had they been picked to tackle this contract, and a few of the recipes seemed like something she might consider making at some point in the future, just to see what they tasted like.

Once she was done with her breakfast, and had reread the cookbook, Amaryllis got up from where she was sitting and headed towards the first chamber that contained the table that Astrid was no doubt standing near, because she knew it was time for her to head out and tackle the final contract they had been hired to do, and sure enough she found the leader of her Family exactly where she thought she would be.

"From what I've heard, and what you have shown us, you've killed the Gourmet and acquired both his Writ of Passage and his entire identity." Astrid commented, where Amaryllis found that she was actually standing with her back to the table this time and that she seemed happy about what was going on, especially since this would allow Amaryllis to use her unique powers to the fullest and, at the same time, complete the greatest contract their Family had been hired to do, given that it would grant them fame and a few other things, "And now Emperor Titus Mede II is as good as dead."

"Indeed. I take it that we're ready to assassinate the Emperor?" Amaryllis asked, even though she knew that this was to be her honor and she had prepared for this since she returned from hunting down and killing the Gourmet, and once the Emperor was taken care of she was going to return to her Family and let them celebrate her success, while she turned her focus to the future.

"Oh yes. And, like I told you and the others last night, the honor of ending his life is yours." Astrid said, because she had made it clear the previous night when she joined the others for dinner, when she heard that the Gourmet was dead and that Amaryllis had everything she needed for the last contract, and this was her way of making sure Amaryllis knew that she wasn't changing her mind on the matter.

"Don't worry, I won't disappoint you, Astrid, or our Family for that matter." Amaryllis stated, because while she knew that none of the Family doubted her abilities at this point, especially after what she had done so far, she also understood they had some expectations now and that they were expecting good things from her, hence the reason she stated that she wouldn't disappoint them.

"Oh, after everything you've shown us, I have the utmost faith in your abilities and your desire to succeed. So let us get down to business." Astrid replied, her tone revealing that she was ready to tell Amaryllis the information that she needed to know for this contract, so she could leave the Sanctuary and end the life of the Emperor, to elevate their Family to a level that they hadn't been at for some time, "You need to go to Castle Dour, which is located in Solitude, and present the Gourmet's Writ of Passage to the Penitus Oculatus officer that's in charge, Commander Maro.... I'm sure you remember him. You will gain unrestricted access to the kitchens and all their supplies, and, more importantly the Emperor. You're posing as a chef, so you'll be able to poison his meal rather easily."

"Commander Maro, I remember him." Amaryllis said, as she definitely recalled the man that had been talking to Gaius back when she was looking for the schedule, and knew the conversation that he had with his son, before she focused on what she would be doing in the near future, especially since she had a good idea where the castle in question had to be resting in the city, "So, which poison I should use? I'm sure Babette can use a few of her ingredients and quickly cook up something deadly before I actually leave for Solitude."

"Here, take this," Astrid stated, where she pulled out a small pouch and handed it over to Amaryllis, who opened it for a moment and found a red colored root that had thorns on it, though she had no idea what the root was and knew that Astrid would tell her more about it as she closed the pouch, "That root is called Jarrin Root... all it takes is one taste, and the effects are quite immediate, so the Emperor will be serving Sithis before he even knows he's dead. Once Mede has been killed, escape through the upper door, and head across the bridge. I've 'arranged' for it to be unguarded once the alarm is sounded. Now go, my friend. Go, and fulfill your destiny as the Listener."

"I see, it's potent and dangerous." Amaryllis commented, where she slipped the pouch into her pack, though she had the feeling that Astrid had used part of the Letter of Credit that Delvin had given her to acquire the root, before something came to mind as she faced the leader of her Family again, as this might be the last chance to ask questions before she headed for Solitude, "What else can you tell me about Jarrin Root?"

"It's a rare plant, one that's only found on the island of Stros M'Kai." Astrid answered, where she knew that Amaryllis had no idea where the island was located and that she would need to look at the map to understand what she was talking about, though she was willing to answer the question before the changeling departed from the Sanctuary to fulfill the last contract they had been hired to do, "It can be served like any vegetable... cut up, put in a salad, perhaps boiled in a stew. One taste will lead to nearly instant death, so don't even think about tasting it."

"I wasn't planning on tasting it." Amaryllis said, though it was nice to know that the root would basically kill whoever tasted it, meaning that she now understood what Astrid had told her not a couple of moments ago, where she turned towards the Sanctuary's entrance and prepared to leave, before something else came to mind and caused her to stop in her tracks, so she could turn to look back at Astrid for a few seconds, "Is there anything else I need to know before I set off?"

"It took all the favors, bribes, and blackmails I could muster, but I've secured your exit out of the keep." Astrid said, her tone revealing that the reason she had been busy lately was because she was making it possible for her to get away from Solitude when the deed was done, meaning Amaund must have known that was where the Emperor would have visited the next time he came to Skyrim, before she focused on her, "Just follow my instructions, and the Dark Brotherhood will be back on top, and its all thanks to you... Listener."

Amaryllis wasn't all that surprised to hear that Astrid was using her title, as she was the Listener and that seemed to be what some of her Family members called her, and the same was true for the previous holders of this position, which she knew from what was written in Cicero's set of journals, but she nodded her head in understanding and headed outside, as she knew that it was time to return to Solitude and take out her final target. The instant she was outside she paused for a few seconds as she pulled out the Jarrin Root pouch, staring at the deadly object, before using her magic to break part of it off, leaving the larger whole for her to use at some point in time, as she figured that a small sample would be enough to administer what Astrid told her about, before she put everything away and focused on her mission. In that moment she took to the air and headed to the northwest, though this time around Shadowmere surprised her, as in it appeared that he was not in his pool this time around, rather he appeared to be somewhere else no doubt minding his own business and doing whatever a demonic horse did when he wasn't being ridden. She was fine with that, as she really didn't need to ride the horse to Solitude and knew that he deserved to do whatever he wanted when he wasn't needed, so she focused on the path she was following right now and made sure she was where no one would notice her, but one thing Amaryllis did notice was that ten minutes later, when she reached the steep hill she had walked up once in the past, she spotted an imperial caravan heading in the direction of Falkreath. Based on what she saw it appeared that the Legion was sending soldiers to reinforce the area, and possibly take control of one of the forts that were scattered throughout this area, in fact they could be heading to retake Helgen and restore it to it's former glory, so she paid no attention to them as she flew in the direction of Solitude.

While she headed towards Solitude, and the final contract that Amaund had hired them to do, Amaryllis discovered that there weren't many people out at the moment, as it was early in the morning and it was around the time that most of the residents of the land ate breakfast in, which meant that it would be a few hours before noon when she finally reached her destination and landed somewhere safe. Based on everything she had seen in Solitude, during the last couple of visits, she decided that she could spend an hour or two making sure the route that Astrid had told her about was free and that there was nothing that would block her from escaping the city once the Emperor was dead, just to be sure she didn't have to chance her escape route at the last minute. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially with how unfamiliar she was about certain areas of the land, something that she needed to do at some point in the future, so she was sure that Astrid and the others would forgive her for taking some time to get herself ready for the actual event, especially since she would have to visit the city in one disguise, explore the place to make sure everything was in order, leave once she completed her own investigations, and then enter the city as Balagog gro-Nolob so she could tackle the contract. She was sure that a few of Solitude's residents were going to be surprised by that when she eventually did it, an Orc that was dressed up in nice clothing and talked well, since everyone seemed to think they were savages or something, but she would deal with that when it was time to actually kill the Emperor.

It took her roughly a hour and ten minutes to reach the city, where she landed near the entrance she had used when she came here to kill Vittoria Vici, made sure no one was watching her, and shifted into the form of a visiting traveler, as one of the things she had gathered in the past was that none of the guards for the various cities seemed to care that much about people who presented themselves as travelers, before heading up the stairs on the other side of the door. Once she was inside Solitude, and took to the streets once more, she looked up above her and spotted the stone bridge that she had used to hide out on when she killed Gaius Maro, to make sure someone found the false evidence she had planted on him, though as she moved from the area she did find that there was no on guarding the bridge, either thanks to what Astrid had done or it was one of those places the guards didn't care about. In the end she decided that it really didn't matter to her, because if it happened to be the bridge that Astird had been referring to, like Amaryllis thought, than there would be no one guarding the area when the Emperor died, so that allowed her to turn her attention to the rest of the city as she made sure there weren't any obstacles that would prevent her from leaving the area once the deed was done. What she quickly discovered, on the other hand, was the fact that there was nothing that looked like it would hinder her escape once she headed inside Castle Dour, meaning that her exit from the city would be quite easy once she slipped the Emperor the poisoned dish that would be looked up inside the castle, but she did found Commander Maro standing near the entrance of the building in question and a pair of Penitus Oculatus guards that happened to be standing near the arch near the structure that served as the Legion's headquarters.

The two guards just so happened to be discussing their unease about the situation, despite the fact that they found out about the 'plot' to kill the Emperor and even talked about Commander Maro, where one seemed unsure if the man was even fit for duty, after what happened to his son, while the other declared that he was going to pretend that he didn't hear that, as the Commander was the best operative that the Penitus Oculatus had ever produced, but other than that it looked like neither of them had anything interesting for her to overhear, causing her to move on.

As such Amaryllis spent a good portion of the time chilling out as she explored the city, making sure to take in all of Solitude before noon arrived, and when it drew closer to the time that the next meal would be served she headed back down to the dock area by the way she entered the city, only to head back around to where the entrance was, though while she did that she assumed the form of Balagog gro-Nolob and readied herself for what she was about to do. The guards did seem surprised when she approached the city and walked through the gates, clearly showing that many of them were caught off guard by an Orc that wasn't armed to the teeth and seemed more like a gentleman than a warrior, but none of them came after her and that was good in her books. Even the residents of Solitude seemed a tad bit surprised as well as they saw her, telling Amaryllis that there had to be a small percentage of Orcs that weren't wild warriors and were sort of like what the Gourmet had been, though she turned her focus away from that as she headed up the ramp that would take her right back to where Commander Maro was waiting for someone to arrive, even if he had no idea who that someone was supposed to be. She still felt that it was rather foolish for the Penitus Oculatus to have only a single person that knew the true identity of the legendary chef, because she would have made sure that all of the highest ranking members of the security force knew that piece of information, that way if one of them died another could take their place and ensure that the Emperor was safe from danger, though now it was going to cost them dearly.

"Stop right there." Commander Maro said, stopping Amaryllis in her tracks, where she knew that he was just doing his job and didn't look annoyed, rather she made it seem like she was obeying his orders and was patiently waiting for him to finish talking before she said anything, though she was ready to pull out the Writ of Passage and get this over with, before someone who knew Balagog interrupted them, "The tower is off limits until further notice."

"Here, I'm sure you'll find that everything is in order." Amaryllis replied, where she pulled out the piece of parchment and handed it over to the Commander, who raised his eyebrow the moment he noticed it, telling her that he had known to expect something like this, while keeping most of his expressions under control, preventing her from knowing if something was wrong or if he knew something that he shouldn't.

"What's this now? ...order of his eminence... possessor of these papers... the 'Gourmet'..." Commander Maro said, as he was reading the lines that Amaryllis had seen when she first opened the piece of parchment earlier, to verify that it was what she was looking for, before he folded the note in half as a look of shock appeared on his face, meaning he now knew who was standing before him, "By Azura! Your the Gourmet! I... I'm sorry! I didn't realize! We... we had no idea who to expect, you understand. You're not dressed as I would have suspected... but please, don't let me keep you. Proceed to the kitchens straight away. Gianna, the castle chef, has been eagerly awaiting your arrival... and a word of warning, she's likely to freak out once you enter the kitchens, as she's a fan of your work and this is the most excited day of her entire life, or that is what she told me earlier."

"Well then, I had better tend to the Emperor and his meal, and one of my fans." Amaryllis stated, where she put a smile on her face, to show that Balagog was happy about the opportunity to cook for the Emperor, though once that was done she headed through the door that Commander Maro was standing in front of and headed into the tower, though she knew that she wouldn't be leaving this building the same way she entered it.

As she walked inside the building she found that there was an odd throne in the middle of the room that was right in front of her, while off to her right sat the stairs that lead to the second floor and to her left rested the passage that took her right to the kitchen, where she found a female Imperial chef cooking something in the iron pot in the middle of the room, but Amaryllis levitated one of the chef hats over to her before the chef even noticed that she was there.

"Not another delivery." Gianna moaned, informing Amaryllis that she must have been bothered by people all day long about supplies for the kitchen, no doubt because they wanted to make sure they had everything they could possibly need for the Emperor's meal, and she did look up for a moment to stare at her, "I told you people, our stocks are fine. Now put whatever you have over there, then get out!"

"You misunderstand, Gianna, for I am not here to deliver ingredients, rather, I am here to deliver the finest meal that the Emperor has ever tasted." Amaryllis replied, where she lifted her hands and slipped the chef hat onto her head, as she knew that most chefs seemed to prefer having onto the hat to let others know what they were, before she focused on the lady once more and braced herself for the next part of the assignment, "For I am... the Gourmet!"

"The... Gourmet?!" Gianna nearly exclaimed, as her grip on her spoon faltered for a moment as she realized who had to be standing in front of her at the moment, even if this was as close as she was ever going to get to the Gourmet, and that even put a smile on her face at the same time, "Oh! Finally! When I heard the Gourmet was being brought in to cook for the Emperor, I could hardly believe it. It's just..."

"Yes? What seems to be the problem?" Amaryllis asked, making it sound like she was concerned about something, but even as she did that she could have sworn that she felt a bit of worry coming from someone in the building, though right now it was small and wasn't worth pausing to investigate, not when she was in the middle of the most important contract of her entire career as an assassin.

"It's just... well, forgive me for laughing... but you're an Orc!" Gianna stated, where she proceeded to laugh for a couple of seconds, informing Amaryllis that the idea of an Orc being the world famous Gourmet would cause anyone that heard it to either laugh at her or laugh at whoever told them that information, before she finally stopped, "If the people of the Empire only knew! I mean, now I understand your need for secrecy. Most would..."

"We can continue this later, once the Emperor has been tended to!" Amaryllis replied, where she made it look like she was ready for whatever the Emperor had asked them to prepare, because while she might not actually have the skills of a master chef she did know the recipes that were in the cookbook, so unless the Emperor arranged for something that only the Gourmet knew about, a secret recipe or something, she and Gianna could prepare any of the dishes and make sure things were as good as they could be, "After all, the Gourmet is here to cook! Let us begin!"

"Yes, but of course. The Emperor has requested your signature dish, the Potage le Magnifique." Gianna replied, something that informed Amaryllis that it was a good thing she had read the cookbook and could tell someone what all of the recipes were, as this was one of the more interesting dishes that had caught her eye, before the chef beckoned to the pot that she had been working on, "I've taken the liberty of getting it started, but the cookbook only says so much, and everyone makes the Potage differently. I would be honored if we could make it... the Gourmet's special way. The base broth is already boiled. We can get started right now... so, um... which ingredient should I add next?"

Amaryllis knew from her reading that the Potage required four cups of chicken broth, four cups of beef broth, two and a half ounces of butter, one wooden flagon filled with flour, one cup of diced carrots, and half a cup of diced onions, as that made the base broth in no time, but from there the rest of the dish was a complete mystery, as the Gourmet never wrote down the rest of the recipe, at least in the book anyway, though a quick scan of the ingredients revealed some interesting choices for her to pick from as she maintained her disguise.

"You must take a sweetroll and dice it." Amaryllis stated, because the pastries were quite tasty and knew that there was a chance that the flavor of the snack would transfer to the rest of the dish, especially since there wouldn't be any trace of it left once the pieces were added to the broth, and there just so happened to be a few of them in the room that she and Gianna were standing in.

"Ooohh.... how decadent. I never would have guessed you'd use them like that." Gianna said, where she quickly stepped away where the iron pot was located and collected one of the sweetrolls that were resting on a nearby shelf, though when she returned to her work place she followed Amaryllis' instructions, as in she used the nearby dagger and diced the snack into smaller chunks, like she would do to some of the other ingredients, before adding them to the Potage's broth as she glanced at Amaryllis once more, "Okay, what next?"

"Next, you need to add an ounce of vampire dust." Amaryllis replied, because while she could have used mead, like some of the other chefs would have suspected, or use something outrageous, like one of those weird eggs that happened to be sitting on the nearby shelf, she felt that the containers of vampire dust were the best bet, especially since the flavor would be covered by everything else.

"Vampire dust? Seriously? Hmm... yes. I guess I can see how that would add a more... earthy texture." Gianna stated, as it was clear that it was an odd decision, like Amaryllis thought it might be, though that was when she walked over to where the containers of the dust were located and stared at them for a second or two, before she measured out the amount that Amaryllis had told her and added it to the Potage, "And, oddly enough, we do have some on hand... All right. What do you add after that?"

"You need to take one nirnroot and dice it." Amaryllis said, though as she said that she felt the wave of worry that she had felt earlier return, but unlike the last time she had noticed that it was coming from the level that was above them and, unless she was misreading things, it seemed to be coming from the area that the Emperor was in, which made her wonder why he would be worried about something, especially if the Penitus Oculatus had told him that the assassination plot had been discovered and that he was safe for the foreseeable future.

"Really? Oh, I use nirnroot as a special seasoning all the time as well. What a wonderful idea." Gianna commented, as she moved the moment she started speaking, getting the ingredient that Amaryllis had told her about and returned to the pot, where she quickly followed the instructions she had been given and added the diced nirnroot to the Potage, before she looked up from the pot once more, "Okay, the diced nirnroot has been added. What would you add next... Am I doing something wrong?"

"No, you're doing a wonderful job." Amaryllis replied, as she must have been lost in thought about the meaning of the odd wave of worry, which was accompanied by doubt and a sense of despair, all signs that made her wonder if she might be dealing with a decoy or something, which would actually be the smart move when she thought about it, but she had to continue with this and see if she was overthinking what she was feeling, "The next ingredient you need to add is a cup of horker meat, finely diced like everything else."

"Hmmm... horker. So delicious." Gianna said, a smile appearing on her face as she quickly collected the strip of meat that was hanging nearby, where she took out a finer dagger, an elven one, and cut the mean like Amaryllis instructed, and once that motion was done she added all of it to the Potage and stirred it, "I swear, is there a soul alive who doesn't enjoy the taste of... sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away. There we go, one cup of diced horker meat, exactly as you instructed. I have to say, the stew seems done. Add anything else, and we may dilute the distinct flavors. So... is that it?"

"First, we taste it to be sure the flavor is correct." Amaryllis stated, as the chefs in Canterlot, whenever she watched them do their jobs, did take a small taste of what they were making, just to be absolutely sure that the flavors were right and that nothing had gone wrong, and it appeared that Gianna agreed with her, where she handed her a clean spoon and they took a small sample of the Potage, where she smiled, "Behold, the Gourmet's Potage le Magnifique. There is one final ingredient we must add, one that I carry on me in case I need to prepare this. Here, add this to the Potage."

"Oh? What is this, some kind of herb?" Gianna inquired, where she watched as Amaryllis pulled out the small pouch that contained the Jarrin Root and extracted the smaller piece of the root from the container in question, which was when she carefully handed it over to the chef, who looked at it in surprise for a moment, before looking up at her once more, "Are you sure? The Potage tastes perfect as it is, and adding another ingredient might ruin the entire dish."

"Now, now, Gianna. Who's the Gourmet here?" Amaryllis inquired in kind, because while she knew that adding Jarrin Root to the dish would kill anyone that tasted it, like it was supposed to do, she also knew that Gianna revered the person she was pretending to be and that she would probably listen to the majority of what she said, especially since she had likely been ordered to follow the instructions of the Gourmet.

"Heh, I'm sorry. Of course, it's your most famous recipe, so I shouldn't be questioning you." Gianna said, where she cut the fragment of the root up and added the now diced Jarrin Root to the Potage, which was when she continued to stir the pot for a moment or two, even though Amaryllis hated the fact that she actually ruined the dish, as it had been beyond delicious and she made sure to note her modifications in her mind, for the future, "All right then, your secret ingredient's been added. And if I may say so... it has been an honor, getting a chance to prepare a meal with, well... the best chef in the entire Empire. Listen, I'll carry the stew pot when we're ready to serve the Emperor, and I'll lead the way up to the dining room as well. I'm sure the Emperor and his guests are dying to meet you."

Amaryllis nodded her head and watched Gianna make sure the Potage was complete, without tasting it, as that would have ruined the entire operation if the chef killed herself tasting the dish now that the Jarrin Root had been added, but as she did that she kept checking the source of the emotions she was feeling since her arrival, the odd waves of worry and doubt, and knew they had to be coming from the Emperor. She still wasn't sure why she was feeling all of this, from the person who was supposed to know that the plot had been foiled and should be at peace, though she was really hoping that this wasn't a decoy or something, as that would also ruin the entire operation and would pretty much force her and her Family to come up with a new idea to kill their target. When she thought about that, however, Gianna announced that she was ready to move and carefully poured the Potage into a handheld iron pot for a few seconds, a pot that would allow her to use the handle and carry the dish up to the Emperor, and once that was done she started to walk out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs that would take her upstairs. Amaryllis followed after her, keeping silent as the chef repeated herself, about how it was an honor for her to cook alongside the Gourmet and that she was hoping to get her cookbook signed once this was all over, though all she did was nod her head and make it look like she was focused on the Emperor and his meal, even though she was also focused on the emotions she was feeling.

"But aren't you the least bit nervous?" Amaryllis heard someone asked, just as she and Gianna neared the top of the stairs, though from what she could tell the voice belonged to a lady, a noblewoman who must have called to the tower by the Emperor or his guards, no doubt someone who the Emperor wanted to talk to before he left Skyrim, once his visit was complete, "After everything that's happened?"

"You're referring to the wedding, and my cousin's apparent murder?" a second voice said, though this time Amaryllis determined that it had to be the Emperor, based on what had just been said, but even as that happened she could tell that the leader of the Empire, despite sounding confident and didn't seem to be nervous, felt incredibly nervous for some odd reason, which did make Amaryllis a tad bit nervous since she couldn't figure out what was happening, "An unfortunate misunderstanding, nothing more. Cold mead, hot tempers... these things happen all the time."

"Quite. Yet there was that recent business with the young officer." a nobleman added, indicating that someone knew about the assassination plot that the rest of Amaryllis' Family had come up with, the false one to lure the Emperor and his guards into a false sense of security, which actually seemed to work better than she originally thought it would, "Maro, was it? How dreadful. The son of your commander, plotting your assassination with one of the Stormcloaks!"

"Yes, that was a rather unfortunate turn of events for Commander Maro, but it was an isolated incident. And I have been assured several times that the fault was with the man's son." the Emperor stated, though Amaryllis determined that her target seemed to be good at making things appear to be smaller or less significant than what they actually were, but she still felt worry coming from him, meaning that something was off, "Truth is, we are in no danger whatsoever. Killing an Emperor can be useful, but befriending one? Now that's beneficial... as I'm sure you'd all agree."

It was in that moment that the Emperor's guests laughed at what he said, appearing to agree with his statement, but, at the same time, Amaryllis almost got the impression that they were putting on an act, as it seemed far too rehearsed for a simple dinner conversation, which really made her worried about what she was about to do, though that was when Gianna opened the door and she found the room had a few members of the Penitus Oculatus present, as well as two noblemen and one noblewoman, complete with an older Imperial gentleman that was at the head of the table... though his attire and headpiece revealed that he was, in fact, the Emperor!

"Aha! Here we are. Honored guests, I present to you, the Gourmet!" the Emperor excitedly said, where he beckoned to Amaryllis for a moment, where his guests turned and looked at her for a few seconds, as they were surprised to find that the Gourmet was an Orc, like everyone else she had encountered so far, before they nodded their heads and focused their attention on the meal that was going to be served, just as Gianna approached the Emperor, "Ah, the Potage le Magnifique. So delicious. My friends, as emperor, I of course reserve the right of first taste."

In that moment Amaryllis watched as Gianna started to serve the Emperor, though at the same time she noticed a few things as the nobles laughed at what the man said, as most of the guards were focused on her, with one of them keeping his attention on the Emperor, and the short bit of laughter from the nobles, once again, seemed like it had been rehearsed before her arrival, but the biggest red flag was the seemingly crippling despair that was coming from the Emperor, almost like he knew what was going to happen and was afraid that he was going to fail, all without revealing any of this to either of the chefs, his guests, or even the guards as he sampled the Potage.

"Oh... Oh how marvelous. Just delicious. It is everything I had hoped it would be." the Emperor exclaimed, almost like he was putting on a show or something, though in that moment, just before the Jarrin Root started to affect him, Amaryllis confirmed that he was acting, indicating that he had known about this entire thing ahead of time and must have known that when the Gourmet showed up his life was over, "It... I... I think something's... wrong... I..."

In that moment the Emperor perished right in front of Amaryllis' eyes, like his heart had given out on him, though while all of the guests seemed to be shocked by this turn of events, like someone would expect if another person happened to die in front of them like this, she had another confirmation that they were acting, as one of the guests appeared to be excited about something, and the guards moved not even a second after the false Emperor expired.

"By the gods! The Gourmet and the chef have poisoned the Emperor! Get them!" one of the guards stated, as it came from one of the Penitus Oculatus that were around them, though his tone was another confirmation that this was something they had been anticipating and that all of them were ready to move the instant the order was given, confirming Amaryllis' suspicions that she had walked into a trap and that she would need to flee immediately, so she could return to the rest of her Family and inform them of the news, as this ruined the entire operation.

"What? No! No, you don't understand! There's been some kind of mistake! I... Aggghhh!" Gianna replied, though while she was frightened over what was happening, and the fact that one of the guards arrested her instantly and caused her to drop the pot she was carrying, Amaryllis used a spell she hadn't tried to use since her arrival, where a light smokescreen erupted in the room, allowing her to revert to her true form as she headed through the door that was on the other side of the room from where she entered, leaving the guards to chase the 'Gourmet' elsewhere.

As she headed outside, and made sure that her assassin attire was out as she discarded the chefs hat, Amaryllis knew that someone must have found out about the plot and shared it with the Penitus Oculatus, where she was sure that it wasn't Cicero since he was too devoted to do something like this, but she didn't have too much time to think about it as she came to a stop, in the middle of the bridge, as she heard some clapping and discovered three members of the Penitus Oculatus emerging from the tower in front of her, blocking the way down to the ground floor, and Commander Maro appeared on the level above them.

"That man was, by far, the most insufferable decoy the Emperor has ever employed." Commander Maro stated, and all three of the guards nodded their heads in agreement, showing Amaryllis that none of the people in front of her liked the person that the Emperor had picked as his decoy, but she remained silent as he talked, as it allowed her to gain some bits of information before she left the city, "Personally, I'm glad that man's dead, but I'm even happier that you killed him. You, an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood, have just made an attempt on the Emperor's life... would have succeeded, had it been the real man."

"So I gathered." Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she made herself seem more menacing to the three men that were in front of her, the ones that would attack her once their Commander was done talking, as she was looking for an opening that she could exploit and use to transform into one of the guards, mostly force them to attack each other and kill their own allies, that way, when she was the last one standing, she could stab Maro in the back and get out of here, or if he fled she could confuse them and depart before his soldiers killed her.

"I take it you're surprised by all of this." Commander Maro said, apparently not even listening to what Amaryllis had just said, in fact his soldiers seemed to be listening to him and were ignoring her, which was why she decided to stop and listen to him, as what he was saying was the key to understanding what was going on right now, "So was I, when a member of your precious 'Family' came to me with the plan. We worked out a deal, you see, an exchange of sorts: I get you, and the Dark Brotherhood gets to continue its existence with it's head held high after killing the Emperor. But you know what? I've changed my mind. How about this? I kill you, and butcher each and every one of your miserable friends? Your Sanctuary's being put to the sword right now. That's what I think of this 'deal'. You killed my son and ruined his name! And now you'll pay the price for your crimes! Kill her, and make sure there's nothing left for you to bury."

With his orders given Commander Maro departed from the area and descended to the base of the tower, though at the same time his soldiers charged at Amaryllis with every intention of killing her to appease their leader, and possibly rise a rank or two in the process, hence the reason two of them were coming with their swords drawn and the other was at the back of the pack with a bow at the ready. As such she pulled out Mehrunes' Razor and parried the incoming attack, before pulling out the other dagger that she had, the weapon she had been using for her assassinations so far, and did the same thing a second time, allowing her to push back the two soldiers that had come at her, before she moved out of the way and avoided the arrow that was coming her way from the archer. When the two soldiers came at her again, however, she loosed a small smokescreen again and shifted her form into that of one of the Penitus Oculatus, and made sure to cover her weapons as well, so that she and the two sword wielding guards looked identical, causing them to pause in shock for a few seconds, because they weren't sure who was who at the moment, and even the archer was confused. Once the three of them stopped being confused they lashed out at each other as Amaryllis joined them, where the archer loosed an arrow into one of the sword wielders, who cut into his friend as he was cut down, leaving Amaryllis to finish off the other guard and then rush the archer, where she sliced open his neck and all three of them fell to the ground.

As soon as she determined that all three of them were dead, and none of them were getting back up, she sheathed her daggers and headed down the steps of the tower, where she noticed that Commander Maro was leaving the city and that none of the guards were even coming to investigate the tower, so she returned to the top and assumed her true form once more, though this time she headed towards the Sanctuary and flew as fast as she could, so she could stop her Family from being hurt by whoever betrayed them. As far as she knew the only one, in the entire Family, that could have made a deal with Commander Maro was Astrid, the one that recruited her into the Dark Brotherhood and gave her a place where she belonged, so while she didn't want to believe that Astrid was the one behind their plan failing her assumptions might be spot on, as much as she hated thinking that way. That was the reason she was racing through the air, where she would get to the Sanctuary in a shorter amount of time than what she would normally reach it in, all while making sure that her weapons were at the ready for when she landed, because if Commander Maro was telling the truth her Family was under attack and they were need her if there were an overwhelming number of soldiers attacking them.

It took her fifteen minutes to get over to where the Sanctuary was located, though as she did so Amaryllis discovered that the wagons she had seen earlier were resting on the area above the black door, with three soldiers lugging barrels of oil into the Sanctuary, to which she growled as she landed behind one of them and lashed out with the Razor, cutting the man down before he even knew what hit him, before jumping over the edge of the walkway and surprised the remaining two soldiers in the process, killing them before they even had a chance to draw their weapons.

"Okay, time to head inside an..." Amaryllis started to say, though as she turned towards the Black Door, so she could head into the Sanctuary and deal with the invaders, she found a body pinned to the tree that was near Shadowmere's pool of water, where she quickly discovered that Festus had been slain by the Penitus Oculatus and had twenty arrows sticking out of his body, only for her to growl as she saw that, "and kill those bastards!"

With that said she headed through the black door and descended down the stairs, where she discovered that there was smoke inside the tunnel, meaning the Penitus Oculatus had set fire to the Sanctuary some time ago, and she found a dead soldier at the end of the stairs, before pausing as she heard two more soldiers discussing who the rat had been and found that neither of them cared, since it meant the end of the Dark Brotherhood. As soon as she heard that she stepped down into the area that the two soldiers were standing in, where they reacted slowly to the fact that she was even there, once more thanks to the enchantments on her armor, and the first soldier fell rather quicker, as he didn't have any time to draw his weapons before she cut him down. The second one was able to guard himself for a moment, thanks to the fact that he was able to draw his sword while she took down his partner, but his parry failed during her next attack, as she was pissed off at what was going on and lashed out accordingly, letting the Razor cut into her foe's chest and kill him, before she noticed that there were a few other dead soldiers around her, both in this room and Astrid's room, but she found that the leader of her Family was missing and it appeared that the red gem she had had been stolen. The Penitus Oculatus was in the middle of torching the room as well, informing Amaryllis that they were destroying everything inside the Sanctuary, and when she emerged from the room once more she found the corpse of Veezara near the stairs that would take her to the main chamber, stripped of all his clothing and weapons, no doubt by one of the soldiers, which caused her to growl as she headed down the stairs as she kept an eye out for any survivors.

In the main chamber she found three more soldiers chasing after Arnbjorn, who was in his werewolf form and was racking his claws on his foes, but the arrows that were sticking out of his chest informed her of the fact that they had hurt him and that he might collapse soon, which was why she rushed forward, moving through the flames, and cut down the soldier that decided to attack her brother from his backside. She wasn't sure if, in his beast-like state, if Arnbjorn even realized she was there and that she was helping him, though that didn't stop him from slashing one of the soldiers across his chest and then knocked him into the wall, killing him either way, allowing Amaryllis to focus on the other foe that was trying to rush her brother. As soon as the third soldier was dead, however, Arnbjorn seemed to calm down and huffed for a moment or two, in the sense that he was more wounded than what she thought, before he faced her and rested a clawed hand on her shoulder, with what she had to assume was a smile on his face, only for him to beckon to the rest of the chambers that were in their Sanctuary. She had to assume that he was telling her where the rest of the Family was located, defending themselves against the enemies that were trying to kill them, before he fell to the side and collapsed on the ground, where she found that he must have been using the last bits of his energy to kill the invaders and had taken too much damage in the process, leading to his death. From there she headed up to the area that Babette and Gabriella worked in, to make their poisons and enchant their weapons, and found that the stone slab that served as the table was cracked in half, where she discovered that Gabriella was laying on the fragments with a content smile on her face, meaning this might have been the death she saw for herself, and that Liz, the frostbite spider, had been killed as well, while Babette was no where to be seen as she headed into the eating area.

It was then that she found Nazir fighting one of the soldiers, maybe one of the commanding officers of this branch of the Penitus Oculatus, and it seemed that they were in a stalemate with each other, but that didn't stop Amaryllis from heading up there and plunging her daggers into his back, allowing Nazir to behead the soldier with ease, so they could pause for a moment as Nazir realized that she was there.

"So you are alive!" Nazir stated, his tone revealing that he had been worried about her since this attack started, even if he and the others had a good idea of the sort of skills she had access to, though at the same time he coughed for a few seconds, which was understandable thanks to the flames and the smoke that was currently filling the Sanctuary, "To be honest, with what we have been dealing with for the last hour or so, I was starting to wonder if something had happened to you as well."

"I'm sure that you know this by now, but the trip to Solitude was a trap." Amaryllis replied, though this was a bad turn of events, because right now it seemed like it was her and Nazir that were the only survivors of this attack, as it was hard to tell if Babette had been here during the attack or if she had been somewhere else when this happened, but she was sure that the ancient vampire wouldn't have been taken out that quickly, especially given her young appearance and how all of her clients acted when she tracked them down.

"Considering that most of us are now dead, I figured that was the case." Nazir remarked, where Amaryllis discovered that, despite the situation that they were in and the flames that were dancing around them, that he still had the same attitude before she became the Listener, before he raised his spare hand for a moment, "And before you ask, no, I never even considered you as a suspect, not with how determined you were to help the Family grow and expand... but still, thanks for coming back and saving my sorry hide."

"No problem, though we can talk about this later." Amaryllis said, where she pulled her daggers out of the soldier they were embedded in and turned towards the open door that was near them, as it seemed to be the only way forward at the moment, due to the fact that the way she came from had collapsed thanks to the fire and the fact that the Sanctuary was shaking every now and then.

"You've got that right, since it's only a matter of time before we're either roasted alive or crushed by rocks." Nazir said, his tone revealing that he agreed with what she was saying, as he moved his arm and got the blood off his weapon, before he turned towards the door that she happened to be staring at, because he knew that they were running out of ways to leave the Sanctuary at this point in time, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Listener. I am your only salvation. Amaryllis heard the Night Mother say, showing that she could hear the Unholy Matron's voice if she was in a specific range of the coffin, though at the same time it appeared that the way forward would take them right to the room that the coffin was in, where she knew at least one soldier was hanging out, who would have to die before they did anything else, Come. Embrace me.

Amaryllis lead the way to the Night Mother's coffin, where she and Nazir found the last soldier of the Penitus Oculatus standing in the middle of the chamber that she was heading towards, which was where they cut down the soldier before he even had a chance to lash out at them, but with the chamber's second entrance blocked, and the other tunnels were sealed by pieces of the ceiling, she knew she only had one option... she sheathed her weapons and charged into the coffin that the Night Mother was inside, using her momentum to tip it forward and break the glass behind it, even though the metal door closed behind her and she heard the sound of the coffin hitting the water.

Sleep. the Night Mother commanded, no doubt intending for this to be a way to Amaryllis to wait out the flames that were currently eating away at the Sanctuary, while at the same time she heard the sound of Nazir jumping into the water, meaning that he would be safe for the foreseeable future, which was a good thing to hear, especially since most of their Family had been killed.

In the end Amaryllis felt herself drift off, even though she wasn't tired at all, before she fell asleep and left everything in Nazir's hands, as she had the feeling that he would be able to get things back in order by the time she woke up, and then they would see if there was the possibility of them taking another stab at the contract, before the Emperor departed from Skyrim and slipped beyond their grasp.

Brotherhood: A New Home

With the Emperor taken care of, and Amaund Motierre killed for his idiocy, Amaryllis walked outside the inn and headed for the main gate of Whiterun, where Meeko walked behind her as they departed from the city and began the short trek to the ruin she had met the client in, so she could find the urn that contained the payment and then head to Dawnstar, as it was time to put this madness behind her. The guards continued to pretty much ignore her, showing that they either didn't care all that much about the people that were visiting their city or, in the more likely scenario, it was close to the time that they switched with the next batch of guards and would inform them about what they had seen since they started the shift that was ending, though in the end that allowed her to slip outside without them trying to stop her. Once she was outside she headed to the right of the gate and walked down to the first archway that someone would walk under when they first visited the city, though once she reached that area in question she turned to the right and proceeded to walk around the outside of the city's border, in the wilderness to be exact, all while heading towards the farm that was near the ruin she had met Amaund in, as using the main road might involve coming into contact with someone and she wanted some time to herself before she spoke to anyone. One thing she knew was that most of the animals would be asleep at this point and that most of the various bandits would be doing the same thing, meaning that she might be able to walk all the way to Volunruud without anyone attacking her and Meeko along the way to her destination, which would allow her to calm down and think about all of the strange stuff she had learned before and after she killed the Emperor, as there were a few things she needed to think about before collecting the payment for the grand assassination.

Titus Mede II had been too calm, too resigned, when she entered his chamber with the intent to kill him, almost as if he had seen his death coming and had accepted his fate, but that didn't do anything to dispel the fact that she was of the opinion that he had been involved in the plot to end his life, especially since he had asked her to kill the one that had set the assassination plot in motion, due to the fact that the man had nearly paused when he mentioned 'he' when he asked her to end the one that hired her. That small near slip up on the Emperor's part, to a changeling, was more than enough to convince her that something odd was going on, because there was no way he could be so resigned in the face of his own death, even if he knew that an assassin was coming to end his life, meaning that something had told him he was destined to die and that there was nothing anyone could do to stop that from happening. The only thing that could have told him about that event, in her mind, were one of the Divines or one of the Daedric Princes, and if that was the case it made her wonder why the gods of this world didn't even try to protect him, regardless of which side of the moral spectrum that they happened to be on, something she had discovered after landing in this world and accepting that she wouldn't be able to go back to her home world. All of that really made her curious about everything that had happened during the meeting with the Emperor and her last meeting with Amaund, as she was almost positive that something was wrong with both of those events, even if she couldn't quite put her finger on what that something was right now, which only worried her the more she thought about it, especially since she, Nazir, and Babette had lost half of their family thanks to what happened after taking the contract in question.

It took her an hour to walk to Volunruud, since she was walking fast and she wasn't interrupted by any of the animals or bandits, which was rather odd considering the last couple of times she walked on the roads of Skyrim, but the moment she reached the ruin she headed down into the tunnel that took her to the first chamber, before heading to the immediate left and found the small area where the dead draugr were still resting, before heading into the room and found the urn in question, where a massive sack was resting, one that had a note on it that mentioned it contained twenty thousand coins inside it, something that shocked her a little since she wasn't expecting such an amount in the first place.

"I take it the reward is to your liking?" a familiar voice inquired, where Amaryllis froze for a moment and Meeko let out a soft growl as he faced the area that was behind them, though the voice made her wonder what in the world was going on right now, as she was positive that she had killed the person it belong to and left the body in Whiterun, to be discovered by some guards or bartenders in the near future, before she decided to turn around so she could see if her mind was playing tricks on her or not.

Amaryllis quickly found that she was staring at Amaund Motierre, who looked exactly like what she remembered from the first time she had met him in this ruin, as he wasn't anything like the version of him that had been inside the Bannered Mare a little over an hour ago, but she knew that it was impossible for something like this to be happening, due to the fact that she had ended his life earlier, hence the reason that she refused to believe that the same man was now standing right in front of her.

"What? Is the amount too low for you? If that's the case I can quickly return to Cyrodiil and gather the amount of coins needed to pay you for your good deed." Amaund said, where Amaryllis found that he was acting the exact same as what she recalled from the very first time she met him, as he was calm, collected, and confident in whatever he was doing or whatever he was asking someone to do, and she detected no lies coming from him at the moment, meaning that he could fulfill that promise, if she felt the price for assassinating the Emperor was too low, even though it was far better than the other contracts she had completed so far.

"No, the reward will satisfy both myself and the rest of the Dark Brotherhood," Amaryllis replied, where she did nothing to reveal that the organization that she worked for had a new leader, not that such a thing mattered since one could assume that a new leader might have replaced the one who fell in the attack on their Sanctuary, even though Maro hadn't spread any tales about the assault on the Falkreath Sanctuary, though her guard was up, because she had no idea what was going on and she wanted to know the truth of who this man was before he disappeared from Skyrim, "Amaund Motierre... who are you really? Or what are you? There's no way you could still be alive, after I stabbed you in the skull and ended your life in the Bannered Mare..."

"Ah yes, that was a good show, silencing a seemingly idiotic client before he could spell doom for you and the rest of your Family, something I must applaud you for." Amaund stated, where he actually looked happy as he said that, almost as if he had been expecting something like that to happen and approved of her actions to safeguard herself and the remainder of her dwindling Family, though even as he said that Amaryllis continued to maintain her stance, just in cause the man had a trap for her, which was possible since she had thinking of other things when she entered this place, though that was when Amaund focused on his right hand, "As for who I am... well, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you who I was, because it's like that saying you mortals are fond of repeating, that 'seeing is believing', so allow me to reveal the truth to you and show you who I really am."

Amaryllis watched as Amaund's hands were covered with bronze scales, almost like those of a dragon, before all ten of his fingers sharpened to the point where they looked like claws, which was followed by the scales traveling up his arms and onto the rest of his body, something that he didn't seem bothered by as the changes washed over his body and revealed his true form to her and Meeko, something that told her the man was used to this happening. He didn't bother taking off his shoes as his feet started to change next, which were transforming into three dragons claws and adopted the stance a dragon would have if they walked on two legs, like a Nord did, meaning that he was in the process of becoming sort of like her, only he was changing into a dragon, but Amaryllis kept quiet as she watched, as she was trying to piece together what she was seeing at the moment. Once his legs stopped changing, and he walked around a tiny bit to make sure everything was in order, a bronze scaled dragon tail appeared behind him not a few seconds later, which was attached to his body like how Amaryllis' tail was attached to her, and that was only followed by his body being covered in the scales, before she watched as his clothing changed shape as well and became an elegant white robe that didn't touch the ground, since the bottom of the material stopped an inch or two above his ankles. That was swiftly followed by a pair of dragon wings, which were scaled down to fit a smaller body, grew out of his back and seemed to slip through some slits in the back of his robe, before she watched as Amaund's head shifted before her eyes, pushing out until it resembled a dragon's head, or how the heads of the dragons in Skyrim looked, even though she had only seen the one dragon during her time in this province, a fact that she wasn't looking to change anytime soon, before the changes stopped and the figure stood there with a regal like aura filling the area they were standing in.

In that moment, as the changes stopped and nothing else happened, Amaryllis realized something very important, that the being that was standing before her represented both man and dragons, which was evident by the new form that his body had transformed into, and she knew that there was only one being, in the entirety of this world, that was known to it's residents in such a way, and that was Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time, who mortals represented as a being that was a mixture of a man and a dragon, a fact that caused her to get over her initial shock over what she was seeing as she faced the being that was in front of her.

"No way... you mean to tell me that you were Akatosh the entire time, and that you were simply pretending to be Amaund Motierre?!" Amaryllis exclaimed, because that was something that she wasn't expecting, that the being that was regarded as the Chief of the Divines, the head of them to be exact, would take on a mortal form and actually arrange the death of the current Emperor, something she felt she would need to ask at some point, but even then she was focused on the fact that her Family's latest client had been one of the Divines.

"I have been a member of the Motierre line for a long time now, since the days of the Oblivion Crisis," Akatosh said, as if he wasn't afraid to tell her anything, because he seemed confident in the fact that no one would believe her, if she decided to tell someone what she was learning, though he did stretch his arms, legs, wings, and tail for a moment, just to make sure everything was in order, before focusing on her, "and by that I mean that a mere fragment of my power was brought to this world and allowed me to interact with the residents of Cyrodiil. The Motierre line has been sworn to keep my secret from the rest of the nobles and authority figures, and the death of 'Amaund' will let them know that they are free to move on with their lives with the blessing of the Divines, for allowing me to help the residents of this world, more than what I did in the past. When I set this plot in motion I divided the power of this fragment in half, meaning that what you killed back in the Bannered Mare was a very small fragment of my power, which has been returned to my real form, and soon this one will disappear from this world as well, now that the first crucial stage of my plan has been completed with such a degree of success... which is all thanks to you and your Family."

"I see... its good to know that the Divines is looking out for us." Amaryllis said, though at the same time she was still caught off guard by the fact that one of the godly beings that watched over this world would do something like this, even though it was to aid this world and make things better for everyone who called it home, before she registered exactly what he had said, which caused her to remember the real shocking bit of everything she was learning right now, hence why she came to the decision to ask him something, "Tell me, why did you go through all of this trouble, to order the assassination of an Emperor, even one that wasn't as well liked as Titus Mede II, when you could have just ordered one of your followers, or asked one of the followers of the other Divines, to carry out the deed?"

"If I did that, and one of Mede's sons inherited the throne, they would inherit the sins of their father," Akatosh replied, his tone showing Amaryllis that he must have considered this long and hard, before setting his plans in motion, but based on what she knew there were no heirs to the throne anymore, meaning that they must have been killed by someone before this plot had been set in motion, before the god turned his head and looked at the urn, "but, if the Emperor was killed by a well known group of assassins, such as the Dark Brotherhood for example, all of those sins would disappear and whoever replaced Titus Mede II wouldn't have to worry about all of that... that's honestly all I can tell you right now, since telling you the rest of my plan might accidentally change things for the worse. Oh, before I leave you to head back to your Family, with your well deserved reward for this great dead, I have something important to tell you: three days from tomorrow morning, in the hours between morning and noon, you will have a run-in with fate... you'll see what I mean soon enough."

Amaryllis raised her eyebrow for a moment, as she wasn't sure what to make of what she had just been told, which was when the Dragon God of Time bowed his head a little, to show that he was done here, before being consumed in a glowing light that caused him to dissipate before her very eyes, preventing Amaryllis from asking any other questions and leaving her with a number of answers that still confused her. Meeko stood there for a moment, since he was a dog and had no idea what was really going on, before Amaryllis sighed and rubbed his head for a couple of seconds, mostly allowing her to take her mind off of what she had just learned, even though there was one thing about this that made some sense, that if she tried to tell anyone that Akatosh had ordered the assassination of the Emperor, even her own Family, no one would believe her and might call her a liar, so all she could do was keep quiet. Once she came to that decision she collected the reward for the assassination and stored it inside the chest she could summon whenever she wanted, since carrying all of this gold on her might cause someone to come and attempt to rob her, though once she banished the chest she beckoned to her companion for a moment and Meeko followed her as she headed for the entrance of the ruins, as it was time they returned to their Family and give Nazir the good news. The moment they were outside, and made sure that no one was in the surrounding area, Amaryllis switched to her true form and spread her wings without delay, where she quickly picked up Meeko and left the ground without delay, where she turned towards the north and headed for Dawnstar at last, as she wanted to get to her new home and see what the others were doing in her absence, even though she suspected that none of them will have shown up by the time she got back, since only a couple of hours had passed since her departure from the ruined Sanctuary and it wasn't enough time for Nazir to arrange for the Night Mother to be transported to Dawnstar, but at the very least Babette might be there, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

As such, when she arrived outside Dawnstar, she landed a short distance up the path that lead to the port city and used a Breton mage disguise this time around, a thin female who would be overlooked by many based on what she had seen over the course of her time in Skyrim, and sure enough the innkeeper of the Windpeak Inn was more than willing to let her rent out the guest room for a day, which was still one of the strangest customs she had seen, and she got some sleep since she hadn't actually slept since the invasion on the Sanctuary.

When morning arrived, and the residents of the inn seemed jealous of the fact that she had gotten a goodnight sleep while they suffered due to nightmares, which, according to the priest, only affected the residents of the city and not visitors, but he did have someone coming to aid him in taking care of whatever the source happened to be, where she determined that the priest had to know something and was keeping it a secret, before deciding not to bother with him and purchased a bit of food for breakfast. Meeko was more than happy to have something to eat, either due to him starving himself when the Penitus Oculatus offered him something to eat, showing his loyalty to her and the Dark Brotherhood, or no one had given him anything while he was inside that cage and this was the first decent meal he had been given in some time, though she smiled as she pushed aside what she did to the Commander and petted him for a few seconds, since it was nice to have a companion while she waited for her Family to arrive, before eating her own food. Once they were done with breakfast, and had a chance to rest in the inn, Amaryllis headed outside and passed a few guards that happened to be switching with the next group, which meant this was the night group that was getting some food before bed, though she smiled as she found that the sun was up and that, for the most part, the citizens seemed eager to get started with their own work, which made it look like no one was suffering from nightmares and were getting a decent night's sleep, or at least they were trying to do that based on what she could see. Of course Amaryllis had to wonder who the priest was calling upon to help him take out the source of the nightmares, since it seemed like an odd thing for someone to specialize in, before figuring that the ones who might help him had to be the Vigilants of Stendarr, who seemed to specialize in hunting daedra down and stopping their plans, but for now it seemed like it would be some time before they arrived and gave her a chance to get out of the area before their arrival.

Once she was done looking around Dawnstar, where she found that Silus' house was closed and might be for sale, which was hard for her to say since it would require her to head to the Jarl's place and speak to the Steward, she made her way over to the new Sanctuary, where she had found Cicero earlier and spared his life, where she found that the door was a tad bit open and made her wonder who might be down in the depths, to which she made sure Meeko remained silent as she pulled out her daggers and headed inside... though when she reached the part that had a stand for the Night Mother, whose coffin was present, she found Nazir standing nearby, with four dead bandits around him.

"Nazir? What are you and the Night Mother doing here?" Amaryllis asked, though she emerged from her crouch, which at this point in time had become second nature to her thanks to how often she sneaked around the various areas of Skyrim, and sheathed her weapons without delay, because it looked like there were no more enemies for her to worry about, even though she did recall seeing a wagon on the other side of the hill that the Black Door for this Sanctuary was resting in and it explained how the coffin got here, "I thought it would take you some time to move the Night Mother."

"I managed to 'convince' some bandits to help me transport the Night Mother to Dawnstar in a single night," Nazir said, to which he gestured to the bodies for a moment, not that he really needed to do so since he could tell that she had noticed them, though she had to admit that his plan had worked quite well, especially since the wagon gave him a way to move all of the bodies and make it look like an accident of some kind, like some mages had assaulted the bandits or they had been attacked by guards, before he focused on her for a moment, "however, that doesn't matter right now... what happened to the contract and the Emperor?"

"Emperor Titus Mede II is... well, he's lying dead in the main cabin of his ship, slain by my hand." Amaryllis replied, though while one might expect her to be overjoyed to have completed the contract with flying colors, and she was happy with the contract ending, she was still taken aback by the strangeness of everything that happened earlier, when she collected the payment that had been left for her and the Dark Brotherhood, which was when she waved her hand for a moment and summoned her chest once more, since it was time for her to pull out the reward and show Nazir how much they had been given for their deed.

"Truly? Could you have brought us more wondrous news?" Nazir inquired, his tone revealing that he was pleased with her actions and that she had slain the Emperor, fulfilling one of the greatest contracts in the history of their Family, or one of the recent contracts anyway, and had given them a level of infamy that would earn the respect and fear of the residents of Skyrim, maybe even the rest of the provinces once enough time had passed, even though his face remained the same, a fact that she knew was never going to change, "Recent events notwithstanding, this is a happy day for you, Babette, and myself... and Cicero, since he's still alive... despite your misfortunes, both in this world and what happened in your home world, you stayed true to the Dark Brotherhood and our principles. You've saved us all, especially after what happened to our last Sanctuary, and for this you will have my eternal thanks. Now, out of curiosity, I must ask you something... killing the Emperor... how much did Motierre pay for such a thing?"

"Twenty thousand coins," Amaryllis answered, though while she had been thinking of trying to pull a fast one and joke for a few seconds, which would have been rather funny depending on how Nazir took her statement, the strangeness of what happened back in Volunruud had caused her to ditch the idea altogether and she decided to just be straight with Nazir, as this was no time for her to be joking around, not when she was still shocked by the idea that a Divine had hired the Family to take out the Emperor, especially in a weird manner.

"Remarkable! Well, the old bastard certainly made it worth our while, didn't he?" Nazir said, though he actually laughed for a few seconds, showing that he liked what was going on and knew that Babette would no doubt appreciate the price that came with the contract, even if they were missing the rest of their Family, before he glanced around the area that he was standing in and Amaryllis could tell that he was thinking about something, no doubt refitting the Sanctuary and making it a true home for their Family, "Now, might I offer you some advice? You should head to Riften and find Delvin Mallory again... I believe Astrid had you visit him when you delivered Motierre's letter to her. Mallory is, as you no doubt know, an expert 'obtainer of goods', and we can use the money from this contract to repair and refit this Sanctuary... make a true home for us, hmm? While you do that, and we wait for Babette and Cicero to show up, I'll see what I can do about recruiting some new additions to our Family..."

"Sounds like a plan," Amaryllis replied, though she made sure that Meeko would stay behind with Nazir, since it would be better for her to do this on her own and not have a passenger, even though nothing bad had happened when she carried the dog the last couple of times, before she banished her chest once more and smiled, as it sounded like her brother had either noticed that Cicero was alive or had been confronted by the jester when he and the Night Mother arrived, "So, you noticed Cicero earlier... has he calmed down?"

"I don't know what you did, but he seems to have calmed down... though it will take me some time to trust him again, after what he did, regardless of your decision," Nazir replied, showing that he knew the reason why she had spared Cicero's life, as he was a member of their Family and killing one of the members of her new Family didn't sit well with her, even though she had gone though with ending Astrid's life due to it being a contract and the fact that she betrayed everyone with her actions, but at the very least he was willing to put up with Cicero and that was all she was asking for, "though he said that he needed to get some new supplies for his duties as Keeper, so it will take some time before he returns to our new home and resumes his duties."

Amaryllis nodded and started to turn around, so she could leave through the entrance and see what sort of things Delvin might have to offer the Family, though before getting too far she came to a stop and stared at the metallic coffin that was resting nearby, to which she walked over to it and knelt for a few seconds, showing Nazir that she was going to check with the Night Mother and see if anyone had performed the Black Sacrament lately, since there had to be more people who wanted someone dead.

It is done. Emperor Titus Mede II lies dead, and the Dark Brotherhood yet lives, but our work is just beginning, Listener, as more have prayed to their mother. the Night Mother said, speaking not a few seconds after Amaryllis came to a stop and knelt before her coffin, where she revealed that she knew the contract was done, that the Emperor was dead and she didn't seem disappointed in her killing the man inside the Bannered Mare, while at the same time revealing that she had a new contract for Amaryllis to do, hence why she remained silent as she listened to what the Night Mother had to tell her this time around, You are to speak with the Wary Outlaw, who currently resides in the Bee and Barb, in Riften. Accept his gold, and then eliminate the target... so begins a contract, bound in blood.

Amaryllis found that it was odd that she had to go to Riften to speak with Delvin about the Sanctuary and find a client at the same time, which made her wonder if Akatosh had a hand in this happening or something, before she took a moment to nod her head and showed Nazir that a new contract had to be in the works, where she informed him of what was going on and then departed from the Sanctuary, leaving him and Meeko to tend to the bandit bodies that were resting near the entrance and have everything cleaned up for when Babette and Cicero returned. Once she was outside the Sanctuary, and took a few seconds to make sure no one else was around the area, she shifted into her true form once more and took off without delay, where she headed to the southeast as she aligned herself with where Riften was located, though at the very least she wouldn't have to worry about the Forsworn this time around, since they were in the Markarth region and she was far away from that area, meaning this was more of a peaceful flight for her, even if she kept her guard up as she kept an eye out for dragons. Sure, she had only seen the one so far and one of the guards in Dawnstar had mentioned that there had been a second located just outside Whiterun, attacking one of the watchtowers that had been built by the ancients in the distant past, though other than that there were no other mentions of dragons, so all she knew was that one was just resting somewhere and the second had been slain by the Dragonborn, or at least that was what the tales claimed based on what the guards had mentioned when they talked with each other earlier, before she sighed and continued to adjust her course as she headed to Riften. One thing that caused her to pause for a moment, or at least shift her glance off to her left, was a roar that sounded like a dragon's roar, meaning it was either the black one that she had seen, as she didn't see that terrifying beast dying to a simple group of guards and a hero who had no idea what they happened to be doing, or it was a lesser dragon, before she refocused on the path she was following from the air and continued to head towards the city that was her destination.

It took her some time to reach the outside of Riften, where she landed and took on the form she had used during her last visit to this place, the Khajiit disguise that was quickly becoming her favorite one out of everything she could turn into, and once that was done she made sure her armor looked like leather armor before heading inside the city once more, where she noticed that the few guards didn't seem to care much for her, either due to her race choice or they were thinking that some trouble was about to go down due to her being there... though she found that it was easy for her to make her way to the Ragged Flagon, as the path was still cleared and she was able to find out where Delvin was sitting, allowing her to take a seat across from the one she had to speak to.

"Ah, if it isn't my friend from the Dark Brotherhood... what can I do for you?" Delvin asked, showing that he remembered her disguise, even though he had only seen her the one time and didn't really ask her anything about who she was, other than her revealing she was a member of the order of assassins, and that he seemed interested in what sort of job or item she wanted to talk about, since she brought him a necklace belonging to a member of the Elder Council earlier, before anyone in the Family knew what the item was.

"I'm here for a simple reason: can you repair and refit the Dawnstar Sanctuary?" Amaryllis inquired, though at the same time she readied a bit of her magic, so she could summon her chest and pull out the sack of coins that had been inside the urn the previous day, when she went to collect the payment for the assassination, but at the same time she knew that if Delvin told her that he couldn't help her she was planning on leaving and figuring out who might be able to assist her in repairing the new Sanctuary.

"The Dawnstar Sanctuary? That where you lot are holing up in now?" Delvin said, his tone revealing that he was interested in what she had to say, though at the same time he held up his hand to stop her from answering the question, not that she was planning on doing such a thing since he had done this the last time she had spoken to him, where she watched as he seemed to think about what she was asking him and his team to do, before he refocused on her once more, "Hm, tell you what, I can help you with your problem, but it will cost you... quite a lot, if I'm being honest. Are you looking for the whole package, which includes a set of banners that have the emblem of your organization, a poisoner's nook so someone can make poisons and grow herbs, a torture chamber for extracting information, a brand new secret entrance, and furnished chambers for the leader and those who serve under them? If so, that will come out to be nineteen thousand coins... if not, tell me what you want and I'll tell you how much it will cost you."

"No, the package sounds good to me," Amaryllis replied, even though she didn't really approve of the torture chamber, as it seemed like the strangest thing to have installed inside their new home, something that made her wonder if she could use her magic to enchant the stones and keep the screams contained inside that area, instead of hearing it anywhere else inside the Sanctuary, though once she came to that decision she summoned her chest and pulled out the reward she had collected, making sure to take out one thousand coins and handing over the remaining nineteen thousand to Delvin, who seemed pleased with her, "How long will it take for you to get all of that done?"

"Three days, four tops." Delvin answered, where two of the other thieves, both female based on what she was seeing right now, walked over to where they were sitting and quickly picked up the sack that she had left for Delvin to take, meaning he was accepting the payment and would no doubt begin having his team transport the items in question to Dawnstar, so they could begin work on repairing the Sanctuary, before he focused on something, "At least the place will be livable once my team is done with their work... but, other than that, good luck with your... murders."

Amaryllis nodded her head, even though she wasn't expecting Delvin to actually wish her and the Brotherhood good luck, before she banished the chest she had summoned and got up from the table they had been sitting at, where she headed back towards the entrance of the Ratway and quickly returned to the upper part of Riften, something that allowed her to see that the merchants were busy offering deals to visitors, guards were making sure no thieves were trying anything as the day went on, and the rest of the citizens went about their day as if nothing big had happened. Of course she could feel a sense of dread as she walked towards the inn, where she heard one of the guards talking to another about the Emperor and the fact that he was assassinated on his own ship, something that informed everyone that the Dark Brotherhood was still at large and that nothing had changed when their Sanctuary had been assaulted, though she maintained a face that suggested she was mourning the loss of the Emperor as she entered the Bee and Barb. She quickly found that there were a decent amount of people scattered around the first floor of the inn, be they customers or workers, though she could feel the presence of someone who seemed nervous, more than anyone else at the moment, and determined that the emotion was coming from a male Nord warrior that was wearing leather armor as he sat at a table for two, without someone else to talk to, and he seemed to be glancing around the inn every now and then. As such she had to assume that the warrior was the client for the next contract, the 'Wary Outlaw' based on what the Night Mother told her earlier, to which she made sure to have a hood of some kind over her head, to prevent the majority of the customers that were in here from seeing most of her disguise's facial features, before she walked over to where her target was sitting and took the empty chair, where it looked like they would have some time to speak since the workers hadn't noticed her yet.

"Were you the one who performed the ritual?" Amaryllis asked, keeping her voice low so that only the warrior could hear her words, not that it mattered since everyone else was producing enough sound to mask what she was saying and what the warrior would be saying in the next couple of seconds, though while the warrior seemed surprised to see that he had a guest sitting in front of him, something that he would normally argue with, he understood what she was talking about and made a slight motion with his head that suggested he was nodding.

"Yes, I did... I'm glad you're here." the warrior replied, his tone revealing that, might he might be an outlaw and was wanted by the law of one of the nine provinces of Skyrim, there was someone he wanted to take out and was more than willing to call upon the Dark Brotherhood to get his revenge or justice, since that wasn't something she needed to ask, and the bit of emotion she could feel from him confirmed that he was overjoyed to see that the brotherhood had finally arrived to take up his contract, something that was followed by him putting a bag of gold on the table, "What I need you to do is find and kill a female Nord warrior that I used to work with, before she turned on my group and took up a being a gravedigger, who digs up the dead and steals from them to make their fortune... I've tracked her to Windhelm, where she's likely working in the Hall of the Dead, though due to reasons I cannot enter that city and need someone like you to carry out justice on her, before she escapes. This is all the gold I have right now... I hope it is enough for the contract."

Amaryllis opened the bag for a moment and noticed the mass of coins that were inside it, which seemed to be around the thousand mark based on her best guess, though instead of saying anything she sealed the bag and nodded her head, as it seemed like the warrior was telling the truth that this was all the gold he could offer her, before she got up and walked out with the bag in her hand, though once she was outside she made her way to a private area and quickly counted the coins, allowing her to see that it was twelve hundred coins in total, which was more than what she got for the contracts that she had done when Astrid was leading the Family. Once that was done, and she stashed the bag inside her own pack for now, the next thing she decided to do was leave Riften and made it look like she was getting ready to go on a quest, to take out a bandit camp or something, which was her totally acting for the guards that had seen her come and go, hence the reason why she headed down the road and put some distance between her and the city, though when she was sure she was safe and sound she switched back to her true form without delay. After that she took to the air and headed to the north, to see if she could find the target of this contract and take her out, even though the warrior hadn't given her a great description of who he wanted her to take out and would have to wing it for the most part, but at the very least she had a location to check out and it was a good place to start, since it might have a clue for her to find or, if she was incredibly lucky, the Nord she was looking for might be inside the Hall of the Dead and wouldn't know she was there until it was too late. The only thing she had to look out for while she flew through the air was making sure not to be anywhere near where the dragon roar had been earlier, allowing her to focus on what she needed to do when she reached Windhelm and started to look for her target, despite the fact that she would need to change into a Nord disguise so the guards and residents of the city would ignore her for the most part, something that would give her time to figure out where her target was resting and put an end to the contract before the guards or someone else figured her out.

It took her a while to reach the outskirts of Windhelm and landed before someone noticed her arrival, where she took on the form of a simple Nord farmer and walked all the way to the main gate, finding that none of the guards cared about her and let her inside without asking her any questions, though she did take a moment to ask one for directions to the Hall of the Dead, acting as a visitor wishing to pay respects to a dead relative, and found that it was near the building that Nilsine and the Shatter-shields lived in. Once she found her destination Amaryllis opened the door and headed inside, finding that it was a tunnel that lead to a lower level, with a rest area off to her left and a path to her right that seemed to lead down to where all of the coffins were stored, though there were two Nords down here at the moment, one a priestess based on the orange robe she was wearing and the other being a farmer, though it appeared that neither of them had noticed her and it allowed her to hide in the shadows as the pair conversed. She assumed that the farmer was her target, as it made sense to converse with someone and cause them to leave for a time, something she noticed a few seconds later as the priestess started to leave the area she had been standing in and headed outside the Hall of the Dead, to which she silently watched the other lady for a few more seconds, just to be sure this was the one she was looking for before she assassinated her and moved on to Dawnstar once more. Sure enough she found that the Nord farmer was definitely the one she was here to kill, as she walked over to one of the nearby coffins, a wooden one to be exact, and opened it not a few seconds later, to which it took her a few seconds to pull out a necklace that belonged to whoever was inside the coffin and had a smile on her face, suggesting that it had to be a expensive piece and would fetch her a good price when she got around to selling it to the Thieves Guild. Of course that would never come to pass as Amaryllis reverted to her true form for a moment, and that included her armor as well, before she crouched and approached her target as the Nord lady continued to raid the coffin, something that was followed by her pulling one of her daggers out and sliced open her target's neck, killing her in a matter of seconds and let her drop the body to the ground, though before she left Amaryllis returned the necklace to the coffin it had come from and took her target's coins before putting on her disguise again.

With that done, and she was sure that everything looked identical to when she first discovered this area, Amaryllis turned around and walked out through the main door once more, to which she headed for the city's main door without delay and prepared to depart for Dawnstar once more, because she wanted to give Nazir the good news, chat with Babette if her sister was there, and maybe hang out with Cicero before worrying about another contract, or training new recruits since that was what Nazir was up to, to which she smiled as she waited to see what the future had in store for her and the rest of her new Family.

Interlude: The Mind of Madness

Once Amaryllis was done in Windhelm, and made sure to leave the Hall of the Dead before the priestess came back to her duties and discovered the body, she headed out into the wilderness once more and put some distance between her and the city. The moment she was far enough away she shifted back into her true form and started to fly back to Dawnstar, so she could meet up with Nazir, if he was inside the Sanctuary, and start coming up with things that needed to be done for them to finally call the place home, even though most of the items would come from Delvin. Of course she really wasn't expecting to see him when she returned to the new Sanctuary, given that he informed her that he would be heading out to find and recruit more members, but there was a chance she could be surprised. Either way she was expecting to reach the Sanctuary, head inside, and either relax for a while before speaking to the Night Mother or just speak with the Unholy Matron and get another contract to kill some time before there were more members in their Family.

What stopped her on the way to Dawnstar, however, wasn't a dragon or a now burning area, something she only thought about since there was still one somewhere in Skyrim at the moment, rather she spotted the ebony black scaled Argonian who happened to be dealing with another group of Thalmor. They were near the mill that one of her previous targets had been hiding near, though while everyone was distracted she landed behind one tree and watched them for a time, as she knew that the Argonian needed no help in dealing with them. Interestingly enough the Thalmor had sent a force of at least ten soldiers, split evenly between warriors and mages, to take care of her and any Talos worshipers they might find while on the road, and right now they were fighting the Argonain. Sure enough the ebony Argonian danced around the area that they were fighting in, just like last time Amaryllis had seen her, and she used her scythe to cut down her foes, all while she took no damage as she dropped them to the ground.

Part of Amaryllis had to wonder what was up with the Argonian, as she loved to kill everything that dared to challenge her, especially since her weapon was a scythe, though before she could consider anything the figure finished making sure all of her targets were dead before resuming her walk down the road.

Amaryllis had a feeling that she'd be seeing the figure again, she seemed too unique in this land, before taking off as well, as she wanted to get to the Sanctuary, though she was happy to see a Khajiit caravan moving as well, though given where they were it was hard to tell where they had come from. From what she would see they were traveling to the west, instead of the east, so they either left Windhelm or Whiterun, meaning the Argonian must have passed them, but based on what she was seeing it looked like the road was clear for travelers. In fact all of the wild animals seemed to be sleeping or eating at the moment, so the road was definitely safe, to which she turned her attention back to her flying as she zeroed in on where Dawnstar was located. Such a thing gave her a chance to think about the future of her Family, now that the rest of Skyrim knew that they had killed the Emperor, and what might be coming their way next, which caused her to smile as she found herself eager to face whatever might happen next.

When she reached Dawnstar Amaryllis slipped through the Black Door and found that Nazir was sitting at a table, which was in the middle of the lower chamber, meaning he must have been thinking about making it their new eating area for when their Family members weren't on contracts. Babette, as she soon discovered, was sitting at a table that was off to the left of the main opening, across from where the Night Mother's coffin rested, and it looked like she was starting a new garden for herbs and other items they might find useful. Cicero, who appeared to have been forgiven by the remainder of the Family for trying to kill Astrid, was standing near the metallic coffin, though she could see that he was happy to have a Family again, after what happened to his last one. Of course he seemed like he was getting ready to work on the corpse of the Night Mother, given his duties as Keeper, though when he spotted her, standing nearby, he understood immediately and took a few steps back, allowing her to approach the coffin and kneel with her head bowed.

You are to speak with the Corrupt Agent at the Penitus Oculatus Outpost, in Dragon Bridge. the Night Mother stated, something that came as a surprise to Amaryllis, especially when she considered their drive to kill her Family, which made her wonder what was going on right now, Accept his gold, then kill the target... hail Sithis!

"A corrupt member of the Penitus Oculatus... interesting," Amaryllis said, speaking to herself as Babette and Nazir walked over to where she was standing, as it appeared that the vampire told their brother she was back and he seemed eager to hear what the Night Mother had said, "While I would like to start training any newcomers to our Family, or test their skills in the art of assassination, this is one that I should tackle myself..."

"In the off chance that this is a trap, to get back at us for bringing ruin on their organization?" Nazir inquired, showing that he understood her train of thought and that he agreed with it, without saying that much in regards to what had just been said, to which Amaryllis nodded her head, as a new assassin might be caught or killed if this was a trap, "I don't have any new assassins to bring into the Family, not yet anyway, so you should focus on the contract while Babette and I worry about heading out and seeing if we can find some newcomers to add to our Family... Cicero can keep tending to the Night Mother, since that's all he seems to focus on these days, while we do that."

"Agreed, though you should know that Delvin has agreed to help us outfit the Sanctuary, so his team should be here in the near future to help us tidy this place up," Amaryllis stated, informing Nazir that she had done as he suggested earlier, as it had been a good suggestion in the grand scheme of things in her mind, while at the same time it was clear that he knew she had something else in mind before she went and figured out what this corrupt officer wanted from them, "though we should clean up some of the mess that has been gathering throughout this place, since the last inhabitants lived in here anyway, to make things somewhat easier for when Delvin's team arrives with our new goods."

Sure enough Nazir was the only one who didn't care for the task, even though he did so anyway since even he agreed that their new home needed some cleaning, but that didn't mean she wanted them to go overboard or anything, since Delvin's team would be doing most of the heavy lifting and whatnot. As such they focused on making sure the burial area was safe, so the spirits of the older Brotherhood members could rest peacefully, or at least until some unlucky adventurer stumbled upon the back entrance of this place and annoyed them anyway. She also assisted them in clearing some of the rubble to make things easier for them and Delvin's team, since they had no idea when they would arrive, while giving them a good chance to secure anything important. Her only reason for that was because Delvin was a thief and his people had to be allied with the Guide, so it was just a precaution on her part, and two of the others agreed, as Cicero seemed to focus on his task, which influenced how they went about their work.

Once she was sure the basic work was done, however, Amaryllis bid the others farewell as she headed outside and quickly opened her wings once more, where she headed to the west and angled herself so she was lined up with Dragon Bridge, since it was time for her to find the next client. She was still surprised that a member of the Penitus Oculatus wanted them to kill someone, though she was still worried that this might be a trap, given the destruction of their organization, so she resolved to keep her guard up. While she flew over Skyrim she flew over the massive ruin known as Labyrinthian and was left alone, as nothing else seemed to be in the area, which she was perfectly fine with since it meant that she didn't have to worry about the black dragon. The roads were strangely clear as well, meaning most of the travelers were at home or had stopped at one of the inns that were along the roads, though she paid it no mind as she focused on her destination

When she reached Dragon Bridge she found that the coast was clear and quickly landed, taking on the form of a traveling warrior, a male Nord, and walked into the outpost, where she found the agent sitting nearby, though as he turned to face her she revealed her true form to him.

"You... you must be the assassin... from the..." the agent started to say, though it was clear that he was terrified of her, a fact that confirmed what she thought earlier, before he noticed the emblem on her armor and focused on what he had to say next, "Well, there's this Traveling Dignitary, in Solitude, and for my own reasons I need her... you know. This gold will cover the contract... right?"

Amaryllis took a look at the bag that was placed on the table and found that it contained nearly two thousand gold, likely due to the fact that she was looking for a noble of some kind, or maybe it was an apology for taking her dog and killing her Family members. As she checked it out, however, she found a note that contained a description of the target, a useful item to have, causing her to seal the bag and add it to her pouch as she nodded her head, which seemed to appease the man, or allowed him to calm down. With that done she headed outside and closed the door before shifting into the disguise she had used a few moments ago, though with that done she made her way to the north, giving her time to study the agent's note on the target. She found that it was an Imperial noble who had light gray hair, elegant clothing, and was a lady, where the noble part meant she might have to deal with guards, an interesting challenge for sure, and once she finished taking in that information Amaryllis reverted to her true form, on the outskirts of the village, and headed for Solitude.

She found that it was far too easy for her to get inside Solitude, she just flew over the main gate, landed on the bridge she had used to escape the Emperor's tower, and turned into a female Imperial traveler before anyone noticed her, allowing her to take to the streets and start her search.

What surprised her was that she noticed a noble, who perfectly matched the description she had been given, just walking down the road from the Blue Palace, without any guards, which was just strange when she considered what was going on at the moment. Amaryllis observed for a few moments as the noble ignored the local beggar, in fact she appeared to be a little offended by his existence before ignoring him entirely, before she investigated one of the alleyways that was out of sight from most people. For a moment she had to wonder if her target was stupid or was a spy for someone else, either could be possible, though since her job was to kill people she focused on the task at hand and followed the noble into the alleyway, allowing her to slash open her neck and take her coins, to make it look like a mugging. With that done, in record time she guessed, Amaryllis returned to the street after cleaning her blade, finding that no one had noticed her at all, so she made her way to the beggar.

She had no idea what was up with him, other than being poor, though he didn't seem interested in money when she tried to use the noble's pouch as an offering of good faith, causing her to wonder what was up with him as he turned toward her and looked at her with his blackened eyes.

"The flame of my master burns low, and without him we are all lost and forever gray... please, someone must help us set things right!" the Bosmer stated, where Amaryllis had to wonder if he was insane or not, given his words, though she did notice a rather stunning female Bosmer who was focused on something else, "You! You'll help me! You help people, right? That's what you do?"

"What exactly do you need help with?" Amaryllis inquired, mostly to see if there was something she could do to help him out, since she had more time than she originally thought she might have, given that her target had been easier to take out and left her with some time to kill.

"My master has abandoned me! Abandoned his people... and nothing I say can change his mind." the Bosmer replied, to which Amaryllis felt a wave of sadness from the man in question, who seemed devastated by what was going on and the fact that his master seemed to be more interested in whatever he was doing right now, "Now he refuses to even see me, after everything I've done for him. He says I interrupt his vacation, even though its been many years since he departed... won't you please help?"

"How can I find your master?" Amaryllis asked, because that was the part that bothered her the most, as she had no idea where such a person might be hiding, though if he had seen his master recently, like he claimed he had, she was sure that the beggar could point her in the right direction.

"Last I saw, he was visiting a friend in the Blue Palace, but it wasn't someone as mundane as the Jarl." the Bosmer stated, a fact that was rather odd when Amaryllis thought about it, meaning there was a chance she might have found another of the Daedric Princes, though she switched back to the man being insane as he pulled out a male's hip bone, "No, ordinary people are below him, as he went into the forbidden wing of the palace, to speak with an old friend and have some fun... he told me that it has been ages since they had last had tea and just talked with each other. Oh, and you'll need the hip bone to reach my master's location... you can't enter the Pelagius Wing without that."

Instead of saying anything to that, since it was so weird to need a hip bone to do anything important, Amaryllis just took it and stuffed it into her pack without delay, something that was followed by her heading towards the Blue Palace without wasting any time. There were too many problems with this, such as the 'forbidden' wing and a possible Daedric Prince, to which she made sure no one was around as she altered her form, becoming a worker who would be reporting for duty for the first time. What was interesting was that none of the guards were nearby, allowing her to slip into the palace without anyone stopping her and enter the kitchen without delay, all while finding that the Jarl seemed to be meeting someone at the moment, an opportunity she didn't want to waste. Sure enough everyone saw her as a serving girl, which she was fine with, and she was pulled into training without much delay, as it gave her a chance to ask about the wing in question, due to the fact that Amaryllis figured it would take some time to find the key to open the door.

What she discovered was that one of them handed over the key without hesitation, though when the coast was clear she slipped over to the door and opened it, allowing her to slip into the Pelagius Wing in seconds, where she closed the door behind her and focused on what was in front of her.

Amaryllis found a large room that had a bunch of cobwebs and discarded silver goblets, not to mention some tables and benches that were resting all over the room she was in, before she found a path to her left that lead to a cluttered second floor, though she was the first one to touch anything. Such a thing meant that the man was insane, no one else had been here recently and, based on what the other serving girls said, no one else had come asking about the wing, meaning she had been tricked into doing something stupid. After checking the lower floor, and finding nothing of importance, Amaryllis headed up to the second floor for real and found a hallway that had to lead to another part of this wing, an empty part no doubt, but she checked out the surrounding area first. Once she was sure that there was nothing important for her to look at, and no signs of the beggar's 'master', she glanced at the hallway and started to head down it, figuring that she could take a look on the other side before leaving.

She paused as a surge of magical energy suddenly wrapped around her and caused the world to black out for a moment or two, though when it returned Amaryllis found herself in what appeared to be a garden area filled with trees, some odd clouds, a few stone arches, and a table that seemed out of place.

At the table sat a Breton male who happened to be dressed up in the attire of the Emperor, or at least one's casual attire based on what she was seeing, though the other was a male, of what humanoid race she had no idea since it was hard to tell for sure. Part of her was sure that he was also a Breton, who had white colored hair and wore a suit that was unique and split between two colors, the right side being purple colored while the left side was orange, like it was mad or maybe influenced by the Prince of madness. That was when she noticed something else, her armor had been replaced with what she assumed was some sort of noble attire, brown that reminded her of Jarl Balgruuf's Steward, Proventus, and she found that weapons were gone as well. In addition to that her pack was gone and, interestingly enough, her magic seemed far away at the moment, like this place nullified her powers and abilities, causing her to wonder if she was standing before one of the other Princes.

"More tea, Pelly my dear?" the odd Breton asked, where it looked like a few tea pots floated in the air around them while he said that, confirming Amaryllis' thoughts that he was the only one that could use magic in this space and that he had to be the one she had been sent to talk to, as she assumed that 'Pelly' was a nickname for Pelagius, where she found that the other figure shook his head as she noticed the food in front of them.

"Oh, I couldn't... it goes right through me." Pelagius replied, something that seemed odd to Amaryllis since she was sure he had been dead for some time, something that made her wonder about things as the figure focused on his host, looking as if something saddened him, "Besides, I have so many things to do... so many undesirables to contend with... naysayers, buffoons, detractors... why, my headsman hasn't slept in three days!"

"You are far too hard on yourself, my dear, sweet, homicidally insane Pelagius." the Breton said, showing that his opinion on the matter was entirely different than what the dead Emperor was thinking about, before he glanced at something for a few seconds, as if noticing something else, and then focused on his dead friend, "What would the people do without you? Dance... sing... smile... grow old? You're the best Septim that's ever ruled... well, except for that Martin fellow, but he turned into a dragon god, and that's hardly sporting... you know, I was there for that whole sordid affair. Marvelous time! Butterflies, blood, a Fox, a severed head... Oh, and the cheese! To die for."

"Um, pardon me, can I talk with you for a few seconds?" Amaryllis asked, where she was able to tell that the Breton had to be speaking of the Oblivion Crisis, given the fact that he named Martin Septim, the man who sacrificed himself to stop the near certain destruction of the world by Mehrunes' hands, while hoping that the pair wouldn't be upset with her coming to deliver a message, "I have a message fr..."

"How rude! Can't be left alone for a decade or two, to host an old friend and catch up with him... hm, maybe I should smite you, with a serious smiting." the Breton stated, his tone revealing that he was definitely annoyed with Amaryllis' presence and the fact that she was interrupting him while he was talking with Palegius, the dead Emperor disappearing within a few seconds of his host speaking up, before he snapped his fingers for some reason.

Amaryllis paused for a moment as she felt something odd happen to her body, like a bit of magic washed over her, where she raised her hands and watched as her fingers started to merge, changing shape into something new, before grinding to a halt when she had a pair of cow hooves. As her eyes widened, however, the sides of her head started to hurt as a pair of curved white cow horns grew out of her head, the tips pointed toward the sky, though it wasn't long before her ears hurt and she found them shifting position, resting below her new horns. Amaryllis barely had time to register what was going on as a small bit of pain washed over her tail and she turned her gaze toward it, finding that the hairs fell away and that it had thickened into a cow's tail, complete with an amethyst tuft at the end. The shock of being transformed against her will was preventing her from saying anything, as she couldn't believe what she was seeing and was shocked to find that none of her Changeling powers were working, meaning she shouldn't stop this if she wanted to.

As she considered what to do next, however, her body shook for a moment as white cow fur started to grow all over her, which came complete with a number of black spots that were scattered randomly all over her body, even though she felt one appear over her right eye. A few seconds later she felt an odd pressure in her breasts and watched in disbelief as they grew several sizes before her eyes, making them double what they had been before she came here, though they also felt different than what she was used to felling. She wasn't sure why she thought they were different, save for what was going on with her body, but before Amaryllis could even think about what it might mean she felt another part of her fall under the Prince's power and turned her attention to it immediately. In the following moment a pink mass grew out just below her abdomen, something that really stunned her when she laid eyes on it, because it was a cow's udder, which she quickly confirmed thanks to the four finger length tips that were attached to it, and it stopped when it reached her knees.

Once she saw that she knew what was going on: the Prince was transforming her into a cow for interrupting his vacation, despite her reasons for coming here in the first place, and she dreaded to wonder when he'd stop, as in would he leave her as a feral or twist her into a mockery of herself and a cow.

While Amaryllis considered that, and wondered what her fate might be, her breasts and her udder started to ache, where she had no doubts that they were being filled with milk, though the speed of which they were filling meant that she would be full in no time. When she tried to ignite her horn, so she could make an attempt to relieve some of the pressure, even if it meant milking herself like she was a cow, the Prince snapped his fingers and another surge washed over her body for a second or two. She quickly discovered what he had done, her Changeling horn and wings disappeared without a trace, just like the tales of what Discord did, though as she realized that she was now cut off from her magic she felt more changes starting to take hold of her. The next change was centered in her hooves as they shifted before her eyes, twisting into the hooves of a cow, though her legs also bulked up a little, which meant her muscles were being altered to help her carry her new weight, regardless of which form she ended up trapped in.

When she opened her mouth to object to what was going on, however, all she let out was a 'moo', just like a cow, which told her that the Prince was just messing with her, having a laugh at her expense while she was transformed into such an embarrassing form, since she'd never pick this herself. Of course as she took stock of her changes Amaryllis had to pause and wonder which route the Prince was going to take, as in would he leave her like this or force her into a feral state, just to punish her for the interruption. After that pain erupted from her face, where she watched as it pushed out into a cow's muzzle, complete with the tongue and nose, and all she could do was moo in protest, which fell on deaf ears as the Prince continued to alter her twisted body. Amaryllis could feel him tweaking both her breasts and her udder, likely forcing them to hold more milk before reaching their limit, though she could already feel small droplets wetting her attire, meaning she might start gushing soon.

As she considered all of that, and what it meant for her future, the divine being suddenly remembered something, what Amaryllis had no idea, and stopped twisting her body, though she remained silent as she waited to see what the Prince wanted from her, just to ensure she didn't anger him for a second time.

"Wait! You mentioned that you had a message for me?" the Prince asked, recalling what Amaryllis had said before he used his power on her, though with the loss of her vocal cords all she could do was nod her head, causing a smile to appear on his face, "Reeaaallllyyyy? Ooh, ooh, what kind of message? A song? A summons? Wait, I know! A death threat written on the back of an Argonian concubine... those are my favorite! Well? Spit it out, mortal. I haven't got an eternity... actually, I do... little joke. But seriously, what's the message?"

Amaryllis just stood there, surprised he had forgotten what he had done to her, before the figure realized his blunder and snapped his fingers, where she felt a change in her vocal cord area and quickly tested it, to be sure she could speak again, before answering the question.

"I'm sorry for barging in on your vacation, but all I was asked to do was come retrieve you from your vacation, as it sounds like your people are worried about you," Amaryllis replied, deciding to just answer the question and get this over with, as he might reverse the changes if she was lucky enough, but that didn't stop her breasts and udder from aching, which she was doing her best to ignore.

"Were you now? By whom?" the Prince inquired, though it appeared that he was having fun thinking about who could have asked her to come and retrieve him, something that reminded her of Discord again, before he jumped to his feet not a few moments later, as if he had come to a revelation of some kind, "Wait! Don't tell me! I want to guess! Was it Molag? No, no... Little Tim, the toymaker's son? The ghost of King Lysandus? Or was it... yes! Stanley, that talking grapefruit from Passwall... wrong on all accounts, aren't I? No matter! Honestly, I don't want to know... why ruin the surprise? But more to the point. Did you... a tiny, puny, expendable little mortal... actually think you could convince me to leave? Because that's... crazy. You do realize who you're dealing with here?"

"At this point, no, I don't think I could convince you to leave... not when your a madman, not to mention a Daedric Prince whose far more powerful than I am," Amaryllis answered, because after realizing that he was a Prince of Oblivion, not to mention seeing what he had done to her body, she knew that she was doomed to her fate as his toy, unless he released her from this place.

"Jolly good guess! But only half right. I'm a mad god... The Mad God, actually." the Prince stated, where Amaryllis started to realize who was standing on the other side of the table, given her knowledge on some of the godly beings that happened to be worshiped by the mortals of this world, though she remained silent as the figure beckoned to himself, "It's a family title... gets passed down from me to myself every few thousand years. Now you! You can call me Ann Marie, but only if you're partial to being flayed alive and having an angry immortal skip rope with your entrails! If not... then call me Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness... charmed."

"Nice to, um, meet you." Amaryllis said, though at that point she realized something, if she didn't speak up she was going to be stuck in this realm with the soul of Pelagius the Mad, as he was called, and Sheogorath, one of the most dangerous and unpredictable Princes out of the Daedric Princes, to which she steeled her will for a moment, "Again, I'm terribly sorry for interrupting your vacation, but maybe you can call it off for a few days and head back to your followers, so they know you haven't abandoned all of them, and then come back to finish this vacation at a later date?"

"Now that's the real question, isn't it?" Sheogorath inquired, possibly referring to the part of her statement that involved him leaving this place and returning to the area that his followers were waiting in, the Shivering Isles, while ignoring most of what she had said, "Because honestly, how much time off could a demented Daedra really need? So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to leave. That's right, I'm done. Holiday... complete. Time to return to the hum drum day-to-day... on one condition. You have to find the way out of here first... good luck with that."

"Okay... what's the catch?" Amaryllis asked, as she knew that the Princes always had something up their sleeves, given the trial that happened when she helped reforge Mehrunes' Razor, and there was no telling what Sheogorath might have in mind for her, which only worried her.

"Ha! I do love it when the mortals know they're being manipulated... makes things infinitely more interesting." Sheogorath said, his tone showing that he was definitely happy with her knowing that there was a catch to this, even though anyone would assume the same thing when dealing with a Daedric Prince, but Amaryllis said nothing as she listened to him, only to find that he beckoned to the area around them, "Care to take a look around? This is not, I dare say, the Solitude botanical gardens. Have you any idea where you are? Where you truly are? Welcome, my rude guest, to the deceptively verdant mind of the Emperor Pelagius III. That's right! You're in the head of a dead, homicidally insane monarch! Now, I know what you're thinking: 'can I still rely on my swords and spells and sneaking' and all that nonsense? Sure, sure. Or... you could use... the Wabbajack! Huh? Huh? Didn't see that coming, did you?"

The Wabbajack, as Amaryllis soon discovered, was a staff made out of some sort of black material, which might be either an otherworldly wood or ebony that was empowered by the Prince that was in front of her, with three gaping mouths that rested at the top. Based on what she was seeing the faces seemed to be trapped in a state of anger, why she had no idea and she wasn't about to ask about it's appearance, though based on what she could tell it was nearly her height, without her horn anyway, meaning someone could use it as a walking staff. As she thought about that Amaryllis knew that walking around with it would likely draw the attention of Sheogorath's followers to whoever had it, which she could do without as she considered what had happened to her earlier. The interesting thing was that it even appeared out of thin air after the words left the Prince's mouth, meaning it had to be a command statement, to summon it to wherever Sheogorath might be standing, and the figure seemed pleased with his handiwork.

That was when Amaryllis looked down at the hooves that had been her hands a few minutes ago and realized that she was in a bit of a pickle, there was no way she could hold onto things with these, not unless they were like the hooves of ponies from Equestria, causing her to turn her head towards Sheogorath again.

"Um, Lord Sheogorath? How am I supposed to use this?" Amaryllis asked, where she raised her new hooves for a moment, to show him that she didn't have the ability to hold onto the staff, because it wouldn't be a fair game if she couldn't carry it in some manner, "You took away both my hands and my magic, and without either of those I can't carry this staff, let alone use it to overcome whatever challenges might have been placed in Pelagius' mind."

As she suspected the Daedric Prince of Madness didn't seem to care about her situation, or at least it sure looked like that was the case, before he snapped his fingers and Amaryllis felt her main horn grow out for a second, creating a nub which happened to be a very small fragment that gave her an insignificant portion of her power back. She found that it was just enough to use and maintain a levitation spell, allowing her to lift the staff into the air and spin it without much problem, meaning she could tackle the trials now. As she thought about that, however, her body shuddered as she felt the amount of milk that was inside her breasts and udder increasing, pushing them to the absolute limit in a matter of seconds, which told her she had to be on the verge of gushing. Such a thing told Amaryllis that Sheogorath didn't like whiners, given that he expected her to obey everything he told her, but also let her know he was fairer than the other Princes, likely agreeing that being unable to carry and use the Wabbajack defeated the purpose of his challenge.

Once more she found that she was regretting even talking to the Bosmer that had asked for her help, given that it caused such an odd meeting to occur and a strange punishment to be given to her, and realized that if she knew his master was Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, she wouldn't have helped him.

After thinking about that Amaryllis let out a sigh as she used her magic to grip the Wabbajack and caused it to float near her as she stared at the three arches for a few seconds, as there was no telling what was on the other side of all three, but, in the end, she picked the one on her left. As she started to walk, however, she started to deal with her changes, since her hooves were different from what she was used to and it slightly messed up her walk, something she was able to correct in no time at all. After that she had to think about the weight that had been added to her body, as her breasts were twice as large as they had been before coming here, though her true problem was with the udder she had grown, which threw her off as she walked and embarrassed her to no end. She wasn't too sure if she could add all of the milk to her problems, despite the sheer amount she could feel right now, though the aching feeling was rather annoying as well, not to mention it worried her about the potential leaking.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Sheogorath speak in her head, informing her of what was down the path she was talking down and mentioned Pelagius' mother wielded fear like a cleaver, or that she wielded a cleaver in life and that such a thing made people afraid. Such a thing told her that he could never get the facts of that particular story straight, or maybe he just didn't care which version was right, while also teaching her son a valuable lesson, that danger could come from anywhere and from anyone. She wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a hint for this obstacle she needed to take down, given Sheogorath's mad nature, but it was interesting to think about as she reached the end of the path, where she found a circular stone arena with a set of stairs leading to an upper level. Thanks to the additional weight it took her a few moments to walk up the steps, without falling to be exact, and when she reached the upper level she discovered that it was, in fact, an arena, with two elementals fighting each other as three people looked down at them.

One of the figures looked like a younger Pelagius, a young adult, while he was flanked by two guards in brass armor who seemed to be protecting him, though a quick look around the arena told her that there was nothing and no one else for her to worry about.

While she did that, however, Amaryllis felt a bit of pressure in her breasts and udder as the area around the tips became wet, at least for the former anyway, and glancing down at the stone floor revealed a few white droplets hitting the ground as she stood there. Such a thing caused her to sigh for a moment as she focused on the task at hand, or hoof she guessed, where Amaryllis used her magic to raise the Wabbajack and leveled it with one of the guards, allowing her to charge and fire a faint fist sized ball of energy. When it struck the guard she had targeted, however, it transformed him and the other guard into a pair of wolves that assaulted this part of Pelagius, where she heard Sheogorath mention that she was done with the first obstacle, which placed the man under the delusion that he was safe. Such a thing made her wonder if what she had done was truly helpful or not, though she succeeded in overcoming the challenge and that was all that mattered to her, causing her to turn and walk down the steps so she could focus on her other obstacles.

As she walked back to where she started, however, Amaryllis paused against her will as she mooed, which was followed by more milk starting to leak out of her breasts and udder, wetting her attire more than before, causing her to force herself to move so she could get this over with.

Once she returned to the center of this area it was easy for her to see that nothing had changed, as in Sheogorath was still sitting in his throne and was staring at the table in front of him, likely focusing on where his friend had been sitting before they were interrupted. Instead of engaging him Amaryllis headed for the arch that was right behind him, because she felt that it would be easier for her to go in a circular manner and not cut across the area, plus it allowed her to cut out any and all backtracking she might have to do. As she walked down it she learned that Pelagius had suffered from night terrors, an interesting fact that was likely in his books, and that she would have to deal with them to clear the obstacle, meaning she would have to deal with them to pass this trial. At the end of the path she discovered a clearing that had a lone bed with a younger version of the Mad Emperor resting on it, where he was likely a teen or even a kid, and when she got closer she found that it was definitely a child on the bed.

Since there was nothing happening around the area she was in, with no objects or enemies for her to interact with, such a thing told her that she had to focus the energies of the Wabbajack on the slumbering boy and she did so without delay, as she struck him with a blast and waited. Sure enough she discovered that a wolf suddenly appeared nearby and rushed at where Pelagius was resting, to which she did the best thing she could think of and struck the wolf with another blast from the artifact, which turned it into a well behaved goat that wandered to another part of the clearing. Such a thing told her all she needed to know, she had to 'activate' the sleeping avatar with the artifact to trigger the next terror and then use it to turn said terror into something safe, though she wasn't sure how turning a female bandit into a young boy was in the realm of 'safe'. The third terror was a hagraven that got turned into a lady wearing some revealing clothing, the fourth was a fire elemental that got twisted into a campfire, and the fifth was some sort of undead, wearing a robe of metal scales, that was turned into a treasure chest.

The undead happened to be the last one and she turned around once the slumbering avatar woke up, especially since she heard Sheogorath proclaim her success, though as Amaryllis walked back to the central area she mooed again as more of her milk hit the ground. Either she was being further punished for interrupting the vacation or this was her imagination messing with her, she honestly had no idea which idea was the truth right now, to which she forced herself to focus on her objective, the final challenge that needed to be overcome. As she walked, however, she found a black collar that suddenly appeared around her neck, complete with a fist sized brass cowbell attached to it with her name on it, which seemed to make no sound as she walked, so it seemed to just complete her new cow form. Amaryllis was embarrassed by it, though she couldn't say anything least Sheogorath twist her into a feral form, so she did her best to ignore her drenched shirt and her full udder as she focused on her objective.

As she walked down the third and final path that needed to be taken care of she learned that Pelagius had a fear of many things and that some of them being reasonable, such as assassins for example, while some happened to be a little odd, such as pumpernickel. Amaryllis barely had time to think about that as she reached a small clearing that had two versions of Pelagius in it, a large one that was surrounded by a red color and happened to be assaulting a small one that was white colored. Sheogorath revealed that Pelagius had a deep hatred for himself and it seemed like the scene in front of her was his anger beating up his confidence, not that she could tell for sure due to her lack of powers, before he revealed that her task was to bring the two into balance with each other. She considered it for a moment, to see if there was a trick to this or not, before discovering that all she had to do was blast Pelagius' Anger twice, shrinking it in no time, and then do the same to his Confidence, enlarging it to the point where the pair had switched heights.

That seemed to be how things were supposed to go, since the Prince told her she had succeeded, to which she headed back to the center of this realm and stopped at the table, ignoring the milk trail she left behind, though when she tried to speak she found that all she could do was moo.

"Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!" Sheogorath stated, informing her that he had been in the middle of something when she arrived, what she had no idea and she couldn't be bothered to care, though he also opened the flood gates and drenched her party attire, draining her breasts and udder as the milk gathered in an orb near him, "Now, rude mortal, I believe you were about to say something."

"Y... Yes. I've fixed Pelagius' mind," Amaryllis replied, where she came to the decision that it was best if she just ignored the changes to her body, which was rather hard because of the sensations she was feeling at the moment, and the games that Sheogorath was playing with her, and just focused on getting out of here, "now, about that exit."

"Hm... 'fixed' is such a subjective term. I think 'treated' is far more appropriate, don't you? Like one does to a rash, or an arrow in the face." Sheogorath said, showing that he disagreed with Amaryllis' choice of words, even though she was sure that if she said either of those words he would have found a way to disagree with her, meaning he was always right and all who argued with him were wrong, "Ah, but no matter. Heartless mortal that you are, and a rather one rude at that, you've actually succeeded in your quest and survived... I am forced to honor my end of the bargain. So allow me to offer you my congratulations! You're free to go!"

Amaryllis was happy to hear that, since it meant she could return to Skyrim and make sure she stayed as far away from all of his cultists, and possibly from the Mad Prince as well, before a familiar surge of energy washed over her and she found that the cursed form disappeared, returning her to her true form, just with larger breasts.

"However, your rudeness hasn't been forgotten, so I have given you a blessing and a curse... the latter will happen once a month, twice during my summoning month and the festival month," Sheogorath continued, showing her that he was still displeased with the fact that she interrupted his vacation, hence why she was being stuck with that cursed form, before he held up a hand, "I... have been known to change my mind. So... go. Really."

Amaryllis stood there for a moment, processing the information she had been given, as the Prince spoke about a couple of things, like how he knew that Pelagius always had it in him to become a 'boringly sane' individual, even though she knew he would likely change him back at a later date, and going over a list of things he had to check. It included his beard and his clothes, as if they might come alive or something and do their own thing, before wondering where he left his luggage, which turned out to be the madman who asked Amaryllis for help earlier, who was pleased about this event. Sheogorath, on the other hand, sent him along before informing her that, while she was rude, he was still extending an invitation for her to come to the Shivering Isles and that she was free to keep the Wabbajack, since he said 'just take the damn thing' in the seconds before banishing her back to the Blue Palace. In the following seconds she discovered that she was standing in the Pelagius Wing, in the hallway she had investigated, and that she was dressed in the now soaked party attire she had been forced to wear upon entering Pelagius' mind, while hear gear was inside her pack.

In that moment she quickly tore off the milk-stained clothing and hurled them down the hallway that was in front of her, before putting on her attire and headed for the door that would take her back to the Blue Palace, as it was time for her to put this madness behind her and return to her duties as the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood.

Author's Note

Edited on 5/16/2022

Interlude: A Fateful Encounter

Getting out of the Blue Palace wasn't as easy as entering it, as when Amaryllis emerged from the Pelagius Wing it was easy for her to tell, without needing her changeling powers, that the servants that had helped her get into the forbidden wing in the first place were a little annoyed with her, since she basically ditched them while they were preparing dinner. She then found that the Steward was ticked off about her heading into the wing in the first place, to which she decided not to say anything as she moved onto the next best thing, where she used her magic to create a cloud of smoke around her, just to blind everyone for a few seconds. Once that was done she rushed to the main entrance of the palace and slipped outside, where she changed her form into a male Bosmer, as in the madman she had seen earlier, and took on a normal walking pace as she headed for the side passage that would allow her to leave the city. She found that her thoughts were correct, none of the guards bothered with her as they rushed by where she was walking, no doubt assuming she was the madman who was constantly asking for assistance, even though they would never see him again, and she hoped the same would be true for her.

In fact the only person, out of everyone in the city, who seemed to focus on her as she walked was the female Breton she had seen earlier, before she entered the Blue Palace, though when they crossed paths for a few seconds Amaryllis could have sworn that the lady's eyes were two different colors, the right being purple and the left being gray. She had to take a moment why the lady was different from everyone else and suspected that she might be tied to Sheogorath in some way, before deciding that she had suffered enough madness for one day. Thankfully the lady in question didn't say anything to her and continued on her way, meaning nothing was going to stop her this time around, before she found the passage in question and slipped into the tunnel that would allow her to leave Solitude. As she did that, however, she noticed that it was nighttime out, something that told her she had been in Pelagius' mind for far too long and had wasted too much time helping the madman out.

When Amaryllis finally emerged from the passage, putting her outside the city, she reverted back to her true form without delay and took to the skies once more, heading for her new home so she could bring an end to this horrible day and get some well deserved rest.

The flight gave her a chance to think about what she had been told, that Sheogorath had cursed her for her 'rudeness' and it likely meant she would be forced to transform into that cow form he had stuck her with, no doubt to the extent that she had been forced to deal with at the end of her time in the Mad Emperor's mind. She wasn't looking forward to it, due to it being an embarrassing form, but she did have an idea on how to figure out what the Mad God had told her, she just had to ask Nazir and Babette when she got back to the Sanctuary. Amaryllis also deeply regretted talking to the madman that had lead her right to the Prince of Madness, where she quickly stopped in the air for a moment and opened her pack once more, finding that she still had the hip bone that the madman had given her and pulled it out. A few seconds later she let go of it and let it fall all the way down into the water that was below her, as she wanted nothing to do with the bone, and once that was done she closed her pack and let out a sigh of relief as she put that behind her.

As she started to move, however, she heard a familiar bell sound, causing her to realize she still had the cowbell around her neck, something she had managed to somehow ignore until this point, to which Amaryllis pulled it off and dropped it as well, allowing it to join the hip bone as she resumed her flight.

While Amaryllis flew through the air she considered what she had been through and confirmed that being changed into such a form had been embarrassing, even if Sheogorath seemed to assume that she enjoyed the form and had offered her an invitation to the Shivering Isles because of that. Due to the fact that he was a Daedric Prince there was nothing she could do but suck it up and deal with it, especially since she had the feeling none of the Divines would be able to cure her of this curse, otherwise she would be flying to one of their temples or shrines to get rid of it. The terrible thing was that she had no idea when the next change would happen or how many times a month such a thing would happen, as while Sheogorath had said it would happen once a month, twice in certain circumstances, he was the Prince of Madness and had admitted that he was known to change his mind on matters. That told her that it might be a toss up between more changes each month or the entire curse being random, the latter being more reasonable given who she was thinking of at the moment, to which she focused on her flight and nothing else.

It took her a while to return to Dawnstar, given her speed and what she had been thinking about, but once she got close to the port city Amaryllis landed on the outskirts near the Black Door and headed inside, after making sure no one was watching this area, only to find Cicero waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

"Amaryllis! There you are!" Cicero spoke up, speaking the moment she walked into the Sanctuary, where his voice carried down to where Nazir was likely sitting and that brought both him and Babette over to where she was standing, though she could tell that he had been worried about her, "Our Family members have be worried about you, as they figured that the contract you had been given wouldn't take you more than a few hours, and yet you were gone for an entire day... even I was worried about you, after everything you did for me."

"An entire day... now I seriously regret talking to that madman," Amaryllis replied, though instead of wasting time she and the others headed down to the main table, which had enough seats for four individuals, so she could speak with the rest of her Family and explain what had happened to her.

What she discovered was that it was now the 31st of Last Seed, with the day she left the Sanctuary being the 30th of the month, which informed her that she had been gone for a longer amount of time than what she had been planning earlier, something that could be blamed on Sheogorath. She hadn't considered such a thing after leaving the Blue Palace, as she assumed it had been the same day as her arrival, but Amaryllis listened to her Family and what all of them had to say on the matter, or their updates on what was happening in Dawnstar. The other thing that Nazir and Babette had discovered was that someone came to help the priest of Mara that was staying at the Windpeak Inn, Erandur, deal with whatever was causing the nightmares throughout Dawnstar, allowing everyone to sleep in peace at long last and not have to worry about being tormented all the time. Of course only the hero survived, telling a great tale about how he and Erandur faced the dangers that were inside the tower and dealt with what was causing the nightmares, despite the fact that the priest perished during the final battle.

Amaryllis had to believe that another Daedric Prince was, in one way or another, behind this particular problem and that the hero likely overcame some sort of challenge that had been plaguing Dawnstar for some time, something that Nazir actually agreed with since he had been in the inn. Apparently the priest believed that Vaermina, the Prince of Dreams and Nightmares, had a hand in everything that happened to the city, and had jumped at the opportunity to have a hero assist him in his holy mission. Amaryllis was pleased that it had happened like that, just to spare her an encounter with another Daedric Prince, even though part of her did wonder if the hero in question sided with the Prince or denied her, before she put the thought behind her. After that she told her family what happened during her contract, about how easy it was for her to pull off, before revealing the embarrassing part that she'd rather forget about, even though it was going to be hard to do that with the curse she had been given.

"So you're telling me that Sheogorath cursed you to become a cow creature every now and then?" Nazir asked, though it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that he was torn between believing her story or thinking that she was lying to them to hide what she had actually done, while Babette and Cicero remained silent.

"That's the gist of the situation, and I'm not looking forward to when the curse activates," Amaryllis replied, which was the truth, even if he didn't believe her, before she considered the statement she had been given previously, since her Family might be able to shed some light on it, "He also mentioned that there are two months in the year where the curse would definitely activate twice... I believe he said it was his summoning month and the month of a festival of some kind."

"According to what Festus used to say, Sheogorath's summoning day is the 2nd of Sun's Dawn," Babette spoke up, as she had been silent while Nazir and Amaryllis spoke about what happened since she went to Solitude, while Cicero was just listening, "while I'd wager the festival is the Jester's Festival, which is the 28th of Rain's Hand... both of them are in the first half of the year, so you won't have to worry about either of them causing you to transform at random when either of them arrive."

"I see." Amaryllis said, as that was all she could say to what she had learned so far, some of it good and some of it bad, all depending on how one looked at the situation she was now in, before she sighed and considered what else she was going to do before heading to bed, "I'm going to see if the Night Mother has any other contracts to tell us about, and where we might find the one who did the Black Sacrament, before getting some sleep... after my long day, and the missing hours, I need some sleep before I try to assassinate someone."

Nazir and the others glanced at each other for a few moments, as they were a little surprised by the fact that she wanted to listen to whatever the Night Mother had to say, especially after everything she had been through during her time in the mind of Pelagius, before they nodded as she headed up to where the coffin rested and knelt before it.

You are to speak with the Nervous Stormcloak, who rests in the Bannered Mare, in Whiterun. the Night Mother said, reveling that she did, in fact, have another contract for Amaryllis to head out and set up, though what was surprising was that it was a solder that was taking part of the current civil war that was calling on them, Accept his gold, then eliminate the target... so begins a contract, bound in blood.

Amaryllis really had no idea what to make of the situation, but instead of worrying about it she rejoined her Family and let them know what was going on, this time promising to set up the contract and then return, before she went to bed so she could be ready for whatever the next day held for her.

While Amaryllis was resting, trying to forget about the events she had been through, the Blue Palace's servants, Erdi and Una, found themselves in the forbidden wing on Falk Firebeard's, the Steward's, orders, searching for clues that would tell them why the spy had been so interested in this place. Since it was their fault she had entered this part of the palace, the forbidden wing that no one was allowed into, both of them had been ordered to clean out the wing and figure out what had happened here, to see if anything was missing or out of the ordinary, even if the former was next to impossible to do since they had no record of what should be here. Of course neither of them were pleased with this turn of events, since the person who approached them had seemed like a recent hire and not a spy, since the latter would have found a way to steal the key with no one noticing what was going on, but there was no arguing with Falk, especially not when their jobs were currently on the line. They were going to do what they were told, find no items to tell them anything, and then get back to their lives, serving the Jarl of Solitude while fearing what might happen if the city came under siege by Ulfric and his army, just like they did every other day before this.

At least that was what Erdi had planned, until she found something on the second floor that caused her to pause, a set of noble attire, pants and shirt, that was wet and smelled of milk for some odd reason, though she confirmed it was soaked as she picked the shirt up and squeezed it a little, discovering some white liquid that emerged from the material, which she licked a little to confirm that it was actually milk.

"Looks like she was... milking herself." Erdi commented, speaking to Una as she walked down to the lower level, revealing the set of clothing she had found during her search, as they split the levels between them to cover more ground so they could finish this early, where she set the clothing down on the nearby counter, "Quite a lot, based on how damp the shirt and pants are."

"By the Divines, they're far too wet for it to be a single person... unless a Prince did this." Una remarked, discovering the amount of liquid inside the garments was far too much for a single person to possess, as she picked them up and quickly gave the shirt a light squeeze, though as she said that she found that Erdi was staring off into space.

She quickly discovered that the reason behind such a thing was because of the fact that her breasts were starting to grow before their eyes, as when she and Erdi entered this wing they had been small, to the point where Una knew that some of the people who knew the girl tormented her over how small her breasts were. Now, however, they were pushing out like she was going through a growth spurt, a rather late one at that, and she seemed to be enjoying all of the sensations that were coursing through her body, causing Una to sigh as she left the other servant to her business. Her peace was short-lived as Erdi groaned, where it looked like the growth had yet to stop as her breasts grew larger and larger as the seconds went by, to the point that her shirt seemed to be straining under the pressure. It was like she was cursed, instead of being blessed like she was sure Erdi was thinking, something that caused her to glance at the milk stained clothing before she noticed that the other servant's breasts continued to grow bit by bit as time went by.

That wasn't the only thing she was seeing, as a pair of cow horns grew out of Erdi's head, starting off small before growing to the size that was typical of an ordinary farm cow, before her ears changed shape and grew fur, looking like those that a cow had. Her companion didn't seem to mind the changes that were overwhelming her body, rather Erdi moaned as she rubbed her breasts, which encouraged them to grow even larger before actually tearing her shirt apart, showing off their fully grown state to Una. Such a thing relieved the pressure Erdi had been feeling, though in the next moment she pinched her right nipple, like she wasn't in her right mind or like she was being controlled by something else, and loosed a burst of milk into Una's face, some of it getting in her mouth due to the surprise of the motion, though Una noticed that the other servant seemed oblivious to everything that was going on. It wasn't long before more changes happened, as Erdi started to grow cow fur all over her body, complete with black spots in random places, while her feet became full cow hooves as a tail emerged from her spine, swaying with the movements of her body, and her fingers turned into two halves of a hoof, so she could still grab things.

In the following moments the oddest thing, in Una's mind anyway, started to happen as Erdi moved her right hand down to her lower abdomen, where it looked like that portion of her body was swelling before their eyes, though when it tore through her clothing Una noticed the four elongated nipples it had. Erdi, somehow, was growing a cow's udder and she didn't seem to mind at all, rather she seemed to be enjoying all of this as she rubbed the appendage as it continued to grow, confirming that she wasn't in her right mind right now, since Una was freaking out. As it grew Erdi's legs pushed out as well and changed form, giving the servant some support for her new udder while continuing the cow theme, before her udder started to leak white milk onto the floor, causing her to moo as she pinched her nipples. The final changes made themselves known as Erdi's her face pushed out into a cow's muzzle, complete with a cow nose and tongue, making her look like a humanoid cow, as odd as that sounded.

Una was surprised and horrified by what she was seeing, as this wasn't what she was expecting when they were sent into this wing of the palace, especially since her companion seemed to be changing into someone else before her eyes, which had to be part of some sort of curse their superiors were trying to hide from the public.

"I'm... a cow?" Erdi asked, though in that moment she mooed as she continued to milk herself, leaving a small pool around her new hooves as she did so, showing Una that Erdi's mind had been overtaken by whatever curse the spy had brought into Solitude, as if this was the work of Sheogorath, or maybe she had always been like this and the milk had released a side of her that Una had never seen before.

In that moment of understanding Una felt something in her mind click, as if something was telling her that she was right to suspect Sheogorath of creating this curse, because this certainly seemed like the creation of a Daedric Prince, before she shuddered for a few moments. After that she discovered the truly terrifying aspect of the curse they had just uncovered, it was contagious, which she found out due to the sudden mass that was growing in her pants, tearing the material apart as an udder grew out, something that was definitely attached to her body. She could tell that it was full of milk, since hers was starting to leak as well, just like Erdi's had after it grew out, something that made her wonder if the spy knew about this or if her master had kept her in the dark about the plague she had carried into Solitude. Una could also feel part of her mind changing as well, no doubt another part of what she and Erdi had discovered, where she fought back the urge to moo, which her friend did every now and then, even though she could still speak.

As Una stood there, coming to terms with the fact that she had been contaminated by the milk, most likely from the pair of ruined clothing they had found or Erdi's own swollen breasts, her body shook again as more of the changes struck her, the next one being a cow tail growing out of her spine. She knew her life was over at this point, there was no way Falk was going to allow either of them outside the palace after he discovered what in Oblivion had happened to them, especially when she thought about Sybille Stentor, who was the Court Wizard of Solitude, and what she might do to them once she discovered their condition. As the fur and spots spread all over her body, just as it had for Erdi, Una could only imagine the experiments that Sybille would perform on them, to figure out how this might have happened and how to either use it or counter it. Una eventually gave in as her hands, feet, and legs followed what happened to Erdi's, becoming more cow like in no time, all while her breasts tore her shirt apart and her face pushed out into a cow muzzle, complete with horns and her new ears, leading to her pinching one of her nipples to let out some tainted milk.

In the next few moments an idea sprung to mind and Erdi smiled as she nodded her head, to which they made their way out of the forbidden wing and found that night was upon them, with no guards in their immediate area, to which the pair departed for their destination. The pair headed up the stairs before pausing, to make sure that no one was near where the throne rested and found that everyone, including most of the guards, were asleep right now, to which they carefully made their way down the path to their left, heading right for a pair of ornate doors. It brought them to Jarl Elisif's room, a place that was much finer than what they were used to, and even she had no guards, meaning they had to be searching for the spy, allowing them to open the door and found Elisif sleeping in her bed, snoring with her mouth open. That was what they were hoping for as Erdi approached the bed, where she raised her udder and placed it on the edge of the bed, where she offered one of her teats to the slumbering Jarl, where the curse seemed to influence her as she sucked on it for a time and the corrupting milk spilled into her mouth.

Erdi and Una watched as the changes started to take hold of Elisif's body, while she seemed to sleep without waking up at all, where her legs shifted before their eyes and her feet transformed into hooves, just like what happened to them when they were overtaken by the curse. It wasn't long before cow horns started to grow out of the sides of Elisif's head while her ears followed suit, where it was easy to see that her dreams were preventing her from reacting to the transformation, so the pair watched her in fascination as she continued to change. Sure enough the interesting part came as her breasts tore her shirt apart and started to leak more of the corrupting milk, which was now filling her body, while her udder pushed it's way out of her pants, aching and full just like what the pair experienced when they first changed. Elisif finally woke up as her face pushed out into her new cow muzzle and the cow fur grew in, though while the pair expected her to be afraid of the scene it looked like she had already accepted her new form and mooed as she milked herself, likely a side effect of her changing while she slept, so the mental part didn't have to fight her mind.

When Falk eventually checked in with his Jarl, to deliver the news of their search, he discovered a shocking sight as Una and Erdi helped Elisif with her new body, where he decided to usher them into the forbidden wing for now as he called for someone to clean up the mess, all while hoping that Solitude wasn't overtaken by this madness.

When morning arrived Amaryllis found something interesting near her, as there happened to be a person sized mirror in the area near where she had been sleeping, as a tunnel had been cleared out by Nazir's bandits and he found a chamber that seemed to be the room for the leader of this Sanctuary. Such a thing had been given to her while he, Babette, and Cicero had their own rooms that happened to be closer to the center of their home, and since it was her private room that meant she would be alone for a while. As she got up, however, she found that her reflection wasn't on the surface of the mirror, since a normal mirror would reflect her image, instead she found a male Breton who was wearing a black suit with a red neck piece, who did look like he didn't care for what he was doing or what he had been ordered to do. She quickly determined that Sheogorath had to be responsible for this, or one of his minions, to which she got up and walked over to the figure so she could get this over with.

"Ah, you must be the 'rude one' Lord Sheogorath told me about," the Breton commented, his tone calm and showing next to no hint that he was mad, even though he was in a palace and there was a pair of female figures standing some distance behind him, who were in the middle of turning into the cursed form Amaryllis wore earlier, "My Lord is still displeased with you, but He asked me to tell you that, as part of your punishment, you'll also have a reminder of what's to come... what He means by that is for Him to understand. Do have a good day, and try not to annoy my Lord any further."

Before Amaryllis could say anything the figure on the mirror faded away, meaning the conversation had to be over, where she felt her arms and legs shake for a few seconds and quickly pulled off her ancient assassin attire once the feeling went away, where she found that white cow fur had grown on her limbs. They came complete with black spots, just like what she had seen in Pelagius' mind, starting at her wrists and stopped just below her shoulders, while for her legs they started at her ankles and came to a stop halfway up her thighs. As she took that in, however, her tail shuddered and transformed into the thick white cow tail she had been given during her time in Sheogorath's domain, complete with the tuft at the end that shared her main hair color, which was when she noticed that some more cow fur had grown around her neck, exactly halfway up to be exact and moved down towards her chest. It formed a small ring around her collarbone based on what she could see in the mirror that had been left behind, before she paused as a familiar energy washed over her body, only it filled her with dread.

It wasn't long before a set of white cow horns that grew out of her head, just like the ones she had grown earlier, before her ears shifted until they looked like the ears that belonged to a cow, while positioning themselves under her new horns, giving her three horns and really made her look like a mix of a cow and a changeling. Amaryllis paused for a moment as a familiar pressure overtook her, where she watched as her udder grew out, the same one she had grown during her time in Pelagius' mind. Such a thing was followed by another familiar feeling as she felt some pressure in both her breasts and her udder, nothing that was all consuming like the near bursting pressure that had been forced upon her during her stay, and to confirm what she was feeling Amaryllis pulled on her nipple, letting out a little milk. This was the reminder of the curse she had been told about, which she had been hoping to avoid at all costs since people wrote that Sheogorath was known to forget things, but eventually the sensations died down, with the silent cowbell and collar appearing around her neck as well, something she was going to have to live with.

Once Amaryllis was sure that the changes were done, and there was nothing else waiting to surprise her, she picked up her armor and pulled it on, finding that some magic seemed to hide her new cow horns and ears while the hood was on, including the udder, before she pulled the hood back for the time being as she walked out to the dining area that Nazir had put together while she was gone.

"Ah, Amaryllis, good morning," Nazir spoke up, as that was when Amaryllis found that Nazir and Babette were still sitting at the table, though she knew that neither of them had stayed up and had gone to bed after they talked about what she had been through during her time in Solitude, though it looked like he was in the middle of making breakfast as the rest of the Family relaxed, before he noticed something odd about her, "What's wrong? You look like something woke you up while you were sleeping and ruined your morning... that's not counting the new horns and ears you're sporting right now."

"Well, a strange mirror appeared near me this morning, and some Breton that called Sheogorath his 'Lord' spoke to me for a few moments," Amaryllis replied, speaking when she reached the table Nazir and Babette were at, where it took her only a second to pull out a chair and sit in it, though she sighed when she noticed the others looks, causing her to reveal all of her new additions to her Family, "also, it seems that I have been given a reminder of the curse that has been placed on me, thanks to my new cow tail, the pair of cow horns I'm sporting, my brand new cow ears, and a bunch of cow fur on my arms, legs, and neck area... and the udder, which I could do without... at least the cowbell is silent."

"Guess the Prince of Madness was serious, if he's got Haskill doing such a thing," Babette said, showing the others that she knew who Amaryllis was talking about when she described who was on the other side of the mirror, which had to be the Chamberlain of the Shivering Isles, something that told them that the curse was real and that Amaryllis had been telling the truth.

Amaryllis nodded her head to that as she grabbed something to eat for breakfast, where she paused for a moment when she reached for a bottle of milk, given what happened to her during her visit to the Blue Palace, and silently hoped that it did nothing to her when she drank from it. Such a thing would be rather embarrassing if she changed from just drinking milk, as it would also prevent her from touching the stuff in general, but quickly found that nothing happened and that it meant she was able to go about her day like normal. Over the next couple of minutes, as she and her Family talked about the next contract that the Night mother had told her about, Amaryllis found that nothing happened to her while they were sitting there, which meant that there were no hidden surprises for her to worry about. That allowed her to turn her focus away from her changes and focused on why a Stormcloak might want to hire the Brotherhood to assassinate someone, even though it was likely that the target was someone in the Imperial Legion, given the ongoing conflict.

Nazir and Babette were still surprised by this contract, since they considered the fact that the Stormcloaks seemed to be more about battle and didn't like to sneak around places for this sort of work, an assumption on their part since neither of them had spoken with any of the soldiers of Ulfric's army. Given that most of them weren't Nords, save for Amaryllis since she could become whatever she wanted, it made sense that they didn't engage the Stormcloaks in conversation, since it might lead to some problems. By the time she finished with breakfast, however, all of them came to the conclusion that none of them cared about why a Stormcloak might want another person dead, be it one of the Imperials or someone else, hence why she made sure her gear was ready to go, including pulling her hood back on, before wishing the others well and then headed for the Black Door. Once she was outside she spread her wings and took to the sky without delay, where she quickly aligned herself with Whiterun's location and started the brief flight so she could get this over with.

Instead of going fast, like someone would do with a new task to do, Amaryllis took her time to move through the air as she enjoyed the sights that were around her, something that would never get old and made her wonder what the rest of Nirn looked like, which she would have to focus on at some point in the future. Such a thing would only work if she could figure out a way to get more than a single contract at a time from the Night Mother, who seemed to be giving out one at a time at the moment, before she spotted the city she was heading for and landed hear the wall that was near the main gate, all while knowing she hadn't gone as slow as she had wanted. When she landed she turned into a female Nord warrior, this time wearing leather armor and carrying two swords, and headed for the gate, so she could find the contact and figure out what he wanted. Everyone in Whiterun seemed the same as when she was last in the city, which wasn't that long ago since it had only been a few days since she succeeded in assassinating the Emperor and killed the fragment of Akatosh that had been posing as a noble.

She also found that none of the guards paid attention to her as she walked down the street, which was fine with her since it meant she was able to focus on her objective, even though some of the stalls were closed since the owners weren't out yet, given what she had seen in Solitude.

It didn't take her long to reach the inn in question and headed inside without delay, where she glanced around and found that the patrons were having fun right now, just sharing drinks and stories despite the fact that it was still the early hours of the morning. Since they were distracted she accessed her powers for a few seconds it was easy for her to discover a bit of nervousness somewhere inside the inn, which she felt inside the back room she had killed the false contact that had been waiting for news on the Emperor's final fate. As such she walked over to the door in question and found that it was open, with a Nord in Stormcloak armor resting on the bed that was on the right side of the large room, sleeping while being overly nervous about something, a terrible decision based on everything that she knew, to which she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. With that deed one she shifted back into her true form while making sure her hood was up, to give off the menacing assassin vibe while keeping the cow aspect hidden, before approaching the bed and stood over the Nord.

Her mere presence seemed to cause the Nord to shift for a moment and he turned to face the direction she was standing in, no doubt in the sense that he was acting like normal, before he paused as he found her standing over him and stared at the symbol that was on the center of her chest armor for a few seconds, something that caused him to realize that the ritual had worked and caused him to sit up.

"So... the Black Sacrament works... the Dark Brotherhood has come to accept my contract," the soldier said, where it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that he was mentally debating whether this was a good idea or a terrible one, especially since all sorts of people didn't like dealing with her Family, before he sighed and focused on the reason she was here, as this was likely the only time something like this would happen, "I need you to kill Elenwen, the first Emissary to Skyrim, who stays in the Thalmor Embassy and only leaves when matters require her direct attention, such as when she visited Helgen after my Lord and our savior were captured by the Imperials... here's part of the payment for the assassination, as the rest will be revealed once you kill the target and it has been confirmed."

"It will be done," Amaryllis replied, where she found that the bag that the soldier had pulled out was somewhat heavy, no doubt containing between one to two thousand gold and made her wonder if this contract was going to have a price like what the Emperor's did, before she slipped the bag into her pack, while noticing that it did contain a note on top that she would look at later.

The soldier remained where he was sitting as Amaryllis faded into the shadows and opened the door so she could leave this room, though once she was on the other side she shifted back into her disguise, without anyone noticing her due to the fact that a party was in full swing. Such a thing allowed her to depart from the Bannered Mare and headed for the main gate, playing at someone who came to Whiterun for a short rest and was now leaving, though since the guards didn't seem to care she was able to leave the city with ease and head outside. Once she was outside the city, however, she kept walking like a normal person and didn't try to fly back to Dawnstar, because this gave her time to think about the contract, an odd one to be sure, not to mention the sort of plan she and her Family needed to create to pull it off. She could always make an attempt on the embassy and assassinate Elenwen that way, but for right now she figured that speaking to Nazir and her Family was the right plan.

After a while she confirmed something, this was a good day for walking and flying, though from what she could see there were no dangers for her to worry about and no daedric cultists to avoid, meaning she could walk to the crossroads that rested between Dawnstar, Whiterun, and Windhelm and consider what she had been told earlier. When she reached the area that the last farm was in, but had yet to reach the small watchtower that was further ahead of her, Amaryllis nearly paused when she noticed a familiar pair walking up towards her, coming from the north. The first person was a female Nord warrior, still wearing the steel armor she had seen the last time she seen her, while the other was a female Khajiit who seemed to favor using light armor and carried a pair of swords with her, which were either steel or maybe a tier that was above that. Amaryllis realized that this was the third time her path was crossing Za'kera's, something that did cause her to chuckle for a few seconds, as one might consider it fate, before remaining silent as she continued walking, just so she could think about the contract some more.

As they walked towards each other Amaryllis did her best to make it look like she was just a traveling warrior that was on her way to deal with some bandits, but as she passed by them the Khajiit came to a stop for a second, as if one of them had thought about something or had left an item behind somewhere, only to pause as she felt a sudden shift in Za'kera's emotions not even a few seconds later.

"Krista? Is that you?" Za'kera asked, where Amaryllis turned her head for a moment and found that the Khajiit was looking right at her, while her companion was standing at the ready in case anyone tried to attack them, before Amaryllis felt a wave of confusion coming from her for a moment, meaning she must have recognized her unique eye colors, before she realized that her disguise was the same as the last time they saw each other.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, I am the one you encountered back in Whiterun, when I told the guards about the black dragon you saw in Helgen," Amaryllis replied, because while she knew that she could lie and deny what was going on, to make it seem like Za'kera was overthinking things and might be exhausted from whatever she had been though, she suspected that this had to be the special event that Akatosh had warned her about, where she let out a sigh as she engaged her magic and her disguise faded away, revealing her true self as she pulled off the hood, "but no, my name isn't Krista... rather, that was the name I picked, at random, for the disguise you encountered during my time in the city, so I could get passed the pair of guards without trouble. My true name is Amaryllis, and I'm a Changeling... well, I'm what you would call a shapeshifter."

"It is nice to meet you... the real you, anyway." Za'kera stated, which surprised Amaryllis a little, as she expected them to scream and run or lash out at her when they discovered what she was, and the only reason she was doing this was due to the fact that Za'kera seemed totally different from everyone else in Skyrim, "As you know, I am Za'kera and that I hail from the land of Cyrodiil, though I am currently one of the Thanes of Whiterun, a reward for my service in assisting Jarl Balgruuf and slaying a dragon that was attacking a watchtower. That was when I absorbed the dragon's soul and realized that I am, as the Nords call me, the Dragonborn of legend... oh, and this is Lydia, my Housecarl, who is assisting me in figuring out what it means to be a legendary figure, especially with the return of the dragons. So, what's with the dark assassin style armor that you're wearing, not to mention the, um, odd additions you have?"

"I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood, the Listener in fact, and I have Mehrunes' Razor," Amaryllis answered, as she did know that Nazir or Cicero would have made up a lie about why they were wearing this suit of armor, or their armor since hers was different from what most of her Family wore, but what surprised her was that Za'kera wasn't mad at her, rather she seemed disappointed in her decision, "normally the members of my Family don't go about announcing ourselves like that, given that some people want us dead, but I have the feeling that telling you this won't have any consequences. Also, I managed to acquire Sheogorath's Wabbajack, which happened to be an accident since I wasn't looking for him in the first place, and let's just say that he left me with a little parting gift of sorts, hence the odd additions you and Lydia are seeing right now... trust me, he's one Daedric Prince you don't want to annoy, otherwise you'll never know what he'll do, to the surrounding area or to those who have annoyed him."

"That is most wise, given that he's the most unpredictable of them all," Lydia added, something Amaryllis agreed with, due to what had happened to her, though the warrior took a moment to glance around the area they were in and made sure no one was rushing at the area they were standing in, allowing them to focus on the rest of the conversation that had to be coming their way, as Amaryllis knew Za'kera had to be interested in learning more about her and her decisions.

"Look, I chose this life because I was an infiltrator back in the day, before I came to Skyrim, and all I did was sneak into my destinations, get information, and leave," Amaryllis stated, figuring that she could just cut to answering the questions that might be coming her way and get them out of the way so she could focus on heading back to the Sanctuary, as Nazir and Bebette would be interested in hearing about what she had discovered back in the Bannered Mare, "besides, due to being a shapeshifter that can take on whatever form I want, most people tend to not trust us and I figured that trying to be a hero wasn't going to work out. I mean, someone was bound to discover me while I was in the middle of changing my form and could have called the guards on me, so I stuck to the more shadowy groups, as they didn't care about that and, in an odd twist, I even found a new Family to replace my old one."

"I know some people in Skyrim might be idiots, and I've met a few already, but you don't seem like someone who should be run out of a city for your looks," Za'kera replied, where Amaryllis had the feeling that she was referring to the fact that she had taken out a bandit leader and sowed chaos among the ranks of those who followed the leader, though she could also tell that Za'kera was trying to make her feel like she belonged, or something to that effect, "How about you join us for a while, to see what being a hero is like and if you want to add a bit of heroism to your life, before heading back to, well, your contracts? We're actually heading to Riverwood, to find someone who took a special horn from one of the nordic ruins that I was sent to explore, which was rather annoying since it meant we wasted our time for the most part, and retrieve the item in question, as the Greybeards had asked me to recover it as part of a trial."

Amaryllis had no idea what Za'kera was talking about, since it was clear she had missed out on whatever the Greybeards had told her and Lydia, though she agreed to go on an adventure with her, as there had to be a reason why Akatosh had told her about this day and her meeting with Za'kera, though she had no idea what the future held for them.

Author's Note

Edited on 6/19/2022

Dragon: Journey to High Hrothgar

With Amaryllis joining Za'kera and Lydia on their adventure, even if it was going to be for a short period of time, due to the fact that she wasn't planning on spending too much time with the pair, given that she had a new contract to complete, and had to tell her Family what was going on so they could form a plan of attack for Elenwen, they headed down the road and headed in the direction of Riverwood, which involved passing by the Honningbrew Meadery for a few moments and also walking by a couple of guards who would hail them, or at least that was the warning Za'kera gave her. That was due to the fact that Za'kera was one of the Thanes who served Jarl Balgruuf, of which she had the feeling that there were two Thanes for Whiterun, meaning there had to be a second one that Za'kera hadn't met yet, but her warning about any guards they might encounter soon caused Amaryllis to pause for a moment as she shifted into one of her disguises, the female Khajiit one to be exact, even though she made sure to put the hood of her true armor back on before shifting her attire into a set of leather armor once more. Za'kera was still surprised that such a thing was even possible, that she was capable of using her magic to change the form of her attire at will and make a near perfect disguise with both portions of her power, even if it was something that Amaryllis had to discover and figure out on her own, since it wasn't a common ability among her kind, which made her wonder if being sent to another world like this had granted her more skills or had given her a better understanding of the innate powers a changeling had access to. Of course that didn't stop Za'kera from admitting that her ability was a good power to have and that Amaryllis could do so much with such a power, beyond infiltrating the camps all of the bandits had set up across Skyrim, to take out their leaders and sow discord among the groups, weakening them for when someone else, a group of guards or a hero, came to clear them out, though Amaryllis was more excited by the fact that she found someone else who accepted her for who she was and didn't lash out when they saw her true form, which also included the fact that Za'kera cared more about her than her unique powers.

Instead of thinking about that, since she would have time to do it later on, Amaryllis decided to ask Za'kera why they went into one of the ancient nordic tombs in the first place, to get a bit more information on what had happened since she had last spoken to her new friend, and discovered that the Greybeards, the ancient masters of the Voice who lived in a place called High Hrothgar, could teach Za'kera how to wield the legendary Thu'um, which awakened after she killed the dragon that attacked one of Whiterun's watchtowers shortly after Helgen was attacked. After the first two lessons the Greybeards had given her, one involving her learning a new Word to the Shout she unlocked earlier, after killing the dragon that had attacked the watchtower, while the other involved them teaching her how to use a brand new Shout, Arngeir, the leader of the order, then sent her to Ustengrav to retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, the founder of the Way of the Voice, which was what the Greybeards practiced, as a final step in her trials to prove that she was the Dragonborn, a fabled hero for the people of Skyrim, including certain locations in Cyrodiil if they knew the legend of such a figure, which reminded Amaryllis of a book she picked up at one point. Of course the downside to all of that, besides going through a draugr infested ruin, something Za'kera was fine with since one of the things she did back in Cyrodiil was clear out one or two of the ruins that were scattered around the province, or more than that since Amaryllis had the feeling that her new companion didn't like to boast about her skills and let her actions speak for themselves, was that someone had gotten to Ustengrav before her and, instead of going through the tests and enemies that protected the Horn, had found a way into the end of the ruin and stole the Horn from where it had been resting. Za'kera, of course, had been a little annoyed by that and proceeded to loot every piece of treasure that the thief had left behind in the small chamber that lead back to the entrance, as apparently all of the nordic ruins had a treasure room and some had good things inside them, like the massive ebony battleaxe that was on Lydia's back, but the note she found in the Horn's resting place indicated that whoever took it was waiting for her in the Sleeping Giant Inn.

"Someone must really want to speak with you, if they went through all the trouble to get the Horn," Amaryllis commented, though she could see why Za'kera might be annoyed about everything that had happened recently, even if Lydia wasn't even annoyed at all, given that they had gone through an ancient ruin to recover an important artifact that would help Za'kera understand the purpose of the Dragonborn, not to mention why the return of such an important hero was linked to the return of the dragons, though that was all she had managed to learn from her new mentors during her brief time in High Hrothgar, before being sent on a quest that, for the time being, had ended in total failure.

"They could have just sent one of the couriers to find me, since they seem to find anyone they have a letter or package for, instead of hindering my progress," Za'kera replied, reminding Amaryllis of the magical couriers who Festus believed had a number of spells to aid them in delivering news and fulfilling their tasks, even if most of it was to make sure the cities had an idea of what was going on, before she sighed for a moment as she focused on what they were doing and headed up the hill that was currently in front of them, even though Amaryllis spotted a river to the left of them, "however, they have the Horn and I would like to know why whoever stole it is so desperate to speak with me, especially since I'm trying to figure out why the dragons have returned and what they want... I haven't even seen that black dragon since it destroyed Helgen and flew off towards Bleak Falls Barrow."

"A dragon no one has seen since that day, based on what I've heard," Amaryllis remarked, as none of the guards had said anything about the black dragon who wrecked Helgen, not since the day it was reported to the Jarl of Whiterun, while she hadn't seen it during her flights from one part of Skyrim to another, even though she did hear a roar once, meaning that it was either hanging out somewhere, waiting for news of its arrival to die down, or it was wrecking things and no one had bothered to report it yet, but regardless of why no one had seen the dragon so far she knew that it would be best if none of them found it, since fighting it seemed like a bad idea.

"Given that it was by that dragon's actions that I was freed from an untimely execution... I still haven't recovered the blades I had on me before I ended up in Helgen... we'll likely meet again," Za'kera said, showing that she had the feeling that the black and imposing dragon was bound to appear before her again at some point in the future, something that might be a weird occurrence in Amaryllis' eyes, while at the same time revealing that whatever weapons she had been carrying before the Thalmor had captured her, and threw her in with the rest of the prisoners, were still missing, though Amaryllis did take a moment to wonder why the Thalmor had been so eager to deliver her to Helgen and the Imperials that maintained it as they waged war on the Stormcloaks, or did their training drills, but she decided to keep it to herself as Za'kera sighed for a few seconds, "either way, we can't move forward until we speak to this 'friend' of mine and get the Horn back, so we just have to suck it up and get this over with."

Amaryllis nodded her head and followed Za'kera as she headed up the hill that would allow them to return to Riverwood, where she found that nothing seemed to bother the three of them as they made their way towards the small village two of them had passed through when they were leaving Helgen, though she did notice that there were some guards, as in those who usually watched over Whiterun, patrolling the walls as they watched over the village, three of them and that meant a single one for each wall. She felt that such a thing was a little low, as in there could have been five or six present, but this appeared to be the decision the Jarl had reached and she decided not to argue with it, rather she glanced around and took a moment to notice that the residents of the village were busy working, those at the mill were cutting more logs to be sold or to fill an order, while the blacksmith continued his work by making new things to sell or repairing what might have been damaged by the rest of his fellow villagers, like the teeth of the mill's saw blade. As Za'kera headed for the inn, to get this over with so she could return to High Hrothgar at long last, Amaryllis glanced around the area and found that no one was glancing their way, meaning that whoever was waiting for Za'kera to show up had to be inside the inn and wasn't watching the door, to follow her inside once they were sure the Dragonborn had arrived, something that caused her to suggest that both her new friend and Lydia act like normal patrons of an inn and not like the hero of legend, as she wanted to take a bit of time to see if this was an ambush from someone who didn't like them, such as the Thalmor for example. Za'kera took a moment to think about it, as her plan had been to go in and get it over with in seconds, before deciding that the plan was good and that she would let Amaryllis do whatever she felt was necessary to ensure their safety, to which all three of them entered the inn and found that a few patrons were present already, as in Sven, the local bard, was playing near the chairs that patrons sat at, while the Imperial soldier she had seen Za'kera with was in one of them right now, apparently resting from a walk or something, with the local drunk sleeping at a table, and Orgnar and Delphine were discussing something at the bar, just like the last time she had seen the two of them.

Based on what she was feeling at the moment most of the people that were already inside the inn were focused on having a bit of fun, or doing whatever it was that they might be doing at the moment, while she noticed that Delphine glanced in their direction as soon as the door opened, which would have been understandable if a wave of paranoia wasn't coming from the lady in question, like she was keeping an eye out for anyone who might be a threat to her inn, though it caused Amaryllis to make sure Za'kera stood beside her, by two of the chairs, before shifting her head a little.

"I don't detect anyone hiding from our sight, but the innkeeper is acting a little paranoid, even if she's not aware that she is doing such a thing," Amaryllis whispered, keeping her voice low so only Za'kera could hear her speak, as right now her new friend was the 'leader' of their little group and she was going to act that way, at least until they went their separate ways at some point in time, though as she said that something happened, which was the fact that Delphine turned to focus on the three of them, instead of using the sideways glance she used when people entered the inn, "I think she might be the one we're here to see, playing a harmless innkeeper for everyone else in Skyrim while making sure anyone who might be looking for her won't find her until she's ready."

"I see what you mean... so I'll just play along for now," Za'kera replied, as she could tell that there was something up with the innkeeper in question, because she noticed what her friend had told her, even though she had no idea how Amaryllis had figured that out without spending too much time in the inn, which she might ask about later, before going silent for a moment as Delphine walked over to where she was sitting, as she had taken one of the chairs and had acted like she was getting tired from the journey they had been on.

"Wanderers like you three must have quite the appetite... you hungry for a meal?" Delphine inquired, speaking the instant she reached the area that the chairs that Amaryllis and Za'kera were sitting in, as Lydia seemed to be focused on keeping an eye out for trouble while making sure no harm came to her Thane, meaning she was overprotective to a degree, but it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that whatever worry had been coming from the innkeeper had either been contained as she approached the chairs or she was hiding it from her, where she believed it had to be the former, despite the fact that the latter would have been interesting to some degree.

"Not yet... though I would like to rent the 'attic' room," Za'kera answered, as she had told Amaryllis about the note she had found where the Horn had been resting, a message that told her to rent out the attic room of the Sleeping Giant Inn once she arrived in Riverwood, so she could meet her mysterious 'friend' and see what the figure in question wanted from her, where she also took a moment to reach into her coin pouch for a few seconds and pulled out the ten coins that would allow someone to rent a room at an inn, because in the chance that Amaryllis was wrong about Delphine, and her contact was hiding in the shadows, this little act would spur them into action and cause them to seek her out.

"Attic room, eh? Well... we don't have an attic room, but you can have the one on the left," Delphine stated, though as she said that she also took the coins that were being offered to her right now, showing that she was fine with them taking the room in question before she headed back to the bar that Orgnar was standing nearby, leaving them to sit near the fire for a time if they really wanted to, or get some rest if such a thing was important to them instead, to which the trio remained near the chairs as they watched Delphine return to the conversation she had been having with her partner.

Once Za'kera was sure that no one was getting up to speak with them, since she had mentioned the nonexistent room the writer of the message had told her about, she got up from where she had been sitting and walked over to the doors that lead to both rooms that could be rented out to those who stopped at the Sleeping Giant Inn, though once she entered the room in question, with Amaryllis following her as Lydia remained on guard near the chairs they had been sitting in, they found Delphine walking in after them as Orgnar remained standing at the counter.

"So you are the Dragonborn that I've been hearing so much about... I think you're looking for this." Delphine said, where she reached into the pack that she carried, an item that she had stored Za'kera's coins inside when she took them earlier, before she pulled out a curved stone horn that looked like it was incredibly important, which had to be the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, the very item that should have been resting in Ustengrav, before it had been stolen anyway, though Delphine simply dropped it in Za'kera's hands, like she didn't care for it at all, before taking a step back and beckoning for them to follow her for a moment, "Follow me, we need to talk."

As Delphine turned around, to leave the room she had walked into, Amaryllis and Za'kera glanced at each other for a few seconds, because this was confirmation that the innkeeper had been hiding something from them, before following after the lady for a few seconds, which was when Lydia followed after them, just in case this was a trap or something, but as all of them headed into the larger room, where the innkeeper slept, Amaryllis paused as she heard the door open and found that the odd Breton she had seen in Solitude had come to Riverwood. For a moment Amaryllis had to wonder if the Breton was following her or something, especially given what happened after her meeting with Sheogorath, though the lady just walked over to a chair and sat down, allowing her to focus on something else as she turned away from the other side of the inn, where she and her new companions found that Delphine waited for all of them to be inside this room before she bothered to say anything. What she did was ask them to close the door, so no one would notice what was coming next, to which Lydia did that without wasting a single moment, something that caused the lady to open the cabinet that she was standing in front of, which rested against the right wall of the room, and revealed a short set of stairs that lead down to a hidden room, a hideout filled with potions and weapons that were useful in battle, before she stopped once she was on the other side of a table, one that happened to have a number of supplies scattered on top of it.

"The Greybeards seem to think that you're the Dragonborn... personally, I don't see it, though this is the one time that I'll ever hope that they're right," Delphine remarked, revealing that she had only believed that Za'kera was the Dragonborn due to her revealing the phrase to acquire the 'attic room', while after looking at her for a moment she came to the new conclusion that either this was a trap or the Greybeards had gone crazy and named some random person with the title of Skyrim's ancient hero, though Amaryllis had the feeling that Delphine was going to be a pain to work with, given her tone and the fact that she felt that she was superior to everyone that was around her.

"Well, they're right. I am the Dragonborn, slayer of the dragon that attacked Whiterun's watchtower," Za'kera stated, even though it was clear to Amaryllis that she wanted to get this conversation going and figure out why the lady wanted to talk with her, no doubt because it had something to do with the dragons and the fact that they had returned, though as that happened she glanced around the room and found that there really wasn't anything useful in this place, not unless she counted the couple of quivers, an alchemy lab, an enchanting table, and a map on the table that looked like a rubbing of some kind.

"Like I said, it is my hope that you're Dragonborn, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't accept the fact that such a thing is true, even if the Greybeards claim it is," Delphine replied, her tone revealing that she didn't care much for the Greybeards or anything one of the monks might have to say on a particular manner, even though her words did a good job displaying her dislike for them as well, meaning she likely hated the Greybeards or something, before she considered something she could say to make the three of them accept what she was saying, or at least understand her words, "I just handed you the horn of Jurgen Windcaller, an 'important' artifact of the Greybeards, hidden deep within Ustengrav and protected by a few ancient puzzles... tell me, does clearing the tomb and acquiring the horn make me Dragonborn as well?"

"No, it makes you a thief, and probably a disrespectful one since you didn't tackle the tests involved to get to the area that the Horn was resting in," Amaryllis commented, something she knew thanks to everything Za'kera had told her about what she and Lydia had found during their time inside the tomb in question, as her friend knew that no one else, save for some necromancers they killed, had been inside Ustengrav, while no one had been inside the section of the tomb that the Horn had been placed in all those years ago, meaning that Delphine had, against all odds, found a way to open the hidden route that lead to the end of the tomb, allowing her to bypass everything to steal the stone Horn, before she shrugged for a moment, "I can understand the cloak and dagger routine, since you never know if or when certain enemies, be they of the Dragonborn or your own enemies, might show up looking for whoever they're looking for, though you would be smart to starting explaining why you did this, and quickly at that... my friend here doesn't like to have her time wasted, not like what happened back when a pair of guards tried to stop her from entering Whiterun..."

"I'll explain what I want, when I want, got it?" Delphine snapped, showing that she didn't much appreciate Amaryllis' words and was no doubt wishing she had kept her mouth shut, since she only wanted to talk with the Dragonborn, despite the fact that she didn't believe that Za'kera was the hero in question and would likely need to test her in some manner to know if they were pulling her leg or not, before she gripped the handle of the iron sword she carried, as all innkeepers had a weapon on hand in case bandits suddenly attacked their establishment, though her actions did cause Lydia to grip the handle of her battleaxe for a moment, "The three of you would already be dead if I didn't like the look of you when you walked into my inn..."

"Go ahead, attack me if you dare." Za'kera replied, showing that she was calm and collected right now, instead of having an enraged expression on her face, something that surprised Amaryllis since even she was outraged by how Delphine was acting towards them, even if she was keeping it to herself, before the Khajiit raised her left hand for a moment and caused Lydia to stop before she did anything, which made sense considering Lydia was her Housecarl, a bodyguard of sorts based on what she knew, before she focused on Delphine once, "Allow me to properly introduce myself: I am Za'kera, a resident of Cyrodiil who was forcefully brought to Skyrim by the Thalmor, who accused me of a crime I didn't commit, though now I'm one of the Thanes of Whiterun... so, if you attack me, it is well within my rights to either kill you or have the guards arrest you so you can spend some time in the prison that rests beneath Dragonsreach. Think about that before you do anything stupid."

Delphine opened her mouth to say something, like she was going to make a retort and just cut them down where each of them were standing, before she paused for a couple of seconds as she considered what Za'kera had said, likely assuming that she was lying about being the Thane of Whiterun, especially since it was easy to tell that one of them was daring her to step out of line or something while the other was observing her movements, meaning it would be three to one if she did attack them and, given that she had no real idea of their skills, what she had said was just a bluff, one that would fail in a matter of seconds if a battle broke out, to which she sighed for a moment.

"Fine, you win, I'll stand down... for now." Delphine stated, because she didn't like the way the three of them were staring at her at the moment, as she had no desire to start a fight she might not be able to win, especially since it seemed like two of them were warriors and the third was likely someone who liked to fight like a thief or assassin, due to the daggers that were on her belt, two unique ones based on what she was seeing, so she decided to fold this hand and get them back on her side, before they left the inn and returned to whoever they were allied with, "Anyway, I wanted to be sure that none of you are a Thalmor plant... but, before we talk about that, I need you to confirm that you are, indeed, the Dragonborn that everyone has been talking about since Helgen was wiped out."

"So unleash the Thu'um and blast you into a wall, or knock some enemies down? I can do that and more," Za'kera stated, as while she had only been taught two Words of Power while she was with the Greybeards, before getting the quest to go out and retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, she knew that both of her current Shouts were impressive and that there was more a Dragonborn could do, provided she took the time to learn all of the Words that were out there, waiting for her to rediscover them and add them to her collection, especially since she had gained another World inside Ustengrav, even though it would be some time before she used it, before she considered something, "no, wait, based on what you've said so far, just calling upon the ancient power of the Nords wouldn't be enough to convince you that I'm the Dragonborn, even if that lead the Greybeards to call me Dragonborn... no, you want me to kill a dragon, don't you?"

"You're smarter than I first thought... there's hope for Skyrim after all." Delphine said, something that annoyed Amaryllis as she said it, because she made it sound like all of them were morons or people who didn't pay attention to what was going on around them at any given moment, which caused Za'kera to frown for a moment and Lydia reached for her battleaxe once more, an action that caused the innkeeper to raise her hands as if she was surrendering to them, showing that she didn't want a fight to break out between them, "Look, dragons aren't coming back from the other provinces of Tamriel, as many might have assumed, rather they're being brought back to life by someone... we can discuss that as well, once we've killed the dragon that will be rising out of Kynegrove's ancient burial mound in the near future... if you do that, and prove that you're actually the Dragonborn, I'll answer any questions you might have for me."

Amaryllis said nothing as Za'kera nodded her head, as it didn't seem like they had a choice in the matter since Delphine might have an idea on what was going on with the dragons, to which the lady walked over to a chest and the trio turned around for a few seconds, where it was clear that she was switching her attire for some gear she had prepared for when she had to leave the inn at some point, though once Delphine had a new set of clothing on the trio turned back towards her and found that she was wearing leather armor, minus the helmet, before she grabbed a bow and a quiver that had a number of steel arrows, plus a katana that was resting on a nearby weapon rack, and headed for the inn's bar, where they heard her told Orgnar that she would be traveling and just left the inn.

"I don't like her," Lydia stated, where Amaryllis and Za'kera nodded their heads for a moment, as Delphine acted like she was the one in charge of everything and that she controlled all of the strings, likely assuming that she had some control over what the three of them did, but given her personality it was clear that someone might want her dead at some point in time, even though Amaryllis was sure that the lady had been hiding something from them and would only tell them what that something is once they tracked down and killed the dragon she had tracked down, to which Amaryllis took the book and map from the table, since both might be useful later on.

"Well, at least she gave us the Horn before storming out, so we don't actually have to follow her for it," Za'kera said, as that was the main reason she had come to Riverwood in the first place, to retrieve the stolen Horn so she could bring it back to High Hrothgar and the Greybeards, which would allow her to learn whatever else they might have to teach her, but, at the same time, she was sure that they would arrive in time to see whatever Delphine wanted them to see, even if they made a short stop at the massive mountain that was to the east of them, to which she shrugged for a moment, "Come on, lets get out of here and return to High Hrothgar, as I'm eager to give the Greybeards the Horn, before worrying about what else I need to do to stop the dragons."

Amaryllis remained silent as she followed Za'kera and Lydia as they left the Sleeping Giant Inn and headed outside, which was when she discovered that they weren't heading out on the northern road that lead back to the Honningbrew Meadery and the crossroads that rested near it, rather she discovered that her companions were heading down the southern road that lead in the direction of Helgen, not to mention Cyrodiil at some point, as Za'kera reminded Amaryllis of the other path she had seen some time ago, the one that joined up with the one that reached Helgen, and according to her map it should wrap around the southern part of the Throat of the World. Basically it was an easier path for them to take, given that the other path dipped downwards for a time and then had to go uphill at some point after that, so it would allow them to save their energy before reaching the Seven Thousand Steps, the path between Ivarstead and High Hrothgar, which they would have to walk up to reach High Hrothgar and give the Horn over to the Greybeards, to allow Za'kera to learn more about the Thu'um and everything that was connected to being the Dragonborn. Amaryllis considered reverting to her true form for a time, to fly them up to High Hrothgar, but given that she had no idea how heavy Lydia was, in all the metallic armor she was wearing, she figured that staying on this path was the best move for her to make, hence the reason she walked behind the pair as they left Riverwood and headed to the south, following the map and what Za'kera recalled from when she had been brought down this path, given what happened before the black dragon showed up and torched Helgen to the ground. One thing she noticed was that the odd imperial she had seen back in the inn, who she had seen in Solitude before this point in time, had focused on her and her new companions as they departed from the inn and returned to the road, where she had the feeling that the lady was following them and might show up at some point in the future, likely at Ivarstead, the inn located in Kynesgrove, or one of the other cities, though one thing she did was pull out that book she had taken from Delphine's table, the one that spoke of the Dragonborn, and took some time to flip through the pages as they walked, all while keeping an eye out for danger.

What she focused on was the 'prophecy' that was at the end of the tome, something that spoke about certain events and that something would happen it response to those events, like when she read the line about the 'Brass Tower walking and Time was reshaped' or the 'Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne and the White-Gold Tower failed', but what was interesting was the final two lines, speaking about when the 'Snow Tower' was kingless, sundered, and bleeding, which resembled the ongoing civil war and the fact that the High King had been killed recently, that the 'World-Eater' would awaken and that it would cause the 'Wheel' to turn to the 'Last Dragonborn', which made her curious about things and meant she would have to ask someone about the prophecy at some point in the future.

During their walk Amaryllis found a group of bandits hanging out in Helgen, even though she was surprised by the sheer amount of damage that had been done by the black dragon Za'kera had told her about, who stopped them in their tracks and attacked them without delay, where she pulled her daggers and stabbed the leather wearing bandit that attacked her, while Lydia raised her battleaxe for a second as she tanked the sword swing to her chest, as it bounced off her armor without leaving a gash in the steel armor, before cleaving her foe in half with a single swing of her weapon, surprising Amaryllis since she wasn't expecting such a thing to happen in the first place. Za'kera, on the other hand, pulled out her swords and moved like she was a graceful dancer or something, as she moved to the left and right a few times as a pair of imperial bandits rushed at her, the movements allowing her to avoid the incoming attacks like they were nothing, before parrying the sword of the first foe and moved to kick the second in the chest, knocking one of her enemies backwards, which allowed her to swing both of her blades and cut her first opponent down in seconds, and when the second rushed at her she just parried the next incoming attack before taking him down. Amaryllis had to admit that this let her believe what Za'kera had said, about her being a skilled hero from Cyrodiil that had been dragged into this mess by the Thalmor, and Lydia nodded her head as it happened, though once the bandits were taken care of she made sure to collect any useful items that might have been on their enemies, such as coins and arrows, before Za'kera sheathed her blades and headed for the other gate that was currently in their way, something that opened with ease and allowed them to continue towards Ivarstead. It made sense that they wouldn't be wasting time on clearing out any other enemies that were in Helgen, even though it looked like all of the bandits had rushed at them when they entered this place and such a thing meant all of the bandits were dead, so both Amaryllis and Lydia sheathed their weapons as well and followed Za'kera as she left Helgen and headed up the path that was in front of them, this time hoping for no more interruptions along the way, or at least that was Amaryllis' opinion on what they were doing.

One of the things they happened to walk by was a Stormcloak camp that was on their left, not too far from where Helgen rested, and before it rested an area that looked like a lone rock of some kind with a camp around it, not to mention what looked like an Argonian heading into the area while wearing steel armor, but the figure was so far away that it was hard to make out what her weapon might be and what the color of her scales might be, though none of them were interested in bothering her and continued down the path that was in front of them. Amaryllis had to wonder if Ulfric's followers had set up the camp after hearing that he had been captured by the Imperial soldiers, to launch an assault on Helgen to free him, something that didn't come to pass since that black dragon had smashed the place and burned it to the ground, why none of them had any idea since none of them had seen it for some time, which meant this camp must have been turned into one to use for the war that neither side seemed all that interested in bringing to an end, once more making her wonder if they were waiting for something specific to happen. After that there appeared to be nothing on the road for them to see, so all the trio did was talk about whatever was on their minds to pass the time, even though the first question Za'kera had was about the forms that Amaryllis could take, since her power was so unique in this world, to which she took a moment to glance around and make sure there weren't anyone else around them, but once she was sure they were fine Amaryllis weaved her magic around her and swiftly shifted between the forms of every race that resided in Skyrim, as in the ones she had seen during her time in this land, impressing Za'kera while she did that, even though it was followed by her being weirded out when Amaryllis shifted into the form of Farengar and spoke with his voice for a moment, before reverting to her Khajiit form once more. Of course she made a couple of comments about her disguises, at least the ones she had used so far so she could get into the cities, towns, and villages that doted Skyrim's landscape, while remarking that, for some reason, the Khajiit form she was currently wearing was her favorite, where she suspected that it was due to how close it felt to her true form, or the form she had started with before her encounter with Sheogorath in Solitude, which interested Za'kera as she learned more and more about her.

In addition to the odd camp and the Stormcloak camp they had passed by the group eventually passed by a cave, one that was in a more snowy part of Skyrim's southern reaches, that looked like some bandits might be living inside it right now, or at least Amaryllis was sure of that, but instead of stopping Za'kera headed down the curved path that looked like it might have been carved out of two pieces of rock, leaving jagged peaks on either side of the road, before eventually coming to an area that transitioned into a part of Skyrim that was more in fall, or at least it was to Amaryllis. The next thing they found was a small shack off to the left that looked like an alchemist had called it home for some time, at least until a wild animal took them down, and it was easy to tell that it had belonged to such a person was due to thanks to all the potions and the alchemical ingredients that lined the couple of shelves that were around the small building, including an outdoor alchemy bench that was surrounded by a garden, where they found that no one had been here for some time and it allowed them to pocket a few health potions for their battle with that dragon Delphine mentioned, as Za'kera was hoping the black one would be there so she could put an end to this danger. Once they were done with the shack the trio continued following the path that was in front of them before turning to the left at a split in the path, one that Amaryllis kind of recognized due to Ivarstead being some distance in front of them, though as they walked towards the small settlement Za'kera mentioned that the last time she and Lydia had been here they had faced a number of trolls and bears before reaching the inn, which happened to give them a chance to rest before making the climb to High Hrothgar, where Amaryllis found that this time around the plan was to just press on and get this over with, so once the Horn was delivered to the Greybeards and see if there was anything else they needed Za'kera to do. Truthfully, she was fine with this plan of action, as it had been a while since she had walked the roads of Skyrim, given the amount of time that she put into flying from place to place, so she said nothing to that as Za'kera and Lydia entered Ivarstead, before heading for the stone bridge that would bring them to the start of the Seven Thousand Steps and, eventually, High Hrothgar, an area Amaryllis hadn't seen yet and was interested in what they might discover when they arrived at their destination.

What she found out was that her companions had cleared out the path the last time they had been up this way, as most of the creatures had attacked them and it lead to them being slain by Za'kera and Lydia, and there were a number of rather odd stone monuments that rested along the path in question, before eventually coming to a large stone building that was unlike anything Amaryllis had seen so far, save for Windhelm anyway, but it seemed to be their destination and they took a moment to walk up some stairs to reach the doors... though once inside she found that they stepped into a decent sized square shaped chamber that had one figure who was male and happened to be dressed in interesting grey robes, which were different from the other robes she had seen so far.

"Master Arngeir, I have returned from Ustengrav and I have recovered the Horn," Za'kera said, speaking the moment she noticed who the Greybeard was, as according to her there were supposed to be five of them at the moment, four inside High Hrothgar and a fifth living up on the top of the Throat of the World, so she and Lydia didn't have a chance to meet the last one during their previous visit to this place, and while she did that she made sure to pull out the Horn in question, all while Amaryllis and Lydia stood there as they watched whatever happened next.

"Ah, so you have. Well done, Za'kera, you have now passed all of our trials." the Greybeard, Arngeir, replied, where he got up from where he had been resting and faced her for a moment, something that was followed by him collecting the Horn as he nodded for a second, showing that he approved of what he was seeing and such a thing meant his words were true, she had completed every test that the Greybeards had for her, before he tucked the Horn away in his robe and beckoned for her to follow him, "Come with me. It is time for us to recognize you formally as Dragonborn."

As Arngeir moved towards the center of the chamber that rested near the main doors of High Hrothgar, which had what appeared to be a large diamond shaped emblem or design placed directly in the middle of the stonework that went into this place, where Amaryllis noticed that part of the stone had some odd symbols that had been carved into it, symbols she didn't recognize for a second before she determined where she had seen them before, the odd stone wall that had been inside the Falkreath Sanctuary and another that had been behind a hagraven when she was gathering the three pieces of Mehrunes' Razor, but before she could do anything she noticed that three more Greybeards stepped out to join them, no doubt to fulfill Arngeir's statement.

"You are ready to learn the final word of Unrelenting Force, 'Dah', which means 'Push'," Arngeir continued, naming one of the Shouts that Za'kera had access to, as she informed Amaryllis that she had two Shouts unlocked, Unrelenting Force and Whirlwind Sprint, even though there were more that required her to find more of the 'Word Walls' and find the Words that were written on them, based on what little she had learned the last time she was here, which was followed by one of the Greybeards, the northern point one since all of them were arranged at the points of the diamond symbol, glanced down at the floor and covered his mouth, releasing a small burst of energy that carved three more symbols into the floor, a Word that Za'kera seemed to absorb into her body, "With all three Words together, this Shout is much more powerful than if you used one Word or two... I know you will use the full power of this Shout wisely. Master Wulfgar will now gift you with his knowledge of 'Dah'."

Amaryllis watched as the Greybeard in question bowed his head for a moment as a surge of light, or some sort of energy that resembled light and rushed from one place to another, left him and surged into Za'kera for a few seconds, which had to be Wulfgar granting her his knowledge of the Word that he had etched into the floor, meaning this likely happened the last time she and Lydia had been here, learning both of the Words that they had granted her, before the light died down and her friend nodded, indicating that she knew the information she had been granted, something that was impressive if she was able to gain a complete understanding of the Words they were currently teaching her.

"You have completed your training, Dragonborn. We would Speak to you." Arngeir stated, making Amaryllis take a second to wonder why none of the other Greybeards were speaking, as he seemed to be the one who did most of the speaking to those who came to High Hrothgar, while she was also curious as to what he meant by his words, something she would no doubt understand in the next couple of seconds, all while Za'kera remained at the ready, "Maintain your position between us and prepare yourself, as very few can withstand the unbridled Voice of the Greybeards... but you are ready for what we are about to do."

Za'kera nodded for a moment and braced herself, while Amaryllis and Lydia remained nearby as they watched what was about to unfold before their very eyes, even though it did look like Arngeir and the Greybeards were readying themselves for what they were about to do, no doubt because this was one of the few times that they 'Spoke' to someone who just so happened to be the Dragonborn, before they focused on Za'kera once more and started whatever rite or ritual they were planning on undertaking for the next couple of moments.

Lingrah krosis saraan Strundu'ul, voth nid balaan klov praan nau. the Greybeards chanted, where it looked like their full power was being used at the moment, as it caused the area that Za'kera was standing in to shudder for a moment and also caused her to stagger a few times, while being struck by the power of the monks who called High Hrothgar home, but at the same time Amaryllis was sure that the chant meant something or had a very specific meaning that Arngeir and the rest of the Greybeards knew, Naal Thu'umu, mu ofan nii nu, Dovahkiin, naal suleyk do Kaan, naal suleyk do Shor, ahrk naal suleyk do Atmorasewuth. Meyz nu Ysmir, Dovahsebrom. Dahmaan daar rok.

Amaryllis waited for a few moments as the Greybeards eventually stopped Speaking to Za'kera, who was standing still like nothing had happened to her, meaning her position as the Dragonborn must have granted her some resistance to what was going on right now, so she didn't get knocked around High Hrothgar by the power of the Greybeards, though once the ritual was done the four monks bowed their heads for a moment, as if recognizing her friend as the Dragonborn at long last, which caused her and Lydia to smile as that happened.

"Dovahkiin. You have tasted the Voice of the Greybeards, and passed through unscathed." Arngeir stated, showing them that he and the other Greybeards were pleased by what they had witnessed, and whatever they had felt when they Spoke to Za'kera, while at the same time Amaryllis noticed that he used an odd word to say 'Dragonborn', or at least she thought that the term 'Dovahkiin' meant 'Dragonborn', and once he said that the other three Greybeards started to leave the area they had been standing in, "High Hrothgar is open to you."

Amaryllis was happy for Za'kera, as it seemed like gaining entry to High Hrothgar, in the permanent sense, had been part of the reward for her trials and would no doubt come in handy at some point in the future, since the Greybeards were the ones who knew the most about the dragons and might know something that might help them bring down the beasts, or at least she hoped so, as she had a feeling that they would be facing off against a number of dragons in the future and knew that any information they might have would be useful to surviving what the future held for them.

Dragon: Danger in Kynesgrove

Once the Greybeards were done greeting Za'kera, and she had access to all of High Hrothgar's services, the first thing she did was ask Arngeir if there might be any other Words of Power she could learn, as adding more Shouts to her arsenal did seem like a good idea and Amaryllis agreed with her, though, given the fact that she had mastered an entire Shout in a few days, far quicker than those who weren't the Dragonborn, Arngeir was reluctant to give her any additional Words, due to the fact that he felt that growing her power too quickly would make her arrogant, possibly send her down a dark path that she might regret at some point, as in one that would potentially bring about the end of her life, something that did cause Amaryllis to consider something.

"But wouldn't the challenge of getting to some of these words actually help her hone her skills?" Amaryllis asked, as while she did agree that growing one's skills too quickly might lead some to being arrogant, possibly power mad in some cases, part of her had the feeling that tackling the enemies and other obstacles that were near the various Word Walls might be a good way for Za'kera to learn how to wield her new powers, though it was quickly followed by Za'kera nodding her head as she listened to the idea, meaning she either hadn't considered such a thing or the idea had come to mind and Amaryllis had beaten her to the punch.

"Hm, that is true. We can tamper your growth with experience," Arngeir replied, showing that he understood the idea that she was offering to him and Za'kera, even though there was a chance that he had considered such a thing before she said anything at all, before he thought about it for a moment and then asked for Za'kera's map, which she handed over to him not a few seconds later, something he looked at as they wondered if he was going to help her out, "and there are many Words of Power scattered throughout Skyrim, carved into stone walls and written in the Dragon Tongue... even from here we can feel the Thu'um resonating from each of them, and there is one in Dead Crone Rock that should be a good test for your skills."

Amaryllis found that Arngeir pointed at the map when he said that, giving Za'kera the location of the Word in question so she could track it down and master her new skills, but the amusing thing was that she knew where to find the Word Wall he was talking about, as it had been near that hagraven who held the pommel stone, so she could guide Za'kera straight to where it rested and might be able to scout out the area for whatever plan of attack her friend might have in mind so she could get her hands on the Word of Power. Once she knew where the Word was located, and made a note of it for later on, Za'kera collected her map and returned it to her pack, though once that was done she bid the Greybeards farewell for the time being and headed outside High Hrothgar, causing her companions to turn around and follow after her once more, as it looked like they would be heading out for Kynesgrove to see if Delphine was right about the dragon that might rise out of the ground at some point in time. Amaryllis still wasn't sure about fighting a dragon, if Delphine was correct about that anyway since it looked like her evidence might be accurate, as her map indicated that the rise of dragons was coming from the southeast and seemed to be heading to the north, hence why the next one happened to be in Kynesgrove, but right now she had no idea how well a battle might go between them and a dragon, since Za'kera was the Dragonborn and had killed one before she met up with her, and that was the only reason she wasn't terrified of facing such a beast. Lydia, on the other hand, didn't seem upset by the prospect of facing a dragon in battle, rather she seemed eager to face it and take it down, no doubt impressed by her Thane's power and what she had done before becoming the Thane of Whiterun, which caused Amaryllis to sigh for a moment before deciding that there was no use arguing with what was going on and focused on the fact that they would be facing a dragon in the near future, before they headed outside and headed down the path they had used to reach High Hrothgar earlier.

"I can help you find that Word Wall, as I've been near it," Amaryllis commented, deciding to speak up while they walked, as it would help pass some of the time before they got back to Ivarstead, though since it looked like it was heading into the afternoon, and getting close to nighttime, it was likely that they would stop in the small village for the night, have a bit of dinner and then breakfast, before they headed for Kynesgrove, before she thought about something, "though I'll have to scout out the area in question and see how the Forsworn have managed since the death of their hagraven leader... got to remember to be careful if I do such a thing."

"Why's that? You seem like someone who wouldn't be bothered by the likes of the Forsworn," Za'kera asked, because due to everything she had learned so far, in the short amount of time she had known the changeling who was the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, meaning she had to be one of the greatest of her kind, regardless of the news that her Sanctuary had been put down by the late Emperor's guards, she suspected that Amaryllis could deal with whatever challenge might be thrown at her, "especially with the power to transform into the form of someone else, since that should allow you to simply walk through their camps with ease."

"They seem more attune to the elements and sounds, as they're always glancing in my direction when I fly close to one of their many camps," Amaryllis admitted, something that caused Za'kera to think about it for a moment, though it was the truth of the matter since she really didn't like dealing with the Forsworn, as she worried that if she walked through a camp they might figure out that there might be a traitor in their midst and lash out at her without must thought, among several other reasons she was sure she would discover if she actually fought them, "though we could always fight our way to the area that the Word Wall is located in, if sneaking through the area isn't something you want to do... that's if we head over to where Dead Crone Rock rests."

Za'kera nodded as she focused on heading down the path that was in front of them, as while she and Lydia had killed all of the trolls and wildlife that had been in their way during their previous visit to High Hrothgar, which had taken them a bit since there had been more enemies than what they had been thinking there might be, she didn't want one of them to slip and fall while they walked down the stone steps, though she knew that if something were to happen Amaryllis could likely revert to her true form and catch either her or Lydia before they fell off the mountain. Other than that they found that no new enemies were resting on the sides of the area and that allowed all three of them to reach Ivarstead after some time, to which they returned to the inn and Za'kera made sure to purchase a room for the night, even though it only contained a single bed and meant that she and Amaryllis would have to trade places, as Lydia seemed to prefer sleeping in a chair as she kept an eye out for potential enemies, so she was an advanced warning system in case enemies entered the inn while they were sleeping. Amaryllis thought about it for a moment and decided that her plan was sound, that they would have a bite to eat and rest from their climb to and from High Hrothgar, where when morning arrived they would head out and start traveling down the path that would eventually bring them to Kynesgrove, even though she had made her peace with the fact that they would be fighting a dragon at some point. Of course she made sure to feel the emotions that were in the inn and discovered that the innkeeper was frightened about something, the bard was also frightened about whatever her boss had to be frightened of, and the patrons didn't have a care in the world right now, which was no doubt the mead or ale talking, to which she sighed and joined her companions for a bit of dinner, since it had been some time since they had something to eat and their travels up and down the mountain took a bit of energy out of them... though once everyone was done eating Lydia took up her position in a chair that allowed her to focus on the main door as Za'kera took the bed in their room and left Amaryllis with the chair.

Eventually morning came to Ivarstead and Amaryllis discovered that everyone was ready to go, as her friends had risen an hour or two before the rest of the people who lived in this village, though Za'kera made sure to restock their provisions before they had breakfast, which was nice even though it was mostly bread, cheese, milk, and a bit of dried meat, but the moment everyone was done eating, however, the three of them headed outside and started to head towards the northern path that brought someone to this village. The reason for that, as Za'kera explained herself, was due to the fact that both she and Lydia had come up the path in question and had cleared out a few wild creatures to reach Ivarstead earlier, as in during their first visit to this place, and those creatures included a troll by the river, a pair of sabre cats, some spiders that had been on the main road, and some bandits that had been guarding a tower near Whiterun, so for part of their journey they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by wild creatures. As she said that, and they headed down the path that would connect with the one that would take them to Kynesgrove, Amaryllis felt a wave of hostility for a moment and took a second to glance backwards, finding three robed figures stopping by the inn for a moment, wearing masks that covered their entire head for some odd reason, though it looked like they were looking for someone and she had the feeling that it had to be Za'kera, given that she was the Dragonborn of legend, but for the most part they were able to slip out of sight before the weird cultists could see them. She had the feeling that a fight would have broken out if they had been seen by the cultists, so by avoiding their gaze it allowed her and her friends to leave the area without drawing attention, though at the same time she felt that it might be best to hide somewhere unless the cultists walked by, since she was sure that some of the residents of Ivarstead might point out the path they were currently walking down, but for now it looked like one of the guards might be talking to them and it gave her, Za'kera, and Lydia time to get out of the area before they were found out by the odd cultists.

Amaryllis had the feeling that, based on the hostility she had detected, those cultists weren't here to ask for Za'kera to join them in a quest to take down a dragon, or something like that, rather it seemed like they had come to Ivarstead to kill her for some reason, either meaning they were agents of someone she ticked off in Cyrodiil, like someone deemed her to be a threat and wanted her dead, or maybe all three of them were agents of another sect of the Thalmor, sent to finish the job, or maybe there was a lunatic out there who felt Za'kera might come for them and wanted her dead before she arrived at whatever location they were hiding in, before she shook her head and figured that they would find out the truth the next time they encountered the cultists and faced them.

As they headed down the hill Amaryllis found that Za'kera had been telling the truth about the enemies she and Lydia had killed earlier, as there happened to be a dead troll along the way and she spotted one of the sabre cats as well, though for the most part it looked like they would be able to get down to the main road without much delay, despite the fact that they had to walk for an hour, maybe and hour and a half, before reaching the path in question, to which they paused for a few seconds to catch their breath before moving once more. Once they were ready to go Za'kera headed down the right path and continued moving without delay, where Amaryllis noted that she was heading for the path that she had taken in the past, when she used the carriage to travel between Windhelm and Riften, helping Aventus out before becoming part of the Dark Brotherhood, though the path in question meant they wouldn't have to walk through any of the sulfurous pools or the rocky crags that were around them, where she was sure a dragon had to be resting, given a few noises she had heard during her last visit to this part of Skyrim. Fortunately the path would also bring them to Kynesgrove, which was just outside Windhelm, by like ten to fifteen minutes based on her estimates, though they would have to climb up some raised sections of the path and descend down a few of them as well, which have them some decent exercise as they kept an eye open for any dangers that might be on the road, but during their trek Amaryllis shifted into her true form every so often and flew into the air to scout out the path in front of them, giving Za'kera any information on what might be in front of them, of which she found nothing waiting for them. Now that was in relation to potential enemies, like bandits, thieves, or whatever else attacked travelers while they were on the road, which made her statement true, though she did discover a few sabre cat corpses, a bear corpse resting to the side, and an area that a Legion patrol was moving through, as they were heading towards Riften at the moment, to which she returned to her companions and the disguise she had picked out for the time being, even though Za'kera was happy to have whatever information she had to give her, though it was clear that she was thinking about Delphine and the dragon she wanted them to kill.

There were no discussions as they walked towards Kynesgrove, allowing Amaryllis a chance to confirm that Za'kera used a pair of swords and carried a bow on her back, complete with a quiver full of steel arrows, while wearing light armor to give her the ability to move around an area with great ease, while Lydia seemed to prefer heavy weapons, the two handed type she had learned about in the past, and wore heavy armor to protect herself from harm while having her own bow, so she knew they were outfitted enough to take down any normal enemies, but a dragon was another story.

It took them about two hours to reach the outskirts of the area that Kynesgrove rested in, though it quickly became clear that something was happening, as Amaryllis found a massive dark cloud gathering above the inn in question, meaning a storm was either building or whatever Delphine was trying to stop was already happening and they had arrived too late to do anything to stop a dragon's revival, hence why they started to pick up the pace and headed over to the inn, as none of them knew where the path to the burial mound rested. That was when a lady ran away from the inn, either a patron or an owner, who stopped when she saw them and informed them that they didn't want to be here, as a dragon was attacking the mound that was apparently located behind the inn, up a hill she actually showed them to when Za'kera informed her that they were here to deal with the problem, but as all of that happened Amaryllis nearly froze as she heard a roar, as it came from the black dragon she had seen when she left Emershard Mine, the very one that burned Helgen to the ground earlier, and right now it was in the middle of attacking the mound. Once the innkeeper showed them the way, however, she fled from the area as pretty much everyone else followed her lead, as the lone guard simple stood still as if they were frightened by what was going on at the moment, to which the three of them advanced up the path that would bring them to the mound and discovered that Delphine was already hiding near a rock that was outside where the mound rested, to which she gestured for them to join her as they watched the black dragon. What Amaryllis was focused on was that there was a mass of dark energy coming from the dragon burial mound that was in front of them, meaning something had to be happening and was connected to the storm that was forming above their heads, though before she could say anything the large black dragon flew into the area and came to a stop as it glanced down at the mound it was focused on, though she was sure that it had noticed her and her companions, despite the fact that it was more interested in what it was doing at the moment, giving them a chance to see what was bringing all of the dragons back to life.

"Sahloknir, ziil gro dovah ulse!" the black dragon stated, speaking in what Amaryllis had to assume was the language of the dragons, which was odd when she considered that the Greybeards had used the same language to Speak with Za'kera in High Hrothgar earlier, though it seemed like the beast was speaking to the corpse or soul of the fallen dragon who called this place home, or at least that was what Amaryllis was thinking right now since she had no idea what the beast was even doing, but that didn't stop her from gripping the handles of her daggers, "Slen tiid vo!"

In the following moment the black dragon loosed a burst of energy, a Thu'um Amaryllis discovered, that slammed into the burial mound and disappeared within a few seconds, almost like nothing had happened to it, though before anyone could do anything the earth that had been used to bury the dragon burst out of the ground and a skeletal dragon emerged from it, walking out of the mound as it glanced at the one that had revived it, whose scales, spikes, and pretty much the rest of his body reformed before their very eyes, creating a light gray scaled dragon in a matter of seconds.

"Alduin, thuri! Boaan tiid vokriiha suleyksejun kruziik?" the light gray dragon, Sahloknir, inquired, as it sounded like he was asking the black dragon a question, something that Amaryllis wasn't sure on since she didn't speak the Dragon Tongue, as the Greybeards called the dragon language, though Delphine remained silent as they watched what was going on, while both Za'kera and Lydia removed themselves from their hiding place and readied their weapons, just in case a fight broke out between them and the dragons.

"Geh, Sahloknir, kaali mir." the black dragon, Alduin as Sahloknir called him, replied, where Amaryllis was sure that the two dragons were male based on both of their voices, even though it sure seemed like Alduin was a lord or something based on how Sahloknir respected him, or at least it sure appeared to be that way to her, though in that moment the black beast turned his head and glanced down at them for a few seconds, studying them for a moment or two as he focused most of his attention on Za'kera for a time, "Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi."

"Listen, I have no idea what you are saying, but I'm going to make you pay for destroying Helgen," Za'kera stated, though it was in that moment that she shifted her stance and held her weapons at the ready, showing that she was willing to fight them and bring them down, while at the same time Lydia raised her battleaxe and Amaryllis did the same thing with both of her daggers, where it took a few moments for Delphine to pull out her bow so she could ready an arrow for when either dragon tried to fly off.

"You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah." Alduin replied, his tone showing that he felt Za'kera was overstepping the bounds or something, while at the same time his words had to be the sort that were designed to annoy someone, to make them angry enough to make mistakes in a fight, even though Amaryllis was sure that there was another reason behind what Alduin was doing at the moment, even if she had no idea as to what that reason might be, before he switched to Sahloknir once more, "Sahloknir, krii daar joorre."

Somehow Amaryllis and her new friends understood that this statement was an order to kill them, how she had no idea and wasn't about to waste time thinking about why she considered such a thing to begin with, especially since Alduin took off and departed from this area, as in he actually flew away from Kynesgrove, while Sahloknir took to the skies and started to circle where his burial mound had been built, causing her and her companions to spread out as she sheathed both of her daggers and switched to her bow. Since it looked like Sahloknir wanted to remain in the air for a time, and not be near their melee weapons, this seemed like the best strategy in her mind, hence why she pulled out an elven arrow and readied it over the next couple of seconds, allowing her to track the dragon they were fighting for a time as he came to a stop right in the middle of the air, something that allowed him to breath fire on where Za'kera was standing. Fortunately it appeared that her new friend was able to vacate the area in question, avoiding the flames entirely, before she loosed her arrow and found that while it did strike the side of her target's head for a moment, dealing a bit of damage, or at least she hoped it did something to the massive beast, the arrow did bounce off the dragon's head and landed on the ground, meaning she could reuse it and she was fine with that as she readied another arrow. Based on what she was seeing right now it looked like Sahloknir was more focused on taking Za'kera down, meaning the dragons might sense that she happened to be the Dragonborn and wanted her dead because of her status as Skyrim's legendary hero, or for whatever reason they might have for wanting such a thing, as the beast landed near Za'kera and opened his mouth for a moment, charging what had to be a flame breath, to which her friend shifted her stance, readied both of her blades, and then rushed forward like she had been shot out of a cannon or something, allowing her to slice into the side of Sahloknir's body as she avoided the fire breath that hit where she had been standing moments ago.

Amaryllis was sure that Za'kera had used one of her Shouts to move out of the way, which one she had no idea because it was hard for her to tell how many Shouts the Khajiit had access to, though such a thing opened the way for Lydia to swing her battleaxe down on the dragon's neck and seemed to cut into some of the scales, which caused Sahloknir to pull away in an attempt to avoid taking even more damage, something that allowed Amaryllis and Delphine to loose a pair of arrows at the dragon's back, where Delphine's were steel. She quickly discovered something interesting, Sahloknir didn't seem to care about her, Delphine, or even Lydia for that matter, even though he did avoid Lydia's attacks after suffering through the first one that cut into his neck, but such a thing was good for them since it meant that it created openings for the rest of them to use to use in their attempts to cut the dragon down. When Sahloknir was on the ground, and his focus was on Za'kera while trying to avoid all of Lydia's attacks, the latter being hard to do since they were attacking from each direction, it presented Amaryllis with an opportunity to switch to her daggers, allowing her to swing the Blade of Woe and Mehrunes' Razor at Sahloknir's backside, finding that her blades were able to dig into his back, near his wings, and found that she did receive some of the dragon's life energy thanks to the blade Astrid used to carry at all times. Other than that nothing else happened with her blades, meaning Mehrunes' Razor might not work on dragons, but given that it was a Daedric artifact it did some decent damage and that was all that mattered at the moment, though once the dragon moved his wings she did the smart thing and pulled her blades out of him as she jumped off of the dragon's back, allowing him to take to the air as she switched back to her bow for a time. Amaryllis was staying away from using her magic since she really didn't know a lot of offensive spells, save for what she had discovered in her time in this world, hence why her main weapons were her blades and her bow as she offered Za'kera as much assistance as she could offer right now, though when she spotted the dragon attacking Lydia, and breaking her battleaxe, an idea formed in her head.

As such she backed away and summoned her magic, calling forth her chest once more as she raised a hand towards it and pulled out a weapon that would aid them in taking Sahloknir down, where she called out to Lydia, who had backed away from the dragon once her weapon had been broken, and hurled the ebony battleaxe at Za'kera's Housecarl, who caught it, spun it around, and brought it right down into the dragon's head, causing Sahloknir to stagger for a moment as Za'kera drove both of her blades into his eyes and likely pierced his brain in the process... something that caused the dragon, after a few seconds of staggering, to collapse, even though it was followed by his soul breaking away from his body before it just slammed into Za'kera's chest.

"Well I'll be damned... you really are Dragonborn, aren't you?" Delphine inquired, where Amaryllis had pieced together the fact that the Dragonborn was capable of stealing a dragon's soul and absorbing their knowledge, given what Za'kera had told her after she joined up with her and Lydia, and the fact that she had taken Sahloknir's soul as well, reverting the body back to what it had been before Alduin revived him to face them, though once that was done Za'kera nodded her head as all of the magic died down, "I did say that, once you proved yourself to me, that I would answer your questions... and I'll remain true to that, so go ahead, whatever you want to know... I won't hold anything back."

"I'm going to hold you to that." Za'kera stated, where she focused on her blades for a moment, after carefully pulling them out of Sahloknir's body, even though Amaryllis could see that her friend wanted to find her stolen weapons and take both of them back, before she sheathed them and turned towards Delphine for a moment, who seemed to be patiently waiting for some questions, with her usual annoyed expression on her face, "Okay, I'm ready. I want to know what you know about the dragons coming back, not to mention who you are, and why you are so interested in finding a Dragonborn... we'll start with those three and move on from there."

"To be honest, I have no idea why dragons are coming back, just that they are," Delphine replied, where she turned for a moment and stared at the fallen dragon that they had killed together, something that caused her to walk around the area for a few seconds as she collected her fallen arrows, showing that she was thinking about what was going on right now, as this had to be quite the shock, before she returned to where Za'kera was standing, "to be honest, I was just as surprised as you were to find that big black dragon here, though it seems that he's tied to the dragons coming back to life. As for who I am, well, I'm one of the last members of the Blades, an ancient order who once served the Septim emperors and, at one point in the far past, were dragonslayers who aided the Dragonborn, the ultimate dragonslayer, in slaying dragons, while also helping keep the peace. For the last two hundred years, since the last Dragonborn emperor, the Blades have been searching for a purpose, as with no one to follow we were left to our own devices... now that dragons are coming back to Skyrim, well, our purpose is clear again, and we need to stop them."

"Well, part of what you said is wrong, the Blades weren't 'left to their own devices', you were destroyed by the Thalmor at one point during the Great War," Amaryllis remarked, as she had read a few books since her arrival in this world and that had been one topic that had been talked about, that the order that was supposed to defend the Emperor had tried to take down the Thalmor and, due to various reasons no one could agree on, had been smashed to pieces, while most of their order were slain by their enemies.

"Regardless of that fact, I must ask what our next move is, to take down the dragons." Za'kera stated, as while she could do without Amaryllis pissing off Delphine, which was impossible to do since she could see that the lady appeared to be stuck in a state of constant anger, towards whoever happened to annoy her, though at the same time she was hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with her for too long, otherwise she was sure that something would happen to her in due time, given who her companions were.

"The first thing we need to do is figure out who's behind the dragons," Delphine answered, though it was extremely easy for Amaryllis to feel her immense hatred for the Thalmor, as while she could understand her resentment towards the very organization that had purged her order from every corner of this world, or at least it seemed to be that way, her hatred for the force in question would have been enough to choke any novice changelings, " and the Thalmor are our best lead if we want to figure out what is going on... if they aren't involved with this, and I find that to be highly unlikely, they'll have some information or even know who is behind the dragons returning."

"Out of curiosity, what makes you think the Thalmor are the ones messing with dragons?" Amaryllis asked, where she was asking this since it seemed like Delphine might not have figured out that Alduin had been the one to revive Sahloknir, as in no one else was responsible for such a thing, which made her wonder if dragons were immortal or could live longer than all of the other species of this world, at least until someone like Za'kera killed them and took their soul, which would mean that Delphine was unobservant or something.

"Nothing solid... yet... but my gut tells me it can't be anybody else." Delphine remarked, something that caused Za'kera to raise an eyebrow for a moment as Lydia stood nearby, admiring the new battleaxe she had been given, and Amaryllis just listened to what she had to say on the matter, before she sighed as she raised a hand to her forehead, like she was tired of her or something, "Listen, the Legion had captured Ulfric, which means that the war in Skyrim would have been over, had they executed him like they planned... then a dragon attacks Helgen, Ulfric escapes in the ensuing chaos, and this stupid war is resumed like nothing even happened. And now the dragons are attacking everywhere, indiscriminately, which just means that Skyrim is weakened, which weakens the Empire, since they're losing soldiers in this conflict. Who else would gain from all of this but the Thalmor?"

"Except that they aren't attacking Skyrim, as the only dragon attacks were Helgen and Whiterun's watchtower, which now includes this one," Amaryllis stated, as she was starting to think that Delphine didn't know what she was talking about, as there had only been two dragon attacks since Alduin showed up, three counting this one, and the Empire hadn't lost that many soldiers, not like Delphine was trying to suggest, before she thought of something else she had seen during her time walking on the roads of Skyrim, "plus the Legion and the Stormcloaks haven't actually killed each other yet, rather I've seen a few of their mock battles all over this province... neither faction is actually killing each other, they're fighting while waiting for something to happen... basically, things aren't as bad as you're making them out to be."

"While I agree with my companion, that doesn't change the fact that we need to discover what the Thalmor know about the return of the dragons." Za'kera added, her tone informing Amaryllis that she wanted to wrap this conversation up and move on with her quest to figure out how to save this province from the dragons, or more depending on what else might be lurking in the shadows, though that was when she turned back towards Delphine for a moment, "Now, given that you must have spent some time spying on the Thalmor, I'm assuming that you have some ideas on what we can do to get our hands on the information they have?"

"To do that we'll have to get inside the Thalmor Embassy, which is the center of their operations in Skyrim, the problem is that it's locked up tighter than a miser's purse." Delphine answered, showing that, despite Amaryllis' comments, she was still willing to answer Za'kera's questions on the matter as she thought about what she was being asked, though while they thought about what she had said, and what it meant for Za'kera's mission, "Honestly, they could teach me a few things about paranoia... anyway, I'm not entirely sure how we're going to get you into the Embassy, but like I said, I have a couple of ideas and I need some time to consider our options. Meet me back in Riverwood when you can... if I'm not back when you get there, use this key and wait for me in my hidden chamber... I shouldn't be long. Oh, and keep an eye on the sky, as things are only going to get worse."

Za'kera said nothing as she accepted the key that was handed to her and simply stood there as Delphine headed out, even though they knew the lady was going to be taking her sweet time getting back to Riverwood, to make them suffer for the annoyances she had been through since they walked into her inn, before she sighed as she considered what to do, which gave Amaryllis time to tell Lydia that she could keep the ebony battleaxe, until she got something better, and then turned towards her new friend.

"I'll meet you guys outside the inn, as I need to head back to my Family and tell them what's going on," Amaryllis said, due to the fact that she hadn't told Nazir or Babette about what she had learned since leaving the Sanctuary earlier, especially when she considered the fact that this would give her a chance to tell them that she needed to kill Elenwen and that doing this would allow her access to her target, where Za'kera considered what was going on at the moment before nodding her head to show that she was fine with this sequence of events.

With Delphine gone Amaryllis shifted into her true form once again, wearing her true armor as well, before taking off and heading towards Dawnstar, leaving Za'kera and Lydia to make their way back to Riverwood, which would take them a few hours based on where they were in relation to the inn their annoying ally wanted to meet them in, though once she was done informing her Family of what was going on she would uphold her statement and return to Riverwood as well, as she had a few ideas on how to get at Elenwen and was somewhat eager to see what Delphine had in mind to get into the well guarded Embassy.

Dragon: Infiltrating the Embassy

Amaryllis didn't rush back to Dawnstar, like one might suspect given everything she had learned so far, rather she flew at a decent speed that would allow her to land outside her destination within an hour or two, where she was sure that no one would be around to see her land outside the city or use the grate to head into the Sanctuary that happened to be her new home, or the newest one anyway, though the flight gave her time to consider her options and what sort of plan Delphine might have to get inside the Thalmor Embassy. Based on what little she actually knew about the Thalmor, or Elenwen for that matter, her best options were to either disguise herself as a member of the organization and bluff her way into the building in question, eventually pulling her target out to a place where she could kill her, or as a guest and cause a bit of chaos before silencing Elenwen, escaping while the chaos consumed the Embassy. She was hoping that the former would be acceptable, since she had a few ideas that would allow her to acquire some information on the dragons and what the Thalmor knew about what was going on, though that might involve letting Delphine in on her secret, something she didn't want to do, so when she returned to Riverwood she was going to have to take on the form of a high ranking Thalmor, as such a thing would allow her to bluff her way through the Embassy without raising too much suspicion. Of course she also took a few moments to think about the fact that they were able to take down a dragon, where she was sure that Sahloknir must have been weakened from being revived from his slumber, otherwise taking him down and killing him would have been nearly impossible, since fighting a full powered dragon would have been a disaster, something that made her take another second to wonder how they were going to bring down Alduin, before sighing as she focused on flying through the air and made sure no one spotted her while she was doing this.

Despite what she was thinking about Amaryllis found that she was able to reach Dawnstar not an hour and fifteen minutes after leaving Kynesgrove behind, where she discovered no one happened to be near the area that the hatch for the hidden tunnel was located in and opened it without delay, allowing her to slip into the passage and walk down to the entrance of the Sanctuary, where she raised her right hand for a moment and pulled her hood back as she reached her destination, to which she stepped down into the dining chamber and found her Family waiting for her.

"Amaryllis, there you are! We were worried about you." Babette said, speaking the moment she and the others noticed her arrival in the Sanctuary, even though it was only her, Nazir, and Cicero right now, which meant that finding new assassins to replace all of their fallen brothers and sisters must be incredibly hard for just the two of them, since Cicero was sticking to his role as the Night Mother's Keeper, which meant doing no assignments, something she wondered if she could change and not be punished by Sithis or whatever enforced his will.

"Please tell me that you aren't going to be doing this too frequently... disappearing for a time without saying anything to either of us," Nazir remarked, informing Amaryllis that her vanishing for a day or two and then returning had to be nerve racking, since she was the only one who could hear the voice of the Night Mother, who revealed the contracts to them so they could assassinate someone, even though he found that Amaryllis was still in her true form and could see all of her new cow additions that she preferred to hide with her magic.

"Sorry, I bumped into Akatosh's champion, the Dragonborn, and helped her kill a dragon," Amaryllis replied, as that was an event she was still coming to terms with in some regard, that she had faced a mighty creature of this world and survived to tell the tale, though at the same time she held up a hand to stop Babette and Nazir from bombing her with questions on if she was sane or just totally insane, the latter was up for debate since she had found the Prince of Madness not a couple of days ago and gained her partial blessed and partial cursed true form, "anyway, I was able to talk with our client and found that he wants us to kill Elenwen. Now, before either of you say anything about this, or start to come up with a plan that will allow someone to get in the Embassy to kill her, allow me to say this: while I was aiding the Dragonborn, one of her allies made a comment about infiltrating the structure in question and I might be able to use her plan to kill two birds with one stone... they get the information they're after, we get to kill Elenwen and move on with our lives."

"That... actually sounds reasonable." Nazir said, because while he knew that they could come up with a plan that revolved around gaining an invitation to one of Elenwen's famous parties, so Amaryllis could acquire the form of whoever she took the paper from, he had to assume that whoever happened to be aiding the Dragonborn had an idea on how to do such a thing without murdering their way to one of the invitations, to make sure Elenwen suspected nothing, and he had to agree that using them made sense for Amaryllis, to which he sighed for a moment, "Very well, we'll use them for our benefit and try to move on with our lives... though something tells me that, given your brief history with godly beings, you might find yourself roped into aiding the Dragonborn for some time."

Amaryllis, despite her feelings on the matter, suspected that Nazir was right and part of her actually wanted to see what might happen once she was done infiltrating the Embassy, though while she thought about that she heard the voice of the Night Mother beckoning for her to come to her coffin, to which she pulled her hood on and wondered who else needed to die, though what she got was a surprise, as the moment she knelt before the coffin the Night Mother she received a list of names and locations, clients that would be performing the Black Sacrament and where to find each of them, and on which day, meaning Akatosh must have had a hand in doing this, so she wouldn't be tied down. Of course she made sure to write down all of the information she was being given, so Nazir could divide the list between himself or Babette, leaving Cicero to his duties, though all of them, as in her, Cicero, Babette, and Nazir were surprised by this, since they figured she would only given Amaryllis one contract at a time and were surprised by what Amaryllis discovered when she talked to the Night Mother, which was good for the Family as a whole. Once that was done she walked back to her chamber for a time, as she had to take some time off to ensure that Za'kera and Lydia reached Riverwood, though while she did that she stared at the mirror that had been left behind, which didn't seem to have any magic attached to it right now, and closed the door as she used her magic to assume the form of an Altmer, because if she was going to use the form of one of the Justiciars during this mission she needed to have a good disguise and send the remaining Thalmor on a wild goose chase once they figured out she was the one who killed Elenwen. While she messed with her face and the shape of her body, to make an elegant form that would distract some of the people who would be at the party, even though she had next to no experience using the forms of the Altmer, she discovered that Sheogorath was still messing with her in some manner, as she tried to shrink the size of her breasts a few times, to make them more manageable, and they returned to the size he gave her as his good blessing, since the cow parts were in the bad part of this madness, before she eventually sighed and decided not to even bother trying to mess with them at all.

Once Amaryllis was sure that enough time had passed, as in an hour or two after her return to the Sanctuary, she walked out of her chamber, bid her family farewell for the time being, and then used the hidden passage again, where it took her no time to return to the opening and found that no one was near the grate, to which she sealed the opening and took off, heading for Riverwood once more, and this time she went faster than she had done before, allowing her to reach her next destination with ease. She spotted the guards, who were focused on the roads and not the skies, despite the fact that they knew there were dragons wandering around the province, since she was sure that Alduin had to be raising more of them for some reason, though with that information gained she glanced around and spotted Delphine approaching the bridge that would bring her to the small village, with Za'kera and Lydia not a few minutes behind them, though neither group had noticed her either. As such she quickly moved towards the other entrance of Riverwood, which happened to lead to both Falkreath and Helgen, before the latter was destroyed anyway, and landed behind the bend so none of the guards could see her, where she weaved her magic around her and assumed her new female Thalmor Justiciar form, letting her armor change accordingly as well, and when she approached the village she could see that the guard on the wall she approached did turn to look at her for a few seconds, but seeing her attire he briefly nodded and let her continue. With that done she walked over to the Sleeping Giant Inn and headed inside, before Delphine even realized someone had entered ahead of her, where she found that Orgnar had his back turned and the door leading to the room their ally slept in was open, so she walked over to the room and made sure to close the door behind her, mostly to surprise Delphine before speaking to her and her allies so they could get this operation underway and infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy.

"I don't think you were followed." Delphine commented, where Amaryllis heard her speak the moment Za'kera and Lydia entered the inn, not a few moments behind her, though in the following moments she heard the door open and knew that her new friends and their annoying ally were about to discover her, hence why Amaryllis turned around and glanced at the group as they entered the room, where she found Delphine reaching for her weapon as Za'kera raised an eyebrow before seeing Amaryllis' eye colors, the clue that allowed her to identify her instantly, "You... how in Oblivion did one of you track me down, without leaving a clue that I was being watched?"

"I'm good at what I do, surviving member of the Blades, and I'm trained not to leave clues behind," Amaryllis replied, doing her best to sound similar to the annoying Justiciars she had encountered on the road before, which she found easy to do given the conversation she had with some of them, but at the same time she held up a hand to stop Delphine from pulling out her sword and attacking her, since that would waste time and that was the last time she wanted right now, "but right now you are the least of my worries or concerns, as my companion told me about your plan and how I can surprise the Ambassador by helping you learn what my organization knows about the dragons... I get some information from Elenwen and you get what you want as well, we both win."

"...Fine." Delphine said, her tone revealing that she wasn't too keen on the idea of working with a Thalmor agent, despite the fact that Amaryllis could easily be an Altmer pretending to be a member of the organization that crushed the Blades all those years ago, before she turned towards Za'kera and beckoned for her to follow, something that was followed by the main door of her room closing and the hidden door opening, allowing them to walk down into the hidden room she made at some point in the past, "Thanks to the walk, I have decided on a plan that will allow us to get all of the information we need, so we can figure out what to do about the dragons returning."

"I'm glad that it didn't take you too long to figure out which idea was the best for us," Za'kera replied, though they stood around the table that seemed to serve as the heart of the hidden room, since Delphine stood on the other side of it and her group stood on the side that the stairs lead to, where she was glad that Amaryllis was back with them and hadn't just decided to ditch them after aiding in Sahloknir's death.

"I've been doing this a long time, remember?" Delphine stated, where it was easy for them to tell that she wasn't happy at the moment, either due to the fact that she felt that Za'kera was insulting her or the fact that Amaryllis' current disguise happened to be a Thalmor agent, the very organization she was planning on bringing down at some point, before she took a moment to glance at Amaryllis for a couple of seconds, believing the lie she had been told, "While the Thalmor's been looking for me, I've been watching them... though obviously not as well as I would have liked, given that one finally found out where I've been hiding."

"Tell you what, in exchange for your help I won't tell the others what I know," Amaryllis spoke up, as she knew it was a card that anyone would love to hold over Delphine's head, that if she failed to do what someone told her or asked of her than her secret, one that she had been trying to keep hidden for so long, would be spilled to the Thalmor, where she found that Delphine considered the information that she was being given and sighed as she nodded her head, showing that she had to accept this deal, "Good, now you'll be able to operate in peace for a few more years... unless the others find you first, of course, but you have my word that I won't tell anyone else about your existence. Now, tell us about your plan to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy... I'm dying to know what sort of plan you've come up with."

"As you no doubt know the Thalmor ambassador, Elenwen, regularly throws parties where the rich and connected cozy up to the Thalmor." Delphine explained, though it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that Lydia didn't care about this and Za'kera had no idea that such a thing had been going on, despite the fact that it was clear Delphine was speaking to her, as in the agent she had presented herself as, hence why she nodded her head to show that such a thing had been reported at one point in the past, before their annoying ally continued speaking, "Now I'm sure that you can get inside on your own, due to your... connections... but since you want to surprise Elenwen, since she likely has no idea who you are, I can get you into one of those parties, though once your inside you'll get away and find Elenwen's secret files and find out what they know about the black dragon and the return of the dragons. Now normally I wouldn't tell someone like you this, but I'll have to bet on you keeping this a secret as well: I have a contact inside the Embassy, a Wood Elf by the name of Malborn... truth be told, he's not up for this kind of high-risk mission, but he can help you, especially since he has plenty of reason to hate the Thalmor. I'll get word for him to meet you in Solitude, at the Winking Skeever..."

"Delphine, I'm an agent of the Thalmor. You don't have to act like I'm the Dragonborn when you talk to me, unless it helps you ignore what I am," Amaryllis replied, as Delphine was speaking like this was a mission where this Malborn would aid them by smuggling in all sorts of equipment, so whoever joined the party could have everything they needed to carry out their mission, though at the same time she really didn't like the fact that the lady was trying to ruin another person's life in her attempt to learn everything that the Thalmor knew about Alduin and the return of the dragons, "just tell Malborn that he has to acquire an invitation for Andrasha, not to mention adding my name to the list of guests, and that nothing else is required of him for the time being... if I need more assistance in the Embassy, which is highly unlikely, I'll be sure to track him down and enlist his assistance, without ratting him out to Elenwen or the rest of the Thalmor. Trust me on this, if you aid me in my mission I will ensure that none of the secrets you have shared with me will be spilled to the other Justiciars, and the same applies to my Khajiit assistant, who is busy with something else, she won't say anything about this either, of that you have my word on."

Za'kera found that Delphine stood there for a moment, debating between telling Amaryllis off, or 'Andrasha' since the lady had no idea what was going on, or agreeing with the plan that was proposed, though it didn't take long for Delphine to just nod her head and depart from the inn once more, no doubt heading to Solitude to find Malborn and tell him what he had to know before the next party started. Once that was done the three of them left the inn as well, making sure to lock up all of Delphine's secrets before heading out into the main chamber and walked outside, returning to the road again, where it was easy for them to see that Delphine was heading off in the direction of Falkreath or Markarth, though as they departed from Riverwood Amaryllis found something interesting as all of them turned towards the eastern path, the lady turned not a few seconds later and approached Za'kera's group. It turned out that Delphine had sucked up her pride for a moment, as in doing anything with an agent of the Thalmor, and joined Za'kera as they headed for Whiterun, even though it was easy for Amaryllis to know that Delphine didn't trust her all that much and would be glaring at her the entire time while they made their way to Solitude, even though she was surprised to find that Za'kera was planning on using the carriage to get to the city in question, to which they produced a number of coins and climbed onto the back of the wagon. Amaryllis also found that Delphine didn't talk at all while they traveled to Solitude, instead she stared at her and made sure she didn't do anything except glance out at the plains and structures that the carriage went by, giving Amaryllis time to make sure her disguise was up to par with what all of the other Thalmor used when they walked and talked with those who happened to get in their way, so she could be ready for what was coming up in the near future.

It took about seven to eight hours for them to reach Solitude, though given that they were closer to the point in time that all of the shops closed for the day it would be hard for Delphine to get the invitation, so Za'kera purchased a room for the night, giving them a place to sleep and rest while they waiting for their ally to get the item they needed, while Amaryllis did notice a male Wood Elf sitting at a lone table and that their ally spoke with him for a time, likely informing him about what they needed to acquire. Amaryllis knew that it would take some time for Malborn to acquire the invitation and deliver it to Delphine, who would hand it over to them when she was ready for them to, hence why she debated between taking a seat in the corner of the room and making it look like she was studying everyone in the Winking Skeever, or heading outside for a time and 'take a walk', as there was a building that the Thalmor owned that she was curious about. With Delphine sitting on the other side of the section of the inn they were in, staring at her, she had no choice by to remain in the inn and wait for Malborn to return with the invitation, something that eventually lead to her heading to the room as well and heading to bed for the night, even though she also knew that Delphine would remain watchful over her and Za'kera, with Lydia doing the same thing at the same time. Even though the room was safe Amaryllis kept her disguise up, since she didn't want her secret to be revealed to Delphine and have to worry about her threatening to spill the beans to ensure her cooperation for the foreseeable future, as she really didn't trust her to keep her power a secret, not after everything she had learned since she and her new friends had encountered the lady in question, and eventually she fell asleep in her disguise, though part of her power was set up to make sure that if someone knocked on the door either Za'kera would wake up and her power would do the same or she'd wake up first to see what was wrong.

As it turned out Amaryllis and Za'kera were able to sleep for the night and woke up without Delphine annoying them, to which both of them headed down to the table they had sat at earlier before ordering something for breakfast, despite the fact that Lydia made sure no one was going to bother them before sitting down in the third chair. As they did that, and all of them enjoyed their breakfast, Amaryllis found that Delphine chose to sit at the table Malborn had been sitting at earlier, where the elf in question was nowhere to be seen, meaning he was at the Embassy. She was proven wrong when Malborn walked into the inn a few moments later and handed Delphine a slip of paper, something the lady looked at for a couple of seconds, to be sure it was what they needed, before lightly nodding her head so he could get moving. While she silently observed them a pair of guards walked in and sat nearby, discussing a development inside the Blue Palace about how two of their staff became cow creatures and the Jarl might have suffered the same fate, all because both staff members decided to have a little fun in their new forms.

Amaryllis, while embarrassed by the idea of causing such a thing to happen by annoying Sheogorath, turned her focus to Delphine and her companion, figuring she could draw less suspicion if she pretended not to hear the guards talk about such an odd thing.

"Seems like the operation might be starting soon," Amaryllis commented, speaking the moment she noticed the exchange go down, even though she did note that Malborn also picked up a shipment of mead and other wines that would likely be transported to the Embassy, which caused her companions to notice what she had spotted, but instead of getting up she just sat there and waited for Delphine to walk over to them, which she did without delay, "So, did your contact procure an invitation to one of Elenwen's parties? Or do I have to do things myself?"

"And this is why I don't like your organization... yes, Malborn got an invitation," Delphine remarked, keeping her voice low in the off chance that someone who worked for the Thalmor, and wasn't who Amaryllis was pretending to be, was listening to what they said, so her words were only for Za'kera and her group, to which she sighed and set the piece of paper on the table, letting Amaryllis take the invitation and carefully stash it away before anything else was said, "It just so happens that there is a party today, so you'll be able to take a carriage from the stables and see what the rest of the Thalmor know, but to ensure that no one finds us, as in your companions and I, we're heading back to Riverwood... you'll know where to find us once you have the information that we're after."

Instead of correcting Delphine, and saying that she would be meeting the Khajiit from earlier, Amaryllis just nodded for a second and bid her companions farewell, something that was followed by her getting up from where she was sitting and headed for the door, allowing her to leave the inn and make for the gates of Solitude, even though her final destination was the carriage that Malborn must have arranged for her to use, and soon she nodded to the carriage driver and climbed onto the back before bracing herself for what came next.

Amaryllis found that the carriage river took his time traveling from the stables and the Thalmor Embassy, as she expected it to take about thirty minutes to reach her destination, since Elenwen's place was supposed to be close to Solitude, but in the end it ended up taking her nearly an hour to get up the mountain and find the stone settlement, due to three buildings and a metallic fence that covered the entire area, complete with a gate that some Thalmor Justiciars unlocked for them so they could enter, before eventually coming to a stop in front of some stairs.

"Ah, another fellow latecomer," a voice said, where Amaryllis turned her head a little and found that there was a Reguard, a businessman based on what she was seeing since he seemed to be dressed like someone who discussed business with others, meaning he had to be someone who worked with the East Empire Company, though right now it seemed like he was in a bad mood about something, not that she cared that much, "and you arrived by carriage no less... I salute you for arriving in style, though I would have preferred to arrive the day before..."

Instead of listening to him Amaryllis walked up the steps and found one of the Justiciars was standing outside what had to be the main door of the Embassy, where she reached into her small pouch and withdrew the invitation for the soldier to glance over, who seemed worried that he might be outranked by someone like her and quickly admitted her to the party, while making sure to hand the invitation over, though when she walked into the building she heard several voices talking and found an elegant Altmer lady, who had an aura that suggested she was Elenwen, standing near the entrance, who did pause when Amaryllis entered and moved to intercept her.

"Welcome. I don't believe we've met. I am Elenwen, the Thalmor Ambassador to Skyrim." Elenwen said, sounding like she was glad to have another guest to tend to, even though this time she had no idea who was in front of her and seemed to be keeping her stunned feelings to herself for the time being, not that Amaryllis cared since she would be dealing with her in due time, before the lady focused on her as Amaryllis noticed Malborn was off to her right, not a few steps after all of the visitors entered this place, "And you are...?"

"I am Andrasha, one of the Unseen, and I was sent to speak with you and judge your security," Amaryllis replied, where she noticed Elenwen raised one of her eyebrows for a second or two before lowering it, not fast enough for someone like her to notice the movement in the first place, though for the time being it looked like her target was buying her story and did seem interested in what she might learn if they talked, "I may look like a simple Justiciar, but that is the point, as those we are sent to spy on won't assume that a more dangerous foe is lurking nearby, giving someone like me time to learn more secrets that will aid the Thalmor in our glorious mission... I trust you know what that means."

"I see... a secret sect, only revealing themselves when necessary," Elenwen commented, showing that she understood what Amaryllis had told her so far, something that caused a wave of worry to wash over her for some reason, making her take a moment to wonder how in the world she could believe such a blatant lie like that, but she had to assume that this was due to her training giving her an edge over everyone Elenwen might be used to dealing with, to which she sighed for a moment as she considered something, "Very well, you and I will speak in due time... right now I have a few people that I have to talk with and make sure our forces are working to fulfill our missions, but once I'm done I'll send for one of the guards to come collect you and we can speak about your assignment and how we can use it to our advantage."

Amaryllis nodded and found that Elenwen pulled back, talking to one of the guards and allowing her to enter the chamber that was in front of her, something that allowed her to focus on the guests and whatever she might discover while she studied the area she was in at the moment, even though she did find a number of Jarls, a few Stewards, a fair number of businessmen who wanted to cozy up to the Thalmor for their businesses, and even a few Justiciars who must have been pulled from their duties to be here. She ended up taking one of the goblets that Malborn offered her, choosing not to even listen to what sort of drink had been poured for her, since she wasn't planning on drinking it and would make a show of it while teleporting bits of it to one of the potted plants in the chamber, before she walked over to where the other guests were standing and mingled with them for a time. The fascinating thing she discovered was that none of the Jarls, or even any of their Stewards, seemed to be concerned with the presence of the Thalmor, even though she did find that General Tullius was present at this party and appeared to be keeping an eye on all of the Justiciars, like he was expecting a trap or something, despite the fact that her powers revealed that he didn't trust the organization she was pretending to be part of and might be looking for a way to end this civil war so the Empire could focus on the more immediate threat. It reminded her of what Delphine said, that only the Thalmor benefited from Ulfric escaping, because if the war really kicked off, and it became a true battle for the province of Skyrim, than people would die and it would weaken both this province and the Empire as a whole, making it that much easier for the Aldmeri Dominion, the masters of the Thalmor, to stomp everyone into the ground and take over, though for now she filed that information away for later, as there was a chance this might become useful later on.

Elisif, as she discovered, looked like the cow form Amaryllis had been forced to become during her time in Pelagius' mind, only she was wearing clothing that fit her altered frame, but she was being given a wide berth, because others feared that they'd be changed into a similar form if they touched her or the milk stained sections of her clothing. As Amaryllis glanced at the transformed Jarl she realized that she was feeling a little strange, where her breasts felt fuller than before and she could see both starting to enlarge a little, which meant that milk had to be building inside them, before a familiar shudder washed over her body. In the followings seconds she could feel the tips of her udder starting to push through her disguise, in fact it was easy for her to see that the entire mass was starting to slowly grow out in her pants and Amaryllis had to take a moment to wonder if there was a way for her to stop this from happening while she was on this mission. This was the worst timing imaginable, especially since such a thing would draw unnecessary attention to her from not only Elisif, who would accuse her of corrupting her, and the guards, who would likely arrest her for bringing a curse to the party.

As she determined what to do, however, she found that the drunk redguard, Razelan as the guards called him, was finally let into the building after being searched by the guards, though his statement about getting somewhat drunk seemed to be true, given his wandering movements. For some reason he seemed to think that Elisif was a beer tap or a fountain that he could drink from, as he had a smile on his face as he bit down on the Jarl's left nipple, not caring about the clothing in the way, and let the corrupted milk quickly flow into his mouth without a care in the world. Amaryllis could only watch in horror as the curse made itself known again as his body turned feminine before all of their eyes, breasts bursting out of his shirt, or her shirt now, as she was given a form that matched those inflicted with the curse. Sure enough her body went through a number of changes, adopting the cursed cow form that Amaryllis had unwillingly brought to this world, and it wasn't long before Razelan had her own udder, leaking milk like her new breasts as she was locked into the cursed form that the Jarl had been cursed with.

She had to wonder if the scene was enough to relive her symptoms, as her breasts returned to normal and the outline of the utter disappeared in a matter of seconds, allowing her to mentally breathe a sigh of relief as she turned her attention to the people that were all around them, to maintain her illusion as people backed away from the corrupted pair.

Some of the businessmen were focused solely on building relations with the Thalmor, and one of them seemed to be of the opinion that selling out his Hold's secrets to them might be the best way to get all sorts of deals, as someone actually approached her and spoke to her about that, meaning her disguise was working far better than she intended for it to and she also tucked his shared information away as well. The Jarls, on the other hand, were also worried about the return of the dragons and what it meant for their Holds, especially since it appeared that the only one most of them knew about, as far as she could tell, was a large black beast who ignored all of the settlements and stayed in the wilderness, something that told her that Alduin must have been looking for the various dragon burial mounds and was reviving those that had been slain in the past. Such a thing didn't explain where all of the revived dragons went, as the one who attacked part of Whiterun, the watchtower, had perished at Za'kera's hand and Sahloknir had died after she and her companions took him down outside Kynesgrove not that long ago, but Delphine was sure that more dragons had been revived and it didn't tell her where all of them could have gone, though she suspected Alduin was having them gather in a certain location so they could prepare for an eventual assault on Skyrim, to purge the land or something like that. As she thought about that some of the Stewards talked with each other, sharing information on trade routes and what might be coming in the future, as in confirming that goods were moving between the Holds of Skyrim and making sure their business partners would get their items in no time, though for the most part she ignored what they talked about and focused on waiting for the guards to inform her that Elenwen was ready to talk with her, so she could end this mission and get out of here after searching for all of the information the Thalmor knew about the dragons and their return.

Eventually she found that one of the guards beckoned for her to come with him, to which she handed her goblet to one of the servants and followed her guide through a door, one that had been locked until this point in time, where he lead her through the rest of the building and quickly took her outside, where she found a few guards patrolling the final building of the Embassy, where he allowed her to head inside and she did so without delay, where she silently closed the door, as she did see a guard some steps in front of her, and shifted back into her assassin form before hiding in the shades near the door on her left, as she heard some voices and it appeared that a conversation was wrapping up.

"Before our new guest arrives, tell me you've found the Stone." Elenwen stated, something that caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow for a moment as she heard that statement, as she was curious as to what this 'Stone' was and why one of the Thalmor seemed interested in recovering it, or at least finding out where in the world it was resting, though this did tell her that there was someone else inside the room that needed to be eliminated, just to tie up some loose ends or something, but she remained silent as she listened to whoever was inside the room.

"Not yet, ma'am, but we've determined that it has to either be inside High Hrothgar, under the protection of the monks the primitive Nords revere, or further beyond their domain," another voice replied, which had to be a male Altmer, a Justiciar no doubt, though it made Amaryllis wonder what in the world they were searching for, and why they thought it might be in the area that the Greybeards called home, or beyond it for that matter, though she was sure that if she asked someone in Winterhold about this she might get a good answer, before she heard the Justiciar sigh, "Also, as per your request, I sent out a group of Justiciar to search for the missing Khajiit you hauled to Helgen, and as far as we can tell she's the latest hero to take on the title of 'Dragonborn' and stands as a potential threat to our plans to bring down the Empire... you were right to frame her for a crime that one of our agents committed, as it allowed us to move her without suspicion, but right now it seems like she's hanging out somewhere in Balgruuf's Hold."

"With the Emperor dead, and with him having no heirs, it falls to the Elder Council to pick a new ruler, and they'll fight over it for a while before someone is picked," Elenwen commented, something that caused Amaryllis to think about it while the pair were talking, because if Amaund had been an actual person in the Motierre family, and not a fragment of a Divine that was in hiding for a long time, this would have given him a chance to be elected as the next ruler of the Empire, which just so happened to be what Astrid thought when she learned the news, "but with Akatosh and the Divines choosing a brand new Dragonborn, who is connected to the dragons, there's a chance that she might try to take control of the Empire, as I'm sure the Elder Council would bow to her if such a thing happened, and such a thing cannot be allowed to happen. Rulindil, order your Justiciars to step up their searches, for both the Stone of the Snow Tower and the Dragonborn, as both of our missions must be completed, before our guest learns of our current failures."

That sealed the deal for Amaryllis as she waited for a few seconds, as she was going to kill Elenwen and Rulindil, because it would weaken all of the Thalmor who were scattered around Skyrim and prevent her friend from coming under assault in the future, though her luck was good as a male Justiciar stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, to which she waited for him to step away from the door before slicing open his throat with her dagger. As that happened she made sure to grab his body before it hit the floor, due to the fact that the noise would alert the others to something the fact that something was wrong, and carefully hid it in the shadows she had been lurking in for some time, waiting for his life to fade before ensuring that he was dead, though once that was done, and no one came rushing at her to kill her, Amaryllis took a moment to take Rulindil's coins and any keys that were on him. With that done she carefully approached the door that had been closed and slowly opened it as she peered in front the other side, where it was easy for her to find that Elenwen was standing in front of a display case that, if she was seeing things right, she was in the middle of locking, though since her target was busy Amaryllis made sure to carefully open the door to the point where she could enter the room and was just a tad bit surprised that Elenwen hadn't heard anything yet. Such a thing allowed her to invade Elenwen's domain and close the door behind her, all without her target doing anything other than stare down at what was inside the case, though once she did that, and nothing had changed, she pulled out both of her powerful daggers and braced herself for a few seconds, before she made her way over to where her foe was standing and used the Blade of Woe to stab Elenwen right in the back, stunning her for a moment as she dropped the key to the display case, before ending her target's life with a quick swing of Mehrunes' Razor across her neck, leading to her sheathing her blades and catching the corpse.

With that done Amaryllis made sure that the lone guard who was inside this building didn't come to investigate what was going on with the room her target had been in, before picking up the key as she stood up and glanced into the display case her target had been staring at, where she found a pair of midnight black swords, ebony swords to be exact, that had a bit of a curve to them, not to the extreme that a scimitar possessed, while possessing a good grip that meant they wouldn't slip out of their user's hands. The blades had an elegant design etched into the area near their edges, maybe of Imperial make or something since Za'kera mentioned she had been a hero of Cyrodiil until she was framed for the crime Elenwen had mentioned, and both had their scabbards resting near them, the upper one having it above the blade and the lower of the two having it right below it, before she noticed that one blade had a flame marking on the side and the second had what she guessed was a frost marking. As such Amaryllis slipped the key into the display case and unlocked it, allowing her to open it up before pulling out the first blade, finding that it was incredibly light, just like the ebony sword she had picked up with the ebony battleaxe, to which she glanced at the other one and picked it up with her right hand, something that did cause her to actually swing the two blades for a few seconds, like she was using her daggers, and realized how Za'kera had been able to deal with the dangers of Cyrodiil, as she had some awesome weapons. With that done she sheathed both of the weapons in their own sheathes and then stashed them inside her pack, as Za'kera would be happy to have these back in her possession, before she looted whatever was useful from Elenwen's corpse, finding a letter that revealed how one could actually dismantle the false crime they had pinned on her friend, to which she grinned since this mean they could do all sorts of things once she was back with her companions, before she carefully explored the rest of the building for what the Thalmor knew about the dragons, as it was her other reason for coming here.

It didn't take her that long to find her way to another desk, one that happened to have a chest near it, one that had a note that detailed the current status of the Thalmor's investigation on the dragons, a journal that appeared to be a dossier on all of the information Elenwen had on Delphine, another one for Ulfric, interestingly enough, and a key that went to a door she hadn't found yet, though after collecting the items she found a set of stairs heading down to another door, which had to be the one she was looking for. Sure enough Amaryllis discovered that the key she had found went into the keyhole and unlocked what had to be the final door of this building, where she entered what looked like a dungeon of some kind, due to three cells that happened to be down on the floor below her, though she found a lone guard wandering around nearby, hence why she crouched before he spotted her. Based on what she was seeing there also seemed to be someone resting in one of the cells, meaning the Thalmor had kidnapped someone and had to be interrogating them, to which she waited for a few moments and moved when an opening revealed itself, allowing her to head down a short path that rested to her left and walk down some stairs, before she snuck out into the more open area, which had a number of torture devices all over the floor. Thanks to the enchantments on her armor she was able to reach the area that the guard was in and quickly sliced open his neck, killing him before he even had a chance to understand what was going on, before discovering a pair of keys in her target's pack, one that went to the main door and one that happened to go to a nearby trapdoor, an exit no doubt, before she made her way over to a chest she had spotted a few moments ago and opened it, finding a dossier for someone called Esbern inside it, which she claimed as well, though once that was done she entered the cell and undid all of the locks on the male Breton who was inside it.

The man said nothing, no doubt terrified of a Dark Brotherhood assassin killing the Thalmor and freeing him, and he made sure to tell her that he wouldn't say anything about this, out of fear of her tracking him down if he told anyone about this, before they used the nearby trapdoor and exited the Embassy as quickly as possible, finding that the passage lead to what appeared to be a troll's lair, to which they avoided it and headed through another opening, one which lead out to a road in the mountains, to which Amaryllis left the Breton to do whatever he wanted as she started to head back to Riverwood, to give her companions the good news.

Dragon: Searching for Esbern

After using the hidden passage to leave the Thalmor Embassy, with all of the information she might need to tell Delphine what the Thalmor knew about the dragons, Amaryllis walked down the road and found that the Breton caught up with her, to which she waited for him to get a fair distance ahead of her before weaving her power around her form again, shifting back into her Khajiit disguise before heading down the road as well, at a much slower pace so she didn't catch up with the man and freak him out. She also made sure to change her armor as well, picking leather armor once more, since that lead to any ignoring her presence and that was what she wanted, especially since the Thalmor would be looking for someone who looked like one of their Justiciars and not a random wanderer who was traveling along the roads, or a bandit for that matter since she knew some bandits who wore this type of armor. Based on what she was seeing right now it didn't look like anything was wandering around the road that she was walking on, meaning the Thalmor must have cleared the area out to be sure all of Elenwen's parties were safe and sound, not that such a thing mattered anymore since her target had been eliminated and all of the First Emissary's rules no longer mattered to her followers, meaning she was able to walk down the road with ease and not have to worry about threats. As she considered all of that she also noticed that the road she was walking down passed by the ruin that had a beam of light coming down on it, something that caused Amaryllis to shift her course as she headed up some stairs and found a statue of the female Daedric Prince she must have pissed off by refusing to do the quest to take down that necromancer, Meridia if her memory was right, though the presence of the strange gemstone informed her that someone had bought the item from Belethor and brought it here, causing her to turn and depart from the temple.

Even though she stopped for a moment, just to check the temple out, Amaryllis eventually reached the carriage that would allow her to head to the other Holds, hence why she purchased a ride to Whiterun and climbed in back as soon as she paid the carriage driver, even though Za'kera and Lydia must have taken another carriage back when she departed from the inn and headed for the party, something she stopped thinking about as she sat down and focused on what she had taken, just to see what sort of information Delphine would be given.

Once the carriage was a good distance from Solitude, and had passed by the road leading up to the Embassy's main gate, Amaryllis pulled out the dossiers she had collected during her investigation and focused on Delphine's, quickly finding that the former Blade was a high-priority target and wasn't to be underestimated, because, according to the journal, she was responsible for a number of damaging missions that ruined the Dominion's plans and operations, and had escaped before she could be purged, explaining why the Thalmor wanted to capture and kill her. A few moments later she closed the first of the dossiers and switched to the one that talked about Ulfric, where she learned that, in some way, the rebel Jarl was an asset to the Thalmor, apparently due to something that happened in the past, giving her some dirt that could be used to acquire his assistance in the future, though the interesting part was that Elenwen ordered for light assistance to be given to the Stormcloaks, without it being traced to them, and that allowing the Stormcloaks to win was unacceptable. That was another bit of confirmation that the Thalmor was seeking to weaken both Skyrim and the Empire with this war, by doing all sorts of things to prolong it and make things unfavorable for the Empire, even though she had no idea how the Stone that Elenwen had mentioned fit into the puzzle, something that caused her to close the second dossier and switch it for the last one she had found. Esbern, as she learned from her reading, was one of the Blades' loremasters, meaning he knew nearly everything that the order had known before all of the Blades' archives were destroyed during a siege on a place that they called Cloud Ruler Temple, which told her that if someone knew how to bring down the dragons it had to be Esbern, hence why the Thalmor were interested in finding and capturing him, so they could torture him and extract the information that he knew on the matter... something that was confirmed by the note she had picked up as well, revealing that the Thalmor knew nothing about why the dragons were returning after all this time.

With that information gained Amaryllis set the dossiers and note back in her pack, making sure that they were safe for the future and didn't get lost, before leaning back as she glanced out at the landscape that was passing by her, not focusing on anything as she considered what she had learned and what she had figured out back when she finished the assassination that ended with the Emperor being killed, as it seemed like Akatosh might have been building a method for someone to bring down the Aldmeri Dominion. The Divines knew the Dominion were a threat to the rest of Tamriel, or at least it sure seemed that way based on what she was learning right now, and she had a feeling that her client for this mission might be a priest or follower of one of the others, likely Talos given that the person in question had been a Stormcloak, but she felt that there was more information to learn before she figured out what in the world was going on. At the same time part of her didn't want to give Delphine any of the information on what the Thalmor might be up to, even if she had no idea what most of the information meant, especially when she considered what little she heard about a Stone and the Snow Tower, because she didn't want to stoke the flames of her hatred for the Aldmeri Dominion and make her do something stupid after learning what she had found. Za'kera, on the other hand, would be worried about this information and she really had no idea what would happen once she told her friend what she had learned, to which she decided to think about this for a time and not just immediately tell her companions everything that had been gathered inside the Embassy, before gazing out at the rest of the landscape once more, allowing it to pass her by as she considered what was going to happen once she returned to Riverwood and gave Delphine the information she wanted, which would be interesting since the Thalmor had no idea what was going on either.

It took Amaryllis some time to return to Whiterun, where it was in the early afternoon when she arrived at her destination, to which she thanked the carriage driver and climbed off the carriage without delay, something that was followed by her heading towards Riverwood and nodded as she found some of the Companions walking down the road, showing respect to the great warriors who did their best to make Skyrim safer, before heading for her destination, even though she found nothing in her path and was able to reach Riverwood with ease. Before she headed inside the Sleeping Giant Inn, so she could find both of her companions and deliver the information she had found to them, Amaryllis glanced around the rest of the village for a time and made sure there were no dangers lurking in the shadows of the various structures, like some Thalmor or other assassins, but thanks to her powers she didn't feel anyone who might be a threat to Za'kera and Lydia, or their plans to bring down Alduin and his revived dragons. Due to that information she was able to enter the inn, since she didn't have to worry about anyone dangerous following her inside, and found that Za'kera happened to be sitting in one of the chairs while Lydia was leaning against one of the wooden pillars of the structure, while Delphine was hanging out near Orgnar, though for some stupid reason she hadn't changed out of her travel attire and still looked like an adventurer, like how she looked when she was in Solitude. Based on how the Thalmor operated, due to everything she had seen and heard during her time in the Embassy, she was sure that a Justiciar had likely made the connection between her and Malborn, or something to that effect, which meant her contact might be in danger due to her idiocy, but instead of saying anything to Delphine, and being annoyed after doing so no doubt, she walked over to where Za'kera was sitting and took a seat near her new friend.

"My 'boss' completed her mission and is on her way to Hammerfell, though she sent me to deliver this," Amaryllis said, to which she reached into the pack she carried and pulled out two of the four items that had been taken from the Embassy, the first being the note that talked about the Thalmor's investigation into the dragons while the second was the dossier on Esbern, that way Za'kera would know some of the information she had learned so far and would be able to make Delphine listen to what they had to say, "I'll also be traveling with you, until she calls for me to join her."

"I see. Well, she has my thanks for recovering this information," Za'kera replied, where she accepted the items in question and glanced over them for a few moments, even though she was happy to see that her friend had been able to make it out of the Embassy without being harmed by any of the Thalmor, meaning she must have succeeded in fulfilling her contract to kill Elenwen, before shifting her glance down towards the items Amaryllis had given her, quickly finding that Delphine had been wrong in assuming the Thalmor knew anything about Alduin and the dragons, items that she handed back over to her friend, who would keep them safe for the foreseeable future.

Once that was done Za'kera stood up and headed over to Delphine's room, something that caused the lady to move not a few seconds later as she opened the door in question, allowing the four of them to head into the room and down into the hidden room, all while Amaryllis closed each door to make sure they were safe, even though no one besides Orgnar was in the inn at the moment, so they didn't have to worry about intruders for the time being, and once they reached the bottom of the stairs Delphine turned and leaned on the table as she stared at Amaryllis.

"It would seem that your boss made it out of the Embassy, meaning she must have found something and gave it to you so we can learn what the Thalmor know." Delphine commented, her tone revealing that she honestly didn't trust the disguise that Amaryllis had used to gain the information that had been given to Za'kera, not to mention what she hadn't shared yet, but such a thing caused the lady to pause for a moment as she likely wondered what they might learn from her enemies, hence why she focused on Amaryllis, "Did she discover anything useful?"

"She discovered that the Thalmor know nothing about the dragons." Amaryllis replied, showing Delphine that she had, in fact, taken the time to research the information that had been handed to her, before she arrived in Riverwood to hand all of it over to Za'kera and make sure Delphine understood that the mission had been completed, though as soon as those words left her lips she could see that the lady wasn't all too happy with her.

"Really? They know nothing? I find that hard to even believe, given their track record... are you sure that the information is accurate?" Delphine asked, her tone revealing that she was now of the opinion that they had wasted their time sending in someone who looked and acted like a member of the Thalmor, because she seemed to be of the opinion that Amaryllis' disguise had been a real Justiciar and had betrayed all of them to their enemies, meaning it was only a matter of time until some Justiciars busted into the inn, or at least that was her thoughts on the matter.

"Why would you even agree with our plan if you weren't going to believe the information we received?" Za'kera inquired, as that bothered her the most, that they went out of their way to 'assist' Delphine in acquiring the information that the Thalmor had on the dragons returning, which appeared to be absolutely zero based on what Amaryllis had shared with her, and the lady had the nerve to question what they had found, something her friend agreed with and even went a step further by pulling the note once more.

"Okay, okay, you're right. I just... I was sure it must have been them." Delphine replied, even though Amaryllis felt that she honestly didn't care about what they were saying and just wanted to get to the heart of the matter, meaning she was more focused on figuring out why dragons happened to be returning and what they could do to stop them from wrecking all of Skyrim, to which she sighed for a moment, "If the Thalmor know nothing about the dragons, than who... or what... might know anything that might be of use to us and our mission?"

"No idea... though it seems that the Thalmor might be looking for someone called Esbern." Amaryllis remarked, figuring it was time for either her or Za'kera to drop that bomb on Delphine, as she was a former Blade and Esbern was one as well, meaning that it might distract her from discovering that the Thalmor knew nothing about the dragons and that their brief mission into the Embassy had given them next to no leads to follow.

"Esbern? He's alive?!" Delphine inquired, where this time around it sure seemed like she was more interested in what they had to say on the matter, something Amaryllis could confirm since the lady's emotions had lit up with the mention of one of the surviving Blades that had escaped the Thalmor's notice, before she considered what little they had said so far and glanced at one of the walls for a few seconds, even though she glanced at them again when she was ready to speak about this new piece of information, "Honestly, I thought the Thalmor had gotten their hands on him years ago, since I stopped hearing from him, as we had locations for hidden messages and one day they stopped coming. That crazy old man... I'm glad he's safe, but I'm not surprised that our enemies are on his trail, especially if they were trying to find out what's going on with the dragons."

"Well, they seem to think he's hiding out in Riften." Za'kera stated, recalling the information that had been inside the book Amaryllis had shared with her, before they bothered talking with Delphine about what the Thalmor knew, though as she said that a thought came to mind in seconds, that there were likely Justiciars inside Riften looking for Esbern or a clue as to where he might have hidden himself from their enemies, meaning if they didn't act soon they might lose the one person, in all of Skyrim, who might be able to offer some assistance to their mission.

"Riften, eh? Probably down in the Ratway, then... it's where I'd go, if I were Esbern." Delphine remarked, where it was easy for them to see that she had regained herself and already had a plan of sorts that might get them what they needed, even if she had to thank them for gaining this information in the first place, before she considered something that might be of use to them, "Well then, the three of you had better get to Riften and head for the Ratway... your looking for Brynjolf. Trust me on this, he's... well, he's got connections you can use to track down Esbern, though they might come at a price. At the very least this is a good starting point, though when you eventually find Esbern... if you think I'm paranoid... you may have some trouble getting him to trust any of you, so just ask him where he was on the 30th of Frostfall and he should figure out that you aren't enemies... until then, I'll be waiting upstairs."

Amaryllis said nothing as she waited for Delphine to leave the room, something that Za'kera and Lydia replicated since all of them could see that their ally was heading back up to where Orgnar was standing, though once she was sure that their unwelcome guest was gone she beckoned for her friends to remain down here for a few more moments, as there was one more thing she wanted to do before they headed outside and started to head towards Riften, and she could see that both of her companions were eager to see what she had for them.

"Za'kera, I have a present for you, taken from the Thalmor Embassy," Amaryllis said, where she reached into her pack for a few seconds and withdrew the special ebony blades she had stored inside them after recovering them, something that did cause her friend to smile as she realized what had been recovered, especially since they had been her weapons for a long time and had been stolen from her when Elenwen's forces captured her not that long ago, framing the Khajiit for a crime she hadn't committed.

"Summer's Grace and Winter's Fury... its wonderful to have these blades in my possession again," Za'kera replied, where it took her all of a second to drop her mismatched blades and accept her true weapons, allowing Amaryllis and Lydia to see her return the blades to her sides and drew them out of their scabbards, the fire blade in her right hand while the frost blade rested in her left, something that was followed by her stepping to the side before she moved her body and swung both of her weapons for a few seconds, moving like a graceful dancer, before coming to a stop with a smile on her face as she sheathed her blades, "Amaryllis... thank you for this."

Amaryllis smiled at that, as she was happy to help her friend in any way she possibly could, and with the note revealing the truth behind the crime Za'kera had been framed for, which she was keeping safe for the time being, though the wave of happiness that came from the Khajiit told her that she was definitely pleased to have her blades once more, something that lead to her collecting the pair of discarded blades, one being of elven make and the other being made by the dwarves, and stashing them inside her pack so they could be sold off later. Once that was done Za'kera headed up the stairs that were behind her and returned to the upper level of the inn, where Amaryllis and Lydia followed after her without wasting any time and found that Delphine was true to her word, she was going to be waiting for them while not acting like the rest of the innkeepers Amaryllis had seen so far, but that was her problem to deal with. A few moments later the three of them stepped outside and started to head in the direction of Helgen again, as Za'kera wanted to use the shorter route to get to Riften so they could save some time, given that they had no idea what Alduin was up to or what any of the revived dragons might be doing at the moment, though at the very least they wouldn't have to worry about enemies since they had done a good job clearing part of the road. While they walked, however, Amaryllis also informed Za'kera of the other information she had obtained during her brief period of time inside the Embassy, revealing that the Thalmor had definitely lied about her committing a crime, all because they were worried about her ruining whatever plans they were trying to complete, but as she said that she also kept the part about her forming an army to herself, since she still wasn't sure if it meant anything for them, even though Za'kera sighed and resolved to clear her name once Skyrim was no longer in danger, once they had stopped the dragons and whatever Alduin was planning.

Other than that the road was bare and there were no travelers, even the Imperials and the Stormcloaks were no where to be seen, save for a number of soldiers in a camp that rested off to their left, which meant that the group was able to reach the crossroad near Ivarstead within about two hours, where they turned down the other path and headed to the east, as it would bring them to Riften and allow them to start the search for Esbern, even though Amaryllis had an idea of how to get around Delphine's suggestion of tracking down Brynjolf. The road they were following allowed them to see a fortress that rested off to their left, even though it was on a lower level than what Amaryllis and her companions were walking on right now, though it appeared that bandits were hanging out all over its walls, meaning that she would have taken them out at one point in time, had she not joined up with the Dark Brotherhood and accepted her destiny as the Listener. Za'kera did seem like she wanted to head down there and smash all of the bandits as well, especially since it would allow her to use her recovered blades in battle, but since time was of the essence, since they had no idea how close the Thalmor were to finding Esbern, she focused on continuing down the road in front of them while making a mental note to come back here at some point in the future, as she disliked bandits as much as Amaryllis did. Other than that there were only a few other structures that Amaryllis and her companions passed by, one happened to be a mill that was off to their left, which felt so out of place, while further along the road they found one of the Orc Strongholds, since most Orcs preferred to live out in the wild and not stay inside cities like Solitude, and they even noticed the two story house that rested in the middle of the lake that was right outside Riften, Goldenglow Estate if Amaryllis recalled its name correctly, but the only thing they didn't see were any living enemies, rather someone had marched down the road they took and killed every bear and wolf that might prey on travelers, allowing them to keep moving without having to worry about enemies.

When they reached Riften, however, Amaryllis asked that Za'kera and Lydia follow her, as she knew where they needed to go, thanks to her prior visits to the Ratway so she could speak with Delvin, something that caused the pair to nod for a few seconds as they fell in behind her and started to follow her as she headed for the stairs, though as she did that Amaryllis spotted a light brown furred female Khajiit off in the distance, who seemed to have an elven dagger as a weapon and wore ordinary clothing, like a traveler of some kind. As she glanced in the direction of the Khajiit she realized that she had to be one of the few sent to find Esbern, like a watcher to be sure no one else was looking for the same person, or maybe she was an assassin sent to make sure anyone else who was looking for their target was crushed, but what interested her was the fact that she felt a wave of sadness, mixed with concern, coming from the area the lady was in. Such a thing told her all she needed to know, the Thalmor were likely holding someone important to her hostage and were forcing the Khajiit to do all sorts of things to earn the freedom of whoever was being held against their will, though right now she kept the figure in her mind, in case they found her later on, as she headed down into the canal and entered the Ratway, something that was followed by her making her way over to where the Ragged Flagon rested. While she did that, and both Za'kera and Lydia kept an eye out for any dangers that might be stalking them, Amaryllis called forth her power for a moment and let some of her magic wash over her as she reverted back to her true assassin attire, something Delvin would recognize, and made sure that the hood was up, meaning the only thing that anyone might see would be a Khajiit tail, though given her growing reputation she knew that no one would focus on the race she had picked out.

Not a few moments later she found the door in question and pushed it open, revealing the Ragged Flagon to her friends, who stared out at it for a couple of seconds, before she walked over to where she had found Delvin and quickly discovered that he was sitting at one of the tables, just like he had been doing the last two times she had been down here, hence why she walked over to where he was sitting once more... though as she did that she felt the eyes of someone else on her, as in a female Imperial who was wearing black armor, which showed off her midriff, and had long raven black hair, though she suspected that the newcomer was a high ranking member of the Thieves Guild.

"Ah, my friend from the Brotherhood comes for another visit." Delvin commented, showing them that he realized who was in front of him and that his words caused the other thieves to stand down, leading to nearly everyone else going back to their duties or just relaxing, even though Amaryllis found that the Imperial lady was staring at her with her silver eyes, or at least it sure seemed that way right now, before he beckoned for her to sit and she did so, "So tell me, what can I do for the Brotherhood this time? Need to exchange some jewelry for favors, or are you going to spend some coin to acquire some specific items?"

"Actually, I'm here on other business... we're looking for someone called Esbern," Amaryllis replied, though while she knew that Delvin owed her and the Dark Brotherhood nothing at this point, given that his connection was to Astrid and the last leader of her Family had been burned to death, or at least that was the official story, she was hopeful that he would listen to her at the very least and allow them to be on their way, but if she needed to pay for the information she was sure that she could come up with the coin, given what was inside her personal chest, "and we have reason to believe that he's here, somewhere in Riften, so I figured that you might be able to point us in the right direction."

"That's because he's here, living in the Warrens like someone whose desperate to be hidden from his enemies," the lady spoke up, where Amaryllis and Delvin glanced at her for a moment, even though it was clear that Delvin was surprised to hear her talk in the first place, like he expected his boss to remain silent and just watch them for a time, before moving out to do whatever it was she did when she wasn't robbing people of their goods, before she jerked a thumb towards a door that was just beyond where they were sitting, one that likely lead into the depths of the Ratway, "we have an arrangement with him: he pays us once a month for food and lodging, and we tell no one he's down there... the only reason I'm even saying anything is because he's missed at least two months of payments, granted he was able to get by since Mercer, my predecessor, was a terrible leader and missed several things before his demise. I was planning on heading down there in a few days, to remind Esbern of his dues and to see if he had enough coin to fulfill his end of the bargain, but then a couple of Thalmor came and offered a fair amount of coin for the right to head into the Warrens and see if he's the one they're looking for... but since the Dragonborn and her allies are here, we can't have Esbern being carried off by the Thalmor, so I'll take you down to him."

Amaryllis wasn't at all surprised that people were starting to recognize Za'kera as the Dragonborn, since she had slain two dragons so far and both had been near important cities, Whiterun and Windhelm, so stories of her deeds were reaching far and wide at this point in time, even if it was the start of her tale, though what was odd was that the leader of the Guild was willing to take them to where Esbern happened to be hiding, even if it meant running into a group of Thalmor that were here for the same reason they were here. The lady introduced herself as Raven Nightwing, a rather odd name based on everything Amaryllis had heard so far, though right now none of them were about to say something about that as she lead them towards the door in question and opened it, allowing her and the three of them to enter what appeared to be a rather decent sized chamber, though sure enough there were three Thalmor, a Justiciar and two soldiers, who looked like they were looking around the place. Za'kera, knowing that these people wanted her dead, drew her blades and rushed at the wizard who was guarding the opening in front of them, while at the same time Lydia found a warrior on the level that was below them and drew her battleaxe as she leapt into the air, meaning she was going to crush her target and possibly split her in half, leading to Amaryllis drawing her daggers as she located the third one and realized that she was standing right behind a grated window, only her target would be moving in the next few seconds. Before she had a chance to react to what her foe was doing a silver arrow went flying through the air and struck the soldier in the chest, knocking her into the wall behind her, before she noticed that the projectile had come Raven, who had summoned a bow and used one of her arrows to take the soldier down, though as that happened Lydia cut her foe in half and Za'kera used one blade to cut off the Justiciar's right hand before ending her target's life.

Thanks to that happening the group was able to make their way through the couple of twists and turns before reaching the depths of this chamber, which brought them to a door that connected to what seemed like the end of the Warrens, or at least that was Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, and when they walked out into the area, with Raven unlocking a grated door for them, they spotted a heavily locked door near the end of the chamber and walked over to it, something that lead to Za'kera knocking on the thick wood for a few seconds.

"Go away!" a old voice stated, meaning that the speaker was definitely older than Delphine and was definitely male, which told Amaryllis that they had found their mark, as she believed what Raven had told them earlier, though as they heard that everyone came to a stop and focused on the door in question, especially since a slot near the level of one's head opened and revealed an elderly male Nord staring at all of them.

"Esbern? Open the door, we need to talk." Za'kera replied, figuring that the best course of action right now was to ensure that the old Nord knew that she and her friends were looking for him and that they needed to speak with him, where due to Raven stopping at this door they understood that she had brought them to the person they were looking for and had, in her own way, saved them time in looking for him, which was when she considered something, "Delphine asked us to come find you, before our enemies tracked you down first... also, I'm Dragonborn, if that helps you understand that we're not trying to hurt you."

"What?! No, that's not me. I have no idea who this Esbern is, not do I have any idea what you're..." the old Nord started to say, though that was the moment that he recalled exactly what Za'kera had just said, meaning he must have caught onto the fact they knew Delphine and had been sent to find him, even if she had said 'asked', but right now none of them cared that much and knew that anything that might speed things along would be greatly appreciated, especially since they had no idea how long it would be before more Thalmor showed up, "You said that Delphine sent you? You had better come inside, all of you. Quickly now, as Thalmor agents have been seen in the Ratway."

"I'm the one who sent him that information... figured it might entice him to bargain with me," Raven remarked, as one the old Nord, Esbern, had stopped talking he closed the slot he had been speaking through and started to mess with his locks, so he could open the door and allow them to enter his domain, where Amaryllis found an actual bird raven fly out of one of the nearby shadows before flying around her for a second or two, something that cawed for a moment before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, meaning it must have been made out of magic, "clearly my bet failed, but it allowed him to know that enemies were getting close and that he had a choice to make... which you are going to help him make, though I am eager to see what happens after this."

For a few seconds Amaryllis wondered if Raven might know about Akatosh's plan, as it seemed weird for a thief to do any of this, or care about what might happen once they were done with their task and had departed from the city, but before she had a chance to really say anything the door opened and Esbern ushered them inside, causing Za'kera to step forward as Amaryllis and the others followed after her, something that was followed by him closing the door once everyone was in his chamber, a decent sized room with a desk, a bar with supplies, and a bed with some scattered books.

"So Delphine keeps up the fight, trying to tear down the Thalmor, after all these years." Esbern commented, where he let out a chuckle for a moment, as if he was expecting her to be somewhat different from what he had known in the past, but as he said that he seemed to consider what he knew and why they were here, leaving the group to just stand there while they waited for him to say something, before he sighed, "I thought she would have realized that it's hopeless... I tried to tell her, many years ago, but she never listened to what I had to say..."

"Esbern, what do you mean 'it's hopeless'?" Za'kera asked, though Amaryllis considered the prophecy of the Dragonborn for a few seconds, especially the line about something called the 'World-Eater', where she had to wonder if it was linked to the return of Alduin, who seemed pretty important to the dragons who used to call Skyrim home, and as she considered all of that she could tell that Za'kera was thinking about something similar, or at least she hoped that was the case and not her imagination on this matter.

"Haven't you figured it out yet? What more needs to happen before you all wake up and see what's going on?" Esbern said, as if whatever he knew was supposed to be common knowledge or something, though his statement caused them to just stand there and focus on him, all while waiting for more information to be shared with them before making a response of any kind, something Esbern seemed fine with, "Alduin has returned, just like the prophecy said! The Dragon from the dawn of time, who devours the souls of the dead! It is said that no one can escape his hunger, here or in the afterlife, and that his vast hunger will lead to Alduin devouring all things, bringing an end to our world... nothing can stop him. I tried to tell them, Delphine and the others, but they wouldn't listen to my warnings, especially since all of the signs have come true... all I could do was watch our doom approach..."

"You're talking about the literal end of the world?" Amaryllis asked, because if that was the case, and the Divines were tired of the mortal races who called Nirn home, than it made no sense for Akatosh to even be involved with her and the rest of the Dark Brotherhood, to take down the current Emperor and leave an empty seat that someone could fill in due time, no doubt Za'kera if things were supposed to go as she was starting to think, "Surely if Alduin was such a threat to our world the Divines would have done something about it, instead of bringing about another legendary hero to tackle the problem that's heading our way?"

"Oh yes, the end of the world has been foretold... and now, the end has begun." Esbern stated, once more focusing on part of what they were saying, something that seemed to be getting annoying as time went on, though Za'kera remained silent as they listened to what the old Nord had to say, where Amaryllis found Raven glancing at the door, meaning something had to be happening outside the room, or might happen soon, "Alduin has returned, and only a Dragonborn can stop him, but, sadly, there is no such hero at this time, just like its been for centuries... it seems the gods, both Divines and Daedric Princes, have finally grown tired of us, and have left us to our fate as the plaything of Alduin the World-Eater."

"Well, that's where you're wrong, Esbern, as there is hope for us, as I am Dragonborn," Za'kera replied, though as she said that statement she gathered some of her power and loosed her Unrelenting Force on a corner of the room, near Esbern to be exact, something that caused a number of items to be scattered around with the sheer power of what she had done, a fact that caused Raven to raise an eyebrow for a moment, though all of Esbern's tomes and stuff were unharmed, since all of it was behind her and her companions.

"Wha... you're... can it really be true? Dragonborn?" Esbern inquired, his tone revealing that he was amazed by what he had just witnessed and that hope had been restored to him by discovering that a Dragonborn really did exist, instead of them being left to the whims of a dragon that could apparently destroy the entire world, before he snapped back to reality as he glanced around his room for a few seconds, "Then... then there is hope! The gods have not abandoned us! We must... we must... We must go, quickly now. Take me to Delphine, as we have much to discuss."

As Za'kera nodded they found that Esbern had a number of tomes he wanted to collect before they left the Warrens, all so he didn't leave secrets for their enemies to take and use against them, though while he did that he also tossed a necklace of some kind over to Raven, one that was made of silver and had a few jewels inside it, showing her that he rememebered his deal and that he was paying her the rest of what he owed, to which she nodded and pocketed the item, but Amaryllis noticed he paused when he pulled out a katana and attached it to his belt. Based on what little she knew the katana was one of the weapons that the Blades carried into battle, which made sense given that she had seen on in Delphine's hidden basement earlier, resting on one of the weapon racks she had set up, though he's seemed special in some way, which told her it had to have some sort of enchantment on the blade, but once that was done Esbern made one last check of the area before nodding his head as he fell in line with Za'kera and the others. With this part of their mission accomplished Za'kera opened the door and started to leave the room, though Amaryllis stopped her as she felt something again and found that three Thalmor agents had followed them into this part of the Ratway, though since none of them had noticed the opening of the door, even though one was on their level and the other two were on the lower level, it gave her a perfect chance to take one of them out, hence why she pulled her bow out and readied an arrow within a few seconds. Sure enough none of their enemies noticed her movement and she was able to knock the wizard down with an arrow to the head, where she found that neither warrior heard the noise of him falling and assumed that they were busy, though as soon as the way was clear Lydia rushed out and leapt off part of the walkway, crushing one of the warriors with the weight of her battleaxe, all while Za'kera dropped down and parried an incoming attack from the other one, even though her foe was slow and let her cut him down with ease.

With that done they retraced their steps to the Ragged Flagon, without bumping into any additional enemies, before Raven came to a stop near Delvin and let the group leave the bar while she stayed behind, as her part in this was definitely over, even though Amaryllis felt that this might not be the last they saw of her, before turning all of her attention to leaving the Ratway and heading back to Riverwood, as it was time to see if Esbern had any information for them to use or if they had wasted their time, but she was hopeful and suspected that Delphine would be pleased with their actions.

Dragon: Sky Haven Temple

As Amaryllis and her friends, plus Esbern, made their way towards the exit of the Ratway she felt something ahead of them and beckoned for everyone to slow for a moment, where Za'kera silently drew her blades as the others paused, because she knew that when this happened it usually meant that enemies were ahead of them and she was wondering what else the Thalmor might have left for them, though as they neared the entrance Amaryllis found the Khajiit from earlier standing over two dead bodies, two Thalmor wizards to be exact, and she happened to have blood on her blades, where Amaryllis had the others pause as she revealed herself.

"And now an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood has appeared," the Khajiit said, where she huffed for a moment as she lifted her blade and revealed that she actually had two weapons on her, the first being the sword and the second being a dagger forged in the same style as her blade, showing that she was ready for a fight and that she wasn't going to fall here, even though Amaryllis felt the same emotions she had felt the last time she laid eyes on this lady, "at least I'll die knowing that I dealt with these backstabbing Thalmor."

"It would appear that part of your life is over, though maybe I can offer you a new one?" Amaryllis inquired, though while she said that she made no motion to draw her daggers, because based on what she was feeling it felt like the Khajiit might have been forced to serve the Thalmor and had lost her family in some manner, hence the 'backstabbing' part of what she had just said, to which she leaned against part of the wall and did her best to be intimidating, or at least try to replicate all she had seen Astrid do, "It seems you can handle yourself quite well, so why not join the Dark Brotherhood and use your skills in a more productive manner?"

The Khajiit, of course, paused for a moment as she heard that, though Amaryllis wasn't about to pass up on recruiting any potential assassins she might come across, especially after the loss of most of her Family, though fortunately it appeared that Shavari, which was the Khajiit's name as it turned out, was willing to take the offer and sheathed her blades, though since it was best to not have someone Za'kera didn't trust with them, in case this was a set up, Amaryllis had Shavari head to Dawnstar first and she would be right behind her, so she could introduce her to the others and whatnot. With that done she and her companions departed from the Ratway and found that Shavari was going to walk to Dawnstar, to give her all the time she needed to think about what she had learned and the offer that Amaryllis was giving her, hence why she and her friends headed outside Riften and hired the carriage to take them back to Whiterun, mostly since Za'kera was worried that Esbern might fall behind due to his age. Of course Esbern declared that he was fine and that there was no need for any of them to be concerned about him, even though he seemed to forget that, out of all of them, he happened to be the only one who knew how to bring down Alduin and save the world, so keeping him safe was a requirement for them and it meant that he was doing things their way, even if it meant climbing onto the back of a carriage and taking it to Whiterun, before walking to their true destination and meeting up with Delphine. Once everyone was ready to go the carriage driver got started as they headed down the hill and started to make their way towards the fort Amaryllis had passed by when she came to kill Grelod, even though she knew they would eventually reach a crossroads and would turn to their left, as that would allow them to reach their destination, after passing by a few ancient structures that bandits liked to inhabit before either the Imperials or Stormcloaks pushed them out of the area.

While they traveled to Whiterun, however, Amaryllis did her best to keep an eye out for any dangers that might be around the area that their carriage was currently traveling in, as in making sure no dragons were in the area and no Thalmor were lurking in some of the shadows, something she could check with her powers, though for the most part it looked like this trek would be safe and nothing would be coming at them, which was odd but she wasn't about to complain about being able to relax as they headed for their destination. Esbern, of course, inquired about how Za'kera came to know that she was Dragonborn, where she informed him that she had helped Jarl Balgruuf by retrieving a stone from Bleak Falls Barrow and had learned the first Word in Unrelenting Force, which she didn't know at the time and had been weirded out by the weird chanting she had heard, but when she fought and killed the dragon attacking one of Whiterun's watchtowers it lead to her absorbing the dragon's soul and knowledge, granting her access to the Thu'um. Of course such a thing lead to the Greybeards learning of her existence, likely her dragon soul resonating with the dragon's soul, or something like that, and they called for her to come to High Hrothgar and learn from them, before eventually heading to Ustangrav to retrieve the Horn of their founder, which Delphine stole from the tomb and handed to her back in the Sleeping Giant Inn, even though that lead to her and her friends dealing with another dragon that had been revived. Za'kera wasn't totally sure what she had learned from absorbing a second dragon's soul, but it meant there was one less dragon lurking around Skyrim right now and that was something everyone seemed fine with, since it meant that people weren't in danger, every though they had no idea how many dragons Alduin had revived since he arrived in Skyrim, especially since none of them seemed to be doing anything to the people of Skyrim, which was just weird when Amaryllis considered it.

As Esbern inquired into what had happened since he sealed himself in the Warrens, with little news about what might be happening outside Riften, Amaryllis focused on her task while Za'kera answered his questions, just to let him know what he had missed and to pass the time, though right now it sure looked like nothing was going to attack or bother them, so she decided to take this opportunity to rest and see what happened on their way to Whiterun.

As it turned out nothing happened on the way to Whiterun, as no bandits tried to attack them and no wild animals rushed at their carriage, allowing them to get to their destination in a couple of hours and climb out once they reached the stable, though instead of heading for the Banndered Mare, or heading inside the main city, the group headed back down part of the road and turned to their right when they reached the crossroad, something that quickly brought them to Riverwood and, once Amaryllis was sure they were safe, they entered Delphine's inn and found the lady standing by her pole, which made them wonder how long she had been there as Esbern stepped forward.

"Delphine! I... it's good to see you. It's been... a long time." Esbern said, though at the same time he glanced around the inn for a few seconds, no doubt not believing their tale that his former friend had become an innkeeper while hiding from all of the Thalmor that had been looking for her, despite the fact that she, against all odds, had made it work, at least until the province experienced its first dragon return after a long time of them being gone.

"It's good to see you, too, Esbern. It's been too long, old friend, too long." Delphine replied, where Amaryllis felt that this might be the one thing that she was being truthful about, as it sure felt like she was happy to see her old friend again, all while she started to slowly turn towards her doorway and would glance in Orgnar's direction for a few seconds, meaning they would be able to get closer to the information Esbern knew, "Well, then. You all made it back, safe and sound. Come on, I have a place we can talk... Orgnar, hold down the bar for a minute, will you?"

As Orgnar confirmed that he would remain up here, even though there was no one else inside the building besides them, Delphine headed for her room and the group followed after her without delay, where Amaryllis made sure to close both doors behind them as they followed her, just to be sure no one realized something was out of place, in case a visitor just so happened to walk into this bar, before they stood around the table, as Delphine stood to the left of it, Esbern off to the right, Za'kera near the entrance, Lydia a few steps behind her, and Amaryllis stood with her back to the left wall, giving her a view of everyone else.

"Now then. I assume you know about..." Delphine started to ask, her tone suggesting that she wanted to get to the heart of the matter and move forward with their war against both the dragons and the Thalmor, as Amaryllis knew that she had to be planning such a thing and wanted to take down Alduin's forces before focusing on the rest of her enemies, though that did cause Esbern to glance at his companions once more, as he had learned enough to know about Za'kera and the event that awakened her true power.

"Oh yes! Dragonborn! Indeed, yes. This changes everything, of course, and we mustn't waste time, in fact we must locate... here, let me show you." Esbern replied, where he started to pat himself down, likely looking for something, likely one of the books he had taken from his hideout in the Warrens, something that caused him to glance at his pack and switch his search to it, while at the same time it was easy to see that he was excited about something important, "I know I had it here, somewhere... give me just a moment..."

"Esbern, what..." Delphine said, though a glance from Za'kera told her that it was best for them to be quiet and let the old Nord carry out his search, because if they interrupted him she had the feeling that it would reset his search, causing him to pat himself down again before turning to his pack once more, something that caused the lady to stop in her tracks as she waited for Esbern to find what he was looking for, since it was clear he was looking for something and she was curious as to what that something might be.

"Ah, here it is! Come, let me show you." Esbern stated, revealing that he had found what he was looking for, where he took a moment to reach into his pack and produced one of the books Amaryllis and the others had seen him grab before they left his hidden room in the Warrens, a green covered tome that he placed on the table before beckoning for them to step up to where he was standing, "You see, right here. Sky Haven Temple, constructed around one of the main Akaviri military camps in the Reach, during their conquest of Skyrim."

"Do any of you know what he's talking about?" Delphine asked, directing her question to Amaryllis, Za'kera, and Lydia for a few seconds, figuring that if they had traveled with Esbern, and she was right to assume such a thing, that they might have some idea what her old friend might be talking about, as if he might have discussed part of it on the way to her inn, but as she asked the question she found that none of them were nodding their heads, meaning they were as lost as she was and all of them would learn the same thing at the same time.

"Shh! This is where they built Alduin's Wall, to set down in stone all their accumulated dragonlore." Esbern continued, as he took a moment to inform Delphine that she needed to be quiet while he spoke, that way they could get to the heart of what he knew and figure out how to bring down the threat that Skyrim faced, or at least seemed to face since Amaryllis knew that next to nothing had happened to this province since the attack on the watchtower earlier, "A hedge against the forgetfulness of centuries... a wise and foresighted policy, in the event. Despite the far-reaching fame of Alduin's Wall at the time, as it is one of the wonders of the ancient world, its location was lost."

"Esbern, what are you getting at?" Za'kera inquired, because while this was very interesting, especially to someone who might love to study history and all of the legends that were recorded in tomes, or on ancient devices like stone walls or on metallic surfaces, she knew that it was only a matter of time until Delphine snapped and said something that might ruin their chances to figuring out what Alduin's Wall was and how it might be useful in bringing down the dragon who wrecked Helgen not that long ago.

"You mean... you don't mean to say you haven't heard of Alduin's Wall? Any of you?" Esbern asked, where he paused for a few seconds and glanced at all of them, finding that none of them seemed to have any idea what he was talking about, an odd thing in his mind since he was sure that the Wall had been written down in legend and had been part of the reason behind Delphine sending them to rescue him before the Thalmor showed up, almost like he expected that someone might have found the Wall and needed him to do something, though it was clear that his prior thoughts were wrong and that he needed some new thoughts on what was happening.

"Let's pretend for a moment that we haven't heard of it." Delphine said, something that caused Amaryllis to resist the urge to bring her palm to her face while she listened to what the lady had to say on the matter, especially since Delphine had a habit of not admitting when her thoughts were wrong, which seemed to apply to her beating around the bush when they brought up something she didn't know, before she crossed her arms for a moment, "What's Alduin's Wall and what does it have to do with stopping the dragons?"

"Alduin's Wall was where the ancient Blades recorded all they knew of Alduin and his return," Esbern answered, though it was that information that caught Amaryllis' attention for a couple of seconds, because it reminded her of the Book of the Dragonborn and the prophecy that had been written in the back, not to mention the line about the World-Eater, which she now knew to be Alduin, the black dragon who wrecked Helgen and seemed to be reviving dragons, before they found that the old Nord shifted and called their attention back to him, "as such it is part history, part prophecy. Its location has been lost for centuries, but after some searching I've found it again. Not lost, you see, just forgotten... the Blades archives held so many secrets, and I was only able to save a few scraps..."

"So you think that Alduin's Wall will tell us how to defeat Alduin?" Amaryllis asked, because that seemed to be what Esbern was implying with the information he was sharing with them right now, but even as spoke her mind she felt that there was something wrong about this situation, especially since dragons were supposedly the children of Akatosh, though she did keep her opinions to herself for the time being, mostly because she didn't have any concrete evidence on any of her odd thoughts and didn't want to worry anyone with them.

"Well, yes, but... there's no guarantee, of course." Esbern replied, revealing that, while there was a chance that this might grant them the power to bring down the dragons who were plaguing the land of Skyrim, he also knew there was a chance that Alduin's Wall might tell them nothing at all, leaving them with nothing to go on if such a thing happened to be true, though he was pleased to see that Za'kera and her companions understood what he was talking about, as in they should keep an open mind and not be disappointed in whatever the Wall had to share with them.

"Sky Haven Temple it is, then. I knew you'd have something for us, Esbern." Delphine stated, where it was easy for them to see that she seemed to have a one track mind and only focused on what she cared about, something that Amaryllis was getting sick and tired of, before she pulled out a map and determined that Sky Haven Temple was located near Markarth, meaning Amaryllis would have flown by it at one point, near the Karthspire, located in the Karth River canyon, though as she said that she also suggested that they go in two groups, as five people would draw unwanted attention and that was the last thing they needed right now.

Za'kera said nothing to that as Delphine had Esbern confirm her suspicions before the pair left the room, though when the pair reached Orgnar's part of the inn Amaryllis heard something interesting, Delphine was giving him full ownership of this place and that she was never coming back, meaning she was hoping that Sky Haven Temple would be a hideout that was far better than what happened to be down here, and it wasn't long before Orgnar and Delphine said their goodbyes and the lady departed from the inn with Esbern following after her. Once they were sure that the pair had disappeared, which Amaryllis could tell since Delphine's emotions seemed to be getting further and further away, the trio left the inn and just walked to Whiterun, where Za'kera planned on sleeping in the Bannered Mare until morning and getting some food so all of them would be ready for their trek to Markarth, or at least a partial trek since their destination was some distance from the city in question, showing that she wanted to be prepared for anything. While they walked, however, Amaryllis told her friends that she was going to head back to Dawnstar for a few hours, check in with her Family and see if the new member had arrived, to help her see if being a member of the Dark Brotherhood was something she wanted to do, though at the same time she wanted to make a stop near some stones that were on the way to the Sanctuary, as the rest of the payment for killing Elenwen was in that location, not that she told Za'kera that information. Her new friends understood the reason behind why she would be leaving after they reached Whiterun and likely wouldn't see them again until they were near the area that Sky Haven Temple rested in, though this would also make traveling easier for all of them, as no one would think that the Dragonborn's group would be separated in such a way, though Amaryllis said nothing to that as she focused on walking to Whiterun and making sure her friends got there without running into enemies.

Sure enough they were able to get to the stables with ease, something that allowed Amaryllis to bid them farewell for now and watched as Za'kera and Lydia headed inside the walled city, though once they were inside she headed down the road, focusing on making her way towards where she encountered Cicero for the first time, even though this was mostly so she could make sure no one was around to see what happened when she reverted back to her true form, since she knew that many would freak out if they saw her wings. Once she knew that no one was around the area she stopped in, and was able to confirm that with her powers, Amaryllis shifted into her true form and took off once more, heading to the north as she focused on finding the Weynon Stones, which was an area that contained megalithic stones and seemed to be a ruin that had been left alone for a long time, save for a statue of Talos and a few containers. It didn't take her all that long to reach the area that the stones were located in and quickly found the object she was looking for, an urn that was out of place, as it wasn't totally covered with snow and it didn't look like it had been here for more than a few days, though it contained a sack full of coins, five thousand to be exact, which was pure profit for her Family since they didn't have any expenses for Elenwen's assassination, something that would be the only thing she would thank Delphine for, before stashing it inside her summonable chest before taking off once more. After that it took her a while to get back to Dawnstar, mostly due to the fact that she didn't need to meet up with Za'kera for some time, though she did find Shavari outside the port city and landed by the hidden entrance to the Sanctuary without her even knowing it was going on, allowing her to head deep into the Sanctuary and found her Family waiting for her, though while they were happy with the gold Nazir was happy to hear that she had a potential recruit to replace those who had fallen.

As it turned out Nazir happened to have a perfect target for Shavari, one that came from some of the contracts that had been given to the Family when Amaryllis last spoke to the Night Mother, as it turned out a Thalmor agent just so happened to be staying in Dawnstar, in the Windpeak Inn, something that put a smile on the Khajiit's face as she headed into the inn and Nazir followed after her without delay, only for Amaryllis to find that they appeared a few minutes later, which lead to them using the main door to induct Shavari into the brotherhood, as she finished her target off with ease and no one had come running, confirming her skills and earning her a place in the Family.

When morning arrived Amaryllis found that Shavari looked a lot better in her assassin attire, where she picked the version of the hood that covered most of her face for when she went out to complete whatever assignments Nazir had for her, all while Cicero and Babette were happy to have a new Family member, even though it would take the Khajiit some time to get used to the chances in her life and Amaryllis was sure that such a thing would happen in due time, but she did spend a bit of time making sure Shavari was fine with her surroundings before doing anything else. Once she was sure that Shavari was okay with her new life, and Nazir picked out a pair of contracts that were on her skill level, Amaryllis bid her Family farewell once more and headed out through the hidden passage, where she made sure that no one was watching the area it was in before taking off once more, as it was time to get moving and meet up with her new friends, who would either be in Whiterun or would be on the road to Sky Haven Temple. As such she moved at a quicker speed and reached Whiterun in no time, where she used a male Breton hunter guise as she headed into the city and scouted out the Bannered Mare, only to find that neither of her friends were present, something that she had to resist the urge to nod to as she noticed that the pair was missing, to which she ordered some supplies for the road, just to make sure the innkeeper didn't question why a customer had come in and left without getting anything, and once that was done she departed as swiftly as possible, as a hunter didn't want to miss the hunt and the innkeeper nodded her understanding. With that done she headed outside the city's walls and made sure no one was nearby before shifting into her true form and took off, this time making sure some of the clouds covered her as she glanced down at the road, though it didn't take her all that long to track down Za'kera, as she and Lydia were passing by the crossroad that lead to where the Falkreath Sanctuary rested, but before descending she waited for a few moments, letting her friends pass by a trio of Stormcloaks, before she noticed no one coming from where Rorikstead was located and landed on the road in question.

With that done she reverted to her female Khajiit rogue form, with a modified hood that resembled the one from her true attire, before heading down the road, something that caused Za'kera to smile as she noticed her, once more thanks to her eye color showing through all of her disguises, and once they were together again they headed down the path that would bring them to where Sky Haven Temple was located, where Delphine and Esbern would be waiting for them to arrive so they could locate the ancient structure and the secret it possessed.

It took them a while to get to the Karth River, where the Karthspire was located, and Amaryllis quickly confirmed some of her earlier thoughts, she had definitely flown over this area and noticed the ancient temple built into the side of the road to the north, even though the edges of the area had been modified to prevent people from climbing up to an entrance that wasn't the main one, which they would be looking for in due time, but first they had to deal with the enemies who had to be guarding this part of the Reach. Amaryllis expected this to be one of the rare times that she dealt with the Forsworn, even though when she went looking for the piece of Mehrunes' Razer that one of the Hagravens carried she used her own power to avoid them like the plague, though what she and the others found was that all of the Forsworn, twenty of them to be exact, were lying dead all over the place and seemed to be cut up, as one happened to be missing both arms while another had a large wound in his chest. The moment she saw that, however, Amaryllis beckoned for everyone to pause for a moment as she studied it for a few more seconds, though it quickly dawned on her where she had seen a wound like this in the past, it came from a scythe and there was only one person, in all of Skyrim, who carried a weapon like that, to the best of her knowledge anyway, though right now she was sure that the person in question might be in a battle craze and that meant they had to be careful. It didn't take her more than a few moments to locate the individual in question, as the ebony black scaled female Argonian was standing in the middle of the wooden walkway that collected all the points of this area together, forming the basics of the Forsworn's camp, who had blood on her arms and legs, and part of the armor that was over her chest, plus some dripped off her blade, causing the others to pause for a moment as they found out that the Argonian was wielding a scythe as her weapon.

"It would seem that more have arrived... a pity that you aren't Forsworn, as I would have loved to fight you," the Argonian commented, where she turned to look at them not a few seconds after Amaryllis discovered her presence in this area, an odd thing since this was the second or third time they had crossed paths, though that didn't stop the lady from swinging her scythe for a moment and scattered the rest of the blood that was on it all over the wood that was around her, before she glanced at someone who was standing behind Amaryllis, "though I'm not crazy enough to fight the Dragonborn and all of her allies... I mean, I could get behind fighting you, but my mistress is telling me that its a terrible idea and that this time I should stay my hand. Oh, and I am known as Kya, in case you were curious."

"Kya, eh? That's not a typical Argonian name... what's it stand for?" Delphine asked, speaking before Amaryllis or Za'kera could speak up, though the pair remained quiet as they listened to what was going on right now, mostly in the chance to see what might happen and if they needed to intervene before a fight broke out, especially given Delphine's ability to just annoy everyone she came across.

"It means 'Kills-You-A-Lot'... I love killing things, spilling their blood and sending their souls to my mistress." Kya replied, all with a smile on her face, confirming that she had to be mentally unstable in some way, as while Amaryllis knew there were people who enjoyed killing others, like some assassins, the Argonian seemed unlike those she had encountered so far, or at least it sure seemed that way to her, but at the same time she was curious as to which of the Daedric Princes she was serving and briefly considered Dagon, given his love for destruction, but decided to keep her mouth shut while listening to the ongoing conversation between Kya and Delphine.

"Then shouldn't you be called 'Kyal', instead of 'Kya'?" Delphine inquired, something that caused Amaryllis to resist an urge to sigh, because they were wasting time with her foolish questions and there was no telling what might happen since Kya was an odd individual, especially since she and the others had no idea what might set her off and cause her to go on one of her murder rampages, as she felt that they might not be able to beat her if such a thing happened, though that was the moment that Kya waved her arm and the head of her scythe stopped right in front of Delphine's neck.

"Call me that again and you'll be the first one to die." Kya stated, confirming Amaryllis's thoughts, she hated being called 'Kyal' and would kill anyone and everyone who dared to use such a name when talking to her, something that Za'kera and all of the others agreed on before Delphine seemed to figure out that annoying her wasn't the right thing to do right now, as she nodded her head as well, causing the Argonian to draw her weapon back with a slightly annoyed look on her face, showing that she didn't like Delphine all that much, "Good. Glad we understand each other."

As they walked up to a nearby cave that Kya had spotted earlier, and she insisted on coming with them for a time, Za'kera took a few moments to introduce herself and her companions to their newest ally, though Amaryllis spoke up and told all of them that her name was 'Aziji', since she didn't trust Delphine enough to reveal her true identity to the lady, though with that done the group headed into the cave and found that it contained another small Forsworn camp, with one of the more terrifying Briarhearts resting dead on the ground. Amaryllis figured out that Kya must have killed the Briarheart first, likely finding a way up to this area without alerting the Forsworn to her presence, which would be rather impressive since these people were able to sense her coming from a fair distance away, hence her desire to stay away from them, though it saved them some time as Esbern lead the way and Delphine followed behind him, with Za'kera walking as well and caused the rest of them to follow behind her. What they discovered a few seconds later was that there happened to be a curve path just beyond where the couple of Forsworn had been camped out, before Kya wrecked all of them, one that brought them to a somewhat carved out area built into the center of the lone mountain, an area that seemed to have a few raised areas and a pair of ancient stone platforms that were raised right now, meaning that to progress they would need to figure out what sort of puzzles might be in this area, even though there was a large opening in the ceiling to provide light. Esbern was focused on a set of carved steps that he claimed were definitely early Akaviri stonework, meaning he knew more about all sorts of topics, and beckoned for them to follow him for a few seconds as he quickly reached the top and stared at three pillars that seemed like those that were in the nordic ruins, rotating pillars to be exact, before Amaryllis discovered that all three objects had different symbols, one that looked like a crown, another that seemed to be armor in some way, and one that seemed to be two serpent dragons with an arrow facing the ground.

Za'kera stared at them for a few seconds as Esbern mentioned that the symbols, in order from left to right, meant 'King', 'Warrior', and 'Dragonborn', something that caused her and Amaryllis to glance at each other before the Khajiit turned the left pillar once and it revealed the symbol of the Dragonborn, which seemed to excite Esbern, causing her to do the same to the middle one as well, where all three shared the same symbol and all of them heard a click that was followed by the stone bridge moving down into place. With that done Za'kera made everyone follow her, as she was the Dragonborn and that meant this place might be designed to test someone like her, just like Ustengrav had been crafted to test those who knew some Words of Power, something Esbern and Amaryllis agreed with, even though Delphine looked and felt like she was going to blow at any moment, before they headed over the stone bridge and found a tunnel that seemed to lead to a new chamber, one that caused Za'kera to call for them to stop. Esbern confirmed that this was a good idea, especially due to the fact that the new chamber happened to be full of tiles on the ground, stone squares that had symbols like the three that he had pointed out earlier, while there happened to be a single pillar on the other side of the chamber that had a lone pull chain that would, if pulled by someone, no doubt silence the trap in this area and allow them to move into the second tunnel, which rested near the pillar. In that moment Za'kera understood what needed to be done and stepped out onto a tile that was in front of them, one of the Dragonborn tiles, where Amaryllis smiled as she noticed the path that went from this part of the chamber and lead right up to where the stone pillar rested, something that took her friend no time to walk through before she pulled the chain and cancelled out this trap, all while opening the way for them to progress onward, as the other stone bridge had fallen into place thanks to her actions.

That, of course, was followed by them walking down into a larger area that had been carved out by the Akaviri, leaving a flattened area that had a large chest in front of them, an area with a person sized stone circle and a wall that had what appeared to be a stone carved in the likeness of someone's face or head, and some carved walls which matched the first set of steps they had walked up earlier, and with how open the area was they were able to spread out and investigate the area they were in.

"Wonderful! Remarkably well preserved, too... ah, here's the 'blood seal'." Esbern commented, where he walked up to the area that the person sized stone circle was resting in and gestured to it for a few seconds, meaning that it had to be very important to this place or to the Akaviri, even though Amaryllis found a sack of coins, a pair of elven blades that held some sort of enchantment on them, and a few gemstones that Za'kera would decide what to do with them, before Esbern took a moment to look at his companions, "This is another of the lost Akaviri arts, one that is no doubt triggered by... well, blood... your blood, Dragonborn."

Za'kera paused for a few seconds as she studied the area they were in, where Esbern mentioned that the ancient Blades revered Reman Cyrodiil, in the sense that this whole place appeared to be a shrine him, especially since he claimed that all of the stories spoke of how he ended the Akaviri invasion under very mysterious circumstances, after the so-called 'Battle of Pale Pass', which caused the Akaviri to enter his service and served as the foundation stone of the Second Empire, but after a few moments Za'kera sighed and came to a decision. In the end she pulled out one of her daggers, as she carried a pair of steel ones in case something happened to either of her old blades, the ones that had been temporary until both of her true blades had been returned, before she pulled the glove off of her left hand and pricked her pointer finger with the tip of the dagger, allowing her to drop a few bits of her blood in the center of the Blood Seal, which looked like a messed up Akaviri Dragonborn symbol. A few seconds later Amaryllis, Za'kera, and everyone else watched as a glow started to emit from the Blood Seal, where the outermost part shifted into place before the rest followed suit, forming a complete version of the symbol that seemed important to the ancient Akaviri, causing some of the braziers in front of them to ignite, letting flames dance above them, before they heard a click and watched as the head started to move backwards, revealing a new carved passage that lead into Sky Haven Temple. The first thing Za'kera did was wait for a few seconds as she used one of her small healing potions to deal with the small cut she had used to activate the Blood Seal, though once the door was up, and the passage was revealed, she drew both of her swords and carefully walked up the steps that were in front of them, as her experience raiding ancient tombs and locked temples lead her to being cautious, since there was no telling just how many skeletons might be wandering around, before opening the stone door that was at the end of the new passage so she could enter the actual temple.

As Amaryllis followed her she found that Esbern was more interested in studying the carvings that were on the walls of the passage Za'kera was walking up, while Delphine didn't care at all as she used a torch to light the stone braziers, where she did learn that the carvings started as Akaviri bas-reliefs and shifted to the more flowing Nordic style, before they found a massive open chamber that happened to have a rather impressive stone wall facing what she guessed was a table, but as they all walked up to it Amaryllis knew they had found Alduin's Wall.

"Shor's bones, here it is! Alduin's Wall!" Esbern said, his tone revealing that he was filled with joy to see that it existed and that it wasn't damaged at all, though Amaryllis felt that nothing could actually damage the Wall, not unless those who had made it took a chisel to it or something, but she and Za'kera stood a few steps from it as Esbern and Delphine lit the rest of the stone braziers, while the rest of the group faced the opening in case any enemies happened to follow them in, even if Amaryllis knew that no one had been following them, before Esbern came to a stop on the left side of the Wall and stared at it for a few moments with a smile on his face, "Its so well preserved... I... I've never seen a finer example of early Second Era Akaviri sculptural relief..."

"Esbern, we're here for information, not an art lesson." Delphine stated, like she was reminding a child not to run off or do something stupid, something that really annoyed Amaryllis since the lady didn't do anything or add anything to their still growing group of individuals, and she could see that Kya glanced up towards them for a few moments before focusing on the passage once more, no doubt fighting the urge to run up the steps and cut Delphine down with her scythe, like those she had slain so far.

"Yes, I know... let me see..." Esbern replied, where Amaryllis detected a change in his tone, going from joy to annoyance in being told to skip talking about the art style and why the Akaviri used it, before turning his gaze towards Alduin's Wall as he focused on what was in front of him, as in carvings of dragons, heroes, what looked like Greybeards, and a few more symbols that rested on the right side of the Wall, where he started talking again as he beckoned to something, drawing all of their eyes to it, "Look, the first panel goes back to the beginning of time, back when Alduin and his Dragon Cult ruled over all of Skyrim, where some worshiped dragons and some hated them... and here, in the second panel, the people of this land rebelled against their dragon overlords, the legendary Dragon War itself. What you are interested in, Delphine, is Alduin's defeat, which rests in the center of the Wall, where you can see him falling out of the sky as the Nord Tongues... as in those who mastered the Voice... stand against him in an arrayed pattern."

"So it shows his downfall... doesn't that mean it will show us how he was defeated in the first place?" Delphine asked, this time speaking before anyone could stop her from annoying Esbern more than he already was, though she just wanted to learn how to bring down the menace that was plaguing Skyrim, before he revived his army and sent the dragons to burn and conquer this land.

"Patience, Delphine, for the Akaviri were not a straightforward people... everything they left behind is couched in allegory and mythic symbolism." Esbern stated, where this time around everyone could tell that even he was getting annoyed with his old friend, meaning she must have changed a lot, in his eyes, since the last time they actually saw each other, back in the days before the Blades were smashed by the Aldmeri Dominion, before he turned his attention back the Wall and the symbols he had been studying since their arrival, "but yes, it does show that, as right here you can see something coming from the mouths of the Nordic heroes, the Akaviri symbol for 'Shout'... however, there are no clues as to which Shout was used to face Alduin, even though I'm positive that it was rather specific towards dragons, possibly even Alduin himself, as he was the main target of the Nords during the Dragon War."

"Yeah, but the Greybeards wouldn't know something like this... if such a Shout exists, they would likely see it as a weapon and would have forgotten about it," Za'kera commented, where she studied Alduin's Wall while she talked, mostly due to the fact that it helped her think about what was going on and the fact that they had learned next to nothing from the Wall, due to her opinion on what the Greybeards knew and what they would have done if they knew about this Shout, but she was hoping there was something she might have missed.

"Esbern... is this the Prophecy of the Dragonborn?" Amaryllis inquired, referring to the fourth panel of the Wall, which was the part just after Alduin's defeat, something that held a number of symbols that seemed to reflect a prophecy that had to be important to the Akaviri, one symbol being a broken staff that held eight fragments, another being of a large statue of some kind, the third representing a mountain exploding, while the fourth represented an Oblivion Gate, like what rested on the scabbard of Mehrunes' Razer, a fifth that showed a mountain split in half, and the sixth that was of a hero fighting who she assumed was Alduin.

"Yes, it is," Esbern replied, staring at the symbols that Amaryllis was staring at, likely recalling what was written in the Book of the Dragonborn, which was where she learned the information that made her consider whether or not there happened to be another meaning to Alduin's return to Skyrim, even though there were five omens that lead to the World-Eater's fated arrival, before he ran his hand over one of the symbols, the first one, "the prophecy states that 'When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world, When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped, When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles, When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne and the White Tower falls, When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding... the World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn'. Hence why I said that I had seen the signs, as the first line refers to Jagar Tharn using the Staff of Chaos to imprison the Emperor and take his place, the second speaks of the Numidium and the Warp in the West, the third happens to be a reference to the fulfillment of the Nerevarine's Prophecy and the eventual eruption of Red Mountain, while the fourth speaks of the more famous Oblivion Crisis and the fall of the Septim Dynasty. The last two lines refer to the ongoing civil war, the death of the High King, and the deaths of those who call this land home, before speaking of the battle that will decide the fact of our world, between Alduin and the last of the Dragonborn."

"Maybe that last line has another meaning?" Amaryllis asked, because based on what she and the others had heard the prophecy seemed to state that five key events had to happen before Alduin was allowed to return, leading to him and the Last Dragonborn fighting it out for the future of this world, but if that was the case, like many might assume it might be, it did call into question why her Family was hired to take out the Emperor, because if Alduin was destined to bring about the end of the world it meant they had done that for no reason, before she noticed Esbern was staring at her, "The line says that the 'Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn', not that the 'Last Dragonborn rises', or something like that... maybe its supposed to mean that once Alduin returns the decision of what to do next falls to the chosen hero. Sure, they could fight Alduin for the fate of this world, but maybe it could mean that they could join him, or form a truce to take down another foe that seeks to bring an end to all of Nirn... like the Aldmeri Dominion, for example... especially since the Emperor was assassinated not that long ago, just a few days after Alduin's fated return."

"Hm... it is an interesting theory." Esbern admitted, where his tone revealed that he hadn't considered such a thing before, that the prophecy might he researched might have more than one meaning, more in the sense that a decision would be pushed onto the Last Dragonborn, do they fight Alduin, betray Nirn and join him, or form a truce and bring an end to yet another threat that wanted to bring an end to their world, and the more he thought about it the more he wondered if this was the true meaning of the prophecy, instead of what he and Delphine assumed it had been.

"Oh you can't be serious. Just go talk to the Greybeards and figure out what this Shout is." Delphine remarked, as she was just getting annoyed with Amaryllis at this point in time, as in there were constant changes to the plan and they seemed to be coming from the same person, or at least inspired by the same individual, and she was hoping that the Dragonborn would do the right thing and just focus on recovering whatever Shout brought down Alduin, so they could focus on their next steps, once the World-Eater was dead, "Then we can figure out how to deal with the World-Eater and those he has revived so far, before worrying about other threats to this land."

Za'kera and Amaryllis sighed for a moment as they decided to spend some time seeing what was left in Sky Haven Temple, leaving Esbern to decipher Alduin's Wall some more before focusing on any of the other carvings that were in this ancient place, though they both knew that once their search was over they would be heading out on the road once more and that it was time for them to return to High Hrothgar, to see if the Greybeards had any information to share with them on what Za'kera should do next, before worrying about what the future held for them and for Skyrim.

Dragon: New Information

Amaryllis found a few interesting things in Sky Haven Temple, one of which was a complete set of Blades armor, which she felt looked more like what a samurai might wear, while the other happened to be a katana that seemed to radiate power, no doubt containing an enchantment that was designed to harm dragons, given the nature of this place and the symbols that had been etched on Alduin's Wall, though she claimed it as well and made sure to deprive Delphine of a great deal of things, since the lady didn't deserve most of the items that had been left behind by the ancient Blades. Once that was done she, Za'kera, Lydia, and Kya departed from Sky Haven Temple and retraced their steps back to the entrance of the cave that allowed them to enter the area that the Wall had been built in, where they found that none of the puzzles could be reset, meaning Esbern would have to look into it to make this place somewhat safer for him and Delphine, before they emerged from the cave and found that no new enemies had appeared in the area around the opening. As such the group returned to the main road not a few moments later and headed to their left, heading to the east once more since High Hrothgar was their destination this time around, though while they walked Amaryllis considered making a detour and stopping at the Falkreath Sanctuary, just so Za'kera could learn whatever Word had been written on the stone wall she had seen once she met her new Family and was given the first list of targets that needed to be taken out. Of course they were still surprised that Kya wanted to join up with their group and fight the enemies of Skyrim, mostly because she was a little insane, or totally insane in some cases, and seemed to enjoy large scale battles, something that might work to their advantage if they encountered a group of foes that tried to slow them down, but for now she walked with her scythe on her back and kept her eyes open for any enemies who might challenge the Dragonborn.

One thing that caused them to stop was a group of bandits killing a merchant and his guards, who had been guarding a carriage that was filled with goods that had been on their way to one of the cities or towns that dotted Skyrim's landscape, so Za'kera drew her blades and rushed forward as Amaryllis and the others joined her, where she cut one down by taking his head, Lydia removed the upper half of her target's body with her battleaxe, Amaryllis carefully dodged a few attacks before stabbing her target right in the head, and Kya hacked both of the remaining bandits to pieces.

"It looks like this was headed for Gray Pine Goods, the general store of Falkreath," Amaryllis commented, as she found a note on the merchant and read it for a couple of seconds, before noticing that there was all sorts of items aboard the now ownerless carriage, food, metal, clothing, and who knew what else, though with the horse still alive they could easily take it and use it as a transport so they could get from place to place at a quicker speed, which would save them time given that they had no idea what Alduin was up to.

Za'kera nodded as Lydia climbed up into the driver seat of the carriage, allowing her, Kya, and Amaryllis to climb into the back section and make themselves comfortable, even though Za'kera made sure to loot the bandits and ended up finding a couple of coin sacks, a few lockpicks, and some gems that could be sold, though once everyone was aboard their new mode of transportation they started moving a few moments later, where their new stop would be Falkreath and see if the owner of the general store was up so they could drop off the goods in question. Such a thing meant that they would pass by where Amaryllis' old Sanctuary rested and it would give her a chance to add to Za'kera's power, before checking in with the shopkeeper in Falkreath, and once that was done they would be able to continue along the back road that would link up with the roads near Ivarstead, meaning they would be able to save time before heading to High Hrothgar to speak with the Greybeards and see what they had to share regarding the Prophecy of the Dragonborn. Other than the bandits there weren't any other obstacles for Amaryllis or her companions to worry about, meaning they were able to reach the hill that lead to Falkreath without having to stop and take out more enemies, even though she and Za'kera noticed that another mock battle was taking place in part of Whiterun's plains, making her wonder if the war was waiting for the Dragonborn to pick a side before things really got heated. Instead of worrying about that the group headed up the hill in question and followed the path as it lead them towards their current destination, though Amaryllis did take a moment to glance at the mill that she had killed that vampire at, before heading to Morthal and killing the horrid bard who had been inside the inn, causing her to mentally sigh for a moment as she realized that they were getting closer and closer to their destination, not to mention the place that had been taken from her.

Sure enough they reached Falkreath without wasting too much time and they were lucky to find that the shopkeeper for the general goods store was standing outside, even though he wasn't pleased to hear that the carriage driver had fallen in a bandit raid, but he did pay them for safely returning his goods to him and let them take the now unloaded carriage, but before they left the city Amaryllis lead Za'kera down to the fallen Sanctuary before coming to a stop in front of the Word Wall, where she ran a hand over the etchings as her friend gained a new power, and once that was done they headed back outside and returned the others as they headed for High Hrothgar.

Thanks to what happened the last time Za'kera, Amaryllis, and Lydia passed through this area there weren't any foes for them to worry about, as no new bandits had moved into the ruined town of Helgen and it looked like neither side of the war was interested in rebuilding it, even though the Imperials had been in control of it before Alduin showed up, but such a thing allowed them to ride through one gate, head up the road in front of them, and then head through the next gate as they followed the path to Ivarstead. Of course everyone noticed the Stormcloak camp off to the left, after leaving Helgen behind anyway, though fortunately it appeared that many of Ulfric's followers were busy and didn't notice them passing by the area that their camp was located in, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about being bothered by the racist army, as Amaryllis knew that with her disguise they had two Khajiits and an Argonian, but she didn't worry about that as they rode passed the Stormcloaks. After that Lydia brought them to the curved section of the road, which had a few twists and turns in it, though they also found no one wandering through this part of Skyrim and meant that they didn't have to worry about stopping anytime soon, though such a thing also made Amaryllis think about those odd travelers, maybe cultists, she had seen earlier and had her wonder if they would cross paths with them at some point in time, given that they seemed to be interested in finding the Dragonborn. The other thing she thought about was the fact that there were no dragons hanging out near the road, nor had there been one handing out near Sky Haven Temple, meaning Alduin was either waiting for a good number of followers to be revived or he didn't want to empower his foe until he was ready to face Za'kera, but there was a chance that she was right and that the true meaning of the prophecy was that a truce would be formed between the two sides, making the dragons allies for whatever was coming in the future, to which Amaryllis sighed as she focused on what might happen when they reached High Hrothgar.

Due to there being nothing in their way Amaryllis and her companions were able to reach Ivarstead in good time, but that was followed by Lydia heading up the Seven Thousand Steps, something that caused her and her friends to carefully grip their weapons as they made their way along the path, just in case enemies might be waiting to attack them, but found that such a thing was unnecessary and the carriage came to a stop in front of High Hrothgar after an hour, to which they let the horse rest for some time as they headed inside the structure, finding one of the Greybeards, the only one who could speak apparently, resting in the middle of the main chamber.

"Dragonborn, you seem troubled." Arngeir commented, speaking when Za'kera and her companions came to a stop near where he was sitting, where it seemed like he was either reading her aura without opening his eyes, which would be very impressive, or he had opened them a little to see who was entering High Hrothgar and had noticed the troubled look that was on Za'kera's face, though either option could have influenced his welcoming, before he opened his eyes and stared at all four of them for a couple of seconds, "Tell me, what seems to be bothering you."

"Don't be angry, Master Arngeir, but... well, we found Alduin's Wall," Za'kera replied, as she had a feeling that the monk in front of them would be upset with the mention of the infamous stone carving, especially when she considered what she had said back in Sky Haven Temple, that the Shout used to defeat Alduin was a weapon and might not have a place in the Way of the Voice, and she could see a frown appear on Arngeir's face, "however, while we thought it might provide us with answers, to figure out more of my destiny and how to deal with the threat of the dragons returning, Alduin's Wall has only left me more confused, especially with an alternate theory on what my prophecy might mean... listen, I don't care about the Shout that was used to defeat Alduin, I just... I don't know what I want to do at this point in time."

"The Blades... I should have known that they would meddle with your training," Arngeir said, his tone telling Amaryllis that he wasn't too happy with the survivors of the ruined order messing with Za'kera and her attempts to learn more about the Thu'um, or even figure out what her destiny was supposed to be, before he considered what she had said and the bits of information he knew on the matter, leading to him sighing for a second, "the Shout in question is known as 'Dragonrend', a Shout fueled by the hatred of the ancient Nords who created it as a foul weapon to use against their oppressors, but we cannot tell you what its Words of Power are, as they are unknown to us... we do not regret this loss, mind you, given that Dragonrend has no place in the Way of the Voice."

"I figured as much, even though I have no interest in the Shout," Za'kera stated, though she sat down for a moment as she considered the information Amaryllis had shared with her and the others back in Sky Haven Temple, information that left her confused on what to do next, because if her friend was right about her prophecy it meant she would have some hard choices to make, as in did she focus on taking down the Aldmeri Dominion or did she follow the main prophecy and bring about the end of Alduin, before she sighed as well, "one version of the prophecy seems to be me and Alduin fighting at the end of time, another seems to be of us joining forces to take down a greater threat... I'm just confused on what I should do, especially with the weight of such a decision."

Arngeir sat there for a few moments, debating what he should do in this situation as he noticed that Amaryllis tried to tell her friend that they should just forget the prophecy and focus on something else, like head to a bandit camp and take out those who were plaguing the land, meaning that while they might not know each other all that well she was trying to be a good friend to the Dragonborn and not make her worry about things, especially since it seemed like she might have been the one to suggest the alternate versions of the prophecy, before he stood up and surprised them.

"Thanks to the surviving members of the Blades, regardless of their reasons for looking for Alduin's Wall, you now have questions that only Paarthurnax, our leader, can answer," Arngeir said, as while he would have preferred to wait until the Dragonborn had a much stronger understanding of the Thu'um, after a few months of study to be exact since he knew of the power that one of Akatosh's chosen possessed, before doing something like this he also knew that the only method to help Za'kera was for her to speak with the oldest and wisest member of their order, "Paarthurnax lives in seclusion on the very peak of this mountain, where we rarely speak to him and he almost never speaks to outsiders... but he is the only one who can help you right now. Come, I will teach you a Shout that will open the way to him."

Za'kera and the others followed after Arngeir as he headed outside, where they found the other three Greybeards in front of the large brazier that seemed to be in front of a path that lead to the peak of the Throat of the World, though they did stop their meditation as the group approached and stood up, watching as Arngeir explained that Clear Skies would be the last Shout they gifted Za'kera and carefully used his own power on the stones in front of him, carving three Words right into the stonework, allowing her to focus on them and add the new Shout to her growing list of powers, before he gifted her some of his understanding of it so she could use it.

"I have granted you my understanding of Clear Skies, Dragonborn... use it well." Arngeir stated, almost as if he was slightly worried that something bad might come from expanding Za'kera's knowledge too quickly, since she now had two Shouts that were complete and a number of incomplete Shouts, but right now he knew that she was in need of guidance and the only one that could help her was Paarthurnax, hence why he was doing this, "Clear Skies will blow away the mist, but only for a time, allowing you to tackle the path to our leader, a path that is perilous and not to be embarked upon lightly. Keep moving, stay focused on your goal, and you will reach the summit."

"Alright, I'll do my best." Za'kera replied, where she stepped up to the path that was beyond where Arngeir was standing and focused on the wind that was surging beyond the barrier, with Amaryllis and the others standing behind her, before she gathered her power for a few seconds as she braced herself for what she was about to do, especially since this was a new Shout and this happened to be the first time she would be using it, "Lok Vah Koor!"

Amaryllis watched as her friend's Shout struck the mist and wind that was in front of them, something that caused it all to fade away in a few seconds and revealed a path that lead up to where Paarthurnax currently rested, which was when she drew her swords and rushed forward without wasting even a few seconds, causing Amaryllis, Lydia, and Kya to replicate her movements as they followed behind her, knowing that if they didn't move soon she would leave them behind and the path might disappear. As such they stayed a few steps behind her as she focused on clearing out any weather that was in front of them, using the Clear Skies Shout of course, though there just so happened to be a couple of ice wraiths blocking part of this path and caused her to lash out at them with her blades, mostly knocking them senseless as Amaryllis, Lydia, or Kya finished them off with their weapons. The oddest thing was that there were a couple of goats along the path and moved to the side when they approached them, where Amaryllis wondered if they had climbed up around High Hrothgar or something, though if that was true she knew that keeping such a thing from the Thalmor would be important, so they didn't try to come up here and do whatever it was they were supposed to do, as she still had no idea what the whole issue of the Towers was supposed to be and knew it would be some time before she learned anything about it. Of course there was also a troll partway up the path, how it got there none of them had any idea and none of them cared that much, as it fell to Kya as she dashed forward and swung her scythe a few times, carving the poor troll apart before it could even get near Za'kera, allowing her to continue on her way as the others followed after her, before she eventually found what had to be the entrance to the peak of the mountain, two large stones that had wind behind it, causing another usage of her new Shout to open the way.

With that done Za'kera slowed down as the others caught up with her, where they quickly found that there was a decent sized area in front of them, a ruined Word Wall, and a little more to the peak that just ended after a little while, though as all of them figured that Paarthurnax wasn't present at all, since no one was here, they heard a roar that caused them to go on the defensive immediately, as it belonged to a dragon of all things, and sure enough a large dragon, who had dull grey colored scales, or at least they looked that way, emerged from wherever it had been resting and landed in the middle of the area, though when it didn't attack them Za'kera lowered her weapons and made the others do the same thing before she approached the beast.

"Drem Yol Lok." the dragon said, speaking in a voice that made Amaryllis assume that he was old and wise, which might be true given that his wings were tattered in places while his horns and some of his teeth looked like they had been damaged in battle, and they were able to tell that it was male due to the voice in question, though he was focused on Za'kera and only spared Amaryllis and the others a quick glance, mostly to check what they were doing no doubt, which Amaryllis was fine with since she didn't want to deal with a dragon, "Greetings, wunduniik, I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my stunmah... my mountain?"

"You're the leader of the Greybeards?!" Za'kera replied, where it was easy for the trio to hear that she was taken aback by this information, totally caught off guard by the fact that the leader of the Nord's most revered order, who were respected by everyone who called Skyrim home, happened to be a dragon, one who seemed closer to Alduin's size than the two she had faced so far.

"They see me as their master. Wuth. Onik. Old and wise." Paarthurnax stated, though that was followed by a light chuckle, as if he thought that it was funny that the Greybeards thought of him in that manner, or maybe it was more due to the fact that be might not be as wise as one might assume, but even as that happened he kept his eyes on Za'kera, studying her as they conversed with each other, "It is true that I am old... wise is another matter. Tell me, Dovahkiin, why have you come here? Why do you intrude on my meditation?"

"I... I come seeking answers, hoping that your wisdom will grant me understanding," Za'kera answered, where Amaryllis felt sorry for even speaking her mind back in Sky Haven Temple, because she didn't think it would have this effect on her new friend, who sighed as she likely considered what she was going to say and how she was going to word all of it so Paarthurnax knew how to help her out.

"Drem. Patience. There are formalities which must be observed, at the first meeting of two of the dov." Paarthurnax said, where his tone revealed that he was more than willing to assist Za'kera in her quest, though there was a tradition that all dragons seemed to abide by, which seemed to apply to the Dragonborn based on what Amaryllis was hearing, to which he turned around the ruined Word Wall and focused on what he was about to do, "By long tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones! Match it, if you are Dovahkiin! Yol... Toor Shul!"

As those last three words left Paarthurnax's mouth, a Shout Amaryllis realized, a burst of flames erupted from his mouth as he torched the ruined wall that was his target, where he just so happened to etch the three Words of the Shout onto the wall in question, where Za'kera waited for a couple of seconds, to be sure the flames died down, before she walked up to the ruined wall and stood there, allowing her innate ability as the Dragonborn to grant her the knowledge of the Shout, all while Paarthurnax aided her a little in granting her his understanding of the Words.

"Yol... Toor Shul!" Za'kera shouted, where she turned and loosed her own fire breath right at Paarthurnax, as he claimed it was the proper thing for 'two of the dov' to do, meaning what two dragons would do when they first encounter each other, though it was hard to tell if Paarthurnax took damage from the Shout or if he was simply shrugging it off due to his vast experience, given that he must have seen a lot since the time of Alduin's rule, before she huffed and stared at the dragon that was in front of her and her companions.

"Aah... yes! Sossedov los mul!" Paarthurnax stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased and excited, why Amaryllis had no idea, especially since she wasn't a dragon and didn't understand them at all, while Za'kera tilted her head for a couple of seconds while she considered if she had done the right thing or not, before Paarthurnax focused his attention on her once more and it almost looked like he might have a light smile on his face, "The Dragonblood runs strong in you, stronger than what I originally assumed. It is long since I had the pleasure of speech with one of my own kind. Now, Dovahkiin, what sort of understanding are you seeking?"

"We found Alduin's Wall and how it mentions Dragonrend... I don't care about the Shout," Za'kera replied, because just in the off chance that Paarthurnax knew about the Wall and the information that was stored on it, especially something that might harm all dragons, like Arngeir seemed to think when he mentioned Dragonrend, she wanted him to know that she had no interest in learning Dragonrend, not when she was confused about what to do next, before she got to the answer so she didn't annoy the dragon in front of her, "what I seek to understand is the Prophecy of the Dragonborn and what path my future will take. If one were to read Alduin's Wall, or my prophecy for that matter, they would assume that, as the legendary Dragonborn, my destiny is to fight the World-Eater at the end of time, with the fate of the world being decided by the victor... however, one of my friends shared her thoughts on how there might be another meaning to the prophecy and I am uncertain as to how to move forward."

"Qostiid, prophecy, tells what may be, not what should be. Qostiid sahlo aak." Paarthurnax said, something that interested all of them a little bit, especially since they weren't expecting a dragon to say something like that in the first place, though at the same time Za'kera was beginning to understand why Amaryllis had insisted on there being another version of her prophecy, even if it initially confused her and made her question what to do next, "Vahzah. Your friend speaks the truth, Dovahkiin. Just because you can do a thing, does not always mean you should. In this case, qostiid says to do one thing, end Alduin... zeymah, the elder brother... when you, Dovahkiin, can chose any number of paths to take. Tell me, why do you act?"

"I... I..." Za'kera started to say, as she had a number of reasons as to why she acted in the past, to save towns and villages from all sorts of creatures and dangers, like the Champion of Cyrodiil had done as he sealed the Gates of Oblivion, but, as she thought about all of that, she realized that everything she had done, before being forced to come to Skyrim thanks to the actions of the Elenwen and her Thalmor agents, wouldn't contain the answer Paarthurnax either wanted or was just waiting for her to say.

"Because we love this world, and none of us want to see it end." Amaryllis stated, where she, Lydia, and Kya stepped up for a moment and showed the dragon that they were ready for anything and everything Za'kera might face, regardless of the decision she might make, though if she decided to join Alduin and bring an end to this world she would either hide until all things ended or figure out a way to stop the madness, which meant this was more about showing the dragon and Za'kera their determination, to ignite a fire in her friend.

"Pruzah. As good a reason as any. There are many who feel as you do, although not all." Paarthurnax said, sounding like he actually approved of their response to his question, instead of being annoyed that they had spoken before Za'kera had a chance to answer it, though he could see that the odd individual, who he could sense was different from anyone he had encountered over his many years, had an incredible effect on the Dovahkiin and that her determination was the key that was needed to spark something, "Some would say that all things must end, so that the next can come to pass. Perhaps this world is simply the Egg of the next kalpa? Lein vokiin? Would you stop the next world from being born?"

"If such a thing is possible, the next world will have to take care of itself." Za'kera replied, though this time Amaryllis could see that the fires of determination had been ignited inside her once more, which was what she was aiming for since it was her fault that Za'kera had been plagued by uncertainty when she figured out that there might be another way to read the Prophecy of the Dragonborn, before she turned and faced Paarthurnax once more, "They will have heroes to save it from whatever dangers might plague it, like how our world has me and my friends to deal with any potential threats that might seek to do it harm!"

"Paaz. A fair answer. Ro fus… maybe you only balance the forces that work to quicken the end of this world." Paarthurnax stated, where Amaryllis assumed that the dragon was very pleased with them, or he liked their answer enough to continue with what they were talking about, even though at this point it seemed like there was no need to bother the dragon, not when Za'kera might know which path to walk, though she also felt it was interesting that he would say something like that, especially after what she learned in the Embassy earlier, "Even we who ride the currents of Time cannot see past Time's end… Wuldsetiid los tahrodiis. Those who try to hasten the end, may delay it. Those who work to delay the end, may bring it closer. But you have indulged my weakness for speech long enough, Dovahkiin. Krosis. Now I will offer you my wisdom. Do you know why I live here, at the peak of the Monahven... what you name Throat of the World?"

"No, I don't know why you would decide to live here... I have some ideas, but no clear answer." Za'kera answered, where she figured that it might be due to him wanting to remain hidden from the Nords, except heading out to grab a bite every now and then, since she figured that even an ancient dragon needed to eat, but they said nothing else as they listened to what the dragon had to say, even though she knew that he had used a number of words in his tongue while speaking to her and her companions.

"This is the most sacred mountain in Skyrim. Zok revak strunmah. The great mountain of the world." Paarthurnax said, to which he glanced around the area for a few moments, likely remembering what he was talking about while they stared at everything, even if there wasn't that much to look at right now, before focusing on them once more as he gathered all the information that Za'kera needed to make her decision on which path she wanted to take, "Here the ancient Tongues, the first mortal masters of the voice, brought Alduin to battle and defeated him, in part using the Dragonrend Shout. Viik nuz ni kron. Alduin was not truly defeated, as the Shout only crippled him, but even that, fueled by the hatred of the Nords, was not enough to bring Alduin down. Ok mulaag unslaad. It was the Kel... the Elder Scroll. They used it to... cast him adrift on the currents of Time."

"An Elder Scroll?" Amaryllis asked, because this was the first time she had heard someone make a mention of such a thing, despite the time she spent talking to Festus about all sorts of odd magic that rested in this world and the fact that she was unable to return to her own home world, meaning he had either never heard of such a thing or he had and didn't want to overload her while she was still coming to terms with the fact that returning to Equestria wasn't an option, though that was when she returned to the topic at hand, "I'm afraid that we have no idea what an Elder Scroll is."

"Hmm. How to explain in your tongue? The dov have words for such things that joorre do not." Paarthurnax replied, where it sure sounded like this might be something difficult for him to explain, though he glanced at Za'kera and the rest of her group and noticed that all of them were confused by what he had just said, but he took a few seconds to think about what he knew about the topic before sharing his information with them, "It is… an artifact from outside time. It does not exist, but it has always existed. Rah wahlaan. They are… hmm… fragments of creation. The Kelle… Elder Scrolls, as you name them, they have often been used for prophecy. Yes, your prophecy comes from an Elder Scroll. But this is only a small part of their power. Zofaas suleyk."

"So you're saying that finding the Elder Scroll that was used here, to defeat Alduin, might grant me the wisdom I seek, as in either from the Scroll itself or the information gained on the way?" Za'kera inquired, because she understood the part of this that Paarthurnax hadn't said, that if she found the Elder Scroll that was used to defeat the World-Eater and brought it back to this place, to where it had been used, she could likely peer into the past and learn Dragonrend, something she had claimed to have no interest in right now, something that caused the ancient dragon to nod his head in response, only for her to think about something else, "Okay, we need an Elder Scroll... where are we going to find such a thing?"

"Maybe the College of Winterhold?" Kya spoke up, as she had been quiet for a while and this was the best time for her to speak her mind, especially since it seemed like the most logical place for them to start their search for something like that, something that caused the others to glance at her for a moment as they realized that, while she might be insane and crazy for battle, this was definitely a smart thing for her to say and might be just the answer they were looking for, or at least one of the mages would have a clue to get them started.

With a new destination in mind Za'kera thanked Paarthurnax for speaking with her, and not kicking them off the mountain for interrupting his meditation, before they headed back down to High Hrothgar, where Amaryllis smiled as she found that her friend was truly back, her determination to save the world had been relighted as the fires of doubt had been snuffed out by the wisdom she had been granted, though she knew that once they returned to the carriage they would head down to Ivarstead and get some rest before heading to the north and helping Za'kera figure out which path she wanted to take in the future.

Dragon: Madman's Knowledge

Upon reaching the front of High Hrothgar, which took a few minutes to reach and they found that there was no need for Za'kera to use her new Clear Skies Shout on the weather, Amaryllis, Lydia, and Kya quickly climbed into their carriage, with Lydia at the front once more while Za'kera remained in the back with them, before they turned around and headed down the path that had brought them to the home of the Greybeards, heading for Ivarstead once more. As they made their way down to the small settlement, however, Amaryllis was happy to see that her friend wasn't weighted down by the worry she had felt when she revealed that there were multiple ways for them to interpret Alduin's Wall, the possible variations that might happen in the very near future, depending on which path her friend wanted to pick out and walk down, but the talk with Paarthurnax had cleared her mind and she was thankful for that. Still, she was surprised to learn that the Shout that the ancient Nords had created hadn't been enough to defeat Alduin, meaning that even if Za'kera walked down that route, not that she wanted to anyway, they would have to find something else that would help them take down the World-Eater, which was another reason for them to be looking for the Elder Scroll the ancient Nords all those years ago, as it just might have the information they were after. In the end she decided not to worry about anything, as she could start that once her friend had taken enough time and was ready to make her decision on which path she wanted to follow, as in uphold the written version of the prophecy to destroy Alduin, abandon her role as the world's savior and join the black dragon, or join forces with him and his dragons, to build an army to take the fight to whoever their true foe was, which had to be the rest of the Aldmeri Dominion, before she focused on the scenery and less on what the future held.

They were able to get back to Ivarstead in no time at all, thanks to the path being cleared of enemies, though since it was getting close to night Za'kera had them stop in the settlement and checked out the inn's rooms for them to use, that way they could rest up and be ready for whatever else the future held for them, and Amaryllis was grateful for it since she had no desire to sleep in the back of the carriage, though she made sure to keep her power up in case someone who wanted to do them harm tried to sneak up on them during the night.

As it turned out no one tried to harm or attack them, allowing the group to have a light breakfast after everyone woke up after morning broke, though once that was done Za'kera made sure to get a few more supplies from the innkeeper before they headed outside and made sure the horse was ready to go, finding that it had rested during the night and had gotten some food as well, which Amaryllis suspected that Lydia must have done it while before they went to sleep last night, but it hardly mattered as they climbed onto the carriage and started heading toward the north. Amaryllis knew from both the map and her own flights around parts of Skyrim, that the path to Winterhold would take them by a fort, bring them close to Windhelm, passed the mill that she killed one of her targets by, and then bring them close to another old fort, before they reached their destination, where Za'kera would be happy to speak with the mages and learn where the ancient Nords might have hidden their Elder Scroll. She knew that there was no reason for her or her companions to worry, as with all of the traveling Za'kera must have done the first fort should be learned of enemies, and with all of the other wanders they knew were using the roads of Skyrim, wandering heroes who cleared out bandit camps and whatnot, Amaryllis knew that the fort near Winterhold would be learned out as well, meaning they should be able to reach their destination in due time and not have to worry about ambushes, though she kept her guard up, just in the off chance she was wrong. Of course she could see that Kya seemed to be distracted by whatever was on the road ahead of them, no doubt looking for a new set of enemies to kill and send to her mysterious mistress, someone she either didn't want to talk about or was waiting for something to happen before she said anything, which was fine with her since it meant she could focus on making sure the road was safe and that there were no enemies waiting to ambush them.

Of course her thoughts appeared to be correct, they were able to pass the first fort, which had been taken over by a force of Stormcloaks, head down the road that brought them close to Windhelm, quickly pass by the mill without anyone even seeing them pass by, and then turned up the hill that let them pass by another cleared out fort, which had also been taken by Ulfric's faithful followers, before they made their way towards Winterhold, a ruined town that had suffered some time ago, leaving a few buildings and the College.

Sure enough, when they got closer to the city, Amaryllis was able to see the damage that had been caused in the ancient past, as off in the distance rested a massive circular structure, made of stone, that had to be the College of Winterhold, an area that she had planned on coming to before changing her mind after meeting Festus, before she noticed a couple of nordic buildings resting outside the College, even though there was some distance between the two areas. The reason for that thought was due to the fact that there was nothing around the massive College, which she knew made sense due to an event called the Great Collapse, a topic of debate interestingly enough, and the only thing that collected the College to Winterhold was a stone bridge that looked like it might collapse at some point in time, leaving the building on its massive stone pillar, and the city itself was essentially like Riverwood. There was an inn, a building that looked like a Jarl's house, a larger one that seemed to be the general good's store, and another building that had to be another house, though she did see a few ruined buildings, which had either caught fire before being put out by the snow or had been broken by the snow that was currently falling on this area, something that made her somewhat grateful that she stuck with her Khajiit form, as it offered some protection against the colder elements. Lydia, seeing that the bridge leading to the College happened to be smaller than their carriage, came to a stop and made sure the horse was facing the small path that seemed to go all the way around the stone ramp in front of them, something that caused Amaryllis and her companions to climb off it before Za'kera started to walk up the stone path and headed for the College, as it was time for them to figure out what their next move was and if there was anyone here who could help them find the Elder Scroll they were after.

It took them a few minutes to walk over the stone bridge that was in front of them, especially since they had to be careful due to some broken edges of the bridge, though it didn't take Amaryllis long to find that the middle section of the College was a circular courtyard and happened to have a rather impressive stone statue of a mage, likely a powerful one that had been immortalized by someone carving this piece of art, resting in the middle of the large courtyard, with two towers, one to their right and left, and a massive tower behind the statue. In front of the statue she spotted three figures, all female based on what she could see, and the first one that caught her attention was an Argonian that happened to have a very odd color to her scales, as they were nature green, and she wore steel plate armor, gauntlets, and boots, though that was when she noticed that the Argonian had a pair of sharp looking deer antlers, instead of the usual horns that her kind had on their heads. Standing across from the Argonian was someone who caused Amaryllis to pause, as it was a Changeling who was dressed up in the robes of a mage, likely the robes of an apprentice, who wasn't bothering to hide her true self at the moment and allowed her to see the rose colored hair that was styled in the manner that Twilight Sparkle wore her hair all the time, and she happened to have a book in her crossed arms, almost like she was hugging it, meaning she had, against all odds, found the other missing Changeling. Of course that was when Amaryllis noticed the third figure and found that she was floating above the ground, levitating to be exact, while her robes, looking more elegant and impressive than what all of the other mages wore, meant she had to be the Arch-Mage, though her face was covered by a light blue mask of some kind, even though she could tell it was a Khajiit thanks to the dark gray tail and ears, but that was when she found a few other important items, like the ancient staff with a glowing green orb at the top, a golden sword that shined like it held the power of the sun or light itself, and a dark orb that floated near her at all times.

Amaryllis considered the fact that all mage robes, no matter how they looked, were enchanted in some manner, to boost the power of the one wearing them, meaning that the Arch-Mage had to be incredibly powerful, especially since she was also sure that her mask had some sort of enchantment on it, something that told her that they were standing before one of the strongest mages in the entirety of Skyrim, though that was when the trio turned and glanced at them, something that quickly caused the other Changeling to rush over towards where they were standing.

"Amaryllis!" the Changeling stated, her tone revealing that she was incredibly happy to see her again, and for good reason when she considered what happened in the past, before their kind was revealed due to their former Queen's actions, but it was followed by her throwing her arms around Amaryllis, as in giving her a hug, though it gave Za'kera a chance to see that the newcomer was slightly smaller than her friend was, "Ma'jera told me that someone else had breached the barrier between worlds, but that she had no idea who might be coming to Nirn... I'm glad to see that you were the other one who came to this world."

"I'm glad to see that you're alright, C... Wind Rose," Amaryllis replied, though she caught herself before she said the wrong thing, especially since the Changeling in front of her disliked the name she had been given at birth and preferred a name that she had come up with on her own, even if it might have made someone in Equestria assume she was a Pegasus and not a Unicorn, given her previous disguises, before she considered the fact that the other Changeling happened to be in her true form and not another shape, "I take it they know about you?"

"You mean that I'm the Changeling Princess and everything? I told Ma'jera all that when I first met her," Wind answered, which told Amaryllis all she needed to know, that maybe there were more open minded people in Skyrim and that there was a good chance that no one would have chased her out of the cities if they saw her true form, but that was something for later as the younger Changeling, who was three years younger than Amaryllis, pulled back and moved some of her hair out of her eyes, "a lot has happened since I landed outside Winterhold, around the same time that she came to the College to find something important... I'll have to tell you the story some other time."

"You will have some time for that later. For now, I'm interested in why the Dragonborn has decided to visit the College, not to mention the arrival of another special guest," the Arch-Mage, Ma'jera based on what Wind Rose told them, said, where she floated over to where Za'kera was standing and lowered herself a little, that way Za'kera didn't have to strain her neck by looking up at her, though as she did that they watched as she raised her right hand, which was covered by a dark gray glove, and pulled off her mask for a moment, revealing a young Khajiit, likely twenty years old, who had dark green eyes, though Amaryllis could have sworn that she saw something in them and a second later whatever it was disappeared as if she had seen nothing, "I am Ma'jera, the new Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, following the death of Savos Aren, who died at the hands of a Thalmor agent, and this is Diane Wildborn, a follower of Kynareth who has decided to offer her aid to the Dragonborn... why she came here, instead of tracking you down, is what I was about to ask her when you four showed up."

"Its simple: I was told to come here." Diane spoke up, where Amaryllis found that she carried a greatsword on her back, a green one with a yellow handle, meaning it had to be one of the glass weapons some of the people carried, which weren't made of glass but were designed to sort of look like glass, meaning if she got into a fight she would be ready for whatever she faced, even though Amaryllis had to wonder why she had antlers, because that was something unusual and she could see that her companions were surprised as well.

"Arch-Mage, we came here seeking information on the Elder Scrolls," Za'kera stated, deciding to get back to the topic that was needed for her to come to an understanding of which path she wanted to walk down in the near future, even though she was interested in learning more about Wind Rose, her connection to Amaryllis, figuring out who Diane was, as this was the first time she had seen an Argonian with antlers, and how she could have found two different Thalmor related events in such a sort period of time, "it is relevant to my current quest, if that helps."

Ma'jera tilted her head for a few seconds, clearly thinking about the information that had been shared with her, before she moved the mask back over her face and beckoned for them to follow her as she headed for the large tower, floating while Amaryllis and her companions walked, where she headed inside and opened a door on her right, even though Amaryllis did find a large circular chamber on the other side of a metallic gate, with no one inside it, before she headed up a set of stairs and brought them to another large chamber that she called the 'Arcanaeum'.

"Urag, you have some information seekers," Ma'jera stated, where they found that the Arcanaeum was a massive library, full of bookcases that were no doubt packed full of tomes and had books resting all over the place, before they found a male Orc sitting behind what appeared to be a rather official looking table, who happened to also be wearing mage robes, and that her voice caused him to glance up from whatever he happened to be reading, though as he stood up the Arch-Mage gestured to Amaryllis' group as they came to a stop near his work station, "This is Za'kera, the Dragonborn that the Greybeards called to High Hrothgar some time ago, these are her comrades, those aiding her in whatever mission she's trying to fulfill, and Diane Wildborn, who arrived earlier to aid the Dragonborn."

"Dragonborn? Well, you and your companions are now in the Arcanaeum, of which I am in charge." the Orc, Urag, said, his tone revealing much to Amaryllis, that he didn't seem to care that much about newcomers, no doubt until they proved that they could take care of their books or something, and that he likely respected Ma'jera much more than what she thought, no doubt due to her ability to take down a Thalmor threat to the College, before he glared at them, "It might as well be my own little plane of Oblivion. Disrupt my Arcanaeum, and I will have you torn apart by angry Atronachs, regardless if your the Dragonborn or some visitor looking for whatever aid you can get. Now, what can I help you find?"

"I seek the Elder Scroll that was used to defeat the World-Eater all those years ago," Za'kera replied, once more telling the mages of this place exactly what she needed and what she wanted the information for, even though Amaryllis felt a slight change in Ma'jera's emotions, almost like she found Urag's comment about Oblivion amusing, why she had no idea, but she said nothing about it as she found her friend continuing her statement, "we came here due to the fact that you might have information regarding where it might be located, or at least a clue that might lead us to where it was stored away, so we can use the knowledge of the Scroll to bring down those who seek to end our world."

"I don't know what lead you to that decision, or who you have been talking to, but I'll do what I can." Urag said, where they watched as he turned towards the numerous bookcases that were scattered around the massive chamber that happened to be his domain, not to mention all of the tomes that rested on the tables, walls, and other furniture he or the previous watchers of this place had set up, "What we do have are plenty of books. Give me a few moments, I'll bring you everything we have on the Elder Scrolls, but be warned, there isn't much on them and most of what we have is lies, leavened with rumor and conjecture."

As Za'kera nodded her head, to show him that she understood what he was saying, Urag started to move and walked over to some of the bookcases that were around the Arcanaeum, no doubt checking his memory as to where the tomes on the Elder Scrolls were located before bringing even one of them over to where they were standing, before he pulled out two books, just the two, and walked back over to the table, where he placed both on the wood and beckoned for them to have a look at them, causing Za'kera to pick one up while Amaryllis did the same... only Amaryllis quickly discovered that there was something wrong with her book, causing her to look at the cover before glancing at the Orc.

"Um, Urag? This Ruminations book looks like its incomprehensible." Amaryllis said, where she found that the first lines of it seemed to refer to creatures who lived under the water, not fish since it mentioned moving cloth over gills, which she felt was odd and held no relevance to the Elder Scrolls, despite what the following lines seemed to talk about as she glanced all over what the tome had to share with her.

"Aye, that's the work of Septimus Signus. He's the world's master of the nature of Elder Scrolls," Urag replied, where they found the Orc nodding his head for a few seconds as he thought about something, no doubt recalling what he knew about the author who wrote the tome in question, all while Za'kera looked at the book Amaryllis had been reading and found it was as odd as her friend said, "but... well, he's been gone for a long while... too long, in fact."

"He's missing? Where did he go?" Ma'jera inquired, something that caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow for a moment as she felt something in her emotions as she spoke to the Orc, as it didn't feel like she cared all that much, which she figured might be due to the fact that she had only recently become the Arch-Mage and likely had no idea who worked all over the College, but she did seem interested in where Septimus might have gone, "What could he have discovered that would stop him from returning to the College?"

"Somewhere up north, in the ice fields." Urag answered, informing those that weren't familiar with Skyrim that there was next to no ground passed where the College rested, meaning they would likely have to jump across slabs of ice if Za'kera wanted to track down Septimus, before he considered the other part of the Arch-Mage's question and what he knew of the missing staff member of the College, "I remember that he said something about finding some old Dwemer artifact of some kind, but... well, that was years ago. I haven't heard from him since that day."

"Is it possible that he's dead?" Kya asked, which was possible scenario when Amaryllis thought about it, because if no one knew what had happened to Septimus, and he hadn't said anything to anyone for a long time, there was a chance that he was dead and no one would ever know the truth, meaning that finding the Elder Scroll they were after would be far more difficult than one would originally assume and might cause Za'kera to walk down another path.

"Oh no... at least, I hope not." Urag stated, showing them that he cared for the man in question, meaning there must be a bond of some kind between the two of them and he had been holding onto it for some time, before he sighed for a couple of seconds as he considered everything that had been said and what hadn't be said yet, which was followed by him taking a moment to glance at them, "But like I said, even I haven't seen him in years, and we were close. Becoming obsessed with the Dwemer was the worst thing that happened to him."

"I guess we have no choice, we'll have to investigate the ice fields and see if we can find him, or his notes," Za'kera said, as she had been hoping for more than this when she decided to head to the College in the first place, where Amaryllis knew her friend must have been hoping for them to stop at the College for a few minutes, ask a few questions and get a couple of answers, before leaving to figure out what the next stage of their plan was, even though now she had a path to take and she wasn't looking forward to jumping over slabs of ice.

"And we're coming with you... I'd like to see Septimus with my own eyes," Ma'jera added, though Amaryllis knew that she meant that she and Wind would be coming with them, and likely included Diane since the Argonian seemed interested in helping them out, all while she knew that the Arch-Mage was more interested in whatever Dwemer object Septimus might have found in the ice fields and what sort of knowledge they could gleam from it.

With that done Za'kera headed down the stairs that they had used to reach the Arcanaeum and made her way back to the entrance of the College, as she needed to find a way down to the ice fields so she could start the search for where Urag's missing friend might be located, and as she did that Amaryllis and the others followed after her, most of them walking as Ma'jera floated with her magical spell in effect. While they walked towards the carriage Ma'jera informed Za'kera of a path beyond where the carriage rested, one that did head downward, which just so happened to be what they were looking for, though before Za'kera was even able to reach the carriage a trio of fireballs rushed through the air and seemed to zero in on where she was walking, only they didn't hit her as Ma'jera held a hand out and a barrier surrounded them, cancelling out the attacks as they focused on who dared to attack them. Amaryllis found that there were three odd individuals that were wearing brown robes, an odd mask that made her think they were cultists of some kind, and it looked like the pair of gloves they were wearing had been designed to look like dragon scales, though the cultists were ignoring the guards, who were swinging their swords at them since they were attacking citizens of Winterhold, and seemed focused on her group for some odd reason. While that happened Wind actually gathered her magic for a few seconds and loosed an ice spike at her target, hitting one of the cultists in the process, leading to the other two cultists to break away as they rushed toward the area Za'kera was standing in, where Diane sighed and swung her greatsword, with a single hand, cutting one foe down as Amaryllis noticed that the last the last cultist loosed a powerful fireball at their target, where Ma'jera floated in front of them and raised a hand, absorbing the spell like it was nothing, before allowing Za'kera to cut the cultist down with both of her blades so they could get a move on.

While Za'kera found the path leading down towards the ice fields, however, Amaryllis investigated the cultists and found a note on one of them, which talked about the cultists taking a boat that was called the 'Northern Maiden' from Raven Rock and head to Windhelm so they could begin a search for the 'false' Dragonborn, to kill Za'kera before she reached an area called Solstheim, and if one of them was able to kill her than Miraak would be most pleased, causing her to raise one of her eyebrows before pocketing the note, as Za'kera would need to see it at some point.

With the note in hand Amaryllis followed after her friends and their new companions, where she found that Za'kera was interested in learning who Wind Rose was, something that caused the two Changelings to explain things to them, that she had been the Princess of the Hive, back in their home world, and that her true name was 'Crudelis', as her mother wanted a warmonger or powerful leader to take her place in the future, but instead Wind discarded her own name, forged a brand new identity for herself, and left the Hive. The only reasons Amaryllis knew about her was firstly due to the fact that all of their kind were connected like bees, a hive mind to be exact, so she was able to learn about Wind's existence thanks to her innate connection, one that was no longer present, while secondly one of her missions had been to watch over Wind, even though certain events caused some disruptions to the Hive, especially when Wind's mother ended up dethroned and she vanished at the same time as her mother, leading to her looking for both of them and ended up in this world. It was then that Amaryllis learned that Wind, following her mother being dethroned and disappearing rather suddenly, had found her way to a cave that held a crystalline tree at the end of it, just like she had found before blacking out, and some form of odd magic had sent her to this world, giving her a new form to work with, even though she found that she didn't have to use her disguises all that much, even though she did have an Imperial form she used from time to time. Amaryllis had to guess that Wind's disguise continued to have Twilight Sparkle's hair style, since it fit her personas as a bookworm and mage, just without the coloration or either her target's form or her own unique hair, though for now it didn't matter as Za'kera took a moment to nod her head in understanding, knowing that there would be more time to talk about this, so she turned most of her focus towards traversing the ice fields and tracking down Septimus.

As they carefully moved over all of the large ice fragments, as no one wanted to fall into the ice cold water and freeze after a few moments, Amaryllis found that some wolves approached them and Diane smiled as she petted them, as none of the wild animals wanted to fight them, once more making her wonder who the Argonian was, before the pack departed and they found their way to a large iceberg that looked like an opening had been cleared out and a door placed inside it, but once they had climbed down a ladder, however, they found a decent sized area with an old man, a Nord, walking around a large Dwarven cube of some kind.

"When the top level was built, no more could be placed. It was and is the maximal apex." the old Nord stated, something that sounded like it might be similar to what was inside the book Amaryllis had read back in the College, meaning they had found the missing member of the College, not to mention discovering the odd artifact that Septimus was interested in, an odd box that didn't seem to have any apparent openings, save for a circular area that was facing the old Nord, one that had all sorts of rings, like a lock of some kind.

"Septimus, we heard that you know about Elder Scrolls." Za'kera said, deciding to get to the point so they could get out of here and not spend too much time in the madman's presence, as she had a feeling that he had been broken mentally and it had been reflected in his writing, while at the same time most of their ground stood on the carved out ramp that linked the upper exit to the lower section that Septimus and the cube were in.

"The Empire, they absconded with them... or so they think." the old man, Septimus, replied, something that caused many of them to raise their eyebrows for a few seconds, as his statements were going over their heads and they were trying to focus on what he was really trying to say, where Amaryllis assumed that he was talking about the Empire's vast collection of Elder Scrolls that went missing according to something she ready previously, "The ones they saw. The ones they thought they saw. I know of one, forgotten and sequestered. But I cannot go to it, not poor Septimus, for I... I have arisen beyond its grasp."

"Okay, so where is the Scroll?" Amaryllis inquired, because that was the reason they were here, as it sure sounded like the old Nord knew where she and her companions might be able to find the Elder Scroll that would allow Za'kera to figure out which path she wanted to take, while at the same time she found that Ma'jera floated in front of the cube and rested one of her hands on it, no doubt because she was curious as to what might be inside it.

"Here... well, here as in this plane." Septimus answered, though while one might assume that the Scroll was nearby, as in inside the cube or possibly one of the various caves that had to exist nearby, before he tilted his head for a moment as he considered something that they needed to be told, or what he assumed they needed to be told, before glancing at them with a mad smile on his face, reminding Amaryllis of the madman she encountered, "Mundus. Tamriel. Nearby, relatively speaking. On the cosmological scale, it's all nearby."

"So can you help find the Elder Scroll or not?" Kya asked, where Amaryllis could tell that she was getting annoyed with the old man and might be considering swinging her scythe in his direction, especially since it looked like the Argonian was just itching to do some fighting, since she had been deprived of a chance to fight one of the cultists, but for now she made sure not to grab the handle of her weapon, showing that she had some restraint.

"One block lifts the other. Septimus will give you what you want, but you must bring him something in return." Septimus replied, something that caused Amaryllis and Za'kera to glance at each other for a second, as his words made them take a moment to wonder what in the world he could ask for, especially since they wanted an Elder Scroll that would help them figure out which path Za'kera walked to walk down.

"What is it that you want?" Ma'jera asked, speaking before anyone else had a chance to say anything, though Amaryllis had a feeling she was far more experienced than what Wind had told them so far, even if the former royal Changeling hadn't said much about her Arch-Mage since they encountered them and Diane, given that most of their time was spent on their hunt for the Elder Scroll.

"You see this masterwork of the Dwemer. Deep inside their greatest knowings." Septimus stated, where he beckoned to the massive cube once more, causing them to glance at it as they wondered what might be resting inside it, though based on Ma'jera's interest in the man and his discovery that meant there had to be something important on the other side of the surface that was resting in front of them, before he turned towards them again, "Septimus is clever among men, but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of the Dwemer. Lucky then they left behind their own way of reading the Elder Scrolls. In the depths of Blackreach one yet lies. Have you heard of Blackreach? 'Cast upon where Dwemer cities slept, the yearning spire hidden learnings kept'."

"Where is this 'Blackreach'?" Wind inquired, because this was the first time she had heard of such a place, even though she was sure that Ma'jera likely had an idea of it due to the fact that she seemed to know far more about magic and history, as in far more than what she had found out so far, but for now they were going to have to see what sort of information the mentally ill man might share with them so they could aid the Dragonborn in locating the Elder Scroll she needed, before she asked Amaryllis what she had been up to since her arrival in this world.

"Under deep. Below the dark. The hidden keep. Tower Mzark. Alftand!" Septimus replied, his tone revealing that this part of his information was more exciting, to him at the very least, than anything else he had revealed so far, before he took a moment to think about what else he needed to share with them and then smiled once more, as if someone had nodded their head to confirm they were following his words, "The point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond. But not all can enter there. Only Septimus knows the hidden key to loose the lock to jump beneath the deathly rock."

"Okay... then how will we enter Blackreach, if you don't want to go there?" Amaryllis asked, while at the same time Za'kera resisted the urge to bring a palm to her face as they listened to the old man speak, as he was, in his own way, giving them all sorts of information and knowledge so she could track down and claim the Elder Scroll that happened to be down in Blackreach, though whether or not it was the one that the ancient Nords used to banish Alduin they would know once she brought it to the Throat of the World.

"Two things I have for you. Two shapes. One edged, one round." Septimus answered, to which he turned to his pack for a few seconds and opened it as he looked for something, even though his words caused the group to glance at each other for a moment before focusing on him once more, where he pulled out a perfect sphere made out of Dwarven metal and a perfect cube that was made out of the same material, items that he offered to them and Ma'jera floated over to her with a bit of her magic, "The round one, for tuning. Dwemer music is soft and subtle, and needed to open their cleverest gates. The edged lexicon, for inscribing. To us, a hunk of metal. To the Dwemer, a full library of knowings. But... empty. Find Mzark and its sky-dome. The machinations there will read the Scroll and lay the lore upon the cube. Trust Septimus. He knows you can know."

"Out of curiosity, why are you after the information of an Elder Scroll, but not the Scroll itself?" Ma'jera asked, causing the rest of the group to pause for a moment, as they were wondering why she would bother to ask such a thing now that both items had been given to them, but instead of leaving Za'kera turned to look at Septimus, curious as to what he might say to the question.

"Ooooh, an observant one. How clever to ask of Septimus." the old man stated, though as he said that he turned towards the cube for a moment and rested his hand against the metallic surface, despite the fact that all of them knew that it was part of the reason for everything he was doing right now, before he turned and glanced at the Arch-Mage again, who just floated in place while waiting for him to explain himself to them, "This Dwemer lockbox. Look upon it and wonder. Inside is the heart. The heart of a god! The heart of you. And me. But it was hidden away. Not by the Dwarves, you see. They were already gone. Someone else. Unseen. Unknown. Found the heart, and with a flair of the ironical, used Dwarven trickery to lock it away. The scroll will give the deep vision needed to open it. For not even the strongest mechinations of the Dwemer can hold off the all-sight given by an Elder Scroll."

Ma'jera chuckled and Amaryllis was sure that she muttered something about Septimus assuming that something special called the Heart of Lorkhan was inside the cube, though instead of saying anything to the mad individual they headed for the entrance and headed back outside, where Ma'jera suggested that they return to Winterhold and get on the road once more, as their destination was the Dwarven ruin known as Alftand and she knew exactly where it was, meaning it saved them a bit of time and Amaryllis was curious as to what might happen once they reached their new destination.

Dragon: Depths of Alftand

After speaking with Septimus, and learning that he wanted the information of an Elder Scroll without actually caring for the artifact itself, Amaryllis, Za'kera, and Wind lead the others back to Winterhold, carefully crossing the ice fields once more as they focused on what the mentally ill man had told all of them when they discovered him and his Dwarven cube, the large device that likely contained something important to him, or maybe it was important to his master if he served one of the Daedric Princes that existed in this world, which was a very real possibility in Amaryllis' mind. She ruled out Sheogorath in a matter of seconds, as she had personally dealt with that Prince and doubted that she would run into another insane man who served the Prince of Madness, though given everything else they had seen so far, both in the Arcanaeum and the cave he had carved out when he discovered the massive cube, she had to wonder if he might be linked to Hermaeus More, who was the Prince of Knowledge and Knower of the Unknown, or at least those were the titles she was aware of. The only reason she even considered such a thing was because Ma'jera seemed to think that something else resided inside that odd cube, not the 'Heart of Lorkhan' like Septimus believed, whatever that was, making her wonder if maybe, just maybe, she served the same Daedric Prince and was here to either help Septimus or steal whatever his end goal might be, though there was a chance that she followed another Prince and was trying to disrupt Hermaeus Mora's goals. In the end Amaryllis mentally sighed and focused on the task at hand, as there would be more time for her to think about this once they were on the road once more, hence why she and Wind focused on moving across the ice fields as Za'kera and the others followed after them, even though Ma'jera continued to float through the air with her levitation spell, making her wonder if the Arch-Mage might hate touching the ground or something, since she hadn't touched the ground since she met her.

Upon returning to Winterhold, which didn't take too long since the wildlife ignored them thanks to Diane being there, they were able to climb into the back of the carriage and made sure to turn it around before heading back to the south, while at the same time Ma'jera floated nearby, making Amaryllis wonder if she had a vast amount of magicka or if part of her attire was enchanted with a levitation enchantment, but it did give them some warning if enemies decided to attack them, or at least that was her hope on the matter. While they traveled on the road Ma'jera revealed that they would be heading to their right when they arrived at the fork in the road, like they were heading to Dawnstar or Whiterun, though that was only part of the path since Alftand was located in the northern part of Skyrim, half encased in ice and fallen stone, though she was sure that they would be able to find an opening to head into the depths of the Dwarven ruin, given that all sorts of people wanted to salvage the ruins for loot to become rich. Wind revealed that she and Ma'jera had tackled one of the other Dwarven ruins that were scattered throughout Skyrim, Mzulft it was called, which was located on the eastern side of the province and was likely one Amaryllis had seen while she was traveling from place to place, before flying to save time, but she didn't go into detail about what they had found, save for mentioning that they had discovered some Falmer that lived in the ruin, blind elves with a hatred for pretty much all living creatures. Apparently the Falmer had been a glorious race known as the Snow Elves, something Amaryllis would have to learn about in due time, and that they made a deal of sorts with the cruel Dwemer at one point in time, leading to them living underground and eventually losing their sight, or at least that was the gist of what Wind knew and she admitted that she needed to learn more to fully tell the story, but it did give them an idea of a potential danger they might face inside Alftand, not to mention all sorts of mechanical guards that might be patrolling the halls of the ruin.

While they traveled towards their destination, which was currently Nightgate Inn, Amaryllis told Wind and the others that she was actually the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, something that had surprised her when it first happened, not to mention her Family members when they heard the news, before she undid part of the disguise and let her armor revert back to its true form, revealing her ancient assassin armor to all of them, causing Ma'jera to raise an eyebrow as she took a moment to study part of it, even though both Wind and Ma'jera were also interested in the fact that she had two Daedric artifacts in her possession.

"I have Mehrunes' Razor and the Wabbajack... don't ask, I'll tell you the stories later," Amaryllis replied, because while one relic she had gone after on purpose, after finding that the Prince in question would have crushed her if she failed to do his will, while the other was mostly a mistake she wished she could take back, though she had a feeling that if she attempted to sell the Wabbajack, like she did to that odd gemstone earlier, Sheogorath might punish her in some manner, and that was the last thing she needed right now.

Fortunately Wind didn't press the issue and Ma'jera seemed pleased with her answer, or maybe satisfied was a better way to describe the Arch-Mage's emotions, though Amaryllis focused on the ruin that they were heading towards and the vast dangers that were resting between them and Blackreach, but with a powerful group like this she had a feeling that most of their enemies would falter in due time and they would be able to reach their destination with ease, so they could move on to the next stage of their mission and figure out where the Elder Scroll had been hidden. By following Ma'jera's directions Lydia was able to reach the area that Nightgate Inn rested in, to which she came to a stop and made sure the horse would be fine for a time, since none of them had any idea how long they would be in both Alftand and Blackreach, before they turned and headed up the nearby mountain trail that would take them right to their destination, a path that rested right between two mountains, with Za'kera and Ma'jera at the front with Amaryllis and the others following after them as they kept their eyes open for enemies. Interestingly enough it didn't appear like there were any foes for them, and no wolves or other wild animals for that matter, allowing them to enter the colder part of Skyrim before finding a path leading down to what appeared to be a metallic tower of some kind sticking out of the ground, before Amaryllis found that there a couple of other nearly identical structures resting beyond it, not to mention some wooden structures that appeared to be a camp set up by someone who must have been trying to excavate this area. Based on what she could see it looked like winter had snuck up on whoever had set this camp up, as there were a few frozen bodies under the snow that would likely break into pieces if someone touched them, before she spotted some wooden walkways that lead downward, right into the side of the massive stone wall that all of them happened to be standing on top of, and when she showed Za'kera what she had found the group descended towards the entrance and headed inside the cavern that had to lead them into part of Alftand, or at least she hoped so.

On the other side of the entrance they found all sorts of camp goods and everyday items, like cauldrons, boxes, wooden handcarts, and all sorts of food items that looked like they had decayed since the previous group had passed through this place, though it didn't stop them from making sure their weapons were ready as Za'kera lead the way through the tunnel that was in front of them, even though Amaryllis wasn't surprised to find the Arch-Mage floating as everyone else walked, as that seemed to be her thing. A few things jumped out at her as they followed the tunnel, there were a number of places that looked like campfires had been set up, there was dried blood everywhere, and it looked like a number of people had been slain, and possibly eaten, thanks to a few rib cages they walked by, confirming that it was a good idea to have their weapons at the ready since there was no telling what sort of dangers might be down here. While they walked they found a voice talking to someone, or maybe to themselves, before they entered a large passage that seemed to be carved out of stone, more in a mechanical nature since it was nothing like what the Akaviri did, meaning they had found a Dwarven area and found that it was larger than the tunnel they had walked through, but no one sheathed their weapons as they headed down the passage in front of them. Of course part of the passage looked like it had been covered in snow, which she had no problems accepting since parts of the ground might have broken and opened the way for a lot of it to flood in, leading to the previous group clearing it out, before they found an area that looked like it had an elevator that lead even deeper into the ruin, though based on what they could see it didn't look like there was a switch to withdraw the metallic rods that were blocking the way, or if a lever existed it was out of reach to prevent magical people from pulling it and cheating their way through this particular ruin.

While that happened one of the vents that rested further ahead of them opened and a metallic spider burst out, one that tried to shock Kya and paid for its actions when the Argonian sliced it to pieces, or at least damaged a great deal of the old metal to knock it out, before they moved further down the main path that they were following, which brought them to yet another vent and a male Khajiit that looked like he might have gone insane, leading Diane to smashing the next metallic spider while Za'kera blocked an incoming attack from the newcomer and cut him down. After that Amaryllis found that the insane Khajiit had set up a small camp of sorts for him and his deceased brother, who was still fresh, but the small bottles of skooma that rested nearby, empty according to Kya, before discovering that he had camped near an opening that lead right to one of the larger chamber of Alftand, even though they had to bypass a wall before reaching a circular platform of sorts that didn't seem to serve much of a purpose. Of course that was when they found two indents in the walls, both to their right and left, which opened and dispensed a metallic sphere that transformed into a metallic fighter of some kind, a sphere guardian or something, though in the following seconds Amaryllis found that neither enchantment she had on her daggers seemed to do much to her target, but her artifact seemed to cut through the metal with some ease, though while she cut it down Wind used a staff that she pulled out of her pack and blasted it with a lance of green magical energy, which knocked it backwards as she informed them that she carried the staff of Jyrik Gaulderson, even though the majority of the group had no idea who Jyrik was. Once both sentries were taken care of Ma'jera continued ahead with Za'kera, leading the way as Amaryllis and the others followed after them, finding a curved passage that brought them to an area that had a few metallic spiders wandering around the chamber it brought them to, where their might was enough to see them through the battle as they scattered the pieces of the spiders and allowed Ma'jera to use her magic to open a nearby door that did look like it might be the way for their group to move even deeper into Alftand.

That brought them to a new passage that seemed to go in two directions, the right path ending in a dead end, due to some of the passage being collapsed, so they took what was on their left as Lydia smashed a Dwarven Spider that happened to be in their way, before it had a chance to even notice that they were approaching it, only to discover something interesting, the path they had followed had placed them above the chamber they had walked through earlier, so they were near the ceiling and Amaryllis could see a door across from where they were standing. The only obstacle Amaryllis and her friends had to worry about were a few pistons attached to the walls that seemed to move out and then back into their containers every so often, which didn't seem to serve any purpose due to the fact that all of the Dwarves were gone, and they found a few metallic spiders roaming the path in question, so Za'kera cut one down with her ebony blades while the others stayed right behind her, allowing them to reach the door and pass through it in no time. What they discovered was a more lit up area on the other side of the large bronze door, one that revealed a passage that had a bit of steam coming from the few pipes below their walkway, though the next large door brought them to a chamber that seemed to be moving upward, at least for now, so while Wind took care of the spider that was off to the side Za'kera followed the stairs and moved deeper into Alftand as she kept her eyes open for whatever machine the metallic musical sphere went to. Such a thing meant they had to take down another Dwarven Sentry, where Kya and Diane defeated it by swinging at it at the same time, though as they did that Za'kera continued to follow the path in front of them while Ma'jera floated around and stared at parts of the chamber they were in, especially with the odd egg clusters that seemed to be resting in certain shadowy sections, though as she collected a few of them, meaning she might also be an alchemist, Amaryllis decided to not imagine what creature had left them behind and focused on finding the Elder Scroll.

Of course that was when they found a ramp that happened to have a few devices in the floor that they walked around, as it was easy to walk around all three of the square buttons, before reaching an area that had a lever for them to pull, which Lydia did without delay, only to reveal a walkway that was inside a large circular chamber and seemed to descend into the depths of the land, impressing Amaryllis as to just how much the Dwarves had been able to do before they vanished from the face of this world. As they walked down the ramp, however, Amaryllis found that part of the path must have collapsed at some point in time and that meant they were going to have to jump down some pipes to get to the next path, where a body of an Orc happened to be resting with some arrows in her chest, meaning she had to be dead, and at the end of the section of ramp they were using they discovered a door to their right that, upon opening thanks to Ma'jera using a spell to unlock it, opened up into a dead end, so the group focused on climbing down the pipes. When the others spotted the body of the fallen warrior, however, Wind pointed out the deadly looking arrows and informed everyone that they were what the Falmer used against invaders, meaning they needed to be careful since these creatures were trouble, though as they learned that Amaryllis found an ugly blind looking elf, who seemed to be hunched a little, walk up the nearby ramp and shifted its head for a few seconds, showing that it was listening for intruders, to which Amaryllis shifted her stance for a few seconds and used her skills to silently slip behind the Falmer and cut its neck open. Wind paused for a second, as she hadn't been expecting such a thing to happen, even though she knew what Amaryllis was now, but this just proved to all of them that she was more than capable of handling herself and could take down whoever tried to sneak up on them, while at the same time it opened the way for them to head down the ramp her target had used to get up here and allowed the group to descend even deeper into Alftand.

Sure enough the group found a number of Falmer along the ramp they were following, along with some Dwarven Spiders that were broken by the blind elves, so while the melee fighters rushed in, and both Wind and Ma'jera stayed back to use a few of their spells to weaken some of their enemies, Amaryllis switched to her bow for a moment and pulled out her elven arrows, where she took aim and loosed one that slammed into the chest of a Falmer who stopped on the next section of the ramp they were following, who fell into the abyss in the process.

Thanks to the efforts of the others they were able to reach the downward section of the path, where Amaryllis' target had been standing before she struck it, which lead them to yet another door that they opened and brought them to what did look like a camp for the Falmer, as there happened to be a single hut in the lowered section of the new chamber, where it was easy for them to see two more blind elves wandering around the structure, before Amaryllis noticed the opening that they seemed to be guarding and noticed that more were coming. In that moment she pulled out another arrow and took a moment to line it up with her next target, taking down another Falmer as Za'kera, Lydia, Kya, and Diane clashed with their enemies, leaving Wind and Ma'jera to provide support with their magic, though Ma'jera also closed the door they had just walked through before sealing it with a bit of her magic, no doubt another spell she had access to, but Amaryllis focused on taking out the archers, and odd thing to see and suspected they were using their ears to find their targets. Most of the group didn't stop as they continued to press forward, though Ma'jera did collect any staffs that some of the Falmer just so happened to be carrying, either to study them or pass them onto someone else when they were ready for such a thing, or maybe it was to collect them and not let anyone else touch or use them, before the group came to an area that looked like it had a few flame traps in it, which they avoided just fine as they moved even further down the path. Near the flame vents rested another bronze door that Za'kera opened without delay, revealing a rectangular chamber that had a wall they had to walk around, not to mention a few more Falmer who wanted them dead, though while they tackled their enemies it was easy for Amaryllis to see that there was a Dwarven Lift nearby, a circular platform with a lever in the middle, likely the one that connected to the locked area they had seen earlier, but since it wasn't important right now she and her companions continued their advance while taking down any and all Falmer that were in their way.

Another thing Amaryllis discovered was that there were a few bodies that looked like pieces were missing, like the Falmer had been eating them since capturing the previous group that came to Alftand, especially when she spotted what seemed to be wooden torture devices, though she didn't question why the Falmer had access to stuff like that as they moved past this section of the massive ruin and continued to head deeper, since both Za'kera and Ma'jera were sure that they were still a ways away from their target.

On the other side of the next door the group found what had to be the bottom of the circular shaft, something they were able to confirm when Amaryllis found one of her fallen foes resting on top of the stone pathway that they would be using to head even deeper into this place, though as Za'kera and the others headed down the ramp Amaryllis raised her bow for a second, found a rather dangerous looking Falmer wandering around the bottom section of the curved ramp, and quickly decided to take it out by loosing an arrow into its head. Sure enough the helmet it was wearing wasn't enough to stop her arrow and her target fell over instantly, allowing Za'kera and the others to launch their assault on the remaining number of Falmer that were living in this part of Alftand, either cutting into their foes or blasting them with magic, though once they reached the bottom of the ramp Amaryllis dropped down and used her wings to slow her fall so she could land by her new friends safely. With that done the group walked through a short passage and opened another door, revealing a staircase that went even deeper than what they had experienced so far, and they were able to bypass a rather crude trap that must have been set up by the Falmer, as it was off on the left side of the passage and they stayed to the right, before opening the door at the end of the passage and revealed another rectangular shaped passage, one with a number of buttons in the floor and meant there was a trap above them, since there was nothing in the walls. As such Ma'jera paused and channeled a bit of her magic, due to there being a Falmer in their way, before loosing a spike of ice that slammed into her target, right in the chest to be exact, and with another foe taken down Za'kera was able to continue on her way as she and the others carefully avoided the traps that were in this part of the ruin, before they found another door that Amaryllis opened, which brought them to a large cavern the Dwarves had hollowed out at some point before they disappeared, one that happened to have a gated structure that seemed important.

Of course there were a couple of Falmer wandering around the outside of the structure, causing the group to attack them since they knew the blind elves were aggressive and would want to take any intruders down, but as that happened Wind took a look around where they were fighting, as it seemed odd for there to be no switches for the gate, and found a set of stairs leading upwards, to something that was right above the door they had just walked through, and sure enough she was able to locate a lever that opened the gate that was blocking their way. While Wind opened the way, however, it was easy for Amaryllis to see a tower or two that had collapsed at one point in time, or at least tall structures that had fallen in the past, though they didn't have to worry about the Falmer that much since the last one fell to Za'kera delivering a pair of swings to her target's chest, allowing them to head over for the previously closed gate to see what might be on the other side of it. That was when Amaryllis noticed a rather large machine that appeared to be humanoid in nature, only it looked like it might be designed to battle large groups of enemies, while another one happened to be resting on the ground of the raised section they were walking up to, where Ma'jera informed them that these were Dwarven Centurions, far stronger than a normal Dwarven machine, like the Spiders or Sentries, though as she said that she brought her hands close to each other as she weaved her magic into one of her spells, all while the sound of them talking caused a chain reaction as they found the clasps that were holding the Centurion in place unlocking, awaking the ancient robot to attack them. In the next couple of seconds Ma'jera released her spell, a large head sized fireball, which struck the Centurion right in the center of it's chest and left a burning hole behind as the fireball struck the wall behind it, leaving behind a scorch mark to show what had happened, though as the Centurion fell Za'kera found a key falling out of a compartment in the Centurion's left arm, a key that likely went to the main door that was at the top of the stairs.

What they discovered at the top of the stairs was that there happened to be a large sized area that held a square shaped device of some kind, with an indent post of some kind at the front of it, before they found two figures standing behind the main piece of machinery, a Redguard lady and a male Imperial, both appearing to be warriors, who just so happened to be in the middle of a heated battle with each other and the group arrived in time to witness them deliver the finishing blow to each other, where the Imperial lost his head as he delivered a deep slash to his foe's chest, both dying in seconds of their former companion falling.

"It would appear that they were captured by the Falmer, who likely weakened their armor to this point," Amaryllis said, as she could see all of the damage that had been done to the chest pieces of the two warriors, they looked like they had been beaten up and clawed at, meaning the blind elves must have been trying to get at their flesh before something allowed the pair to escape and make their way here, though she collected a shield with spikes on the front of it, as it seemed unique to her and might be worth something in the future, before she focused on their task, "but this device seems to be what we're supposed to be looking for, where the sphere is supposed to go."

"You would be correct." Ma'jera replied, where she pulled the sphere out of her pack and set it down inside the indent that everyone was currently looking at, something that caused all three of the rings in the middle of the device to start moving not a few seconds after it was inserted, even though it also caused part of the floor around it to shake and made everyone else move away from the device as they watched as the floor around it moved in sections, like a staircase, before lowering into the ground, forming a set of stairs for them to walk down, and once it was done she recovered the sphere, as it might be useful in the future, "Come, Blackreach and the Elder Scroll are within our reach."

Amaryllis, Za'kera, and the others nodded their heads before they headed down the stairs that were in front of them, one that was very short since it quickly brought them to another door, this one scaled down and not massive, like the rest of the large doors they had passed through to get to this point, though on the other side of the door they discovered a long Dwarven passage with a single door at the very end of it, one that brought them to a massive cavern that had been carved out in the depths that were far under Skyrim. The cavern was an amazing place for them to look at, as there happened to be some sort of blue glow that was coming from some rather large mushrooms, of which there were plenty and it looked like they were scattered around the area, and another glow from what appeared to be a metallic sun of some kind, as they could see one off in the distance, likely created by the Dwarves at one point, before Amaryllis spotted what had to be the outline of a tower, or at least that was what she assumed it was. She wasn't the only one that seemed to notice it, as it was easy for her to see that Za'kera had spotted it as well, but before anyone had a chance to move Ma'jera beckoned for all of them to remain still and silent for a time as she weaved some magic over the entire group and used some of her spells to aid them, as one spell seemed to make all of them become transparent, another made all of their noise become silence so the Falmer didn't hear them walking, and one more that likely messed with the ability of the Dwarven machines, to make sure they couldn't spot them either. Once that was done she actually cancelled out the levitation spell, or at least put it on hold for a moment, before placing her right hand on the ground and focused for a few seconds, meaning she was picking another spell to use in this place, one that seemed designed to help her locate what they were looking for, though it was in that moment that Amaryllis spotted something moving in her sleeve and discovered that it was a trio of snakes, who were twice the size of one of her fingers, who slithered onto the ground and vanished.

Ma'jera quietly explained to her and the others that this was one of her personal spells, snakes that acted like scouts that would be able to silently move around an area and allow her to see everything that they happened to see, because right now she had a feeling the Dwarves might have left something terrifying in this place and she really didn't want to activate whatever it might be, at least not until they found the tower and recovered the Elder Scroll, plus the knowledge Septimus wanted for his locked box. Za'kera nodded her understanding, mostly to show that she agreed with the Arch-Mage's spell and her precautions, as the others remained silent, though Amaryllis was curious as to why the trio of snakes had a sickly dark green coloration to them, like they might have come from one of the Realms of Oblivion, but that was something she filed away for later, once everyone was no longer wandering around Blackreach. A few moments later Ma'jera beckoned for them to follow her as she headed down the short set of stairs that were nearby and then headed to her left, allowing Amaryllis and the others to see that there was a Dwarven Sphere guarding a stone house for some reason, likely whoever had owned it had ordered the device to remain on guard, before the entire race vanished, but they didn't stop to see what was inside the house and continued down the path Ma'jera was following. Sure enough there were a number of Falmer in Blackreach, meaning they must have been brought down here before the Dwarves sealed all of the entrances, but none of them reacted to Amaryllis or her companions as they walked down the path that Ma'jera was following, and Kya, who did look like she wanted to rush out and kill their enemies, held her desire for battle back as they moved deeper into the large cavern that the Dwarves had carved out, especially with all of the stone walls and metallic devices that were scattered all over this place.

One other thing Amaryllis noticed was that there happened to be a large city of some kind that seemed to be resting right in the middle of Blackreach, or at least the section of the cavern that they happened to be in, though they also walked by a few clusters of glowing blue crystals, Aetherium according to Ma'jera, where she paused and broke a decent sized chunk off of one of the various clusters before stuffing it inside her pack, as it was rare and was definitely worth trading to some researchers, before she came to a stop a few moments later and they stared at the tower, made of stone and metal, that had to be their destination.

"The Tower of Mzark... we were able to find it with ease, thanks to your snake scouts," Za'kera said, keeping her voice low in case any enemies were nearby, though at the same time Amaryllis watched as the snakes slithered up Ma'jera's arm for a few seconds before disappearing entirely, as if they never existed in the first place, where she paused for a few seconds, just to be sure the coast was clear, before she started to walk over the walkway that was in front of them, one that ended in front of a door that she opened with ease, revealing a lift for them to use.

Once everyone was standing on the lift she pulled the lever and they started to move upward, though Amaryllis heard the sound of something metallic moving, not the lift, and Ma'jera nodded her head, indicating that something, against all odds, had noticed the presence of intruders in Blackreach and had started becoming active, making her wonder what might be lurking in the depths of this place, but she shelved the thought as the lift came to a stop and revealed a chamber to them, meaning she and her companions had to be some distance above the massive cavern. As soon as the lift came to a stop all of them found a decent sized chamber that looked like someone might have set up a camp at some point in the past, likely one of the people that the Falmer captured before devouring them, though there happened to be a few books that looked like they were pristine, ones that Ma'jera floated over to her back as she resumed levitating above the ground, though she, Amaryllis, and the others found that Za'kera was focused on the door across from where the lift stopped. There was a very good reason for that, as they soon discovered, as there was a large metallic orb of some kind resting in the large room that was on the other side of the door, which had a floor wrapped around the uppermost section, though Ma'jera took a couple of seconds to explain that most of the machines in Blackreach were powering several items of importance, the first being all of devices in Blackreach, the second had to be whatever machine had activated when they accessed the lift, and the last item was the machine that held the Elder Scroll. Sure enough they found that part of the upper section of the orb was built differently than the rest of the orb, as it looked like it might be moveable, and that there happened to be some sort of odd device hanging from the ceiling, which seemed to be made out of special glass that the Dwarves created, along with there being an opening that lead to another lift, their escape route, and above that rested a device with a post that a cube could be attached to, which meant they had to be in the right place.

Given that Ma'jera knew what she was doing Za'kera let her float up to the console that was the controls for this area and watched as she slipped the lexicon into the slot it was supposed to be stored in, before she started interacting with all of the buttons that were up there, something that caused the rings around the top section to move and rotate, before they heard the sound of something opening and found that it was the lexicon, revealing a rotating core as Ma'jera switched to another button and caused the device near the ceiling to shift, as in the lens first and then the center of it all, before they found that it came to a stop above the top of the orb and the crystal opened, revealing a golden scroll that had some gems attached to it.

"And there it is: the Elder Scroll you require to fulfill your destiny, not to mention the knowledge Septimus wished for us to collect as well," Ma'jera said, where she floated down to them with a glowing lexicon floating near her, though she and the rest of the group watched as Za'kera raised her hands and collected the Elder Scroll they had been searching for, which let a smile appear on the faces of Amaryllis, Wind, and the rest of their companions, as it meant they were one step closer to Za'kera figuring out which path she wanted to take.

With the Elder Scroll in hand, and their time in Alftand and Blackreach had come to an end, even though they hadn't been in the latter for too long, Za'kera headed for the exit that was below the console, causing Amaryllis and their companions to follow after her, as it was time for them to return to the surface, get some well deserved rest, before heading back over to Winterhold to deliver the lexicon to Septimus, so he could open his Dwarven cube, and once that was done they could travel to wherever Za'kera wanted to do so she could figure out which path she wanted to take.

Dragon: Shocking Discovery

What Amaryllis and her companions discovered was that the lift that was near the chamber that the Elder Scroll had been hidden in brought them back to the surface, as in right outside the camp that had been built around the tower all of them had seen, though there just so happened to be a lever nearby and it allowed them to open the door that was right in front of them, though they were happy to be above ground again, before Ma'jera used her magic to grasp the lever and seal the door behind them, so no one could head into the depths and disrupt things. Of course such a thing would make one take a moment to wonder why she hadn't done that when they passed through this are previously, though Amaryllis knew that she wanted to make sure that the path Septimus had told them about lead to the area that held the Elder Scroll, instead of using the lift and possibly heading down to a part of the underground cavern that wasn't connected to Blackreach at all, so she said nothing as they headed up the path they had used to get to Alftand's entrance. They were heading back to the Nightgate Inn, because after everything they had been through it was time for a bit of a rest and some food, now that they didn't have to worry about Falmer sneaking up on them or Dwarven machines attacking them, before using the carriage they had claimed earlier to head back to Winterhold and bring part of this adventure to an end so they could focus on the next step, figuring out which path Za'kera wanted to take. Amaryllis knew that her friend had been determined to recover the Elder Scroll and use the quest to gain more insight before coming to a decision on what to do, though now that they had found and collected it, something they had to keep quiet about since there was a chance that thieves might come to collect it if they knew such a thing existed, it was about time for her to decide on what to do next.

As she thought about it, however, she called for everyone to stop and asked Za'kera if she wanted her to hide the Scroll in a chest that she could summon and dismiss, as she hadn't told anyone about the spell before this point in time, as it was a secret since she didn't want everyone to know about it, though Za'kera thought about it for a few moments before coming to a decision as she handed the Elder Scroll over to Amaryllis, who quickly summoned the chest with the spell, opened the chest up, and carefully stored it inside her container before dismissing it.

"It is always good to see someone else enjoying the Conjure Chest spell," Ma'jera commented, indicating that she knew the spell as well and could likely use it as well, especially given the fact that she seemed to knew far more about magic than all of the mages that Amaryllis had seen during her time in Skyrim, including Festus no doubt, though as she said that she just waved her hand and a dark green chest, which looked like a clam or a gaping mouth of some kind with an endless abyss inside it, appeared nearby, where she pulled the other staffs out and stored them inside it, before dismissing the chest as quickly as she had summoned it, "I find it easy to move items from place to place, though I keep most of my weapons near me, in case enemies decide to attack me or I need to defend myself."

As they walked Ma'jera revealed what her weapons were, she carried the Staff of Magnus, a powerful elder relic that used to belong to Magnus, the God of Magic, one of the Et'Ada who helped found this world without sacrificing his power like so many others, her shining blade was Dawnbreaker, the artifact of Meridia, the Prince of Life and many other things, while the mask she wore was called Morokei, one of the infamous Dragon Priests of the Dragon Cult, and her robes, of course, belonged to the Arch-Mage of the College, one of the more powerful mortal pieces she had found. The orb, however, was a relic of her own creation, which she called Infinity, a powerful magical artifact that was designed to significantly boost the powers of the mage who carried it, something that explained how she had smashed that Centurion with ease, though that only caused Amaryllis to wonder just how strong her base power was, without all of these relics to aid her, but she had the feeling that she would never answer that question. Ma'jera also explained that she had come to Skyrim for one reason, not to learn from the College, though apparently she had to be a student to be able to get to the Arcanaeum and figure out the lone piece of information she needed to obtain, but then she had met Wind Rose and decided that helping her learn and even master her new magic would be an interesting side project, especially since it turned into her taking a liking to her, as Wind was, of course, her apprentice. Of course the part she wouldn't talk about was what sort of mission she had set for herself, as it looked like she wanted to keep it a secret for a little while longer, where Ma'jera actually said that they would know her mission as soon as it was complete, as she was sure that they were getting close to finishing it, which told them that aiding Septimus also helped her out in some manner, to which everyone nodded and focused on heading down to the area that the inn rested in.

Upon arriving at the inn Za'kera purchased the rooms that were available, since there were seven of them, and made sure to get something for dinner, that way everyone had something to eat before heading to bed, which Amaryllis was fine with since they hadn't eaten anything since they departed from Ivarstead, though once everyone had something to eat they got some sleep as Ma'jera made sure no one came looking for them, since they would need their rest after their trek through Alftand and the enemies they had fought.

When morning arrived Za'kera made sure to purchase some food for the road before they headed outside, made sure the horse and carriage were ready to go, and then departed as soon as everyone was ready to depart for Winterhold, as it was time for them to return to the iceberg Septimus had built his camp in, to hand over the lexicon and see if he needed any further assistance to unlock that odd cube that had been trapped inside that iceberg, though once their preparations were complete they got on the carriage and departed for Winterhold. Amaryllis was interested in which path Za'kera would take once she returned to the Throat of the World, to speak with Paarthurnax, though she was hoping it would be taking down the Aldmeri Dominion and ending their threat to this world, since that seemed to be what Akatosh had been pushing for, or at least it sure seemed that way to her and might be due to her meeting with one of his fragments, before focusing on the information she had learned inside the Embassy. Elenwen had been looking to find and capture Za'kera, to eliminate her before her friend used her position as the Dragonborn to seize control of the Empire and lead them into battle, likely to take down her targets, though what interested her was the part of the conversation that was about the Snow Tower and a Stone that the Thalmor were looking for, possibly to destroy it for some reason, but even then she had no idea why the Aldmeri Dominion would be interested in something like that. As she thought about that, however, Amaryllis glanced over to Ma'jera for a moment and wondered if the Arch-Mage might know what Elenwen had been talking about, as she seemed far smarter than a simple mage and suspected that if she asked her the question she might get a decent answer, and it might also lead to Za'kera coming to a decision on which path she wanted to take.

"Hey, Ma'jera, I have a question," Amaryllis spoke up, deciding that asking the question now might be best, especially since it was going to take them some time to reach Winterhold and this allowed everyone to think about other things for some time, instead of whatever might be going through their heads right now, though she paused for a moment and waited for the Arch-Mage to glance in her direction, especially since she was still floating by the carriage, "When I was in the Thalmor Embassy I overheard Elenwen talking about the Snow Tower and the Stone that went to it, though I have no idea what she was talking about. What's so special about those two items?"

"The Towers are ancient structures of immense power that stabilize this world, and each one is powered by a Stone, an object of great importance, like the Amulet of Kings for example," Ma'jera replied, showing Amaryllis that her guess had been correct, it looked like she knew more about the Towers than what she thought she might, even though it did change her count from a single Tower to multiple ones, making her wonder just how many structures existed in this world, but she kept her mouth shut as they waited for the Arch-Mage to continue talking, "and when the Stone is destroyed it leads to the Tower it's connected to, like the White-Gold Tower to use my earlier example, to deactivate, weakening the stability of this world and leading to the eventual destruction of Nirn. There are eight known Towers on Nirn: Ada-Mantia, known as the Adamantine Tower and is located on the Isle of Balfiera, Red Tower, which is the Red Mountain in Morrowind, White-Gold Tower, which rests in the center of the Imperial City in Cyrodiil, Crystal-Like-Law, or the Crystal Tower of the Summerset Isles, Snow Tower, better known as the Throat of the World and just so happens to be in Skyrim, Green-Sap, located in Valenwood, Orichalc, a Tower that sunk with the continent of Yokuda, and Walk-Brass, or the Numidium, which was a massive brass construct created by the Dwemer. What you heard was that the Aldmeri Dominion are seeking the Stone for Skyrim's Tower, and if they were to get their hands on it you can be sure that they would shatter it, as they have been seeking the end of this world for a long time... in fact, upon thinking about the Towers and this world's history, I'm almost certain that the Aldmeri Dominion have been carefully deactivating the remaining Towers, even though they have no means to enter Ada-Mantia."

"So they're seeking to bring about the end of this world, without thinking of the consequences?" Za'kera asked, though as Ma'jera nodded her head, to confirm part or all of her statement, Amaryllis could see and feel the determination coming from her friend, as it appeared that her question and the answer might have persuaded Za'kera to pick a path, but they would have to wait and see what happened when they finally returned to Paarthurnax, since she might be saving it for the ancient dragon that had aided her in figuring things out.

While they traveled to Winterhold, and kept their eyes open for enemies, Amaryllis considered what she knew about this world and what Ma'jera had told them, especially since the Prophecy of the Dragonborn mentioned the downfall of a fair number of Towers, leaving three still active, to her knowledge anyway, and those were the Snow Tower, the Crystal Tower, and the Adamantine Tower, maybe more depending on what had happened to Green-Sap, since that seemed to be the only one not bothered by the prophecy. She was sure that Ma'jera might have more information on them than what she had shared, especially given all of the knowledge she had gathered over the years, though at the very least this did exactly what she wanted it to, it gave her friend more determination than before, meaning Za'kera was ready to do anything and everything to stop the Aldmeri Dominion, though she hoped that serving Alduin was out of the question. Other than that she found that nothing appeared on the road, no wild animals tried to eat their horse and no bandits came out to try and steal their valuables, especially since Ma'jera was floating nearby and might make people assume they had a lot of stuff in the carriage, though another thing she noticed while they traveled was that there were no dragons lurking around the rest of the landscape, which she was fine with since it meant Alduin wasn't targeting them yet. Of course that was assuming the powerful dragon wanted them dead, because so far it looked like all he was doing was reviving the dragons and sending one or two out to bother whoever lived in a certain Hold, though for now she kept her guard up in case enemies came at them, despite the fact that she had a feeling that they were going to reach Winterhold without running into trouble, which would be the best thing after everything that happened in Alftand earlier.

Sure enough they were able to reach Winterhold without anything bad happening, though like the last time they were here Lydia stopped the carriage near the bridge to the College and they headed down the path that would bring them to the ice fields, something Amaryllis, her friends, and their companions were able to cross in no time, allowing the group to find the iceberg that Septimus had built his camp in all those years ago, where they found the old man walking around the area in front of the large cube, causing Ma'jera to float down to the area he was in and caused everyone else to follow after her as they waited to see what happened next.

"Septimus, we've inscribed the lexicon with the information you asked us to recover." Ma'jera said, something that drew the old man's attention as soon as he heard what she had to say, though at the same time she raised her hand and they watched as the lexicon floated into the air once more, even though Amaryllis felt a shift in the energy that was in this part of Skyrim and suspected that they were doing the work of a Daedric Prince, as she had experienced the power of two and felt a bit of a third, Meridia, when she touched that stone beacon, but she remained silent as she waited to see what might happen once the old man had the lexicon.

"Give it, quickly." Septimus stated, his tone revealing that he was impatient now that the information had been recorded in a device that he could safely read at his leisure, though Amaryllis was sure that Ma'jera frowned for a moment before she let the lexicon float down to where the old man was standing, who grabbed onto the device and tapped it a few times, as if he was accessing the knowledge inside it, before he smiled as he found what he was looking for, or at least Amaryllis had to assume that was the case, which was when he reached into his pack for a few seconds, "Extraordinary. I see it now. The sealing structure interlocks in the tiniest fractals. Dwemer blood can loose the hooks, but none alive remain to bear it. A panoply of their brethren could gather to form a facsimile. A trick. Something they didn't anticipate, no, not even them. The blood of Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Falmer, and Orsimer. The elves still living provide the key. Bear you hence this extractor. It will drink the fresh blood of elves. Come when its set is complete."

As it turned out the extractor was a device of Dwarven nature that had five cylinders that could be filled, no doubt with the blood of those that were required to complete this trick, though where he had gotten the device Amaryllis had no idea and didn't even want to begin asking Septimus how he had come by it, especially since it looked like someone had made this to unlock the cube at some point, though after Ma'jera collected the device the group headed for the entrance of the cave, so they could leave, only to find a mass of eerie green energy that reminded Amaryllis of the sentry snakes, not to mention a fair number of dark tendrils and eyes that seemed to have pierced the veil between worlds.

Come closer. Bask in my presence. the being said, speaking in a voice that radiated power, like a Daedric Prince, while at the same time using a slow manner while it said whatever was on it's mind, sort of like it was stretching out whatever it was saying, though this time around Amaryllis kept quiet and waited for the being to stop talking, as she remembered the consequences of being rude in Sheogorath's presence, which she was hiding with her powers, and suspected that if she ticked off another Daedric Prince she could kiss her life goodbye.

"Lord Hermaeus Mora, it is an honor to bask in your glory." Ma'jera stated, where she landed on the ground in front of the mass and bowed her head towards the Daedric Prince, or whatever he was using to peer into this world and see them, but at the same time Za'kera and the others remained silent as they watched what was going on, where Amaryllis found that a lot of things made sense now, that the Arch-Mage was a follower of the Prince of Knowledge and had to be how she was able to gain all of the knowledge and spells she had used so far, "What is your bidding?"

Your continuing aid to Septimus renders him increasingly obsolete. Hermaeus Mora replied, where Amaryllis had an idea of where this conversation was going, especially in regards to Septimus and his existence no doubt, but she kept her opinions to herself as the pair continued to talk to each other and just ignored everyone that was around them, though it did mean that none of them had to worry about talking to the Daedric Prince, He has served me well, but his time is nearing its end. Once that infernal lockbox is opened, he will have exhausted his usefulness to me. When that time comes, you shall take his place as my emissary. What say you?

"I am, and will always be, your servant, my Lord." Ma'jera answered, not even bothering to move her head or glance back at those that were behind her, though at the same time Amaryllis suspected that she did glance back at them for a couple of seconds, something they wouldn't be able to tell given the mask that the Arch-Mage was wearing, where she felt a bit of curiosity coming from Ma'jera and wondered what in the world might be going through her mind right now, "Father, I can tell that something is bothering you. Tell me what it is and I'll take care of it."

There is no need. I will tend to Miraak and his schemes. Hermaeus Mora said, something that caused Ma'jera to take a moment and tilt her head, showing that she might be considering his answer, even though it meant he knew where they could find Miraak and stop him from sending Cultists to harass Za'kera, despite the fact that Amaryllis felt that most of her group, save for Diane, was surprised by this information, and she was certainly caught off guard, For now, focus on that lockbox. Once that is done, we will move on with the rest of the plan.

Ma'jera bowed her head once more and the dark mass in front of them disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, which caused them to stand there for a moment as they stared at the Khajiit Arch-Mage that was standing near the exit to the cave that Septimus had set up his camp in, who turned once more and floated through the opening to head outside once more, showing that she was interested in opening the lockbox that Septimus was working on and collecting the item that was inside it, but such a thing caused Amaryllis to follow after her.

"So... your father is a Daedric Prince..." Amaryllis commented, as she was unsure what she could do with this information, because if she believed the tales she had learned there was next to no way for someone from Oblivion to reach Nirn, not unless they were summoned and it was near impossible for one to summon a Daedric Prince, though as she did that the rest of their group caught up with them and walked behind her and Ma'jera.

"Yes, and that makes me a Demiprince... basically half god and half mortal, and I'm not the first you've encountered during your time in Skyrim," Ma'jera replied, where she turned around for a moment and beckoned to Diane, who nodded not a few seconds after that happened, though such a thing explained so much to Amaryllis since she had always assumed that an Argonian with antlers was totally weird, before she lowered her arm and stared at them, "Diane is a Demigod, which is the Divine version of what I am, though she's the daughter of Kynareth, and you, Amaryllis, have already encountered yet another Demiprince, Durum Coles, the daughter of Sheogorath. All Demiprinces have their own domain, an area within the realm of their parent that they rule over while assisting their mother or father, like how I watch over the fragment of Apocrypha known as the Arcane Training Grounds, while Durum serves as the master of the Mad Bakery... there are more of us, both Demigod and Demiprince alike, but that's all you need to know for right now."

"I knew there was something odd about that individual." Amaryllis said, though while she had been expecting the Breton lady in Solitude to be someone tied to Sheogorath, like the man who set her on the path to meet the Prince of Madness, she was shocked to find that the lady was actually the daughter of the Mad God, as Sheogorath liked to be called, but the fact that there were more godly children made her wonder how many they were going to run into and if she's already run into any of the others that were out there.

"So... why are all of you in this world?" Za'kera asked, as that was the main thing she wanted to know, because it sounded like each Prince and Divine might have their own godly child, or even children in some cases, and that they might have asked or commanded their children to come to Nirn, depending on which godly being they were talking about, so this was to let her gain new information.

"Like I said earlier, mother asked me to come to your aid," Diane replied, where they continued to make their way across the rest of the ice fields and headed for Winterhold, even though she knew that Ma'jera was more interested in finding the blood she needed to unlock that lockbox, especially since it was a command from her father, before she turned to glance at Za'kera and Amaryllis, the two she was supposed to be assisting, "just as some of the other Divines asked their children to do the same thing, even though we haven't encountered them yet... the Demiprinces, however, were likely ordered to assist you, while working to fulfill a goal of some kind, like how Hermaeus Mora wants that lockbox open so something can be released into this world. Sheogorath, well, he probably didn't say anything to Durum, rather his daughter likely made this decision on her own and will no doubt reveal herself in due time, but the other Princes likely commanded their kids to come to Nirn and do something before offering you their services."

That told Amaryllis all she needed to know, as in none of the godly children would have bothered to join them if Za'kera decided to fight Alduin and destroy the dragon in battle, though since she was considering the option of recruiting him as an ally for another war, all thanks to what she had said back in Sky Haven Temple, it appeared that the children were now being told or asked to aid her friend in taking down the dangers of Skyrim before focusing on the Aldmeri Dominion and what they were doing. As they walked, however, Za'kera mentioned that they were going to have to find a camp for their forces, as she had a feeling that, based on what she had learned from both Diane and Ma'jera, more reinforcements were bound to show up and that they had to be ready to receive them, where Wind wondered if they could use one of the old ruins that she and Ma'jera had cleared out. The area in question was called Fellglow Keep, where Urag had told them that one of the other apprentices had run off to with a number of library books, tomes that she and Ma'jera recovered as they cleared out all of the mages that were inside the ruin, mages who had been working on a dark ritual, or at least preparing for it, but thanks to their actions such a thing would never come to pass and they had recovered the tomes Urag said had information on the Eye of Magnus, before they knew it by that name. Ma'jera claimed that it would be a good location for them to set up a camp in, as it was a good distance from Whiterun, as in an hour or two by walking and half an hour with a carriage, while also being surrounded by a number of peaks, meaning that if someone put in some work they would be able to make a camp that would be hard to breach, even though setting up a base and filling it with the start of their army might cause Jarl Balgruuf to wonder what was going on in his Hold, but Amaryllis knew that it was more of an intimidation tactic to stop the war before more lives were lost.

As they walked, however, Ma'jera had them pause as they found something interesting, there were five individuals nearby who appeared to have fought and killed each other before she and her group arrived in this area, though Amaryllis was sure that Hermaeus Mora was watching over them as she found an Orc, Altmer, Bosmer Dunmer, and a Falmer resting in the area the Arch-Mage had discovered, meaning four of them must have fought and died to the last one, though as they stared at what was in front of them Ma'jera gathered the blood she needed. With that done she turned around and made her way back to Septimus' camp, causing Amaryllis to sigh as she and the others followed after her, mostly because they were interested in what she might find inside the lockbox, though to save time Ma'jera levitated all of them and caused them to follow after her with ease, not that Amaryllis was even surprised at this point. Thanks to her spell they were able to reach the camp in question and she set them down before heading inside, where they found the old man pacing once more as he mumbled to himself about something he had learned, though when Ma'jera informed him that they had the blood he required he seemed pleased with them, so much so that when he took told of it he brushed part of the chest area of his robe aside. In that moment he stabbed himself in the chest, injecting the five types of blood into his body in a matter of seconds, mixing them with his down doubt, before he withdrew the device and discarded it before turning his full attention to the lockbox, something that was followed by the circular locking mechanism to awaken before their eyes as the rings started to move in an unlocking motion, before eventually stopping when everything was centered, though it was in that instant that the rings moved backwards and revealed a tunnel that lead to their prize, like the lockbox was far larger on the inside than what was on the outside.

In that moment Amaryllis found that their prize was a large tome that looked like it's cover was made out of several parts of other books, an odd thing to be sure, though as Septimus approached it he voiced his displeasure over the fact that the prize of the lockbox was actually a book and not the destroyed Heart of Lorkhan, but as he said that he seemed to gain a new sight as he was lifted into the air, like he was ascending or something, even though it ended as quickly as it had begun as his body was reduced to ashes.

"While his body is no more, Septimus lives on... as an acolyte of my domain," Ma'jera commented, something that made Amaryllis wonder what her school was like, since it had to be a school of some kind, before deciding that maybe she was better off not knowing the answer to her new thoughts, though as she said that the Arch-Mage floated over to where the book rested and picked it up, where it left her hands and floated in the air as well, all while she opened it and maybe let a smile appear on her face, as Amaryllis could tell that she was pleased with something, "but now the Oghma Infinium is in my possession, just as father wanted, and it's knowledge is mine to use as I see fit, even if it will take some time to study everything that's inside it."

Amaryllis said nothing to that, mostly because she was expecting Hermaeus Mora to show up again and talk to them for a few moments, since his daughter had claimed his artifact, but nothing happened and that meant Ma'jera likely knew what to do next, to which she sighed as she, Za'kera, Wind, and the others departed from Septimus' camp and headed back to Winterhold for real, as it was time for her friend to make a decision and she hoped that it was the right one, even though it would be some time before they learned what her choice was, since Za'kera wanted to speak to Paarthurnax first, and she had a feeling everyone was going to be excited by her news.

Dragon: The Decision

Upon returning to Winterhold, with no further interruptions, Amaryllis and her companions climbed onto the carriage once more before Lydia got them underway, heading towards Ivarstead, not to mention the Throat of the World, giving them all a chance to go over everything that had happened so far and prepare themselves for what they reached the area that their dragon ally lived in, as Paarthurnax was waiting for Za'kera's answer before they did anything else. Amaryllis had no idea what was going through her friend's mind at the moment, even though she could tell that Za'kera was confident in what she had decided on after they obtained the Elder Scroll, which was more than enough for her right now, where she suspected that they might be taking the fight to the Aldmeri Dominion and showing them that their plans for Nirn were unacceptable, especially since they involved the end of everything. As she thought about that, however, she also noticed that Ma'jera had claimed the cube from what remained of Septimus' body, which had been his robes oddly enough, and seemed to be in the middle of reading the vast information that was written on the Elder Scroll that rested inside the storage chest she could summon and dismiss at will, something she felt might be a bad thing since the Khajiit Arch-Mage was the daughter of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora and he seemed to have his own plans for either Za'kera or the world, hence why she came to the decision to keep an eye on her as well. Of course the Oghma Infinium floated around the floating godly child, open to what appeared to be one of the many pages that existed inside the tome, meaning she was expanding her knowledge and gathering more power from the lexicon, making her wonder how strong the Arch-Mage would be once she was done with her new studies, before she sighed and focused on their trek, or rather making sure no one dared to come at them while they were heading towards Ivarstead.

As it turned out they ended up passing a group of Stormcloaks, guards for Windhelm since they got close to the city during their journey, and another trio of Cultists attacked them, though instead of assisting them, since one might assume having people attacking travelers would be a bad thing, Amaryllis found that the Stormcloaks ignored them for the most part, as they were showing their racist side once more and it annoyed her, though Ma'jera crushed their enemies with a burst of her magic, using large ice spikes to take them out.

"You would think those guards would do their job and not allow people to attack travelers," Amaryllis commented, though before they moved she made sure to see if any of the Cultists had anything on them and recovered another staff to add to their collection, and with that done she climbed back onto the carriage and took her seat before Lydia got underway once more, allowing her to voice her opinion on the matter, especially when they left the Stormcloaks behind and focused on traveling to High Hrothgar.

"Well, that's Windhelm for you, where you'll only receive help if you're a Nord," Wind replied, informing Amaryllis that she must have encountered the guards of this city before and didn't think highly of them, not that she blamed her after what she had seen so far, though Wind shrugged as she turned her attention to the book she was reading, as Ma'jera had given her a few so she could continue her lessons and grow her power, even if it was possible she might not have the vast power that the Arch-Mage had, given what she was.

Amaryllis sighed and said nothing to that as they continued on their way to Ivarstead, because for right now she felt that it wasn't worth the headache thinking about how to make the racist city stop being racist towards everyone else, even if one were to remove whoever happened to be leading the charge, likely Ulfric when she thought about it, allowing her to keep her attention on the road in case enemies decided to come after them. For a time it looked like they would be able to just rest and not have to worry about anything, as it looked like the Legion and the Stormcloaks had cleared out some of the dangers that travelers faced, or at least it sure appeared to be that way and made her wonder if maybe another hero was clearing the roads and forts of Skyrim, where she was betting on another hero working to make life in this province better for everyone else. Of course one thing they encountered was a group of Thalmor, about five based on what Amaryllis saw, who were coming from the part of the road that was behind them, which they had just traveled down, though she wasn't the only one who noticed a group of potential enemies coming their way, as Kya jumped off the carriage as soon as she spotted them, allowing Lydia to continue onward to their destination, before she walked down towards the group that was totally following Za'kera, as when they altered their course so did the Thalmor. In the following moments she quickly drew her weapon as she rushed forward, especially after hearing the leader of the group declare that they were enemies of the Thalmor and deserved to perish right here, where the head of her scythe sliced into one of the warriors before he could do anything to stop her, before she spun around and beheaded two of the mages, only to spin her scythe around and used the base to lift herself into the air, allowing the remaining warrior to stab the leader in the chest, and landed as she swung her scythe, clearing it of blood as two more heads rolled.

At this point Amaryllis wasn't even surprised by Kya's actions or abilities, as the Argonian was skilled in using a scythe on her enemies and seemed capable of avoiding damage, though she was sure that Kya made a comment about something, what it was she had no idea since they were too far away to hear her, before their companion followed the carriage and climbed on it when Lydia paused for a few seconds, allowing them to continue towards Ivarstead and High Hrothgar, as they were interested in Za'kera's decision regarding the fate of this world.

The group reached Ivarstead a few hours later, as it was easy to reach their destination without much bothering them, all thanks to someone else clearing the road, where they stopped for a time, to let the horses rest once more and allowed the group to stretch their legs for a while, finding that most of the citizens in Ivarstead were inside the inn right now, so no one would really see them passing by, before Lydia got them underway once more and they headed up the Seven Thousand Steps once more. Sure enough Amaryllis found that nothing came out to fight them on their journey up to High Hrothgar, either due to Diane's presence, since she was the daughter of Kynareth and wild animals likely respected her, or maybe it was Ma'jera casting some sort of spell on them to make their journey faster, instead of wasting time on things like bandits or wild animals, or maybe they were just lucky and nothing wanted to mess with them, but she wasn't about to complain about this and simply rested as Lydia directed them towards their destination. Thanks to no enemies showing up, unlike the Thalmor that Kya killed earlier, they were able to make great time and reached High Hrothgar in no time, even though it did take about an hour to get up the side of the mountain, though once that was done Za'kera headed inside and the rest of the group followed after her, where each of them bowed a little to the Greybeards, save for Ma'jera since the only one she bowed to was her father, before heading over towards the other exit of the structure. Once they were outside the structure Amaryllis and Za'kera found that the path leading to Paarthurnax was no longer cleared by all of the hazards that had been in their way when they first went to speak with the one the Greybeards had been protective of, meaning all the group had to do was walk up the last part of the mountain and come to a stop at the Throat of the World, where Amaryllis knew Paarthurnax was waiting for their arrival.

Sure enough they reached their destination without running into trouble, where they found Paarthurnax resting near the ruined Word Wall that he had etched the Words for the Fire Breath Shout on earlier, so Za'kera could learn it and use it on him, though the sound of them walking caused the dragon to raise his head and discovered that they were approaching, to which he raised himself into his resting position, for when he talked to those who came up here, meaning he was done with his meditation and was ready to speak with them.

"You've returned, Dovahkiin, and with new allidro... new allies." Paarthurnax stated, once more speaking in the manner of using one or multiple words in the language of the dragons and then translating it so they understood what he was even saying, even though those who hadn't met him yet were surprised by the fact that a dragon was talking to them, and, like Amaryllis suspected, Ma'jera showed no signs of shock as she focused on the beast in front of them, who glanced over all of them for a few seconds, "Though it would appear that you were unsuccessful in your quest."

"No, we found and recovered the Elder Scroll, with some help from the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, two of her staff members, and her apprentice," Za'kera replied, though this time Amaryllis found that her earlier determination had returned in full swing, as she was ready to make a decision and decide the fate of this world, before she sighed for a few seconds and focused on Paarthurnax, who seemed interested in her response and what she might do next, would she go with the established prophecy and destroy Alduin or take a different route, like Amaryllis suggested, "and I've decided not to use it to gain the Dragonrend Shout... rather, I want to track down Alduin and speak with him, so I can figure out which path I want to take."

Amaryllis, while expecting Za'kera to say something like this, wasn't expecting her to tell Paarthurnax that she wanted to speak with Alduin himself, even though she had no idea where the dragon in question was, but before anyone could say anything to that statement they heard a roar and Za'kera turned towards the open area that was in front of them, or to the right from where Paarthurnax had been meditating, just in time to see the clouds break open as a black dragon, the same one that Amaryllis had seen after her departure from Helgen, appeared before them, who landed nearby and stared down at Za'kera, who returned the gaze.

"Zu'u'm het, Dovahkiin." Alduin stated, where Amaryllis was sure that he was informing her that he had arrived, or at least that was her hopes since she didn't know the language that the dragons spoke in, though she also hoped that he was here to talk and not to fight, because with Za'kera wishing to not access the Time-Wound they likely had no weapons that could wound the dragon if he turned on them, save for Ma'jera's potent magic, though she wasn't the only one on guard as she found Wind and the others focused on the black dragon, "Hi hind wah tinvaak voth zu'u?"

"Zeymah, they do not understand our language." Paarthurnax said, reminding them that Alduin was Paarthurnax's sibling, hence why he called him 'brother' in their ancient tongue, while also taking a moment to inform his brother that they had no understanding of the language that all dragons spoke in, be it all the time or in fragments, so speaking in a common language would allow all of them to understand each other and get this conversation over with quicker, even though it was hard to tell if Alduin approved of Paarthurnax calling him 'zeymah' or if he hated it.

"Folov... you wish to speak with me, Dovahkiin?" Alduin repeated, this time mostly talking in the common tongue, all while Amaryllis was sure that the first word likely meant 'right' or something, as if he had forgotten that none of them spoke or understood the language that dragons used, while also sticking to using the term 'Dovahkiin' when he addressed Za'kera, who seemed fine with the term since it meant he was calling her 'Dragonborn', just like everyone else who knew that she was capable of killing dragons and taking their souls.

"That's correct. What I have to ask is this: what are your plans for Nirn?" Za'kera asked, because she understood that the black dragon was, according to some stories and legends, the harbinger of the end times and was believed to be the one who would destroy the world, before he became the god of the Dragon Cult and Skyrim, which lead to the Dragon War and the creation of a Shout that not even the Greybeards acknowledged, and she could tell that, without looking, she had caught most of the others off guard, "Are you going to subjugate everyone again, are you going to fulfill your duty and end our world, or are you going to tear down those who threaten the safety of this world?"

Amaryllis realized what Za'kera was talking about, she was referring to the three potential versions of the prophecy, one where Alduin continued his dark crusade and forced them to fight him, another where he likely regained part of his old self and focused on bringing a swift end to Nirn so a new world would begin, or the one that involved him joining up with Za'kera and her allies before dealing with the enemies that sought to end the world before the designated time, like the Aldmeri Dominion and their quest to bring about the end of this world.

"I am krent... broken... het ahrk ni. Here and not." Alduin stated, something that caused Amaryllis to wonder if Akatosh had a hand in what was happening right now, as she expected the black dragon to be more aggressive and not bother to answer any questions that were directed towards him, meaning she fully expected him to use this opportunity to strike down the one destined to do something, but right now she kept her guard up in case things changed, "After my ancient foes banished me I drifted through Tiid, through Time, and Bromah took a chance to speak with me, about how I turned my back on my destiny and what the future held... he even shared his plans, though I am unable to speak about what he told me. I exist in three moments, a dark version who wishes to recreate the Dragon Cult and continue ruling over the land that is around us, another where the two of us bring a swift end to this world, and another that sees an unusual future, one you were only made aware of due to your ally speaking her mind on the prophecy... all three possibilities exist, but only because you, Dovahkiin, have not made a decision. Once you have chosen your future, regardless of which it is, the other paths will disappear... that is all I can say..."

Za'kera said nothing as she listened to Alduin and considered his words, as it sounded like she was, quite literally, the one who had to make the decision on which future all of them were going to pursue and fight for, making the others wonder which path would she take, as in would she forsake her destiny and rule beside or under Alduin's claws, would she stand to the side and allow the World-Eater to bring about the end of everything so a new world would be created, or would she convince Alduin to join up with the start of her army and have him help them save Nirn from those who sought to bring ruin to everything around them, before she sighed for a moment.

"Before I commit to anything, there is something I need to ask you, Paarthurnax," Za'kera said, showing them that she was taking her time thinking about the fact that the future was literally in the palm of her hand, which might be what the Wall and the prophecy meant with 'the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn' bit, something that was understandable since this had to be her first time making such a massive decision, before she turned towards the dragon who was resting of to her right, "We recently learned that this mountain is one of the ancient Towers that safeguards Nirn's existence, and that the Thalmor have been seeking to undo that existence by destroying the Stone connected to the Tower, however they do such a thing, but they have been looking for the Stone of this mountain. Do you know where this Stone is, or do we have to worry about recovering that before we do anything else?"

"Ah, the Golz... the Stone. Yes, the Heart of the North is secure." Paarthurnax stated, naming the object in question, which told Amaryllis that he knew where it was and likely had been guarding it while waiting for his brother to arrive, meaning if he died the information would be lost, where he glanced over the side of the peak, meaning that there had to be a cave or something nearby that it was resting inside, one that had to be hard to find, especially since no one could get passed the Greybeards without their approval.

"That's good, but I also have something to ask," Amaryllis said, because she had been listening to the conversation, which was interesting when she considered that Akatosh had spoken to Alduin before the latter emerged above this mountain, but there was something that she wanted to get off her chest before they waited for Za'kera to come to a decision on what path she wanted to take, hence why she turned towards the two dragons for a moment, "Alduin, you said that your father talked to you for a time and told you many things... does that mean that you trashed Helgen not to install fear in those who called Skyrim home, but rather to free Za'kera before she was executed and set her on the path that would, in time, bring her here, to you and your brother?"

"Geh. You are correct, mortal." Alduin replied, something that surprised most of the group, as they weren't expecting him to even answer the question or even acknowledge it, since someone who wasn't Za'kera had asked it, though as he gave his answer Amaryllis could see that the gears were turning in her friend's head, as the story was that Alduin had shown up just before her execution and had saved her by attacking the Imperials, though now it looked like Akatosh freed his son so he could save Za'kera and put her on the path that brought her to this point, "The dragons you encountered, Mirmulnir and Sahloknir, are ones that would rather see the mortal races put in their place and would have a hard time listening to any talk of alliances, so I called upon them to test your power, Dovahkiin, and you proved to be stronger than them, just as father told me."

That told Amaryllis something else, in the face of his father's power and everything he had been told, Alduin had sacrificed two of his kind to ensure that Za'kera was truly the Dragonborn his father was looking for, or at least it sure seemed to be that way, though before anyone said anything else she noticed that Za'kera seemed to be done thinking about what she wanted to do, something that caused the dragons to glance at her as they waited to hear what her decision might be, just like how everyone else was eager to hear what her decision might be.

"Amaryllis, would you bring out the Elder Scroll?" Za'kera asked, something that caused the group to pause for a moment, as she had said that she wasn't going to use it to learn the Dragonrend Shout, but Amaryllis realized that something must have chanced in her friend, that she was either reaching a decision or had done so and wanted to get something off her chest before they moved forward, to which she nodded and summoned her personal chest, where she withdrew the Elder Scroll as Za'kera focused on the black dragon that was staring at her, "I know you what this Elder Scroll can be used for, as someone like me can use it to peer into the past and learn Dragonrend from those who created it... let me make one thing clear: I don't care for the Shout, as I have told Arngeir and Paarthurnax that I don't desire it, that I don't want to take in all that hatred into myself... as such, my decision is that I would like the dragons to join us, with either or both of you as their leaders, so we can gather our allies and build an army that can bring down the Aldmeri Dominion, and my promise is that, as long as you remain allies of the mortal races, the knowledge of the Elder Scroll won't be used."

Amaryllis knew what this was, it was both a threat and a promise, one that Za'kera likely didn't want to make but knew that it was necessary to make someone like Alduin see that she wasn't joking at all, in fact if he had been someone else, like the leader of another province or one of the Jarls, she would have don't something else to convince him that she would uphold her end of the bargain, though what surprised her was that both dragons glanced at each other for a few seconds before declaring that they agreed with her bargain. In that moment, however, Amaryllis' vision shifted all of a sudden, no doubt due to the fact that she was holding onto the Elder Scroll they had recovered, and she found herself standing on what had to be a beach, with a crystalline tower far off in the distance, before noticing that a figure stood in front of her, who looked like an Emperor who stood on the front lines and carried two ebony blades into battle, while standing around the figure were a number of other individuals, an assassin to the right, a mage to the left, and an army of followers behind her, who had another mage in front of them. A few seconds later she snapped back to reality and found that only a second must have gone by since Alduin and Paarthurnax agreed to the bargain, meaning she had to be the only one who witnessed the vision, as that was what she must have seen, something that she knew was going to happen far in the future, though she had a feeling she knew exactly what she had seen, as it tied into what Elenwen said back in the Embassy, Za'kera, who was an Empress in the vision, leading her, Wind, and the rest of their allies against the Aldmeri Dominion. She was positive that they had been standing on the beach of the Summerset Isles, where the Crystal Tower was located, meaning that at some point in time they would be leading an army against the Aldmeri Dominion, though she understood why she witnessed the vision in the first place, it gave her something to focus on and make sure she did everything in her power to make all that happen, to which she stood straight and made sure no one noticed what had happened.

One thing the vision made clear was that they needed to get started on building Za'kera's army, as just them and the rest of the dragons wasn't enough to really do much, even though having dragons would be a good reason to make both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks stop this pointless civil war, but she knew that, in time, they would have such a force, only she had to make it happen and had a feeling that it might involve dealing with the Dawnguard, an order that had set up shop in one of the forts in the Rift, and tracking down Miraak, though time would tell if she was right or wrong about what might happen next.

Interlude: A New Base

With Alduin and Paarthurnax on their side, which was still hard to think about since Amaryllis expected something bad to happen, Za'kera informed the pair of where they would be setting up their new base and informed them that it would be easy to spot when they witnessed Ma'jera at work, since the Arch-Mage had offered her services in changing the area to fix their needs, which made Amaryllis wonder just how powerful she was, not counting the fact that her father was one of the Daedric Princes, something that she was still getting used to thinking about.

"Now that we have new allies, it's about time I get started on my end of the deal," Ma'jera commented, causing the rest of the group to glance at her for a moment as she landed on the snow, even though that was followed by her magic washing over all of them for a few seconds and a magical circle appeared around their feet, with what looked like runes that were in the Daedric language based on what Amaryllis was seeing, though since Wind seemed fine with this she remained silent as well and watched what might happen next, "Greater Teleportation."

In that moment Amaryllis and her friends disappeared from the Throat of the World, all in a flash that lead to surprise for the dragons that had just allied with them, even though a flash down near Whiterun showed them where they had gone, only for them to reappear on top of some stonework, which was a surprise to Amaryllis, especially when she found that their group was now standing at the peak of a ruined fort that happened to be to the northeast of Whiterun, meaning this had to be Fellglow Keep, the area Wind had passed through in the past.

"You... had a teleportation spell this whole time?" Za'kera asked, mostly out of curiosity and not in an accusing tone, due to the fact that she had no idea that such a spell had existed in the first place and was caught off guard by the fact that they had moved from one place and appeared in another, even though she had to steady herself, just like everyone else was doing right now, while Ma'jera stood at the edge of the roof and glanced over the area that they would be claiming for the start of the army that would destroy the Aldmeri Dominion.

"Yes, and it only works with places I've been to, otherwise I might accidentally take someone's arm and put it on someone else's body, for example," Ma'jera replied, showing that, while she might be a child of a Daedric Prince, who usually didn't care about mortals and saw them as toys to mess around with, part of her sort of cared for them, though the reality was that she likely cared about keeping Za'kera in one piece, given her existence as the Last Dragonborn, while everyone else could be seen as collateral or something, before she focused on what she was going to do next, "Now then, I do believe it is time that I modified this area and create a keep where you can raise the beginnings of your army to do battle with the Aldmeri Dominion, or at least stop the war ravaging this land."

Amaryllis watched as Ma'jera called upon all of her magical power, possibly even tapping into the orb that followed her all the time, before the ground shook for a few seconds and the keep started to move before her eyes, pulling itself free from all of the stone and earth that it had been built into as it raised itself into the air, though when it finally came to a stop they watched as the structure of the fort shuddered before breaking and reassembling in a new manner before their eyes, as if it was a place where an important figure would live in. She was transmuting, reshaping, uprooting, and doing all sorts of magical things to the area around them, as sections of earth were moving and reforming in other areas as she formed all sorts of streets, stones were pulled out and transformed into either new sections of the main building, set aside for a good number of structures, and even a circular wall that seemed to be protection against those who tried to attack this place in the future, if such a thing happened. What was interesting was that some of the stone rose out of the ground and formed pillars that the walls passed through, pillars that formed a six pointed start of sorts, if one looked at them from the top of the fort's new roof, which were molded into circular towers, rivaling the main structure in size, and looked like they were elegant creations that had been created by the ancient Nords or even some Imperials, maybe even a race Amaryllis knew nothing about. Of course Ma'jera didn't stop at that point, as she poured more power into the rest of the area and made all sorts of paths close by collapsing stone and earth, which were used to make the fort and what appeared to be the main path leading to the levels that made up the transformed area, and she even broke the area nearby, which had one of the Word Walls Za'kera was after, as everything beyond the ancient wall collapsed into a sheer cliff while she flattened what was left of the area, creating an area for their dragon allies now doubt.

If she had been impressed by Ma'jera's magic before this point, and she had to admit that the Arch-Mage was much more powerful than what she assumed, this show of power was far more than what she was expecting, revealing that she held the power to reshape the world if she wanted to, even if it would be slow to some degree, and made her wonder if Ma'jera could work her power on figuring out a way to recreate or even make new Stones for the other Towers, something they would have to talk about once everything was done... though her thoughts were brought back to reality as Ma'jera huffed and stopped channeling her magic, showing them that the new fort was complete.

"By the gods... how much power did you pour into this place?" Wind asked, because based on what they could see Ma'jera had remolded and modified the entire area that Fellglow Keep had been resting in, which was more like Fellglow Fort she guessed since it no longer looked like a keep, and she could see that everyone was shocked by what they were seeing at the moment, even though they were sure that there might be nothing inside the new fort, so outfitting it would come next for them, but given the couple of nearby bandit camps she was sure they could find some new things to take and add to this place to make it more livable.

"Ninety... maybe ninety-five percent." Ma'jera replied, though given the fact that she was a Demiprince, and one that had to be very powerful given that she was Hermaeus Mora's child and must have spent hundreds, if not thousands of years, studying and understanding magic, Amaryllis was sure that she might be lying about how much of her power she poured into reforming this part of Skyrim into Za'kera's new base, given that she wasn't resting on the floor, panting and trying to recover from everything she had done over the last couple of moments, "Anyway, I have remolded the main section of the keep into the area that a King might live in, or a Jarl since we're in Skyrim and they're the local rulers, and I've used some of my magic to make a number of structures that are common throughout the Holds, such as a barracks for the guards, an area to serve as the training grounds, a circular chamber for Wind and I to train in later, or mages in general since I'm sure more will come, and houses that also serve as stores. There are also a few gates resting throughout the fort, like the one at the main entrance to this place and one leading to the next level, which also have walkways so any guards can look out and see what's going on in the surrounding area, though we'll have to find some other allies that will want to join us to protect the rest of this place."

"Once people hear that the Dragonborn is raising an army, even if they have no idea why it is happening, things will likely change for us," Za'kera commented, which she knew was both a good thing and a bad thing, as while she knew that such a thing could gain them more allies it would also tell their enemies that something was going on at the same time, and if she was planning on going to war with the Thalmor they would need to keep their enemies in the dark, to which she sighed for a moment as she turned towards Amaryllis and the others, "Kya, you seem to have some luck tracking down the various Justiciars that serve the Aldmeri Dominion, so can you head out and do everything in your power to stop whoever is now in charge of Skyrim's branch from learning about this development?"

"I will gladly track them down and send them to the Blood Pits, so they can meet my Mistress," Kya replied, where she took a moment to swing her scythe, like she was imagining the damage it would do to those she would encounter in the near future and the lives she would take in the process, before jumping down the side of the keep that they were standing at the peak of, an interesting feat to be sure, before she landed and then rushed through all of the gates as she began her mission of harassing the Thalmor's agents.

"We're going to need to find someone who can serve as a watcher or Steward for this place, someone who can keep things moving while we're dealing with the other threats that plague Skyrim," Za'kera continued, not even bothering to question the odd Argonian as she headed out to take down any and all Thalmor who were wandering the roads of Skyrim, as at this point she felt it wasn't worth trying to deal with the madness that was inside her mind, even if it didn't seem like what the Prince of Madness might inflict on those who upset or impressed him, before she glanced at the others, "other than that, and finding the first soldiers who are willing to join our army, we need to outfit this place and make it ready for those who might join us at some point in the future... Amaryllis, Wind, why don't you two check out the nearby bandit camps and see if anyone is still there, if they've been cleared out we can start moving the furniture into this place. While you do that, well, Lydia and I will make sure everything else is in order before we do anything else, as I would like to understand this place a bit better before we start taking people in."

Amaryllis and Wind nodded their heads for a moment as they shifted into their base forms and took to the sky, though at the same time she stayed in a semi disguised state since she didn't want to share her cursed form with Wind or have to talk about it, before they stopped at the bandit camp that was to the southeast of Fellglow Fort, since 'keep' was no longer the correct term to call that place, though given how much it looked like a ringed city of sorts she was sure they could get away with just calling it 'Fellglow'. She turned her mind to the task at hand when they reached their destination, finding a set of stone towers, which were no longer linked to Za'kera's new domain thanks to all of the power that Ma'jera had used in her remodeling of the area, which looked like it could have been home to a number of bandits at one point, but since all of them seemed to be dead it allowed the pair some time to look around. What they discovered was a number of chairs, a couple of tables that were pretty basic, a bed and some bedrolls, and a few other odds and ends, like a dresser, a pair of nightstands, and a pair of chests that they might be able to use in some way, one small one and one of the large ones that usually had treasure inside them, far more than the smaller ones away. Once they were done counting what was in this particular bandit camp the pair started to gather up what they could with their magic, using Telekinesis to lift stuff off the floor and pull them through the air, though fortunately it appeared that Ma'jera, not done with burning through her mana stores, joined Amaryllis and Wind before weaving her magic through the air to pick up the rest of the stuff they left behind, meaning they might just be scouts right now as they gathered furniture for their new base. As it turned out Ma'jera had an area for all of the stuff they were gathering, near what appeared to be the water well for the brand new city, meaning that she would likely weave her magic over the pieces once they were done collecting them, though once all of the stuff from the towers had been set down Amaryllis and Wind headed for another camp, one that happened to be to down to close to where the last one, as it was the one that Amaryllis had assassinated the leader of a lifetime ago.

What was interesting was that it looked like a new set of bandits had moved into White River Watch, as Amaryllis didn't see anyone she recognized from the last time she had been here, to which she sighed as she drew her daggers and made sure that their enemies realized that they were dealing with an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood, though as one of the two bandits readied an arrow, however, she propelled herself up the wooden ramp, using her hidden wings, before leaping over her target before he could even loose his arrow. Such a thing allowed her to stab the bandit in the back with one of her daggers, the Blade of Mercy, while the other bandit was knocked down before she could do anything, as Wind used a Lightning Bolt to take care of her in seconds, though once they had cleared out the pair they regrouped at the front of the cave and marched inside, both knowing that more bandits had to be taken out before they could recover all of the wooden furniture that was in this camp. As it turned out most of the next couple of bandits were just melee fighters, who rushed at Amaryllis as she spun around and used both of her daggers this time, as in parrying an incoming attack with one blade as the other stabbed her current foe before switching that one for her defense for a few moments as the other became her offensive weapon, showing Wind that she was serious and that all of her time in Skyrim had created someone who had no problem ending the lives of those who dared to stand before her, even though Wind also blasted an archer with her magic and opened the way for Amaryllis to move deeper. Of course there was one chamber, the one where the previous group had been messing with wolves, where Wind used a Fury spell on some of their enemies and watched as several of the next group of bandits wasted each other for them, allowing her and Amaryllis to reach the highest point of the camp and found that there was no leader, in fact a note was left behind that was addressed to whoever in the bandit crew found it, where it revealed that whoever had been leading them had quick, took the gold, and had disappeared, causing Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow before shrugging as Ma'jera landed nearby to help them move stuff.

With that done they returned to their new base, finding that Ma'jera must have discovered another camp, likely one to the north of Whiterun based on what Amaryllis remembered during her flights, before they landed near the well and placed all of the stuff they had recovered so far, even though pieces were moving through the area as they took on new shapes and sizes, depending on which building they were being assigned to, though there were a few pieces that looked like they were fit for a leader, again like a Jarl or military leader, and were positioned inside the main building, likely Za'kera's, while the rest, being a grade lower, went to the rest of the city.

"Now all that's left is to find someone who can watch over the city and get an army ready, provided we find some soldiers who want to join us," Amaryllis commented, looking at everything they had recovered since the city had been created, all while it had taken roughly an hour to check the two camps, clear out every enemy that was in those areas, and then carry all the stuff to their new base, before she glanced over to Za'kera for a moment, who just so happened to be standing with her back on one of the new stone walls that had been created, "finding a capable person might be the hard part... I would think that maybe Esbern, or one of the other surviving Blades that are in Skyrim, as I'm sure that there's one more that has been hiding in plain sight like Delphine, might be the best course of action... whether or not we can convince either one is another matter entirely."

"I believe I can help with that," a voice interrupted, where Amaryllis and the others turned and found some newcomers, as two people were standing near the open gate that lead to this point, one being the female Breton that Amaryllis had seen back in Solitude, Durum Coles, as Ma'jera called her, though standing near her was a male Altmer who looked like a citizen who had been pulled off the streets by someone and forced into something he had no say in, which might make sense due to the fact that a new Demiprince was standing nearby, before the Altmer let out a light cough to direct their attention to him once more, "I am Kaelriil Silian, a former officer of the Imperial Legion who served during the days of the Great War, and as soon as it ended I moved on with my life, choosing to stay away from the Thalmor and all of their allies for as long as I could... this Breton came by my place, spouted something about the Dragonborn needing someone for something, all in the span of a few seconds, and pulled me down here... given her powers, I decided not to complain, least she turn me into a toad or something, and since you're going to fight against the Thalmor you can count me in."

"I just want you to know that I do not agree with forcing someone to do something against their will... so, if you would like to leave, and not bother with this, I won't be angry," Za'kera stated, showing the Altmer that she was reasonable and that she had no hand in Durum essentially kidnapping him like this, though it looked like the Demiprince in question was in the middle of glancing elsewhere, like she had a problem with keeping her attention in one place, which would make a bit of sense considering that she was Sheogorath's kid, though Kaelriil nodded his head and stood his ground, showing her that, despite the circumstances, he wanted to help them out, "Very well, I'll show you around our new place and hopefully we can come up with something before I have to deal with one of the other threats that are plaguing this land, be it some of those vampires or cultists I've had to tackle recently."

Kaelriil wasted no time in following after her, leaving Ma'jera to take Wind inside one of the towers, which had to be more of a mage tower and was likely for training or a private discussion, and Lydia followed after Za'kera not a few seconds after her Thane walked away, leaving Amaryllis with Durum, something she really didn't want given what her father had done while she was inside the mind of a dead Emperor, though once they were alone Durum turned towards Amaryllis, who just so happened to have a good idea as she drew out the Wabbajack.

"You came for your father's artifact, right?" Amaryllis asked, because it was the only thing that made sense at this point in time, that she had found someone who could help Za'kera out and brought him here as an excuse to grab the artifact that belonged to Sheogorath, like how Ma'jera had been sent to acquire the Oghma Infinium on her father's wishes, meaning if she handed it over Durum might leave or she might join up with Za'kera's growing army, giving them three godly children, five if she was allowed to count Alduin and Paarthurnax as Akatosh' children, and sure enough Durum nodded as soon as she said that statement, "Very well, take it."

In that moment she held the staff out and Durum seized the Wabbajack, where Amaryllis allowed it to be taken as she let go of it and caused the Demiprince to spin it around for a couple of moments, like she was reunited with an old friend or something, though given her position it was likely a reasonable assumption. In the following second Durum quickly faced Amaryllis and pressed the tip of the staff against her collar area, which was followed by a wave of chaotic energy washing over her body, something that was followed by a shocking discovery, her disguise was falling apart to reveal her cursed true form. She was forced to watch as the cow features appeared once more, including the milk filled udder, but before she could come to terms with this Durum tapped her neck area with the staff as she removed the cowbell, which was the moment that the fur started to recede and the other cow related features started to disappear. When Durum pulled the staff back, taking all of the cow features with it, Amaryllis discovered a white orb with black spots resting above it, where she had to wonder if Sheogorath wanted the curse for some reason.

As Amaryllis thought about that, however, she noticed that the only thing different about her form was the boosted breast size, which was slightly smaller than the times she was in her cursed form, and she discovered that both of them were still filled with milk, just not enough to be painful or overflowing, much to her silent relief.

"Keep the blessing, you deserve that much for helping Father out." Durum said, where she reached into her left pocket for a second before pulling out a wooden wand, likely a hard wood that grew in the Shivering Isles, and pressed the tip into the heart of the orb, where Amaryllis watched as the wand turned a white color and soon black spots appeared all over it, all while noting that the length of the wand was a hand and a half, even though this confirmed her previous suspicions that Sheogorath's daughter wanted her curse for some odd reason, which put a smile on Durum's face, "And now the Moomer Wand is complete... I wonder if I can find a test subject, to verify the power it contains."

Amaryllis had a feeling that she knew what the child of the Madgod was talking about, though instead of worrying about it she turned her attention towards her body and found that all of those feelings she had felt had been accurate, Durum had taken away the cursed cow form that had been inflicted upon her, only now it looked like it was contained inside a wand of some kind that would likely allow the user to make as many corrupted individuals as they wanted, something she decided not to worry about, least it be used on her again, though she did take a moment to switch back to her Khajiit disguise while Durum was looking elsewhere.

"Well, good luck with that." Amaryllis said, because she didn't want to be anywhere near Durum, not when she had both the Wabbajack and her new Moomer Wand on hand, especially since she had no idea what might happen if the daughter of Sheogorath tried anything funny, before she found something interesting, Esbern and Delphine were walking into the part of the city that she was in, meaning they must have been seeking Za'kera and reasoned that she was here, if not still talking with Arngeir and the Greybeards in High Hrothgar, and Delphine was angry, "Esbern, what are you two doing here? I thought you guys were going to set up a base in your new hideout and not come out until you were sure that everything was ready, or at least until you secured all of the useful information anyway."

"We're here to take the Dragonborn back and punish you for trying to drive her from her destiny, where she uses the long lost power of the ancient Nords to destroy Alduin." Delphine stated, where she turned towards Amaryllis and quickly drew her katana out of her scabbard, which she pointed right at her target as Esbern tried to stop her, who she pushed away as she glared at Amaryllis with hatred in her eyes, though as Durum stepped back they found that Delphine's voice, who had spoken louder than what was necessary, had attracted the others, who she ignored for now, "You have been a massive pain in my rear since the moment I met you, especially since you keep distracting the Dragonborn from fulfilling her role in killing Alduin and destroying the rest of the dragons that have returned."

"That was one interpretation of the prophecy, and we found another... one that tells of us going to war with the Aldmeri Dominion at long last," Amaryllis replied, as while she wanted to put the lady down, and stop her from trying to stop her friend from doing whatever she wanted with her life, part of her also knew that Delphine was stubborn and might not see the light that she was offering her, hence the reason why she kept her hands near both of her daggers, just in case a fight broke out, though if it happened she was going to kill Delphine and remove her from the field, so they could move on with the rest of their important planning, "to beat them we need the power of Alduin and Paarthurnax, plus everyone else who decides to aid us, to bring them down and bring a more lasting peace to Nirn..."

In the following moment Delphine swung at her and Amaryllis did the only sensible thing in that situation, she pulled both of her daggers out and parried the attack, all while directing it away from her since she didn't want to be stabbed, since it would only make her foe that much more annoying to deal with, before pushing Delphine back with her weapons and just stood there as she studied her foe, as she considered this to be a waste of time. For a moment she just stood there as she observed Delphine for a time, who was walking around the area, never taking her eyes off of her, before Amaryllis decided to test her opponent as she stepped forward and swung her daggers as she moved her body out of the way, as Delphine decided to try a thrusting attack and it failed miserably. Such a thing revealed something to her, Delphine, despite claiming to have some skill with her weapon and the techniques of the Blades, was rusty and likely hadn't trained with her weapon for a long time, despite what she showed when they faced a couple of enemies before reaching Sky Haven Temple, which meant that the lady had a massive disadvantage right now and it didn't look like Delphine understood it, since she was too blinded by rage towards her 'driving Za'kera from the path'. Regardless of that fact Amaryllis took a few moments to dodge the incoming attacks, as it seemed like Delphine was swinging wildly at this point, no doubt to catch her off guard and take her down, before she pushed Delphine's blade out of her way and swung the base of her blades at the lady, striking both of Delphine's wrists in a matter of seconds, which caused the lady to drop her weapon.

As that happened, and Delphine staggered backwards, Amaryllis found that Durum had extended her left hand and held her wand out for someone to take, with the base facing the area they were fighting in, where she quickly understood what the Demiprince wanted and knew what would happen to her if she decided to turn down the artifact, to which she reached out and grasped the wand. Not a few seconds later she turned the wand on Delphine and used it's power on her, releasing a white burst of magical energy that happened to have black spots on it, something she wasn't even surprised by, which struck the breton right in the chest, causing her to shudder as the effects of the Moomer Wand washed over her body and the curse latched onto her form without delay. Sure enough Delphine's ears started to change a few seconds later, quickly changing into the ears of a cow as her horns grew in as well, followed by her spine extending as she gained a cow's tail, before she moaned as her udder pushed out, even if she was confused by this, and it stopped at the same size that Amaryllis' had been. After that Delpine's feet shook as they were replaced by cow's hooves, tearing through her boots with ease, and her hands quickly followed suit, before Delphine's breasts tore through her armor and her face pushed out into a cow's muzzle, and the transformation ended with the cow fur and spots taking over her body, along with her udder and breasts starting to leak milk.

Amaryllis paused for a moment as she watched that happen, as she couldn't believe she had used the curse on someone else and forced them into the form Sheogorath had given her some time ago, but given that it was Delphine, and just how annoying she had been, she didn't regret her decision.

"Delphine, this is your last chance to understand that we're working to destroy the Aldmeri Dominion," Amaryllis said, to which she handed the wand back to Durum, as she didn't want it or the Wabbajack to be used on her if she kept the wand for too long, all while noticing that Za'kera's group had emerged to see what was going on, before focusing on Delphine, who was surprised by her 'Moomer' form, as the mad Demiprince called this state, "you have two options available to you right now: first, you get with the program and prove to Za'kera that you aren't a liability, and maybe you'll get your prior form back... your second option is to continue being a pain in our backsides, where I'm sure that Durum might take you to her realm in the Shivering Isles, where you'll remain for a long time."

"I could always use a constant source of milk in the bakery, especially since Father likes my goods," Durum added, which caused a look of fear to appear on Delphine's face as she realized what Amaryllis meant, that the speaker was actually the daughter of Sheogorath and that annoying her meant pissing off one of the most powerful beings in this world, and that any punishment he came up with would be beyond the embarrassment of this form.

Delphine stood there for a moment, clearly debating her options at the moment as she shuffled around, likely getting used to her new form and the new weight that she had been cursed with, especially since her body was more cow than Breton at this point, before she nodded her head, showing that she understood what Amaryllis and Durum had told her, though while Amaryllis knew that her friend would disprove of her actions this gave Delphine a chance to prove herself before her ultimate fate was decided.

"Now then, Esbern, what about you?" Za'kera asked, because after seeing what happened to Delphine, who was getting used to her new form, she decided to focus on the elderly Blade and wanted to see where he stood on the matter, even if she had a feeling that he would turn out to be an ally and not an enemy, or someone who needed to be taught a lesson, as Durum had caused enough problems so far.

"I am not much of a fighter, but I do know the ancient lore of the Blades... and any Empress needs an Honor Guard, so let me work towards finding the start of your elite guard," Esbern stated, showing them that he was more than willing to join Za'kera in her quest to take down the Aldmeri Dominion, as he understood Amaryllis' reading of the possibilities of what had been written on Alduin's Wall and, based on what he could see, now knew that she had been telling the truth, that the Dragonborn was preparing for war with the Thalmor, to which he bowed towards Za'kera, "I am yours to command, and I will aid you in this task, to the best of my ability."

Za'kera accepted his pledge, as that was basically what it was, as Amaryllis smiled under her mask, as it looked like things were progressing nicely for them right now, even though she knew that Jarl Balgruuf was going to be upset once he found out that they had rebuilt an entire keep into their own fortress, plus it would tell any other threats where they were hiding, so if one of them wanted to come and mess with them it would be easy for them to find her and her friends, but she had a feeling that things were going to move forward soon enough.

Vampire: An Order Revived

Amaryllis discovered that they were able to get through most of the rest of the day without anything happening, save for Ma'jera using her magic to teleport the horse and carriage they had been using back to their new base, scaring the poor horse in the process and required Diane to calm him down, though one thing she made sure to do was hide the Elder Scroll in the chest that she could summon and dismiss at will, mostly so it wasn't laying around and stolen by a thief, if someone tried to do such a thing anyway. Of course not everything was peaceful for them since not even an hour after Esbern and Delphine arrived, the latter being taken elsewhere while she complained about her filled breasts and udder as she was escorted to another part of the new keep, Jarl Balgruuf and a number of his guards arrived, which included Irileth and Farengar. Amaryllis wasn't surprised to see that he had picked those two to come with him, as the former happened to be his Housecarl, his personal protector who took her job way too seriously at times, while the latter happened to be his Court Wizard, so there was a chance that he had detected an influx of power and had caused his Jarl to discover this place, or maybe someone had noticed the base and told the Jarl. As she thought Balgruuf was here to ask about the new fortress, or city as he soon discovered, where he quickly discovered that Za'kera was preparing for something major that would be happening in the near future, as she didn't want to tell everyone that she happened to be in the middle of readying herself for war and was building an army to tear down the Aldmeri Dominion, though Amaryllis had a feeling that if she revealed this to Whiterun they might get a lot more followers, but she said nothing and kept an eye on the shadows, just in case the Thalmor sent assassins after them.

As it turned out Balgruuf was more than willing to let them have their base here, especially since he wasn't about to fight an Arch-Mage who was capable of manipulating the ground and surrounding area as she wanted, no doubt worried about what it might mean for his city and his people, though he would do his best to ensure that no one inside Whiterun even learned of what was going on out here, despite the fact that all of them were sure that some people would come out and speak to them for themselves, or just to see this with their own eyes.

One of the people who came to speak with them was a male Orc who was dressed up in some leather armor that had bits of metal mixed in, like he was a hunter who specialized in hunting creatures like werewolves and vampires, as Amaryllis had learned of their existence thanks to meeting Arnbjorn, though he carried a crossbow with him and held ax axe with a rather sharp looking silver head, meaning he was definitely outfitted for battle, even if he was missing a shield and a helm to cover his head. Durak, as that was the Orc's name, had something interesting to tell them, that the Dawnguard, which was an ancient order of vampire hunters, were rising up to deal with the ever growing vampire threat that existed in all of Skyrim, even though Amaryllis knew that he had to be exaggerating since she hadn't seen any blood suckers or heard of an attack since she met Babette. Apparently, when Za'kera made a mention of not noticing the 'vampire threat' Durak told her off by claiming that she hadn't been paying attention and would only notice when a creature was sucking her blood, even though Amaryllis wouldn't let something like that happen in the first place, and asked her if she had heard of the Hall of the Vigilants had been attacked, which none of them had heard about and only seemed to infuriate the Orc more than he already was. While they were talking Amaryllis took a moment to wonder why news of the attack hadn't spread, as her abilities let her know that Durak was telling the truth, before he mentioned that if they wanted to join the fight they would find the order of vampire hunters at an ancient fort in the Rift, Fort Dawnguard as it was called, before he departed from their base of operations and headed out to either find new allies or head back to his boss.

Za'kera didn't seem at all interested in hunting down the Dawnguard and seeing what they wanted, as it seemed like the Orc had been sent to find the Dragonborn, instead of an ordinary hero or group of known adventurers, but Amaryllis did mention that saving the Holds from a potential threat, as she and Wind knew that Durak had been telling the truth, might gain them some points with the Jarls. Her friend did acknowledge their comments on the matter, even though they had no way of knowing if the Hall had actually been burned down by vampires or if it had been someone else entirely, she even considered Esbern's opinion on this topic, that it might be the Aldmeri Dominion trying to spread fear to weaken the rest of Skyrim, though it was more based on his experiences and not on his feelings on the Thalmor. As such Za'kera decided that it would be in their best interest if she, Amaryllis, and Lydia, at the very least, headed to Riften and tracked down the exact location of Fort Dawnguard, as Ma'jera had a habit of making sure her apprentice was nearby to impart more of her extensive knowledge to her, so this way the mages could stay here with Esbern and their new allies, and maybe Kya if she returned for a rest. Amaryllis was perfectly fine with her friend's decision, as it allowed her to make sure Za'kera was safe, or as safe as one could be given that they were going to be fighting enemies in the near future, while Wind could keep an eye on the city and those that were already here, that way when they got back she could figure out what happened while they were gone before they planned out their next move in building their army.

Of course she had a feeling that once they found the fort in question, and she was sure that they would find it in due time, that she and her companions would be roped into a new quest and hoped that Za'kera was ready for whatever the future held for them, since there was no telling what might happen when they found Fort Dawnguard and the leader of Durak's revived order.

After Durak left the group had dinner, relaxed for some time, and then went to sleep since they had another big day once morning arrived, though Amaryllis and everyone else woke up early, as the sun was rising and used the carriage to leave their base for some time, leaving it in the hands of Ma'jera and their companions, though they knew that Esbern and their newest addition, Kaelriil, would have things ready for them when they returned. One thing Za'kera was thinking about was where they were going to find more allies to form the start of her army, even though she was still surprised by all of this, as building an army to take down the Aldmeri Dominion seemed like a dream and Amaryllis found her friend taking a few seconds to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, only to find that this was real and that they were heading for Riften once more, to find a new order that wanted to deal with vampires. She knew that some of Balgruuf's guards, those who protected Whiterun anyway, would likely come and join them to tear down those who wronged the Empire or beat them down to the point where the treaty was written in the first place, and it was possible that the Companions might join up with the start of their forces, as some of them, from what she had heard, wanted to earn honor and seemed to think that a war was a good place to earn it. In the end Amaryllis mentally sighed and glanced out at the rest of Skyrim as they headed for Riften, as she knew that it was unlikely they would find an army lurking in the wilderness, especially since she hadn't seen such a force during her travels above Skyrim's surface, hence why she focused on the order they were now seeking out and the mission they were trying to uphold, and if they could convince them to stop hunting vampires and join the start of Za'kera's army.

It took a few hours for them to reach their destination, coming up the road that passed through a fort, before they found that some of the guards knew what they were looking for and directed them towards the road that headed in the direction of Morrowind, as there was a cave off on the left side of the road and would have a pair of braziers outside it, something that they discovered in no time and Lydia brought the carriage to a stop as they climbed off it and headed inside the cave, finding that it was a passage that lead to a secret area between two mountains, before they found a male Nord off to their right, who looked like a farmer and carried a simple axe on his belt.

"Oh, hey there! Are all of you here to join the Dawnguard, too?" the Nord asked, as he seemed surprised to find that some people were coming to speak with Isran, even though Amaryllis and Lydia focused on walking down the path while taking a few seconds to make sure there were no enemies in the area, even though Za'kera said nothing and simply nodded her head for a moment, "Truth is, I'm a little nervous... I've never done anything like this before. I hope you don't mind if I walk with you for a time... hey, uh, please don't tell Isran I was afraid to meet him by myself, as I know that its not the best first impression for a new vampire hunter, and he might reject me because of it."

"Considering the fact that Durak's looking for allies, I don't think Isran will reject anyone," Amaryllis commented, which was followed by her companions nodding their heads for a moment, as they agreed with her when they took a few seconds to think about the information that was given to them, before she thought about what the young man had said before she spoke up, "but we won't say anything about this."

"Anyway, I heard what's been going on lately," the farmer continued, waiting for a moment to make sure no one else had anything to say on the matter, where he discovered that Za'kera was still silent as they walked down the path in question, causing him to think that they might not know as much as he did, "you know, with the vampires attacking and killing all sorts of people, the Dawnguard rising to fight them, and everything else that's happened. I wanted to help, so here I am. The lot of you have probably killed lots of vampires, huh? I'm sure Isran will sign you right up. Not sure he'll take me, but... I hope he'll give me a chance to prove myself."

Amaryllis could tell that the Nord was nervous, as it was practically radiating from him at this point, but it did seem to go down while they walked with him, which she was happy about, before they found that the path brought them by an area that was used for fishing, which made sense since Isran and the others needed something to eat, before finding a rather large and impressive fortress in front of them that had to be Fort Dawnguard. One thing she noticed was that there were a number of areas etched out in the ground, no doubt markers so someone could build some walls or barricades for some extra protection, especially since no one had any idea when the vampires would show up, meaning Isran wasn't done with his work and his followers were doing everything in their power to ready themselves for the future. Beyond the first tower, as the fort had towers attached to it and made them go around its base, happened to be a camping area that had a tent, a small farm that seemed to be growing potatoes and leeks, or at least it sure looked like that, before finding Durak outside it as he used his crossbow on the target that was in front of him, meaning he was readying himself for whatever the future might hold for them. After that they found a path that lead right to the main doors of the fortress, where another member of the Dawnguard, a male Breton, commented on their arrival and ushered them inside, assuming that they were here to join him and his companions, where they headed through the main door and found two people, both male while one was a Redguard and the other was a Nord, who appeared to be arguing right now, causing them to stop and wait their turn to speak with Isran

"Why are you here, Tolan? The Vigilants and I were finished long ago." the Redguard asked, where Amaryllis found that he was wearing the armor of the Dawnguard, which made sense when she considered that he had to be the leader of the few people they had seen outside, though his attention was firmly on the man who was standing near him, someone who had the attire of a Vigilant of Stendarr, as in a mage's robe for the chest while having steel plate over their arms and legs, not a good combination in her mind but she kept that to herself.

"You know why I'm here, Isran, the Vigilants are under attack everywhere." the Nord, Tolan, replied, something that made Amaryllis and Za'kera glance at each other for a few seconds, as neither of them had heard any news about this, nor had they heard of the Hall being attacked and destroyed, but they remained silent as they waited for their turn to come up, all while their new companion hung back in the shadows as he tried to get his nerves under control, "The vampires are much more dangerous than we believed."

"And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it?" Isran stated, where he frowned as he said that, as it was easy for anyone to tell that he was annoyed or displeased with Tolan and the Vigilants, to the point where Amaryllis didn't even need her innate powers to figure that out, even though the Vigilant stood his ground as he waited for Isran to stop talking. "I remember Keeper Carcette telling me repeatedly that Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin, not worth the expense and manpower to repair... and now that you've stirred up the vampires against you, a foolish mistake I might add, you come begging for my protection?"

"Isran... Carcette is dead." Tolan said, sounding incredibly sad over the fact that he had just admitted, even though it also seemed to have some effect on the Reguard, as Isran paused for a moment as well, meaning he must have had friends in the Vigilants and this might have made him wonder if anyone had survived, even though Amaryllis could feel the sadness coming from Tolan go up a notch or two in a matter of seconds, "The Hall of Vigilants... everyone... they're all dead. You were right, we were wrong... isn't that enough for you?"

"Yes, well... I never wanted any of this to happen. I tried to warn all of you... I am sorry, you know." Isran replied, where it was clear that his earlier anger and annoyance had cooled off and allowed him to think about the situation they were now in, especially since he must have lost some of his friends in the process, maybe even family, before he noticed that Za'kera, Amaryllis, Lydia, and the newcomer were standing by the door, even though he only beckoned to the three of them once he regained himself, "You there, the two Khajiit and the Nord, step forward and state your intentions."

"We heard that you were looking for vampire hunters and came to see what was going on for ourselves," Za'kera stated, as she made it sound like they were thinking of joining the Dawnguard, which would convince Isran to spill the beans on what was going on and allow her to make a decision on what to do next with the order, did they help them or did they just leave to continue preparing for their war, "Plus you sent Durak to find the Dragonborn for some reason, so I'd like to find out why you would want such a thing."

"You heard right. I'm glad word's finally starting to get around," Isran answered, showing that he was pleased to have a few newcomers who were interested in seeing what the problem was and that they might be interested in tearing down all of the vampires that his order was designed to destroy, or at least that was what all of them figured out by listening to what Isran and Tolan had said, "however, that also means that it won't be long before the vampires start to take notice as well and come up with a plan to destroy us."

"Given how many members you have right now, it looks like you need some help." Amaryllis commented, because if one were to look at the path leading to Fort Dawnguard it looked like there were three other people in Isran's group, at least Durak, the guy who greeted them, and a lookout, so Isran made four and there was no telling who else would arrive after all of them were gone, though Lydia remained silent as she continued to make sure no one tried anything with her Thane, showing her loyalty to Za'kera at all times.

"Indeed, though I need someone out in the field, taking the fight to the damn vampires, while we're getting the fort back into shape and finding some new members," Isran replied, which made sense when the pair considered it, since having a few more people join the fight would do wonders for the man and those who had joined him so far, before he glanced at Tolan for a moment as he considered something, before glancing back at them a second later, "Tolan was just telling me about some cave that the Vigilants were poking around in... they seemed to think that it was related, in some way, to these recent vampire attacks. Tolan, you said it was Dimhollow, right?"

"Yes, that's it... Dimhollow Crypt." Tolan answered, confirming Isran's words while he considered them for a moment, no doubt remembering something he had learned or had been told by those he had worked with before the Hall had been ransacked by the vampires, though Amaryllis could feel his sadness as he thought about those who had fallen, meaning he must have had good bonds with them, before he sighed, "Brother Adalvald was sure it held some long lost vampire artifact of some kind, one of great importance, but we didn't listen to him at all, just like we didn't listen to Isran. Adalvald was at the Hall when it was attacked... I don't know if he was taken or killed in action..."

"That's good enough for me." Isran said, clearly seeing the pain that Tolan was going through and wanted to change what they were talking about, or at least Amaryllis hoped he was being considerate towards his old friend's sadness and not just being a jerk about it, by not caring about what Tolan was going through, before he glanced towards Za'kera once more, no doubt thinking they had joined his order when they hadn't agreed to help him, "So, Dragonborn, go see what the vampires were looking for in this Dimhollow Crypt... with any luck, they'll still be there and you can eradicate them. Feel free to poke around the fort and take what you need for the mission, though be warned that there isn't much yet, given that we have had our own problems lately, but you're welcome to anything you can use."

"I was curious if you had heard my comment, since you didn't react at all," Za'kera remarked, though she wasn't trying to poke fun at him or anything, she had been curious as to whether or not he had noticed her mention of the Dragonborn, as he didn't move a muscle during that moment, before she turned for a moment and started to return to where Amaryllis and Lydia were standing, "but we'll check out Dimhollow Crypt, see if we can figure out what the vampires are up to and if any are still there."

In that moment Tolan mentioned that he was coming with them, despite the fact that Isran believed that he wasn't ready for combat since the Vigilants had been wiped out, but Za'kera was fine with him coming along with them, as they might learn more about what Adalvald was looking for and any potential information he might have to share, though Amaryllis came to a stop when they left the fort, discovering that they had a new arrival, the ash furred khajiit she had seen during her time on the Emperor's ship, standing in front of them.

"Dragonborn, I have come to speak with you and the Listener," the khajiit stated, where Amaryllis noticed that she was no longer wearing rags, rather it looked like she was wearing leather armor that was torn in some places, as the chest piece only covered her breasts and showed off her midriff, while having no sleeves, and the sides of her pants looked like she might have gotten into a fight with a bear that shredded them, revealing the Daedric runes on both her arms, legs, and her chest, even if there were more on her face and the rest of her body, all while she pulled out a pair of wicked scimitars, no doubt Daedric in origin.

"Is that so?" Za'kera inquired, though as she said that Amaryllis found that her friend was gripping the handles of the pair of blades that she was carrying right now, revealing the situation to her, if the ashen khajiit attacked she was going to pull her weapons out as well, meaning she was ready for anything and everything, all while she and Lydia stayed at the ready as well, just in case, "Why are you seeking us?"

"I am Sharva Doomstrider, servant of the Prince of Destruction... and I have come to join you in your quest," the khajiit answered, where she stabbed both of her blades into the ground, something that caused them to pause for a second, and bowed her head for a moment, though what interested Amaryllis was what happened when Sharva spoke the title of her boss, the runes seemed to flash for a moment, why she had no idea.

Za'kera had no idea why someone else wanted to join her, or why Mehrunes Dagon wanted to bring down the vampires, but she, naturally, welcomed the khajiit into their group and allowed Sharva to pull her weapons out of the ground, due to the fact that she'd rather not piss off a Daedric Prince, though Amaryllis was curious if they had found another Demiprince or if Sharva was actually a follower of Dagon, before deciding that time would tell her what the truth was.

Vampire: Dimhollow Crypt

With the additions of Tolan and Sharva, and the farmer seemed to be inside the fort right now, Za'kera, Amaryllis, and Lydia headed back to the opening that brought them here in the first place, as they had left their carriage on the other side of it and hopefully no one made off with it while they were speaking to Isran, though given Sharva's presence it was possible that she had killed anyone bothering their ride before she wandered into this place. Amaryllis was curious as to what they might find in Dimhollow Crypt, since Isran didn't seem to care about the information that Tolan had, and she could see that her friend was thinking the same thing, that they were going to have to ask the Vigilant about what he knew while they traveled to their destination, even though no one had any idea where Dimhollow Crypt rested. The other thing she thought about was the fact that Sharva claimed to be a servant of Mehrunes Dagon, something she hadn't been lying about, making her wonder what the Prince of Destruction was up to right now, especially since his Razor was still in her possession and had been used to kill a number of enemies since she recovered it from his alter. Her best guess right now was that Dagon just wanted to be apart of the upcoming war, even though he couldn't actually appear in this world thanks to what went down in the last era, his Oblivion Crisis and the sacrifice of Martin Septim, and had tracked down one of his servants to make sure they were part of what was coming up.

Once they were outside the group found that the carriage was just fine, even if there were three dead bandits rested in the surrounding area, to which Za'kera quickly checked each one for anything of value, finding nothing but their coin pouches, though as soon as she was done searching them she and her companions climbed onto the carriage, with Lydia in front once more, before they departed from the Rift and headed for their new base.

Tolan told them what he knew about Dimhollow Crypt, that it rested along the path that would bring them to the massive statue of Mehrunes Dagon, something Amaryllis knew about thanks to her own visit to the location in question, despite the fact that they were going to have to leave the carriage behind when they reached their destination, as the path just so happened to be rather thin and would put them in danger. Other than that he really didn't have much information to tell them, as all the information on the crypt in question resided in three tomes that were written by Adalvald, three journals that contained all of his notes and thoughts as he explored the area in question, though he did know that there were a fair number of Draugr in the crypt, which made sense when Amaryllis thought about it. The only other source of information on Dimhollow would have been Adalvald himself, and, like he told Isran during their conversation, it was hard to tell if the vampires had killed him or if they had captured him to use the information in his head to their benefit, though Tolan had a faint hope that his friend had survived and was in hiding, as that would be best, but if that wasn't the case he was sure Adalvald would have taken his life to prevent the vampires from using him, both in life and in undeath. Amaryllis had to admit that the Vigilants were still confusing, to some degree, though their faith in Stendarr was admirable, despite all of the hardships that they faced while traveling the whole of Skyrim to deal with the Daedra, though it made her think about something when she glanced over to Sharva for a moment, who didn't seem to care about Tolan that much and was more interested in what the road had in store for them.

"So, if the Vigilants don't like Daedra, regardless of who they serve and what they are, doesn't that mean that you should do something with Sharva?" Lydia inquired, speaking the question that was on Amaryllis and Za'kera's minds right now, as it seemed weird for one of the Vigilants of Stendarr to travel with someone who had confessed to being a follower of one of the Daedric Princes, especially the one who brought about the Oblivion Crisis and nearly destroyed the world back in the Third Era.

"My training tells me 'yes'... my instincts tell me 'no'," Tolan replied, showing them that he was smarter than they thought at first, that while he could have lashed out at Sharva upon discovering that she was a servant of Dagon, a pawn of the Prince of Destruction, Tolan had decided to stay his hand and do nothing to the ashen Khajiit who was sitting across from where he happened to be sitting, "I have the feeling that if I were to engage her in battle, to purge her from the land and everything, it would end with her winning and me being dead on the ground... right now my desire to avenge the deaths of my friends is stronger than my desire to break Dagon's pawn."

"Just so you know, I never asked for this... my parents forced this terrible fate upon me," Sharva stated, though while she said that Amaryllis detected what had to be a wave of resentment coming from the ashen Khajiit, meaning whatever had happened in her past had scarred her for a very long time and that it was never going away, hence why she likely thought badly of her parents and even resented them for everything they had done to her, all while she glanced down at some of the runes on the back of her right hand, "but Dagon wants me to be part of this quest and here I am... one cannot refuse the desires of a Daedric Prince, least of all the Prince of Destruction."

Amaryllis nodded her head a little as she heard that, as so far she had tried to make sure the Princes weren't mad at her, hence why she had done Dagon's bidding and killed Silus to claim the Razor, even though she had likely pissed off Meridia by ignoring her quest, which Ma'jera had done, and Sheogorath didn't like her at all, even though his daughter seemed to be another story, despite the fact that she was a tad bit odd, which was appropriate for the child of madness. So it made sense to her when she thought about Sharva's situation, she couldn't go against Dagon's wishes, regardless of whether or not she actually wanted to follow his will, and Amaryllis was sure that if the ashen Khajiit even tried to go against the will of her Prince it would no doubt cause great pain to her. Of course the other thing that she thought about while they traveled back to their base, before heading to the Pale to find out where Dimhollow was located, were the runes that were all over Sharva's body, as they had to serve some sort of purpose and reacted to her in some manner, based on what she and the others had seen earlier, though for now she figured that they would have to wait until returning to their new fortress, as Ma'jera might give them some information on what was up with her. Other than that there was nothing for them to talk about as they traveled across the lands of Skyrim once more, as Za'kera focused on figuring out what was inside the cave, Lydia on the enemies that they would take out, Tolan and Sharva thinking about whatever was on their minds, and she just kept her eyes open for enemies while they made their way back to Wind and the others.

Upon returning to their fortress city Amaryllis discovered that Ma'jera was busy and, interestingly enough, she was more than willing to allow Wind to come with them on this quest, though she also took a moment to let her power wash over her form for a few seconds, reverting to her true form while her armor shifted a little, as Za'kera didn't have a problem with Changelings, so she decided to travel like this for a time, instead of disguising herself all the time. After that the group continued on to the Pale, where she informed Wind of what was going on, that they were hunting down some vampires to see what they were up to and if they could discover an artifact, or at least Isran seemed to think one was there and Tolan agreed based on what Adalvald had discovered before the attack on the Hall. Of course this meant traveling in the night for once, which might actually be to their benefit since Amaryllis was more at home during the night, given her job before she and Wind came to this world, and one of the roads they traveled down was the one that she had met Cicero on some time ago, before they headed to the west as Tolan helped them reach their destination. The only thing Amaryllis felt that they might run into was a mock battle, between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, though Tolan seemed to think neither side would do such a thing in this part of Skyrim, despite what she had seen in the past, but they figured that time would tell since there was no telling what would happen in this savage land.

Eventually they broke away from the road and followed the path that Tolan told them about, one that brought them to a burning structure that happened to be the Hall of the Vigilants, which had a number of slain Vigilants, along with figures wearing black or red armor, which was different from all of the armor Amaryllis had seen so far, resting nearby, along with a few hounds that looked like they had been crafted from dead hounds.

"The path we're looking for is off to the right," Tolan said, referring to a mountain pass that happened to head right for the area that Dagon's statue was resting in, or at least it should given what Amaryllis recalled from her time flying over the Pale in the past, though he paused for a moment as he noticed something in the flames, something that caused him to pull out his warhammer for a second as the others gripped their weapons, "Whose there?"

"Someone you don't want to get into a fight with," a feminine voice replied, where they watched as the flames parted for a few seconds and a female figure stepped out, who was wearing an elegant black dress with a red pattern on the sleeves, like she was a noble of some kind and Amaryllis could see that she was an Imperial, though she had long black hair and it looked like she had blood red colored eyes, not to mention a pair of fangs in her mouth, before the lady crossed her arms for a moment as she stared at them, "and no, I didn't lay waste to this outpost... the culprits are hiding nearby, no doubt in a cave as they wait for the heat to die down."

"We're looking for them as well, and someone they might have kidnapped," Za'kera spoke up, which was the truth, even if she didn't mention what the vampires were looking for, as she could tell that the lady was a vampire, one that had to be very powerful and ancient based on the fact that she didn't seem bothered by all of the flames that were around her, and she even spotted a weapon on her belt, a wicked looking mace that screamed 'Daedric Artifact' to her, "maybe you would like to team up with us?"

"I don't need to 'team up' with mortals... but it might be fun, for a time." the lady stated, showing Amaryllis that she was, in fact, far older than most of the people that were currently standing in front of her, which made sense as she took a couple of seconds to recall that vampires could live a long time, unless something or someone killed them, while listening to what Tolan was muttering and learned that the mace was an artifact of Molag Bal, the Prince of Domination, so named the Mace of Molag Bal, "Very well, I'll travel with you for a time... I am Lynthia."

Amaryllis and Za'kera glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they could tell that there was more that could be gained from the vampire, she certainly wasn't telling them everything right now, before Za'kera introduced them all to her, just so she knew who was who in case she wanted to talk to someone, and once that was done they headed over to the path and headed up the side of the mountain. Sure enough Amaryllis found that the path was rather thin in some places, as in too small for a carriage to pass through safely, and that meant Tolan had been telling the truth, not that she suspected him of lying to them, though she said nothing as they walked up the path, something that would have given Lynthia time to speak and explain things to everyone, but the vampire remained silent as they walked. As it turned out the group was able to find their destination with ease, as there happened to be a lit brazier outside it and a still burning torch resting on the ground, one that seemed to be sputtering out based on what they were seeing, though given the information they had on this cave Za'kera pulled out her blades as the others did the same thing, save for Lynthia anyway. With that done Amaryllis headed inside first and remained in the shadows that happened to be in front of them, though as Za'kera and the others came in she could tell that her friend trusted her and she carefully made her way deeper into the cave, sneaking through the like a wraith, making no sound and offering no signs of her existence in case people were watching.

What she discovered was that the path she was following brought her right to a chamber that had nordic architecture, just like most of the ruins in Skyrim, before spotting several figures who happened to be wearing identical armor to what they had found on several of the corpses outside the Hall, meaning vampires no doubt, and she counted four of them and one of the death hounds. Amaryllis then found that some of them seemed to be talking about their attack on the Hall, because she heard two of them discussing how feeble the Vigilants had been, despite the fact that some of them had fallen during the assault, so this meant they had to be some of the weaker vampires since it had been an attack with greater numbers, but it also meant that whoever was behind the attack had to be deeper in this cave. After taking a moment to consider that information she then switched to her bow and readied one of her arrows, where she carefully looked at the four vampires that were scattered around the chamber and quickly picked out who seemed to be the weakest, a Nord girl who seemed to be in her early twenties, and the arrow found her heart, killing her instantly. With that done the other three and their death hound realized that they were under attack and actually came running to where she was waiting, which caused her to back off for a moment as Za'kera and the others surprised the lesser vampires, killing them and their hound in seconds, though with that done Amaryllis continued into the chamber as Wind searched their slain enemies for anything that might be useful in their quest, only to find gold coins and a few healing potions.

Amaryllis quickly found a small stone tower that had a pull lever on a wall, one that opened the iron gate that blocked the way forward, though once that was done they carefully moved forward as she noticed something interesting, Lynthia just stared at them like she was studying them, hence why she kept an eye on her in case she decided to turn on them, if there was an artifact at the end of this and it tempted her to become an enemy.

The passage brought them to a chamber that had a number of opened coffins, where they could see a vampire that was in the middle of reanimating all of the skeletons to be his personal defense force for however long the spell lasted, though as Amaryllis discovered that he was totally distracted, and hadn't heard them enter this area, Wind channeled her magic for a moment and loosed a powerful bolt of lightning at them. It was, as she informed them, the Chain Lightning spell, one that smashed into the vampire's back and scattered outward for a few seconds, smashing the skeletons to pieces before any of them realized what was going on, but as the vampire turned around Sharva rushed up to where he was standing and just lopped off his head in an instant. With that done the ashen Khajiit, appearing to be more of a warrior and less of a stealthy person, marched forward and Za'kera followed after her, where they used a lever to raise another gate that happened to be in their way and headed down a passage, one that brought them to where one of the vampires had foolishly awoken a number of Draugr, something that was followed by the vampire being cut down by some undead Nords. After that Za'kera swung her weapons at their enemies as her companions joined her, dodging attacks while hacking into the Draugr that had been buried in this place at one point in time, and this time around Lynthia fought with them, swinging her mace into the head of one undead warrior while loosing a small bolt of red energy at another, causing it to go into a rage as it swung at the walls around it, an Illusion spell no doubt, before it removed it's own head and fell to the ground.

At this point in time Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other, as one was sure this spell was different than the others she had seen and the other knew exactly what sort of Illusion spells existed in this world, so they were sure they were dealing with another Demiprince, possibly even Molag's based on the fact that Ma'jera had tracked down her father's tome and Durum had been after the Wabbajack, but they said nothing as they moved deeper into the ruin.

After that they found a tunnel that brought them to a small waterfall that had a number of skeletons being revived by one of the other vampires, which seemed to be a favorite hobby for them based on what Amaryllis was seeing, though she just pulled out an arrow and loosed it at the vampire, taking her out and cutting off the link between her and the skeletons, as it sent the bony undead back to their slumber and their bodies broke apart. With that done they headed up to where she had found the vampire and she recovered her arrow, allowing Za'kera to swing her weapons at some death hounds that came at her, which the others helped her with as Tolan smashed one with his warhammer, before they found a few more fledglings between where they were standing and another iron gate. As Amaryllis expected the fledgling vampires had no chance of surviving against her and her companions, as they hacked, slashed, and blasted through all of their enemies in a matter of seconds before finding the lever that was connected to the gate, even though they found a vampire that was far more than the others in front of a door, one of a different design than the ones the Nords made, though he fell to a rather large spider, even if he killed it as well. Such a thing caused Lynthia to sigh for a moment, as if expecting vampires with a certain level of power to die in a more graceful manner, like in a fight with them and not to a large spider, before Za'kera moved towards the door and found that it brought them to a large chamber that seemed to be resting in the heart of the mountain the cave had been built into, one with a structure that clearly wasn't made by the Nords.

Sure enough they found a trio of vampires who were standing over the fallen body of a Vigilant, Adalvald no doubt, and it wasn't long before Lynthia dropped down into the area and struck down her enemies, seizing control of the mind of the female one with her Illusion magic, before smashing the second with the mace she carried, before she turned towards the last one, who seemed stronger than the others, and tore into his neck with her fangs, draining him of his blood like it had been a long time since she ate, or maybe she wanted to make sure he was dead.

"Not bad... but I've had better." Lynthia remarked, meaning there must have been something in his blood that she didn't like, or didn't care for, and she spoke once she was done draining him of his blood, allowing her to toss the shriveled up body to the side, though once that was done, and the group caught up with her as they surveyed the scene she had made in a matter of seconds, she turned towards the structure, "Now what do we have here?"

"Not sure, but it looks like there's a button of some kind that might be a clue," Amaryllis replied, though as they quickly walked over the bridge, which was rather elegant in her eyes, Lynthia seemed to glance at the pillar in question and took a moment to direct her new thrall to it, who walked over and pressed the button with his hand, which stabbed it with a bit of sharp metal, leading to a circle of purple flames to appear around them.

Before anyone could say anything Lynthia cut down the vampire and made sure to position him away from the middle of the structure, still somehow not getting any blood on her dress, before finding a few braziers that could be moved and just stared at them for a few seconds, causing Amaryllis and the others to move them into a certain alignment, one that caused a burst of energy to emerge from the center and even lead to the floor sinking, revealing a monolith in the center, one that opened and revealed an interesting sight: a lady who appeared to be sleeping inside the hollowed core of the structure, in a royal looking set of vampire attire, which made sense given who she had to be, before they found an Elder Scroll on her back, before she stumbled forward and woke up as she stared at them.

"Unh... where is... who sent you here?" the lady asked, her tone and movements suggesting that she had been drugged at some point in time, either willingly or unwillingly, and then buried in this place for some reason, though whatever it was seemed to be leaving her system, no doubt unraveling once someone activated the monolith after going through what all of them had seen.

"Most of us were sent by a man called Isran, though I suspect he isn't someone you know," Za'kera replied, because she felt that the lady was another vampire, something that seemed to be a recurring theme lately and would likely be the type of enemies they would be encountering for some time, and Amaryllis shared her opinion, especially since they found what appeared to be the fangs in her mouth and her eyes seemed different from a normal vampire, just like how Lynthia's eyes were different as well, "rather, I'm sure you were waiting for another vampire to show up."

"Oh, good, we don't have to address that issue if you already know what I am." the lady said, where she seemed to smile for a moment, as she realized that they were smarter than whatever she originally thought about them, while making sure her body was fine from after however long she had spent in this place, before she glanced at everyone that was in front of her and froze when she laid eyes on Lynthia.

"It seems that someone went through a lot of effort to lock you away. May I ask why?" Amaryllis asked, because she was sure that it might give them a clue as to what was going on right now and not leave them in the dark, similar to what had happened back during their quest to find the first Elder Scroll, though she said nothing about what was on the vampire's back, since it seemed like an odd thing to ask to a total stranger.

"That's... complicated. And I'm not totally sure if I can trust any of you, given that you arrived with her." the lady said, while she took a moment to glance at Lynthia for a few more seconds, meaning she must have felt something that only one of their kind could tell by looking at each other, before she focused on the rest of the group for a few seconds, likely thinking that all of them were untrustworthy, even if she sighed after that, "But if you want to know the whole story, help me get back to my family's home... it's located on an island near Solitude, and unless something happened to them they should still be there. By the way, my name's Serana."

"Of the Volkihar Clan... oh yes, I've heard of your clan, little one," Lynthia commented, taking a moment to smile as Serana glanced at her in surprise, as if expecting none of them to know which of the clans she belonged to, though given the new bits of information they were learning Amaryllis had a feeling there was something else the vampire could tell them, likely a bombshell of some sort, "my father gave your family their immortality, after you enacted the ancient ritual to become full vampires and your father sacrificed thousands of innocents to get his prize..."

Serana seemed to pale for a moment, no doubt remembering the day in question, while Amaryllis figured out what in the world was being said, that Lynthia was actually Lynthia Bal, the Demiprince daughter of Molag Bal, and that meant that the Lord of Domination was interested in whatever the vampires were doing, which only made her curious as to what the near future held for them.

Vampire: Discussions

After speaking to Lord Harkon, and Za'kera informing him of the fact that she wanted him and his Court to work with the rest of Skyrim, which included the Dawnguard since they had bigger fish to deal with, Amaryllis and her friends, plus all of their odd traveling companions, left Castle Volkihar and quickly returned to where they had stopped their carriage without wasting too much time, even if it meant using a boat to leave the area.

"I'm sorry that the encounter with your father didn't go as well as you thought it might," Amaryllis commented, speaking to Serana as they climbed into the carriage, where Wind joined Lydia at the front so they could keep an eye out for enemies, a fact that left her and Za'kera with Serana, Sharva, and Lynthia, though this was mostly to pass the time before they even reached Fort Dawnguard, or maybe their own base of operations.

"Oh, I had a feeling that he would be more interested in the Elder Scroll, especially since he had two before my mother and I took them from him," Serana replied, where it seemed like she had gotten over her initial shock over what had happened back in her father's castle and was more willing to talk with them about things, especially if she was willing to tell them that Harkon had been in possession of two Elder Scrolls at one point in time, before she sighed, "I was just hoping, that after so long without either of us around, that he might have changed... should have known he would have remained the same and that he would have developed such an intense hatred for my mother."

Amaryllis knew that Harkon hated his wife, as she could feel his immense hatred for her when he mentioned her, which would have chocked a lesser Changeling if they encountered it, meaning it was good that Wind was the Princess and had better control over her powers, while she had far more training to make sure she wasn't spotted by her enemies, but she had nothing to say to that, mostly because she was curious if Za'kera wanted her to show off their Elder Scroll, who just shook her head a little, a movement that Serana missed.

"I'm sure that whatever your father is up to is recorded on your Elder Scroll," Lynthia stated, showing that she had been in the middle of thinking about this situation and everything that had happened so far, even though it was hard to tell what sort of task her father had given to her, especially since she was carrying his mace on her belt, where it looked like she had an idea of what to do next, "We should return to Fort Dawnguard and give them the news, maybe convince them to join up with your army... though you might have to force Harkon into submission, since he seems more like a fighter than a talker and his demands might be more than one is willing to pay."

"He probably learned it from your father," Serana remarked, once more showing them that she and Lynthia might not like each other all that much, which meant they needed to resolve this mess quickly, before one of the vampires decided to attack the other and tore each other apart, though this time the elder vampire did nothing but nod her head, as if this was a fact that she agreed with, or at least considered to be true, before she sighed, "but, as much as I loathe to admit it, she might be right... we might have to fight my father and convince him that his way won't work... if only we knew what was on the Elder Scroll, as all my mother and I were able to figure out, before we put her plan into action, was that it held a 'grand' prophecy about vampires no longer needing to fear the sun."

"With all of the prophecies we've been dealing with, it wouldn't surprise me if we needed to track down a weapon of some kind, or someone attuned to the gods," Za'kera said, showing them that she had been listening to what they had said and that this was her opinion, though Amaryllis had a feeling that she might be right about a weapon being involved, before she let out a sigh as she considered something else for a moment, "for now, we'll head back to our fort in Whiterun, just to check on what's going on and maybe get some rest, before we head to the Rift and seen what Isran's up to... just a word of warning, he and the Dawnguard hate vampires... so there's no telling what might happen when they find out that both of you are vampires, and one's the daughter of Molag Bal."

"You don't have to worry about me," Lynthia replied, almost sounding like she found Za'kera's comment to be cute, while also showing that she didn't need their concern since she could likely deal with anything Isran threw at her, which had to be part of the reason that there was a smirk on her face, something Amaryllis was tired of seeing, since she seemed more arrogant than a normal person, before she glanced over to Sharva, "you ought to be worried about her, since one of her parents was a follower of Dagon and the other was a follower of my father... the latter betrayed us and engraved what we call the 'Runes of Domination' on her flesh, sacrificing her soul to him and binding her body to the Prince of Destruction's will. If ever Dagon decides you need to be taken care of, and there's a chance he'll come to that decision, she'll be forced to do it, regardless if she wants to do so or not... just a word of warning for you all."

"Like I said, I don't want to talk about it..." Sharva said, where Amaryllis could tell that she didn't like the fact that she was bound to one of the Daedric Princes without her say so or thoughts on the manner, meaning it must have happened when she was a lot younger and that she had been forced to endure the pain of having the runes etched onto her body, but that was all she said on the matter, showing them that she wanted to focus on something else.

Amaryllis was fine with that, since she had more things to think about and found that Wind was far less talkative than what she remembered, meaning it had to be something to do with who her mentor was, likely one of the people who preferred their apprentices to take notes first and ask questions later, though she knew that her friend would speak her mind when she was ready, before turning her attention towards the road once more, as there would be more time to think about this, once they found out what Isran wanted.

What Amaryllis and Wind discovered was that nothing had changed in their fort, save for more soldiers coming to join up with the start of Za'kera's army, including a number of mages that must have come from Winterhold, even though it was possible that others might have come from all over Skyrim to heed the call of the Arch-Mage and learn from the masters of their craft, all while preparing for the upcoming war. Of course she wasn't too surprised to find a number of rogues with those that were there, as it seemed that word was spreading like magefire, to use a phrase that Wind told her earlier, and sure enough they found the leader of the Thieves Guild, the Guild Master called Raven, standing nearby, where Amaryllis had a feeling that she was another Demiprince, based on her lack of concern for mortals. Even Nazir was there, no doubt just to see what the commotion was about, though Amaryllis walked beside him and appeared as a female Redguard who was dressed as a new recruit for the Brotherhood, finding that he and Babette had been interested in the upcoming war and were here to see if there was anything they could do to aid Za'kera, even though it was likely that they would stay back in Skyrim to make sure Cicero did no harm to everyone that was around him. The jester, as she learned, was just fine and that her brother was only worried about him having a relapse into the mad state that caused him to attack Astrid, but for now they were here to scout out what was going on before making their next move, especially since she was the Listener and might figure out some enemies for them to assassinate to make Za'kera's destiny a reality.

Other than that it didn't look like anything important had changed, save for showing them that their new recruit was doing a good job in organizing this place, allowing the group to return to the carriage and head for Fort Dawnguard, even though they had to switch Lydia out since she was tired from being in the front too much, even though she refused to make her Thane do it. What Amaryllis found to be interesting was that no enemies were on the road, as while it was night she had to assume someone, like bandits, might be waiting for travelers, though she had to assume that the gods and their children had a hand in making such a thing happen, given one's position as the Arch-Mage and another that was the Guild Master of the Thieves Guild. It repeated something she had considered for a while, that Akatosh was making sure they were ready and prepared for whatever rested in front of them, as in not being exhausted by enemies and constant fighting, despite the fact that they might run into enemies that weren't part of the known guilds, hence why she was still alert despite taking a moment to close her eyes and drift off to sleep. She was sure that if something happened she would either feel the shift in emotions, either from Wind, the others, or those who might be around them, or the sound of battle would reach her, a sign to wake up without having to do anything on her end, though with two vampires there was no telling if she was even needed to protect Za'kera from harm.

As it turned out they were able to reach the cave leading to Fort Dawnguard as morning arrived and they headed inside, all while leaving the carriage behind since it's opening wasn't large enough for it to pass through, though when they entered the area that Isran's fort was resting in they found several vampires actually attacking the Dawnguard, even though Isran and his followers smashed them into the ground and terminated all of them.

"Look at this." Isran said, where he seemed to be talking to the other members of the Dawnguard, as if he hadn't noticed their arrival in the area that they were stationed in, who nodded their heads in agreement, showing him that they had the same idea that he was having, before he sighed for a moment, "I should've known that it was only a matter of time before the vampires found our headquarters... this is the price we pay for openly recruiting. We'll have to step up our defenses, to avoid this in the future."

"It seems that you guys have been busy," Wind remarked, seeing the fallen vampires that were resting near Isran and the other members of the Dawnguard, who looked like they might be capable warriors in their own right and might be a good addition to their forces back in the fort, though as she said that she realized that Tolan hadn't arrived yet, nor had he been on the road, making her wonder where he went.

"So, you and your followers are back. Did you have any luck?" Isran asked, turning his attention to Za'kera, as if she had made the comment and not Wind, where Amaryllis found that her companion sighed before focusing on something else for a few moments, meaning she wasn't too happy about being ignored like that, "Was Tolan right about the vampires being interested in whatever was inside Dimhollow Crypt?"

"Yeah, we found the artifact... it's a vampire, with an Elder Scroll," Za'kera said, where she held up a hand as Isran and the others started to move at the mention of the creatures that they all seemed to hate with every fiber of their beings, which earned a chuckle from Lynthia when she saw it happen and Serana just stared at them for a time, "Listen to have I have to say, before you make any assumptions... Serana and her mother discovered something before turning on Harkon, which seems to be some sort of prophecy that speaks of vampires no longer having to fear the sun, or so they think since none of them have read what's on the Elder Scroll. We know that Serana, at the very least, is willing to help us bring down her father, while we have no idea where her mother went, but given that she might have more information on the matter we might want to track her down as well... and no, this isn't her mother, rather this is Lynthia Bal..."

"YOU MONSTER!" Isran shouted, almost as if he realized who was standing nearby, even if Za'kera told him who she was, as he lifted his warhammer and charged at Lynthia, showing them that he was planning on taking down Molag Bal's own daughter before she could do anything to endanger his mission, while the other vampire hunters just stood there, shock written on their faces and emotions.

"Ah, the mortal thinks he can touch me... how funny," Lynthia commented, where she did the logical thing instead of even trying to block the incoming attack, she stepped to the side and let the head of the warhammer collide with the ground, all while having her usual smirk on her face, something that really annoyed Amaryllis since this might damage whatever good reputation Za'kera might have, before she placed a finger under Isran's chin, "I'll let you go this one time, given that we're trying to unite Skyrim and whatnot, but if you attack me again I'll kill you... and not even being an ally of the Dragonborn will save you if you piss me off."

"Can you not?" Wind asked, showing them that she was getting annoyed with the Demiprinces, and it was specifically the children of the Daedric Princes and not the children of the Divines, even though she likely wasn't thinking about Ma'jera at the moment, since the daughter of Hermaeus Mora seemed pretty straightforward and didn't do stuff like this, before she let out a sigh as she turned towards Isran, "Listen, we have to do something to make sure this place is safe, not to mention tracking down Serana's mother and figuring out what's written on the Elder Scroll... and I'm certain that you might have a few ideas on what we can do next."

"Of course I have ideas, as I've been at this for a long time... I might be old, but I'm not stupid... we're going to need some help, if we want to make progress." Isran said, though everyone glared at him for a moment, as his 'stupid' comment was an interesting choice, as attacking the daughter of Molag Bal seemed like and incredibly foolish idea, where he stood up a few seconds later and placed his weapon on his back, "If the vampires are bold enough to attack us here, then this may be bigger than I thought, especially if the children of the gods, both Divine and Daedric, are gathering. I have good men here, but... there are people I've met and worked with over the years, who have skills and talents we'll need to survive this. If you can find them, we'll have a better chance of survival."

"Okay, and where can we find these people?" Amaryllis asked, because it seemed like Isran didn't understand that none of them really needed to track down his old comrades, given that they had a fair number of godly children in their ranks, but finding a few more people for Isran might make this place safer for him and the Dawnguard, especially since none of them had any idea what Harkon was up to.

"Right to the point, aren't you. I like that... not like those fools in the order, who beat around the bush." Isran stated, where it was a good thing that Tolan hadn't returned yet, otherwise they were sure that he would have been annoyed by what he had said, before he considered something, no doubt thinking about the people he had worked with in the past, while he focused on Za'kera, "We should keep it small, for now, since too many people will draw unwanted attention to ourselves. I think we'll want Sorine Jurard, a Breton girl whose whip-smart and good with tinkering... she's also got this fascination with the Dwemer, their weapons to be exact... last I heard, she was somewhere out in the Reach, convinced she was about to find the biggest dwarven ruins yet."

"Check the ruins and the areas surrounding them, got it." Za'kera said, as she had a feeling that this task would be pushed onto Amaryllis and Wind, given their wings and flight skills, so it would be completed in no time, meaning Serana could do a bit of talking before they determined what they had to do with the Elder Scroll, "Anyone else you want us to look for?"

"A word of warning, it might take a little convincing to get her to come here, but she should help us." Isran replied, which informed them that Sorine might be the type to get totally engrossed in the task that was in front of her and that she had to be stubborn, so someone would need to help her out before she even agreed to come here, "You'll also want to track down and find Gunmar, whose a big brute of a Nord and hates vampires almost as much as I do. He got an odd idea into his head a few years back that his experience with animals would help... trolls to be exact, from what I hear. Last I knew he was out scouring Skyrim for more beasts to tame, though last I heard he should be somewhere in the Reach as well. Bring those two of them back here, and we can get started on coming up with a plan."

Amaryllis nodded as her group departed from the area that was outside Fort Dawnguard and headed outside, though as they did that she knew that Za'kera was going to find a place to rest while they waited for her to track down Sorine and Gunmar, even though she had a feeling that things were going to get interesting from this point forward.

Vampire: The Moth Priest

After leaving Fort Dawnguard and the canyon it was located in, leaving Isran and his people to clean up the mess that had been created, Za'kera decided to stop in Riften for a day, mostly because she wanted to take a short break and relax as all of them figured out if there were other allies to gather for their army, though as they walked she turned towards Amaryllis for a few seconds.

"Amaryllis, I want you to head out and see if you can find Sorine and Gunmar," Za'kera said, as she trusted her friend more than she was willing to admit, because while the Changeling in question was an assassin, who people didn't trust and only came to when they needed someone killed, she knew that Amaryllis would protect her with her life, against everything that the world had to throw at them, "while you do that we'll stay in Riften and gather whatever information and resources we can, maybe a few rumors about Harkon's movements."

"And how is she going to do that?" Serana asked, all while they walked up the road that lead to the city in question, even if none of the guards could see them yet since this path didn't seem to have any, though she was more interested in the fact that Isran's people happened to be on the other side of Skyrim, based on his information, and that it would take a good bit of time for them to track down the pair in question, "We're better off using the carriage to travel to the Reach..."

Amaryllis interrupted her by allowing her magic to wash over her body, where Serana discovered her true form and spread her wings, even though she took a moment to make sure everything was fine, though it was amusing since Wind didn't use any of her disguises and Serana was acting like this was the first time she had seen a Changeling, but with that done she quickly spread her wings and took off. For a few seconds she flew above Za'kera's group before focusing on the Reach and headed off without delay, once more keeping herself out of sight so none of the guards noticed her, even though she did find a number of bandits hanging around some of the forts that lined the landscape, which seemed to be common if they weren't on the main road. Part of her had to wonder if she or Za'kera might be able to speak with the bandits and offer all of them a chance to take down the Aldmeri Dominion, turn their forces into a force that would benefit, though she quickly decided to share the idea with Za'kera at some point and see if there was something they could do about them, before focusing on her travels once more. The downside of what Isran said earlier, about where both figures should be located, was that there were a number of Dwarven structures and a fair number of caves scattered around the Reach, plus she had to keep an eye out for the Forsworn, so she knew that looking for Sorine and Gunmar was going to take some time, even if she could fly around and check things out.

It took her some time to get to the Reach, even while avoiding the Forsworn, though she was able to find a Breton girl who seemed to match Isran's description of Sorine standing nowhere near a Dwarven site, rather it looked like she was near a pillar and a river, though there was a Mudcrab nearby, causing her to sigh as she noticed that the lady was totally focused on her task. Since Sorine wouldn't see her coming she landed near the river, shifted into a male Argonian warrior who had a set of Dawnguard armor on, and slew the offending crab with one of her daggers without wasting time, though that did lead to her discovering a satchel filled with golden spheres, gyros she guessed, which she brought with her as she walked up to where her target rested. Sorine was surprised to see someone else in the area and was equally surprised to learn of Isran's request, especially since they apparently had a falling out at some point in time, though learning that the vampires had briefly gotten their hands on an Elder Scroll, even if they didn't have it now, was the kick in the rear to get her moving, with the gyros being a boost to her morale since she needed them. One thing Amaryllis discovered was that Isran had told a fair number of people about his desire to rebuild Fort Dawnguard, so it informed her that there might be a chance that one of his old friends might have joined the vampires and sold him out before he could get his forces ready, even though it was more likely that a vampire found them out on their own.

Gunmar, on the other hand, proved to be somewhat easy to track down, as he was huddled outside a cave and it looked like he was ready to go inside to kill something, though he refused to listen to her, while she was disguised as a female Altmer rogue, and didn't believe her that Isran wanted his help, but that didn't stop him from expressing his desire to hear her out. Upon finding that they were up against a group of ancient vampires, and everything she told Sorine, he decided to join up with them, since it seemed like it had forced his old friend to swallow his pride and ask for help, before revealing that he needed to kill the bear inside the cave since it had been preying on travelers, so he wasn't about to leave it along, after all the tracking he had done. Amaryllis sighed for a moment before joining him in his mission, where they found that a single brown bear was inside the cave and it hadn't heard them come in, something she knew to be true since her own armor made it harder for enemies to find her, before she drew her blades and stabbed the bear as Gunmar watched, no doubt surprised by her sneaking skills. In the end it didn't take Amaryllis too long to kill her target, where she assumed it was the combination of both the Blade of Woe and Mehrunes Razor, and once that was done she informed Gunmar of the area that they would be gathering in, which he knew as well and confirmed what she had considered earlier, Isran told all sorts of people about Fort Dawnguard and it was his fault the attack had happened in the first place.

With that done she made sure he was also on his way before shifting into her true form and took off, allowing her to head back to Riften, even though by the time she arrived it was getting to be nighttime and she discovered that Za'kera was now leaving for the fort, to which she landed and changed into her Khajiit disguise as she fell in, allowing her to tell her friend the news as everyone made their way back to Isran's fort.

"Okay, Isran's people will be here soon, we have the Scroll, and Harkon has nothing," Za'kera commented, where she was pleased with their current progress, even though Harkon did know that the Elder Scroll spoke of a terrible prophecy, as it meant that they might be getting close to taking him down and bringing peace to Skyrim, but Amaryllis could tell that none of them had mentioned the dragon Scroll yet.

"Whatever it says, it will have something that can help us stop my father... but, well, none of us can read it." Serana said, a fact that almost made Amaryllis pause as they entered the canyon that the fort rested in, since she hadn't considered such a thing when they went looking for the first one, that all of the legendary Elder Scrolls might be written in a language that none of them could read.

"I'm sure my master could, if she really wanted to." Wind remarked, thinking about Ma'jera and the powers she had, not to mention all of the skills she must have picked up over the years, something Amaryllis almost agreed with given that she was the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, before she sighed as she focused on Serana, "Other than her, who can read the text of the Elder Scrolls?"

"Well, the Moth Priests are the only ones I've heard of who can do it." Serana replied, where they passed through the gate of the fort, the wooden barrier one anyway, and made their way inside the fort so they could speak with Isran, who just so happened to be in the middle of the fort's main chamber, "They spend years preparing before they start reading, though... not that it helps us anyway, because they're half a continent away in Cyrodiil. I'm sure that your 'master' might be lying to you about some of her skills."

"Some Imperial scholar arrived in Skyrim a few days ago. I was staking out the road when I saw him pass by." Isran said, his words informing them that he had been listening in on their conversation, even if he caught onto the last bit of it as they walked into his fort, though this was good information since none of them knew anything about such a person making his way into Skyrim, "Maybe that's the Moth Priest you're looking for?"

"It's possible. Do you recall where you saw him?" Za'kera asked, though after what she had seen so far, about Isran's desire to kill the vampires and the fact that it seemed to be all he was focusing on right now, part of her knew that this was one of those questions that wasn't going to be answered, or at least in a way that would help them gain the upper hand so they could try to convince Harkon that war wasn't an option.

"No, and I'm not going to waste men looking for him." Isran replied, where he gestured towards Serana for a moment, no doubt to remind them of the Dawnguard's mission, something that caused her and Lynthia to raise their eyebrows as he did that, likely knowing what he meant and didn't approve of him doing that, causing him to lower his hand as he recalled what happened earlier, "We're fighting a war against their kind, despite the fact that I'm allowing two of them to stay here, and I intend to win it, no matter the cost. I you want to find this Moth Priest, I would suggest talking to anyone who would meet a traveler, such as innkeepers and carriage drivers in the big cities, but that's all the help I'm giving you."

Amaryllis had to resist the urge to groan, as Isran was an idiot and he was too focused on killing vampires to be of use to Za'kera, even his limited forces weren't worth the time they were putting into the Dawnguard, but this seemed to be part of the Dragonborn's destiny, dealing with three major threats that happened to come in the form of Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak, if she had to guess. Even Za'kera seemed annoyed, since there was a chance that finding the Moth Priest would do wonders for the morale of their forces, but she said nothing as they simply gathered in a section of Fort Dawnguard and took over a number of chairs and tables for the time being, mostly since it would give them time to talk and rest before it was time to leave. Her plan, now that they knew about the Moth Priest, was to head back to their own base and see if their new forces had any ideas as to where one might find him, to see what might be written on the Elder Scroll Serana carried on her back, even though Amaryllis felt that there might be an easier way to end all of this, just use her skills to assassinate Harkon while his guard was down. Of course she didn't say that, since it wasn't a viable idea right now and she didn't want to annoy Serana, as there might be a chance that she and her mother considered such an idea, though she kept it in mind as the others talked, allowing her to focus on making sure they were alone as Za'kera informed the others of her plans to gain whatever information was on the Elder Scroll.

When early morning arrived Za'kera, Amaryllis, Wind, and the others left the fort while Isran and the others were sleeping, a bad sign since they were supposed to be vampire hunters and seemed to be lowering their guard at the worst moment, allowing them to return to their carriage before heading towards Whiterun once more. By Amaryllis' estimates it would be between eight and noon when they arrived at their fort, where she assumed they would find more forces gathering in the place that Ma'jera had provided for them, to build their army before heading to whatever territory Za'kera wanted to visit first, to liberate them from the Aldmeri Dominion's influence. Of course they had to deal with Harkon and Miraak first, as those were the last two enemies that needed to be take care of before Za'kera could move forward with her chosen path and the destiny that Akatosh had prepared for her, which Wind seemed interested in, even though she didn't speak of it as they traveled, no doubt waiting for a good point to ask the question. Other than that there was nothing else for them to talk about as they made their way to Whiterun, even though one thing Amaryllis noticed along the way was that all sorts of patrols seemed to be gathering, Imperials and Stormcloaks alike, making her wonder if the two factions were gearing up for war and were done waiting for something to happen.

In the end they were able to get to the fort without anything massive happening, where they discovered all sorts of people were gathering now, the beginnings of Za'kera's army flushing out and getting ready for her future plans, though Za'kera headed inside and tracked down Ma'jera in no time, where she returned to the carriage without delay and informed them that the Arch-Mage had heard that the Moth Priest had gone to Dragon Bridge. Amaryllis found it a little amusing that they were passing through that small settlement a lot during their time with the Dawnguard, though she said nothing as Lydia got them underway and set them on a course that would bring them to where the Moth Priest had last been seen, while she had to assume that Ma'jera had spies they hadn't been told about, scattered all over Skyrim. Of course she was a tad bit worried about things since there was no telling if Ulfric and Tullius would fight each other, meaning a battle for the Hold that was in the middle of this province might be coming their way, but the others said nothing as they made their way back to the settlement they had passed through when taking Serana to her father's castle. Za'kera glanced at each other while they traveled, having seen the troops they had passed by and thought the same thing that she had considered, but for the time being she had to worry about Harkon and his plans for their world, given the information that Serana had provided so far, and remained silent as they waited for their arrival in Dragon Bridge.

What happened when they got close to Dragon Bridge was that they didn't have to even get near the settlement, because they found an overturned carriage with two slain Imperial soldiers and a slain vampire near it, though it appeared that luck was on their side as they found a note on the vampire that lead to a nearby cave, where they planned on making the Moth Priest into a thrall.

As such it didn't take the group long to reach their destination and Amaryllis did what she did in the past, she stepped into the shadows and scouted out the area in question, finding at least seven vampires scattered around the cave, which had a ruin inside it, plus two death hounds and a barrier of energy that had a light grey robed figure trapped inside it based on what she could see. To start things off she pulled out her bow and loosed two sets of arrows, the first pair taking down the death hounds before they even realized that they were under attack, while the second pair struck one of the vampires in the chest, taking it down as she signaled for Za'kera and the others to rush forward and start the attack, something that came as a surprise to the vampires. Sure enough her friend was the first one to strike, as she swung her flaming sword at one of the vampires and beheaded her without delay, Lydia rushed forward and smashed into a gargoyle that broke free from it's stone bindings, while Wind and Serana combined their Ice Spears into a barrage that struck a vampire in the chest without delay, leaving Sharva to deal with another gargoyle. Lynthia, of course, did nothing as she watched them deal with the enemies that had been in this place, not that Amaryllis was surprised since Molag's daughter acted like she was royalty and that she only had to get her hands dirty whenever she wanted to, and in a way she was given her heritage and power, but it was annoying that she didn't step in and help the one her father ordered her to help.

In the end, with no help from the vampire princess, they crushed the remaining vampires and approached the barrier that Amaryllis had seen, where Serana found that one of their foes had been carrying a blue stone of some kind and that it was the key to powering down the barrier, by slipping it into a stone pillar of some kind that was above the area he was resting in, allowing them to gather near the Moth Priest.

"I serve my master's will. But... my master is dead, and his enemies..." the Moth Priest said, as if he was in a trance, which meant the vampires had been partly successful in breaking him, though before they could do anything Lynthia appeared in the area behind him and grabbed onto the sides of his head before sending a surge of magic into him, breaking the mind magic that had been cast on him.

"There, problem solved before it could become a problem." Lynthia remarked, no doubt thinking that this was the correct method for them to use, given her history and knowledge that was gained from her twisted father, before letting go of the poor man, where the Moth Priest stumbled forward for a moment as the magical trace disappeared instantly, returning him to his senses.

"While I thank you for the assistance, that was quite unpleasant." the Moth Priest said, showing them that he wasn't too pleased with having someone like Lynthia treating him like he was just a toy, and to a Demiprince everyone happened to be such a thing, where he rubbed the side of his head as Lynthia simply grinned while stepping to the side, something that told Amaryllis that she enjoyed doing that.

"Are you alright? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?" Za'kera asked, as there was no telling what might have happened to the Moth Priest while he was in the custody of the vampires that had been in this place, not counting what Lynthia had just done to him, damage that might be more than what they were expecting, though as she said that Amaryllis found a chest, a large one anyway, and it held several ebony weapons and armor bits inside it.

"I'm quite alright, thanks to you and your companions. Dexion Evicus is my name." the Moth Priest replied, where Za'kera found that he moved just fine, as he stood up and dusted himself off, and that his mind seemed to be just fine, which told her it might be possible that Lynthia knew not to harm him, before he sighed, "I'm a Moth Priest of the White Gold Tower, and these vampires claimed they had some purpose in store for me, but they wouldn't say what... they were probably hoping to ransom me, the fools."

"Actually, they were trying to abduct you and force you to read an Elder Scroll... not that they have one, since we have it in our possession." Amaryllis said, as it was easy for them to connect the dots in her mind, given what she felt from Harkon earlier, though she wasted no time in beckoning for Lydia to come over so they could haul the ebony haul out of here, all while knowing the armor would go to Za'kera, "Most of us are temporary agents of the Dawnguard, though you'll have to excuse the presence of Lynthia Bal and Sharva... Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon are interested in our mission."

"You have an Elder Scroll?" Dexion asked, his tone and emotions showing them that he was excited by the idea that they had one of the legendary artifacts, especially since part of his duties were linked to them, before he glanced at them for a few more moments, "Remarkable! If my knowledge of history serves me, I recall that the Dawnguard was an ancient order of vampire hunters... and Lynthia must be the daughter of Lamae Bal and Molag Bal, while Sharva seems to have ancient Daedric runes on her body... interesting. I will be happy to assist you with your Elder Scroll, just tell me where I need to go and I'll..."

"No, you'll be traveling with us, because after what just happened I'm sure that Harkon will try to have you kidnapped all over again," Za'kera said, as she wasn't about to give Harkon the upper hand and Serana nodded her head, showing them that it was a good idea and that they should act on it, where Dexion paused for a moment before doing the same thing, as he trusted most of them with his safety, after everything they had done to make sure he was safe.

With that done the group headed back for the entrance of the cave, as it was time for them to return to Fort Dawnguard, make sure Sorine and Gunmar had arrived since they had been missing earlier, and then see what Serana's scroll had to say on the matter of the terrible prophecy that Serana and her mother had discovered in the past, before figuring out the next step in their mission to unite Skyrim.

Vampire: Back to the Castle

What Amaryllis discovered was that they were able to get back to Fort Dawnguard before nightfall, meaning they were able to slip into the canyon once more and found that some displaced citizens had moved in, either to join up with Isran's group or to use them for protection, where they walked into the fort and found Isran talking to one of his followers, with Sorine and Gunmar standing nearby.

"Well, you sure work fast." Isran commented, staring at them for a moment as he realized that they had recovered the Moth Priest that had come to Skyrim, where Dexion rubbed the back of his head for a moment, almost as if he wasn't used to so many people caring about someone like him, to which Isran readied himself, "So, um, I guess this means we'll get to hear what is written on the Elder Scroll."

"Oh, most certainly! Let's find out what secrets the scroll can tell." Dexion said, showing that he was excited to do his part in saving Skyrim from the enemies that the Dawnguard was sworn to bring to justice, where the man held out a hand for a few seconds and Serana, who stalled for a moment, handed over the Elder Scroll that she carried, leading to him holding it out as he pulled it open for all to see, "Now, if everyone will please be quiet, I must concentrate. I see a vision before me... an image of a great bow. I know this weapon! It is Auriel's Bow! Now a voice whispers, saying 'Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise'. In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and day will be as one. The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort... but wait, there is more here. The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere... I think there is more to the prophecy, recorded in other scrolls. Yes, I see them now... one contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood. My vision darkens, and I see no more... to know the complete prophecy... we must have the other two scrolls."

Amaryllis and the others remained silent for a moment as Isran took Dexion and escorted him to one of the chairs, where he returned Serana's Elder Scroll to her before accepting the gesture, leading to her closing the Scroll and returned it to it's previous state as she sighed, to which she watched as Serana handed it over to Za'kera, who accepted it and held onto it for a few moments.

"So, even with a Moth Priest, we need my mother's Scroll..." Serana commented, as if she had been hoping to avoid such a thing in the first place, even though she had told them that she had no idea where her mother had gone after sealing her inside that monolith all those years ago, before she sighed as she considered something, "I only waited before mentioning this because I didn't want to give the Dawnguard any other ideas, about me or my parents, but I've been thinking about all of the things she told me and I might have an idea on where she might have gone... but I'm in the dark about where the third Scroll might be."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Amaryllis replied, where she channeled her magic for a moment and summoned her chest, to which she opened it and carefully pulled out the Elder Scroll associated with the dragons, something that made Serana stop for a moment when she saw it, though once she had a chance to see it, and understand that they had two of them, she stored it back inside the chest before accepting the second from Za'kera, storing it inside the chest as well before she cancelled the spell, "we already found the dragon Elder Scroll. So, how are we going to go about finding your mother and her Elder Scroll?"

"The last time I saw my mother, she said that she'd go somewhere safe... somewhere that my father would never search." Serana replied, shaking off the shock of discovering that they had the second Elder Scroll in their possession and hadn't said anything about it before now, though she did understand that they wanted to keep it a secret and said nothing, just in case Isran or the others were listening, "Other than that, she wouldn't tell me anything about where she planned on going or what her plans were... but the way she said it, 'someplace he would never search', was rather cryptic, yet she was calling attention to it."

"This might be a shot in the dark, but it sounds like she's talking about the castle," Wind remarked, causing Amaryllis to let out a chuckle, as she expected Wind to either think about the statement for some time and speak her mind or instantly figure it out without wasting time, where it seemed like the latter was true this time around, before she glanced at them and found that some were coming to terms with her statement, "think about it, Harkon's had all this time to search every corner of Skyrim... frankly, we're lucky he failed to find your monolith for so long... but there's likely somewhere inside the castle that he wouldn't step foot in, where your mother might have hidden either herself or a clue that might reveal where she's gone, in case you came looking for her."

"You know what, that makes sense! Especially since my mother used to tend to a garden in the courtyard," Serana said, as she was taken aback by Wind's suggestion, maybe thinking that someone would have offered some stupid ideas before it came to this, but at the very least this meant that they didn't have to waste time on foolish ideas, where she considered a few things for a moment, "in fact, all of the ingredients for our potions came from it... I'm sure that my father has set up a few plans to ensure we have the items in question... but she used to say that he hated it there, as it was too peaceful for his liking. Now, I'm not sure that we'll run into her while we're there, but it's better than scouring the rest of Skyrim in an effort to track her down and convince her that a new path has opened up... and there just so happens to be an inlet that, if memory serves, has an escape route into the castle, one my father doesn't know about."

"Then that's what we'll do: we'll find the inlet, head into the castle, and find your mother." Za'kera spoke up, because she had been silent for some time, thinking about the prophecy on the second Elder Scroll and how they could get around it, given what they had done to get around her own destiny, something she could blame on Amaryllis if she wanted to, and she could see that the others were interested in what she had to say, "hopefully we find her and her Elder Scroll without wasting too much time... there's no telling what Harkon might do while we're doing this."

Amaryllis agreed with that idea, that they had to act quickly and make sure to deprive Harkon of his prize, though with the three Elder Scrolls there was no telling what her friend might learn, or even if they needed to track down Auriel's Bow, as the easiest way to end this would be to use some of her power to take Harkon out, but for now she was going to keep the idea to herself and wait until Za'kera decided what to do.

When early morning arrived Amaryllis, Wind, Za'kera, and the others departed from Fort Dawnguard and returned to the carriage, finding that no enemies were around the area to bother them and allowed them to get moving without delay, as there was no telling what might be waiting for them when they reached the outside of Harkon's castle, especially since he had to have some scouts. Anything Serana had to share with them, about her father's habits and what defenses he might have put in place, likely didn't matter since Harkon might have changed things at some point in time, but it did allow them to form an idea of what to expect, especially since his advisors might have taken over that aspect to appease him, given his status as a Lord among vampires. Such a thing caused Lynthia to chuckle, as a Lord was nothing to the Princess of the entire species, where Amaryllis took a moment to finger Mehrunes' Razor for a few seconds, debating what might happen if she stabbed the Demiprince with another Prince's artifact, but decided to just ignore the ancient vampire as she focused on finding Serana's mother, Valerica, and the third Elder Scroll. She could tell that the others were getting annoyed with the ancient vampire, no doubt growing tired of her arrogance, though no one said anything to her comment as they took some time to think about everything that might be between them and their main goal, hopefully without alerting Harkon to what they were attempting to do.

It took some time for them to get back to the fort that was near the boat, which would take them to the castle, though the moment they landed on the shore of Harkon's home Amaryllis moved without wasting time, as a sentry happened to be in the top of the nearby tower and she landed behind him, allowing her to cut down the bandit that had been turned into a thrall by one of Harkon's followers. With that done she dropped down into the area that the others were in as Serana took the lead for the time being, where she headed to the left of the bridge and continued following the coastline, leaving the others to follow after her without leaving any evidence that they had been here, as it was unlikely that Harkon's followers would come out and check on the thrall. True to what she had said Za'kera found an inlet that was far below where the castle rested, hence why it was an escape route that was totally out of the way, though it appeared that the boats that had been left here by the previous residents, if Harkon wasn't the first owner of this castle, had been rotted out, though it took them a few seconds to find a number of skeletons wandering around the area. Serana glanced at them for a moment and told the group that this had to be her mother's handiwork, permanently awakening the ancient guards of the castle in an effort to make sure whoever tried to follow her would fall in due time, but since they were enemies the group lashed out at them as Amaryllis found a door leading inside the castle.

Sure enough the skeletons weren't much of a threat to a band of heroes, given the skills that they possessed, though Wind did refrain from using her lightning spells, since they didn't want to alert their enemies as to what was going on, where all of them slashed their way through the undead before reaching the door, allowing them to carefully head inside the castle and found that they were in what appeared to be the lowest section.

Amaryllis found that it was an ancient sewer system, or it had been during the time before Harkon turned himself into a Vampire Lord and both his wife and daughter followed his lead, as now parts of the area seemed to be full of bones, likely from all of the people that Harkon's followers had kidnapped for feeding on them and devouring them when they ran out of blood, at least according to Lynthia. One thing that Serana was surprised to find was that there were a number of death hounds wandering around the area, no doubt either left by her mother or someone else had moved in, where Amaryllis took a moment to feel some of the emotions that were in the air and felt some hatred coming from an area that was just a few seconds away from the doorway. Sure enough it belonged to a more feral looking vampire, who had been feeding on all of the scraps that had been dropped down into this place, though she nodded to Za'kera, who slashed at one of the five death hounds, pulling the others away while opening the way for her to slip into the area that the feral vampire was in so she could assassinate her without wasting time. What she discovered was that a lever was resting near where the vampire had been living, as there was a slightly broken coffin against one of the walls, and when she flipped it she also lowered a small wooden bridge for them to use, though as they regrouped near it Serana informed them that the next lever was on the path to left, as the right was purely a distraction that was designed to kill intruders.

The path in question brought them to another dumping area that was likely added by Harkon, where Sharva rushed into it and sliced the death hods inside the first chamber to pieces, allowing Amaryllis and Za'kera to follow the rest of the path as Wind and the others kept an eye open for potential enemies that might bother them, where it brought them to a stone tunnel that ended with a large spider. As such she lashed out with her daggers to slice into the spider's legs, leaving a new opening for Za'kera to kill it, though with that done they found the lever that Serana had informed them about and flipped it, something that was followed by the bridge lowering so they could move forward, putting a smile on Za'kera's face since it meant they were on the right track. A few seconds later she and Amaryllis regrouped with the rest of the group and they followed the path that was in front of them, discovering a stone tunnel that seemed to be leading up into part of the castle or, hopefully, the courtyard that Serana had told them about earlier, where it brought them to a door that definitely lead out into their destination. As it turned out the courtyard was massive and totally ruined, given that several structures did look like they were collapsing due to age, especially an area that Serana claimed was the path back to the dining hall, one that had been shattered at some point in the past, where she suspected that her father was behind it's destruction, due to his rage over their plan to steal his Elder Scrolls.

"Oh no... What happened to this place? Everything's been torn down... the whole place looks... well, dead. It's like we're the first to set foot here in centuries." Serana commented, where Amaryllis could tell that she felt sad about the fact that what she and her mother had worked on for some time had been totally destroyed, before walking forward as she focused on the large brass device that was in the middle of the area, one that looked like a sundial of some kind, "Something's wrong with the moondial here. Some of the crests are missing and the dial is askew... honestly, I had no idea that the crests could even be removed. Maybe my mother's trying to tell us something?"

Amaryllis glanced around the area as Wind and the others spread out, where the former Changeling princess found one of the missing crests resting in a pool of water, another hidden inside the garden itself and resting behind some dead herbs, and the last one was on the balcony above the second, though upon recovering them she slipped them into the slots that were around the moondial, causing the device to move and the area around it shifted, revealing a staircase that lead down to a new door. Based on Serana's following words this was a secret tunnel that not even she knew about, one her mother had created without telling anyone about, though that didn't stop them from readying their weapons as they headed down the stairs and passed through the door that was on the other side of it, leading into another part of the castle, where they pulled a chain and revealed a secret door. The chamber they walked into looked like it hadn't been used for years as well, so if Valerica was hiding in the castle she wasn't doing anything to suggest that someone was living here, and it brought all of them to another chamber that was a large dining hall, filled with skeletons who rose when they stepped into the area in question, causing them to lash out at the undead once more. Sure enough it didn't take them long to cut down all of the skeletons that were around them and find a tunnel leading deeper into the tower, one that had a gargoyle guarding it, one that Sharva cut into before it could hit Za'kera and the others, allowing them to open a door and continue on their way as they kept an eye out for Serana's mother.

The next part of the path had more skeletons standing in their way, some being archers and others being warriors, with a few being mages based on what they were seeing, though what Amaryllis discovered was that there weren't a lot of things to look at, as everything that had been inside the tower before this point in time had been ruined, thanks to age, so their focus was on smashing the skeletons and gargoyles that were in their way. Serana didn't seem to mind the fact that they were breaking her mother's defenses, though she seemed to think that they would have been designed to recognize her, just in the off chance that she came looking for her mother, but such a thing didn't stop her from attacking their enemies with the others, even if Lynthia stayed out of battle once more. Amaryllis continued to hold her train of thought about the Demiprince that was following them right now, as Ma'jera was far more helpful than Lynthia was and Durum was, well, just insane and it all depended on her mood, while Lynthia happened to be more of a hindrance to their group, given that she picked when to aid them and when to watch them. Sure, her mental skills were useful, since they broke through the guard and spells of those that opposed her, but that was the only thing that she had going for her, as Lynthia seemed to be more of an Illusionist and not much of a fighter, though she continued to keep her opinions from the others since she didn't want to be on the receiving end of another Prince's anger.

In the end the path brought them to a chamber with three gargoyles that burst out of their prisons and attacked them, not that it mattered since they were able to bring them down, and Amaryllis found a lever that revealed another hidden path, this one bringing them to a study of some kind that was at the top of the tower, which had a stone circle of some kind right in the middle of the floor.

"Just look at the place... this has to be it! I knew she was deep into necromancy, since she taught me everything I know, but I had no idea she had a setup like this." Serana said, referring to all of the alchemy ingredients that were scattered all over the room that they had made their way to, as there were plenty based on what they were seeing, though her eyes focused on what was in front of them, her mother's odd device, "I'm not sure what this is, but I'm sure that if we can find her notes we can figure out where to go from here."

As Amaryllis expected Lynthia just stood off to the side as she watched them spread out and look for information, though it took Wind all of five seconds to find a journal wedged between two books on the bookshelf to the right of the door they had walked through, a journal that described Valerica's decision to open a portal to what was called the 'Soul Cairn' and a recipe she used to open said portal. As it turned out they needed to find some finely ground bone meal, a bit of purified void salts, and a number of soul gem shards, because there were no measurements for such a thing since Valerica wanted to make sure no one could accurately replicate her recipe, and there was another thing she did to make it harder for those following her to actually follow her. Valerica used some of her own blood in the recipe, meaning without it they couldn't do anything to open the portal, and even if she was here they wouldn't be attempting such a thing, where Amaryllis came up with a new idea, that Serana might be able to use her own blood, since some of it was her mother's, causing them to stare at her for a few seconds. With that done they spread out and tracked down the items that were written in Valerica's small journal, which had been scattered around this room, in special containers that were slightly larger than what they were normally stored in, though once that was done they made their way to the uppermost part of the room and found a long device that had a bowl for them to put the items in.

Once that was done Serana sighed for a moment as everyone gathered behind her, where she bit into her palm for a few seconds and dropped a few drops of her blood into the bowl, something that caused a chain reaction that tore the rather odd stone circle apart, revealing a portal to another dimension that was filled with dark purple energy, though they found that the fragments of stone formed a set of stairs for them to use... only it zapped the strength of Za'kera when she tried to walk down it, causing her to back off.

"Okay, that's a problem." Za'kera remarked, because when she thought about it the Soul Cairn sounded like a realm that belonged to the dead and that vampires, for example, would be at home in such a place, meaning the only ones among their number that could head into the Soul Cairn were Serana and Lynthia, causing her to glance over to Serana, who was thinking about something, "Serana, what's on your mind?"

"She's considering asking if you would like to become a vampire, or have your soul partly tapped," Lynthia replied, which caused Serana to frown for a moment, as she had been thinking about it and didn't like the Demiprince speaking before she had finished coming to terms with what had to be said, where the more ancient vampire stood like she was speaking to a servant or something, "basically, the Soul Cairn wants payment, hence why you felt pain... my father told me about it before I came looking for the lot of you... he also said that you two need to stay here, as damaging the soul of one of your kind might have some serious consequences."

Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other for a few seconds, wondering why Molag Bal would insist on his daughter telling them not to enter the Soul Cairn or have something happen to their souls, like they would become monsters if their souls were damaged in some manner, or maybe they could become a threat to him and the other Princes, where Za'kera took a moment to think about it before allowing Serana to soul tap her, though with that done she and the two vampires headed down into the Soul Cairn as Amaryllis and the others remained behind, to rest and wait for their return.

Vampire: The Soul Cairn

Amaryllis, Wind, and Lydia remained on the ledge above the portal to the Soul Cairn for a while, mostly since two of them had been told not to enter the portal and Lydia was following her Thane's orders, standing guard over the entrance to make sure nothing came out and attacked them, even though they were sure that they would be able to rest and see what might happen next. Truth be told Amaryllis wasn't too happy with Lynthia right now, as Molag's daughter seemed to think that staying here was the right move, that they might be twisted into monsters if they went into the Soul Cairn, and she hated the idea of leaving Za'kera, the hope of both Skyrim and this world, with two vampires, as while she trusted Serana, given her desire to bring her father down, it was Lynthia she didn't trust. There was no telling what the Lord of Domination wanted with them, since she wasn't buying the whole 'deal with Harkon' statement, and after seeing what happened to Sharva, who had returned to the Moondial to keep an eye out for any vampires who might come investigating the area, she didn't like the idea of Molag sneakily branding the Dragonborn as his slave, using his daughter to get what he wanted. If that happened there was no telling what he could do, in fact he might try to take over the world once more by using her soul for his foul purposes, even though the vision in the Elder Scroll showed her otherwise, but it didn't stop her from worrying about what Molag wanted from Za'kera.

In the end, however, she noticed that there was nothing over the portal to stop them from entering it, save for the price of trying to enter the Soul Cairn, to which she glanced around Valerica's study and found a single black soul gem, one that did have a soul trapped inside it based on the glow that was inside it, to which she grabbed it before walking back to the area she had been standing in earlier.

"Amaryllis, stop." Wind said, as she had been watching her friend as she walked around the room, staring at the portal as she wondered what was happening to Za'kera, and she knew what was coming before it even revealed itself, while Lydia just stared at the portal some more, where she found that Amaryllis stopped for a few seconds, "You heard what Lynthia said, we're not supposed to go through that portal."

"Least the damage done to our souls twist us into monsters... yeah, I heard her." Amaryllis replied, where she tossed the soul gem into the air a few times and caught it as she spoke, because while she understood Wind's desire not to do this, in the off chance Lynthia was right, she wasn't about to leave her friend traveling with two vampires, "That's why I'm going to use this Black Soul Gem on the portal... if a soul is needed for payment, then I can pay the price another way, leaving me to enter the Soul Cairn without any trouble."

Wind raised an eyebrow for a moment as Amaryllis tossed the crystal into the portal, where it seemed to float above the shimmering magic for some time as the energies siphoned whatever power was inside the soul gem, though in the next moment, before she could do anything, she watched as Amaryllis jumped into the air and disappeared in seconds, passing through the portal with ease, causing her to sigh as she waited with Lydia. A few seconds later Amaryllis found herself on a stone platform that seemed to be part of a shattered staircase that went down to the ground, where she found that the ground seemed to be a faded gray color, all the trees were dead, there were odd gray stones scattered here and there, a number of structures littered the area, and she found that the sky was mostly a dense fog, with a circle in the center of it all that seemed to radiate energy. This place was dark, twisted, and full of no hope, as this was a depressing place and she suspected that all of the souls that were trapped here felt that way, in fact she had a feeling that Za'kera might not be too happy with this place, while Serana and Lynthia might not care in the slightest, or at least Lynthia wouldn't since she didn't seem to care about anything other than her father's dark mission. Another thing she noted was that there happened to be a number of dark purple crystals floating over certain structures, which seemed to be connected to whatever being ruled over this plane of existence, though Amaryllis found that nothing seemed to react to her presence and that caused her to walk down the staircase, carefully walking down the shattered stones as she glanced around for Za'kera.

As she discovered a few scattered piles of black ghostly energy, sort of like the blue ash that was left when a reanimated body was slain, meaning it would point her in the direction of her friend and her companions, though as she did that she felt a surge of pain rock her body as she gripped her chest, which told her that the soul inside the Black Soul Gem hadn't been enough for the exchange, or maybe her soul was more valuable than she thought. It sure felt like the Soul Carin was trying to tear her soul from her body, to obtain payment for what she had done, even though Serana had said that a soul was needed and she gave one up, but it just told her that they didn't know everything about this place and the mysterious beings who ruled over it. Her weakened body made traveling through this place that much harder, all while she could feel the icy sting of the Soul Cairn stabbing at her as it continued to try and take her soul from her, though in addition to all of that she felt a new heat coming from somewhere, where she found that it was radiating from both of her daggers, why she had no idea and right now she didn't care since the heat countered the cold sting. She had no idea what might have lead to the weapons heating up, but right now she wasn't about to argue or question what was going on, not when it cut off the foul coldness that was trying to steal her soul and forced her soul back into her body, along with something else to make sure she wouldn't be bothered again.

Of course, as she resumed walking down the path in front of her, Amaryllis felt somewhat different, making her wonder what Dagon had done to her, since she assumed that he had stepped in and laid claim to her soul before the beings that ruled this place took it, even though it also could have been Sithis, since she was a member of the Dark Brotherhood and had joined them before reforging Dagon's artifact, but she wasn't about to question this as she sought out Za'kera and her vampiric companions.

While she moved through the Soul Cairn, however, Amaryllis also found a number of transparent purple figures, where a fair number of them were humanoid, like Reguards, Nords, and Altmer for example, and she even spotted a few animals off in the distance, meaning the souls that were contained in soul gems were sent here when they were used, either for the enchantments on weapons and armor or to recharge the enchantments in question. Part of her was saddened to see all of the souls that were in the opening part of the Soul Cairn, or at least one of the sections of this plane, since it looked like it was a massive realm and likely stretched on for a long time based on what she had seen earlier, so there was no way for her to tell how many souls were trapped in this foul place. Of course, as she noticed that, she also found that many of them didn't notice her as she tried to sneak through the area that was in front of her, showing her that her skills and the armor she wore made it so nothing could see her right now, despite the fact that there was a difference in color between the ground around her and her own armor, but, once again, she wasn't going to complain. Other than that it didn't look like there were any enemies for her to worry about, as the ones who had shown up so far seemed to have been taken out by Za'kera and the others, but Amaryllis kept her eyes open in case there were foes that her friend had missed, since there was no telling what sort of dangers existed in this dark realm.

Not a few moments later she found exactly what she was looking for, Za'kera was standing on a dark stone platform that was raised slightly above the ground, which had some steps leading up to where she decided to stop, where Serana and Lynthia were standing near her, who were staring up at a dark castle that was up the road in front of them, though not a few moments later the trio turned around and spotted her.

"You fool! I told you not to come here!" Lynthia remarked, where Amaryllis had a feeling that her opinion of her had gone down quite a lot by refusing to stay on the other side of the portal to this place, not that she really cared since the child of Molag Bal only thought of her as a tool for her own goals, instead of as an ally to take down those who wronged or even annoyed her father.

"Yeah, and I decided not to leave Za'kera alone with you two... don't worry, Wind, Lydia, and Sharva are still guarding the way to the tower," Amaryllis stated, though she glanced at Serana and nodded her head for a moment, as she trusted her more than Molag's daughter, who understood the gesture and seemed to smile a little, before she focused on the ancient vampire that was glaring at her like she had placed the world in jeopardy, "also, calm down, I used a black soul gem to pay part of the admission so I could get in here, not to mention that it seems that Dagon and Sithis have enforced their wills on my soul, to keep it from being ripped out of my body."

"Of course the Lord of Destruction would step in to save his champion... he's probably plotting against my father, given the rivalry that exists between them," Lynthia said, where she raised a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds, showing that she was totally annoyed with her and her actions, before she gathered a bit of magic around her, stopping Amaryllis from moving as Za'kera and Serana turned on her, "and, based on the energy of your soul, it would seem that we were right to be worried... it seems that he's added a fragment of a Titan's soul to your own, to make sure no one else can claim your soul... save for Sithis, but that's another matter entirely. Dagon probably thinks your too weak at the moment, in comparison to the staggering power of the Dragonborn and the apprentice of Hermaeus Mora's daughter, so he added a fraction of a Daedric Titan's soul to your own... basically, they're my father's attempt to imitate a dragon, not to mention that a few of the other Princes have a few Titans of their own, like how Dagon has his Ash Titans... I even have a brother whose a Titan, Ozozzachar to be exact."

"So he's got three kids, counting Molag Grunda?" Serana inquired, though that was great for them, as it meant more allies for when it came time to declare war on the Aldmeri Dominion and put an end to their goals, where Lynthia nodded her head for a moment, showing them that she was correct, before she sighed and considered the other piece of information they had been told just now, "Okay... so what's going to happen to her, now that she has a fragment of a Daedric Titan's soul attached to hers?"

"I'm going to transform in some manner, that's what's going to happen." Amaryllis stated, because this seemed to be one of the themes with her and the Princes she came into contact with, given what happened with Sheogorath earlier, despite the fact that his daughter removed the curse from her, though it opened her up to receiving another one that was going to activate at a bad time no doubt, where she shuddered for a moment, "I'm sure it's going to happen soon, so we had best get going and find Valerica... I'll hide when the transformation finally starts up... hopefully it's better than the last one that I was forced to suffer."

Lynthia frowned for a moment, no doubt wondering what she was going to do with Amaryllis, before releasing her, where she regained herself before officially joining the group, causing Za'kera to head up the path that was in front of the small platform they had been standing on, where it didn't take them long to head up the dirt path so they could reach the front of the castle, something that allowed them to find an older lady, a Nord like Serana, standing on the other side of a faint shimmer barrier. Valerica, as they expected, was totally surprised by the sudden arrival of her daughter, which was who she chose to focus on for the time being as she ignored Lynthia, Za'kera, and Amaryllis, where she figured that she must have failed to stop Harkon from discovering the prophecy they had been working to put an end to, before Serana told her that she had allies and it caused her mother to pale as she realized who was here. Lynthia, of course, continued to speak of how her father was interested in this event and wanted her to interact with the Dragonborn, while dealing with Harkon in some manner, she didn't go into detail about the specifics of her mission, though it didn't give them anything else to go on and Valerica turned towards the others for a time. Za'kera informed the vampire that she wasn't a vampire hunter, just in case she thought that, nor was she a vampire, she was the Dragonborn and she was fulfilling her own prophecy, which just so happened to coincide with dealing with Alduin, Harkon, and someone called Miraak, the first of which being on her side, the second was her current target, and she would deal with the third in due time.

Amaryllis, on the other hand, didn't go into much detail about who or what she was, rather she told Valerica that she was Za'kera's Shadow Guard, a term she just came up with and that it was someone who watched from the shadows, to keep someone important safe from harm, though as she explained her meaning she could feel a few shudders run through her body, meaning the transformation was getting closer.

Following that Serana went into a conversation with her mother, where she revealed her true feelings on the matter, that she blindly followed her mother, without being offered a chance to try and resolve things so they didn't escalate to this point, and that her new friends had done far more for her in the brief time she had known them than anything her mother had done before sealing her inside that monolith. Valerica was outraged by her comment, declaring that Serana seemed to care more about her fanatic father and less about her, especially after everything she had done to make sure they stopped Harkon from fulfilling the prophecy and plunging the world into eternal darkness, where the order of the day would have done everything to eradicate vampires, at least until Molag Bal decided to make more. Serana sighed after that and told her mother that she was conflicted over all of this, since this was her father they were talking about and, despite what they had seen, she still cared for him, even if he didn't share her feelings on the matter, meaning that while she was willing to end her father it was going to hurt far more than anyone could possibly imagine. Amaryllis could feel the sadness coming from Serana as she walked about that, especially since it was her father they were talking about, and she mentioned that her deepest desire was for them to be a family, to put the prophecy behind them and return to what they had been like in the time before they found one of the Elder Scrolls, even though she knew that none of them deserved such a thing, and it pained her to admit it.

In the end, however, Serana agreed that they had to stop her father from finding Auriel's Bow and doing whatever he had planned with it, so to do that they were here to claim the final Elder Scroll that was part of the trio Dexion had told them to find, the first being the one relating to dragons, the second being the one she had been buried with, and the third was the one that her mother had hidden in this realm.

"Serana... I'm sorry, I didn't know how much this would effect you... I didn't see how my actions would hurt you," Valerica said, eventually speaking after her daughter's speech about them being a family and the pain that she felt, something that she could see and even feel a bit of what Serana felt, as it was one of the things that she had imagined during her time in this cursed realm, before she sighed as she focused on her daughter and her companions, "Very well, if you want the Elder Scroll, you can have it... and my aid, since it seems we'll be doing things differently than I originally intended... but, sadly, I cannot give all of you the Scroll, because this barrier prevents me from leaving and others from entering. Now, there are three Keepers who have been charged with keeping this barrier powered, so if you can take them down this should drop and I can give you the last of the Elder Scrolls... also, a word of warning, there's a dragon called Durnehviir roaming this realm, and the Ideal Masters have charged him with overseeing the Keepers."

"Got it: we take on the Keepers, he'll come attack us," Za'kera replied, where she had remained silent while the two family members had been talking to each other, mostly to give them space before cutting into the conversation, though Valerica nodded her head to confirm that she was correct in her assumption of what to do next, to which she simply shifted her stance, like she was getting ready to leave, "We'll be back when all of them have been taken care of."

As they walked away from Valerica's prison, since that was what it was, Amaryllis felt a more powerful shudder wash over her body as they neared an area with a ruined Word Wall in it, meaning the transformation was upon her as she fell to the back of the pack, causing Za'kera and the others to pause as they glanced back at her, where she removed her right glove for a moment and watched as ebony scales appeared on her hand. A few seconds after that her fingers twitched as they sharpened, becoming more like a dragon's claws, and she found that the gloves of her attire reformed to match her new hands, reminding her of the magic that was on them, before her hooves cracked and became three claws that looked like a dragon's legs and claws, and they also had new scales on them. She could feel her body cracking and shifting, no doubt becoming somewhat tougher to match the new fragment of her altered soul, even though she was sure that more than a fragment had been attached to her, and scales were no doubt forming all over her body, giving her one more defense for when she got into a fight. Sure enough her tail shuddered before gaining mass as it shifted into a more draconic tail, one scaled to her body while looking like it was ready for battle, given the battleaxe shaped ridges at the very end, before she felt a new line of curved spikes growing along her spine, more like what a dragon had, and ended in line with her horn, or at least her main horn since two more sprouted out in front of her ears, pointed towards the front of her face, as if they were made for war.

Truth be told she was expecting her face to push out into a twisted dragon's muzzle, to match what her body was currently experiencing, but, at the same time, she guessed that this was as much as the Daedric Titan's soul was going to affect her body, though she paused as one last shudder went through her wings, because they became more muscular and leathery, twisting into ebony dragon wings with red sections between the fingers, the red matching the scales that happened to be on the underside of her new tail.

"Well, this is certainly... better... than my last transformation." Amaryllis commented, where she took a few seconds just to make sure that the change was over, that her body wasn't changing more now that she was talking, though once she was positive everything was done she slipped the glove back over her clawed hand before gripping her daggers, finding that her grip was still the same.

"Are you sure that you're fine?" Za'kera asked, because she had no idea how strong or damaging the soul fragment had been, since this was the first time she had heard of a Daedric Titan and considering that one was Molag Bal's son it meant that they were incredibly powerful, so this happening to her friend meant that her own combat power had gone up, even if she preferred to remain in the darkness, where she assumed that Sithis' part in this was darkening the scales to make sure Amaryllis remained safe in some manner.

"Yes, despite being the plaything of a Daedric Prince and the Dread Father," Amaryllis replied, though she bounced from one foot to another, finding it odd to have feet this time around, and discovered that they felt natural to her, as if she had been born with them and hadn't been granted them during a change to her very being, she knew that Dagon would likely ask a price for this, something she was going to have to pay, before she glanced out at the Soul Cairn, "come on, we should get going before Durnehviir finds us."

Za'kera stared at her for a few more seconds, just to make sure nothing was wrong with her, before nodding as the four of them resumed walking, allowing them to focus on tracking down the three Keepers that were scattered around this area of the Soul Cairn, as she had a feeling that one was in the direction that they were heading in and that the other two were in an area they hadn't been to yet. Sure enough, as Amaryllis discovered, her friend brought them to an area that was like a keep of some kind, the twisted Soul Cairn variety that was easy to invade, and there was a shadowy figure dressed up in what had to be armor forged from dragon bones, though in that moment Amaryllis decided to try something as Za'kera and their vampire companions drew the attention of the dark skeletons and wraiths that were nearby. What she did was sneak her way over to where the Keeper was standing, who carried a mace and shield made out of dragon bits as well, but it didn't seem to notice her advance at all, as if she were a ghost or a wraith now, allowing her to sneak up on the Keeper and deliver a powerful slash with both of her daggers, killing it in seconds and crippling this part of the barrier, freeing the souls that had been powering it. As the Keeper turned into a dark pool of energy, and her companions dealt with the rest of the undead, Amaryllis realized that Dagon gave her a somewhat stronger form while Sithis blessed her stealth abilities, far more than what she had in the past, meaning she might need these skills later on, though once she was done thinking about that she collected the dragon gear before regrouping with the others.

After that they retraced their steps and returned to Valerica's prison for a moment, though they didn't stop as they walked right by her castle and spotted a floating tower off in the distance, where Za'kera was sure that another Keeper was hold up on, though in response to that Amaryllis opened her wings and took off, as she wanted to make sure their target was in the area in question. Sure enough she found one Keeper on top of the tower that they had spotted, watching over the host of souls that powered part of the barrier, before searching the rest of this section of the Soul Cairn and found another one not too far from the second, meaning they could deal with both of the remaining Keepers and return to Valerica, hopefully before Durnehviir showed up and attacked them. With that done she backtracked to Za'kera's area and informed them of what she had discovered, especially with all of the minions both Keepers happened to have near them, so they launched an attack on the tower Keeper and found that his guards were surrounding a teleport pad, though it was a distraction so Amaryllis could deal with their target, which Za'kera was putting in her hands. What she discovered a few moments later was that the Keeper had a bone made of dragon bones and it's arrows were made from those materials as well, causing her to dodge several arrows while she was in the air, mostly to test out her new skills again, before she flew forward and swung her daggers again, ending another Keeper as she claimed the new gear for later.

With the tower taken care of they regrouped and headed for where the third Keeper, carrying a battleaxe made of bone, only to discover that it was rather easy for them to take out, as Serana and Lynthia weakened it with a barrage of icicles to the chest, leaving it open to Za'kera's attack, allowing her to cut it down before Amaryllis claimed all of it's gear, though as soon as that was done they turned around and headed back to Valerica's prison.

"You work fast, Dragonborn," Valerica commented, speaking once they walked up the steps to her prison, where the four of them found that the barrier had been dismissed not that long ago, though oddly enough there was no sign of a dragon, where Amaryllis knew that she hadn't been lying about him, not after what she felt previously, before she beckoned for all of them to follow her as she headed for a door that was behind her, "Come, let us collect the Elder Scroll, before we come face to face with Durnehviir himself."

It didn't take them long to walk through the door and enter a courtyard, one that seemed to be where Valerica made her home once she entered this place, though as they walked into the area in question they heard a familiar roar, as Amaryllis and Za'kera were the most experienced in the roars of dragons, which was followed by a sickly green scaled dragon, who had to be Durnehviir, flew into the area and attacked them. As it turned out Durnehviir had two special Shouts that were totally different from the ones that all of the other dragons had used against them, as the first involved summoning some of the more powerful undead they had faced in the Soul Cairn, meaning he was more like a necromancer, and the second was designed to weaken the soul of whoever he shouted at, as he loosed a burst of purple energy at whoever his target happened to be. The group focused on taking out the skeletal minions first, since there were more of them and it looked like the dragon wouldn't land until all of them were taken out, giving him time to study their layout before attacking with his second Shout, an interesting strategy when Amaryllis thought about it, though she flared her wings and took to the air during his third pass over the courtyard. Her plan was simple, she was going to attack the undead dragon directly, cut off his concentration and force him to focus on her, that way Za'kera and the others could deal with the skeletons that had been called to fight them, forcing Durnehviir to land and focus on those who were fighting down below them, where she swung her daggers and lashed out at the dragon, who roared as he accepted her challenge.

The two of them clashed with each other in the air, her daggers striking Durnehviir's claws as she avoided several of his attacks, where once more she found herself liking this new form, far more than the curse form, since it gave her the power to stand toe to toe with a dragon, and she hacked through the webbing of his wings without delay, causing him to land for a time and opened the way for Za'kera and the others to attack him, where she watched as her friend drove both of her blades into his skull and his body broke apart into purple energy.

"Come, let us collect the Scroll," Valerica said, though she seemed surprised by the fact that Durnehviir could be beaten in battle like this, meaning she must have read about him at some point and made Amaryllis wonder if she knew more about all of the other dragons that once called Skyrim home, before she found an alcove where a long box rested, plus a rather small alchemy station and some dwindling supplies, and sure enough the Elder Scroll was inside the container, which she collected before turning back towards them, "Now, let us get out of here, before that dragon comes back... I say that due to the volumes that were written about him, that he couldn't be slain like an ordinary dragon... in fact, we likely severed his connection to his physical body, so we had best get out of here before he manages to reform his body and attack us once again, which should take some time since this is the first time he's been beaten."

Amaryllis understood her reasoning, since Durnehviir had never lost he didn't have the experience in reforming his body, so it should take him days, maybe even months to years, though as they walked back through the main door, and quickly returned to the front of Valerica's prison, they found a surge of energy on a ruined section that was facing them, a perch of sorts so he could stare at them, causing them to grip their weapons once more.

"Stay your weapons." Durnehviir stated, something that caused them to pause for a moment, since they weren't expecting him to say anything to them, especially since he had been tasked with taking down Valerica by those who ruled over this cursed realm, though Za'kera glanced at the others for a moment and they lowered their hands as she stepped forward, as she had a feeling he was addressing her, "I would speak with you, Qahnaarin."

"And I will reply, to have a conversation." Za'kera replied, once more showing Amaryllis that she was more understanding than most of the people in Skyrim, especially since she embraced the idea of an alternate meaning to her prophecy and, after some time thinking about all of it, had come to terms with what she was supposed to do, "Also, don't mind Valerica, she originally thought you were dead, before figuring out that you might reform... though I have to ask, why did you call me 'Qahnaarin'?"

"I am cursed, not dead... doomed to exist in this form for eternity, trapped between laas and dinok, trapped between life and death." Durnehviir explained, revealing that he must have been here for a long time, nearly as long as Valerica based on what they knew about the barrier that had been covering this castle, and that he must have bonded with this place, a fate worse than death since it looked like he had come here while he was still alive, "As for your question, my claws have rended the flesh of countless foes, but I have never once been felled on the field of battle... therefore, I honor-name you 'Qahnaarin', or Vanquisher in your tongue... and I have a favor to ask."

"Let me guess, you want to see the skies of Skyrim once more?" Amaryllis asked, as based on what she was feeling it did seem like he was forced into unintended service to the Ideal Masters, who must have tricked him without telling him that Valerica was an immortal vampire, though as she said that she stood behind Za'kera, mostly to make sure no more foes came up to attack them while they were speaking.

"Indeed. I will place my name within you, Qahnaarin, and grant you the right to call my name from Tamriel." Durnehviir answered, showing them that Amaryllis was right, though his focus was on Za'kera once more, who was focused on the fact that she could now call a dragon to her aid, whenever she wanted to, boosting the sheer power of their army when she thought about his other Shout, "It may seem trivial in your mind, but to me it would mean a great deal... however, I do not expect an answer, Qahnaarin... simply speak my name to the heavens, when you feel the time is right, and I will come if I am able."

Amaryllis had to admit that Durnehviir was an interesting dragon, who acted like an ancient warrior and used an ancient code of honor, though as Za'kera nodded her head they wished the undead dragon well before making their way back to the portal that would take them to Valerica's lab, as it was time to return to Fort Dawnguard and see what needed to be done now that they had all three Elder Scrolls.

Vampire: Reading the Scrolls

It took a few moments for them to reach the portal that would take them back to Tamriel, though before they reached it Za'kera found a chest in one of the structures that happened to have her soul fragment inside it, allowing her to regain her full power before they stepped through Valerica's portal, finding that Wind and Lydia were right where they left them, just as Amaryllis said.

"Oh, good, one of you was smart enough to stay here." Lynthia remarked, taking a moment to stare at Wind, who simply stared back at her, to which she turned her head and walked out of the area in question, allowing Za'kera, Serana, Valerica, and Amaryllis to walk up the shattered staircase, her tone revealing that she was still annoyed with Amaryllis for heading into the Soul Cairn.

"Amaryllis, I told you it was a bad idea to try something like that." Wind said, where she found that Amaryllis was different than what she remembered, which confirmed what Lynthia had told them before the two vampires went into the portal with Za'kera, though it did look like her friend had been altered to look more like a dragon, or at least based on what she was seeing right now.

"Besides the payment this form will cost me, I'm inclined to disagree with you." Amaryllis replied, as while she knew that Dagon was going to require something of her at some point, given that he was a Daedric Prince and they did nothing for free, the form she had been given was rather good and Sithis' additions to it meant she was likely one of the sneakiest beings in Tamriel right now, especially considering the fact that she forced Durnehviir to land, "So, are we heading back to Fort Dawnguard, to tell Dexion about the Scrolls, or are we heading elsewhere?"

"We're heading back to our base, to see how the army is forming," Za'kera answered, though she had a feeling that they all knew what she was thinking right now, because now that they had pulled Valerica out of the Soul Cairn, even though part of her wanted to stay behind since a Daughter of Coldharbour was needed to fulfill Harkon's twisted prophecy and both she and Serana were known by that title, Harkon would come after her once he realized what was going on, "we might be able to find Valerica a place in our forces, and inform her about the upcoming war with the Aldmeri Dominion, but while we do that I think it would be best if you head back to Fort Dawnguard and given Dexion the heads up. Once he knows that we have all three Elder Scrolls, and that we're on the way back to see what the rest of the prophecy might entail, he should be able to get everything set up for our arrival... if not, he might have some information for us to go on."

Amaryllis nodded her head and headed through the nearby door, as it lead to a balcony and she found that the rays of the sun were out now, where she found that it was morning, making her wonder how much time they had spent in the Soul Cairn even though it felt like an hour or two, though since it was a plane of Oblivion, thanks to Valerica's explanation, that meant that time flowed differently inside it. Once she was outside she opened her wings, taking in their new appearance once more, before she took off and noticed that Za'kera, not to mention the others, had been watching her for a couple of seconds as she did that, though the interesting thing about this was that Wind was following her, no doubt worried about her after what happened when she headed into the Soul Cairn. As soon as they were both in the air they started the trek back to Fort Dawnguard, leaving Za'kera and the others to make their way through the hidden part of Harkon's castle, all without him noticing what was going on, to which they focused on what was going on right now, just to see if either of the forces were doing anything in response to them building an army. The only reason Amaryllis was thinking about that was due to the fact that they had no idea what Tullius and Ulfric were planning, as with a third force in place, one that had the dragons on their side, either they could turn against them or maybe they would come to speak with them in peace, just to be sure they don't turn Skyrim into a wasteland.

As it turned out nothing special happened as they flew through the air, as Wind seemed to be focused on making sure she was just fine and that her body wasn't suffering from the transformation it had endured, and neither force seemed to be marching on their fort, so Amaryllis was able to reach Fort Dawnguard and shifted into her Khajiit disguise after landing in the area near the entrance, with Wind remaining in her true form, allowing them to enter the building and found Dexion standing in the area they had found Isran in earlier.

"Dexion, we found and recovered the third Elder Scroll." Amaryllis stated, though what was interesting was that Isran and the rest of his forces seemed to either be outside training or doing something else inside the fort itself, doing whatever each of them wanted, since she knew that Gunmar was tending to some trolls and Sorine was supposed to be tinkering with some Dwarven materials, meaning no one would overhear this conversation.

"That is good to hear," Dexion replied, though as he turned to face them, however, both she and Wind noticed that he had a blindfold over his eyes, a black cloth that hadn't been there when everyone left to track down Valerica, following Serana to find her mother and the Scroll she had kept hidden, before he touched it for a moment, "Sadly, I'm afraid that I can no longer aid you or the Dragonborn in your quest."

"Are you... blind?" Wind inquired, where she thought about what her master knew and had to wonder if she might know a way to get around this sudden twist that was being thrown at them, given that Ma'jera might be one of the oldest kids of the Daedric Princes, not counting Lynthia, but that was something she wasn't about to discuss with her mentor or the rest of her kind, hence why she focused on Dexion's blindfold.

"I'm afraid so." Dexion said, where they found that he was disappointed in himself, no doubt because he was interested in reading the Elder Scroll that Serana had kept safe for all these years and might have skipped whatever ceremony or ritual he and his order used whenever they wanted to read the Elder Scrolls, before he sighed for a moment as he focused on where they were standing, following the sound of their voices to find them, "It's purely my fault, you see, for in my haste to read the first Scroll, I neglected the careful preparation required to accomplish such a thing. I thought I'd be able to allay the after effects, but I was wrong... and now I'm paying for it... we'll have to let this run it's course, even though there's a chance I'll never recover."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I truly am." Amaryllis stated, though this was something they could do without, as they needed to know whatever information was contained on the Elder Scrolls, in regards to Serana's prophecy, before she considered a fact about the area that they had found the first artifact in, as the one Paarthurnax sent them to find had been contained in a Dwarven device of some kind, "I don't suppose there's another way to read the Elder Scrolls? I'm fairly sure it'll take too long to find another Dwarven machine that's capable of doing that."

"There is the Ritual of the Ancestor Moth," Dexion explained, something that caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow as Wind took out her note taking materials, showing him that she was ready to make notes about this ritual, even if he couldn't see her due to the consequences of his actions, before he resumed speaking to them, "Scattered across Tamriel are secluded locations known only as Ancestor Glades, and there's one in Skyrim, located in the Pine Forest. This ritual involves carefully removing the bark from a Canticle Tree and using that to attract a number of Ancestor Moths to you, which will provide the sight needed to read the Elder Scroll... in keeping with tradition, there should be a draw knife inside the Glade, which will allow you to collect some of the bark. Also, based on my vision, the Scroll connected to blood is the one you want to read first, then the sun Scroll, and then finish with the dragon Scroll... that should give you the information you and your companions seek, to locate Auriel's Bow."

With that information in hand, and Wind thanked Dexion for his assistance, Amaryllis found one of the crossbows that the Dawnguard used and figured she might as well take one, with some bolts of course, since there was a chance that one of their comrades might want to use it or maybe a trainer for their army could take it and teach how to use it to their army, boosting their power for when it came time to leave Skyrim. After tucking that into her pack, and making sure that a set of bolts had been acquired as well, she and Wind departed from the fort and headed for the cave entrance, as this time she wanted to make sure none of Harkon's followers were thinking of bothering the Dawnguard, and sure enough they found a small group of vampires hanging out near the entrance to Dayspring Canyon. In that moment Amaryllis quickly let go of her disguise and drew her blades, where Wind watched as she hopped on one clawed foot and then the other for a couple of seconds, before discovering that her friend disappeared rather suddenly and appeared in the middle of the vampires, stabbing one of them in the side while removing the head of another, leaving Wind standing there with a look of surprise on her face. She found that Amaryllis was faster, stronger, and far more agile than she had been before heading into the Soul Cairn, and if her tale was right it sounded like Dagon and Sithis wanted her to be ready for whatever the future held in store for her, no doubt wanting to change the fate of this world or something, which she suspected had to be the price of this transformation, before she sighed and froze one vampire in a block of ice as it tried to run.

Once they were sure that the area was clear of enemies, as in no more vampires were coming to kill them, Amaryllis and Wind opened their wings and took off once more, where this time around they headed for their fort and kept an eye on any and all troop movements that might be occurring in Skyrim, just to be absolutely sure nothing was going on in Skyrim right now... and, sure enough, no armies were moving, meaning the Legion and the Stormcloaks were waiting, for what the pair had no idea, but it allowed them to reach their fort with ease.

"You've changed again... not fair, your Father's toy to play with." a voice said, where they found Durum standing near Kya, the latter looking like she was pleased with her efforts in slaying the Thalmor who had been wandering around Skyrim for some time, though the former was proving why she was the daughter of Sheogorath, as it looked like her personality had changed since the last time they spoke with her.

"To be fair, my soul technically belongs to Sithis, as he is the first being I pledged myself to, and failing that Dagon would be next in line since I got his artifact after joining the Brotherhood," Amaryllis replied, though as she spoke she glanced at both the Wabbajack and the Moomer Wand, two powerful artifacts that currently belonged to the mad Demiprince, as she had no idea what would happen to her if she was hit with either of them, not after her body had been altered by another Prince, something she wanted to avoid at all costs, "so, has anything changed in the time we've been gone?"

What they discovered was that Durum had found a group of Thalmor trying to break into the fort, to see what they were up to and report back to whoever was in charge of their operations, giving her a good chance to use her wand on them, a fact that meant there were more like Delphine now, but she did send them to her personal realm, the Bakery, given that leaving them here would have annoyed Za'kera. At the same time Kya had killed all sorts of Thalmor while she was walking the roads of Skyrim, as she had been told to do, and had recovered several packs from them, detailing their plans to find and destroy the Throat of the World, meaning they were after the Stone that Paarthurnax had confirmed the existence of, but if they were planning on bringing down the mountain it meant the Dominion was serious. They were trying to bring an end to the entire world, crushing all of the Stones before trying to get into the first Tower, or at least that seemed to be the plan when one of them asked Ma'jera about this developing situation, but with Kya wreaking havoc on the Thalmor they didn't have to worry about such a thing happening. The other thing Amaryllis and Wind figured out was that Kya was one of Sheogorath's twisted followers, as she seemed like someone who had been messed with by the Mad God, even if she didn't know and might have thought that he had been someone else at the time, hence the name 'Roina' when Amaryllis thought about it, though other than those two things there wasn't much else for them to learn, other than the fact that the army was growing and that once Harkon was done with it should be even larger.

Fortunately they didn't have to wait very long for Za'kera and the others to arrive, as they were only an hour behind, due to Lynthia wanting them to get here faster, to the point where she actually flew back to Harkon's tower, burst into the Soul Cairn, found a skeletal horse, and apparently did something else with her father to make two that were now pulling the carriage along, with Za'kera looking like she was getting tired of the Demiprince in question. Once they were together once more Amaryllis informed them that Dexion was blind and that to figure out what the Scrolls said, about the prophecy that Harkon had discovered, they needed to head to the Ancestor Glade and perform a ritual to be able to read all three Scrolls without any side effects striking whoever did it. She also told Za'kera that she had a feeling she knew where the location was, as she had flown in and out of the Pine Forest during her time with the Dark Brotherhood, given that many now knew that they had been operating in Falkreath before Maro sniffed them out, hence the move to another location in the more official channels, so no one knew about the attack, where her friend paused before nodding her head. It was still strange when Amaryllis thought about it, she and Za'kera were total strangers, in fact they only knew a certain amount about the other, and yet she trusted her more than almost anyone in her growing army, saw the potential inside her to be a hero for the people of this world, and listened to her counsel whenever she wanted to do something, leading Amaryllis to want to prove that she was worthy of her trust.

When everyone was ready to leave, which didn't take too long since they were leaving just a few minutes after the carriage was able to reach the fort, they departed without delay and Amaryllis flew ahead, where she made sure that nothing was on the path they were using to reach the cave in question, though, as they expected, Valerica stayed behind in the fort to aid everyone else in building up their army for the war ahead of them. Finding the Ancestor Glade proved to be somewhat hard for her, even though she had been moving in and out of this place when her Family lived near the main city, but even with that thought in mind it wasn't too hard for her to track down where her target was located and, more importantly, the path leading up to it. Once she found it, as it had a faint magical aura that she was now suddenly able to sense, once more a gift from her patrons no doubt, Amaryllis backtracked to where Za'kera and the others were located, allowing her to land nearby before giving them the directions they needed, even though they would have to leave the carriage behind at some point and walk up a path, where Za'kera nodded and made sure everyone was ready for a bit of a walk. The moment they reached the bottom end of the path Lydia stopped the carriage, allowing them to head up the dirt road as Amaryllis lead the way to where the cave entrance rested, where she brought them to an opening that had a few fallen trees, a number of stones, and some snow, causing Serana to note that she was going to have words with Dexion if this ended up being a waste of their time.

After crossing over a fallen log, however, Amaryllis and Wind knew that it hadn't been a waste of time, as it brought them to a tunnel that lead to a massive cavern that was well lit and was full of nature, and at the bottom rested an elegant tree with a circular shrine resting nearby, which held a knife of some kind in it, causing them to smile as they walked down the path leading right to it.

"It seems Dexion was right... which means you'll need that knife to take some bark off that tree," Wind remarked, taking a moment to gesture to what was in front of them, though she made sure that Za'kera understood that she was the one who would be doing all of this, before she recalled what the Moth Priest had told them earlier, about the order they had to read the Elder Scrolls in, "after that we need to use the Blood Scroll, the Sun Scroll, and then the Dragon Scroll."

Za'kera nodded and stepped up to the shrine, where she extracted the draw knife and carefully removed some bark from the Canticle Tree, something she held onto while returning the knife before walking out to gather the moths that Dexion had told them were important to this ritual, though as she did that, and the ancestor moths flocked to her side, Wind took the time to make sure the Elder Scrolls were ready. Serana, of course, carried the Sun Scroll that she had carried before being sealed in the monolith, Lynthia held the Blood Scroll, and Amaryllis had the Dragon Scroll at the ready, as once they had enough moths for the ritual they were sure that the next step would reveal itself to them, how one could read all of the Scrolls and not suffer from such a thing. A few moments later Za'kera, who was surrounded by moths, returned to the area they were standing in as a beam of light shined down on them, to which she readied herself as she accepted the first Elder Scroll and opened it in the space she was staring at, where it looked like a crack in reality or something had formed from her doing that. In that instant she seemed to be in a trace as she handed the first Scroll back to Serana and took the second one, opening it and adding it's power to the crack, something that seemed to form part of Skyrim, or maybe not since they weren't standing in the light, so it just looked like reality was breaking, and sure enough she added the power of the third Scroll to what she was doing.

A few seconds later she was down on the ground, breathing hard after witnessing the power of the Elder Scrolls, and as all of them rushed to her aid it looked like she was fine, her eyes were unchanged and she could see them, though the instant was ruined as vampires surged into the cavern from the upper level, to which Wind took up her position and waved a hand at them, unleashing a wave of frost magic that froze all of her enemies where they stood. With her targets taken care of, a fact she was sure of after a few moments, Za'kera informed them that she knew where to find Auriel's Bow was located and that they had better depart now, because if vampires were showing up now it meant that more were on their way to claim the Elder Scrolls, to which they departed for Darkfall Cave so they could put an end to Harkon's plans and unite all of Skyrim for the upcoming war with the Aldmeri Dominion.

Vampire: Darkfall Cave

With their visit to Ancestor Glade finished, and the vampires who followed them had been defeated, the group returned to their carriage without delay and departed without delay, where Za'kera directed them from that point onward, as she was, thanks to the Elder Scrolls, the only one who knew where they were going next, this time more like a leader than what all of them were used to. It was like the three Elder Scrolls had awakened something inside her, boosting her own power for both this quest and the future that she wanted to set Skyrim on, building an army that would lay waste to the Aldmeri Dominion, but for now they had to focus on defeating Harkon and stopping his mission, hence why they were gathering Auriel's Bow to stop him. Such a thing was a repeat of what they did with Alduin, they found the weapon to take him down and convinced him to join up with their army, though he had been convinced by his father at some point as well, but time would tell if Harkon stepped down once he realized they had Auriel's Bow or if they were going to have to destroy him to make the vampires fall in line. Some of them had to see that joining forces with Za'kera's army was the smart thing, as it would allow them to preserve a place in history as saviors, instead of being dark beings who ruined everything, though she also knew that there was a chance that they would be foolish to stand against them and if that happened she knew that all of them would trample the vampires who chose to walk down the violent path.

What they discovered as they traveled was that Za'kera was leading them somewhere that was between Markarth and Solitude, while also being near the border with High Rock, though nothing seemed interested in attacking them, where it told them that Kynareth had to be on their side and was having the wildlife ignore them, something they were thankful for since it saved them precious time. Another thing they discovered was that no bandits or Forsworn bothered them, why she had no idea and honestly she didn't care about those who lived out in the Reach, but at the very least it allowed the group to rest up, especially since they had no idea what was waiting for them in Darkfall Cave, since it was where Auriel's Bow was supposed to be resting. Amaryllis had to wonder why no one had found the bow if it was hidden inside a cave, but as she thought about that she realized that all sorts of artifacts were rumored to have been found, or at least some of them based on the rumors that had been going around the guards, though there was also the chance that the bow might be in a deeper part of the cave, one no one has found yet, so she guessed they would find it first. Other than that there was nothing she could do and remained sitting in the carriage as they followed Za'era's instructions to reach the cave that held the bow, knowing that this part of their quest would be over soon enough and they could focus on Miraak before worrying about the other provices that existed on this continent.

With nothing to interrupt them Amaryllis found that they were able to reach the area that Darkfall Cave rested in and, as soon as Za'kera nodded her head, brought the carriage to a stop outside it, where she climbed out and everyone else did the same thing, though as they walked towards it each of them readied their weapons for whatever might be guarding the cave and the bow. As Za'kera followed the cave's path they found a frostbite spider along the way and Wind took it out as she loosed a Lightning Bolt at it, allowing everyone to continue moving forward, because since they were after a bow like this there was no telling how many guards might between them and their final target, such as Falmer and whatever else might be hiding inside this place. One thing they walked by was a secret entrance that was blocked off right now, no that any of them were surprised by that since most caves and ruins had such a thing carved into their walls, though most of their attention was on what they found at the end of the path, it was a lone wooden bridge that looked like it was about to collapse, despite the appearance it gave off. When they walked onto it, however, they discovered that it lead nowhere and that it rested above a drop, one that would land them in a river that likely flowed to another section of the cave, though as soon as everyone stepped onto the bridge their weight caused the rope to snap without delay, causing them to fall into the depths of this part of Darkfall Cave.

The river snatched them without delay and pulled everyone deeper into the cave, where it dropped them into a cavern of sorts that had a few large spiders hanging from the ceiling, where Amaryllis forced herself out of the water and stabbed all three of her targets before they could drop down into the river and attack them when they reached whatever was at the end of the river, which seemed to be a stream.

"Is everyone alright?" Za'kera asked, though as she said that, after reaching the end of the river and pulling herself free from it, she realized that her attire was drenched from what they had been through, where she was pleased to find that Amaryllis had taken care of some of the spiders so they didn't have to deal with any surprises before exploring the rest of the cave that was in front of them.

"It would seem so." Wind remarked, as while everyone was drenched from traveling in a river, something they hadn't been expecting when they decided to come to this cave in the first place, it seemed like no one was injured from it and that all they had to worry about was sitting by a fire to dry their attire, least they suffer from hypothermia or something, before she glanced at the section of the cave that was in front of them right now, "Though it looks like we might be dealing with a few more spiders."

Sure enough they had to slash and blast their way through a few more of the smaller spiders, as the area was covered in cobwebs and opened egg sacks lined the walls, and there was a short tunnel that happened to have a massive spider at the end of it, one Amaryllis stabbed from behind before it even realized they were there, allowing the others to continue through this section of Darkfall Cave without having to worry about it attacking them from behind. After that they headed up a hill and found a campsite, as in someone else had come to this place and set up a place to rest, despite the spiders that were here and whatever else was in front of them, but there was a lit campfire and they took a few moments to stand there, allowing the flames to dry their attire before worrying about heading even deeper. While they did that Amaryllis did locate a rope connected to a trap and activated it without delay, finding that whoever made the camp had set up a rock trap to deal with whatever might be coming from the path that they needed to travel down, though once all of them were no longer moving she and Wind used their telekinesis to move some out of the way, forming a path for everyone to take when it was time to move. A few moments later they headed down the other hill and passed through their makeshift path, though Za'kera made sure everyone was armed this time, as there was no telling what might be waiting for them and she wanted everyone ready to go in case they got into a fight with whatever enemies were lurking in this cave, bringing them to a cavern that had two trolls and, more importantly, a figure off in the distance standing near something.

As it turned out the trolls were easy to take down and they walked around the cavern so they could see who they might be dealing with, where Amaryllis and Wind discovered that the figure in question was a fair skinned elven figure who wore a set of armor that was unlike anything they had seen before, as while it seemed elven in nature it was different from what all of them had seen, and he was standing near a domed structure that was resting near him, plus he had a sun shaped shrine off to his left.

"Come forward." the elven being said, where he stopped his praying, as it looked like he had been holding his hands up as he faced the shrine of his god, since it had to belong to one of the many gods that resided in this world, before turning to face Za'kera and the others as they walked out of the area that both trolls had been resting in, though his tone felt warm and inviting with no sinister intentions, "You have nothing to fear here."

"What is that? I can feel some kind of power resonating from it..." Serana inquired, referring to the sealed structure that was behind the figure, showing that her focus was more on the dome and less on the elf, though she kept her voice low so only they could hear her speak, despite the fact that Amaryllis was sure that he might have heard her speak, but if he did it didn't look like he cared to share anything just yet.

"I am Za'kera, the Dragonborn of legend, and these are my traveling companions," Za'kera stated, figuring that since they were in a somewhat peaceful area, since the shrine and the area surrounding it seemed totally peaceful, she might as well speak to the figure, hence why she sheathed her weapons and everyone else followed her lead, Amaryllis being first once more, which she figured would happen since she had a habit of following her lead, while taking a moment to introduce all of them to the elf.

"I am Knight-Paladin Gelebor. Welcome to the Great Chantry of Auri-El." the elf said, something that caused them to pause for a moment, because they weren't expecting him to say something like that, especially since this cave didn't seem like the sort of thing that would be attached to a god's temple or even a place of worship, though Amaryllis could tell that this place once held some sort of significance to the elf.

"Wait... this cave is a temple to Auriel?!" Wind asked, which she supposed made sense in some manner, given that he had a shrine and a building of some kind resting near his camp, a small thing that looked like it was only a bedroll and a table, so he didn't have much comforts in this place and made her wonder why he would reside in a place like this, though she was also surprised by the information he was sharing with them.

"Auriel, Auri-El, Alkosh, Akatosh... so many different names for the sovereign of the Snow Elves." Gelebor remarked, where it sounded like he was highly amused by something, no doubt how each god seemed to have multiple names, given all of the various cultures that existed in this world, before he held a hand up as several of them noticed that he used the term 'Snow Elves', speaking about a long dead species of elf, the original form of the Falmer, "No, I do not mean Falmer, as I can see that all of you thought about that when I said the term 'Snow Elf', which I prefer... the name you all thought about, as I uttered those words, usually holds a negative meaning to most travelers. Those twisted creatures that you call Falmer, I call the 'Betrayed'."

"I see, then we will address you as you desire." Za'kera said, where she stepped up to be the speaker of their group, which the others were fine with since it meant she might ask the right questions while they imagined what else might be lurking in this cave, even though she glanced over at the structure for a moment, returning her attention to Gelebor, "I imagine you know why we're here."

"Of course, you and your companions are here for Auriel's Bow. Why else would you be here?" Gelebor stated, showing all of them that he clearly understood why they were here and that he might be willing to assist them in finding the bow, or at least Amaryllis hoped so, even though she knew that they could just leave and Harkon wouldn't be able to find it, not with them possessing all three Elder Scrolls, "I can help you get it, but first I must have your assistance. I need you to kill Arch-Curate Vyrthur, my... my brother."

"You want us to track down and kill your brother?" Amaryllis repeated, because while she could understand it if Gelebor had asked them to kill someone like Harkon, or someone who was an enemy of the Snow Elves, the fact that he wanted his own brother dead caused most of them to pause for a moment, though Lynthia was the only one who didn't care, given her nature as one of Molag's kids, "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"The kinship between us is gone." Gelebor replied, where Amaryllis and Wind could tell that while he had no trouble asking this of them, in fact there might have been others before them that he asked to do this and they failed to defeat Vyrthur, he was also saddened by having to ask someone to kill his brother, even though he was hiding that fact from all of them, as if he didn't want to show weakness, "I don't understand what he's become, but he's no longer the brother I once knew. It was the Betrayed... they did something to him, I just don't know why Auri-El would allow this to happen. What happened was that a large number of the Betrayed swept into the Chantry without warning and began killing everyone there, without pause. Let me tell you this, before you ask questions and voice your outrage: the Chantry was a place of peaceful worship, with no need for any real guards. I led a small group of paladins, but we were no match for the Betrayed's sheer numbers, as they slaughtered everyone and stormed the Inner Sanctum, where I believe they corrupted Vyrthur."

"You don't even know if he's alive." Serana stated, because while she was fine with going through all of that to get the bow, since it sounded rather straightforward when she thought about it, part of this conversation screamed that he had next to no idea that his brother was still somewhere in the Inner Sanctum, wherever that was, and that they might be fools to aid him in this mission.

"He's alive, as I have seen him during my time surveying the Betrayed... but, well, something's wrong, as he never looks as though he's in pain or under duress." Gelebor continued, showing them that he understood how all of this sounded and that he had more information to share with them before they came to a conclusion on the matter, even though they knew that to get Auriel's Bow this was the only thing they could do, "He just... stands there and watches, as though waiting for something specific to happen. I know, most of you are thinking that I could have gotten into the Inner Sanctum and ended this on my own, but I'm afraid that it's not quite that simple, as leaving the wayshrines unguarded would be violating my sacred duty as a Knight-Paladin of Auriel, and an assault on the Betrayed guarding the Inner Sanctum would only end with my death."

In that moment, as Wind asked about the wayshrine, Gelebor beckoned for them to follow him as he quickly walked over to the odd structure that was resting nearby, where he gathered some magic in his right hand, which looked more like a bit of solar energy, before launching it into the air and it struck the top of the structure, causing everything to shift as they watched as a shrine pulled out of the ground. What they discovered was that there was a basin in the center of it and that there were several walls that looked blank, with a single one that had what appeared to be a portal of some kind, though as that happened Gelebor told them more about what needed to be done to enter the Inner Sanctum, as they needed to carry an elegant ewer and collect water from the basins of five wayshrines, so there were five more for them to find after they left this area. Of course the wayshrines were guarded by spectral Snow Elves, Prelates he called them, and they were going to allow them to access each basin as if they had been enlightened, something he told them about, but once all five wayshrines had been visited they would be required to pour the contents of the ewer into a basin that rested right in front of the Inner Sanctum, to unlock the door and bring them one step closer to Vyrthur. Serana and Lynthia, as they expected, either didn't care or didn't understand what the elf was talking about, where Gelebor informed them that it was symbolic to his people and he didn't expect them to actually understand a new culture as soon as they discovered it, even if he was happy to see Wind taking notes on his words, no doubt to show them to Ma'jera later.

Once they were done talking about the plan, and that there was more to their task than just wandering through some cave for an undetermined amount of time, Za'kera collected the ewer and handed it over to Wind, who would keep it safe while they faced their new test, before heading through the portal that was in front of them and disappeared, causing Amaryllis and the others to follow after her without delay.

On the other side of the portal they discovered that they had appeared on an ancient Snow Elf structure that seemed to be a shrine, a broken one, so the magic was enough to bring them here and wasn't strong enough to make a stable passage, so they were stuck in this cavern, to which everyone turned their attention to the path that was in front of them, a carved out path the Snow Elves had created, as they drew their weapons. Sure enough it became clear that they needed to guard themselves against the dangers of this cavern, as several Falmer dropped down into the areas in front of them and hissed, drawing the Chaurus that lived as their terrible pets and guardians, where Za'kera, Lydia, and Sharva stayed in front of the others as each hacked into the enemies that came at them. Serana, Wind, and Lynthia focused on using magic to smash all of the ranged foes that dared to strike at them, though Wind made sure to use some of her magic to heal any wounds that Za'kera and the others sustained, all while Amaryllis stuck to the shadows, using her new powers to disappear and attack the Falmer from their own shadows, taking them by surprise before they could react to her presence. Once more it made her wonder what in the world Dagon was going to ask of her, because it couldn't be good, though she had to admit that it was a good power this time around, especially as she swung both of her daggers and silenced a pair of Falmer at the back of the pack, allowing the others to catch up with her once they took out the enemies that were in their way.

What they discovered was that this cave was far darker than the other ones they had been in the past, including some odd plants that produced light and pulled themselves into their stems when someone was nearby, though they had to be very careful since there were all sorts of Falmer scattered around this part of the cave, especially in the larger areas that some camps were set up in. Despite all of that it didn't seem like there was much difference between this cave and the others, or at least it seemed to be that way when Amaryllis thought about it, though it didn't stop them from lashing out at all of the Falmer who called this place home, while avoiding traps by activating them before hand and occasionally drawing enemies away from larger groups to make their mission easier. No one wanted to speak while they walked, mostly signaling at each other with either head movements or even hand gestures, even Lynthia, despite all her attitude before this point, stayed silent and seemed fine with following Za'kera's lead, once more making Amaryllis and Wind wonder what her father might want from her, since she already recovered his mace and did whatever needed to be done to recover it. That part about all of this made Amaryllis wonder what the Daedric Princes were planning, because they wanted their children to recover or earn their artifacts, that part she understood since it proved their were their heirs or something, but after that she had no idea, since it seemed unlikely that they would willingly assist in Akatosh's plans.

She stared at Mehrunes' Razor as she stabbed a Chaurus Reaper, the biggest form the Chaurus could take before turning into a chrysalis and transforming into a flying bug, and wondered if Dagon was planning on using this for his own gain, to use the war against the Thalmor to do something foolish or stupid, before she sighed as she focused on their mission as the others slew more Falmer and progressed deeper into the cave.

In addition to all of that they passed by some areas that had large sections of flowing water, making them wonder where in the land they were, since the area near Darkfall Cave didn't have this much, save for the rushing river they had landed in earlier, but with all of the enemies that were in here there wasn't much time for them to talk about things, not when some of the Falmer noticed something was wrong and hissed at the others. The real disturbing thing was that some of the huts, as Amaryllis spotted them, seemed to be made out of massive Chaurus corpses, ones that were far larger than both the normal ones and the large Reapers, making her hope they didn't run into any of them, even though in this state she was sure that she could deal with any of them, even if the others were hoping to avoid such an encounter. Other than that the group focused on lashing out at any Falmer that dared to come near them, where Amaryllis focused on either the bow or her daggers, though eventually they found a set of odd shaped pull chains that looked similar to what the Falmer might make, where the first one opened a stone door at the top of the hill they were on, meaning the second likely activated the traps in this area. With that done they entered a place that seemed to be the heart of this section of Darkfall Cave, with a few purple and brown furred sabre cats and some odd deer, creatures that meant they should be close to the surface, to which they followed the path as the animals glanced at them before ignoring everyone, allowing them to follow a path that lead right to where another wayshrine was resting, along with a ghostly Snow Elf standing near it.

Sure enough the Prelate informed them that this was the Wayshrine of Illumination and asked if they were here to honor the mantras of Auri-El, and when Za'kera confirmed his assumptions he used his power to raise his shrine, allowing them to watch as it raised up before Wind claimed some water from it, though once that was done they stepped into another portal and traveled to a new cave... though as they walked forward, however, Amaryllis had a feeling that this was only the start of a rather long trek through the Chantry.

Vampire: Forgotten Vale

The area they appeared in happened to be another part of the cave, like Amaryllis and the others expected, but this time all of them found that there was an intact arch with a portal back to the shrine they had just activated, along with a passage that had to be the way out, so with nothing else to do they readied their weapons once more as they carefully followed the path in front of them. The passage in question was a winding path that brought them to a ledge that happened to be above the area that they had traveled to not a few seconds ago, though everyone remained at the ready and proceeded with the upmost caution, as one wrong step might make them fall down into the depths of this area, though it sure looked like this might be bringing them outside, as odd as it seemed. Sure enough not a few moments later they reached the top of the path and stopped when Za'kera noticed what was in front of them, as they were in what appeared to be a valley that was cut off from the rest of the world, one with all sorts of flowers they had never seen before, more of the odd sabre cats and deer, a wayshrine about five to ten minutes away from the hole, and who knew what else. Amaryllis even noticed a path leading to the next part of the Vale, one that seemed to be full of cobwebs, though Za'kera nodded her head towards her and she took off without delay, quickly discovering that they were at the start of a valley that also had some glacier pieces here and there, plus a waterfall or two, in fact it was rather beautiful when she looked at it, and there was an elegant building on top of the entire place, which had to be the Inner Sanctum.

"This has to be where Auriel's Bow is resting, we just need to make our way through the place, open the wayshrines, and do as Gelebor instructed," Amaryllis said, where she returned to the others without delay, who were glancing out at this valley and knew that they would be here for some time, in fact it might take them a day or two and she realized that they were lucky to have packed some food, otherwise this would have gotten bad.

"Well, at least we can't be mad at him, since he was telling the truth about the cave bringing us here," Serana spoke up, as if she had considered the idea that maybe Gelebor was someone who sent adventurers to their doom, more than what he had done since their arrival in the area that he rested in, before she sighed as they glanced out at the rest of the Vale, as it seemed like quite the trek in front of them, "we had better get started... the longer we take to find Auriel's Bow, and claim it from Vyrthur, the more time my father has to track us down and send more of his minions after us."

Za'kera said nothing as she stepped down the rocks that were in front of them and started to make her way over to where the next wayshrine rested, causing Amaryllis and the others to follow after her, though they discovered that the sabre cats didn't care for them and started to stalk them, though in response to that Amaryllis used her bow to take a few down while Wind used some Fireballs to do the same thing. Other than that it didn't look like there were any other enemies in this part of the Vale, so they would be fighting wildlife for a while before reaching the spiders that had made the cobwebs, though it did give Serana time to comment about the fact that this place was like an entirely different world and that they had to be the first ones to step foot in this place since the attack on the Inner Sanctum. In addition to that they found a path that had been, at one point in time, a road lined with Snow Elven arches, so they followed it and focused on making sure nothing came at them, though Amaryllis wasn't detecting much and her flight earlier hadn't shown her much either, save for that pack of spiders that would be coming up after the next wayshrine. As such they were able to walk over to the structure in no time and found a Prelate tending to the closed structure, where he asked Za'kera the same question that the first one had asked earlier and she replied with an identical answer in no time, causing him to raise the structure and reveal the next wayshrine for them to acquire the water of, which Wind did without delay.

"Interesting, we don't have to pass five trials to gain the right to fill the ewer," Wind remarked, as she had been expecting each closed shrine to possess some sort of test for them to overcome, just like the first one that Gelebor had opened for them earlier, though she was pleased with that information since it meant they could save time and not have to waste any precious time on going through multiple trials, "so, where's the next wayshrine?"

"Up the hill, passed the spiders... beyond that, no idea." Amaryllis replied, due to the fact that she had checked out the rest of the area and didn't take a note of where everything else rested, to save some time and focus on her scouting of this odd place, where Za'kera nodded her head for a moment as she made sure everyone was ready, as the moment they finished collecting the water she had them depart.

Like Amaryllis said they encountered several spiders in the pass she had discovered earlier, where this time Serana used a bit of her frost magic by unleashing a spinning wave of frost that knocked all of the spiders down in a few moments, which allowed them to make their way through the rest of the cobwebs and stop at what seemed to be an area that gave them a good look at the rest of the Vale. Everyone took in everything Amaryllis had seen, though now she found a stone on top of a waterfall that seemed important, meaning they might check it out, a frozen river that was breaking up into floating bits of ice, which they might have to cross over at one point, and who knew what else lurking in parts of the walls, because if their new friend's information was right there should be an army of Falmer in this place. Of course Wind found some more old Snow Elven arches, or at least the fragments of them, and with how old everything else looked it made sense that they lost the path that they were following, as in the ancient road disappeared, though it didn't stop them from headed down to the frozen river and found that if they headed to their left it would bring them to another wayshrine. As such that was what all of them did, they walked over to where the shrine rested and found one of the Prelates tending to it, so Za'kera answered the question once more and he opened it so they could fill the ewer with more water, once more showing them that they didn't have to tackle another challenge to earn the right to use this basin.

With that done they retraced their steps back to where the path ended before heading to the right, finding a path on the floating ice and the mountain that was beyond it, though one thing they glanced at was a giant who seemed more frosty than the others Amaryllis had seen so far, a Frost Giant she guessed, though she and the others ignored it as they headed up a hill and found a jagged stone bridge that brought them to another wayshrine.

"You know, if these three were easy to track down, we might be done with this in no time," Serana commented, speaking her mind as Za'kera answered the Prelate's repeated question, leading to him opening the shrine so Wind could obtain more of the water from the basin, though Amaryllis found herself agreeing with her, as while the first one was difficult the last three had been incredibly easy to find, making her wonder what sort of difficulty might be attached to the last shrine, before she glanced out at the frozen water near the large stone.

Za'kera shared her desire to check out the area, since this might be the only time they pass through this area, though as all of them walked out onto the ice something interesting happened, two large orange scaled dragons burst out of the ice and flew through the air for a moment, but instead of stopping and attacking them, like all the others had done, they glanced at the group for a few seconds before flying off towards Skyrim.

"Hm... I think they heard Alduin's call and were waiting for someone to awaken them," Amaryllis said, because it seemed like the most reasonable explanation for what was going on, since she was sure that all of the dragons had answered the call and were on their way to Skyrim, or were already lurking in places as they waited for a call to war, before Za'kera took a moment to walk up to the stone and found a Word of Power etched on it, allowing her to expand her arsenal before she rejoined them.

Once everyone was ready to go they retraced their steps once more and returned to the fourth shrine, heading across the stone walkway once more before discovering a path that seemed to be carved into several sides of the valley that seemed to wrap around this Vale, and, sure enough, there were a number of Falmer structures and that told everyone what was going to be happening in the near future. Amaryllis decided to use the height of the surrounding area to their advantage, as in she flew up to some of the higher ledges and loosed arrows at the twisted elves that were scattered around this part of the Vale, making sure to weaken the groups that Za'kera and everyone else were approaching before they arrived, that way none of them were got in her way and received an arrow that was for someone else. In addition to that she loosed a fair number of arrows off into the distance, tracking down Falmer who weren't aware of the fact that they were here and took a few number of them out, before she found one who looked more elegant than those her companions were taking down, as he had a yellow sash and some armor that was more refined than the normal Falmer attire. When she spotted the bow in his hands, however, she focused on him and loosed a few arrows at her new target, three of them striking his chest before he collapsed, causing her to let out a sigh as she slipped over to where the odd Falmer had been resting, only to find that the bow was far more elegant than all of the modern bows she had seen.

It was a Snow Elven bow, an artifact of a bygone era, and sure enough she found that the odd Falmer had a quiver on his back that was full of grand looking arrows, which she claimed as well, even though part of her was going to keep them for a more challenging foe, so in the end she ended up replacing Firiniel's End, which she carefully returned to her pack, since it was a reminder of her fallen Family members, and carried her new bow into battle, where she nocked an arrows and let it fly, sending it straight into the heart of a Falmer, killing it instantly.

"Gelebor wasn't joking when he said a large number of Falmer invaded this place," Amaryllis remarked, speaking when she rejoined the others as they walked over one of the ledges and used a bridge, one made by the Falmer at some point in the past, to cross over to another part of the valley, where Wind loosed a pair of Fireballs at another foe who dared to hiss at them from where he was standing, knocking her target down in no time, "though it's a good thing we haven't attracted the attention of every foe in this place... would have made this far harder for all of us."

"With you and Wind, not to mention our vampire friends and our warriors, I have a feeling even an army of Falmer would fall before our combined might," Za'kera replied, where she dodged an incoming attack from one of the enemies, causing the sword head to get stuck between the sections of the bridge, opening the way for her to swing her blades and cut an x into her foe's chest, before she beheaded the Falmer and resumed walking over the walkway.

Amaryllis had a feeling that even without their Daedric allies, and the new power that Dagon had given her, the end result would have been the same, as the Dragonborn was a legendary figure in Nord legend and there was no telling what might happen if it was just her and Serana making their way through this place, before she focused on the enemies that were in front of them as she readied another arrow. Her reasoning for that was because another group of Falmer appeared on a bridge that was higher than where they were currently standing, one who didn't have any armor on over their chest, which meant she could take her target down with a well placed arrow to the chest, though when she spotted another Falmer, as in one with dark armor, she took off and removed it's head with her daggers. Based on what Amaryllis knew the enemies with this attire were some of the tougher ones, as their spells hurt and it was possible that they might do some serious damage to the others, so by taking it out she allowed Za'kera and the others to continue moving, where she resumed her own task and kept her eyes on the enemies that were scattered throughout the area they were currently moving through, loosing arrows to take out some of their enemies before they knew what was going on. Of course the one thing that came as a surprise to her was that they were heading straight for the side of a massive glacier, one that seemed to be blocking the way forward, save for the stream that seemed to cut through it, though based on her searches from the air she had no idea where the final wayshrine rested, so traversing the glacier seemed to be the best course of action.

Za'kera agreed with her as she listened to the information that they were given, even though Lydia and Sharva cut down some enemies that were in their way as Wind and the other ranged fighters took out another set of enemies with a spell or two, but she knew that they were likely going to run into some additional enemies inside the glacier, to which she and the others continued to push their way through the enemies that were in front of them before they finally reached the glacier's opening and headed inside.

The first thing they had to worry about was that the passage eventually changed into a flowing river of sorts, with floating bits of ice a fair distance in front of them, though everyone hugged the wall to their left and made their way into a rather massive chasm, where they currently right at the bottom, but there was no telling where the exit was and that meant they were going to have to fight their way through more Falmer before they found it. Sure enough they found a troll that was all by itself, who was in the middle of fighting two enemies, more Falmer to be exact, though in that moment they found out that the sound of them fighting was drawing the attention of the others in the area, so while the others dealt with the ongoing battle Amaryllis raised her bow and focused on the enemies that were resting on the other side of the chasm, as a fair number were coming towards them. In that moment she took out several Falmer, making sure to strike their hearts so they died either instantly or in a few seconds, allowing Za'kera and the others to focus on their enemies without having to worry about being overwhelmed, even though she knew that with the power of the Dragonborn on their side they had no reason to worry about anything right now, especially when her friend unleashed one of her Shouts, Unrelenting Force, and knocked the group of Falmer that happened to be in front of them into the wall behind them. Such a thing allowed the group to quickly take them out, with Amaryllis keeping her eye on everything else that was in this chasm, since she could sense more Falmer moving around the upper parts of the area, meaning more enemies were on their way to this part of the chasm, though once they were done clearing out their enemies the group resumed moving as Za'kera headed into the icy tunnel that had been carved into the glacier at one point in time.

As it turned out the icy tunnel brought them to one of the Falmer's traps, which they activated from afar so no one got hit by it, before walking out onto a thinner walkway that happened to have some crude guardrails that the Falmer must have set up at one point in the past, before totally losing their sight anyway, though Amaryllis continued to loose arrows at the enemies that were ahead of them, since this glacier seemed to have plenty of Falmer for them to fight, all while making sure to retrieve her arrows and anything of value that their foes had on their bodies.

Eventually they reached a path that had to be the end of the icy area that they had to pass through, since it was leading to what had to be the outside, and sure enough Amaryllis and everyone else discovered that they were in the outskirts of a Falmer valley, given all the structures that were in front of them, to which everyone sighed as Za'kera stepped up and cut one down as it emerged from one of the huts. In the following seconds Amaryllis loosed some arrows into the Falmer that were off in the distance and took her targets down without wasting time, allowing the others to focus on those who were in front of them, though they didn't have to worry about the more powerful magic Falmer, as those ones were slain due to Amaryllis's arrows, which she was thankful for since she really didn't want to contend with those foes. Wind, of course, did make sure to track down any staffs that might be in the hands of the Falmer, since they would be put to better use in the hands of their army, to be turned against the Thalmor, though that was secondary to blasting their enemies and making sure the path was clear so Za'kera, Lydia, and Sharva could deal with their melee enemies. Other than that they didn't have to worry about any Chaurus sneaking up on them or joining the battle, for a time anyway since when Amaryllis walked into a cave passage she found some along the way, as in the flying variety to be exact, though it didn't stop her and the others from slashing and blasting their way through their enemies as they followed the passage in question.

At the end of the tunnel, however, everyone smiled as they discovered the wayshrine that they were looking for, where the Prelate asked his question and Za'kera gave the answer without delay, allowing him to open it up so Wind could access the basin, though once that was done they headed down the rest of the path and paused for a moment as they found a rather large temple, the Temple of Auri-El, and knew that this quest was about to be over, and Amaryllis was ready to put Harkon behind them so they could focus on the cultists and Miraak.

Vampire: Auriel's Bow

"So this is the Temple of Auri-El, or the Inner Sanctum to be exact," Wind remarked, where they stepped forward and took a few moments to walk on a rather elegant stone bridge that was definitely of Snow Elven make, one that had withstood the passage of time and was still able to be used, though she sensed that if someone stuck it with magic in the right way it would collapse in no time.

"And there's a statue to him, using the older signs of his power," Serana commented, as she and the others walked up a set of stairs before reaching the courtyard of the structure that was their current destination, where a brass statue of an elven figure, who had a metallic sun attached to his body, greeted them as they entered the area, even though she found two sets of stairs leading up to a door behind it, "and, unless I'm seeing things, that seems to be where the door we need the ewer for is located."

Za'kera said nothing as they headed up the stairs and reached the area in question, finding an elegant locked door in front of them, one that had a sun emblem acting like a lock, with a sun symbol carved into the floor in front of it, where it had a set of three channels that water could flow through and was connected to a basin that happened to be on the other side of the platform. As Wind produced the ewer, however, Amaryllis found a crystal of some kind resting in the ceiling that was right above the symbol in the floor, which was likely enchanted to make sure no one tried to cheat the system, though as she thought about that everyone watched as Wind poured the contents of the ewer into the basin, where all of the water drained out into the channels. A few seconds later they watched as the water rushed down to where the symbol rested, as all of them expected after seeing all of this happen, and it gathered right in the center of the sun, though once it was full it glowed with a green light that seemed to come from the crystal and the lock started to spin before their eyes, only to come to a stop after some time with a click. In that moment Za'kera glanced at everyone else and made sure they were ready, as the moment she was sure they were prepared she opened the door and found that it brought them to a chamber that was fairly large, with a number of frozen Falmer scattered all over it, meaning Vyrthur must have frozen all of them at one time, before locking the final wayshrine and preventing Gelebor from accessing it to end his madness.

"Vyrthur must have done this, frozen them to keep himself safe," Wind remarked, speaking at the same time that Serana was thinking of saying something about the scene that was in front of them, though as she said that all of them found that a few of the frozen Falmer were carrying objects, as in swords, staves, scrolls, potions, and anything else that might have been in each of their hands when this happened, "I wouldn't touch them or try to take their items... they'll likely break free if something disturbs their icy prisons."

"Agreed, and if Vyrthur did this than we'll need all the power we can muster to beat him," Za'kera said, showing them that she understood what was being said, even though she glanced at one of the frozen Falmer for a moment as they walked by it, no doubt fearing that it might break free without them touching it, but nothing happened as she did that and the rest of the group was able to walk by them as well.

Amaryllis said nothing as they made their way to some cell like doors, as they had slots that one could look through, and found that it was easy to open them, with no resistance despite the fact that each of them should have been rusted by this point in time, meaning Vyrthur must have walked through his place while he was waiting for someone to arrive, mostly to pass the time and not stay on the balcony Gelebor had seen him on. The only thing that they saw were a number of rather old skeletons that were resting all over the place, thanks to the Falmer who attacked this place in the past, so everyone was able to keep their energy up without having to right anything, which they were thankful for after fighting the enemies of the Vale. Eventually, however, they tracked down a crack in the wall that seemed to be a tunnel, eventually bringing the lot of them to an area that seemed to be the end of the Inner Sanctum, where they found a passage to an area that had to be their final destination, an ice filled area that seemed to have a throne inside it, where the Arch-Curate likely rested as he spoke to those who came to talk with him. This meant they had tracked down Vyrthur at long last, where the Snow Elf had a nice suit of armor on that seemed more like a representation of his status, so nothing that could protect him, though as all of them dropped down into the area that was at the end of the tunnel, and gathered themselves for what was to come, Vyrthur shifted his head and glanced at where they were standing.

"He knows we're here." Amaryllis stated, as she could tell that he was staring at all of them, even though there was a good distance between them and where he was sitting, though Za'kera nodded her head for a moment as she noticed that was well, where she drew her weapons and kept them at the ready, because it seemed like they were going to have a fight on their hands to get the bow.

In that moment everyone drew their weapons and walked into the chamber in question, where they quickly discovered a few more frozen Falmer and frozen Chaurus scattered around this place, and sure enough everyone found Vyrthur sitting on the throne with a smirk on his face, though his eyes had a similar sense of power that reminded Amaryllis of vampires and made her wonder what was going on.

"Did you really come here expecting to claim Auriel's Bow?" the Snow Elf, Vyrthur, inquired, his tone confirming that he had a bit of smugness right now, no doubt expecting someone to have come to this place at some point in time and now they were here, where he glanced at them and focused on one of them, Serana based on what Amaryllis was seeing, "You've done exactly as I predicted and brought your fetching companion to me."

"Wait a minute... is he talking about me?" Serana asked, because that was weird when she thought about it, even though it was possible that he could have been talking about Lynthia as well, given that she was presenting herself more than most of the vampires they had seen in the past, though at the same time she readied her own weapon, since they wanted the bow he was guarding.

"Which, I'm sorry to say, means the usefulness of you and your companions is at an end!" Vyrthur stated, where he took a moment to snap his fingers and suddenly the frozen enemies started to break out of their prisons, taking a second to look at the area before seeing Amaryllis and her companions, drawing their frozen weapons as he continued to sit on his stone throne with the smug look on his face.

In that moment Amaryllis switched to her daggers as she and the others swung their weapons at their enemies, slicing into the frozen Falmer while Wind and Serana focused on blasting each of them with magic, though what she found to be very interesting was that each one shattered into a thousand pieces after a hit or two, meaning they were brittle after so long after being trapped in a frozen prison. Vyrthur seemed to think that this was amusing in some manner, as if he could crush all of them with a wave of his hand and the magic he had access to, all while the last of the frozen Falmer smashed out of their prisons and attacked them, including the enemies that had been trapped back in the start of the sanctum, though it didn't do anything to Za'kera and the others as they smashed through their enemies. After that Vyrthur seemed to use his power to smash part of the ceiling while calling forth several Frost Atronachs to do battle with them, where Amaryllis took one out by stabbing it, the melee fighters smashed two more to pieces, and their mages blasted the others with Fireballs and Lightning Bolts, showing the Snow Elf that they were ready for anything and anything he could throw at them. Once all of their enemies were taken care of, and everyone regrouped in the middle of the chamber, their foe frowned before he gathered his power, where the icicles were torn from their places and shifted so each one would point at them, where they found that Wind stepped forward and channeled her power into a magical barrier around them, which was timed nicely as Vyrthur let loose his magic and smashed this section of the Inner Sanctum to pieces.

With the back blown out, revealing a good balcony with a locked wayshrine at the base, Vyrthur departed and retreated to the furthest part of his section of the ruined building, limping after burning through a good portion of his power, though as Za'kera and Serana stood on either side of him, with the others around them while Amaryllis and Wind stayed in the air for a time, he seemed to realize how screwed he was.

"Enough, Vyrthur." Serana stated, where she and the others stared at the weakened Snow Elf, who wasn't as strong as any of them had assumed he would be when they heard that he was the Arch-Curate, meaning it was a position acquired due to knowledge or something, since magical strength didn't seem to be part of claiming this position, given that Wind wasn't even tired yet, but she had special training from Ma'jera no doubt, "You've lost... not that you had a chance to begin with, not with the group we have. It's time we ended this and claim Auriel's Bow!"

"How dare you! I was the Arch-Curate of Auri-El, girl." Vyrthur replied, showing them that he was enraged by the fact that Serana didn't see him as a threat, which Amaryllis understood since she had seen several Demiprinces so far and knew all of them were far stronger than her and the majority of the people she knew, including herself and her parents, "I had the ears of a god!"

"Yes, until the 'Betrayed' corrupted you... please spare us the story, we've already heard it." Lynthia commented, showing them that she really didn't care about Vyrthur, and when Amaryllis thought about it she was sure that Molag's daughter could deal with the Arch-Curate on his own, she was only limiting herself to not discourage Za'kera from her path or from her destiny, while her body language also showed that she didn't care about him.

"Gelebor and his kind are easily manipulated fools... just as all of you are." Vyrthur stated, something that caused Lynthia to just stop for a moment, as it was unwise for someone to call the child of a Daedric Prince a fool, before he focused on the one person that he was interested in, ignoring everyone else for the time being, "Look into my eyes, Serana... surely y can tell your foolish companions what I am."

"You... you're a vampire!?" Serana said, sounding surprised by this information, even though she easily detected Lynthia after waking up, despite the fact that Amaryllis figured it out by looking into her eyes, but this confirmed the sensation that both she and Wind had felt earlier, when they stared at Vyrthur, before she considered what this meant, "But Auriel should have protected you..."

"The moment I was infected by one of my own Initiates, Auri-El turned his back on me." Vyrthur replied, either referring to those who swarmed into this place and killed almost all of the Snow Elves that had called this place home, or some time before such a thing happened, though right now it didn't matter since it was ancient history, "I swore I'd have my revenge, no matter what the cost."

"You want to take revenge... on a god?" Wind asked, because that sounded insane, as they had seen what the children of the Daedric Princes and Divines were capable of in the past, especially Sheogorath's daughter and they had barely seen a fraction of her power, not to mention Hermaeus Mora's daughter, so trying to take revenge on a god seemed like one of the most daft ideas she had heard so far.

"Auri-El himself may have been beyond my reach, but his influence on our world wasn't." Vyrthur stated, where he took a moment to glance at the closed wayshrine, showing them that the bow had to be trapped inside the structure and that his magic was likely keeping it in this position so Gelebor couldn't come to deal with him, before focusing on them again, with a look of hate in his eyes, "All I needed was the blood of a vampire and his own weapon, Auriel's Bow."

"The blood of a vampire... Auriel's Bow... it was you? You created the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy?" Serana asked, as that happened to be the name of the prophecy her father had discovered, according to her mother anyway, though it also let the others know just how insane Vyrthur was, not that they were surprised at this point in time, and she seemed ready to lash out at him the moment they were done talking.

"A prophecy that lacked a single, final ingredient... the blood of a pure vampire." Vyrthur replied, where he seemed to be very proud of what he had accomplished, even though he hadn't gained anything yet, and he even stood straight before walking up to where Serana stood, confirming his words, "The blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour, to be exact... which is coursing through your veins."

"You were waiting... all this time for someone with my blood to come along." Serana said, finally putting together the rest of the puzzle for herself, since Valerica had given them some good information on this prophecy, or her understanding of it, where she gripped Vyrthur's neck and lifted him into the air, showing them that she was annoyed with him, not that the others were surprised, "Well, too bad for you... I intend on keeping it. Let's see if your blood has any power to it!"

As she threw Vyrthur backwards something seemed to catch him and he appeared to explode in a flash of light, as if they were being blessed by Auri-El in some manner, though as Vyrthur regained himself the group didn't give him a chance to even take a breath as each one struck him in some way, either with blades, a mace head, a battleaxe digging into his side, or spells hitting his chest, before he collapsed dead on the balcony... leading to the wayshrine opening behind them, which confirmed the fact that he was dead.

"It would seem that the deed has been done." a voice said, where everyone regrouped in front of the wayshrine and found that Gelebor had crossed over to this section of the massive Chantry, though, as Amaryllis expected, he was saddened by the death of his brother, even though Vyrthur didn't share that feeling when she and the others thought about it, before he focused on them again, "I knew that you were successful when the portal of the final wayshrine appeared in the one I opened for you... it also means that the Betrayed no longer have control over my brother."

"About that. Vyrthur wasn't being controlled by the Betrayed... rather, he controlled them, as he had been turned into a vampire by an initiate," Za'kera replied, as she figured that Gelebor deserved the truth, even though it would pain him to learn that his brother wanted to take revenge on one of the Snow Elven gods, that he betrayed his own faith and was far too willing to do untold damage to their world if he had been successful.

"A vampire? I see, that would explain much of what I saw." Gelebor commented, once more reminding them that he had spent so long studying his brother's movements and what the Betrayed were doing at the same time, though he let a faint smile grace his face, meaning he must have considered something else when he heard those words, "Deep inside, it brings me joy that the Betrayed weren't to blame for what happened here, for it means that there's still hope that they might one day shed their hatred and learn to believe in Auri-El once again. It's been a long time since I felt that way and it's been long overdue... you have my thanks, all of you, for this deed. And now, the prize for your efforts: Auriel's Bow."

In that moment the air above the basin of the final wayshrine shuddered before an elegant bow, far more elegant than the ancient Falmer one that Amaryllis was carrying right now, appeared for them to see, one that looked like it had been made out of silver or something, as she could tell that it was totally godlike and far beyond what a mortal could make, and due to it being the personal weapon of Auri-El himself it had to be deadly to the undead.

"Auriel's Bow, it's... well, to be honest, it's not as shiny as I expected it to be," Serana remarked, though at this point in time Amaryllis was sure that the vampires didn't care about certain things and liked to insult whatever they wanted, sort of like how Lynthia insulted everyone around her while Serana seemed to focus on doing the same for artifacts and things that didn't fit her point of view.

"Still, we have the tools to stop Harkon's prophecy," Za'kera said, where she held a hand out and the bow floated down to where she was standing, allowing her to grasp it and marvel at the craftsmanship that went into making this weapon, as it was a piece of art and she knew that it was far beyond what anyone else could make, a weapon she handed over to the one person she trusted with their artifacts, giving Amaryllis a chance to store it with the three Elder Scrolls, where she took a moment to turn towards the portal back to Skyrim, "Come, let us return to the fort and see if we can talk some sense into our arrogant vampire lord... if not, well, we'll take him out and move onto Miraak."

Amaryllis smiled for a moment as they stepped through the portal and returned to Darkfall Cave, leaving Gelebor to put up his wards or whatever it was he was going to do now that he had control over the Inner Sanctum and the rest of the Chantry, meaning they could turn their attention to putting an end to Harkon's plans and then focus their attention on the last threat before starting the war that would reshape this world by the time it was finally over.

Vampire: Dealing with Harkon

Upon their return to Darkfall Cave, or Gelebor's former camp to be exact, the group stepped out and Za'kera found a path nearby that lead back to the abandoned camp that someone had set up at some point in the past, as there was a lever for one to pull and it raised a stone section of the wall to reveal the camp, before they found another one that lead back up to the entrance of the cave. When they emerged from Darkfall Cave, however, everyone was surprised by the fact that there were no vampires or their thralls waiting for them outside it, as in Harkon had no idea where they went and hadn't sent any of his forces to stop them, allowing Amaryllis to smile for once since this gave them a chance to rest before worrying about whatever was going to be thrown at them. As such they climbed back onto the carriage, which would have told anyone where they were operating, before Lydia got them on the road once more, even though they had to backtrack to Dragon Bridge, since it was the only road leading out of this section of Skyrim, but it did give them some time to think about what was going to happen next, as while Serana was resolved to kill her father, and end his madness, Za'kera had other ideas on what to do. For right now she didn't say anything to them, mostly to think about what needed to be done before speaking her mind on the matter, which Amaryllis and Wind were fine with since they could fly off the moment she was ready for all of them to do what she had in mind, as when she said fort they knew she meant their base of operations and not the fort that Isran and the Dawnguard called home.

When they reached Dragon Bridge, however, they found a trio of vampires bothering some of the locals for information on where their targets might be, them to be exact, and sure enough they attacked the carriage as soon as they noticed who was coming towards them, where Lydia wasted no time in dropping the reins of the horses before leaping into the air, swinging her battleaxe down into one of the vampires, with Amaryllis taking another out with an arrow as Wind knocked the third down with a Fireball to the chest.

"Harkon's still looking for us... that's to be expected at this point." Za'kera remarked, waiting for a few seconds to be sure that all three of the attackers were taken care of, and Amaryllis gathered the loot that was on them, before Lydia started down the road once more, causing her to glance at the others for a moment as she decided to speak her mind, even if she was waiting till they got on the bridge before doing so, "Amaryllis, I want you to head back to Castle Volkihar and inform Lord Harkon that his plans are at an end, along with the fact that I am willing to speak with him and Isran, to form a truce between them so we can stop his madness... Wind, I want you to do the same thing, only you're heading back to Fort Dawnguard to tell Isran the news, and that I want him and a few of his most loyal followers to join us in the fort that our army is gathering in. If luck is on our side we'll be able to get the two of them to stop this pointless conflict, and maybe the existence of our army might convince them to join up with us... if not, well, then we'll kill Harkon and see if whoever takes his place is willing to listen to reason."

Amaryllis nodded as she and Wind took off, her friend heading for Fort Dawnguard as she headed for the castle again, to which she silently hoped that it would be the last time she came to this place, since traveling to it took a while and they really didn't have the time to be dealing with Harkon, not when there was a chance that the Aldmeri Dominion could find out about what they were up to and smash them before they were ready. Upon her return to the castle, which was close to where she had separated from Za'kera, she found something interesting, the gate was down and someone happened to be standing outside, Vingalmo based on what she was seeing, who frowned at her as she landed in front of him, where she stated her intentions before he even asked the question. The advisor stood there before sighing, where he headed inside his Lord's castle for some time and she remained standing out there, mostly to see if there was going to be a response to Za'kera's desires, since it would be nice if the vampire lord figured out that he was beaten and that he had no hope of even winning at this point in time, not with the enemies that were arrayed against him. A few minutes later Harkon came out of his castle and informed her that no lesser being could command a creature of his stature, in fact he believed that not even the Dragonborn could do such a thing, causing her to remind him that Za'kera was Akatosh's chosen champion and that made her higher than him, especially when the Demiprinces were above him as well, to which Harkon stared at her for the next few seconds before informing her that he would be at the fort in due time.

Once that was done she opened her wings and took off without delay, allowing her to head back to the fort so she could meet up with Za'kera so they could figure out what needed to be done next, since there was the civil war to deal with as well, though given everything else that was going on she was sure that it was only a matter of time until more children of the gods showed up. Of course she found Za'kera's carriage and flew down to it, telling her that Harkon, against all odds, was agreeing to come to the fort, but given his nature it would likely be by the end of the day or the start of the next one before he arrived, so they would have time to make sure Isran's group was ready before having to deal with the vampire lord, though they hoped that he would see reason at last and not be foolish. Valerica would have to remain out of sight, as it might stir him into action against them if he saw her, even if Serana wished that such a thing wasn't true, but there was a chance that if a fight broke out she might join them in bringing down her husband, so it was something for them to think about as Za'kera considered everything that needed to be said when they reached the fort. Other than that it looked like all of the enemies that were normally on the road had been cleared out, allowing everyone to rest once more as they road down a familiar road and headed for Whiterun once more, even though there was a chance that Wind would catch up with them before they even reached the fort in question.

What they discovered was that they were able to reach the fort and found that Wind was waiting for them, with the army in the middle of training outside, though at the same time Durum was standing near an opening that was closing, one that seemed to be to her plane of Oblivion or something, or maybe to a portal that lead to her father's realm, and Kya was off to the side with a frown on her face.

"I've slain a number of Thalmor, though she's captured the others and... converted them." Kya said, speaking once Za'kera and the others came to where she was standing, once more leaving the carriage outside for when they needed to use it in the future, though her words informed them that Durum was transforming the captured Thalmor into Moomer, as odd as that sounded when they thought about it, "Skyrim's free of enemies, in terms of the Dominion."

"Lady Durum, maybe you should stop it with the wand, as you've been a little crazy with it," Wind stated, as she had been able to rejoin the group before they reached the fort and inform them that Isran was on his way, meaning if Harkon came to attack them they would have some reinforcements to deal with him, though the reason she had said that was due to the fact that Sheogorath's daughter loved her Moomer Wand far too much, "I mean, what are the other leaders going to think of Za'kera and her army if they see a bunch of cow people suddenly spring up in our fort?"

The mad Demiprince, however, didn't seem to agree with that statement as she turned her head and noticed that the rest of their group had arrived, something that caused her to turn on them for a moment as she used the Moomer Wand, as it fired off two bursts and the first struck Wind in the chest before she was able to move. Amaryllis wasted no time as she rushed forward and punching the mad Demiprince with an uppercut, knocking Durum onto her back and, as she quickly discovered, put her to sleep, allowing her to take the wand before turning her focus on Wind. Sure enough Wind moaned as the wand's power seized control of her body, where her breasts grew in size, her ears twisted into cow ears as a pair of horns followed, her hooves and tail became a cow's hooves and tail, her hands turned into hooves, and the udder grew out before all the cow fur and spots appeared all over her body. As she started to leak milk, however, Amaryllis pulled up the wand and withdrew the curse from her friend, as she suspected that intercepting the changes before they were done might lock the target into another form that wasn't their original, and lowered it once her friend was back to normal.

With that done she focused on where the other burst of magic had wandered off to and found that it had been targeting Za'kera, though, to her amazement, her friend wasn't shaking like Wind had been when she transformed, rather Lydia was the one shaking. In that moment she understood what had happened, the Housecarl had intercepted the magic to ensure her Thane was untouched by the Mad Demiprince's scheme, and, to be sure Za'kera remained unharmed, she moved to the side for a moment before things got started. As Amaryllis expected a pair of cow horns grew out of the sides of Lydia's head, her ears quickly became cow ears, a cow's tail grew out of her spine and, to Amaryllis' amazement, bent some of the metal of the chest piece she was wearing, before her leggings shook before breaking open to reveal her new cow legs and hooves. As few moments later Lydia's fingers merged into two thick fingers and a thumb, with hardened hoof-like nails, to which she pulled off her chest armor, revealing the ragged clothing she wore below it, as her chest enlarged, coming to a stop at the size Amaryllis was familiar with, before moaning as she tended to the remainder of her now ruined leggings, due to her udder growing in.

Once that was done the last of her changes happened as cow fur washing over her body, complete with black spots, and her face pushed into a cow's muzzle, just like what happened to those affected by this terrible curse, though as she let out a huff, to show her exhaustion, Amaryllis could see the small beads of milk starting to form, another thing that everyone affected by this terrible curse dealt with.

"Don't worry, I can reverse this," Amaryllis said, where she lifted the Moomer Wand once more and started to channel the power that was inside it, or at least she tried to since it suddenly died in her hand and the light faded, causing them all to glance at it as she raised her eyebrow for a moment, since this wasn't what she was expecting to discover when she tried to use it again, "Okay... that wasn't supposed to happen."

"It's because the core of my power has changed." Durum replied, to which they turned towards her for a moment as she picked herself up, though the interesting thing was that she had moved her hair over her right eye and let them see her left eye, the gray one that seemed weird to Amaryllis, though as she stood up Lynthia seemed to stall for a moment, not to mention that Ma'jera dropped down into the area as Diane joined them.

"Great, you woke her up... the Right Hand of Jyggalag." Ma'jera commented, her voice sounding like she was annoyed, no doubt because of what Amaryllis had done, even though she wasn't planning on waking up another side of the Mad God's daughter, though Durum paid them no attention as the Wabbajack floated nearby and she called forth a crystalline sword, not to mention some gauntlets that were silver that looked like crystal, "Back before Sheogorath was created there was a Daedric Prince named Jyggalag, the Prince of Order, and my father and the others cursed him with the Curse of Madness, thus creating Sheogorath, though they also gave him a period known that came to be known as the Greymarch to cleanse the Shivering Isles and weaken the reborn Jyggalag so the curse would seize him, to prevent him from laying claim to what he was after. Before he was cursed, and took on his twisted responsibilities, he had a daughter who had no name, though I and the other godly children knew her as the Right Hand of Jyggalag, who was cursed at the same time as her father... and the end result was Durum."

"Wait, if her father is Jyggalag... well, one of them anyway... then why didn't she flee with him when he was separated from Sheogorath during the end of the last era?" Wind asked, showing them that she was fine with the sudden surge that had washed over her body and that she had been returned to her true form with no negative side effects, though Za'kera was tending to Lydia, who was getting used to her new body while wearing some enlarged clothing that Ma'jera conjured for her to wear, since her armor no longer fit.

"Because, despite my deeds in His name... I prefer Sheogorath as my father," Durum replied, where she paused for a few moments as she stared at the Wabbajack, no doubt wishing that her own curse would reactivate and trap her in her own insanity once more, and since that wasn't happening she was forced to remain in this state, to which she turned towards all of them for a few seconds, "hence why I didn't leave when Jyggalag fled, as while he is technically my father, I grew to love his other side, the one the other Princes gave him, so when Order left I stayed with the Madness that was Sheogorath merging with the one who manteled him. My power is determined by which side is in control, my Order side or my Mad side, and since you knocked my Mad side out my... unwanted side... has been awakened, so that cursed artifact won't work until my Madness wakes up and takes control once more."

"Thank you for trying to fix this, but I'll make this work," Lydia stated, showing them that she wasn't about to let a curse like this stop her from performing her duties as Za'kera's bodyguard, where she shifted her weight and walked around like she wasn't bothered by her new hooves, or the weight of the udder or her enlarged breasts, before drawing her battleaxe, as if she had normal fingers, and showing them that she was still a capable warrior, "this warrior will bare any curse to ensure that her Thane's vision for the future is made real!"

Amaryllis had to admit that Lydia was either courageous or a fool, it was hard to tell with her at times since she had a habit of charging into battle without a single thought, but if she was willing to make this work, and not curse the gods for even allowing this to happen, she guessed that she didn't have a reason to deny her companion her desire, allowing her to turn her focus to stopping Harkon and his dark plans.

It took some time, as it was well into the night, but eventually their guests arrived outside their fort, as in both Isran and Harkon, along with their chosen followers, arrived at the same time, where they stared at each other for a few seconds as Amaryllis and Wind greeted them, everyone else having retreated to the keep that served as Za'kera's seat of power, or at least it was according to what Ma'jera created earlier. When they entered the main chamber she found her friend sitting in the chair that had been prepared for her, at the head of a table since she wanted to be civil when talking with those who needed to be talked to, though behind Za'kera stood the unarmored Lydia, causing Harkon to raise an eyebrow in was no doubt amusement, while Isran seemed confused. Of course they were like that, as this was the first time either of them had seen a Moomer and they weren't entirely sure what to make of it, even if the ancient vampire seemed to think that it worked in his benefit, how Amaryllis had no idea and she wasn't about to think about it. Once everyone was inside the building, and the pair were escorted over to the table, their companions stood behind them as Wind moved over to where her mentor stood, while Amaryllis walked over and took her place in Za'kera's shadow, a blade guarding her from the shadows, while she kept their eyes on both of the figures she wanted to talk to.

Other than that it appeared that Durum was standing off on another side, with the rest of the godly children making sure that she didn't lash out at them now that her orderly side had been awakened again, an odd fact when Amaryllis thought about it, but for now she was more interested in making sure Harkon did nothing while he was here, other than falling in with Alduin and the others who were following Za'kera.

"Here we are, just as you asked," Isran said, while at the same time Sorine and Galmar glanced over at Harkon, Vingalmo, and a male Nord vampire called Orthjolf, showing Amaryllis that they had to be uneasy with the fact that they were close to the one that they wanted to kill, even if they kept their hands near their weapons, just in case a battle broke out in the near future, "So tell us, why have you called us to this place?"

"Because they claim to have found Auriel's Bow," Harkon stated, his tone showing them that he didn't care that much and that he didn't believe a word of what Amaryllis had said when she came to his castle, though not a few seconds later he let out a chuckle as he turned his focus back to Lydia for a moment, who simply stared at him with an unimpressed look on her face, "and look at this, they're resorting to employing bestial creatures like this! It's amusing that they think we would believe that they have such a legendary and important artifact, one that could change the course of this world, when we're presented with such a thing."

"She might be a Moomer now, but she's a Nord at heart," Amaryllis replied, though she took a moment to silently call her personal chest back and reached into it without delay, where it wasn't long before everyone watched as she pulled Auriel's Bow out and nocked one of the arrows, to which some flames danced around it, an illusion of the sun no doubt since they didn't do anything to her hand, something that she made sure was pointed in Harkon's direction, "and we weren't lying, we do have Auriel's Bow in our possession. Let me tell you something, we found the Elder Scroll detailing how a Dragonborn might be able to bring down Alduin, and instead of using it we struck a bargain with Akatosh's son... we now have Auri-El's own weapon, but don't think that for a moment that we won't use it."

"We want peace, Harkon, and to do that we need you and the Dawnguard to stop this chaos," Za'kera continued, though as she said that she knew that the pair and their companions likely thought she was lying since she had an army outside, preparing for war, so she wanted to dispel whatever thoughts they might have on this situation, least a battle break out in the near future, "I'm sure that all of you are aware of the Thalmor and their operations in Skyrim, all in the name of the Aldmeri Dominion, and let me explain things to you: they're planning on destroying the world, by finding and destroying the Stones of the Towers that are scattered throughout this continent, such as the White-Gold Tower. Right now they are setting their sights on Skyrim to find the Stone connected to the Snow Tower, which is safe according to our allies, but they are also seeking to maintain the civil war to weaken whichever side emerges victorious... right now, they are the enemies of all living creatures, and that means your own war is meaningless. If you are willing to join us, and help write the next chapter in our world's history and go down as heroes, we'll put Auriel's Bow away and focus on liberating the provinces of Tamriel, building a true army that can deal with the Aldmeri Dominion, before they succeed in their plans and unmake this world... if you aren't willing to help us, well..."

"You'll destroy us, both the Order of the Day and our Court," Harkon finished, showing them that he wasn't as foolish or as stupid as many of them originally claimed, though it might have something to do with Amaryllis holding Auriel's Bow, not to mention having an arrow at the ready as she focused on him and Isran, to which he paused for a moment and glanced at the assembled group that was in this chamber, recalling that the Dragonborn had several Demiprinces on her side, so he knew this was a fight he couldn't win, before letting out a sigh of defeat, "Very well, I will return to the castle and inform my followers of our union, that we'll be fighting the Aldmeri Dominion in due time... that ought to excite a few of them, as some hate the Thalmor, though they'll probably be hoping for the Dawnguard to fall in battle."

"Funny, we'll likely be hoping for the same with your Court," Isran replied, showing them that some steps were needed to make sure the two leaders, not to mention their forces, didn't cause trouble for the rest of the army, since disharmony in such a force would no doubt cause disaster for all of them at some point in time, though a single glance from Za'kera was enough to cause the two Lords to stop their bickering and made them bow a little before leaving.

In that moment, however, Amaryllis realized something about the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy, one of the lines told of how a 'dread lord would rise' and that 'darkness would mingle with light', where she knew that the latter, in Vyrthur's own twisted mind, had been for the day and the night to become one, but here it held another meaning, that the forces of light and dark would join together, at the command of the 'Dread Lord'. Za'kera, of course, didn't want to see herself in such a light, though from the perspective of the Aldmeri Dominion she would be seen as such when they heard the news of what she had done, that Alduin and the dragons heeded her call, that the vampires and Dawnguard were on her side, and, if she was right, so too would all of Skyrim side with her, old hatreds falling to dust in the light of the world ending. In addition to that there was also the threat of Miraak that they had to deal with, a servant of Hermaeus Mora, and whatever was waiting for them on the island of Solstheim, so Amaryllis suspected that by the time they reached the end of their visit to Miraak's domain they would have an army that even their enemies would fear, to the point where Za'kera would likely be labeled as a 'Dread Lord' in the Dominion's history books. Of course that wasn't counting anything else that might happened before they were ready to start the true war for Tamriel, but she was sure that, when everything was said and done, they would have a force capable to dealing with their enemies and save this world, but they needed to be careful, as one wrong move would spell the end of their planning.

Amaryllis smiled for a moment as Harkon and Isran departed from the fort, as it seemed that things were moving forward and that soon Za'kera would have everything she needed to go to war with their enemies, but first they had to deal with the civil war and whatever else was plaguing Skyrim, before worrying about Solstheim, and she had a feeling that the war between the Imperials and Stormcloaks would be over soon, they just had to be patient.

Interlude: A Stranger's Plea

Amaryllis, Wind, and the others spent the rest of the night resting from their adventure in the Forgotten Vale, as Serana liked to call the hidden place all of them had spent some time in, especially since they needed it after everything they went through to get their hands on Auriel's Bow, which had been returned to Amaryllis' summonable chest, safely stored away with the Elder Scrolls they had collected so far. Durum and Lynthia, on the other hand, remained at the ready, which was understandable due to the fact that Demiprinces and Demigods were different from the mortals of Nirn, while Ma'jera kept up her work in her tower and Diane seemed to be communing with nature while waiting for morning to arrive, though with four godly children on their side everyone knew people would be insane to attack them. Of course that wasn't counting any additional allies that were watching over the fort right now, since Amaryllis knew that there had to be more out there, in the vastness of this world, and that they were waiting for the moment to reveal themselves to Za'kera, so until that point they had to be careful. Ma'jera's information suggested that there was one more godly child in Skyrim right now, that being Raven, who they met back in Riften when they were searching for Esbern, and that she was the daughter of Nocturnal, the Daedric Prince whose Sphere was night and darkness, though despite that Amaryllis knew there were others out there and that they would be revealed in due time.

When morning arrived they got to work making sure their army was preparing well, that there were no problems with how they moved or fought, even though it appeared that most of them seemed to be doing well, and while they did that they found a surprise waiting for them outside the fortress, a force of Imperials and a force of Stormcloaks had gathered, with both Tullius and Ulfric standing nearby, along with Balgruuf and the remaining Jarls, including the cowified Elisif.

What Amaryllis discovered was that her suspicions had been correct, the other Holds had been watching them and now, after finding a way to subdue the dragons and stop the vampires, many of the Jarls were thinking of speaking with the one responsible for the sudden shift in power in Skyrim, while Tullius and Ulfric didn't desire a war on three fronts if Za'kera wished such a thing. This was, in essence, a peace talk of sorts, to figure out what Za'kera was doing and what they might gain from not annoying her or her growing allies, especially when they learned that a few of them were the children of the gods, be they Divine or Daedric Prince, and, as Amaryllis expected, Raven was with their visitors, even though she walked over to Ma'jera and the others upon her arrival. Of course this time around she didn't have to do much, in fact her task at the moment was to stand in Amaryllis' shadow and observe without being seen, while Lydia stood off to the side, finding that some of their guests were surprised by her new form, including Balgruuf, though new armor was being made for her and they were hoping that it would be done before they decided to head to Solstheim. The others were scattered around the meeting hall, observing the discussion that was taking place right now, and with Wind taking notes on what was being said it meant that Amaryllis really had the easy gig, she just had to stay in the shadow of Za'kera's throne, allowing her to stare out at everyone while next to no one could see her, save for the godly children and Wind.

While they were talking a courier came in and informed Wind, who was standing near the entrance, that he had a letter for Za'kera, where Amaryllis appeared nearby, much to his surprise, and claimed the letter, allowing her to slip back into the shadows while she read it, finding that it was a letter from someone called Skorvild and that this was more of a plea for help, which caught her attention. The man wrote that he did unspeakable things that he regretted and that he had found out about something that he couldn't write about in this piece of paper, no doubt in the fear that it might fall into evil's hands, and referenced both the Oblivion Crisis and the very fate of this world, which interested her a little, especially when she thought about her own opinions on the Prophecy of the Dragonborn. Apparently the speaker thought that it would be far safer for them to speak face to face, instead of conversing by letter, and that he wanted to speak with them at at area in the plains of Whiterun, at a small shrine to Stendarr that rested between Fort Greymoor and Rorikstead, though while he waited for their arrival he intended on revealing his sins to his god's shrine. While their guests were discussing points with each other, and were allowing Za'kera a small break before she delved into another round of conversation, Amaryllis told her friend about the letter and what Skorvild wanted, something that caused Za'kera to sigh before silently asked her to go out and figure out what was going on, as she trusted her judgement, especially after everything they had done since meeting up with each other some time ago.

As such Amaryllis departed while none of the guests were looking, giving the illusion that she was still there, and found her way outside, where she shifted into her true form and took off without delay, allowing her to head to the west as she took a moment to think about the map of the Hold she was in, where she pinpointed Fort Greymoor and Rorikstead before she started her search for her destination.

The shrine, as she discovered sometime later, was an area that was out of the way, between two caves and resting in some hills, which had a four stone pillars resting in a square formation on a perfect stone platform, the front two intact with the back two smashed to pieces, and it wasn't long before she found the shrine that was connected to Stendarr, as it was on a pedestal in the middle of the platform. When she neared the structure she landed behind one of the pillars, since it didn't look like Skorvild had arrived yet, and shifted into her Khajiit disguise once more, though in that moment she heard what sounded like someone running towards the structure, where she found a Nord running her way, which was followed by a Lightning Bolt rushing through the air and smashing into his back. She had to assume he was Skorvild, given the area that they were in, and he didn't move after his head collided with the stones of the platform, though his assailants surprised Amaryllis for a moment, as they were red robed figures, one a Dark Elf and another an Argonian, clothing she recognized from what was in that small house in Dawnstar, the Museum of the Mythic Dawn. Such a thing told her everything she had to know, the note had been right and it looked like Dagon's cult was working while they were trying to save the world, but as soon as she figured that out both of her foes noticed her standing behind the pillar and lashed out with Fireballs, likely to force her into the open so they could end a potential threat to their plans.

Unfortunately for them they were facing the wrong foe, as it took Amaryllis a few seconds to figure out where they were in this area and react accordingly, where she found that they had separated from each other to make sure she didn't have a chance to escape, to which she slipped into the shadows and appeared behind the Argonian as he moved behind some of the rocks that were in this area. He paused for a moment as he found her standing behind him, or rather himself since she used her abilities to make it look like he was the spitting image of the figure in front of her, and before he could move his hands she struck first, stabbing the Argonian in the head with Mehrunes' Razor and pushed his body to the ground, but as soon as he was done she cleaned her blade, sheathed it, and emerged like she was him. Sure enough her other foe had no idea that she had taken on the form of his partner, in fact he even shifted his hands like he wanted her to help him with a pincer attack on where she had been standing when they first found her, to which she nodded, making him think that all was well, before shifting into his form when he was out of sight, something that allowed her to frighten her target when he turned around one of the pillars. She lashed out with the Blade of Woe before he had a chance to fight back, driving it into his chest and knocking him to the ground as well, though as she did that Amaryllis had to admit that the remnants of the Mythic Dawn were rather lackluster, easy to take down, but part of her had a feeling that these were just some of the new recruits, fodder in some sense, and that the stronger ones were in hiding.

With that done, and she was sure that no more people were showing up, she quickly searched the bodies and found that the Mythic Dawn had some expensive jewelry on them, which she collected for later, and a letter telling the pair to track down any traitors to their mission, namely Skorvild, though a few seconds later she found that Skorvild had a journal that had a fair number of pages in it. According to the journal the legends of the destruction of the Mythic Dawn had been true up until a year ago, where someone named Vanos apparently heard whispers, no doubt from Dagon, and it lead him to a long buried temple of the cult, one that, according to what she was reading, housed a ruined Oblivion Gate, which was the name of the portals Dagon's forces used to march on Tamriel. Skorvild, at the time, had been tempted by the promise of power and joined the cult, where they dug up all sorts of gate fragments from across Skyrim, where the Nord mentioned that the Gate had been rebuilt and that Vanos, a master of conjuration magic, had been working tirelessly to open it, while his followers were required to offer their blood as part of a sacrifice, for Vanos' pact, to cleanse the Gate, and Skorvild even offered up Sune, his brother, something that eventually caused him to return to reality. As an acolyte the Nord didn't have the right to the greater information all of his superiors had, but he did know that the cult was looking for an artifact, likely a power source for the reforged Gate, and that the information they needed could be found in an excavation camp to the southwest of Ivarstead, while the exact location of Vanos' Gate wasn't listed, so she would need to find someone who had that information.

After reading that information, however, she thought about it for a moment and decided to check out the camp, as there was no reason for her to worry Za'kera just yet, because if she had the location of the Gate they could march on the cult with an army, or just their elite force and Ma'jera, who could use her power to close it, to which she shifted into her true form and took off once more, this time heading for an area near Ivarstead.

The camp in question was off the main road that people used to travel from Helgen to Ivarstead, where she found three more members of the Mythic Dawn hanging around their site, two by the campfire and the other stood in a tent, no doubt going over some notes about something, and, once more, she found that all of their races varied, a female Khajiit, a male Bosmer, and a female Wood Elf, where she took a few moments to study them before attacking. Once more she used the tactic of showing them their own faces, though this time around she added a smokescreen spell to the mix, making it hard for them to figure out where she was while she used her Changeling abilities to sense who was who, giving her a chance to change into who she was confronting before actually approaching them. Her first target was the Bosmer, as he had magic at the ready and that might cause some problems for her, so she appeared before him and pulled him into the smoke as she finished him off, taking a moment to make sure neither of his companions noticed anything as she tracked down her next target, the Wood Elf, who was surprised to see a mirror image of herself appear before her death. With that done she focused on taking out the last of her enemies and found the Khajiit on the edge of the smokescreen, no doubt thinking about fleeing before she was caught, not that it mattered since she took on her form and cut her down before she had a change to fight back, and with her abilities Amaryllis knew that no more enemies were near the camp.

After clearing out the smokescreen she walked over to the tent and smiled as she found a journal, no doubt belonging to the leader of this group, and opened it without delay, where she found that it spoke of piercing the Liminal Barrier, which must be keeping the Daedra out of Nirn, and that two of Dagon's Valkyn, Gatanas and Methats, were waiting to march on their Lord's orders. Amaryllis, given her lack of knowledge on the forces of Oblivion, had to assume that the Valkyn were some of Dagon's personal guards, or incredibly powerful soldiers in his army, before turning her attention to what else the journal might tell her, that Vanos was definitely seeking a power source, especially since a thousand soul gems were said to have gone dark in the presence of something called a Sigil Stone. A later entry revealed that a scout returned with good news from some place called Bruma, where the leader wrote about the ancient Ayleids, another fallen race in this world, and spoke of ancient stones called Welkynd Stones, and their Greater varieties, though most, if not all of those stones, had been plundered by adventures and heroes in the past, so finding one seemed to be impossible, or at least that was what all of them assumed. According to the other entries it appeared that there should have been a Greater Welkynd Stone in a ruin called Rielle, but even after everything no one had found one, meaning there was a hidden chamber that no one had found yet, before she found that the Mythic Dawn had been digging through the mountains to the south of Ivarstead, just so they could breach the ruin in question, even if they were having no luck finding their target.

The journal also mentioned the books resting near her, one being Glories and Laments, another being Magic from the Sky, and the last being the Last King of the Ayleids, that held clues that might be useful, that the ancient Ayleids believed that Nirn was made up of four basic elements, those being earth, water, air, and light, and that a researcher they tortured also mentioned four unseen Elemental Shards, whatever that meant. Other than the whereabouts of Rielle the journal told her that the Vigil of Stendarr had been in the way of the Mythic Dawn, so the vampires killing everyone who happened to be in the Hall must have worked in Vanos' favor, to which she sighed as she closed the journal and slipped it into her pack, not to mention the other books that were resting nearby, just to have all the information that the Mythic Dawn had. With that done she shifted back into her true form and headed to the south without delay, quickly discovering that the Mythic Dawn had created a path up the mountainside, leading right to an ancient Nord ruin that a dragon happened to call home, but she remained silent as she tracked down her target. Sure enough she found a hole in the mountain wall that had to be the one she had seen in the journal, especially since it had some supplies around it, all with a familiar emblem on the crates, meaning it wouldn't be hard for her to escort Za'kera and whoever else was coming to this place, hence why she took off and headed back for the fort, as it was time to report her findings to her friend and their allies, as they needed to know what was happening right now.

Upon her return to the fort she found Za'kera sitting outside, no doubt taking in the scenery or the peace and quite, just to calm herself before she dealt with whatever problems happened to be plaguing her mind or Skyrim, even though she had a feeling that it was about the civil war, to which she silently landed nearby and found that Za'kera turned to face her, no doubt having expected her to return some time ago.

"Against all odds, we've managed to convince Tullius and Ulfric to stand down and the Jarls have sided with us, meaning we have more allies for later," Za'kera said, something that impressed Amaryllis when she thought about it, as it couldn't have been easy to convince those two to lay down their arms and join forces against the Thalmor, or maybe it had been easy and she was overthinking things, before she sighed for a moment, no doubt under the stress of being a leader for an army that would face the Aldmeri Dominion, "So, what did Skorvild want?"

"Well, he was slain by members of the Mythic Dawn, who are seeking to pierce the barrier between Oblivion and Nirn that was put up at the end of the Oblivion Crisis," Amaryllis replied, which caused Za'kera to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as this wasn't what she was expecting to hear at all, that the Mythic Dawn was actually back and that they were working on a new plan while her forces were trying to save the world, hence why she pulled out the journals and notes she had claimed since leaving the fort, "I also found the ruin that Vanos, their leader, wants something from, but I haven't explored it yet, as I felt it was time to tell you what I've discovered so far."

"We had better deal with this, before they do something stupid," Za'kera said, where she collected the journals and read all of them as Amaryllis stood nearby, clearly waiting for her to reveal who was going on this quest, especially since it looked like most of the others were getting ready for their eventual journey to Solstheim, before she sighed, "I'll call on Lydia and Wind to join us... I don't think we need Ma'jera or the other godly children for this."

Amaryllis said nothing to that as Za'kera handed her the items she had collected earlier, as a four person group seemed to be the best right now, and they headed out to find both Lydia and Wind, even though she was sure that the former didn't have any armor that fit her new body, but she had a feeling that such a thing didn't matter to Lydia and focused on putting a stop to the Mythic Dawn's dark plans before worrying about Miraak.

Author's Note

For those who aren't aware, the new version of Skyrim, the Anniversary Edition, comes with new additions to the game, mods added to the official game... this comes from a mod called 'The Cause', and I decided to use it in the story.

Interlude: Rielle

Amaryllis found Wind rather easily, as she was standing outside Ma'jera's tower, where it looked like her mentor was busy with whatever spell or ritual she was working on, or maybe she was communing with her father about the situation with Miraak, but regardless of whatever happened to be going on in the structure she didn't want Wind nearby, meaning it was something she didn't want them to find. Lydia, on the other hand, had spent her downtime after the meeting with the Jarls in the training area, making sure she was ready for whatever might be coming their way next, and as soon as she spotted the pair she stopped swinging her battleaxe and walked over as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, showing them that she was totally ready to move out and face her Thane's enemies. For the time being Amaryllis didn't tell them exactly what was going on right now, as she didn't want to cause a panic among those that were around them, where Wind understood and Lydia just shrugged for a moment before she fell in line with them, to which she lead both of her companions back to the front of the fort, as Za'kera had made sure the others were working while they did this. With the four of them ready to go they climbed onto the carriage and Lydia got them underway once more, where this time Amaryllis informed her of the path that would bring them to their destination, before delving into what she discovered thanks to the courier that showed up to deliver a letter to Za'kera earlier that day, during the meeting with the Jarls.

She revealed that the Mythic Dawn was active in Skyrim, new recruits eager to do Dagon's will, and that they were currently planning on piercing the Liminal Barrier between this world and Oblivion, no doubt to launch a pincer attack on them while they were distracted by either Miraak or even the Aldmeri Dominion, and if his plan worked they would be smashed before even realizing the grand destiny that Akatosh had for Za'kera.

"What I don't understand if why Dagon would have Sharva join us, if he intends on laying waste to everything we and our allies hold dear," Za'kera said, as that was the one piece of the puzzle that didn't make sense to them, because each agent of the Divines or the Princes of Oblivion had a reason for joining her forces, the first being tracking down their artifact, in the case of someone like Mehrunes' Dagon or Hermaeus Mora, while the second was to join them, but in Sharva's case she wasn't the kid of a godly figure and didn't recover the artifact of her master.

"I think Dagon wanted us to get to a certain point, and to make sure we did he sent someone to help us," Wind replied, as it was the only thing that made sense when she thought about it, other than the fact that she could have been someone whose job was just to distract her target from what her master was doing, so Skorvild kind of ruined that if her thoughts on the matter were right, "or she's a distraction, to ensure we don't succeed in doing something... given everything that we have done so far, I don't think that's the case... or maybe we're just overreacting and she's not in on this at all, and we're just thinking she is since she's Dagon slave."

"There's no way she's in on this, otherwise she would have killed the courier before he reached the fort," Amaryllis said, as that was one of the keys to understanding this situation, that Dagon would have forced her to kill anyone who wanted to ruin his plan, especially since he had a cult following all of his orders and demands in another part of Skyrim, so she had a feeling that they were wrong to think the ashen Khajiit was an enemy, "but there's something we're not figuring out, so for now we should focus on reaching our destination and figuring out where this Greater Welkynd Stone is... if we find that we should be able to cripple his plan."

"We must be cautious, this is a Prince we're dealing with." Lydia remarked, where she moved the reins as she shifted her body for a couple of seconds, because she was still getting used to her altered form, though that happened to be the only thing she had to share with her Thane, Amaryllis, and Wind, something that caused the others to nod their heads before falling silent, even though she was joined by the first person who joined her and her Thane.

Amaryllis gave Lydia all the instructions she needed to navigate them to the area that they needed to travel to, where they headed through Riverwood and headed for the ruins of Helgen, though once more she found that there were no bandits or enemies waiting for them, something that was incredibly odd and made her wonder if another Daedric Prince or one of the Divines happened to be behind it. The only reason she thought about that was due to the fact that it seemed like what one of them would do in this situation, to make sure Za'kera reached her destinations in a timely manner and didn't spend all of her time fighting the robbers of this world, but without one coming and telling them it was hard to know, so she just turned most of her attention to their current mission. Of course she knew that they had to be focusing on figuring out how to get to Solstheim, to deal with Miraak, but right now the fact that the Mythic Dawn was working to possibly end the world put that plan on hold for the time being, if not forever depending on what happened in Rielle, and Za'kera wanted to stop Dagon's plans before he ruined everything she was working towards right now. As such her mind was focused on heading to the Ayleid ruin and seeing if they could find the Greater Welkynd Stone that Vanos seemed to think was resting deep in it's depths, while the others seemed to be readying themselves in their own ways as they stared at their surroundings and thought about everything that was going to happen when they reached the ruin she had found.

Other than that Amaryllis glanced at the shadows and made sure no one was following them, just to make sure none of their enemies surprised them, and readied herself, as there was no telling what might happen when they reached Rielle and the area that was resting outside it, especially with a dragon resting there, though she was hoping to crush the rest of the Mythic Dawn and end this madness so they could return to dealing with Miraak.

It took some time for them to reach the path that lead to the ruins she had seen, and when they reached where the lone dragon had been resting Za'kera climbed off the carriage as Lydia brought the horses to a stop, though they stared out at the area in question as Amaryllis lead the way forward, finding that the dragon she had seen was either sleeping or might have flown off after seeing her the first time. Regardless of what happened to the beast she brought them to the tunnel that the Mythic Dawn had created some time ago, something that caused Za'kera to draw her blades as Wind readied her staff, along with Lydia heaving her battleaxe over her shoulder, finding that it was easier to wield in this form, as Amaryllis remained without weapons, figuring that if they found enemies she could arm herself when it was time. With them ready to go she lead the way into the tunnel and proceeded to fade into the shadows once more, where Za'kera followed her as she did that, either due to her innate Dragonborn nature or the trust that she had in someone like her, laving Lydia and Wind to walk behind them, just in case enemies arrived to aid the rest of the Mythic Dawn that might be lurking in part of Rielle. Based on what she was seeing it didn't look like Vanos had guards posted near the entrance, to make sure they had no uninvited guests, and while she wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth she had a feeling that this was too easy for them, and her companions seemed to think the same thing as they walked through the tunnel and headed for Cyrodiil, since that was where the Ayleid ruins existed, but no one spoke, just in case.

Of course it took some time for them to reach a turn in the tunnel, though when they did Amaryllis emerged for a second and beckoned for the others to stop, where she stepped into a larger cavern and noticed that it lead right into the side of an elegantly crafted stone wall that was far different than the walls of a Nordic ruin, with a hole at her height, though she found that no one was near and beckoned for Za'kera to join her.

Once everyone was back together they stepped into the Ayleid ruin, finding that it was more orderly and neat than what all of the Nords made with their barrows, rivaling the Dwemer in how neat their ruins were, with the room being made out of smooth stone and was designed in a far different manner than what Amaryllis had seen so far, and she found what looked like a circular chest made out of metal, possibly iron or something unique to the Ayleids. Even though the place should be falling apart, due to the age of it and how long it had been since anyone had walked through these halls, almost everything was in perfect condition, as if some magic lingered in this place and was preventing it from collapsing on top of itself, which they might have figured out if they brought Ma'jera, but it was better if mortals did this. Interestingly enough they found a pair of skeevers in the first chamber of Rielle, meaning they had either wandered if after the Mythic Dawn or both had been left by their enemies, though it didn't take them long to take their foes out, not with Wind loosing a bolt of lightning that chained off the wall she struck and hit both of her targets, without damaging the walls at all. After that they discovered a set of stairs in a tunnel that seemed to be the only way forward, as there were no other passages for them to use, though Amaryllis checked a few of the containers and found that they contained some flawless gemstones, as in the most expensive ones, and some rather strong looking potions, so she took them for later, since they had no idea what was lurking in the depths of Rielle.

The tunnel in question brought them to a larger chamber that had a locked door, whether or not it lead down to the main section was something they would answer in due time, though Za'kera found a shriveled corpse walking to their left and drew her blades on it, cutting it down before it could do anything to her or her companions, finding that it looked similar to the Draugr they had seen in the past. They followed the walkway that they were on, which allowed them to find that a few sections of the floor and walls, at least in this area, were definitely ruined, and Amaryllis found another Ayleid Wight standing at the bottom of a set of stairs that lead to the central part of the chamber, one that she cut down with a swing of her daggers, opening the way for the others to join her. She then discovered a few scattered blue stones that were resting on the ground around a few slain members of the Mythic Dawn, no doubt lesser Welkynd Stones, which she collected as Wind picked one up for her studies, before finding that one of the cultists had a journal on them as she searched them for anything of use, adding more gems and potions to the collection. What she learned was a bit of information that quickly confirmed what the four elements were, in the eyes of the Ayleids, and that there were shards that represented those four elements, which served as keys to the hidden chambers that existed within all of the Ayleid ruins, or certain ones anyway, but it didn't go into detail about where these keys might be, other than the fact that there was a set up in the crypt that had four pedestals, Air to the North, Earth to the South, Light to the East, and Water to the West.

What that told her was that they needed to find and track down the four Elemental Shards, even though it seemed like it might be impossible since not even the Mythic Dawn could do such a thing, but Za'kera agreed with her statement before telling them that they would be sticking together, since they had no idea what else might be lurking in this place, to which they continued searching Rielle and left the chamber behind.

From there they headed down another set of stairs and discovered another chamber, though this time they had to be a bit more careful, as Amaryllis found some traps that were off to their right and left, ones that happened to drop sharpened slabs of metal at whoever triggered them, guillotines basically, though she tackled them alone and found that each area ended in a chest, so they were little perches to look out over the area. Of course she looted the chests of valuables, just to add to their arsenal, before they passed through a door that lead to another chamber, one that happened to have a set of stairs that lead back into the one she and her companions had just left, though a rather powerful and more armored foe, another Wight, stepped out of the lower passage and attacked them. What they discovered was that the Wight Lord was far stronger than the normal Wights they had faced so far, as it was able to tank more damage and made everyone back off whenever it attacked them, but in the end they took it down and Amaryllis smiled as she discovered what was in their foe's possession, a large green crystal that had to be one of the four they were looking for. Based on the journal she found this had to be the Sercen Stone, or the Earth Stone, meaning they needed to find three more unique colors, one for Wel, or Air, another for Alata, Light in the Ayleid language, and one more for Nen, which was Water, to which she carefully put it in her pack before she and her companions resumed exploring the rest of Rielle.

As they continued their exploration they found a number of lesser Wights guarding the chambers and passages, as they had been awakened by the Mythic Dawn, though while Za'kera and Lydia engaged them both Amaryllis and Wind stayed back and focused on taking out any newcomers who were late to the party, preventing their companions from being taken down by the guardians of Rielle. Amaryllis continued to search every cask, chest, and urn they walked by, finding more for them to take back to the fort when this was done, as gems could help pay for their expenses, the potions could be used in the upcoming war, and the arrows would be put to use with the archers, though she claimed every Welkynd Stone as well, as there was no telling how useful they would be one they were out of here. Eventually they found the second of the four Elemental Shards, as it appeared that one of the Mythic Dawn had found a white one, no doubt the Wel Stone, before he was slain by the Wights, to Amaryllis took it as Za'kera continued to search the rest of the ruin, as it seemed like they might be in luck, that they wouldn't have to fight four Wight Lords to get the Elemental Shards. The third shard, as it turned out, was back near where they found the journal, where Wind found that their target must have unlocked the door when they passed through the area earlier, though it didn't take them too long to bring it down and discover that it held a blue stone, the Nen Stone, meaning all they had to do now was track down the Alata Stone and then find the pedestals that the four keys needed to be returned to.

Of course they searched the section of Rielle that they were in and didn't find it, though Wind located a door that linked up with the depths and they walked through it without wasting time, where they quickly discovered a small chamber on the other side of it that had another Wight Lord, who carried a yellow stone, as in the Alata Stone, that they claimed as soon as it was brought down. With that done they made their way deeper into Rielle, finding more containers to loot while finding a number of doors that seemed to have no way to open them, save for the floor panels that Lydia stepped on, her weight triggering each one and allowing them to progress even deeper into this place, even though the next chamber had a far more dangerous trap, a raising floor one that they had to avoid. After that they found their way to a door that opened with ease, as it wasn't locked and it didn't look like a pressure plate had been installed in the area, so they were able to enter a large chamber that seemed to be square shaped in nature, with a central pillar that had four pedestals resting around it, to which Wind stepped forward and studied them as Amaryllis and the others kept an eye out for enemies. It took Wind a few seconds to realize what she was seeing, which had to be because Ma'jera was her mentor and that meant she must have been taught a thing or two about the Ayleids, before she found the Nen symbol, the Secren symbol, the Wel symbol, and the Alata symbol, to which she beckoned for Amaryllis to place each one on their respective pedestal and she did so in the next few seconds.

Once all four were placed in their respective positions, however, they stood there for a second before they went dark, as it was either a bad sign or a good sign, and it was followed by a section of the wall moving down into the ground, allowing all of them to head into the passage it revealed before Lydia stepped onto a pressure plate and brought down another wall, one that revealed the hidden chamber that the Mythic Dawn had been looking for. It was far more intact than the rest of Rielle, as nothing was damaged and it seemed like they were the first ones to enter this place since it was sealed, though in the middle of everything was a circular structure that had a larger Welkynd Stone resting on top of it, the Greater Welkynd Stone that they were looking for. There was also a stone coffin in the middle of the back of the chamber, opposite from the area they had entered from, though nothing happened as they entered the chamber and Za'kera beckoned for Amaryllis to take the Greater Welkynd Stone, where she carefully approached it and swiped it from where it was resting, but as she did that all of them found that the coffin opened as an undead burst out of the coffin. The lich, as that had to be what they were seeing right now, wore robes that indicated that it had been an important figure when it was alive and carried what looked like a pretty powerful staff into battle, which might rival the power of the Staff of Magnus, where the lich floated in the air, much like how Ma'jera did, before sending bursts of lightning out from his weapon and hands, showing them that it was in the mood for a fight so it could get the Greater Welkynd Stone back.

What they discovered was that the robe that the lich was wearing was far stronger than a normal robe, as it seemed to be made of light metal that was altered into a flowing robe, or at least it sure looked like it, because it was able to tank both attacks from Za'kera and the swings from Lydia, while it also used magical wards to protect itself from Wind's magic, which meant it must have been an Arch-Mage when it was alive. In fact it was hard for Amaryllis to hit him as well, as if he had a way to sense her coming, though as she thought about it she realized that the answer was the Greater Welkynd Stone, as it was crafted by the Ayleids and they must have a way to sense the power within the stones, so she had no way of keeping it hidden from their foe, even if she used the powers that Dagon and Sithis granted her. Wind continued to weave her own spells and counter everything that was being thrown at them, showing the lich that she wasn't going to let it do whatever it wanted, even though this was one of the few times that she wished that she had a staff like her mentor, but her spells did have the desired effect she wanted, it gave Amaryllis a chance to hand over the stone to Za'kera, which allowed her to slip into some of the shadows without the lich following her movements, causing all of them to smile. Amaryllis had been one of the best assassins she had seen during her time in Skyrim, or at least based on what she learned about her contracts, and gaining the attention of both Dagon and Sithis, while bad in some sense, had been a boon as well, as she was able to slip in and out of shadows without being seen, her magic had been sharpened to a point where she might be making new spells for herself or using ones she never used before, and she was a hidden blade without equal.

In fact Amaryllis was able to appear behind their foe and stab the lich in the back, causing it to stagger for a moment as it got close to the ground, which allowed Za'kera to move up and stab it with both of her blades, where they watched it for a few seconds as the lich collapsed, allowing Wind to claim the elegant looking staff as Amaryllis found an elegant stone key, likely used to open a door somewhere in Rielle, before they turned towards Za'kera.

"Let's get out of here... we have to track down the Gate and stop Vanos." Za'kera said, though she tapped her pack, which contained the Greater Welkynd Stone, because while it might seem foolish to carry the stone into the heart of the Mythic Dawn's base, and bring it close to the reformed Oblivion Gate, she had a feeling that they would be able to kill Vanos and stop his plans from becoming a reality.

Amaryllis nodded as they started to move, as it was as Za'kera said, they had to track down Vanos and kill him, because he was the last piece of this puzzle, though even as she thought about that she also knew that this was Dagon's plan and that they were missing something important, but for now they were going to have to deal with their main target and hope that was the end of it, so they could focus on Miraak.

Interlude: The Oblivion Gate

After acquiring the Greater Welkynd Stone, and making sure that they left nothing in the Ayleid lich's chamber, Amaryllis and her companions made their way back to the opening that lead to this part of Rielle and lowered the wall that lead back to the area that the four Elemental Shards were resting in, something that Wind made a note of for later, though each of them kept their weapons at the ready in case more Wights showed up. As they left, however, Amaryllis found a stone lever that she could push into one of the walls and it seemed to unlock something, as a door around the corner happened to lower into the ground and lead up to another door, one that had a set of stairs that brought them back up to the chamber with all the guillotine traps, where they heard the sound of someone fighting. What they discovered was a member of the Mythic Dawn, likely someone who was part of a reinforcement group, trading blows with a Vigilant, where the latter seemed to have the advantage as she smashed the cult member into the ground, though it changed in a moment as a Wight, who they must have missed on their first pass through this area, came up behind her and cut her down. In that moment Amaryllis dropped down into the area in question and stabbed the Wight before it even knew what was coming it's way, though none of them had any information on their bodies, a sad thing when she thought about it, before she rejoined the others as they kept on the path heading outside.

There were a lot of corpses along the path they followed, Vigilants and Mythic Dawn members alike, meaning they fought and killed each other after they reached Rielle, and she found one female Vigilant who died clutching a journal that had a few notes tucked into it, where she claimed them before seeing what they had discovered, allowing the others to make sure no more enemies were coming. One note happened to be orders from whoever was leading the Vigilants right now, as the note in question wasn't labeled by whoever wrote it, though she found that the order had been told to find the Oblivion Gate and secure it, to make sure the forces of Oblivion didn't gain a foothold in this world, especially after what happened in the past. The next note seemed to be instructions of some kind, detailing where something, or someone, of importance might be resting, as it mentioned the 'shade of Velothi', Shor's Stone at the feet, Whiteshore at the back, and Windhelm on the shoulders, making her wonder if this might be where Vanos' camp might be located, which would be the best thing for her and the others. The journal, however, went into detail about how the Vigilants found out about the fact that the Mythic Dawn was going to Rielle to find a Greater Welkynd Stone, and that some of the followers of Stendarr had found a high ranking member of Dagon's cult, who they captured and tortured to death to get information from her, which just painted the Vigilants in a bad light, despite the fact that they were dealing with Dagon's cult.

It was odd that one of Stendarr's messages was mercy to everyone, and that even included heretics and the lost, but while the original Mythic Dawn wanted the end of the world she wasn't sure if the new cult wanted that, as it seemed like Vanos was interested in piercing the barrier, not ushering in total destruction, so it was odd that the Vigilants were totally focused on the past and didn't accept the future.

"There's a ruin near Shor's Stone... that's where we should find the Oblivion Gate." Amaryllis said, as that was what she had gleamed from the notes that were in front of her, especially after pulling out the map of Skyrim she carried, and based on all the directional markers, plus her limited knowledge of this land, it was a good guess as to where they had to go next, to which she sighed for a moment, "I will, however, fly ahead and investigate the area in question, giving you three enough time to traverse the distance between here and Shor's Stone."

"They will be cautious, with the Vigilants harassing them for so long," Za'kera remarked, because when they emerged from Rielle, and passed into the tunnel, she took the journal to see what Amaryllis had found during their time exiting the ruin, so she had a good idea of what Amaryllis needed to do, especially since nothing they found told them where the camp was located, save for the note, "but as soon as you find their camp, and can verify that it's where we're supposed to go, come find us and direct us there... we'll deal with Vanos when we get there."

Amaryllis nodded and took off as her companions returned to their carriage, which was unharmed despite the fact that a fair number of Mythic Dawn and Vigilants had passed by it to get to Rielle, where she turned towards the direction of the settlement that the notes mentioned, but this time around she made sure to keep herself in the shadows, which was easy to do thanks to night falling. Finding Shor's Stone proved to be easy for her, as it was a small mining settlement, made up of three buildings on the eastern side of a mountain that was to the northwest of Riften, though after that tracking down the hideout of Dagon's cultists proved to be somewhat harder, since this time around they didn't use the crimson flags she had seen in the past. It was a good tactic, keeping themselves hidden from the Vigilants of Stendarr, but she did discover a bad habit that Vanos' men seemed to be sticking to, she found a crimson robed figure standing outside a cave that was a fair distance up the side of the eastern mountain range of Skyrim, one that looked exactly like what the Mythic Dawn wore all the time. As such she was able to slip into the area, sticking to the shadows that happened to be near her, and found a lone Nord who seemed to be the outer guard for this camp, who didn't notice her movements at all, though she observed him for a few moments and found another cultist, a female Khajiit, who took over so the Nord could head inside for some time, meaning it was a changing of the guard.

She watched for a time, just to be sure of her findings, before departing a few seconds after hearing the Khajiit mention Vanos by name, not to mention the Oblivion Gate that was inside the cave, so when an opening showed up she departed as quickly as possible and tracked down the carriage, which had to be heading for Riften since it was the logical stop one would make if they were coming from Ivarstead.

It took her some time to track down Za'kera and the others, though she did in due time and they stopped outside Riften to rest, as while it would have been nice to spend some time inside the city they knew that time was of the essence and just taking a short break was costing them, but Za'kera insisted on resting for a time before making a move on the camp that Amaryllis had found. She and Wind ended up taking turns watching over the carriage, to make sure no thieves came over to them, though between her watchful gaze and Wind examining her new staff, an artifact that would make anyone think twice about messing with them, they didn't have to worry about threats interrupting them, in fact some of the guards took a moment to back off when one noticed the golden staff in Wind's hand, along with a large blue gemstone on top. It could summon lightning, as Wind apparently tested it back when they were leaving Rielle's tunnel, and there was no telling what else it could do, especially since an Ayleid Arch-Mage had been carrying it before their eventual death, meaning it had to be on a level below the Staff of Magnus. Thanks to that they were able to get some rest before waking up for a quick meal, as they didn't have time to waste on tracking down someone to buy food from, before heading out as Amaryllis lead the way towards the location of the cave, though if they were lucky they would arrive in the middle of a changing of the guard and take out two at the same time.

As it turned out they had to leave the carriage behind again, which they were getting used to, and climbed the rest of the way to their destination, where Amaryllis found the Khajiit from earlier talking to the Nord she had seen, to which she took a moment to pull out her new bow and readied two arrows, where Wind watched as she loosed the first and pierced the Khajiit right in the chest, pinning her to a tree, while the second took an arrow to the head.

"I know we saw a good showing of your skills earlier... but it still surprises me that you're able to do this with ease," Wind remarked, as while she had gotten used to killing those who got in her way, mostly Falmer and Dwarven machines, with a fair number of Draugr along the way, she was still amazed by how unaffected by this Amaryllis was, like she was born for the life of an assassin.

"It took some time, but it was well worth it." Amaryllis replied, because she knew that Wind had to be thinking about her, not to mention the fact that she wasn't bothered by slaying people like this, especially given the mindset of their previous home world, but she focused her mind on what they were doing as she stepped forward and found that they were alone for the time being, which was good.

Za'kera pulled her blades out as Lydia readied her battleaxe, though once all four of them were ready they headed into the cave and made their way towards whatever might be at the end of it, where they found a cult member at the end of tunnel and she cut him down before he even noticed that someone was invading the camp, where Wind found another guard on a stone bridge in front of them and blasted him with lightning. Lydia found a third cultist and quickly beheaded her with a swing of her battleaxe, allowing them to progress further in the cave as Amaryllis kept an eye out for enemies, figuring out the attack patterns of each one so Za'kera and the others could be prepared for every set of foes they had to face before figuring out where the Oblivion Gate rested. After the opening area they found what seemed to be a mining area, maybe a common area of sorts, which had a fair number of cultists inside it, so Amaryllis stuck to the shadows and stabbed those she targeted with her daggers, Wind blasted them with her brand new staff and her own lightning, Lydia cleaved her foes in half, and Za'kera cut down those who advanced on where she was standing. Once those foes were taken care of they headed down the tunnel that seemed to be heading deeper into the mountain, finding a circular mining shaft that had a single foe for Amaryllis to take out with an arrow, but she did find a key on the cultist in question and discovered where it went to, a door at the bottom of the shaft.

It brought them to a massive chamber, a temple of some kind like Sky Haven Temple, and in the middle rested the large stone Oblivion Gate, as Amaryllis knew it from the Razer's scabbard, with a single cultist, Vanos, in front of it, where they stood back as Za'kera advanced on their target, who turned and pulled out a steel blade to defend himself, though it was a useless gesture as his attack was parried as Za'kera removed his hand, before taking his head clean off... and in that short moment a blue rush of magic, coming from the Greater Welkynd Stone, emerged from her pack, turned a dark red color, and surged into the gate, which sprung to life before their eyes.

"What in Oblivion just happened?" Lydia asked, as she knew that the mission had been simple, get the Stone and then take down Vanos, before he could claim it and use it to open the Gate, but this was beyond what she was expecting to see, as it looked like they had failed to stop Vanos from succeeding in his terrible mission, and she could see that everyone else was confused by this situation.

Amaryllis had a feeling that they had been tricked, that they were supposed to acquire the Greater Welkynd Stone and, in an odd twist of fate, bring it to the Oblivion Gate to open it, to which she stepped forward and found a journal on Vanos, as she had a feeling he would have one, and opened it to see what in the world they had gotten themselves into, as Akatosh might be annoyed with this turn of events. It talked about how Vanos had been hearing Dagon's voice, that he wanted his vengeance on those who had wronged him, which could be those that defeated him or even those who might be using the Oblivion Crisis for their own ends, taking the credit that should be his, and it mentioned that Vanos had dreams of what had to be Dagon's realm, the Deadlands. She found mentions of how others had come to him, to rebuild the Oblivion Gate from fragments of those buried beneath Skyim's surface, a mention of Alduin returning, the blood pact that Skorvild told them in his note and journal, the last page of the Mysterium Xarxes, and then him sending people to Rielle to find and lay claim to the Greater Welkynd Stone. Eventually she found the passage she was looking for, one mentioning the prophecy of the Dragonborn, the return of Alduin, and that the Dovahkiin would be the one to open the Oblivion Gate, carrying the Great Welkynd Stone with them, as Vanos was the last of the cultists who made the blood pact and, with Za'kera killing him like that she awakened the Gate in question.

The last bits told of how Vanos made sure everything was right, that Skorvild told them about the cult and had him killed as soon as his task was complete, ensuring that Za'kera found the last piece of Dagon's puzzle, and that they came here to kill the rest of the cult, as with the Greater Welkynd Stone in their possession it reacted to the Gate by magic that had been prepared ahead of time and now the Liminal Barrier was pierced, with a direct path to Dagon's realm.

"We've been had... the Lord of Change strikes again, changing the status quo Nirn has enjoyed," Amaryllis said, as with the knowledge of the journal in hand she realized something important, this wasn't about conquering Nirn, it was about him changing something that he might be able to exploit at a later point in time, and based on what she had seen previously, as in who was back in the fort, she had a feeling she knew what was coming, hence why she turned towards the Gate as the others focused on her, "Dagon's children are coming..."

Sure enough the red energy of the Oblivion Gate rippled as two figures emerged from it, both being dark skinned, almost black in some cases, where one was male and one was female, the male wearing a dark robe and carrying a blade on his belt, while the female was wearing a crimson robe, though while neither one seemed to be the biological children of the Lord of Change she knew that they were his kids in name and their power was great, along with two imposing figures, in daedric armor, behind them, who had to be Gatanas and Methats.

"Xivilai Moath, Faydra Shardai," Amaryllis finished, though she wasn't about to question how she knew their names, as the information had to come from Dagon himself, just so everyone would know who they were dealing with, but she knew that they weren't the only ones coming through the Gate, as a male Argonian, one that happened to be as tall as the Oblivion Gate and was bulkier than those she was used to seeing, stepped out of the Gate, who looked like a deadly beast with the customized daedric armor he wore, his sharpened claws and talons, and whatever else he wasn't showing, "and the true son of Dagon, Tibetal Deathclaw."

"It has been ages since I've been to the mortal realm... not to mention being in the presence of a Dragonborn," Tibetal said, his voice sounding rougher than any Argonian Amaryllis and the others had encountered, where he glanced at Lydia for a few seconds and licked his lips, seeing only the bovine side of her thanks to the form she had been cursed with, before he turned his attention back to Za'kera as Faydra tapped a staff on the ground, "Father has sent us ahead of the forces that he is pledging to your war, as he wishes to see the end of the Aldmeri Dominion and their plans to end this world... as he said 'Nirn will be destroyed by my hand, no one else's'."

"Is all of Oblivion turning against the Aldmeri Dominion? How many more of you are coming?" Wind asked, because while she was glad to have some godly children on their side, especially in the case of her mentor and the lessons she learned in her time in Skyrim, it seemed like all of the Princes were sending one of their blood children to Za'kera's side, making her wonder what the Aldmeri Dominion had to warrant such a response.

"Each Prince is sending a representative to join you, as the tool that the Aldmeri Dominion has requires powerful forces to take it down," Tibetal replied, showing them that Dagon's son was smarter and more intelligent than they expected, as the majority of them had been expecting a brute of some kind, even though he fit that role based on his armor and the rest of his body, before he focused on her for a moment, "You remind me of the Forgotten One, the Daedric Prince that angered Father and was destroyed for his crimes... we do not speak his name, though his realm of Deadlight remains, a broken husk of a realm."

As Za'kera sighed and accepted the help of yet another Demiprince, and their adoptive siblings, Amaryllis had to wonder if there was another Prince that wasn't known to the mortals of this world, one who Dagon crippled since the realm should be gone if he was totally dead, and if there was a way for them to make use of his power, but for now they had to return to the fort and tell the others the news... and hope they didn't start a war with Dagon in the process.

Solstheim: The Ashen Island

Upon leaving the cave that contained the Oblivion Gate, which seemed to be the only one Dagon intended on opening at the moment, Amaryllis and the others returned to their carriage before heading back to the road, now joined by Tibetal and his adopted siblings, a fact that they were going to have to get used to, especially given what they had learned after the Gate to the Deadlands had been opened. While the others were coming to terms with more Demiprinces coming to aid them, as it was what Tibetal said a few minutes ago, Amaryllis was thinking about the existence of another Prince who was in hiding, or had fallen into a slumber to keep himself away from Dagon, a Prince that Wind reminded Tibetal of, meaning his Sphere had to go against Dagon's. Not a Prince of Creation, since that seemed to be linked to the Divines, rather she was sure that the figure in question must have been linked to Harmony in some manner, otherwise the statement wouldn't have been said, making her wonder if they could find him and convince him to lend him some aid as well, or maybe even give up the rest of his powers to someone else. Such a thing reminded her of Tiber Septim, the man who became Talos, a mortal who became a Divine, and of the Champion of Cyrodiil, another mortal who became a god by manteling Sheogorath, allowing Jyggalag to go free at the end of the last era, though to figure out if it was possible they were going to have to ask Ma'jera, which might be a bad thing in some sense.

In the end she sighed and focused on the task at hand, getting back to the fort and adding another Demiprince to the list of allies Za'kera had, not to mention an army that would be coming from Dagon's realm when he was ready, even though her mind turned to what could possibly require such a force to be formed in the first place, but speaking with Hermaeus Mora's daughter might shed some light on that matter as well.

It was noon when they arrived outside the fort, where Amaryllis found that their forces now contained people from all over Skyrim, plus the organizations that happened to rest throughout the land, as even the Companions joined them, lead by the new Harbinger, a male Nord who dressed like a wild beast and his chest piece seemed to be another daedric artifact, only for Tibetal to smile when he saw him. Sure enough the Harbinger was another Demiprince, Bjorn Wolfsblood, the son of Hircine, which made sense due to the wolf ears, tail, and his furred legs that ended in wolf paws, plus he carried a bow on his back with some good arrows, showing that he was a hunter, and he had a sword in case people got close to him, a fact he preferred to avoid. Bjorn also informed them that his sister, Dearola, would be coming as well, while he was also positive that they would be joined by Fa-Nuit-Hen, the son of Boethiah, and Darien Gautier, the son of Meridia, later, as the pair were currently on their way to Skyrim, not to mention all of the other Demiprinces and Demigods that existed in this world. Such a thing still worried Amaryllis when she realized how much stronger their forces were getting with every godly child that joined them, especially since each one seemed to have mortal followers who were eager to join them in battle, to earn honor or whatever their excuse was, and it made her wonder what sort of tool the Aldmeri Dominion had, as there had to be something that was causing the Princes to do this.

Ma'jera, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised to find that more of her kind were here, in fact it looked like she had been expecting all of them to arrive at some point, meaning she knew that they would fail to prevent the opening of the last of the Oblivion Gates and that the Liminal Barrier would be pierced in due time, but Za'kera, Amaryllis, and Wind joined her in the top of her tower for some time.

"With the civil war in Skyrim stopped, and the Jarls offering you their full support, it's time that we depart for Solstheim, as there is one last piece to our puzzle," Ma'jera said, where they found that she had been busy creating a magical portal to a realm that only she had access to, and those who were invited in could follow her, though it seemed like a pocket realm and not a plane of Oblivion, a private meeting chamber of sorts, and in the center of it was a map of Tamriel, where they found the island of Solstheim was highlighted, "namely Miraak, but while we're there I will be collecting the seven Black Books that were left behind... you might even score some allies at the same time."

"I know he sent cultists to kill me, but I have a feeling that this isn't about me anymore," Za'kera remarked, because with Amaryllis' thoughts on several manners in the past, what with the prophecy that concerned the Dragonborn and the one that was linked to Auriel's Bow, she had a feeling this would be less about her and more about them gaining power for the battle with the Aldmeri Dominion, especially Wind, the weakest in terms of abilities, "no, you want us to power up while we explore the island, preparing us for the war with the Aldmeri Dominion and whatever tool they have... I mean, there has to be something that is causing the Demiprinces, even Dagon for that matter, to ready themselves like this, since nothing like this has happened in the history of this world."

"Let me say this: if we fail to stop them, the upcoming Warp will be worse than the last one." Ma'jera replied, though while all of them had more they wanted to say on the matter, since there was too much for them to talk about, she held up her right hand and beckoned for them to get moving, hence why they left the chamber so they could head to the carriage, as it was time to head to Solstheim.

In that moment, however, Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other, as both had read a fair number of books since they arrived in Skyrim and there was only one thing that Ma'jera's terminology could be referring to, the Warp in the West, as it was when the Numidium, a massive brass giant, was activated by several groups at the same time, how it was hard to tell since there was only one thing that controlled it. Supposedly both it, later called Anumidium, and the second one of it's kind, Akulakhan, had been destroyed at some point in the past, or at least Wind told her that much, but given the fact that the Aldmeri Dominion wanted to end the world she guessed it made sense that they might use a reality warping golem to break the remaining Towers of this world. In fact, as Amaryllis thought about it, she figured out what the real problem was, if their enemies were planning on using such a creation, no doubt reforged from fragments and pieces of both Numidium, and whatever notes they had on the Brass Gods, they would be sending it to topple the first of the Towers that rested all over this world, the Adamantine Tower. If such a thing came to pass, and the new Numidium destroyed the Adamantine Tower, it would likely unmake Nirn in a Warp that would rewrite all of reality, possibly even the realms of Oblivion given all the stories of the first Tower, and it suddenly made sense why even the Princes were getting in on this action, to ensure reality wasn't sundered on them.

She decided not to say anything, and Wind seemed to think the same thing, where they joined Za'kera, Lydia, and Ma'jera, as it was the five of them on this venture, as they headed to Windhelm to track down the boat that was used to bring that group of cultists to Skyrim, and she had a feeling that things would get interesting when they reached Solstheim.

By the time they got to Windhelm, found the boat that had been used by Miraak's cultists, and got to Solstheim, the last of those taking nearly nine hours, meaning it would be early in the morning when they arrived on the island, nearly an entire day had gone by since the opening of the Oblivion Gate, but that was the least of their worries, given the information that Ma'jera had given them earlier. Gjalund, who owned the ship that brought the cultists to Skyrim in the first place, wanted nothing to do with Za'kera when they arrived, though after a few moments he realized that bringing her and the others to Solstheim might clear up whatever was going on across the island, which meant Miraak was up to something, and they left Windhelm without wasting time. It gave them time to brush up on what they knew of the island, as Ma'jera didn't feel like sharing what she knew with them, which Amaryllis was fine with since she would be focused on dealing with Miraak when the time came, or so she hoped, meaning it was up to Wind to do that, all while the crew gave them some time alone and a red dragon seemed to be following them. Such a thing told them that Alduin was curious as to what they were doing, no doubt assuming Miraak had been slain at one point in time, but he wasn't sending a force with them, as he needed the rest of the dragons in Skyrim, no doubt to keep the army in line while Za'kera was absent, meaning their attention could be on this and nothing else.

Solstheim, as they discovered, was an island half covered in ash and half covered in snow, since Red Mountain was still erupting off in the distance, and their destination was Raven Rock, a Dark Elf settlement that had buildings that were small on the outside but went underground, not to mention protected on one side by a large wall of some kind, where Gjalund positioned them ship so they could reach the dock.

"Here we are... this is Raven Rock... can't say I'm happy to be back here." Gjalund said, speaking before they reached the dock, where only a single ship could rest based on what Amaryllis and Wind could see right now, though it was possible he didn't want someone to hear what he had to say, before he turned towards the group for a moment, "Good luck... maybe you can figure out what is going on, or do whatever it is that you came to do."

"Figure out what Miraak's doing, stop his plans, and make some allies," Za'kera replied, which was the basics of what they were here to do, since there was no telling what else might happen while they were on this island, and she didn't tell him everything due to the fact that they had no idea who was on their side and who might be against them, so this was mostly to prevent information from being leaked.

Gjalund said nothing as he nodded and brought them into the dock, his crew working to make sure they came to a stop in no time, without hitting the stone wall that served as the barrier of the dock, or whatever it was, though once they came to a stop Za'kera made sure they had their supplies before disembarking, as it was time for them to get underway and figure out where Miraak was hiding. While she did that Amaryllis found a number of guards, no doubt Dark Elves inside the odd bone-like armor that seemed to cover their entire body, making it hard to see who was beneath it all, watching them, as in at least three or four, and with one guard happened to be a rather important male Dark Elf, given the fancy brown attire he was wearing, like the Stewards of Skyrim. One thing she could tell is that he must have been expecting Gjalund to come back sooner than what he did, meaning he wasn't aware of the fact that the ship captain didn't want to come back to this island in the first place, but she and the others said nothing as the Steward talked with him, mostly since it seemed rather important for this settlement. From what Amaryllis learned there was something called a 'drake' that the locals used, or at least it sure sounded like it based on everything they were saying, but eventually the pair seemed to stop, after Gjalund telling the Dark Elf that the load he had brought with him had cost him double, blaming it all on the Empire, and the Dark Elf turned towards them without wasting time.

"I don't recognize you or your companions, outlander, so I'll assume that this is your first visit to Raven Rock," the Dark Elf said, his tone showing them that he might not be very hospitable, as in he might not like newcomers and that they would need to prove themselves before even bothering to care about all of them, all while Gjalund's crew carried off all of the supplies they had purchased in Windhelm, "State your intentions."

"We're looking for Miraak, or information on him." Za'kera replied, as while she knew that Ma'jera had to know where they needed to go, given that the figure in question was her father's current champion, or maybe a personal slave similar to Sharva, she also knew it was best to make sure the general public didn't see them as a threat, otherwise they would end up in jail before even finding their target, "Do you know anything about him?"

"Miraak... I... I'm... I'm not sure that I do." the Dark Elf answered, where it looked like he was in a trance for a moment, an odd thing for them to see though it told them that Miraak must have enchanted people to make sure they didn't discuss him without his consent or orders, before he regained himself as he stared at all of them, "Just remember, Raven Rock is sovereign territory of House Redoran. This is Morrowind, not Skyrim, and while you're here you and your companions will be expected to abide by our laws. Now, do you have any questions?"

"About Raven Rock, not right now. Like we said, we're looking for information on Miraak." Wind said, as that was far more important at this moment, even though she had a good idea of what the rules were in Solstheim since some of the various studies she had tackled involved learning the rules of the other provinces of Tamriel, and she was hoping that he might be willing to share information with them.

"All I know is that the name has something to do with the Earth Stone... I think." the Dark Elf stated, where he gestured to an area that was behind them and they turned to face it, finding that he was pointing at a large stone monolith, about as tall as two people, that rested on the outskirts of Raven Rock, though it had some sort of structure being built around it, a structure that the citizens of this place seemed to be working on.

Za'kera said nothing as she nodded her head and let the Dark Elf speak with Gjalund once more, no doubt about another topic they needed to talk about, though as he did that she and the others stepped off the boat they had used to get to the island, allowing them to stretch their legs for a time. Once that was done she walked over to the Earth Stone, finding that Amaryllis had slipped into her favorite Khajiit disguise and Wind had become a Breton with her odd hair style, something they had done before they even reached Windhelm, though she turned her attention to what was in front of them as Lydia kept her battleaxe at the ready and Ma'jera floated nearby. As they walked out of Raven Rock she discovered a Dark Elf in rather elegant looking robes, like a pale of some kind with bronze markings and a red scarf of sorts around the neck, who was in the middle of observing the people that were working on the structure. Given what they knew about Solstheim, or what Ma'jera wanted to share with them, Amaryllis and the others knew that the wizard wasn't responsible for what they were seeing right now, as it was Miraak's handiwork, though the sound of them walking on ash caused him to turn for a moment and see that he had guests.

"You there... you and your companions don't quite seem to be in the same state as the others." the wizard observed, as if he was studying each of them for a moment, and it became true when he stared at Lydia and prodded her udder for a few seconds, no doubt curious about who she was and why she was like this, "Very interesting. May I ask what it is you're doing here?"

"We're looking for someone named Miraak, or information on him." Za'kera replied, though she was pleased to see that Lydia had restrained herself when the wizard poked her, as the last thing they needed was for the people of Raven Rock to be mad at them for one of them hurting a resident of this place.

"Miraak... Miraak... the name sounds familiar but I cant quite place..." the wizard said, showing them that he was taking a few moments to consider the information he had been given, even if it was only a bit since they were clearly hiding things from him, before he realized something that might aid them, "Oh, wait, I know why it sounds familiar... but the first part of your answer makes very little sense, as Miraak's been dead for thousands of years."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amaryllis asked, once more figuring that if they kept their information to themselves, as in not shouting that they knew about a topic and sharing everything they already knew, they might be able to learn a piece of information or two on the matter, though at the same time she had a feeling that this wizard was going to be difficult in some manner.

"I'm not sure, but it is fascinating, isn't it?" the wizard replied, where it was easy for Amaryllis and Wind to figure out that he had to know more about the topic than what he was currently saying, just like they were, meaning he had to know, or at least suspect, that they weren't telling the truth either, before he considered something else, "Perhaps it has some relation to what's going on here. Quite unexpected, but I'm afraid that I can't give you any answers... however, I do know that there is a ruin of an ancient temple of Miraak's toward the center of the island. If I were you, I'd look there."

Za'kera thanked him for the information and let him return to his studies as she headed for the other side of Raven Rock, though as they did that she asked one of the guards if it was possible to acquire a map of Solstheim and he handed her one without saying anything, allowing her to see a path leading out through the Bulwark, as that was what the name of the large wall, that might bring them to the temple. With that done she resumed walking, after thanking the guard for his aid, and quickly found that everything on the other side of the Bulwark was covered in ash and even the ramp leading out had been dug out recently, though further ahead of them they found a Dark Elf fighting what appeared to be humanoid beings made of ash. As such Amaryllis loosed an arrow through the air and pierced one in the heart, Wind combined her lightning with Ma'jera's to blast another one down, and Za'kera stabbed her target with both blades before Lydia smashed it with her battleaxe, but once that was done she talked with the Dark Elf and found that he was dealing with the Ash Spawn, in fact he and two others had come and he was the last one standing. Amaryllis ended up finding a letter on one of the fallen enemies and discovered that it was a declaration of war, though upon showing it to the Captain of the Guard he asked the group if they could take care of it, where Za'kera said they would, figuring that she could have Amaryllis sneak into the old fort that was mentioned in the note and kill the leader.

With that done they continued following the path in question, finding that there were a few camps scattered around part of it, Dark Elf bandits, there was one Dark Elf trying to get into a buried ruin, and there happened to be some Nords living in the wild, before they stopped at the base of the mountain that held the temple and braced themselves for what might happen next.

Solstheim: Miraak's Temple

As they approached the temple that the Dark Elf had told them about Amaryllis found out a few things, the first, and far more important of those facts, was that there were a number of dragon skeletons lining the road that brought them right to the structure they had been told about, an imposing place that was being put back together. Another thing she found was that Miraak's temple was an imposing place, with the architecture looking for different from what the ancient Nords made in all of their various ruins, meaning everything they knew to look out for might go out the window, a fact that caused her to frown for a moment. As they walked up the steps, however, both she and Wind could see that there were all sorts of people, mostly Dark Elves with a few Nords mixed in, working on parts of the temple and seemed to be in a trance, as they just so happened to be repeating some lines that the workers in Raven Rock had said while they worked on the structure around the Earth Stone. Sure enough, after walking up some wooden scaffolding, they, Za'kera, Lydia, and Ma'jera found that there was another of the strange stones trapped in the center of Miraak's temple, meaning their target must have wanted one in his temple, a bad thing no doubt, meaning Za'kera was going to have to figure out how to reverse it.

While they surveyed the area, however, they found a young adult Nord lady standing near some fur coat wearing figures, as in more fur than the fur armor some bandits wore, though she was wearing some elegantly made metal armor that looked like it might be ebony, and she carried a pair of axes that looked like they were made out of ice.

"You must fight against what is controlling you! We must leave this place! Ysra, can you hear me?" the lady pleaded, where it was clear that she was speaking to the pair of coat wearing figures who seemed to be working on another part of Miraak's temple, just like the majority of the people who happened to call Solstheim home, before she turned her head and found all of them walking towards the stone, or floating in Ma'jera's case, "You there, what brings all of you to this dark place? Why are you here?"

"I am Za'kera, and these are my companions Amaryllis, Wind, Lydia, and Ma'jera." Za'kera replied, deciding to make sure the lady knew who they were, even though she could see that there were two warriors, two mages, and a rogue in their group, an odd mix when one thought about it, before she focused on the lady once more, "Might I ask who are you, before we talk about why we came here?"

"Of course. I am Frea of the Skaal." the lady answered, where she seemed very proud of the fact, even though Amaryllis, Lydia, and Za'kera had no idea who her people were, since they didn't read as much as the two mages did, before she took a moment to look at the coat wearers, "I am here to either free my people, or avenge them."

"What are you trying to save them from?" Wind asked, though she had a feeling that it was some sort of mind control spell, given what she and the others had seen so far and what was going on around them, while her mentor said nothing, likely allowing her to start things off and learn more on her own.

"I... truth be told, I am unsure." Frea replied, revealing that she knew something was wrong, but what she had no idea, sort of like how the Dark Elf wizard had no idea was going on and wasn't trying to interrupt what the people were doing, where she let out a sigh as she thought about what she had learned so far, "Something has taken control of most of the people of Solstheim... it makes them forget themselves, and work on these horrible creations that corrupt the Stones, the very land itself. My father, Storn, is the shaman of our people, and he says that Miraak has returned to Solstheim, but that is impossible."

"Some cultists came to Skyrim some time ago, claiming to work for Miraak as they tried to kill Za'kera." Amaryllis said, as it seemed like a good opportunity for them to give Frea an idea of why they were here, because revenge seemed to be the best motivator for people in Tamriel, or at least Skyrim and maybe even Morrowind, while saying nothing about the true reason they were here.

"Then you and I both have reason to see what lies beneath us." Frea stated, appearing to focus on Za'kera and no one else right now, though she did acknowledge the existence of Amaryllis and the others with a quick nod, meaning she knew the four of them were here to help Za'kera out, "Let us go, as there is nothing more I can do at the moment... the Tree Stone and my friends are beyond my help for now. For now, we need to find a way into the temple below."

"You said that you came here by yourself?" Lydia commented, though as she said that they heard the sound of something moving in their immediate area, no doubt stone moving on stone based on what the temple was made out of, meaning cultists might be on them in no time, causing Amaryllis to fade into the background.

"There are a few of us left unaffected by this curse, and most of my people are back in the village," Frea answered, as she seemed like the type that would have preferred to have some sort of ally in her fight against Miraak, or the person who might be using his name, before she shook her head and sighed, "my father is protecting them, to the best of his ability. I, on the other hand, fashioned an amulet to guard me against whatever has taken hold of the Skaal, but it is the only one of its kind... if I cannot find a way to save them, then there is no hope for my people."

Za'kera had nothing to say to that as a pair of cultists emerged from a ramp that had opened, the sound they had heard, but she didn't raise her weapons as both fell in seconds, allowing Frea to see what they were used to seeing, Amaryllis stepping out of the shadows after assassinating both targets, opening the way for them to move forward. A few moments later they walked down the ramp, after taking a pair of staffs from their fallen enemies, and entered the temple itself, to which she and her companions discovered a few chambers on the sides and the path leading deeper into the ruin, where Frea insisted on checking them for any useful loot. All they found were some healing potions and a few scattered coins, all modern ones from the cultists that were serving Miraak, but it made Frea happy and Amaryllis wasn't about to annoy her by saying it was a waste of time, before they moved down the tunnel and entered another chamber. Two cultists stood in the chamber and two coffins opened as Za'kera walked into it, where she, Lydia, and Frea dealt with the Draugr that came out of the coffins as Wind and Amaryllis dealt with the cultists by using magic and arrows, though those that knew Ma'jera weren't surprised by her actions.

As they moved down the passage Frea asked why Ma'jera didn't get in on the action, leaving the looting to Amaryllis, and learned that, for the time being, she was allowing Wind to get some field experience before teaching her more spells or fixing some of her bad habits, causing the warrior to nod before following after Za'kera. Of course Frea suspected that a number of traps would be in their way, given that Miraak wanted to keep intruders out of his domain, and proceeded with caution, even though Za'kera and the others were used to this and operated with a level of caution, to avoid being taken out by deadly traps or summoning in more enemies to fight. After that they reached a gated area that was basically a hole in the ground, with cages hanging from the ceiling with skeletons resting inside them, where Frea made a comment about those who had been trapped inside this part of the ruins, all while Amaryllis found a large chest on a level above them, only the stairs leading up to it were broken. Since it didn't look like Za'kera needed her at the moment, as she and the rest of the ground were making their way around the walkway they were on, before heading down the stairs and heading even deeper into the temple, Amaryllis found that she could walk up a fallen stone arch, like it was a ramp, and jump over to where the chest was located.

She found some pristine ebony items, weapons mostly, and collected them, along with the coins that were inside it, but as far as she could tell there wasn't anything else of importance inside the chest and she closed the lid before following her companions, just as some cultists appeared at the bottom of the set of stairs.

Frea, once more, found that Za'kera and the others were a formidable team, as Amaryllis and Wind dealt damage from a distance, the former capable of fighting anyone who got close to her, while Za'kera and Lydia were good at fighting those who got in their faces, both being rather great warriors in her eyes, meaning there was a good chance that they could do some damage to Miraak's plans. As she thought about that they entered a Draugr infested section of the ruins, where all of her new companions lashed out at the risen dead, hacking, slashing, and blasting them before most had a chance to even arm themselves and figure out what was going on, while finding that Amaryllis pulled back every now and then, just to make sure they didn't leave any ebony weapons or armor behind. She had no idea why the figure was so interested in ebony gear, but decided that it really didn't matter in the end as she watched Za'kera move like a dancer, cutting down the enemies in front of her before moving deeper into Miraak's temple, making her wonder if she was a hero of legend, as it would be good for what they were doing. Amaryllis, on the other hand, was pleased with the amount of ebony they were finding in Miraak's temple, as this meant they would be able to outfit a good number of soldiers when they got back to the fort, once they returned to Skyrim, and had to wonder how much more they were going to find during their trek through this place, as she might have to store all of it inside her personal chest at some point.

One thing Za'kera discovered was that there were a number of Draugr that hadn't been awakened yet, wrapped up in the cloth that the ancient Nords wrapped their dead in, making her wonder if Miraak was waiting to return before awakening his army, at least it sure looked like to her as they made their way through the ruins, which went deeper and deeper as the group moved forward. At the end of the passage filled with Draugr they found a trapped filled tunnel, which had a number of swinging blades that came in pairs of three, to which Za'kera held up a hand and made sure everyone was waiting on the safe side, though once that was done she stepped forward and sheathed her blades for a time. Amaryllis watched as her friend moved through the traps with ease, judging when to move and when to stop, avoiding the sharpened blades of the swinging axes, allowing her to reach the other side in due time, totally safe she mentally added, before she flipped the lever that was near her and turned off the trap. With that done they regrouped with her before heading even deeper into the ruins, walking over a door that looked like it should have been one of the infamous puzzle doors, only ruined, but they decided to ignore it as each of them focused on whatever might be waiting for them.

There was a chamber that required them to pull a switch to open the way forward, revealing an area with three cultists in front of a door, where Amaryllis put an arrow in one as Za'kera and Lydia cut down the second, leaving the third for Frea as Wind blasted two more Draugr with lightning, allowing them to pass through the door. It brought them to a walkway with a metallic fence around it, though they were able to walk across it without anything happening and it brought them to a roundabout that connected to a descending path, dealing with a few more cultists along the way, though these seemed to be the last ones they would face. All of them were surprised to find that Miraak's temple was this deep, even Frea was a little taken aback by this information, especially since the tales said it was large and she was finding that it was larger than the stories, before they walked under an area that a dragon's skeleton had been trapped in, as it was hanging from a part of the ceiling, near a Word Wall. Za'kera wasted no time in snatching the Word, as there was no way of telling if it was one she needed or not, but as that happened some coffins opened and some Draugr attacked them, leading to her and all of her companions taking them down, even though Amaryllis found a key on one of them and unlocked the iron door that was at the end of the path, opening the way for them to process again.

Of course her friend stayed back to gather the ebony weaponry that the Draugr had on them, though she found that the path brought them to what appeared to be a dead end, an eating chamber of sorts, and everyone spread out to see what they could find, as she spotted a hidden passageway on the left side of the room. Sure enough Wind found the switch that opened the door and allowed them to move even deeper into the temple, eventually bringing them to an area that had a number of ruined books, some odd pedestals, and a statue of a creature that wasn't a dragon, meaning Miraak must have switched who he believed in at some point in time. Even Frea, who grew up with stories of Miraak, was surprised by what they were seeing, meaning she either didn't believe in the tales or was surprised to find that they were being confirmed as she followed them even deeper into the ruins, even though she made sure to ready herself for combat whenever enemies appeared in an area they were exploring. They also passed through a massive underground chamber, more like a cavern as Amaryllis thought about it, and at the end of it she found a statue of a blob shaped figure with tendrils for arms, which had to be a statue of Hermaeus Mora, meaning they could confirm Ma'jera's statement about Miraak serving her father, all while Frea decided to ignore it as she pressed onward once more.

The passage behind the statue of the Prince of Knowledge brought them to a small chamber that had a twisted pedestal, one that had a large black book on it, one of the Black Books that Ma'jera had to be interested in collecting, though as they gathered in the chamber Frea frowned when she noticed what they had found.

"Ah, Waking Dreams, one of the seven Black Books of Solstheim," Ma'jera said, to which she cancelled out the spell that let her float and beckoned for two people to come over to where she was standing, those being Za'kera and Wind, though as they did that she weaved a barrier into the area around them, keeping Amaryllis and the others outside it, "We'll be back shortly, so just sit tight and don't do anything stupid."

In that moment Amaryllis watched as Ma'jera opened the Black Book and a mass of tentacles wrapped around the barrier, causing the trio to disappear entirely, as there was nothing left behind, to which she sighed as she and the others stood off to the side and waited for them to return from Hermaeus Mora's realm.

One moment Wind was standing in the depths of Miraak's temple and the next she, Za'kera, and Ma'jera were standing on a raised platform in a brand new realm, one that had a tainted green sky, book stacks as tall as the eye out see, or smaller in some cases to mark the path one would take, a black colored body of water, and a large imposing tower in the distance, making it an imposing place. Directly in front of them stood three figures, two of which were floating, much like Ma'jera did all the time, though they had odd faces and tentacles seemed to be attached to them, like extra appendages or something, she really had no idea, and both of them had some sort of feathered cloak resting over their bodies. The other figure was as tall as a male Nord, wearing a twisted green robe with golden shoulder pieces, gauntlets, and boots, not to mention he wore a mask like the infamous dragon priests did, though based on the fact that the two tentacle beings were nodding as the figure talked she had to assume that this was Miraak. Ma'jera said nothing as she returned to her floating stance and closed the tome, the sound of such a thing happening causing the group in front of them to stop talking before turning to see who dared to intrude upon this realm, and what she discovered next was that Miraak tried to shock them with a bit of lightning, which the barrier absorbed with ease.

In that moment Miraak seemed to realize what was going on and stopped his attack, no doubt seeing Ma'jera floating on the other side of the barrier, though both of the other floating figures did nothing as he stood there, waiting for them to do whatever it was that they were going to do.

"I had a feeling you would try this, Miraak," Ma'jera said, where she floated out of the bubble and approached the figure in front of them, leaving Za'kera and Wind inside the protective barrier as she dealt with Miraak, though she tilted her head for a moment as she recalled what happened when they recovered the Oghma Infinium, "and I saw a bit of you work back in Raven Rock... rather impressive, though a bit of a headache, given what I've heard from my Father. Do you need another reminder of what happens when my Father is annoyed by something?"

"Of course not, daughter of the Prince of Fate," Miraak replied, his tone and emotions telling Wind that he didn't like her at all, especially since she was a Demiprince and that meant she was higher in the rankings than he was, not to mention that he was a servant of her father, though she had a feeling that he might be working to either return to Tamriel or figure out how to usurp the power structure of this realm.

"Good. Now, here's now things are going to go: you and Za'kera will, eventually, fight each other, training for the future war with the Aldmeri Dominion... you've been training, right?" Ma'jera stated, the last part being a question to Miraak, where he nodded his head for a moment, to show that he had made sure he was ready for the eventual arrival of Za'kera, as if Hermaeus Mora told him that she would come in due time and face him in some manner, "While you two do that, as it will boost her Dragonborn powers, I need to do some special training with Wind..."

In that moment Wind felt like her body was being sundered, as if something was happening to her body, before the pain went away all of a sudden and seven specters appeared in the air above them, all looking similar to what her true form was, all of them being different colors, and after a few moments they disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

"During our training sessions I've noticed that your magic has been sealed, by doubts and fears, and so I have manifested the seven seals that I have observed," Ma'jera continued, where Za'kera had a feeling that the Demiprince might be a little sad by having to hurt her own apprentice like this, or maybe not since she was the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, so it was possible that Wind was important in some manner, though she said nothing as she helped Wind back onto her hooves, as the shock had cancelled out her disguise, "while Za'kera engages the trials guarding the other Black Books, and learns how to expand her knowledge and power at a rapid pace, you will delve into the Black Books, learn some of the more forbidden knowledge that exists in Apocrypha, and face down the manifestations of your seals. Once you two are done, and I'm sure that you're ready for what the future hold, we'll begin our war with the Aldmeri Dominion..."

Za'kera remained silent as she heard that, as it sounded like the Princes of Oblivion wanted to make sure she, the chosen hero of Akatosh, was ready to face down the strongest of the Aldmeri Dominion, to stop them from activating the Brass God and tearing down the Adamantine Tower, but she had a feeling that things were going to get crazy once they returned to Amaryllis, Lydia, and Frea.

Solstheim: The Skaal and Neloth

Once Ma'jera was done talking to Miraak, and had set up her tests for Wind, leaving this particular Black Book for last, she, Wind, and Za'kera used the book and returned to the last chamber that happened to rest at the end of Miraak's massive temple, where they found Amaryllis, Lydia, and Frea standing at the ready, just in case some cultists surprised them.

"What happened to the three of you?" Frea asked, where she lowered her axes for a moment and stared at them, showing that she had been concerned for them when they suddenly vanished from the area that the book had been resting in, all while casting her eyes to Ma'jera for a few seconds, no doubt worried that she might betray them, "One moment you were here and the next you weren't."

"We... went to Apocrypha... and we learned a few things." Za'kera replied, as that was the only way she could speak about what she and Wind had just witnessed, especially since part of their mission would revolve around her battles with Miraak and the other would be the Changeling mage figuring out how to unlock her true powers, though she didn't question how she knew the name of Hermaeus Mora's realm, "We also saw Miraak..."

Frea opened her mouth, about to ask if they could track him down and kill him, before deciding that it wasn't a good idea, as Za'kera looked like something had happened and that she needed time to consider what they had seen, to which she came to the decision to focus on getting this information to someone else. Fortunately there was a lever nearby that opened a hidden door, one that lead to the side of a mountain, far below Miraak's temple, like an escape path in case he came under fire, which he failed to use since he was in Apocrypha right now, and it brought them to one of the Stones that Frea had told them about when they were at the entrance of the temple. Frea pointed it out to all of them, revealing that it was the Wind Stone and that a green light was coming from it, where her people worked against their will and did the foul bidding of Miraak, hence her quest to figure out how to kill him and end the curse, or avenge them in some manner, if she found that the former was impossible. After that they found a village off to their right that happened to have a barrier that was protecting it, one that Wind was sure her mentor was interested in, but everyone remained silent as Frea told them of the fact that her father was doing everything in her power to protect the rest of their people from the power of Miraak, as this barrier was his of his creation and her medallion allowed her to pass through with ease.

What they discovered on the other side of the barrier, as Frea had to use the medallion to allow them to pass through the magic, was a number of people gathered around some stones in what seemed to be the center of the village, with three people kneeling near the stones, where the magic was coming from, though Za'kera and the others stayed back as Frea approached the circle.

"Father! I have returned! There is yet hope!" Frea stated, where they could see an immediate effect on those who were in the area that was around them, as the Skaal seemed to be overjoyed by what she might have discovered, all while a few where glancing at the people who came with her.

"Frea! What news do you bring? Is there a way to free our people?" the eldest of the three figures, who seemed to be the spiritual leader for the village, inquired, though his attention was still on the barrier, showing them that he was capable of multitasking and dividing his attention between two very important activities.

"No, but I have brought some people who have seen things," Frea answered, where she beckoned to Za'kera for a couple of seconds, allowing everyone to see that a hero might have appeared in their village, even though some seemed wary of Ma'jera and her power to float in the air, "She has confirmed that Miraak is behind the suffering of our people."

"I feared that it would be so." the elder said, his tired tone revealing that he must have studied the stories of Miraak for a long time and that the figure must have been the first thing that came to mind when the Wind Stone was corrupted, to which he let out a sigh as he considered something, "I fear there is too much we don't know about this situation, as I am unsure as to how this has come to pass."

Frea beckoned for Za'kera to step forward, asking her to tell Storn what she had seen when she used the Black Book, even if it had been Ma'jera who did that, where she did so and braced herself for what she was about to say, as only she and Wind knew exactly what happened on the other side of the Black Book.

"Frea is correct, Miraak is the one controlling the Stones," Za'kera said, though in that moment she raised a hand to stop all of them from speaking at the same time, as there was more she needed to say before revealing what their next step was and what they needed to do, before she opened her mouth once more, "however, it would appear that this is a test of some kind from Hermaeus Mora, who wants me to follow in Miraak's footsteps and learn the same things he learned back in the past. While I do that, which should give me a way to deal with the corruption on the Stones, I'm also supposed to track down all of the Black Books that are on this island... Wind has to take down some, um, seals that are on her magic and her mentor told us they're all stuck inside the seven tomes."

"Hm, that is troublesome... I sense there is more to this than what you've said, but I know where you can start you quest, as terrible as it is," Storn commented, showing them that he believed that Miraak's power came at a great cost and that it wasn't worth following in his footsteps or the path he had taken, but, at the same time, he also seemed to admit it was the best course of action for her to take, "Go to Saering's Watch, as it was where he learned the first Word of Power of a great and terrible Shout... if you are Dragonborn, it should respond to your presence and give you it's power. After that, head to the south, to the tower of the Dark Elf wizard, Neloth he is called, as he came here asking about the Black Books and might be the key to finding the others that are on this island... if you can do those two things, maybe you can liberate the Stones from Miraak's control as well."

Za'kera waited for a few moments as Frea informed her of where Saering's Watch was located, that way she knew where to go once she and the others were rested, along with the location of Tel Mithryn, the home of Neloth, which was based a massive Dwarven ruin called Nchardak, which happened to be where some Reavers had been seen, the bandits that were on this island. Supposedly there was a dragon hanging around the ruin that she had told them about and would no doubt attack them if they went near Saering's Watch, either because none of the dragons wanted anyone to learn Miraak's dark secrets or Miraak was keeping an eye on it, in case someone tried to follow in his footsteps. Based on the map Amaryllis found that the path that would bring them to their first destination was behind them, as they would have to walk back to the Wind Stone and the warn path that was in front of the exit they used, though after that it she found that they would have to head into the mountain and follow some posts to reach Saering's Watch. Za'kera nodded her head as she stared at the map, as it made sense when she thought about it, though instead of wasting time she made sure the rest of the group were ready for a fight and departed from the Skaal Village without delay, leaving Frea to return to her father's side, mostly to make sure he didn't strain himself by powering the barrier.

It took them a while to track down the path leading to Saering's Watch, which involved passing a small stream and heading up a hill that passed by another ruin, or at least a cave that had a ruined pillar nearby, though when they reached the main ruin it was easy to see the dragon that Frea had mentioned, though he roared at them and started breathing frost on them as Za'kera got close to Saering's Watch. Ma'jera stood back as Amaryllis and Wind attacked the dragon in return, one using arrows whenever an opening presented itself and another using magic, this time picking some higher powered spells, as she knew what her mentor was looking for, given what she learned earlier, and responded accordingly. Za'kera and Lydia waited until the dragon, a pale blue scaled beast that seemed to be unique to Solstheim, was on the ground before even thinking about attacking it with their weapons, all while they heard some loud noises from the ruin, as some Draugr, as in the Deathlords, marched out to deal with the dragon, meaning it had to be one of Miraak's followers. The group, joined by a number of undead, faced down the dragon that was clearly trying to kill Za'kera, showing them that Miraak didn't want to work with them and wanted her dead, or maybe he was doing this to try and make sure she was ready for whatever the future held for her.

Despite that fact, however, Amaryllis discovered that this dragon was pretty weak, at least compared to the likes of the rest that had been written about in the past, and it really didn't take them long to bring it down, though when it collapsed they watched as a phantom image of Miraak arrived and snatched it's soul, claiming that she would never be as strong as him, before disappearing and leaving a husk behind.

"I hope his training is better than this," Za'kera commented, as right now she wasn't impressed by Miraak's antics, but at the same time she found that the Deathlords didn't want to fight her, rather one escorted her up to the Word Wall and let her take in the Word of Power that was on it, which she did without delay, to which she glanced at all of the undead for a few seconds, "Um, thanks for helping us take the dragon down."

Sure enough the Deathlords knelt to her, making Amaryllis wonder if they had been servants of a previous Dragonborn or something, but for now there was one last thing they needed to do before worrying about the Black Books, they had to see if the Shout was as powerful as Storn claimed. With their time in Saering's Watch done, even though they were expecting a lot more than what they got, Za'kera decided to head back to the Wind Stone, as she wanted to see what happened when she used the new Shout on the Stone, while Amaryllis and the others followed after her. Once more they found that they were able to walk in silence, as no enemies came at them while they walked, which Amaryllis was fine with since it let all of them conserve their strength for later, given that Miraak had to have defenses set up around the Stones, even if some had no cultists near them. Thanks to the snowy path being cleared of enemies, just like it was when they came this way the first time around, they were able to reach the Wind Stone without wasting too much time, to which Za'kera stepped up for a few seconds and called upon the new power that she had unlocked, letting out a Gol as she did so, allowing them to watch as the stones cracked before shattering.

As that happened, however, a large figure, about the size of a giant and looking fish-like in some cases, emerged from the water that was around the Wind Stone, though once more Lydia proved that she was capable of anything as she hurled her battleaxe into the Lurker's chest, as that was what Ma'jera called these creatures, and then leapt at it, allowing her to yank it out as it collapsed on the ground and she beheaded it... though in the end Za'kera sighed as they returned to the village, as it was time for a break before they headed to their next destination.

With everyone rested up, and they knew a little more about what else was going on with Solstheim, Za'kera and the others headed down the coast that would take them by Nchardak, as she was interested in reaching Tel Mithryn so she could see what sort of information Neloth had on Hermaeus Mora's Black Books, since Ma'jera wasn't talking about them, no doubt to make them learn on their own. The trek, for the most part, was rather uneventful and the Reavers that Frea had told them about didn't seem interested in trying to rob or attack them, either due to the size of her group or the fact that the bandits were more eager to get some food from their camp. Of course they passed by another Stone, discovering more of the stone structure around the ancient stone, and it wasn't long before Za'kera freed it as well, causing one of the Lurkers to emerge from the water and attack them, leading to the group lashing out at the figure before it could harm all of the confused people who fled from the Stone when she used her Shout. The Lurker fell to Wind blasting it in the head with a Lightning Bolt, allowing them to continue down the rest of the path that was in front of them, focusing on Tel Mithryn and the fact that they needed to talk with Neloth, even though most of them were surprised by what they discovered a couple of seconds later.

Tel Mithryn, as they soon discovered, was a tall mushroom tower that had three smaller mushrooms near it, no doubt the locations that his servants resided in when he didn't need them, like when he was asleep, and in the courtyard between all the mushrooms stood a Dark Elf wearing the attire of a mage, Neloth's apprentice no doubt, who was talking to another Dark Elf who had to be the steward. The two seemed to be in the middle of a conversation of some importance, where it looked like the apprentice was trying to perfect a spell without his master's aid or supervision, though when they saw the group, however, both of them stopped and beckoned for Za'kera to follow, showing them that Neloth had guessed that one or more of them might come looking for aid. The Steward walked up one of the larger roots, one that was connected to the larger mushroom, and walked through a door, revealing a magical lift of some kind that allowed her to move up into the air, heading to the top of Tel Mithryn without wasting time, though there was only enough room for one person to use it at a time and Za'kera went first. Of course the passage was slightly larger, so Ma'jera did just float up to the top of the tower and watched as everyone else followed after her, allowing them to see that there were a number of bookshelves on this floor, along with desks, books, and equipment of all types, plus a round and intricate door that lead to a device that looked like it made staffs in some manner.

Neloth, on the other hand, seemed to be hard at work on one of his studies, where the Steward beckoned for the group to come to a stop, all while the apprentice joined the group and stood off to the side, mostly to see what was going on, but he stopped what he was doing and turned to face them as soon as he noticed that he had guests.

"Oh, it's you lot again... I had a feeling that you would show up." Neloth said, where he set down the Dwarven pieces that he had been studying, like he was trying to learn how they were made or something, though Amaryllis found his eyes on two members of their group, Wind, who was forgoing a disguise since her mentor wanted her to focus on other magic at the moment, and Lydia, before he focused on Za'kera, "So tell me, what brings you to Tel Mithryn, my citadel?"

"At the end of Miraak's temple we discovered a Black Book... no, I didn't read it, as she used it to open a portal that took three of us to Apocrypha," Za'kera replied, gesturing to Ma'jera with her thumb for a moment, where the Demiprince just said nothing as she looked up from the tome she had been reading, the very book they had discovered in Miraak's temple, causing Neloth to raise an eyebrow as he noticed what she was doing at the moment, "anyway, I need to find the rest of the seven Black Books that are scattered around this island... and the Skaal told me that you were the best one to ask, as you found one and came to them asking about the others."

"You are referring to the tomes of esoteric knowledge that old Hermaeus Mora has scattered throughout the world? The same tomes that she's treating like a toy?" Neloth remarked, though Amaryllis could detect a hint of disrespect in his tone, as if he considered himself to be better than the Princes of Oblivion, or maybe that was for the tomes themselves and not the one who made them, where his remark earned a chuckle from Ma'jera.

"They are tomes of esoteric knowledge, and they deserve your respect... but the Black Books hold no danger for me, as I'm the daughter of Hermaeus Mora." Ma'jera stated, where she resumed her studies as she raised the book once more and showed Neloth that she really didn't care about him or his opinions towards her father, even though Amaryllis had an odd feeling that she'd punish the wizard in some manner.

"His daughter? Hm, then that would mean you are a Demiprince... fascinating. I never thought I'd meet one of your kind, given the state of the Liminal Barrier," Neloth said, showing them that he knew about the children of the Princes, not that he had any respect for them based on his tone once more, all while informing them that he had no idea that there was a hole in the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion, even though she had been in this world before the events of the Oblivion Crisis, before he considered something and what they had said, "The Skaal were right: I do have a Black Book, and I have an idea on where another can be found... as for the other four, well, I have some ideas on where they might be found, as I have been searching for them for some time. However, before I agree to help you, I have some conditions: first, I need a blood sample from her."

As it turned out he was talking about Wind, as she was in her true form and it seemed like he was totally fine with it, likely seeing her as a new specimen to study and learn about, though this was the first time that she had heard someone ask for a bit of her blood, but before anyone could refuse she nodded her head, as it would help her get to the Black Book and Za'kera could do her own training as well.

"Good, we understand each other. The second is information about her, and a few samples as well," Neloth continued, as if he was expecting a pause to happen or was waiting for someone to speak up to stop his demands, but right now Za'kera knew that they didn't have much of a choice, not unless she had Amaryllis use her new powers to get behind the door so she could steal the other Black Book, but they needed him to get to another, though they found that he was pointing at Lydia, out of everyone in the group, "I have never seen someone like her before, and I was tempted to take her back when you neared the Stone in Raven Rock... it is a good thing I waited, as you brought her to me."

"Lydia used to be a Nord, but she took a curse that was meant for someone else, turning her into a race that Durum calls the 'Moomer'," Amaryllis explained, though she still had the inert wand in her possession, as the moment the Demiprince in question reverted back to her mad state, which would bring this foul artifact back to life since it was tied to her chaotic power, she was planning on using it to free Lydia of this foul curse, "also, Durum is actually Durum Coles, the daughter of Sheogorath, though she's back in Skyrim right now, so you don't have to worry about her suddenly appearing out of thin air or something."

"A 'Moomer'? Hm, I would hazard that it means 'Cow Elf'... your samples, if you would be so kind," Neloth said, where he produced some cylindrical glass containers, one for Wind and several for Lydia, where the former raised a dagger and cut open her finger for a moment, allowing her to fill the vial, while Lydia started to do the same thing and Neloth stopped her before she could draw blood from her changed finger, causing her to pause for a moment before understanding what he wanted, filling the vials with the milk from her udder.

"Anything else?" Wind asked, though at the same time she used a lesser healing spell to mend the cut on her finger, but her comment was to make sure that was all Neloth wanted and that there was nothing else they had to do before he told them where the other Black Book rested, as she was itching to get this adventure truly started.

"One last thing, I need to test this... Talvas, if you would." Neloth said, where he held out one of the vials and glanced over at his apprentice, where the Dark Elf in question, who seemed like he had been busy with his own studies and lost interest in the conversation they were having, stopped what he was doing and walked over to where his master was standing, to which they watched as he took the offered vial and, as if knowing that he was just a test subject, downed the contents in a matter of seconds.

At first nothing happened, Talvas seemed perfectly fine, before he gripped his chest for a moment, where they watched as his body became smoother and more feminine, including his face for that matter, and it wasn't long before his, or rather her, breasts grew out, which appeared to be the nearly the same size as Lydia's. Not a few moments later she raised both of her hands to her head and the group watched as cow horns grew out of her head, not to mention her ears changed into white furred cow ears, before her fingers shook and she pulled them down, watching as they merged into two digits and a thumb, with the hardened hoof-like nails. After that her legs shook as her feet transformed into cow hooves, looking just like Lydia's legs, and her spine extended out into a cow's tail, complete with the tuft at the end, though once that was done she moaned for a few seconds as her udder pushed out, growing out until it matched Lydia's. Talvas moaned as she took a moment to touch the newest addition, which had to have some milk inside it, before they watched as the cow fur and the dark markings appeared all over her altered body, spreading from her new arms and legs to her body, and when it hit her face they watched as the last change took place, her face pushing out into a cow's muzzle.

The other thing Amaryllis noticed was that both of Talvas' new breasts and udder were starting to leak, not that there was anything to stain since her breasts had torn her robe to pieces, much like what happened to the others, and the udder did the same with her pants, though Neloth avoided touching the milk.

"M... Master Neloth... I feel weird." Talvas said, where even her voice had changed, showing them that nothing of his male self was left, though she resisted the urge to move her new body, no doubt not wanting to do anything with it, not until her mentor fixed the mess she was in or whatever it was that was going through her mind right now.

"Fascinating. It would appear that your body has been completely changed," Neloth commented, taking a moment to look over his apprentice's new body, who stood there with an uncomfortable look on her face, though Za'kera and the others just stood there and waited for him to uphold his end of the bargain, before he glanced back at them, "I will study Talvas for a few moments, then I will help you find the next Black Book."

As everyone stood on the other side of Tel Mithryn, away from Talvas and the seemingly insane wizard, Amaryllis thought about what she and the others had just seen, the transformation of yet another person into one of the Moomer, only this time it was in the hands of someone who might actually do some damage with it. At the same time, however, she quickly realized something about the curse, the milk was contagious, given what just happened to Talvas, meaning Sheogorath intended on having her spread it to many people, no doubt inspired by the work of Peryite, the Prince of Pestilence, who worked with diseases. The Mad God created the curse so it could be spread to others, why she had no idea and right now she had no desire to work out why Sheogorath did anything, and right now it was doing just that, spreading to males and females of all species. Such a thing made her regret even coming into contact with the Mad God, given the strange and odd things she had discovered since that point in time, in connection with him and his foul curse, but there was next to nothing she could do at this point in time and would have to live with her previous decisions.

In the end, however, she sighed as she joined the others in waiting for Neloth to be done studying his changed apprentice, as he was the only one who knew where to find one of the other Black Books, save for Ma'jera and she seemed against offering any aid to them, so all they could do was wait and see what happened next.

Solstheim: Nchardak's Depths

Amaryllis and Wind found that Neloth spent the rest of the day researching Talvas and her new body, taking samples of her blood, her new fur, taking measurements and comparing all of them to Lydia's, who just stared at him with a blank look, and jotting down whatever notes he happened to be making at the moment. The rest of the group stood on the opposite side of the top of Tel Mithryn, staying away from Neloth and his studies, least he become interested in someone else and pull them over to where he was working, though his Steward stayed away from him while he did this, mostly since she wasn't needed and this provided a break of sorts. As Amaryllis watched the wizard she found out something interesting, Lydia and Talvas' bodies were nearly identical, in terms of measurements and appearance, while the only difference seemed to be the locations of the cow spots that littered their bodies, as Lydia had one on the side of her right shoulder while Talvas had none in that spot. Talvas, of course, was deeply disturbed by her new body, which was understandable given what she had been through, all by her master's hand no less, and the fact that she was trapped in the body of a different gender, at least until Durum turned mad and the wand's power returned, though by that time there was no telling how much damage might be done to her mind.

One thing she wanted was for Neloth to mess up, as in brush his hand over a milk stained part of his apprentice's robes, or knock over one of the other vials and spill it on himself, because it would have been some form of justice if such a thing were to happen to him, a taste of his own medicine, but when nothing happened she sighed and watched from the other side of the tower.

Eventually, however, she decided to leave Tel Mithryn, since it appeared that no one was leaving until Neloth upheld his end of the bargain, where Amaryllis headed outside and stepped onto the ash covered ground once more, though as she took a moment to wonder what she was going to do she heard a sound that seemed different than what she was used to hearing. It was something moaning, where she glanced over to her left and found a rather large creature, looking like an armored flea based on what she was seeing, with long legs that looked like stilts, standing some distance from the tower of Neloth, on top of a river that cut through this part of Solstheim. Oddly enough she was the only one attracted to the loud moan that was coming from it, which she was thankful for since it meant they didn't have to worry about attackers coming to this place, though she had a feeling that if Reavers attacked Tel Mithryn Neloth would capture them and use all of them in whatever experiments he happened to be doing. There was also a Dark Elf standing near what appeared to be a short walkway, one that lead to a sitting area of sorts that was on the flea's back, making her take a moment to wonder what in the world she was staring at, as while it wasn't a creature of Oblivion it was something she hadn't seen before, just like a few of the other enemies she had found on this island.

The Dark Elf, seeing the surprised look on her face, chuckled and told her that she wasn't the first one to be surprised by Dusty, which happened to be the creature's name, as most people had no idea what a Silt Strider was, a pretty rare being who brought in all sorts of characters who wanted to know more about her. Apparently this used to be a form of travel in the past, as they were commonplace in Morrowind at one point in time, and the Dark Elf, Revus he called himself, told her that the blast from the mountain, likely the Red Mountain, wiped out most of Dusty's race, though he was staying by her side until she died, which he assumed was going to be soon. Revus also told her that he had a habit of trading things to anyone who passed by this place, meaning he bought and sold things to people while tending to Dusty, and, just like those who came before her, he offered to show her his wares, even though he admitted that he didn't have a lot now since most of his current goods were food. One thing she discovered was a white stone with a golden ring near the top, where he told her that it came from one of the many adventurers who went into the dangerous Dwarven ruins, who claimed that it was among some treasure and Neloth wouldn't buy it, claiming it was trash, but he had a feeling it was special, where she took a moment and parted with a hundred Septims.

Revus told her that the adventurer claimed he could sell it for a thousand gold, though to be honest he didn't care and he still had more than enough to get back to Morrowind when everything was said and done, so he was fine with selling it for a hundred coins, allowing her to pocket the item before returning to look at Dusty for a time. Since she had some time to waste, at least until Neloth was done, she made sure to take a few steps back before reverting to her true form, allowing her to fly off into the night sky, because what she was doing was upholding what Za'kera told the Captain of the Guard of Raven Rock, that whoever was sending the Ash Spawn would be dealt with. Given that there was only one fort in the area near the Dark Elf settlement, well, it was easy for her to determine where her target was located, and sure enough she was able to find an Imperial standing on the ramparts of a somewhat buried fort, carrying an impressive hammer on his back, one that needed both hands no doubt, and there were plenty of Ash Spawn nearby. As such she dived towards her target without delay and drew her daggers, where the moment she landed she spun around and swung her blades, both slicing through his neck before he even realized what was going on, and he collapsed without any of the Ash Spawn even realizing what happened, allowing her to claim his warhammer and some gold before slipping into the shadows.

Amaryllis then spent the next hour cleaning up Fort Frostmoth, stalking the Ash Spawn and assassinating them before any of her targets even realized what was going on, and that included heading inside and killing those that were inside, but as soon as all of them were dead she cleared out the two large chests of treasure, mostly gold, gems, and a couple bits of ebony, before she returned to Tel Mithryn and waited for Neloth to finish his studies.

As it turned out it was early the next morning when Neloth finally finished tormenting Talvas, not that it mattered since he claimed his apprentice was no longer his apprentice, meaning he saw the Moomer form as something else, before he told Za'kera that he was heading to Nchardak and that they were free to join him. Of course they figured that he wouldn't say anything about the deal, or the fact that he might actually need help in getting through some of the ruin's defenses, but at the very least this meant he was willing to show them where the Black Book he discovered was located. His Steward was given the responsibility of keeping Tel Mithryn safe, not that it mattered since she didn't look like she could defend herself in a fight, as Neloth departed without wasting anytime on a morning meal, which was why Za'kera was happy that she had thought to pack some meat that could be eaten on the go. As such Neloth was the first one to drop down to the base of Tel Mithryn and headed for the walkway leading to Nchardak, where Amaryllis, Wind, and the others followed after him for a time, finding that it didn't look like any enemies were going to bother them, which would make things easier for them in the long run, allowing them to conserve their energy for whatever was inside Nchardak.

When they reached the Dwarven ruin, however, Neloth explained that this particular ruin was partly flooded and that the creators had designed it to raise and sink into the water, making it unique among the various Dwarven ruins he had been to in the past, and that he had locked the main door on his last visit, to keep out all of the 'ignorant meddlers', which had to be all of the Reavers, and sure enough they found some more camping in the ruins.

"Don't kill any of them... I'm in need of more test subjects, and they'll do nicely." Neloth stated, once more showing them that he had no regards for the lives of those that were around him, as while Za'kera and the others didn't care much for bandits they also didn't treat them like livestock, as that was how the wizard seemed to treat these people, though as he said that he used two spells on himself before summoning lightning to his hands.

Wind discovered that one of his spells was the Ebonyflesh, a rather powerful Alteration spell that cast a layer of protection over the caster, which happened to be one of the toughest spells of it's type, while the other she had no idea about, where her mentor informed her that it was the Whirlwind Cloak, which called upon the wind to help protect the caster, by using the wind to knock enemies backwards. That, in combination with his powerful lightning spells, as he under the expert level Destruction spell known as Thunderbolt, showed Wind and the others something very important, Neloth certainly didn't need any help taking down the Reavers that were camping outside Nchardak. His spells were quick and deadly, as he just hurled Thunderbolts through the air and struck his targets in the chest, knocking them backwards with ease while also keeping them alive, just barely since they were moaning while resting on the ground, showing them that he was just using all of them as bait for the Reavers, though Ma'jera deflected any spells as they moved forward. While they did that, and watched Neloth cripple all of his enemies, Wind found that her mentor had a bit of a surprise, she raised a ship out of the water, one that looked like it carried prisoners, and waved a hand to restore it to perfection, while disposing of the various skeletons on it, before placing it near Tel Mithryn and formed a temporary walkway for him to use.

Amaryllis felt sorry for the Reavers, who Neloth stripped of their armor and let them have it, since he didn't need any of their foul armor, because they didn't deserve the fate that was about to be forced upon all of them, though it did confirm that Ma'jera didn't care about mortals either, save for some special ones, before they reached the main door of Nchardak and stared at it.

"The Dwemer of Nchardak appear to have been fond of these control pedestals." Neloth commented, beckoning to a short red colored metallic pedestal that looked like some sort of device could be attached to the top of it, which was connected to the locked door that was in front of them, and in that moment he pulled out an odd metallic cube from his robe, which was different from a Lexicon, "Luckily I found a cube to operate it inside on my last visit, allowing me to seal the door when I left to keep out ignorant meddlers... let me unlock the door, as the Black Book is just inside."

He placed the cube on the pedestal and the top of it turned for a moment, causing the door lock to pull away and allowed them to enter Nchardak, where they found a decent sized chamber on the other side, one that seemed rather flat and had a lone pedestal across from the door, though in the center they found a circular structure, a glass dome of some kind, that had a small containment zone behind it, with the Black Book below it.

"You can see the book right there. So tantalizingly close... but trust me, no magic will open that." Neloth remarked, where he seemed annoyed by the fact that he was unable to magically crack the safe that the Dwarves had placed this book in all those years ago, though he turned towards another locked door that he had to open with the cube, "I would have claimed the book already if I could crack it with magic, which means we'll have to do this the hard way... restoring the steam supply to this room, to be exact, which should open the case. As you'll see soon enough, that's easier said than done... this way to the boilers."

Wind and the others said nothing as he unlocked the door and they found that a lift was on the other side, one that took them down into the depths of Nchardak and allowed them to reach a short tunnel that, after traveling for a few seconds, brought them to a massive chamber that was mostly filled with water, meaning something had to be damaged in the old workings of the ruin.

"As you can see, most of the lower levels of the city are flooded, but it isn't hopeless... the old Dwemer pumps still seem to work. Observe." Neloth stated, having walked down a set of stairs and approached two stone terminals that looked more like metal in some manner, before approaching two pedestals near the edge of this area and slipped the cube onto one of the pedestals, allowing them to watch as the water started to lower, revealing a platform below them with four boilers, the ones they needed to active, "But the pumps only operate when a cube is in the pedestal, and, as you can see, I only have a single cube. Now, these four boilers provide steam to the room upstairs, but right now they're shut down... however, they still respond to the control cubes. So, if we can find four more cubes, we can turn these boilers back on and restore steam power to the room upstairs, which will allow me to open the book's protective case. Bring that cube."

Amaryllis glanced at the others for a moment, as Neloth seemed to think they were merely servants, as Wind claimed the forgotten Control Cube and caused the water to rise once more, though everyone followed the wizard back to the pair of terminals as he leaned close and studied it for a short amount of time. Based on what they could tell it looked like this was some sort of Dwarven language or something, what Amaryllis really had no idea, though Ma'jera seemed to chuckle for a few seconds before Neloth explained that four more cubes were somewhere in this portion of the city, which was to their benefit he added. He did think about it for a few moments, as the information in front of him suggested that the city might have sunk during the first cataclysm of Red Mountain, though he shook his head as he continued to move, bringing them over to another locked door and told them that three of the cubes were somewhere on the other side, making it the most logical place for them to start. Wind nodded as she slipped it onto the pedestal and unlocked the door so they could head inside, moving into another part of Nchardak that might take them hours to explore, since Dwarven ruins could stretch on for who knew how long, where they were surprised to find a pedestal with a Control Cube on it, not a few steps away from where the door was located.

"A Control Cube, this close to the door?" Lydia commented, though as she said that Wind picked up the cube and added it to their growing collection, as now there were three more they needed before they could get their hands on the tome that they were here to get, "Hopefully the other three cubes are this easy to find and acquire."

"For a beast you can be pretty dumb... the Dwemer would have made this hard," Neloth remarked, where he found a paid of spider robots in front of him, in the middle of the path they needed to take to reach one of the other Control Cubes that were in this part of Nchardak, before he lashed out with a pair of Thunderbolts and struck them down, blasting them to pieces with ease, "but, with the power of a Telvanni wizard, I will make this as easy as I possibly can."

"You do realize that I'm contagious, right? I can make your life a mess in an instant." Lydia stated, tapping her udder with the side of her battleaxe's handle as they walked behind him, as he turned back to look at them for a moment, where she took a few seconds to envision what would happen to the figure in front of them, how embarrassed he would be if such a thing happened to him.

"Could you refrain from pissing him off? He's still got three vials, after all, and I'd rather not give him a reason to use them on us or all of Skyrim," Amaryllis remarked, reminding them that Neloth still had a card against them, as she and the rest of the group, save for Ma'jera, didn't want the vials to be used, especially since he could turn a city into cows if he felt like doing so, "plus the Moomer Wand is still inert... for now, he's holding all of the cards."

"And the assassin knows what's going on... even a baby could do that." Neloth stated, though his words caused them to pause for a moment, leaving him to loose another pair of Thunderbolts and take down two more spider bots that emerged from the wall containers that they usually rested in, as it was clear that he didn't care for them and that he was only doing this to make sure they were in his debt.

Wind frowned for a moment, as there was no telling how in the world the wizard had figured out that Amaryllis was an assassin, especially since her disguise made it seem like she was a rogue and she made sure to reapply her disguise just before returning to Tel Mithryn, but she agreed with Amaryllis, that keeping him calm was a good thing. Neloth, however, focused his attention to the chamber that they entered and revealed that they were in the workshops of Nchardak, where it was said that the Dwemer were able to assemble a single automaton, likely a centurion based on what was down on the tables below, in a day, and went on about their armies for a few moments. At the end of the walkway they discovered two pedestals, where Wind slipped one cube onto one of them and they silently watched as more of the water was drained, a good thing since there was another pedestal that had been covered by the water and seemed to be connected to a path that would bring them to where the next Control Cube rested. Sure enough several of the containers opened up and they found a number of spiders, spheres, and a few centurions waking up as Neloth stepped down into the bottom area, where everyone watched as he continued to show them the might of a Telvanni wizard, as if believing that he was stronger and far more intelligent than a Demiprince.

It was as if he was trying to recruit a new apprentice, to the point of stealing one from the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, a fact that should have stopped him in his tracks once he learned that piece of information, but he didn't seem to care, as it looked like he thought that this was a game and that he would, in the end, outwit the Prince of Fate, though she knew that her mentor would win, she always did in the end. Of course she realized another aspect of their visit to Tel Mithryn, Neloth had one of the Black Books and that meant he must have read it, but even if he was able to resist the urge to head back to Apocrypha, and learn more from Hermaeus Mora, the existence of Ma'jera and her knowledge would tempt him in some manner or way that he wouldn't see coming. In addition to that he knew they were interested in the Black Books, meaning he might go out of his way to assist them, so long as he got to look at the tomes as well, which would reinforce the siren call of Apocrypha, to the point that he might cave and give in to his desires, just as Hermaeus Mora intended. She had no idea what would happen when they reached the Black Book, as in actually reached it, but she had a feeling that it would be good for her mentor's plans, as she had to wonder if it was possible to copy a Black Book without going mad, or if the new tome would become a brand new Black Book.

Of course she had heard Neloth's comment about needing assistants for this sort of thing, yet he was more than willing to smash the automatons with his magic, weakening himself with every spell he cast, though it looked like he had far more magic than a normal mage might have in their body, so it would be some time before he exhausted himself, but she was fine with watching him work while they watched.

In the end Neloth was able to bring them to where the next Control Cube was resting and Wind claimed it, which allowed all of them to see that the water levels raised in accordance to that, where Ma'jera formed magical steps for them to use so they could returned to the walkway that the cube they left behind was at the end of, which allowed them to take it not a few seconds later. With that done a door opened and Ma'jera helped them avoid touching the water, choosing to ignore Neloth since he was 'better than a Demiprince', hence why she made sure he slipped through the first magical steps and hit the water, causing Wind to hold back a chuckle as she watched the two bicker, showing off what sorts of spells both of them had access to. Of course Neloth continued to showcase his magic to them as he moved through an area that had a new type of automaton, one that fired off large bolts that could pierce most types of armor, as Neloth claimed he had seen one outside Nchardak and it punched right through the iron and steel armor that some Reavers had been wearing, just before his initial arrival, not to mention search, of this particular ruin. As he spoke they watched as he smashed through all of the remaining automatons, not to mention one last centurion, before discovering where the third and final cube of this part of the ruin happened to be resting, allowing Wind to claim it as the others continued to a set of stairs, allowing them to get above the water in no time.

With that done she used a cube for a second and lowered a bridge that allowed them to return to the main chamber of the entire ruin, where this time around she placed two Control Cubes on the upper two pedestals, causing a good amount of water to drain and reveal another pathway further below the section they had just been on, on the right side of the ruin to be exact, which was when Neloth started moving once more.

As they walked, however, Amaryllis took a moment to imagine what Neloth would look like if he were cursed, thinking back to Lydia's comment on the matter, though she quickly discarded the thought as the wizard smashed several automatons with his magic, all while Ma'jera floated nearby, Za'kera walked with a frown on her face, Lydia looked bored, and Wind, as usual, was studying the area around them. The former princess was a scholar at heart and she was in her element in this ancient ruin, something her mentor either encouraged or helped grow during the time they knew each other, unlike what happened when she was living in the Hive, as her mother wanted her to have enough knowledge about certain things and not get carried away. Of course there was the addition to her namesake, Crudelis, the first Queen of the Hive who was a warlord and was responsible for all of the bad things that had been written about their race, back home away, despite the fact that they became forgotten following her death, which changed when Queen Chrysalis revealed themselves during that wedding. In that moment Amaryllis let out a light sigh, as it seemed like being displaced to this world had been one of the best things for Wind, as she had been allowed to flourish during her time here and had learned more than ever before, only to be dragged into a war for the fate of the entire world, which she was still trying to wrap her head around.

Neloth made a comment about something as they reached the next locked door, where Wind used a Control Cube to open the locked door and they headed inside, finding another chamber that seemed to have some sort of puzzle, one that had three metallic bridges that were rectangles, though Wind found three more pedestals above the entrance, which had to go to the walkways.

"The last cube is somewhere in here, though I hope it won't require more swimming around in this filth." Neloth said, as he noticed the water as soon as they entered the chamber and it seemed to put a frown on his face, like he hated touching it or something, before he beckoned to a risen area on the right side of the chamber, "I would guess that the pump activator is over there, and to reach it we'll need to get all three of these bridges down... that's if your apprentice is smart enough to solve such a simple puzzle."

"Just wait a moment, I'll lower the bridges in no time," Wind replied, as while she wanted to retort that demeaning them like this, and constantly looking like he was trying to one up her mentor with his spells, she knew Neloth was one of those people who didn't seem to care and used his station to get away with things, so she focused on the task at hand and less on how annoying Neloth was.

Each pedestal had a reaction to the three bridges that were in front of them, so all she had to do was test them out before lowering all three of them into position in a matter of seconds, though of course Neloth didn't seem to care about what she had done and continued to walk as the bridges moved into position. She and the others continued to remain behind him, allowing him to weave his magic through the air as he used his Thunderbolts to blast the automatons apart, again not realizing that they were using him to clear out Nchardak without having to exert too much energy. As they did that Wind did find a locked chamber that had a pedestal outside it, to which she unfurled her wings and flew over to it, finding one of the ballista automatons on the other side, to which she smiled for a moment as she unlocked the gate and Neloth blasted it into pieces before it could do anything to them. Once that was done she took a moment to see what was inside the odd chamber and found a few weapons that were made by the Dwarves, not to mention a few gems and trinkets inside a chest that was resting against the wall, but she did find a white stone with a golden ring and Amaryllis informed her that she had one as well, causing her to hand it over once she was back with the group.

After that they found the pump control and she slipped a cube onto it, allowing the water to drain from this place, but as the group watched that happen Neloth informed them that he wasn't interested in swimming again and that he would be near the cube that was on the pump control, leaving the mission to Wind and the others. Of course Wind flew down to the lowest part of the chamber and used the last cube to open a locked gate so she could move forward, leaving Amaryllis and the others behind to make sure Neloth didn't take the cube while she was still in the danger zone, since there was no way to tell what he was thinking. She quickly discovered a few spinning traps in front of a locked gate that the last cube was on the other side of, so she moved over the traps and slipped the cube into position for a moment, allowing her to walk up to where the last Control Cube rested and claimed it without delay, though once that was done she turned around and, with both cubes in hand, she flew out of the area before it was covered in water again. The moment Wind emerged from the tunnel Neloth removed the other cube and they watched as the majority of the chamber filled with water, though Ma'jera weaved a protective barrier around her, her apprentice, and Za'kera's group, leaving Neloth to swim through the water while everyone else remained dry.

A few moments later they emerged from the chamber, as the door wasn't covered in water, and made their way over to where the boilers were resting, where Wind found that Neloth handed over the cube he had collected with a smirk on his face, no doubt assuming she couldn't solve the puzzle, but she proved him wrong by collecting another cube from the two pedestals above them and slipped the four into the pedestals for the boilers.

"This was so easy that a novice could solve it." Wind remarked, though as she said that a bridge lowered nearby and they found a large Dwarven automaton walking across it, not that it mattered since Neloth struck it down with a Thunderbolt to the chest, to which she turned to the others for a moment with a smile on her face, "Come on, let's go get the Black Book and get out of here, before the rest of the ruin wakes up and tries to kill us."

Everyone else agreed with her as she retraced her steps back to the lift that brought them down to this part of the ruin, to which Neloth pressed the button that was in the reading room and they watched as whatever machines were in this part of Nchardak to activate, causing beams of light to shine down on four points before the case opened, the floor raised up, and a pedestal was raised for someone to take the Black Book.

"Two down, five to go." Wind stated, making sure not to add Neloth's book to the count, since he hadn't given them the right to look at the tome and collect it, where she stepped forward and claimed the second Black Book, Epistolary Acumen based on what her mentor said, before she turned to leave Nchardak, as their time here was done and there was no real reason for them to stay.

Amaryllis knew that Wind would read the book when it was safe, meaning back in Tel Mithryn or even Raven Rock, if she felt like going over there, giving her a decent amount of time to read the book and learn whatever knowledge was inside it, not to mention that Za'kera had to do so as well since she needed to follow in Miraak's footsteps, but she was glad to see that they had made progress and was eager to see what happened next.

Author's Note

For anyone wondering: yes, it is totally possible to have Neloth do most of the work in this particular quest.

Solstheim: The First Seal

Upon returning to Raven Rock, to give the Second Councilor the news that the assassins had been taken care of, Amaryllis found that Arano was surprised by her ability to deal with Morvayn's enemies, that she had slain all of the assassins with no need for allies, and he had news to share with her. Apparently he told the First Councilor about her actions, or at least part of them as she soon discovered, as he was surprised when Arano brought her to him and learned of the situation that had been prevented, where Morvayn discovered that the Severin family had been sent to end his life and that they had been allied with the Morag Tong. Amaryllis had figured that out in no time, given the unique armor of the assassins and some of the information she had learned before she killed all of them, and discovered that neither Councilor was pleased to learn that Vendil, the head of the family, had sided with the group of assassins, but they were happy to hear he was dead and that she had crushed the assassins. It was what Amaryllis was working for, making sure Raven Rock was safe from harm, though at the same time she intended on leaving the building and regrouping with the others, since they had to be close to finishing their own tasks, so they could return to Tel Mithryn, to tell Neloth about his new Steward, if Wind and the others had found someone to replace Varona.

What she wasn't expecting was what happened after Arano stopped talking, as the First Councilor informed her that he had a far better reward than some gold, as the belongings and possessions of the Severin family had been forfeit due to them being criminals, so while Raven Rock would be taking the few holdings the family possessed, to keep themselves stable, he was giving her and her companions Severin Manor and everything inside it.

Apparently she and her companions had learned their citizenship in Raven Rock, as Morvayn realized that they were good allies to have in case things happened, and he was hoping that they would consider staying on Solstheim as members of their community, before Arano handed over a sack filled with ten thousand septims, the reward he intended on giving her for her great deed. With that in hand, and she informed the councilors that it would be an honor to stay in the settlement as residents, Amaryllis left the house before walking over to Severin Manor, finding that the bodies of Mirri and Tilisu had been cleaned up while she was gone, meaning Arano had taken care of them while she was busy taking out the Morag Tong and Vendil. One thing she knew was that they needed more beds, as the main bedroom would be Za'kera's and the side bedroom would be Lydia's, just for the time that she and Wind were traveling with the pair, but once she was sure the manor was fine, and nothing was out of the ordinary, Amaryllis headed outside and glanced around for a time, waiting to see Za'kera and the others to tell them what she had done. Based on how long the group had been gone Amaryllis was sure that the others were doing something that would benefit Raven Rock, as finding a new Steward shouldn't take them too long, but there was no way for her to know until Za'kera, Wind, Lydia, and Ma'jera returned to the settlement, so she had to be patient.

Sure enough they arrived a few moments later, coming from the direction of the now freed Stone, where they walked by her for a moment and talked to one of the guards for a few seconds, who directed them to a house on the other side of Raven Rock, though it wasn't long before the others returned to her side and she found a Dragon Priest, in robes that were different from what those in Skyrim had, floating into Raven Rock. She informed them that she had taken out the threat to First Councilor Morvayn, in fact she earned them a place to live for the remainder of their time on Solstheim, and it proved to be a good place for them to talk, as she gave Za'kera a rundown on what happened, which also gave them a chance to tell her what happened on their end. Apparently they found the new Steward with ease and decided to check out the mine, to fulfill a request from the local blacksmith, which lead them down into the depths, through a nordic ruin, and brought them face to face with a Dragon Priest, who identified himself, or at least Wind was sure it had been a male in life, as Zahkriisos, before mentioning that there were three more buried across Solstheim. When Wind mentioned that a Black Book had been at the end of the ruin, and they had added it to their collection, it told Amaryllis everything she had to know, that tracking down the other three, so named Ahzidal, Dukaan, and Vahlok, would likely bring them into contact with the remaining three Black Books, as they had three right now, Neloth had the fourth, and that left three to find, and this seemed like a clue as to where they might be.

Wind agreed with her thoughts on the matter, that tracking down the other Dragon Priests might be the key to finding out where the remaining Black Books happened to be resting, but Amaryllis could tell that she had been debating whether or not it was time to head into the tomes and learn whatever it was that her mentor wanted her to learn, or take down since she had seven seals that needed to be destroyed.

"In the morning we should head to Tel Mithryn... it's time I started tackling whatever is waiting for me inside the ancient Black Books," Wind said, showing them that she had been thinking about it for some time and, now that they had three of the seven books, possibly four if Neloth let them into the room that held his staff enchanter, it was time for her to step up and do her part to prepare for the upcoming war.

Za'kera nodded her head in agreement, as part of the reason behind why they came to Solstheim was to deal with Miraak and the other was to gain knowledge or power for whatever might happen when they left the island, before focusing on their new residence and the rest they would be able to get before seeing what the next day held for them.

When morning arrived Wind and the others emerged from Severin Manor and headed for the eastern edge of Raven Rock, finding that miners were heading back inside the mine to resume searching for ore, though Za'kera made sure to pick up some breakfast so they could eat while they walked back to Tel Mithryn, because she wanted to see if the new Steward had arrived or if someone had killed him on the way. Wind informed Amaryllis that the person they had found was a male Dark Elf by the name of Drovas Relvi, who had nearly jumped at the chance to work for a 'crazed Telvanni wizard', which told her that he might have been in some sort of trouble and that he was using Neloth as a defensive mechanism to keep himself safe. The only reason she thought about that was because he left literally everything he owned behind and there was an Orc, Morgul, who approached them and claimed that they owed him money because they set up Drovas with a job in Tel Mithryn, making him untouchable, not to mention a threat if they didn't pay, that he would be sending thugs to get his money from them. Za'kera ignored him as Amaryllis remembered his face, as she might come back later and take him out, while the others focused on leaving Raven Rock, heading out into the ashen landscape between this settlement and the tower that Neloth lived in, choosing to focus on whatever might be out there this time around.

What they discovered was that they were able to get to Tel Mithryn without anything happening, which they were fine with since it allowed them to conserve their energy for later, and when they entered the tower it was easy to find the Dark Elf working for Neloth like nothing was wrong, as he didn't seem to care about the twisted figure in the cage, causing them to feel sorry for Talva.

"It seems he's working out quite well," Za'kera said, as from what they could see Drovas was already fitting in with Neloth and his new job, cleaning the area, making sure to avoid the corrupted milk, bringing Neloth his tea, and whatever else he had to do, causing the others to focus on the rest of the upper tower, finding that everything seemed to be fine, while at the same time Wind focused on the locked room.

"That Drovas man?" a voice inquired, where they found that Neloth must have been waiting for their arrival, speaking while his new Steward was on the side opposite of him, though he shrugged and pulled himself off his chair, where he downed the rest of the tea that he happened to be drinking before their arrival, "I suppose he'll do... he makes dreadful canis root tea though. But, I should be grateful, since you did go out of your way to find him.... here, take this for your efforts. Oh, and you may use my staff enchanter if you want... provided you let me see the Black Books you currently have."

"Be warned, Neloth, that trying to create a 'normal' copy of a Black Book will open unwanted doors... well, for you, to be exact," Ma'jera commented, once more showing them that she didn't care for mortal lives, in fact Amaryllis was sure that the Demiprince was trying to provoke Neloth into destroying himself, making her wonder if a new Black Book would be formed if someone tried to copy one of the existing ones.

Wind, however, wasted no time in collecting the key from Neloth, who seemed to be wondering what sort of threat had been made against him, allowing her to unlock the door and collect the fourth Black Book, The Hidden Twilight as Ma'jera informed them, before she and Za'kera stood near each other as she pulled out Epistolary Acumen, giving her mentor a few seconds to set the other three near Neloth before wrapping a barrier around them... where not a few seconds later they appeared in a new section of Apocrypha.

"We had best be careful," Za'kera commented, pulled her blades out as Wind tapped her staff on the ground, all while the pair found Ma'jera floating above them, resting near an eye that had to be one of her father's, meaning the Prince of Fate was interested in observing their progress, even if they were here for different reasons, "we have no way of telling what sort of obstacles we'll have to face before reaching the end of this place."

"Especially since we have no idea what form the Seal might have taken," Wind added, as her reason for coming was due to the fact that one of the seven seals that had been placed on her true magic was somewhere in this Black Book, because her mentor knew that she would need her true power in the future and this happened to be the quickest way to unlock it, to make her earn the right to command what was her birthright.

Za'kera nodded for a few seconds, as she understood why Wind was here, before they found that the area the book had brought them to was a platform in the middle of the dark water of Apocrypha, complete with a device that had to be linked to the raised walkway in front of them, but since neither of them knew where their enemies were they stepped forward with their weapons at the ready. As it turned out the only thing they could do right now was tap the eyestalk device that was in the middle of the platform, where it sunk down and some pieces raised up to form a shell, though it was definitely connected to the walkway since it lowered into position, allowing them to walk on it. Of course it didn't reach the next part, a moving tunnel that seemed to be shifting at both ends and both seemed to be moving in different directions, so both of them had to time their jumps to move forward, only to find that another raised walkway was between them and the next part of this area, so they had to wait a little longer. The reason for that was because Wind found another eyestalk device that needed to be activated and she jumped over to it's platform, as she felt that using her wings might be cheating and if she did use them her mentor would ban them, but in the end she activated it and returned to Za'kera's side so they could jump over to the next platform.

That brought them to a glowing book on a pedestal, which had a bunch of moving runes, no doubt in the Daedric language as Za'kera looked at it, though Wind nodded her head and they touched the tome, causing them to disappear from where they were standing and placed them inside a circular tunnel, made out of walkway pieces, that had some spinning papers in front of them. At the very end of it they spotted another eyestalk device, located between two Lurker head statues, so it was the first thing Za'kera headed towards, where it caused the tunnel to unfold and form a platform for them to stand on, even though there were a few Seekers, the floating tendril beings, and a few Lurkers waiting for the protective barrier to drop so they could lash out at their enemies. In response to that Za'kera rushed forward and swung her blades at the first Lurker that she spotted, slicing into it's leg before it had a chance to fight back, though as she did that Wind focused on the pair of Seekers that were studying her, taking in her unique nature while trying to figure out what sort of powers she had, meaning her mentor didn't share anything about her with them. As such she took advantage of the fact that they were distracted by what they were seeing and summoned her magic, sending out a Thunderbolt that raced through the air and struck the first one right in the chest, as she was capable of using Expert level spells and preferred to use the lesser ones, to conserve her energy, but right now they were in Apocrypha and she knew not to hold back.

In fact she was sure that her mentor had been preparing her for this day, that she would come here to unlock her power, so Wind dodged the incoming magical attack from the second Seeker and blasted it in the chest with a pair of Ice Spears, taking it out in a matter of seconds, though as she did that Za'kera finished off the second Lurker, allowing them to search the area.

One thing Wind discovered was that the Seekers didn't die, rather it seemed that her attacks did enough damage to harm both of them and they left before she killed them, but they did leave three tomes each, meaning it was either what they had been reading or it was a peace offering to make sure she didn't come after them again. Either way she collected every tome that was left behind, this time moving them over to her with her magic, Telekinesis to be exact, and found that most of them were tomes she hadn't read yet, meaning that when she wasn't heading through the Black Books she would have some normal reading to do. Once they were done Za'kera found another eyestalk device and activated it, opening a gate that lead them right to another glowing tome, another chapter of this Black Book, and sure enough they were teleported to another part of the book, this one appearing to be a large chamber-like area with no ceiling, with a few platforms and a few sets of stairs, though there were only two Seekers in this area. Wind held her staff out for a second, stopping Za'kera in the process, before having her staff float in the air as she gathered her magic, releasing two Thunderbolts that forced her targets to back off, just like what happened to the other Seekers, allowing them to step out and see what else might be in this part of Apocrypha.

The stairs brought them to a raised section, which had to be the true core of this book, filled with moving tunnels, a square area off to the side, and a large cage in the air that Wind suspected was their true destination, where the knowledge of this Black Book rested, though off in the distance she spotted a black mass that seemed to be waiting, causing her to sweat for a moment as she saw it.

"There it is, the first Seal that I have to overcome," Wind said, confirming that they were in the right spot, which was good since it meant they could ensure Za'kera cleared out her own task while she located and dealt with her own, though she had a feeling that this was going to be a hard fight when she engaged it.

Za'kera could see that the mage was worried about living up to her mentor's expectations, especially since she was under the thumb of the Demiprince daughter of Hermaeus Mora, though it made her wonder what Ma'jera was expecting, much less planning, especially since it seemed like Wind was plenty strong right now, which lead her to the idea that maybe this was connected to the weakened Daedric Prince. In the end, however, she decided that there would be time to think about it later, hence why she and Wind moved over to the moving tunnel and crossed without much resistance, since she swung her blades at a Seeker, cutting through it's body and robes before it fled, showing her that while they were willing to give up everything to learn they weren't willing to die. Plus, given that they were in Apocrypha, it was possible that they would be displaced, giving them a period of rest before returning to life, but she decided not to worry about that either as both she and Wind finally reached the tunnel and moved forward, which brought them to an eyestalk device and a locked door, the former unlocking the latter when activated. Of course the tunnel on the other side of the pair of doors, as there were two and not one, happened to move like the ones they had been in before and it eventually reconnected to one side of the area they were walking through, involving another eyestalk device that moved the doors once more, allowing the pair to continue deeper into the Black Book.

Of course they found a couple of Seekers along the way, some falling by Za'kera's blades and others falling to Wind's more powerful magic, not to mention a Lurker that fell before their combined might, before they reached a chamber that looked like one from Miraak's temple and a tunnel beyond that, where a few Seekers were floating. Of course the Seekers tried to hit them with their spells, just like they had been doing since the pair entered Apocrypha, but most discovered why Za'kera and Wind couldn't be stopped by those who defended the secrets of this Black Book, causing them to flee once they knew that defeat was coming. Wind made sure to collect whatever the Seekers left behind when each one fled, mostly to see if anything new had been dropped or if she had to give anything back when they were done with their mission, before they found another glowing book at the end of the tunnel, one that brought them up to a building that was level with the main cage, meaning their goal was in sight. Once both of them were ready Za'kera tapped the eyestalk device and activated it, which caused a walkway to rise up and form a path for her and Wind to use, which they did so without delay, allowing the pair to watch as the cage came undone and revealed a larger Black Book on a pedestal that rested in the middle of what they were walking towards.

Their goal was in sight, where once they reached it Za'kera raised a hand, after sheathing one of her blades, and the book opened up, revealing pages flowing in Daedric runes and came to a stop on one page that contained three circles that had to be somewhat important, though she and Wind could feel new knowledge flowing into them, all while Hermaeus Mora's eye and several tentacles appeared in the air behind the large book.

Dragonborn, you have done well to reach this point... for your efforts, the second Word of Power is yours, the Prince stated, where Za'kera felt a rush of power surge through her body for a few seconds, understanding of the next Word that went to the Bend Will Shout, one that she had only used to crush Miraak's creations that were surrounding the Stones of Solstheim, all while Ma'jera floated nearby and said nothing.

"I'm grateful for growing closer to Miraak's strength, but... even if I did well, you would never give me something like this for free," Za'kera said, as she had learned a lot during her time with all of the Demiprinces that were springing up, as some did things without asking anything in return, some seemed to give things as rewards or punishments, or some made deals like this, and given who she was dealing with she knew that the second Word was only the appetizer, bait to entice her to make a deal for the third Word, "I'm assuming you want something for the third Word of Power?"

My daughter carries a crystal that will take in the knowledge of the Skaal shaman, but he must give it willingly... acquire that knowledge and I shall grant you what you seek. Hermaeus Mora replied, causing Za'kera to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds, as it seemed weird that the Skaal would have something that a Prince of Oblivion might want, but given the barrier it was possible their magical knowledge was what he was after, to add it to his library, I have ensured that he will not come to harm... you would ruin everything if I killed the shaman to acquire the knowledge, so this is the middle ground for this situation.

Wind paused for a moment, as it seemed strange that Hermaeus Mora was even willing to compromise like this, but as she thought about it she realized something, the potential activation of the Aldmeri Numidium, which Ma'jera and the rest of the godly children agreed existed, could result in the total destruction of this world and the death of everyone who called it home, including her and Amaryllis, meaning the Prince of Fate would lose out on so much knowledge if they died, since the two of them were the keys to their home world.

"My apprentice has figured it out." Ma'jera said, where Wind detected a small trace of pride in her mentor's voice, as in she was proud of the fact that she was proving to be as smart as she thought she was, and she was sure that a smile was on her face, even if it was hidden by the mask she wore almost all the time, "The last time a Numidium was activated it lead to the Warp in the West, and given that the Aldmeri Dominion are planning on ending the world it's likely that another Warp, at the very least, will occur when it's activated... if it reaches the Adamantine Tower, well, it's game over for this world, as an event in that area will be the end of Nirn. We can't afford to walk off the path Amaryllis started you down, so killing the shaman is off the table..."

"I get it now." Za'kera stated, as the Prince of Fate and his daughter were making sure not to annoy her, because they were worried that she might turn against them and put the future of this world in jeopardy if they forced her to do things that she didn't agree with, but for now it seemed like a good compromise, before she focused on the large book and found she could pick between three powers, picking 'Dragonborn Force' in the end, "I guess my mission is over..."

"Mine is just starting." Wind said, where she stepped over to the edge of the area and spotted the dark mass she had seen earlier, causing her to step forward for a moment as she opened her wings, allowing her to fly down into the area that her target was in, finding that it transformed into an oily black version of her and that it possessed a ghostly white aura, but it wasted no time in rushing towards her.

Wind had to wonder which burden this was, because in the past, a week after she became Ma'jera's apprentice, she had been told that she was plagued by what her mentor called the 'Seven Burdens', the same seven that became the seals on her power, which came in the form of her doubt, anger, despair, violent nature, hatred, pride, and fear, most of which she had sealed away a long time ago. Her mentor knew that she had to conquer her personal flaws, even if she had assumed she had done such a thing in the past, to unlock her true magical power, that was why she had summoned them from the bottles she had sealed them in all those years ago, when she decided to abandon her mother's path and forge her own destiny. As Wind thought about that, however, she weaved her magic together and formed a barrier around her, blocking a punch from Doubt that caused dark energy to race over it, before reversing the direction and knocked her foe back for a moment, allowing her to rush through the air as they moved away from where Za'kera was standing, just in case her dark emotion tried to take a hostage. While she did that, and found that Doubt was following her, Wind turned around for a few seconds and loosed a Thunderbolt at it, striking her target in the chest and knocked it down towards the ground, but she stayed away, as she had a feeling that this was a trap.

As she waited for Doubt to come back at her Wind thought about the colors she had seen earlier, as Doubt was oily black, Anger was likely red, Despair might be dark blue, Violence could be purple, Hatred might be gray, Pride was likely an icy blue, and Fear might be pitch black, darker than Doubt, but she would figure all that out whenever she tracked down the rest of them.

A few seconds later she found a wave of energy coming at her, matching Doubt's color scheme, where she launched a bolt of magical energy from her staff and shattered the attack, though this told her that her foe was coming to get her, and not even a moment later Doubt flew out of the area she had landed in and rushed right at her. Wind moved out of the way and wrapped some of the wind around her, intending on lashing out with it, though her foe proved to be smarter than she had originally thought and avoided the attack before it could hit her, causing Wind to sigh, as she had been hoping to end this quickly, before blocking another wave of energy. Instead of letting that get her down or annoy her, since the burdens knew all that she knew and were using Equestrian spells in how they fought, as it seemed like Doubt was using something from one of the stories she had heard from her mother, Wind focused on the fight and formed a lance made of lightning, just a modified Thunderbolt that would fly faster and packed the same amount of power. It proved to be quite effective for her as she sent it flying through the air, where it smashed right into Doubt's chest and pierced her heart, which caused the first of her seven burdens to convulse for a few seconds before shattering into a thousand pieces, the energy disappearing as she felt something inside her come undone.

As she returned to Za'kera's side, however, Wind knew that the other six Burdens wouldn't be this easy to take out, in fact they were likely going to push her to her limits and force her to grow before being able to defeat them, meaning she was in for quite an ordeal as she hunted down her remaining targets and had to wait and see what the future held for her and the rest of her group.

Solstheim: The Fallen Apprentice

With the first of the Black Books taken care of Za'kera, Wind, and Ma'jera returned to Solstheim, finding themselves back in the upper level of Tel Mithryn, where they discovered Neloth looking over the other tomes their group had found since their arrival on the island, not to mention a stack of pages that looked like they might have been taken from one of the Black Books they had recovered.

"I don't understand... I copy the pages, in a safe manner, and yet the finished product turns into another Black Book, a new one by the looks of it," Neloth commented, where he sipped on his tea as he stared at what was in front of him, a tome that was in the middle of transforming into a brand new Black Book, though Wind had a feeling there had to be a library of them in Apocrypha and this was a way for them to be brought out into the world.

"It's not meant to be understood, at least not by those in your situation." Ma'jera remarked, though she tilted her hand for a second and the tomes that were on the table, those they had recovered so far, floated over to her and rejoined the one her student had just cleared, where Wind took a seat near Amaryllis for a couple of seconds, "however, the first Burden has been cleared, or Seal if you prefer... it really doesn't matter to me... meaning there are six more my student needs to clear before we're done with Solstheim, but for now she can rest before tackling the second book."

Amaryllis smiled for a moment as they heard that, because it meant that Za'kera and Wind had been successful in their mission, the former gaining new powers to improve her Dragonborn abilities while the latter must have unlocked some of her true power after beating the first Burden.

"I suppose I can take a break... but I will beat Hermaeus Mora at his own game!" Neloth stated, showing them that he still felt like he was capable of overcoming everything and anything that the Prince of Fate threw at him, which Amaryllis felt was a bad thing when she considered the curse she had shrugged off, before he glanced at one of the walls, which looked like it was withering, "Elynea better take care of that... or I'll find a mycologist who can, and turn her into another subject for my tests."

While Za'kera and Wind rested, before even thinking of heading into one of the other Black Books they had recovered, as Miraak's was the last one Ma'jera wanted her apprentice to tackle, Amaryllis walked over to Talva's cage while Neloth was distracted, finding out that the person in question was a Dark Elf called Elynea Mothren and her house was to the left of the main tower. Apparently she had been with Neloth for a long time, decades in fact, and she had to be raging right now, as their master was considering tossing her out if she couldn't heal the wounded portion of his house, so she decided to leave Tel Mithryn's main tower and head over to the smaller one, to see what the problem was. Sure enough she found a female Dark Elf raging near one of the tables, meaning Neloth really pissed off everyone around him and they only did this when they were sure that no one was around to witness their actions or hear their words, especially considering Neloth cursed his student to being a Moomer. In fact she was sure that the wizard in question was going to use that as his brand new method of dealing with anyone and everyone who displeased him, just curse them and use them in his experiments, watching the changes unfold as someone's life was ruined, but in the end she focused on Elynea as she entered her part of the tower.

"Damn that man! He's being totally unreasonable." Elynea said, her voice and emotions full of anger, meaning she was at odds with her boss and didn't care much for his request, which told Amaryllis that she either knew what was going on and was incapable of fixing it or she had no idea what to do about the rotted section, "I don't care if he's a master wizard. He can't treat me like this!"

"Unfortunately, he doesn't care about the lives of those who work for him... or any life for that matter." Amaryllis stated, remembering what she and the others had seen from Neloth, in the short period of time that they had been near him, all of which made her dislike Neloth more than most of the people she had encountered during her time in Skyrim, before she glanced at Elynea, "But, out of curiosity, what did he ask of you?"

"That fetcher told me to fix his house!" Elynea replied, confirming what Neloth had said a few moments ago, though that was fine with Amaryllis since it meant she didn't have to waste time worrying if there was anything else she had to find out about, before the lady sighed as considered what her boss had told her, "If I don't do that, he'll find a new mycologist that will. Decades of loyal service, and he's just going to throw me out like yesterday's breakfast. In order to fix the tower I need to soak some taproots in the Headwaters of the Harstrad River, but, due to my old age, I can't get there and back... if you can get three taproots, I'll show you where to find the area they need to be soaked in... technically I need one, but it never hurts to have spares, in case this happens again."

Amaryllis agreed with that, as given Neloth's temper it was best to have multiple taproots prepared for the future, just in case part of the tower ended up withering again, before finding that to find taproots she would either have to kill some Spriggans and tear their hearts out, or buy them from one of the alchemists. Once Elynea gave her the information she needed, which she thanked her for, Amaryllis emerged from her part of Tel Mithryn and quickly unfurled her wings once more, where her first destination was Raven Rock, as she was sure she might be able to acquire some taproots from one of the vendors she had seen previously. The other reason for her picking the Dark Elf settlement was that she could find and take out Mogrul for threatening Za'kera earlier, because he might be a pain in the future, and with her speed it took her no time to get back to the settlement in question, where she found all sorts of residents wandering around, with the Orc hanging out in the market. She made sure no one was watching as she landed near Severin Manor and turned into her normal disguise, making sure people recognized her and didn't question where she had come from, as there was a chance the guards or residents would assume someone had been left behind, before taking a moment to find the alchemist and a few others, like the general goods.

Her luck was great, as she managed to find several taproots and purchased them, along with some food and drink, since it would be some time before the others were able to leave Tel Mithryn and it didn't look like Neloth wanted to provide any food for his guests, making it look like he was shopping for her companions. Once she was done shopping, and found that Mogrul was still out and about, she returned to the manor and disappeared, allowing her to head to the outskirts of Raven Rock before taking on the form of a Reaver she had seen, one of the lighter ones with chitin armor, and silently pulled out her bow. In that moment, before anyone noticed her, she readied one of her lesser arrows, as she wasn't about to waste one of the good ones on the Orc, and focused for a few seconds as she aimed at him, where Amaryllis let the arrow fly and watched as it struck Mogrul right in the chest, causing him to stagger before collapsing. She waited for a few seconds, just to be sure that he was dead, and sure enough the guards called out that there was a murderer on the loose and one even spotted her, causing the murder to be placed on the head of a Reaver that happened to be out in the ashen landscape, but with the deed done she turned and fled, allowing her to disappear once more.

Once she was sure that the guards would be chasing someone who didn't exist, especially since they had no idea that she and Wind were Changelings, Amaryllis reverted to her true form and flew towards Tel Mithryn once more, where she made sure to revert to her Khajiit disguise as she headed into Elynea's portion of the area. Sure enough the old lady was slightly surprised that she had found the taproots so quickly, before deciding that she must have killed several Spriggans to get all three of them, where she informed her of where the Headwaters were located on the map, so she would be able to soak them and return to Tel Mithryn. What she discovered was that her destination was off to the northwest of the Skaal Village, interestingly enough, so it gave her an idea of where to go, and with that in mind she headed outside once more and took off without wasting time, since she didn't want to give Neloth a reason to curse Elynea. As it turned out she didn't have to spend too much time searching for the river in question, where she discovered a cave on the other side of a small waterfall, which seemed to be the area that she needed to work in so the taproots, so she found a good spot and did her task without delay.

She got out of there before any Spriggans showed up, as it seemed like they might be nearby, and made her way back to Tel Mithryn, where Elynea was pleased to have the taproots and took two of them, directing her to place the third in the rotted area of the main tower, to which she nodded and headed inside, finding Neloth in the middle of one of his various experiments once more.

"Curse these heart stones!" Neloth stated, where it was clear that he was holding an ashen stone with red sections to it, an item that had to be native to Solstheim, since this happened to be the first time she had seen something like it, but as he made his annoyance known she took a moment to slip the taproot into the withered section of the main tree, before even turning to face him.

"I take it that there's another problem?" Za'kera asked, as she could see that Amaryllis was curious as to what had upset Neloth this time around, even if she didn't care about the wizard all too much, and part of her agreed with her friend, as it might given them an idea of what to do before he started hurling that curse at everyone.

"I've been having difficulties with my heart stone experiments." Neloth stated, gesturing to the stone on the table, which he had set down after getting annoyed with it, though his former apprentice seemed happy to have a break from what her master had done to her, to which he turned towards them for a moment as he considered something, "Have you heard of the Briarhearts?"

"No, I haven't. Why do you ask?" Amaryllis replied, mostly because she wanted nothing to do with the Forsworn, despite her brief encounter with the group when she was recovering a fragment of Mehrunes' Razor, meaning she had no idea who or what Neloth was talking about or why he was interested in them.

"They are fierce warriors of the Forsworn tribes." Neloth said, where his tone shifted and revealed that he now considered her to be of less value than what he thought previously, causing Amaryllis to frown for a moment, but she said nothing as they waited for him to explain himself, "They actually remove their own hearts, and replace them with large briar seeds, an act that puts their lifesparks in direct connection to the natural forces. I need you to examine one of them. Just investigate them as much as you can, as I'm going to put this memory trace spell on you, so you won't have to worry about taking notes... I doubt you could know what was important anyway."

Amaryllis kept the frown on her face as Neloth applied the spell to her, though the problem she discovered was that there was no way for her to get back to Skyrim and back without wasting too much time, but that was when Ma'jera waved one of her hands and a magical oval appeared nearby, where she explained it was a gateway back to Markarth, since it was the closest place to the Forsworn. In that moment she walked through it and found that she was inside the city in question, as in the portal brought her to the highest point, where it would be impossible for anyone to come across it and accidentally use it, though with that done she took off and headed for one of the ruins she had seen in the past. Her plan was simple, she was going to track down one of the areas that the Forsworn were in control of, figure out where a Briarheart Warrior was located, and then use her disguise to get close and kill her target, which should allow her to study the figure in detail so Neloth could get his notes on the matter. The ruin she ended up in happened to be the same one that she had been to in the past, to recover part of Mehrunes' Razor, and sure enough the Hagraven was still dead, though the Briarheart that was near the Word Wall didn't seem to care and might be looking for a replacement, but right now she found him standing near the stone table and it presented an opportunity for her.

In that moment she cut open his neck with the Razor and let his body fall to the ground, allowing her some time to look at his body and poke at certain areas, like where his heart had been and where the seed was resting, though after some time she felt like she was done and departed, after making sure to remove the briar heart so the figure didn't revive on her or something, allowing her to return to Markarth.

"There, that should be everything you need for your experiments," Amaryllis remarked, speaking once she returned to Tel Mithryn and the portal closed behind her, where she had to admit that Ma'jera's magic was rather handy and made her wish she used some of her more advanced spells when they needed them, before turning her attention to Neloth, where the wizard extracted the time slot associated with her studies, and then she noticed something, "I take it there's more you need assistance with?"

"There are too many coincidences. There must be someone behind all of my recent troubles." Neloth commented, though whether it was an answer to her question or not none of them seemed to care enough to find out, as with him there was no telling what he might be thinking, but it was clear that he was thinking about the events that had happened recently, or at least Amaryllis hoped that was the case.

"You think someone is attacking you?" Za'kera asked, though while she could see why someone would want a figure like the First Councilor dead, as he was an important figure for the people of this island and one of his enemies wanted him dead for a crime he committed in the past, she was starting to think that Neloth was just mentally unstable or mad, as he didn't seem all there right now.

"Yes. I have enemies... legions of them back in Morrowind, in fact." Neloth said, which came as a surprise to them, but as they thought about it Amaryllis recalled the five houses that existed in the province in question and realized that he might have pissed off all sorts of people before coming to this island, before he glanced at the walls of his tower, "However, in this case I have reason to believe it is someone in Solstheim, as I have suffered Ash Spawn attacks, my previous Steward is dead, and part of my house withered, all of which happened in the last few weeks."

"And I suppose you want us to track them down and kill whoever responsible for this?" Amaryllis inquired, because that seemed to be this world's response to someone pissing them off, like what happened when she tracked down the figure who wanted Morvayn dead earlier, and while her comment was for all of them Za'kera and Wind knew that she would be the one to assassinate the figure in question.

"Not yet, that may come later. First I need to identify the culprit." Neloth answered, where he took a moment to search his pockets before producing a ring, one that seemed to be made out of iron or steel and had a small ruby in the center of it, one that had to be important to his plans, "I've enchanted this ring to find the source of the attacks. Here, take it. All you need to do is wear it and it will light up when it finds the source of the attacks."

In that moment Za'kera took the ring and slipped it on, where she, Lydia, and Amaryllis headed down to the base of the tower and headed outside, where she looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, though her companions kept themselves at the ready in case more Ash Spawn showed up, given what Neloth had told them. A few moments later she found a path leading down to an area that appeared to be a graveyard, with coffins that looked like they might made to resemble chitin in some manner, though it was out of sight and meant that the wizard wouldn't see it unless he wanted to gaze up on it. What they discovered was that a few Ash Spawn were hanging around the graveyard, who noticed them approaching and drew their weapons accordingly, causing the trio to lash out accordingly, Za'kera slashing her foe apart, Lydia smashing hers with a swing of her battleaxe, and Amaryllis avoided a Fireball before stabbing her foe in the chest, all of which cleared up the area in no time. Once that was done they looked in the couple of coffins that were buried here, as Neloth's ring claimed that whatever was causing the attacks was in this area, before finding nothing in the grave of Ildari Sarothril, save for a heart stone and a staff, meaning whatever had happened to her was likely being blamed on Neloth, so it might be a revenge play.

With that information in hand Za'kera picked up the stone and returned to Tel Mithryn, where they found the wizard just standing near the door to his staff enchanter, meaning this had to be important for him to stop his experiments, but that just told Amaryllis that they might not like whatever he had to tell them.

"We found some Ash Spawn in the graveyard, and this pulsing heart stone was in one of the graves," Za'kera said, where she held her hand out and let Neloth take the stone from her, giving him a chance to study it before speaking his mind on the matter, all while she and Amaryllis knew what was coming next.

"Hmm. I've known for decades that heart stones will animate the ash, but it would have to be very close by." Neloth stated, showing them that he definitely was thinking about the item he had been handed and what it might mean, all while giving them some additional information, even if it wasn't a lot to go on, before he glanced up for a moment, "Where exactly did you find this heart stone?"

"It was in the grave of Ildari Sarothril." Amaryllis answered, though this was where Neloth had her full attention, as she had a feeling that whatever was said next would reveal things to her and the others, possibly more about the target who was trying to do harm to Tel Mithryn, and the others remained silent as everyone waited for a few moments.

"Ildari? Then it's my own fault. She was my apprentice before Talva." Neloth explained, where the group was surprised for a moment, as they weren't expecting him to admit that something was his fault, but no one said anything and no one even moved as he considered what happened in the past, "She volunteered for one of my experiments involving heart stones... it was quite annoying when she died, as I had to find a new apprentice, which I'm going to have to do now that Talva is no longer able to fill that role."

"Experiment? What did you do to her?" Wind asked, though she had a feeling that Neloth was totally responsible for the death of his previous apprentice and that she must have been forced to take part in the experiment, even if he said that he had given her a choice in the matter.

"My necropsies of Spriggans led me to believe that a heart stone could be implanted in a person's chest, something that would grant them great power." Neloth stated, where he turned for a moment and looked at one of the walls of his tower, recalling his version of the events he was telling them about, the untrue events when they thought about who they were dealing with, "I was considering replacing my heart with a heart stone. Fortunately Ildari offered to let me operate on her first... of course this was before your friend headed back to Skyrim to study a briarheart's. Thanks to that I now know that I did the surgery all wrong and should be able to prevent death from happening again."

"There wasn't a body in the grave... just the heart stone." Lydia commented, where she walked over to one of the chairs and took a seat, since it didn't look like anyone was doing anything and that meant her Thane wasn't heading out, so she could change her position and still keep an eye on what Za'kera was doing.

"What?! That's impossible. Wait... unless she didn't actually die!" Neloth exclaimed, or at least that was what it seemed like, even if he kept his voice the same as he learned that piece of information, which allowed him to use his knowledge to fill in some of the blanks, or maybe gasp at straws until it made sense, "The heart stone could have kept her right at the edge of life and death. Could it be? Could Ildari still be alive? Could she be my nemesis? Wait a moment while I cast a more specific divination."

Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew what would happen once Neloth figured out where his former apprentice was hiding, he was going to have them head in and take her out, given that he knew that an assassin was among their number, all while he gathered his magic and prepared his spell.

"I call upon the powers of the sun, moons and stars. Ildari Sarothril, reveal yourself!" Neloth said, where he cast the spell and caused a rush of magic to pass through the area around him, only for him to whip his head around and point off to the north, as in to the north from where they were standing, "She lives. Seek her in Highpoint Tower."

"So, what is her sentence? So you want her dead, or do you want her alive?" Amaryllis asked, because she knew that the wizard would likely send her if he desired death, or maybe he would send everyone and overpower his former apprentice as they cut off her escape, to make sure she was captured if he desired such a thing.

"For now, capture her alive," Neloth stated, though that told everyone that he had plans for Ildari, meaning he might be thinking of twisting his former apprentice into another Moomer, as he still had two vials and Tavla was an endless source of the agent that turned him into her current state, before he waved a hand, "By the time you get back I will have decided what her fate should be."

The group had an idea of what her fate would be, even if the wizard wasn't willing to share it with them at this time, likely thinking they might turn away if they knew what his plans were, to which they got up from where they were positioned, headed down the lift once more, and made their way outside without wasting time. Based on what Ma'jera told them the tower in question was to the north of Fort Frostmoth, allowing Amaryllis to lead the way over to their new destination, as she had passed by it more often than the others, though she knew that it was one of the towers that had been buried by all of the ash. Sure enough she found what she was looking for without too much delay, where a number of Ash Spawn rose up to face them, to stop them from reaching their master, and the group lashed out without delay, with Ma'jera being her usual self so she could see how well her apprentice had improved so far, even if she was still working on the tomes the Burdens were located inside. Once the Ash Spawn were dealt with they headed through the door that had been unearthed fairly recently, meaning Ildari must have been revived not that long ago, possibly in the last month or two, and entered the tower, finding an area that looked like it might be the hidden way into the end of this place and a set of stairs that went down into the depths.

As they walked down the path the group discovered an area that looked like there might have been more people here at one point in time, like adventurers or something, though Za'kera kept her weapons at the ready as they passed by a table that had a journal on it, which Wind collected before they reached the bottom level. At the last step she found a tunnel, a short one that brought them to a small stone chamber that had nothing but a passage leading further inward, with a set of soul gem pedestals, so while Za'kera and Lydia cleared the way forward Wind used her magic to snatch the soul gems and cancel out the defenses. Amaryllis kept her eyes open as she and her companions moved forward, pointing out where the Ash Spawn were located and even stabbed a few in their backs, cutting down on the number of foes that they had to deal with, and when she spotted a room with a rune right on the middle of the floor Wind smashed it with an Ice Spike, as that wasn't something to waste her mana on. In addition to that she found a number of torture devices, a wire trap, and some soul gems that had likely been filled by whatever victims Ildari had come across, but they avoided the hazards that were in the room before moving down the passage that was in front of them, before finding an area that held some cages, like a jail, and one lady was still alive.

The female Redguard, Niyya, was happy to see that someone was here to end Ildari's reign, even if Neloth wanted her alive for some reason, though Za'kera made sure she stayed back, as in she would be following them while keeping a fair bit of distance so she didn't get caught in combat, that way she survived and could leave once they were sure the way out had been cleared.

Niyya quickly understood why Za'kera had said that, as the next area they entered had a number of Ash Spawn that rose up to do battle with them, allowing her to witness exactly what each of them were capable of, save for the Demiprince of course, as they hacked, slashed, and blasted their foes to pieces, which was easy since these guys were made out of ash and not flesh. In the next chamber it looked like there was some sort of ritual altar, where they found a female Dark Elf in Telvanni robes staring down at them, meaning Ildari knew they were coming, and sure enough she summoned a pair of Ash elementals that joined a number of Ash Spawn in attacking them, to which Ma'jera let out a slight chuckle as their foe walked away and left them to her minions. Her reasoning was due to Wind summoning her power and blasted the pair of Ash Guardians with a set of Thunderbolts, while at the same time Amaryllis jumped up a side path so she could stab some of the enemies that were higher up, the ranged ones, and opened the way for Za'kera and Lydia, who were hacking their way through their foes, to make their way up to her. Thanks to that they were able to clear out the area and followed the path that Ildari had used to move out of this section of the tower, bringing them to a number of Ash Spawn that guarded the area in question, but it wasn't long before they fell and the group made their way to what appeared to be the chamber Ildari called home, much to her surprise when Za'kera stepped in.

Amaryllis, taking advantage of their foe's surprise, disappeared for a second and appeared behind Ildari, allowing her to strike the revived Dark Elf with a nearby pot, shattering it and knocking her out, and with the defenses of this area taken out her companions were able to join her in no time, allowing them to ransack the chamber of items as Ma'jera made sure Ildari was stunned for some time.

With that done they found the secret path back to the surface and Niyya joined them, as she was interested in what sort of fate was waiting for Ildari, though as they did that Amaryllis noticed that there was a torn section of her robe that had a metallic ring around around it, with a heart stone embedded in her flesh, right below her breasts. It confirmed what had been done to her, Neloth's experiment with the strange stones, though she focused on their task as they exited Highpoint Tower and made their way back to Tel Mithryn, all while Niyya found some nicer clothing to replace the rags she had been left in after Ildari turned on her mining group. They didn't have to worry about the Ash Spawn, because if Ildari was their true leader, as her journals claimed she was, this would take care of them for everyone on the island, which allowed them to get to their destination without too much trouble, and Neloth turned to face them when they arrived in his tower, only a smug look appeared in his eyes as he stared at Ildari. The first thing he did was remove her robes and replace them with a set of rags, leaving the heart stone behind, and placed her in Talva's cage, before weaving a spell to knock Niyya out, even though the others knew he was planning something, and then fixed the broken portion of his previous apprentice's robes, making it look like new.

When Ildari regained herself, however, Neloth confirmed their suspicions as he stuffed one of the vials into her mouth and forced her to drink what was inside it, transforming her into a Moomer and found that she was unable to use any spells, so he didn't have to worry about her trying to escape in the future, before he turned towards them, focusing on Za'kera for a few seconds.

"Well, well, you and your allies have proven to be far more valuable than I anticipated." Neloth remarked, where he took a moment to pull out one of the staffs that he kept around Tel Mithryn, one that seemed far more fancy than what a normal mage carried, and handed it to Za'kera, along with the reformed robes, "I have this staff for you, but I would also like to make you a member of my household... a member of House Telvanni... and you need to look the part, so take Ildari's old robes as well. No need to thank me. I know you are overwhelmed with gratitude."

Amaryllis was sure that Za'kera wasn't feeling the emotion that Neloth claimed she should be feeling, but the good thing about this situation was that they had helped two of the Great Houses of Morrowind, first Redoran and now Telvanni, so it meant they might have some allies when it came time to march on the Aldmeri Dominion, and they might be able to talk the rest of Morrowind into joining the battle for the fate of their world.

Solstheim: Aiding the Skaal

Amaryllis found that nothing happened after they dealt with Ildari, and hopefully gaining the support of House Telvanni at the same time, meaning all they did was sit around Tel Mithryn as Wind focused on the remaining Black Books that they had recovered so far, just like her mentor wanted. It was hard to tell if she was trying to hold back, to rest a little more or help others before worrying about the remaining twisted tomes, or if part of her was worried about the other Burdens she might face, where she had the feeling that the latter might be the truth in this situation. The other part about this was that Amaryllis was sure that with every Burden defeated Wind's power would grow, but at the same time it might mean that all of the remaining Burdens would get a power boost as well, so she was likely debating how to deal with the threat and plan what she was going to do next. Other than that there was nothing else she and the others could do, save for sit and watch as Neloth tended to his twisted apprentices, all while Wind studied the Black Books that weren't from Miraak's temple, as her mentor refused to allow her access to where Miraak rested.

In the end, however, Wind didn't open any of the other Black Books and let them be stored away once more, where she walked over to the others as Ma'jera floated behind her, though Amaryllis didn't detect any annoyance from the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, rather it was like she knew this was going to happen and was fine with it.

"We should help the Skaal, as they're the last settlement on this island." Wind commented, as so far they had aided Raven Rock in stabilizing themselves, because with the mines cleared they would be able to mine ore again and with the death of the Severin family there was no threat to the power structure, and had just finished aiding Neloth, which might grant them some assistance in the future.

"Agreed... though once that's done you should focus on clearing out your Burdens," Za'kera said, as while she understood part of the reason behind Wind's desire to help the Skaal out, due to the fact that she was thinking the same thing, it was also clear she was trying to get around her own work, hence why she made sure the mage knew that she needed to head into the books once the Skaal were no longer in need of assistance.

Wind paused for a few seconds before nodding her head, showing that she was fine with tending to the tomes once they were done helping the Skaal out, to which they glanced over at Neloth, finding that he was in the middle of whatever he was researching, before heading back down to the base of Tel Mithryn. Once they were outside Za'kera turned back to the north and started moving once more, though as she did that Amaryllis noted that night would be upon them soon, as they had spent most of the day assisting Neloth, so depending on what they discovered in the Skaal Village they might arrive at Raven Rock well into the night. Of course this time around they found a number of Reavers wandering the area between the village and Tel Mithryn, to which the group lashed out at them without wasting time, Za'kera dodging attacks before stabbing her foes in the chest, Lydia just hacked her way through her opponents, Wind channeled her magic and froze her targets with a blast of ice magic. Such a thing allowed her to blast them apart with a followup, in the form of a Lightning Bolt, though as they did that Amaryllis found a few ranged foes and appeared behind them before they even knew what in the world was happening, allowing her to slice open their necks within a matter of seconds, ending her foes as Za'kera and the others did the same with their foes.

After looting the Reavers of whatever valuables they had, coins and gems mostly since their enemies had no ebony, they made their way back to the Skaal Village, where it was easy to find two of the residents, one female and one male, that just so happened to be in the middle of a conversation when they arrived.

"Deor, you must calm yourself." the female Skaal stated, her words informing them that the other Skaal must be upset or something, why they had no idea and it gave them a good starting point to figure out how to help these people, despite the fact that Za'kera still had two Stones that needed to be freed, not counting the one in Miraak's temple, "I'm sure there is a good reason Baldor left us."

"Something isn't right, Fanari, I feel it in my bones and I smell it in the air. Baldor wouldn't leave without telling someone." the other Skaal, Deor, replied, where Amaryllis and Wind could tell that he must have seen something, since he seemed so sure that this 'Baldor' hadn't left of his own accord, otherwise he wouldn't be trying to convince others to help him track down the missing villager.

"Don't worry yourself over nothing, Deor. Do you want a head full of gray hairs before you've seen forty winters?" Fanari said, informing them that she either didn't care that someone might be missing, or she did care and had faith that Baldor would return in due time, though either way it didn't seem like her words were doing Deor any favors, as he was upset over what she had said.

"It makes my heart heavy that you don't believe me, Fanari." Deor stated, his tone and emotions confirming that he knew something that none of the other Skaal knew, or at least he was sure that his friend must have been taken, where he just turned to the side as he sighed, "Baldor could be in danger, and you will do nothing. If you won't help me, then I'll ask the All-Maker to send someone else who can."

Fanari seemed conflicted by what he said, though she simply sighed and moved on with her duties, whatever they might be since they had no idea what her position in the village was, though once she was gone they walked forward and found that Deor recognized them immediately.

"I am in no mood to talk, outsiders... one of the Skaal has gone missing." Deor said, noticing the group approaching where he had been talking with Fanari, even though his attention was on the problem they had overheard him discussing with the figure that was leaving this part of the village.

"We heard. Might I ask who is missing?" Za'kera asked, because she knew that if they presented themselves as people that were willing to help, even if it meant heading out into the wilderness to track down Baldor or his tracks, Deor might accept the offer and tell them more about the figure in question, as there had to be a reason for someone wanting to take him while he was outside the village.

"It is Baldor Iron-Shaper. As our only smith, Baldor is very important to the village." Deor replied, though while the rest of his people might not want to speak to outsiders about the situation, like they wanted to deal with it themselves, he was more willing to share information with them, knowing that they had saved his people before and had a feeling that they would be able to do so again.

"Did anything unusual happen around the time of his disappearance?" Wind inquired, as there had to be something for her and the others to go on, other than the fact that he had gone missing all of a sudden, while she noticed that Amaryllis was glancing around the rest of the area, sensing what the other villagers were feeling and seeing if there were any odd emotions nearby.

"Hm, I do not remember Baldor acting strangely... although, now that you ask, I did see something in the woods on the day he disappeared." Deor said, recalling the events that lead him to believe that the blacksmith had gone missing, where his words caused them to listen to him, since what he had seen might be the key to figuring out what happened to Baldor, or at least tracking him down, "I saw two elves in the far distance, dragging something behind them, and I saw them wearing some sort of black clothing over their bodies... hunters often visit our lands, so I thought little of it."

"Where were they headed?" Amaryllis asked, because she had a feeling that the Thalmor were involved, and if that was the case it meant that things were going to be bad for Baldor, as there was only one type of elf that bothered to wear black, no doubt robes when she thought about it, and given what they were planning it made her wonder if they might be looking for all sorts of fuel sources.

"South and west. If your road takes you that way, perhaps you could search for any sign of Baldor... the Skaal would be grateful if you found him." Deor answered, giving them an idea of where to go, into part of Solstheim that they hadn't been in yet, meaning there was no telling what they might find while they searched for the Thalmor and the missing smith, so it was a good thing Lydia was with them.

"Out of curiosity, why would someone want to kidnap Baldor?" Za'kera inquired, as she had a few ideas on what their foes might be looking for, likely echoing Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, since she was far smarter than most people gave her credit, especially when it came to prophecies, but for now she focused her attention on Baldor and why someone like the Thalmor would want to get their hands on him.

"Well, there is one reason that comes to mind. Baldor is the keeper of an ancient tradition, the forging of Stalhrim." Deor replied, referring to the strange ice-like ore that they had recovered from Raven Rock's mine, or at least the nordic section of it anyway, which they weren't telling others about since it might land them in trouble with the Skaal, "It is an art we Skaal hold sacred, known only to our smith... if someone wanted to make such weapons, they would have to get that knowledge from Baldor."

With that information in hand Za'kera and the others departed from the Skaal Village without wasting time, heading out into the wild once more, though the direction that Deor had pointed them in happened to lead them to where one of the two remaining Stones rested, which also happened to be near a decent sized mead hall. It wasn't as large as Jorrvaskar, as that was made from several boats from the looks of it, and right now it was occupied by small blue skinned critters, who carried spears and seemed to have next to no intelligence, Rieklings based on what Ma'jera told them, and sure enough the critters pointed their weapons at them and danced. Since none of them tried to talk, and they were clearly trying to get her and the others to do something, Za'kera swung at one and knocked it backwards, though all of the remaining Riekings got upset and ganged up on them immediately, causing Wind to wrap her magic around them as she used a wind barrier to repel them, adding a few blades of wind to take them down. With that done they made their way over to the Stone and Amaryllis put some arrows in the cultists that were guarding the area, though as she did that Za'kera used her Shout on the Stone, shattering the structure around it while calling a Lurker to face them, which Lydia slashed to pieces with ease, as none of the Lurkers could stand up to her might.

Once Za'kera was sure that the Stone was liberated, leaving one more she had to track down, they started to move further away from the mead hall, where Amaryllis took to the air and glanced around the area, finding a slumbering dragon that she wanted to ignore, people working on the temple against their will, and a pair of Thalmor. Based on what she could see they were heading to the west, along a path that cut around the base of a peak and seemed to be heading for a building, an old and abandoned one by the looks of it, where two more of their number were waiting, though she didn't see anyone dressed in the attire of a Skaal, meaning Baldor was inside the building. Of course that was if the Thalmor were behind his disappearance, since she was willing to believe that she might be a little biased towards them, given everything that she and the others had learned during their time in Skyrim, but after that thought she turned around and returned to Za'kera's side, where she informed them of what she had seen. With that information in hand they continued down the path she had seen the Thalmor take, finding that their foes must have dealt with the enemies that had been in their way, meaning at least two of them would be weakened from all the fighting they had done, and sure enough they found that the pair in question were resting while the others kept watch.

Such a thing didn't matter in the end, the group lashed out at the Thalmor and ambushed them, attacking them before the elves even had a chance to defend themselves, and it lead to Amaryllis acquiring the key that likely belonged to the rather small building, which had a set of stairs that lead to a basement, where a Skaal happened to be resting against one of the walls, injured from a beating by the marks on his face.

"Outsiders! I remember you. You're the one who freed the Skaal from the dark spell!" Baldor said, his tone revealing that he was pleased to see all of them, even though he might have been surprised to see that someone other than the elves had come to where he was imprisoned, "Thank the All-Maker that you have come... these accursed elves have taken me from my home."

"Baldor, are you hurt? Are you in need of healing?" Wind asked, as it looked like the Thalmor had been beating him up to get all of the information that he had on Stalhrim, though as she said that she raised her hands, as she knew a few healing spells and all of them would be useful in mending whatever broken bones or cuts he might have, even if he didn't have any cuts on his body.

"No, my wounds are not serious." Baldor replied, where he waved a hand at them as the group approached, showing all of them that he was just fine and that everything they were seeing right now was just a bunch of bruises, but that didn't stop Wind from keeping her magic at the ready, "I don't think the elves were trying to harm me, rather I think that they were trying to frighten me... at worst, I have a few bruises to show for my ordeal."

"Do you have any idea why would the Thalmor abduct you?" Amaryllis inquired, though at the same time Wind made sure he wasn't seriously injured, because there was no telling what the Thalmor had done to him in the time they had been on the island, even if it wasn't for too long since Za'kera had only released the Stone near their village a few days ago, so that meant someone had told them about Baldor's knowledge ahead of time.

"I do not know this word 'Thalmor', but if you mean elves, they were trying to learn the secrets of forging Stalhrim." Baldor answered, confirming Deor's thoughts on why someone would want to kidnap him, that it was for the knowledge he had on forging the material in question, though he didn't question them on what she had said, rather he focused on what had happened to him, "Their leader, an elf named Ancarion, has a map and claims that it shows the location of a hidden source of Stalhrim, so his people have been trying to take my knowledge from me."

"Out of pure curiosity, what is Stalhrim?" Za'kera asked, mostly because they weren't supposed to know about Stalhrim, as they had mined some earlier and it seemed like hiding that fact would help them out, especially since it seemed like such a thing belonged to the Skaal, or at least it did when they talked to the Baldor and Deor about it, while the others seemed to agree with her decision.

"Enchanted ice as hard as iron and as cold as death." Baldor replied, causing several of them to raise their eyebrows for a few moments, save for Lydia and Ma'jera anyway, as it gave them an idea that maybe the art of forging such powerful ore into weapons and armor empowered them, making them more valuable as fuel for the Numidium, "Stalhrim can be forged into deadly weapons, but the art is known only to the smiths of the Skaal... in time, I will pass this knowledge down to my apprentice, as is proper for one of the Skaal."

"That's understandable. Now, where can we find this Ancarion?" Amaryllis asked, as that was the main thing they needed to know, where to find the Thalmor's main base so they could crush it and ensure their enemies didn't get their hands on any weapons or armor, or anything for that matter, crippling their operations so Za'kera and Wind could finish up with their own missions.

"They have a ship, which I was brought to before coming here, and the elf showed me the map during our 'conversation'." Baldor answered, something that told them it was either more of an interrogation or a beating, though it gave them more information to go on before leaving the abandoned building that they had found Baldor in, before he considered what he had to tell them, "You will find it on the northern coast of the island. Please, do not let Ancarion make his weapons... I don't care if you kill him or let him live, but take the map from him... it belongs with the Skaal. While you do that, I will return to the village... when you have the map, please bring it to me there... and thank you. May the All-Maker bless your days."

Once they were sure that Baldor was safe, and that he would be able to return to the village on his own, Za'kera headed outside and the others quickly followed after her, where this time around they had to head up the side of the mountain, as she was planning on stopping at the last Stone before reaching Ancarion's position. To do so she either had to head down the side of the mountain and walk along the coast, before heading up the hill it was on, or head up it, cut around the tip in some manner, and then head down to where the Stone rested, allowing them to ambush the cultists that might be there on Miraak's orders. The path in question brought them by some Rieklings that were far more hostile than those that were outside the mead hall, causing Za'kera and the others to lash out at them as they defended themselves, though in the end none of their foes stood much of a chance and allowed them to continue on their way, passing by a Dwarven ruin as they walked along her chosen path. After that it wasn't long before Za'kera spotted her destination and Amaryllis loosed one of her arrows at the lone cultist, putting him down before he even knew what was coming, allowing her to approach the last Stone and use her Bend Will Shout on it, breaking the structure to free it as Lydia slashed at the Lurker that appeared not a few seconds after Za'kera loosed her Shout.

After breaking the structure Amaryllis found a brown scaled dragon in the air and it fled as soon as it noticed them, which meant Miraak's latest ally didn't want anything to do with them, though with that done she returned to the coast and just headed to the north, avoiding some of the local Netch before discovering an area with a large ship that rested in what was the northwestern portion of the island's coast.

"Ancarion! We would have words with you." Za'kera stated, raising her voice as they approached the ship, finding that the majority of the Thalmor backed up a little as she stepped towards them, though sure enough she found a male Thalmor walking off of his ship with two figures beside him, likely bodyguards, and she said nothing as they waited for him to come to where she was standing.

"It would seem that someone has gleamed our true purpose for coming to this pitiful island," Ancarion remarked, where he crossed his arms for a moment as he and his guards smirked at them, showing Za'kera and the others that the elves believed that they were in the right and that they could do nothing wrong in the eyes of their boss, whoever that might be, a target Amaryllis wanted to end.

"You mean that you're planning on gathering Stalhrim weapons and armor so you can feed their energy to the Numidium that your faction is building? Yeah, we know about it." Wind remarked, to which she and the others held their ground for a few more moments, showing the Thalmor that they weren't going to be intimidated by them, as slightly superior numbers wasn't enough of a reason for them to step down.

"The... Numidium? It seems that we have a mole that needs to be exterminated." Ancarion commented, his words giving them all the information they needed, it confirmed what all of the Demiprinces were worried about, the existence of the massive Dwarven robot that the Thalmor wanted to use to destroy the Adamantine Tower, to end all of reality, before he glanced back at his forces, "Soldiers, end them!"

As soon as he said those words the group was already moving, Amaryllis pulled some arrows out and loosed them at the Thalmor that were the furthest away from where they were standing, striking them in their chests and knocking both of her foes down, much to Ancarion's surprise when he realized what had happened. Lightning crackled around Wind's arms for a few seconds before she blasted two more Thalmor with Thunderbolts, knocking them backwards before either one had a chance to do anything to stop them from attacking their meager forces, causing Ma'jera to nod as she watched her apprentice did that. Her attacks opened the way for Lydia to move forward as the Thalmor tried to regroup, who swung her battleaxe and cleaved some of their enemies apart, opening the way for Za'kera to approach Ancarion before he had a chance to flee the area, not that it mattered since there was nowhere for him to go, not with his team dead and the paths he had to pick from lead to death. Za'kera, on the other hand, wasted no time in lashing out at the elf that was trying to flee, where her attacks knocked his blade out of the way, as he had one and used it to try and stop her, even though she also took both of his hands, to make sure he couldn't fight back, before he fell to his knees, where she placed her blades on either side of his head and beheaded Ancarion.

With that done the group took a moment to make sure they looted everything that was in the area, and that included the map that Baldor wanted them to acquire, though once she was sure they had everything Za'kera started the trek back to Raven Rock, so they could rest for the night before heading to the Skaal Village, and once this mission was done it would be time for Wind to tackle the Black Books as they sought out the rest of them.

Solstheim: Book Work

With the Thalmor taken out, and Za'kera was sure of that, the group took a few moments to gather all of the loot that was in the area, collecting some coins, a few gems, two or three enchanted pieces of equipment, and, more importantly, the map that detailed where the source of Stalhrim that Ancarion wanted to harvest for the Numidium, which she pocketed once she found it. After that she let the others continue cleaning up the area, Amaryllis finding some coin pouches before spotting a small floating section of ice and flew over to it, where she returned a few seconds later and picked up the Nordic Pickaxe, as she must have found some additional pieces of Stalhrim and decided to take it. Za'kera wasn't sure what they would do with the enchanted ice, as most of them were carrying weapons that were far stronger than it, or at least she was sure of that, but at the very least it gave her friend something to do while they waited for the others to finish clearing the area, while she also found that Ma'jera sunk the ship once they were done with it. What surprised her was that the Thalmor really weren't equipped to handle this mission, as they had more than enough supplies for those they had seen, some material to turn the nearby shack into a temporary base, and a few weapons and armor in case something needed to be replaced, but in the end she guessed it really didn't matter.

Once they were done checking out the area, and everyone was sure of that, they started to head down the coast as they headed back to Raven Rock, as there was no need to return to the Skaal Village right now, rather she was planning on getting some rest before tackling whatever the next day had for them. While they did that, however, the group passed by a pair of what she assumed were pirates, one a warrior and one a mage based on their clothing, who seemed to be in the middle of digging up part of the coast, no doubt looking for something important, a piece of treasure most likely. They were smarter than some of their previous enemies, as they noticed the group and their odd powers and decided to steer clear of them, so they didn't have to waste their strength on them, but they did talk to each other while the group walked by, giving Za'kera an idea of what they were up to. It appeared that the pirates were talking about Haknir and a map to his treasure, though it seemed to lead to an argument of some kind between the pair, so for now the group decided not to get involved and focused on heading to Raven Rock, figuring that the pirates were about to get in a fight and that they had no reason to get involved in it.

When they got back to Raven Rock the group discovered that it was definitely past the last hour that most people were up, so Za'kera headed into Severin Manor, where she let out a sigh as she realized they still had two beds and four people, not counting Ma'jera, but the Demiprince surprised them by conjuring a few more beds so everyone could rest, which they did without delay, as they had a long day and some rest was required.

Morning arrived in due time and the group sat around the upper level of Severin Manor, where they ate breakfast, the food taken from the Thalmor since Za'kera had forgotten to restock their own food supplies, though everything was fresh and they couldn't complain. In addition to that Amaryllis headed outside and did some light shopping, getting supplies so they would have more food for later, since she had no idea how long they would be staying on Solstheim, though while she did that both she and Wind, who had a list of things they should pick up, heard about Mogrul's death and that what Za'kera had done in the mine was leading to it being reopened. Such a thing told them that Raven Rock was going to be back on the map at some point in the near future, since it seemed to be an ebony mine down there, and they had to thank the group for their efforts, causing both of them to rub the backs of their heads as some of the Dark Elves thanked them for their hard work. It was nice to see such a thing, as back in Skyrim you had to join the Companions or become a Thane of a Hold for the locals to learn your name or listen to your deeds, and based on what both of them were feeling it looked like the guards were happy to have them around, even though they usually didn't like outsiders, meaning their presence on Solstheim had been good for the people who called it home.

Once they were done shopping, which didn't take too long since there wasn't too much else for them to buy, Amaryllis and Wind returned to their new manor and found that Za'kera and Ma'jera were discussing something near the enchanting part of the house, with Lydia keeping an eye on the front door, in case attackers showed up, and the talk stopped once the pair returned to Za'kera's side.

"It's time that we tackle another Black Book, and Ma'jera agrees that we can tackle two of them, the one we recovered in the chamber near Zahkriisos' coffin and Neloth's," Za'kera said, something that Amaryllis knew had been coming for some time, as so far they had only tackled the trials that were in one of the seven Black Books, the one that had been resting in Nchardak's reading room, and she knew that it was only a matter of time until they bothered to do the others, "once we finish those two books we can return to the Skaal Village and track down Baldor... but we need to find the other tombs of the remaining Dragon Priests, since they should have the rest of the Black Books near their final resting places."

"Okay, so which one will we tackle first?" Wind asked, though as the words left her mouth she set down the supplies that she had been carrying before arming herself with her staff, because based on what she was seeing right now it looked like Za'kera was ready to head into one of the Black Books, to tackle the obstacles inside it before heading into the other one, since her mentor was saving Miraak's book until the others were done.

"The Winds of Change, then you'll head into The Hidden Twilight," Ma'jera replied, where two tomes floated down to the area that Za'kera and Wind were standing in, all while a barrier surrounded the three of them, leaving Amaryllis and Lydia to hold down the fort while they were in Apocrypha, where they knew that after this they would have to track down the rest of the Black Books.

The pair said nothing as they nodded their heads and Ma'jera levitated the first of the two books over to Za'kera, who took hold of it and opened it without delay, allowing them to disappear from where they had been standing before reappearing in Apocrypha, yet another part of it that was different from the others, though this one seemed to be more like an island, a small one at that. As Ma'jera floated away from them the pair discovered that they were already on a walkway, which had to be the start of this area, and there were tendrils lurking in parts of the water, so Za'kera drew her blades as Wind waited for a few seconds, as once she was ready to go they rushed forward without wasting time. Sure enough they found that the tendrils tried to lash out at them, to which both Za'kera and Wind avoided the black masses that came out of the water and headed up the stairs that rested at the end of the walkway, where a Seeker happened to be floating and Wind quickly lashed out with a larger ball of fire. She informed her companion that it was the Incinerate spell, the expert level version of the fire spells, so it was more powerful than the Fireball spell, though her target shrieked before disappearing like the rest of the Seekers they had faced so far, meaning the two of them could move forward with ease.

While they did that Wind found a few more books in the area that the Seeker had been in, one being called Deathbrand, to which she opened it for a moment and found that it was about Haknir, who the pirates mentioned, to which she figured she would look at it later or give it to Amaryllis to read while she and Lydia waited for them to finish their mission.

With the book in hand the pair continued deeper into this part of Apocrypha, reaching an area with four pedestals that were around a small pool of water, to which they ignored it and approached one of the eyestalk devices they had seen in the last book they fought their way through, which opened the door in front of it when they activated it. Such a thing let Za'kera and Wind enter a small passageway of sorts, which allowed them to access two tables with some soul gems on top of them, though they also found another eyestalk device and it opened a door they had walked by, where Za'kera swung her blades at a Seeker that was on the other side, pushing it back in a matter of seconds. Beyond the second Seeker they found a tunnel that happened to be rather short and brought them to yet another eyestalk device, where both of them took a moment and glanced through the door to see what was on the other side, as it seemed strange to have next to no resistance, save for two Seekers. What Wind quickly discovered was that they were at the end of the Black Book, as she could see the larger tome that represented the end in front of them, meaning one last obstacle stood in their way and that lead to her activating the device so they could enter the wide open chamber.

Sure enough a Lurker emerged from the water that was in the middle of the end chamber, as it had a pool of water that was between two platforms, though Wind gathered her power and lashed out at it as Za'kera rushed forward, swinging her blades at it while avoiding the incoming fist swing and the flames. Za'kera had to admit that Wind had gotten stronger, no doubt due to breaking one of her Burdens and liberating part of her power, and it made her wonder what would happen when all of them were taken care of, but she refocused on the fight as she sliced into the Lurker's leg. As the beast fell she moved out of the way as two more Incinerates rushed through the air and slammed right into their foe's chest, knocking it into the wall behind it, before they waited for a few moments, to be sure it was dead, and once they were sure of that they started searching the area. What they discovered was that there was one eyestalk device off on the right side of the area, which brought out a staircase leading to the larger book, and over in the other side of the chamber a second one unlocked the door so they could enter the area in question, leading to Wind staying back as she searched the containers for any new books to add to her collection. Za'kera, on the other hand, approached the massive book and watched as it opened, where it turned to the middle page and three powers made themselves known to her, one allowed her to gain more knowledge if she read certain books, another revealed that none of her attacks would hurt her companions, and the third seemed to be related to the opposite gender, as in dealing more damage and getting better deals.

In the end she picked the second power, as it would allow her to fight without harming her friends and companions, when she used a Shout or something, though with that done she turned her head and watched as Wind leapt into the air not a few seconds later, heading right to where a dark blue version of her rested.

Wind knew what this was, it was her Despair manifested, where it rained large icicles down on her, intending on freezing her and beating her into submission, though she summoned her magic as she steeled herself for the battle that was about to take place, sending Thunderbolts straight at her foe's attacks, causing a collision that shattered them and scattered the pieces as the pair moved. Fortunately it didn't look like Despair was targeting Za'kera, as when she got close to her target the Burden turned her head and focused on her, to which Wind smiled a little as she waved a hand and a bolt of lightning struck her in the chest, causing Despair to cough for a moment as she realized that Wind wasn't playing around. While she thought that Doubt had fallen easily, given the battle they had been in, she was taking these fights seriously and knew that if she made a misstep it would cause some serious damage to her in the end, as there was a chance her Burdens might be luring her into a false sense of security and would attack her if she lowered her guard. Despair lashed out at her a couple of seconds later with a spike of ice, where she moved out of the way and let lightning dance around her, breaking the ice in the process, before she loosed a larger Incinerate into her foe's chest, knocking her foe backwards before she was able to so anything to her.

Despair continued to try and hit her with her spells, flinging massive chunks of ice through the air, though Wind made her way through all of the gaps that were in front of her and lashed out, blasting her Burden again and again before she had a chance to do anything, causing Despair to explode in a violent display that shook the air for a time, allowing her to sigh as she returned to Za'kera's side.

With that done Ma'jera flew down to them and wrapped another barrier around the two of them as Za'kera opened the book so they could return to Solstheim, reappearing in Severin Manor not a few seconds later, causing Amaryllis to nod her head as she noticed them return for a few seconds. She informed them that nothing was going on in Raven Rock, as Lydia was staying upstairs to intercept anyone who might enter the manor while they were gone, and so far no one had come looking for them, so they had been holding down the fort while they were in Apocrypha. After that Wind pulled out the book she had picked up in the Winds of Change and handed it to Amaryllis, who raised an eyebrow and opened it for a moment, finding out why she had been given it in a matter of seconds, to which she sat back in her chair and read it as the pair waited for Ma'jera to make her move. The Demiprince in question took the Black Book away from them and quickly replaced it with the second one, The Hidden Twilight, before reapplying her barrier, to which Za'kera let out a sigh as she opened the tome, allowing the magic to wash over her, Wind, and Ma'jera once more before transporting them to the next part of Apocrypha that they would be moving through, so they could hunt down the next tome and the Burden that had to be lurking in this place.

This time they appeared in an area that had a raised pedestal in front of them, sort of like where they appeared in when they used Miraak's Black Book, though what was a surprise to the pair was that the only thing to do was to activate the eyestalk device on the other side of the platform and open the door behind it. Such a thing opened the way for the pair to walk up to a glowing book, which happened to be one of the chapter books they had seen before, and since there wasn't much for them to do in this area they activated it and moved to the next part of this Black Book, even though they planned on keeping their guards up in case this was an attempt to distract them. Where they appeared this time around was what looked like a winding passage, as it moved forward, turned to the left, and then back to the right a few moments later, only to cut back to the left and bring them to an open chamber, even if they had to walk around a wall to reach it. In the middle of it floated two more Seekers, who were also in the middle of studying their books and turned around when they found the pair walking towards them, but Wind stepped up as her magic wrapped around her, throwing an Incinerate at one of her targets while forming a more powerful ice spike, an Icy Spear, that was thrown at the second one.

Za'kera was glad to have Wind as an ally, as with her mentor's training she was far stronger than the other apprentices she had seen, in fact she was likely on the level of the expert level mages, and with her rising level of power, which knocked out both Seekers in seconds, she had a feeling that the Thalmor would regret the day they decided to put their plan in motion, once they encountered her anyway.

With the Seekers taken care of the pair took a moment to search the area, Za'kera focused on the task of moving forward while Wind continued to gather more books for later, as she wanted to see what else was resting in Hermaeus Mora's odd realm, before they regrouped at the ramp that seemed to head deeper into Apocrypha. It brought them to an upper area, which could see the opening that brought them to the section the Seekers had been in, before she tapped a new eyestalk device and it activated a moving walkway in front of them, one that happened to stop at a higher level and forced them to wait for it to be at a proper height before jumping forward. It was easy to move forward, as they didn't have to wait for too long to move on the walkway, so they moved across a pair of platforms and used another walkway to reach the next part of this particular Black Book, finding two paths at the end of the walkway, one that ended and one that lead to a glowing tome. The pair wasted no time in clearing out the section that ended and accessed the tome a few seconds later, bringing them to a short walkway that lead out to another chamber with no ceiling, though since there was no way forward Wind summoned her magic and blasted a Seeker with an Icy Spear as Za'kera found an eyestalk device that moved some steps out for them to use so they could reach the middle of the area.

That brought them to a new chamber that had a structure with locked doors in their way, meaning they had to track down a number of eyestalk devices to move forward, where they found a Lurker wandering around and Za'kera lashed out at it, cutting into it's legs before it even had a chance to realize it had company, before she moved out of the way. The reason was due to Wind blasting their foe in the chest with a burst of wind magic, which tore into it's chest, knocking it down like all of the others they had faced so far, though once that was done she found a set of stairs that lead up to one of the next few eyestalk devices that needed to be activated. Once Za'kera activated it they found that the first door opened and they headed inside the structure, bringing them to another locked door and another set of stairs, where the latter lead Wind to another device that unlocked the door, which allowed them to access a passage that had a single Seeker in it and ended in a wall that extended outward, becoming a new path for the pair to use. This time around Za'kera cut down the Seeker with only a few moves, allowing Wind to find a book on two people called the 'Guardian' and the 'Traitor', making her wonder if it was tied to Miraak or one of the other Dragon Priests in some manner, to which she pocketed it before they moved into the new passage.

It ended in an area that contained two glowing tomes, the left leading to a small chamber and the right heading to an area that had a path leading outward, so they took the right when Wind told Za'kera about them, finding that it brought them to two more books, the right bringing them to a circular platform with an eyestalk device and a lone Seeker. As such Wind let loose a blast of lightning that made their foe retreat, allowing her companion to activate the device and it raised a pair of walkways in the distance to form a bridge for them to use to get closer to the end goal, to which they returned to the last pair of books and used the left one. Sure enough that brought them to an area that was the start of one of the walkways, to which Za'kera cut down a Seeker that appeared in front of her as Wind stepped forward, finding an area that had a pair of pools that some Lurkers could use to ambush them, and as soon as they entered it two Lurkers emerged, giving each of them a foe to face. As such Za'kera lashed out at her foe before it could hit her, though she had to avoid the punch that was coming at her, as the Lurker wanted her dead, while at the same time Wind froze her foe's feet to the ground before roasting it's chest with a burst of flames, allowing her to kill it as her companion finished hers off as well, allowing them to activate an eyestalk device to move forward.

It brought them to the final tome of the Black Book, where Wind found a red version of her silently shouting at something that was off in the distance, to which Za'kera opened the large tome and looked at the powers, one that summoned a field of tentacles to poison enemies, another to freeze a target between realms for a time, and one to restore her power to full, to which she took the last one. With that done Wind focused on her other Burden and noticed that it didn't seem to care that they were there, to which she shook her head and gathered a bit of lightning around her left hand, where she thrust it forward and drove her hand through her Burden's chest, allowing her to crush it with ease, making her wonder if whatever anger she had felt had been enough to cause the manifestation to pause. In the end, however, there wasn't anything else for them to do, to which Ma'jera returned to where they were standing and allowed them to return to Severin Manor, as it was time for the pair to rest for a short period of time before dealing with whatever else the island might throw at them, before they found the other three Black Books.

Solstheim: Lost Legacy

After resting for a short period of time, thirty minutes to be exact, Za'kera and the others departed from Severin Manor and headed for the passage that would allow them to leave Raven Rock, as it was time for them to return to the Skaal Village for a time and hand over the map they had recovered. Of course she knew that there was a problem that they had to overcome, that being the fact that her group currently held four of the seven Black Books that were scattered across all of Solstheim and none of them had any idea where the other three were located. The only clue they had to go on was that one had been buried with Zahkriisos, meaning they had to find where Ahzidal, Dukaan, and Vahlok, the remaining Dragon Priests of this island, were buried and recover the tomes that were buried with them, though right now none of them knew where to find them. Of course Za'kera knew that they could return to Tel Mithryn and speak with Neloth, as there was a chance that he might know where they could find one of the remaining Black Books, but right now no one wanted to deal with the seemingly insane wizard or get in the way of his experiments, least they get infected with the Moomer curse at some point.

As they walked through the ashen landscape, however, they discovered where the first Dragon Priest had ended up, due to the fact that Zahkriisos was floated near a buried ruin and seemed to be ordering some Draugr to dig it out, meaning he might know where to find one of the other three. It was something they would need to check out once they were done with the Skaal Village, though there was a Dark Elf miner with them who wore leather armor, maybe a treasure seeker the group guessed, but he seemed to be the only new thing in the area, hence why they continued walking. Their plan was to cut through the middle of the island and bypass Miraak's temple, heading around that mead hall they had seen earlier, as it would allow Za'kera and everyone else to reach the Skaal Village without much delay, so they could deliver the news to Deor and Baldor before searching for something else to do. As they walked, however, it was easy for Amaryllis to find that some Nords had moved back into the mead hall, having finished off the rest of the Rieklings that apparently invaded it at some point, but for now non of them were interested in stopping and talking to whoever was inside it, figuring that they could come back later.

When they reached the Skaal Village the group discovered that many of the Skaal were out and about, Baldor was working at his forge with a smile on his face, and it was easy for them to see an elderly male Nord talking to Deor, but the group headed over to where the smith was working and found that he paused as soon as he noticed them.

"It is good to see that you are well, my friends." Baldor said, his tone and face confirming his words, he was happy to call all of them his friends, after everything they had done to save both himself and his village from the dangers that had been plaguing the Skaal for some time, before he considered something, "Did you find the elves at their ship?"

"Yes, we found Ancarion's forces at the ship and wiped them out... and we've collected the map to the Stalhrim source, so the Thalmor can't use it anymore." Za'kera replied, where she reached into her pack for a moment and pulled out the map in question, something that allowed the smith to let out a sigh of relief as he realized that she was telling the truth, not that he doubted her tale, and not a few seconds later the map was in Baldor's possession.

"I know you and your friends faced great danger to bring this map to me. There are no words to tell how glad my heart is." Baldor stated, something that Amaryllis and Wind could confirm by using their ability to sense his emotions, though this meant that the Thalmor were unable to do anything with the Stalhrim, before he faced them once more, looking like he was determined about something, "I name all of you as friends of the Skaal, and I will trust you with the knowledge of forging Stalhrim, though if you bring Stalhrim to my forge I can show you how to shape it."

Amaryllis wasn't sure that they needed the art of forging Stalhrim, but no one said anything as Baldor wished them well, an ancient Skaal farewell no doubt since it was about 'hunt always bring them game' and that 'their crops grow tall and bountiful', though as they walked away from the forge they found the elderly Nord approaching them, near what had to be the heart of the village.

"I heard from Deor how you went in search of Baldor." the Nord said, showing them that he approved of what they had done to make sure that one of the Skaal was safe, even though freeing everyone from Miraak's control had been a step in the right direction, but they could tell that he was thinking about something, "That was very brave of you... in fact, that's just the kind of courage I'm looking for."

"We helped a man in need, that's all." Za'kera replied, which was the truth of the matter, as no one believed Deor and they had taken off after discovering that the smith might have been taken by some of the Thalmor, a true fact since they found a number of those twisted elves guarding him and the ship.

"Modest as well as brave. Most admirable! I can see why the Skaal think so highly of you and your companions." the man stated, something that caused the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as it sounded like he had something that he wanted them to do and he wasn't about to leave until he said what was on his mind, before he gestured to himself for a few seconds, "I am Tharstan, and I think you're just the adventurous sort I need, as I have a job offer for all of you. As a scholar of history, I've always found Solstheim to be the most intriguing and I have made many forays over the years, into the ancient ruins that cover the island. I've come to know all of the ruins so well, I could draw you a map from memory, no matter which one you asked me about... that's why I noticed the new passage the moment I laid eyes on it."

"A new passage to what?" Wind asked, though this was good news for them, because if Tharstan had been to the rest of the ruins that dotted Solstheim, no doubt the nordic ones, there was a chance that he might be able to pinpoint where the last three Black Books were resting and join them to the ruins in question.

"An old tomb, I think, where the passage must have been opened up by an earthquake that accompanied one of the Red Mountain's eruptions." Tharstan replied, reminding them that the volcano was constantly erupting and it seemed like it also caused earthquakes every now and then, though it seemed strange for one to suddenly reveal the existence of a new ruin, one that had been buried by earth and ash, "I'd love to have a closer look, but those old ruins can be dangerous and I'm no adventurer, so I would like to hire all of you to escort me through the ruin and to watch my back down there. I'll be heading back there soon... if you're interested in helping me, I'll tell you where my destination is and then meet you there, as I'm sure we'll find something interesting inside it."

Za'kera glanced at the others for a moment, as they were all thinking the same thing right now, that this might bring them to one of the remaining Black Books, before agreeing to help Tharstan out, since there was no telling what he might find in the depths of this particular tomb, causing the old man to smile as he headed out to get ready. Since he forgot to tell them where the ruin was located she decided to stick around the Skaal Village until he was fully prepared to depart, though he didn't take more than ten minutes before he was ready to leave and joined the group, allowing them to leave the village and head for the tomb he had found. Tharstan informed them that the location they were looking for was near a building called Thirsk Mead Hall, something they knew about thanks to the fact that the group had walked by it a few times during their time on Solstheim, so they didn't need directions and headed for the area in question, making sure to pause when he needed to rest his body. Thanks to the fact that they had been walking this path a few times in the last few days they had no enemies to worry about, which meant everyone was able to conserve their energy for whatever dangers might be down in the tomb, though Tharstan said nothing as they made their way to the entrance he had spotted.

Sure enough Za'kera found a split in the earth that she and the others had passed by, not that anyone could have seen it from the angle they had been walking up earlier, though once they made sure the area was cleared out she drew both of his blades and headed inside, keeping Tharstan nearby as the others followed her inside, discovering a tunnel that lead to a large cavern buried below the earth.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Tharstan asked, giving them a chance to look out at the cavern that was in front of them, where they found a set of stairs leading down to an area that seemed to split into three other paths, one to the left, one to the right, and one in the center that was blocked by a locked cage, and it seemed like there was a pit of water between this side of the tomb and the other side, "This tomb has been hidden for... well, who knows how long. Many centuries, I would think. Anyway, welcome to Vahlok's Tomb."

Amaryllis glanced at the others as Tharstan walked forward, heading down the stairs to reach a plaque below them, where they now knew that this was the resting place of one of the Dragon Priests that they were looking for, so helping the Skaal out had been a good thing for multiple reasons, though that lead to them following the elderly figure down to the plaque, a metallic one written in the Dragon Language.

"Before we were ensnared by that dark spell, and forced to work on the Wind Stone, I spent some time in this section of the tomb," Tharstan explained, where he came to a stop in front of the plaque, which happened to have a lever attached to the front of it, meaning it activated something and none of them wanted to tamper with it right now, before he touched the stone for a moment, "and what I've found so far is this inscription here, and a switch below it. Now, I'm not sure if any of you can read the Dragon Language, but this seems to be a riddle of some sort: 'A sacrifice will bring you closer to that which you seek'. I would have spent some time trying to figure out what it means, but the dark spell prevented me from working on it."

"Given what I know of the ancient Nords, the riddle is rather straightforward: we just have to sacrifice someone, likely to the pit in front of us." Wind said, as there happened to be a pit at the bottom of the final set of stairs, resting between the four paths that were available in this tomb, and it had a grate over it that allowed people to walk on it without having to worry about falling into a flaming pit, before she noticed some Draugr corpses resting near the pit, "And I think we can use one of these bodies to do that."

Za'kera took a moment to look at what Wind was looking at, where she understood the idea and helped her move one of the bodies on top of the grate, while Amaryllis and Lydia kept an eye out for walking Draugr as Tharstan watched them, no doubt interested in what the pair happened to be doing. Once one of the bodies rested on the grate, and the pair were no longer standing on it, Za'kera nodded her head and Tharstan quickly pulled the switch that was attached to the side of the plaque's base, causing the grate to open before dropping the body into the flames. Not a few seconds later a number of braziers were lit up, flames sparking all of a sudden, as Za'kera watched as both the door on the left and the door on the right opened up, meaning they were now allowed to explore the rest of Vahlok's ancient tomb, which was no doubt filled with all sorts of Draugr. As such Lydia and the others gripped their weapons as they followed her into the passage on the left, as she figured it would be best to tackle it first, finding that it brought them to a tunnel that quickly linked up with one of the burial sections, lined with bodies preserved by the ancient nordic art, and, just as they were expecting, the Draugr woke up and emerged from their ancient resting places.

What they weren't expecting, however, was for the undead to take one look at them and kneel towards the group, all while bowing their heads like they were still living members of the Dragon Cult, acknowledging the presence of a higher ranking member, though it didn't take a genius to figure out who they were really bowing to.

"Za'kera, they're acknowledging your status as the Dragonborn of legend," Amaryllis commented, where Wind nodded her head for a moment as they heard a chorus of a single word come from the undead that were around them, a word that Tharstan informed them meant that the Draugr were agreeing with her statement, meaning Alduin had to be influencing all of the remaining undead in the other nordic crypts, "and I think that means we won't have to fight our way through the rest of Vahlok's tomb."

"An army of Draugr... how lovely." Za'kera remarked, because now it really seemed like everyone on Nirn, both those that were dead and those that were alive, was gathering to do war with the Aldmeri Dominion, not to mention that they had an army of Daedra waiting to breach the barrier and join them, and she was tempted to believe that even those living in the various afterlives might show up as well.

Za'kera said nothing else as she continued down the passage, finding that the Draugr waited for her and her group to pass before getting up and following after her, watching as they reached a circular chamber that had three pillars in the middle of it, each one having a different symbol on it, as Amaryllis found one with a sword, one with a staff, and one with a bow and arrow.

"Hm... three pillars... other than that plaque, there doesn't seem to be anything else worthy of note." Tharstan said, where he took a moment to study everything that was in the chamber and found that he could only focus on the metallic plaque, even though there was a locked door on the other side of this area, "The inscription says 'All men must die, often by their own means'. Sounds rather grim, if you ask me... though I'm sure that the inscription must be a reference to these pillars. Perhaps they are connected in some manner, as they also have glowing stones of some kind at the top, which look vaguely similar to drawings I've seen of objects called Impact Stones."

In that moment three members of their group understood exactly what needed to be done, as Amaryllis stabbed the stone of the bow pillar with one of her weaker arrows, an iron one that snapped, Wind summoned some flames and toasted the magic pillar, and Za'kera slashed the sword pillar, activating the three pillars and opening the door to the next part of the tomb. The chamber in question seemed to be the end, with a Word Wall and several coffins that contained Deathlords, all powerful Draugr that ended up kneeling as Za'kera approached them, where one even offered up a dragon claw that was made out of pure amethyst, or at least the left half of one, which she took as Tharstan approached the wall. He informed them that the runes spoke of a Guardian who fought and defeated a Traitor, the former being Vahlok and the latter being Miraak, confirming that the latter was once a Dragon Priest and had betrayed Alduin to join Hermaeus Mora for all of the forbidden knowledge he had. With that done Za'kera learned the first Word of a new Shout, that much she knew based on what she was feeling, before they headed down a path that allowed them to the main chamber, a side passage that had been locked until this point in time, though they dropped down and returned to the central pit.

Amaryllis noted that the Draugr waited at the gate of their section, likely waiting for their master to be awaken, before she and the others headed down the right path, finding that it was a tunnel that brought them to another chamber, this one being a square, that had a plaque with a raised section behind it, with nine large tiles.

"I expect this plaque has a riddle on it, connected to a puzzle." Tharstan said, not that they needed to be told that fact, as it was pretty self explanatory after what happened on the left passage, before he faced the plaque that was in front of them and studied the runes on it, "It says 'Continue along the path, don't tread where you've been'. Interesting... well I'm pretty sure about two things: one, the riddle is most likely referring to these flat stone squares. And two, I'm not going anywhere near them."

Za'kera rolled her eyes for a moment as she stepped up and walked on the tiles in a pattern that was like a slithering snake of some kind, making sure not to step on any tiles more than once, and sure enough that happened to be all she had to do to open the grated barrier in front of her. With that done they entered a chamber that looked like the end of the left path, an area with several coffins and a Word Wall, to which she found that the Deathlords whose rose from their graves bowed to her as well and she found the right fragment of the gem claw, which she claimed before adding the second Word to her growing list of Words she had learned. Tharstan than told them that the Guardian's actions had inspired both man and dragons, meaning Alduin and his followers must have been impressed by the fact that Vahlok was able to best Miraak, the latter being a Dragonborn, but with that information in hand they left the chamber. Of course they found a side path that brought them back to the main chamber, where the risen Draugr from the right path stopped at the entrance of their path as Za'kera and the others regrouped in the middle of the chamber, allowing them to face the locked path.

In that moment they spotted two indents that seemed like the halves of the claw could be used to press them, which was what Za'kera did after sheathing her blades, something that caused the locked cage to open before their eyes and lead to Tharstan rushing forward to read the plaque that was on it.

"Here's another riddle: 'Stay your course. To idle is to die'." Tharstan said, where he glanced at the switch that was resting on the front of the plaque, though Za'kera was more focused on the fact that there was a gap between them and the next part of the tomb, "Well, at least it's straightforward... or more straightforward than the other riddles. Tell me when you're ready and I'll activate the switch."

Za'kera wasted no time in telling him that she was ready to go, though when he activated the switch they found that the space between this side of the chamber and the next one had blue magical platforms forming between them, as in one appeared in front of her and another followed it a few seconds later. Such a thing told her that it was a magical walkway of some kind, one that was supposed to test her in some manner, to which she walked forward and followed the path as it formed before her eyes, even if she had to jog one way and another to make sure she didn't fall into the water that was below her. When she reached the end the walkway she had used, which had been vanishing behind her, disappeared for a few moments before a straight line appeared before her, allowing the others to follow after her, though she continued to an iron gate that opened and revealed that she had to do this a few more times, to which she activated the lever to make the path appear and stepped out once it showed up. After the first walkway Za'kera found that she had to tackle three more sets of walkways, each one faster and harder than the last one, and based on what she could see the area below her was partly filled with water and doors that allowed one to return to the path if they failed, but she focused on beating the tests and not falling off the walkway.

At the end of the last trial she discovered a door that lead to the Hall of Stories, something that seemed to be common in the important nordic ruins of Skyrim, and she paused for a moment as Tharstan rushed into it, stopping at one of the walls as she stared at the claw door that blocked their way.

"Hmm... it looks like the door needs some sort of key... maybe those half claws you found would fit in here if you put them together, forming a single claw." Tharstan remarked, apparently thinking that he was the expert on the Nords, despite the fact that Za'kera knew exactly what to do in this situation and kept her mouth shut, allowing them to watch as the elderly Nord looked at the walls that were around them, "It seems these rings can be moved, meaning we need to find out what the combination is so we can move forward... ah yes, here's something. The first symbol has to do with a breeze, or maybe it's wind, the second one is tied to the night sky and the moon, while the third has something to do with fire... it also seems to mention scales."

Za'kera remembered what she had done with the golden claw and turned the outermost ring until it rested on the hawk symbol, turned the second until it stopped on a howling wolf, before taking a moment to make the inner ring rest on the dragon icon, though once that was done she brought the two claw halves together and pressed it against the lock that was in front of her. Sure enough the door opened before her eyes and the others found that they had to walk up some stairs to reach another gate, one that lead to an oval shaped chamber that seemed to be Vahlok's resting place, and once Za'kera stepped into the chamber the final coffin opened. It reminded them of what happened when they entered Zahkriisos's own resting place, though that was when they discovered that Vahlok's armor was made out of Stalhrim, no doubt having been enchanted by the greatest enchanters that the Cult had to offer, and even in death Za'kera knew that Vahlok's power was no joke. The strangest thing about Vahlok was that while he could float in the air, like Ma'jera did at all times or how all of the other Dragon Priests did so while they fought their enemies, he only did so to emerge from his coffin and landed on the floor, allowing him to walk towards her, before she and the others discovered that his body wasn't wrecked by age, as if he had been entombed with something to preserve his flesh.

In that moment she understood why, Vahlok had beaten Miraak and the latter fled before he could be killed, so Alduin and his kin likely blessed Vahlok with the power to remain in his prime until his foe made his return, so when Miraak returned he would rise from the grave, summon his army to do battle with whatever forces his foe might have, and then do battle with the First of the Dragonborn, in a battle that would likely reshape the surrounding landscape.

"Dragonborn, you have reached my sanctum and have roused me from my slumber. Might I ask why?" Vahlok inquired, to which the surprises continued for the group, as while he was an ancient Nord his voice wasn't damaged at all, meaning he had been preserved so perfectly that it was like he had taken a nap or something, and he seemed to know exactly what Za'kera was, confirming his connection to Akatosh's chosen hero.

"I am seeking the ancient Black Books of Hermaeus Mora, which Miraak once found and are said to be buried with the rest of Solstheim's Dragon Priests," Za'kera replied, where she and the others were surprised by the fact that he was speaking in the modern tongue, instead of the Dragon Language like Zahkriisos and the rest of the Dragon Priests, but it made their conversation that much easier on all of them, before she held up a hand for a few seconds, "I'm not trying to follow in his footsteps or anything, rather a storm is brewing, one that threatens the entire world, and I have to stand on the level of the First Dragonborn to be able to withstand what is coming. We found one of the tomes with Zahkriisos and determined that the remaining three we don't have would be with you, Ahzidal, and Dukaan."

"I applaud your ability to determine such a thing, but I would have preferred to be buried with the book that was Miraak's personal treasure," Vahlok stated, no doubt referring to the tome that they found in the depths of Miraak's temple, but as he said that Amaryllis noticed that there was nothing else in this chamber, save for a Word Wall, meaning they were wrong about where one of the other Black Books had been buried, "however, I can point you to where the last three dark books are resting, as you were correct about two of them, they are guarded by Ahzidal and Dukaan."

Amaryllis smiled as she heard that, as they were not only gaining the location of the remaining Black Books, because she was positive he could point them to the last one when he learned where they found the others, but they also seemed to be gaining an ally, so while Vahlok and Za'kera finished the conversation, and the latter gained the last Word of Power for her newest Shout, she was eager to see what the future held for them.

Solstheim: Dungeon Crawling

With Vahlok on their side Za'kera learned where the three missing Black Books were resting, one was resting with Azhidal, in a place called Kolbjorn Barrow, another could be found in the chamber Dukaan was laid to rest in, located deep inside White Ridge Barrow, and the third one was in a ruin known as Benkongerike, likely infested by Rieklings. They discovered that the ancient Dragon Priest wasn't surprised when he learned that Zahkriisos was located near a buried barrow that was outside where Raven Rock rested, in fact it seemed like his masters also blessed him with some sort of map of the modern land, to help him find the others, or maybe he was just that smart. Vahlok then pointed at Za'kera's map, using a finger to reveal that Azhidal's resting place was outside Raven Rock, Dukaan's was on the northern portion of the island, and Benkongerike was on the way to Saering's Watch, the ruin they had passed by to get the first Word of the Bend Will Shout, but it was good information for them to acquire. Tharstan, on the other hand, continued to study Vahlok and the rest of the tomb, finding that the legends about him and Miraak were true, though for now their new ally focused on Za'kera and her companions, even though he was wary of Ma'jera, no doubt sensing that she was the Demiprince daughter of Hermaeus Mora, an enemy of his own masters.

In the end it didn't seem to matter that much as they left the tomb, allowing Vahlok to gather his awakened forces so they could travel to Kolbjorn Barrow to awaken Azhidal, meaning Za'kera needed to head to Benkongerike and White Ridge Barrow to recover their Black Books.

Once the undead left the group Za'kera headed back to the Skaal Village, as they needed to drop off Tharstan before doing anything else, which he seemed to agree with when he heard what they were doing, though Amaryllis knew that her friend was holding off on speaking to the shaman, until they had the other books. Of course they had to wonder what sort of knowledge was resting in the head of the old man that was the spiritual leader of the Skaal, especially given the fact that he was able to make a barrier to hold back Miraak's dark influence, but everyone determined that they would figure it out later, once all seven Black Books were in their possession. It didn't take them too long to reach the Skaal Village, where all of the villagers were glad to see that Tharstan was fine and that no harm had come to him, before Za'kera continued down the path that allowed them to reach Saering's Watch earlier, as she knew where to find Benkongerike. As the group walked Amaryllis glanced over to the area to the northwest of the Skaal Village and spotted some pirates that were moving into a small patch of earth that didn't seem very important, though according to the Deathbrand tome one of the pieces of the pirate lord's armor might be in that area.

She excused herself for a moment as she flew over to the pirates, finding one in nordic armor and two dressed fit for the seas, though she was able to hide behind a tent and shift into an Argonian pirate, who was ignored by the pirates, hence why she cut them down before they had a chance to do anything, before she found that they had opened the chest and that it held the Stalhrim helm of the pirate lord.

With the helm in her possession, and she found a map of Solstheim with four positions marked, the other armor pieces no doubt, Amaryllis returned to Za'kera's side as they made their way to Benkongerike, though it didn't take the group long to find the cave in question and headed inside, everyone drawing their weapons accordingly. On the other side of the cave entrance they found a tunnel that went down a little and then jogged to the left, bringing them to a decent sized cavern that had a few Rieklings wandering around, where the little creatures turned and hurled their spears at them, causing the group to lash out at them in return. Za'kera focused on hacking and slashing her way through her foes, Wind loosed some of her smaller level spells at her targets, since there wasn't enough room for some of her more powerful spells, Amaryllis loosed a few arrows to prevent reinforcements from joining the battle, and Lydia swung her battleaxe as she hacked the incoming boars to pieces. After clearing out the cavern Amaryllis found a passage heading deeper into the cave and they took it without delay, finding that it allowed everyone to pass by some scattered barrels and goods that Za'kera was sure that the Rieklings had salvaged from those who got too close to their home, as in those they killed in the past.

More of the small blue skinned critters appeared in the next portion of the cave that wasn't a tunnel, hence why the four of them moved into battle before their enemies could, hacking, slashing, and blasting the Rieklings into submission once more, though they also discovered that the critters didn't have any grand treasure, allowing them to move on without the need to track down loot. Another thing all of them discovered was that some of the Rieklings liked to hide in barrels and jumped out of them when they sensed enemies coming near them, or people in general to see what was going on, but it didn't stop Za'kera or Lydia from cutting them down as Wind studied the passage they were following and Amaryllis kept an eye out for danger. There were also a few traps that they had to avoid, and by that the group just stood out of the way as each one was activated, meaning it hit no one and used up the charge that the inhabitants of the cave had set up in the past, allowing them to move forward without being harmed by everything the Rieklings had set up. That brought them to a much larger area that seemed to be more like a nordic ruin, even if parts were covered in ice and whatever the Rieklings used to mark their territory, which happened to have some of the small critters patrolling the area, to which Za'kera and her companions lashed out at them accordingly.

With Amaryllis and Wind focusing on the enemies that were further away it didn't take them that long to cross the larger chamber that the path had brought them to, allowing the group to enter the proper ruins and found some Rieklings right in front of what had to be the main door, something that caused them to lash out at them.

Once their enemies were taken care of the group moved forward and found a small chamber with a staircase leading up, but Wind did find a hut off to the right that had a number of tomes in it, most of them being the Lusty Argonian Maid, and the vast majority of those happened to be the first volume with one second volume mixed in, though she did find a spell tome mixed in and claimed it. She found it was the Telekinesis spell, a useless one for her since she still had her powers from her home world, but it was a nice addition to her collection as she followed after the others, finding that the staircase brought them to a passage that seemed to lead to the main chamber of the ruin, with a locked door to the left. Fortunately she spotted a key and levitated it over to Za'kera, giving her a chance to open the door and search the main chest for any useful loot, mostly finding a piece of ebony armor in it, the boots, but with it in hand they headed down the other passage and braced themselves for whatever they might find. What they found was that it definitely brought them to what had to be the main chamber, since Za'kera could hear the Word Wall close by, and there happened to be a combination lock over on the other side of the area, so they dealt with a number of Rieklings that were scattered throughout the area, since they viewed the group as invaders and wanted them gone.

While they did that Amaryllis found something that caused her to pause for a moment, she found one of the coffins that held Stalhrim inside it, so once all of the Rieklings were taken care of she acquired the nordic pickaxe and extracted every piece of the material in question, while Za'kera and the others found a missing carving that went to the four pillars that were attached to the last gate.

"It was interesting fighting Rieklings in a nordic ruin," Wind commented, though as she said that she and the others moved the four pillars into position, as they had figured out that the combination to the puzzle was eagle, whale, whale, and then snake, and once all four of them were in position Za'kera pulled the switch on a raised pedestal and the gate opened not a few seconds later, "though I'm more interested in finding that Black Book and heading to White Ridge Barrow for Dukaan and the other one we're looking for."

"It's likely down that path," Za'kera remarked, as once they entered what should be the final chamber, where she found the Word Wall, it was easy for them to find another small path off to the left, which had to lead to the area that the tome was located in, so the first thing she did was take in the next Word of Power and add it to her arsenal, though as soon as that was done she headed down the passage.

"There it is, Untold Legends: The Other Lives of Ysgramor," Ma'jera said, naming the Black Book in front of them, while using her magic to lift it off the pedestal that it was resting on and added it to her collection, leaving only two more before her correction was complete, though her motions told them that they should track down the other tome before bothering to see what was inside this one and the next one.

With that done they headed through the other door and found themselves in a small chamber that connected to the front of the cave, even though Lydia had to pull a lever to lower a door, but once that was done they headed outside and found that not a lot of time had gone by, to which Za'kera headed to the west as she tracked down the area that Vahlok had told her that White Ridge Barrow was located in. There wasn't much for them to worry about during their journey to where the sixth Black Book rested, though they had to head to the southwest after a time and it allowed them to pass by a cave that looked like it might also house a ruin inside it, before Amaryllis and Wind spotted the ruin in question. The odd thing was that it seemed like no one was interested in this ruin, as there were no Reavers or Rieklings standing around the outside of the entrance, a dome shaped area based on what they were seeing, though that didn't stop them from drawing their own weapons as they opened the main door and headed inside. What they discovered on the other side of the door, however, was a number of slain Reavers that looked like they had barricaded the door before perishing, given all of the blood that happened to be on the floor, meaning a fight must have broken out and that a lot of Reavers were likely waiting down in the depths of this place.

Za'kera braced herself for whatever they might find as Lydia moved the bodies away from the door and she removed the wooden beam that had been blocking up the door, allowing her to open the door and find that it contained a slain Reaver on the other side and a path leading down to another chamber, not to mention a sickly white spider that had been killed fairly recently.

"I haven't seen this type of spider before... meaning we had better be careful, as there's no telling what else we might find in this ruin," Wind commented, as the spider looked like it had been enchanted in some manner, how she had no idea and she could sense that her mentor had an idea of what they were looking at, in fact she was positive that Ma'jera knew what this was and was keeping that information to herself to see how they reacted to everything else.

It was how her mentor operated, after all, knowing nearly everything because she was the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, all while sharing none of it until she was either ready to do so or until someone else figured out what she knew, like this was a game to her or something, but Wind forced herself to focus on their task, as she knew that a Demiprince saw them as toys, just like their parents, and her mentor was no different. After the first albino spider, as Wind was calling it, they found two more fallen figures, another Reaver and one more spider, before discovering an active albino spider as it emerged from an opening, meaning there were still some living creatures located in this ruin, though it didn't last very long as Wind lashed out with a Fireball. She knew enough about the spiders of this world to know that they had no love for anything that wasn't a spider like themselves, though as she did that Za'kera and the others moved down the passage in front of them, carefully keeping an eye out for anything that might seek to end their lives, since there had to be some Draugr down here. Za'kera then swung her blades at another spider that jumped at her, finding that the albino ones were much smaller than the ones she was used to facing, before finding a wooden staircase heading downwards, which they took and discovered a passage that happened to be the main one they needed to take.

Around that point Amaryllis found a small red spider, definitely an enchanted spider that had to be made from the albino one, though as soon as they discovered that they learned something else, it summoned a flaming cloak around it as soon as it noticed them coming, meaning someone was making an army of enchanted spiders for some reason. In response to that discovery Amaryllis switched to her lowest quality arrows and used them to take out the spiders before they came at her companions, or at least the red colored ones since the white ones had no powers, based on what they were currently seeing. Her reasoning for that was due to the fact that one of the flaming spiders actually jumped across a gap that rested between them, like it was a bomb that could be thrown or something, but her arrow took it out as the others moved into the chamber and Wind hurled Ice Spikes at the pulsing spherical containers that seemed to be eggs, so it was a way for her to control how many enemies they had to face. Za'kera eventually found a way down into the lower section of the ruin, or at least one part of it, before discovering a Reaver who had yellow lines all over her face and a twisted yellow spider that seemed to be biting into her neck, bonding the two together like the spider was a parasite that was now in control of the Reaver, the legs attached to the back of her head, neck, and shoulders.

Lydia, sensing the danger, dropped down on the Reaver and crushed her with her battleaxe, taking a moment to sever the arm that had a weapon before removing her foe's head, though in that moment they found that the Mind Spider survived and was getting ready to infect someone else, to which Wind seized it with her magic and incinerated it, preventing from latching onto one of them. She didn't want to imagine what would happen to Za'kera if the foul spider had taken over her mind, given that she was the Dragonborn, and she sure that that she and Amaryllis might be immune to such a thing, due to their previous forms back on Equus and the Hive Mind, but given their uniqueness, and the taint that came from being linked to the Moomer Curse, she was also sure that a transformation might have happened if the spider got them. She had no way of knowing what would happen, of course, so this was all speculation on her part, though to be honest she didn't want to be some sort of spider hybrid figure that had multiple arms like a spider, along with the abdomen and everything else, so her focus would be on making sure those enemies were incinerated. Ma'jera, on the other hand, summoned what looked like glass orbs and seemed to be collecting living forms of the types of spiders they were finding right now, likely for whatever experiments she might have for them, to which Wind ignored her to the best of her ability and focused on taking down all of the spiders in front of the group.

After a few more moments they discovered a passage that lead deeper into the ruin, once more filled with spiders to they let Ma'jera take the ones she wanted before wiping out the rest of them, and Amaryllis found some nodes that looked like a few gems could be pulled from them, something they could worry about later, once they had the Black Book.

The door after the geodes brought the group to a small passage that linked up with a barred door, one that lead into a massive chamber that had to be the main one of this ruin, meaning Dukaan, the Word Wall, and the sixth Black Book had to be nearby, before Za'kera opened the door. Such a thing revealed a person over on the other side of the chamber that seemed to be the one in control of every spider they had seen, even though the Reavers seemed to be possessed by the Mind Spiders, and Amaryllis could tell that Ma'jera was thinking about something, though she focused on their opponent as she readied a couple of arrows. Seeing that Za'kera held her hand up a little, to stop the others from messing with her plan, and a slight turn of the Demiprince's head told her everything that she needed to know, to which Amaryllis loosed a pair of arrows at her targets, taking down the mind controlled Reavers before they had a chance to know that enemies had arrived. The Dark Elf, who had to be the one responsible for what they had seen so far, was surprised by what was going on right now and Ma'jera moved next, weaving her magic into a large orb that trapped the lady, while snatching the pair of now freed spiders, meaning she was definitely going to experiment on the Dark Elf at some point in the near future, which seemed to terrify the lady as darkness surrounded her.

Ma'jera apparently didn't want them to see what she was going to do next, though Amaryllis had a feeling that the Dark Elf was going to be twisted into a Daedra, given everything the Demiprinces had done, before they made their way to the side that had been cleared and pushed through some webs to find a chamber with the Word Wall, a coffin, and the Black Book they were looking for.

"There it is, The Sallow Regent." Ma'jera remarked, once more giving them the name of the Black Book, not that they cared all that much since she was the one that would be carrying it, like all of the others they had found so far, and as she claimed it the coffin opened, revealing a Dragon Priest with metallic armor that looked like it was linked to frost, like how Zahkriisos' had been shock attuned.

Sure enough Dukaan seemed to know that they weren't here for him, though Za'kera said nothing as she claimed the next Word of Power before worrying about how to get out of this place, but now they only had to find one more Black Book and claim it, meaning their time on Solstheim was nearing it's end, and they looked forward to seeing whatever the next couple of days held for them.

Solstheim: Treasure Hunt

With their time in White Ridge Barrow at an end, Za'kera and the others departed from the ruin and headed in the direction of Raven Rock, as it was a good place for them to access multiple Black Books without having to worry about Neloth or someone else bothering them at the wrong moment. Dukaan, as they discovered, pulled out of the ruin with whatever Draugr had been buried with him, those who hadn't been slain since those Reavers and their boss showed up to conduct her foul spidery experiments, so no one said anything as they watched the Dragon Priest depart from his ruin. Ma'jera was sure that with three Dragon Priests working together the way to Azhidal and the final of the seven Black Books would be open in no time, though there was plenty of time for her to open the new books that had been acquired and send Za'kera and Wind into both of them, to gain more power and ready themselves for what the future held. Amaryllis, on the other hand, had a feeling that it would be like what happened earlier, that she and Lydia would be sitting around the manor, doing nothing but guarding the area from potential enemies, causing her to remember what she had picked up earlier and what she had read about as well.

Part of her was curious as to what might be waiting at the locations on the map she had picked up, other than chests that contained the over pieces of the Pirate Lord's armor, and if she might be able to find something to use for when she wasn't being an assassin, but she figured she'd speak her mind when they got back to Raven Rock. Another thing she had to think about was what sort of plans Ma'jera had for the unfortunate Dark Elf who had been in control of the Reavers in White Ridge Barrow, since she had captured her alive and had multiple samples of the enchanted spiders, even though a part of her had no desire to know. The Khajiit in question was a Demiprince, meaning she had to see the Dark Elf sorceress as a test subject, a toy to be used and discarded whenever she desired, just like how most Daedric Princes saw the rest of the mortals who called this planet home, telling her all she needed to know on the matter. In fact just thinking about it was enough for her, as Sheogorath's daughter had created a new race and she was sure that Hermaeus Mora's child might be thinking of the same thing, just to prove that it wasn't exclusive to the Madgod and his family, though that lead her to stop thinking about it and focused on the path they were following.

Despite the fact that they had been on the northern half of the island, by their estimates, the group was able to get back to Raven Rock in no time, where the people seemed to be wrapping up for the day before heading to their homes, hence why they headed into the manor and Ma'jera started to focus for bringing the pair into Apocrypha.

"While you two do that, I'm thinking of exploring the island a little more," Amaryllis said, speaking to Za'kera for a moment, as while she wanted to go with her friend, and protect her from the dangers that were in the Black Book to ensure that the future she had seen would come to pass, she knew that Wind would ensure her safety, hence why she pulled out the helm for a moment, "those pirates we saw earlier were looking for the armor of an old Pirate Lord, and I have a map to where the other three pieces are resting... since they're made out of Stalhrim, I figured it would be best to claim them before any pirates or lingering Thalmor got their hands on them."

"That's understandable." Za'kera replied, even though she was sure that they had wiped out all of the Thalmor that had been on Solstheim, given what she had seen when they found Ancarion's boat, before she reached into her pack for a few seconds and pulled out the nordic pickaxe, as it was usually in hers and only gave it to someone when they found a source of Stalhrim, hence why she handed it to her friend, "I don't think you'll run into anything that will require that to be used, but it's best if you took it with you... who knows, you might need to mine some Stalhrim and this will ensure that you won't have to come looking for me."

Amaryllis nodded as she accepted the pickaxe, as there was a chance that she might run into some if the armor was made out of the material, before stashing it inside her pack, along with the helm once more, before Za'kera walked over to the area that Wind and Ma'jera were in. She knew what was coming next, Ma'jera would summon a barrier and give Za'kera one of the two new Black Books they had recovered, where the book in question would be opened, teleporting the three of them to Apocrypha so Za'kera could find a new power and Wind could track down another Burden. As of right now only four Burdens remained, where she was sure that two of them were Pride and Fear, though based on what Wind had said she assumed the last one was Violence, one she was sure her friend would be able to defeat rather easily, so the first book would likely deal with that Burden. After that, however, there was no telling which Burden would be up next, but she had a feeling that Wind would be able to overcome them, regardless of which order they came in, hence why she stood back for a time and watched the pair as Ma'jera pulled out one of the two new Black Books.

With the tome in hand Za'kera opened it up and the magic wrapped around her, Wind, and Ma'jera, teleporting them back to Apocrypha so they could hunt down the next Burden and power that was lingering inside it, though once they were no longer in the manner Amaryllis turned around and departed from the manor, leaving Lydia to hold down the fort while she was gone.

A few moments later Za'kera and Wind appeared in the first section of the next portion of Apocrypha that they would be exploring for some time, where it looked like they were starting in a passage that only lead forward, hence why she drew both of her blades once more as Wind readied her magic for the Seekers and Lurkers they would be facing. The passage headed down a little, allowing them to pass by a table with some soul gems, before bringing them to one of the glowing books, allowing the pair to teleport over to the next portion of this Black Book, where they would be walking on a walkway above the twisted water of Apocrypha, which had to lead to another glowing book. Sure enough they found a Lurker that happened to be in the middle of it's patrol, to which Za'kera rushed forward and hacked into it's legs, causing it to fall not a few seconds later, before moving out of the way as Wind blasted it in the chest with a pair of Lightning Bolts, ending it's life before it even had a chance to fight them. With that done they resumed following the path and found that it split, as in one path headed to the left and another headed to the right, both ending in glowing tomes, meaning one of them was the correct path and the other had to be the key to moving forward, hence why they headed for the right tome first.

What they discovered was that it brought them to a dead end, with no eyestalk devices for them to use, which happened to be where a Seeker was doing some research, though not a few seconds later it noticed that it had guests and Wind just froze it with a burst of frost magic, causing it to flee as soon as the ice melted.

Wind ended up finding a few more books to add to her own collection, which she was happy to see, before they returned to the split in the path and used the other glowing tome to continue to wherever the final tome was resting, bringing them to a tunnel that lead to a large chamber that had a number of locked doors. There were also two Seekers floating around the chamber, one on either side of the central structure that seemed to hold the device that would open the way to where another glowing book was resting, to which Za'kera rushed over to the left as Wind lashed out with a Fireball as she aimed at the right one. Once both targets were taken care of the pair looked around the chamber, finding a few rooms that were open and had either nothing in them, as Wind found one like that, or an area that had a number of books, which Za'kera discovered and called Wind over so she could claim them for her own library, before discovering an eyestalk device right in front of a locked door. Such a thing opened the door in front of it and revealed another device, which just so happened to unlock the door on the other side of the chamber, and when Wind messed with that one Za'kera watched as the door for the central structure opened, allowing her to access another device that revealed a set of stairs for them to reach the next glowing book, along with unlocking the door for them to move forward.

The next section they appeared in was another passage that lead to a larger chamber, one with two locked doors, though Wind spotted where their target happened to be resting, the larger tome that was the end of the book, and made sure she and Za'kera were careful as they moved forward. Her reasoning was due to the fact that they had no idea what sort of odd obstacles Hermaeus Mora might have installed in his Black Books, and sure enough she found that the final tunnel turned too the left, changing before their eyes, meaning they had to overcome one or two more obstacles before earning the right to access the final tome. The area it brought them to seemed to have a zone for a Lurker to spawn from, though that was when Za'kera found another version of Wind inside the small chamber in question, Violence to be exact since it was in the middle of hacking apart a Lurker, though in the following seconds she silently crept forward as she gathered her power in her right hand, allowing her to pierce her Burden while she was distracted. With the fourth Burden defeated, in a lackluster manner that told her that the next one was likely going to face her in battle, the pair followed the path on the other side of the small chamber and found that it brought them to an eyestalk device and a door that lead back to the central area, all so they could head for the final book once more.

Oddly enough they found that the tunnel didn't change again, even though there was a second small chamber to head to, but Za'kera wasn't about to complain as she activated the final book, finding that it's powers were to call a Dremora that she could trade with, the second was for a Dremora packmule, and the third was for a spectral drum, causing her to pick the first one before they returned to the manor.

"I'll give you ten minutes to rest, before sending you into the fifth book," Ma'jera stated, reminding the pair that she had been watching over them, mostly to see what sort of progress her student made in overcoming her Burdens, though at the same time Za'kera was grateful for a chance to rest, since there was no telling what was lurking in the next book, save for the sixth Burden and another power for Za'kera.

Wind nodded for a moment as she headed over to a chair, though as she did that part of her had to wonder if Amaryllis had found what she as looking for during the time they were in Apocrypha, the Pirate Lord's ancient armor, though at the same time she knew that it was only a matter of time until she returned, she just had to be patient.

While Za'kera and Wind were busy in Apocrypha, Amaryllis hung around Raven Rock for a few minutes to check the map she had picked up from the pirates, where she found that one of the chests that contained the ancient armor should be in the western outskirts of this very settlement, one was near Tel Mithryn, and another was somewhere in the northwestern portion of the island. With that information in hand she headed to the western exit and made sure that her disguise was up, this time appearing as an Argonian since she used her Khajiit disguise too much, where she found that no one seemed to care as she made her way outside Raven Rock. Sure enough she found two Dark Elf pirates, one in leather armor while the other wore the nordic armor, standing over an ancient chest, where neither of them seemed to notice her approach where they were standing, allowing her to draw her daggers for a moment before stabbing the heavy armored one right in his back. Such a thing allowed Amaryllis to end one foe before he had a chance to do anything to defend himself, though the other one pulled out a bow and loosed some arrows at her, to which she jumped backwards and dodged the arrows, before appearing behind her foe and cut her down, though once that was done she approached the chest.

What she found was that she had stopped the pirates before they made off with the armor piece, as it was unlocked and it saved her the time of unlocking the chest on her own, where she discovered an elegantly crafted piece of Stalhrim armor that looked like it was more for someone who wore light armor, like she did, before she stashed it inside her pack.

With that piece in hand Amaryllis made her way up the side of the coast, heading back to where they found Ancarion's ship earlier, though she had to refrain from switching back into her true form to make good time, as she found a group of what she assumed were travelers at first, as they were wearing clothing to avoid getting ash on them. The reality of the situation was that they were members of the Morag Tong, as they had seen her, in her Argonian disguise, leaving Severin Manor a short while ago, meaning they assumed she was the one who wrecked their plans to kill the First Councilor, though while she had no idea how the group figured it out, given no one had seen her, she wasn't about to let them leave. As such she drew her weapons again and parried the incoming attack from the first one that dared to come at her, while discovering that the other two were archers, so she shifted her stance and pulled the first assassin into the area she was in, forcing the pair of arrows into his body while leaving her intact. Once that was done she let go of her first foe and rushed forward, as she swung her dagger at the first one and removed his head before planting both blades in his chest, allowing her to wipe them out before they could do anything to her, and the moment all of them fell she paused for a few seconds, just to be sure there weren't anymore foes.

After figuring out that there were no more foes for her to worry about Amaryllis looted the Morag Tong, recovering more arrows to use in the future, before discovering a note that claimed that whoever was in possession of it was allowed to kill her, like a writ of execution she guessed, meaning she would have to keep an eye out for them in the future.

Once she was done with the would be assassins, and she thought that the Dark Brotherhood were better since her group would stalk the shadows and not reveal themselves like this, Amaryllis switched to her true form, after verifying that no more enemies were in this area, before taking to the air at long last. From there it was only a matter of time until she was able to find the next ancient chest, in an indent that had been submerged when she and the others passed through here earlier, not to mention that there were some dead pirates around the area, though the shovels and buckets explained the scene to her, that they had dug out the area to find the chest. Of course the pirates were dead, slain by a trio of Rieklings and a number of Mudcrabs, who looked like they had killed each other in a fight after ambushing the pirates, to which she landed and pulled out some of her lockpicks so she could mess with the chest, eventually figuring out how to unlock it so she could retrieve the piece inside it. Sure enough Amaryllis discovered a pair of Stalhrim gauntlets that seemed to fit the attire of a Pirate Lord, and since all of the gear was enchanted she was sure it explained how Haknir Death-Brand was able to become so feared when he was alive, and in addition to that piece she discovered an ornate golden key with a sapphire at the back end of it, meaning it went to Gyldenhul Barrow.

With those items stored away she headed back to Tel Mithryn, as it was where the last chest should be located, though as she did that she made sure to keep herself hidden so no one bothered her, especially since there were assassins looking for her and her companions, who she intended on taking down if she noticed them. Based on the map her target was off to the south of where the Silt Strider was resting, where she discovered three Ash Spawn with a pair of dead pirates near them, and she spotted an ancient chest that had been dug up, meaning they had found the treasure and died before they were able to claim it. As such she landed and became a female Dark Elf, like the leather pirates she had seen so far, and noticed that all three of her enemies turned to look at her, to which she rushed forward and slashed into one of them not a second later, cutting it down before it had a chance to fight back, though it's body provided some good cover from the other two, given that they launched Fireballs from their hands. With the first down she advanced on her target and quickly cut down the second one while avoiding it's ashy axe, and the third followed not a few seconds later, as she removed it's head and made sure to break it apart, so it wouldn't come back, before opening the chest and discovering that it contained the boots that went to the armor set.

As soon as she had all of Haknir's armor Amaryllis pulled out the book once more and looked at the treasure map, finding that Gyldenhul Barrow, which had to be the nordic way of saying 'golden haul', was near the Skaal Village, hence why she carefully flew over there and discovered some pirates outside a locked barrow. She waited for a couple of seconds, just to see what the pair were up to, before seeing that they gave up on trying to get into the ancient barrow and departed on the small rowboat that they had used to reach this area, though she remained in hiding as she watched them leave, just to be sure they didn't notice her. Once she was sure they were gone Amaryllis slipped down into the area that the door was in, finding that it was locked based on what she was seeing, and pulled out the key, allowing her to quickly unlock it and head inside, where she found a single chamber with three paths, one collapsed and two sealed by Stalhrim coffins, though there was a dead adventurer that had come here at one point in the past. Such a thing told her that someone must have come searching for the treasure and, upon failing to do so, must have returned the key to the chest it had been placed in, while leaving the armor behind, though her first order of business was extracting all of the Stalhrim around her, adding it to the bits she had claimed so far.

When she broke through the second one, however, she found a passage heading deeper into the earth, bringing her right to a large door she had to unlock, which brought her to a treasure passage that lead to a large ornate door on the other side of the area, though there were piles upon piles of septims, gems, ebony and daedric weapons and armor, and even a few items made from the bones and scales of dragons.

"The stories claimed that Haknir's treasure was great, but this is greater than I thought it would be," Amaryllis said, where she took a moment to study the area, as this happened to be the treasure trove of a Pirate Lord, and even as she thought about it she knew something was wrong with this picture, there had to be more somewhere in this place, causing her to walk over to the ornate door, something that caused the door behind her to close and be sealed with metallic bars, which meant heading forward was her only option.

Not a few seconds later she found another passage heading even deeper into the earth, only this one ended in a massive chamber that looked like it was the burial grounds of a Pirate Lord, with a grand alter on the other side of the area, but she kept her guard up as she quickly crossed the area and approached the alter. What she discovered was a skeletal body, no doubt Haknir's, though behind it rested a golden curved blade that had a red tint to it, where it almost looked like a blade that was designed after a mantis' pincer, or, as she looked at it some more, the blade of a scythe, meaning this had to be Bloodscythe, according to the tome. She could practically feel the power coming from it, having slain so many foes while Haknir was alive, and based on everything she was sensing right now Amaryllis was sure that Soulrender, the sister blade to the one in front of her, was in this massive chamber, though where she had no idea. After a few seconds, just to be sure that no enemies were coming out to face her, she picked up Bloodscythe and found that it was much lighter than what she had been thinking, and when she swung it a few times she found that it might be as deadly as a Daedric blade, and in the end it rested in her right hand once she was done testing it out.

After that a large stone door moved into position and trapped her in this area, though it wasn't long before she found out what her foes were, as the ghostly forms of Haknir's crew started to form around the chamber, people who had failed to best their captain while they were alive and failed to do so in their next life, and there were a lot of them based on what she was seeing right now.

"So this is your test, Haknir... and let me guess, I can't hurt them without your blades," Amaryllis said, speaking to the soul of the Pirate Lord, as she was sure that he was somewhere in this chamber, waiting for a worthy foe to come and send his crew, plus himself for that matter, to the afterlife so they could leave this plane behind, though that was when she altered her stance to only have Bloodscythe drawn, leaving her left hand empty, "so the question is this: where in the world did you hide Soulrender?"

In response to her question three more ghosts appeared in the chamber, two of them to her left and right, where she was able to find that one had been a male Nord who excelled in archery and the other was a male Nord in heavy armor while carrying a battleaxe, though that was when she found that the third ghost was right in front of her. This one was wearing a ghostly set of Stalhrim armor, the set designed for a Pirate Lord, and she found that he had a ghostly version of the blade that was in her right hand, meaning she was staring at Haknir Death-Brand himself, the legendary pirate that all feared when he was among the living. In that moment the ghost of the Pirate Lord beckoned to the alter once more and allowed her to turn around, like he was expecting a fair fight once she was armed, and discovered a second blade was now resting on the alter where she had found Bloodscythe, a curved weapon was identical in shape to the first one, meaning the pair were scimitars, though this one was blackened in color and seemed just as deadly as the one in her right hand. This was what she was feeling earlier, the presence of Soulrender, where she was sure that it was also of Daedric origin, though as she thought about that Amaryllis picked up the weapon with her left hand, allowing her to swing them a few times, quickly finding that they were perfect for someone like her.

With that done she tried something new, a spell that only Princesses Celestia and Luna were said to use when they went into battle, and Queen Chrysalis as well when she thought about it, as it summoned one's armor and weapons to them the instant it was cast, though at the same time Amaryllis shifted into her true form, where she found that her armor switched with the Deathbrand armor, and her magic allowed it to fit over her altered body.

Haknir didn't seem intimidated by what he was seeing, even though Amaryllis' new true form was draconic in nature and was far tougher than her old Changeling form, rather he seemed excited by the prospect of fighting her and seeing how he fared against her might, even though she looked like an anthropomorphic dragon wearing Stalhrim armor that had been custom made for her body. Amaryllis bounced from one foot to another, getting used to the weight of the new set of armor she was wearing, before discovering that Haknir was waiting for her to make the first move, to which she landed for a second and rushed at him, swinging both blades at him with enough force to knock him down the stairs, though he was unharmed from her attack, as it was simply to give them more room. With that done she landed for a second and both of them rushed at each other and swung their blades at each other, where Amaryllis found that Bloodscythe and Soulrender danced with their ghostly counterparts with ease, parrying the incoming attacks while discovering that her own were the same way, like they were evenly matched. Another thing she noticed was that the armor definitely granted her the power that it used to grant Haknir when he was alive, as it seemed like her stamina was far stronger than it had been, her swings were more powerful, she felt lighter than ever before, and she felt tougher, like it would take more for someone to harm her during a fight.

In fact the two of them moved like that for some time, neither one appearing to find a hole in the other's defenses, while at the same time all of Haknir's crew stood off to the sides and watched, meaning they knew that it was unwise to aid their captain, least they earn his anger for interrupting his match, but she was fine with that since it meant she could focus on him and not have to worry about reinforcements.

Haknir was strong, far more than what she was expecting from the tales that were written in the tome she carried, and it meant that they ended up dancing around the chamber as his crew spread out to watch them, as Amaryllis had to use all of her skills to stay alive, figuring that damage would come later. At the same time she was getting used to the power that her true form commanded as she fought someone who constantly pushed her, making her wonder if Haknir had been a hybrid who had been lucky to be blessed with the form of a Nord, instead of a mix of Nord and Dremora, before deciding that only Ma'jera and her father might know the truth of the matter. While she fought, however, she noticed that her blows were getting stronger and faster, no doubt her true power, the gift of Dagon, coming to the surface, and her speed was the same way, allowing her to match the sheer power that Haknir possessed, who seemed to be studying her movements and was reacting accordingly. Over time Amaryllis discovered that her power was starting to outclass her foe, because Haknir, at long last, was starting to lose ground and it seemed like his crew was stunned by what they were seeing right now, but he continued to pour all of his power into his blows as she did the same thing, before she dodged one of his swings and delivered a diagonal slash to Haknir's chest.

In that moment, finding himself overpowered at long last, the ghost of Haknir accepted his fate as she attacked him again, taking his head off this time, causing him and his crew to disappear from the chamber and opened the way for her to leave at long last, to which she sighed and bowed her head a little to the alter, to show some respect, before leaving, where she planned on taking the treasure on her way out, all while wondering what Wind was up to.

After the short rest that Ma'jera gave them, Za'kera and Wind found themselves standing in the starting area of the fifth Black Book, though as they appeared in the next area they discovered that it was slightly darker than what they had seen in the previous sections of Apocrypha, like the shadows were more plentiful here. Such a thing quickly told Wind what they needed to be careful, as she was sure that either enemies or some sort of damaging effect rested inside the shadows, to which she gathered a bit of her magic and summoned some Candlelights, floating balls of light, to give them some light so they could see, while both of them made sure to draw their weapons. One other thing she could see was that there were a few black devices moving from one part of this area to another, with a yellow stone that seemed to give off light as well, so if she wanted to Wind could avoid using her mana for the lights that were floating above her and Za'kera, but knowing that Hermaeus Mora had obstacles in each area she decided to keep them. As such the two of them moved forward and kept an eye out for anything that might jump out to attack them, even though Wind was focused on tracking down the Burden that was in this place, as either Pride, Hatred, or Fear was in this place, lurking around the corner as they watched what they were doing.

The passage they found brought the pair to a small area that didn't seem to have anything more than a few pods that had a few books inside them, not to mention a pool of black water that had a large eye in it, either one of Hermaeus Mora's or one that belonged to his minions, but after collecting the books Za'kera and Wind pressed onward.

After that the pair found a passage leading upward, as it was a diagonal ramp, that brought them to a larger area that had a number of book piles and another opening that seemed to head closer to where the final book was resting, though there were a few Seekers hanging out in the area, once more reading until the pair entered this area. Za'kera wasted no time in rushing forward, swinging her blade at one of them as she pushed it away from the second one, who Wind focused on for a time as she used Ice Spears to tackle it, as they were too close to the various books and she didn't want to annoy both her mentor and her father by burning the area down. Like Wind expected she was able to hit her target with ease, though at the same time there were no other enemies in the area, save for Za'kera's, who collapsed after taking a few hits over the few moments she was fighting it, so she was able to search the area and found that the only way forward was the one that she had spotted earlier, though it did give her a few more books for her collection. After that they made their way over to the passage leading upward and found that it brought them to a walkway that was far above an endless pit, where if one of them fell off the walkway it would either kill them or send them back to Solstheim, though after a few seconds the pair found that it grew into a winding path that had to lead to the final book.

As they moved forward, however, they discovered a pair of Lurkers that were wandering around the area, one nearby and one that was further along the path, so they only had to worry about one at a time and not both of them ganging up on them, though Za'kera rushed forward and cut through it's legs before ducking out of the way as Wind blasted it with one of her Lightning Bolts. The force of her blow knocked the Lurker off the ledge and sent it down into the abyss, even though it reappeared on the walkway a few moments later, as a corpse, allowing the pair to continue moving along the walkway and found an area that looked like it was an ending, only for the next section of the walkway to move into place and let them cross over it. As such they did so without delay and found that they were drawing closer to the final book, even through it brought them to a ringed platform that the second Lurker was walking on, to which Wind summoned a pair of Ice Spears and launched both of them through the air, striking her target before it had a chance to lash out at them, opening the way for Za'kera to move forward. What she discovered was that there was a set of stairs heading upwards, so she waited under her light as Wind took care of the Lurker, though once she was done they regrouped and made their way up it, finding that it brought them to a small area that the final book was on, with a smirking version of Wind standing between them and it, like she was trying to slow them down.

Wind, on the other hand, sensed that something was up and waved her hand as she gathered a bit of her magic, where a few seconds later they watched as the Burden shimmered for a moment before becoming a child version of herself, where she walked forward and embraced Pride, whose own fear disappeared after that happened and she broke down like all of the others she had faced, and once that was done wind stood up and glanced at Za'kera.

"I've never been a prideful Changeling... unlike my mother," Wind commented, as her mother and grandmother were the best examples she had of a queen consumed by pride, who would have likely failed to clear this Burden if they had been in her position, though as she thought about that an idea came to mind, as in why Pride was the fifth one she found and not the first, "as such she formed small, unlike the others you've seen so far, and likely hid herself so I wouldn't find her... and when I did she used that illusion to try and deceive me, so I'd leave her alone. Now all that remains is to track down Fear and Hatred... and I'm not looking forward to fighting the former."

Za'kera had no idea what Wind was so afraid of, though she assumed that she'd find out in due time, to which she took a moment to access the final book and found that the powers this time were a passive power to boost her combat skills, one to boost her magical skills, and another for her stealth skills, so she took the first one and they returned to Solstheim so they could regroup with the others and get ready for the final stretch of their time on this island.

Solstheim: Uncovered Ruin

"You're doing well, Wind." Ma'jera commented, speaking as they returned to Severin Manor, where they found that Lydia was standing guard and it looked like Amaryllis was still out, though Wind was more surprised by her master calling her by her name, given her demiprince nature, but she wasn't about to complain, "All that remains is finding and recovering the Black Book that was left in Ahzidal's possession, and besting the sixth Burden, before you worry about the last one."

"Sounds like we're making progress." a voice said, where Wind and the others turned for a moment and found that Amaryllis had arrived, as she opened the door in time to hear Ma'jera's comment on the matter, though they discovered something interesting, she was wearing Haknir's old armor, molded to fit her body, and his weapons.

"That we are, as Doubt, Despair, Anger, Violence, and Pride have been defeated," Wind replied, informing her friend of the progress that she and Za'kera had made while she was gone, because if she conquered one of her Burdens that meant that their companion was able to learn whatever was in the Black Book it had been hiding in, "Now only Hatred and Fear remain, even though I'm not too keen on fighting one of them."

"You won't have to worry about that, since your master won't let you face Fear without clearing out all six of the other Black Books, of which we're missing one." Za'kera stated, as they all knew that they were missing the tome that was buried in the barrow that Ahzidal had been placed in all those years ago, so without that tome she knew that Ma'jera would stop them from using the tome that they had found in Miraak's temple, before she glanced at Amaryllis, "Though it seems that your exploration of Solstheim earned you some new treasures..."

Amaryllis nodded as she and Wind informed each other of what they had done since she departed from Severin Manor, where she learned about their ventures into the two Black Books and everything they had done to track down the pair of Burdens that had been lurking inside them. She was interested in the fact that one was distracted by a Lurker, so much so that it didn't notice them coming towards it, while the other used an illusion to try and get them to flee so it could be left alone, though she wasn't going to complain about the situation, as Wind was close to finishing her quest. After that story she told them about how she tracked down the armor pieces that Haknir had worn in the past, which were pristine and made her assume it was due to the fact that each section was made out of Stalhrim, and finding a treasure trove where he had been buried. Such a thing allowed her to find both of her new weapons, the blades of the Pirate Lord himself, and to leave his tomb she had to face him in battle, something that allowed her to use her true form and develop her skills while fighting a great opponent, and once everything was done she left, claiming the treasure and gear for their efforts, which told them that she found some ebony items during her trek.

After that, and spending some time resting from what they had done, Ma'jera called for them to follow her and they did so without much delay, where she lead them out of Raven Rock and brought them to the area that the last Dragon Priest was resting in, the one that was close to the settlement that they had gained a house in. Sure enough none of them were even a little surprised to find all sorts of Draugr clearing out Kolbjorn Barrow, digging and hacking into the ash while others had buckets so they could carry the ash down to the coast and deposit it, without worrying about some replacing it in mere moments, given the ash that was around this area. Vahlok, as they expected, was in the middle of talking, to both of the other Dragon Priests the group had awakened from their slumber and a confused Captain Veleth, the latter looking like he had stumbled upon a nightmare or something, no doubt due to all of the undead that were close to Raven Rock, despite the fact that none of them were interested in bothering the settlement. Amaryllis was pleased by the progress that they were making, as it was only a matter of time until the way to the last Black Book was open and they were allowed to head down into the depths of this barrow, though she also knew that Reavers had to be watching this area with some interest, given that nothing like this had been seen in the past.

Veleth, of course, was surprised by their arrival and asked if they knew about the Draugr that were around them, where it only took Za'kera a few moments to explain that Vahlok and his friends were aiding them in recovering some special items and that they would clear out once they got everything they needed, causing him to nod as he wandered off, though at the very least he didn't have to worry about his settlement being attacked again.

Sure enough some of the nearby Reavers decided to see what in the world was going on and approached the camp, only for their leader to make it known that they would be taking over this place and that all of them were going to die, though in response to that Amaryllis held up a hand as she approached their would be enemies. This gave Wind and the others a chance to see what had happened to her during her earlier exploration, where she drew her blades without delay as she approached her first foe, though she moved to the side and severed the outstretched hand, with the sword it was holding, before it could even touch her. In the following seconds she cut down that foe and moved onto the next one, rushing at the archer as the leader understood that this might have been a bad idea, where she reappeared behind the archer, who had no idea she was there, before stabbing her in the chest from the back and made sure she was dead before focusing on the leader. For a second or two she wondered if her foe was going to leave, though the Dark Elf drew his greatsword and rushed at her, without any concern for his life, to which she sighed as she dodged his incoming attacks and quickly took off his head when an opening revealed itself to her, though once that was done she sheathed her blades and walked over to where the others were standing.

Wind was impressed by what they had seen, as Amaryllis had been able to grow her combat skills rather well, meaning she must have found a good foe in Haknir, and Za'kera nodded her head as well, as it was good to have another fighter even though Amaryllis usually stayed at the back of the pack during their battles, before they turned their attention back to the ruin that was being unearthed.

With that done the group found that the only thing they could do was head into the ruin and see what needed to be done to get down to Ahzidal's section of Kolbjorn Barrow, though upon entering it Amaryllis and Wind found that the Draugr were down here as well, cleaning up all of the ash that had poured into the ruin. Ma'jera clapped her hands for a moment and opened a doorway to Apocrypha, not even surprising the group at this point since they were used to her showing off all sorts of magical spells, where some Seekers poured out and used their own magic to aid in the process of lifting ash out so they could get deeper into the ruin. The first chamber seemed to be all that they had to worry about, though Amaryllis found a pressure plate on a table and removed the skull from it, where a door on the other side opened up and showed all of them another section of the ruin, to which all of the Draugr moved in and continue their work. Lydia joined them, as she assisted the undead in gathering up the ash and transporting it outside, while Wind used some of her magic to form balls of ash, the size of one's head, to which Vahlok ordered some of the Draugr to collect the orbs and take them upstairs with the rest of the ash.

Of course Za'kera, being the Dragonborn, was exempt from having to work on the ash, so she wandered around the parts that they had access to as Amaryllis kept her eyes on her and the progress they were making, collecting bits of treasure for what would happen after their time on this island. Amaryllis, on the other hand, found a pair of boots in the new chamber that seemed to be something Ahzidal made, as Wind informed her that he had been an enchanter before his death, so if he was revived, which they were certain of given that he was a Dragon Priest, the power of their army would be boosted all over again. There was a book she recovered from Apocrypha that spoke about him, hence why she was able to learn a bit about this particular Dragon Priest and his skills, and, unless she was mistaken, the boots granted someone the power to walk on water, a unique enchantment, and the rest of his set was supposed to be somewhere in this ruin, though there was no telling if he had a secret vault or something that was filled with enchanted gear. In addition to all of that they found a number of Draugr that had been buried under the ash, who rose up and found an odd sight in their crypt, to which some of Vahlok's followers informed them of what was going on and they quickly fell in with the rest, increasing their work force as they delved deeper and deeper into the buried ruin.

As time went on they found a way into the passages that would allow them to reach the true depths of Kolbjorn, so while the Draugr continued to gather ash and drag it outside, and awaken more of their kind to boost their number, Za'kera and the others explored the area in question, just in case they found more of Ahzidal's gear. What they found was a number of levers that opened and closed stone doors along the passages in question, which also brought them up to the section that the boots had been in, along with a hidden chamber that contained a powerful ring, no doubt another of Ahzidal's grand treasures. Wind found that this one was designed more for a necromancer or summoner, as it seemed like one's minions would explode if they took damage, why she had no idea and she wasn't about to ask questions on the matter, though as soon as it was collected they continued to move things out of the way and found another path once some material was out of the way. Amaryllis ended up finding another hidden chamber, another small one like the one that the ring had been put in all those years ago, and discovered a pair of gauntlets resting on the pedestal that was inside it, made in the style of the ancient Nords like the boots, so she collected them and handed them over to Wind as they headed deeper into the ruin, as they hadn't found what they were looking for yet.

It brought them to a chamber that had a square puzzle of some kind that reminded them of what was in Vahlok's tomb, all of the tiles that they could walk on and if they did it without repeating one they would gain a prize, to which Za'kera did it without delay and it opened a door to their left, allowing Wind to claim another ring for the collection, as it was similar to Ahzidal's other enchanted items.

What Wind could see the second ring, with a sapphire attached to it, possessed the ability to use two new spells, one was a fire spell and the second was a frost spell, though she didn't have a lot of time to study it as the Draugr found a way for the group to head even deeper than ever before, as it lead to another chamber with a pair of thrones. Of course the Draugr that were in the chamber got up and started to leave, as there was more work to be done, before they found some stone pillars that could be moved, connected to a pair of chains that seemed to spin them, though while there was a clue how to open the central gate, the eagle symbols on the other side of them room, Za'kera did something else. She used one of the chains on the left and right walls and found that it moved a rotating wall in front of her, revealing a whale symbol not even a few seconds later, so since this place seemed to be using pairs Amaryllis used the whale first to open a door to where the armor Ahzidal had created was resting. Once that was claimed she switched it over to the eagle symbol and quickly moved the lever again, opening the grate in the floor and allowed them to descend once more, bringing them to a crypt that had to be the final stretch of their journey, even though they ended up passing by another door that lead to an ancient helm, the last piece of Ahzidal's set.

From there they continued through the crypt, Amaryllis stopping for a moment to collect some Stalhrim that was down in this place, before opening a door that brought them to a large chamber with a summoning circle of some kind right in the middle, though there was a copper armored Dragon Priest, Ahzidal no doubt, floating in the air while his forces moved all around him... to which he beckoned to the doorway behind him, when he laid eyes on them, before departing from this part of his tomb.

"He likely knows why we're here." Amaryllis commented, which meant they were close to where the final Black Book had been placed all those years ago, causing the others to nod their heads as each of them headed down the passage, while at the same time getting out of the way of Ahzidal's forces.

Sure enough it was a short passage that brought them to a familiar chamber, with a statue that looked like it might have been inspired by Apocrypha, and on a pedestal rested the last Black Book they had to acquire, though Wind could feel a sense of darkness coming from it, meaning either Hatred or Fear was deep inside it.

"And here it is, Filament and Filigree, the last of the seven Black Books," Ma'jera said, where she picked up the tome in question and gestured to the group, something that caused Amaryllis and Lydia to back off as Za'kera and Wind remained in place, before weaving her magic around them so only the pair would be brought to Apocrypha.

Not a few moments later Za'kera and Wind appeared in the next section of Apocrypha that they had to explore, while their host floated off into the sky to watch over them from afar, though from what they could see this place looked like the last one, an open area that was mostly covered in darkness. As such Wind summoned more lights for them as they drew their weapons and walked around the starting area, finding that it was connected to some stairs that lead up to a locked gate, which they opened by quickly activating the eyestalk device that happened to be to their right. After that they found a long walkway that had two Seekers and a Lurker guarding the way forward, to which Za'kera rushed forward and slashed into the legs of the Lurker, while at the same time Wind gathered a bit of her magic and hurled several Fireballs at her targets, which struck both of the Seekers before chasing them off. She made sure to keep her guard up, just in case the Seekers tried to attack her or Za'kera while they were distracted, but none of them tried anything and it allowed Za'kera to dodge a few punches before hacking the Lurker apart, once more showing Wind that she wasn't to be underestimated, as while she could use her Shouts to end a battle faster it wouldn't let her improve her own skills.

With the walkway taken care of the pair regrouped, after Wind collected the books that the Seekers left behind, they found a pair of stairs, a Lurker pool, and where the final book was resting, causing them to pause as they found nothing in this part of the Black Book, as there were no enemies for them to worry about.

"This isn't good... the Burden that's supposed to be here has fled." Wind commented, because since she had beaten Pride and the others in battle, or to the best of her ability since some of them didn't even fight back, she had a feeling that the smarter ones might have either fled or might be banding together to face her.

"They're likely with the last one, in Miraak's book." Za'kera said, though she had to wonder what was going on with Wind and her Burdens, since something weird seemed to be going on with a few of them being cowardly or too involved with a scene they were working on, before she focused on the final tome that was in front of them.

She discovered that the powers this time around happened to be that her more powerful attacks wouldn't eat up any of her stamina, an ability that allowed spells to be cast without the spell cost, and the ability to take reduced damage for a time, to which she picked the last one, allowing it's power to seep into her body, before they and Ma'jera returned to the others, as it was time to head to the Skaal Village and bring an end to their time on this island.

Solstheim: The Final Black Book

"And with that done, all that remains is acquiring the Skaal's knowledge and facing the final Black Book," Ma'jera stated, as she spoke when she, Za'kera, and Wind returned to Kolbjorn Barrow, finding Amaryllis and Lydia standing nearby, waiting for them to return from the tome she was closing.

"Not to mention tracking down the last two Burdens, since one didn't show up in this book," Za'kera added, something she knew was bothering Wind, since it meant the other had fled to the final book and would be waiting with the one that had been placed inside it when her mentor started this madness, before she let out a sigh, "though you are correct, it's about time that we head back to the Skaal Village."

Amaryllis said nothing as Wind walked over to her, as she could feel that her friend was disappointed in the fact that she couldn't take down the sixth Burden that had been freed from her some time ago, especially since it decided to flee and not face her at all, though there wasn't a lot she could say at the moment. As such she offered a brief hug before finding that Ma'jera was already making her way to the exit, a circular staircase that moved upwards before their eyes, meaning it would connect back to the main chamber of Kolbjorn Barrow, and sure enough that was where it brought them. Such a thing gave Za'kera a chance to pick up the Word of Power from the nearby Word Wall, adding another Word to her arsenal, before they headed outside as the Draugr followed after them, even though it looked like the undead were moving off in the direction of Fort Frostmoth, like to ready a ship for departure. Amaryllis really didn't want to know how the undead were planning on doing that, even though they had multiple Dragon Priests with them, but for now it seemed like Za'kera was more interested in heading to the Skaal Village, figuring that there would be time to deal with Vahlok's forces once she and the others were done humoring Hermaeus Mora.

What she and the others found was that there was nothing along the path that bothered them, none of the Spriggians or wildlife wanted anything to do with them, there were a few werewolves and werebears that simply bowed their heads as they passed by their hunting grounds, and even the Reavers seemed to think it was a bad idea to attack them. This time around Amaryllis was sure that Ma'jera was doing something to make sure they weren't interrupted, a spell of some type no doubt, but it allowed Za'kera and Wind some time to regain a bit of energy, since they were expanding some during the walk to the Skaal Village. Wind remained silent as they walked, as she was thinking about the fact that she would have to fight both Hatred and Fear when they entered the Black Book that had been in the depths of Miraak's temple, which might mean Amaryllis and Lydia would be joining the pair in this last venture, to make sure she had the energy to face the pair in combat, but time would tell. Other than that her mentor remained silent as she floated in the air near the group, just like she did since everyone encountered her at the College of Winterhold, but they had a feeling that she was getting ready for what was going to happen when they reached the Skaal Village.

Sure enough it didn't take them too long to reach their destination, where they found all sorts of Skaal walking around, like what happened when they came by here over the last couple of days, and Storn was sitting outside the leader's building, which seemed to be one of his two favorite spots since the last time they had been here he had been outside the house near the blacksmith's place, who stopped his meditation as they approached.

"Dragonborn, you and your companions have returns from the Dark Elf wizard's tower." Storn commented, reminding the group that he had told them about Neloth so they could learn more about the Black Books and, if at all possible, discover the information that would allow Za'kera to get on Miraak's level, which she was nowhere near at the moment, before he focused on them, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"You could say that. We found another Black Book that Miraak used in the past," Za'kera replied, where Storn nodded his head for a moment, showing that he understood what she was saying, as it made sense for Miraak to have found multiple Black Books in the days before his rebellion, before she focused on the matter at hand, "though when I reached the end of it I had a short conversation with Hermaeus Mora, who revealed that I need the last Word of Miraak's Shout to be able to challenge him... but, well, he asked us to recover the 'secrets of the Skaal', in exchange for his knowledge."

"Hermaeus Mora... old Herma-Mora himself. So, HE is the source of Miraak's power." Storn said, though he let out a sigh as soon as he said that, no doubt taking a few moments to consider the information that was being provided and the tales he had been told about the Prince of Fate, "Of course, I should have known... the Skall have many tales of Herma-Mora trying to trick us into giving up our secrets to him, and now he comes again for what we have long kept from him."

"Herma-Mora? Why do you call him that?" Wind inquired, as that seemed like an odd name to give the Prince of Fate, even if each race and culture in this world had their own name for the various gods, be they Divine or Daedric Lord, before she took a moment to consider the information that he wanted Za'kera to acquire for his realm, "And what are the 'secrets of the Skaal' that he wants so badly?"

"That is our name for him: the Demon of Knowledge. He has always been our enemy." Storn replied, answering her first question with ease, which allowed her to make sense of the name while finding that Ma'jera didn't seem to mind it, as her emotions were stable right now, meaning she must have known about this name for a long time, before she refocused on him as he considered her second question, "As for our secrets, all we have is ancient lore, handed down from shaman to shaman since the day the All-Maker first gave Solstheim to the Skaal, about how to talk to the wind, how to listen to the earth... these are our secrets... nothing of power or mastery."

"Well, I hate to ask you to give up your ancient lore, but He said it's the only way he'll teach me the final Word of the Shout I need to prove myself." Za'kera stated, though as she said that she glanced at Ma'jera, because supposedly she had a gem or crystal of some kind that would allow her to acquire the information for her father's library, without killing Storn, and it seemed like that might have been a lie to force her cooperation.

"So... it falls to me to be the one to give up the secrets to our ancient enemy." Storn said, something that was followed by him letting out another sigh as he considered everything that was going on right now, while no doubt checking the power of the Stones that were scattered throughout Solstheim, which he must have taught Frea at some point, "I do not know if I have the strength to face him, as the Tree Stone is still corrupted... the land is still out of balance... but, with the other five restored, it may be enough. It will have to be."

"You mean you'll give Hermaeus Mora what he wants?" Amaryllis inquired, which was the right thing to do, because they needed Za'kera to be on Miraak's level for this expedition to be a success in her eyes, even though this had lead to Wind growing in power during their time on the island, though she also knew it was unwise to annoy a Daedric Prince and this should please him for some time.

"Yes, because the Skaal also tell of the day when we must finally give up our secrets... when old Herma-Mora finally wins." Storn replied, where he looked like he didn't want to do this at all, which was understandable given that they had no idea how to actually get the information from him, save for using a Black Book on him, before he glanced at them and looked at all of the Skaal that were watching them, "As shaman, it is my duty to guard these secrets, but also to decide when it is necessary to give them up. I believe that it is now time to finally give him what he want.... and if I am wrong, and this isn't the correct moment, may my ancestors forgive me. Give me one of the Black Books you have recovered. I will read it, and speak to old Herma-Mora myself... I will make sure he lives up to his part of the bargain."

Ma'jera floated over and informed them that such a thing wasn't necessary, as the crystal she pulled out would be able to take the knowledge from him, without killing him, to which Storn sighed and channeled everything Hermaeus Mora was asking for into the gem, and once it was done they found that the sky darkened for a moment as the Prince's eyes, and a few of his tentacles, appeared all over the sky above the Skaal Village.

Dragonborn, you have delivered me the gift I requested. Hermaeus Mora said, his voice echoing a little as he spoke, all while Ma'jera approached her father and held up the gem for him to see, allowing him to confirm that the information he was after was now stored inside it, for him to look at once he was done with Za'kera and her companions, In return, I keep my promise, as befits a Prince of Oblivion: I give you the Word of Power that you need to challenge Miraak.

Sure enough Za'kera felt a surge of power rush through her body, granting her the full power of the Shout that Miraak had used when he turned against the Dragons and his former allies, when he joined up with Hermaeus Mora, though as soon as that was done they watched as the Prince disappeared, allowing Ma'jera to pocket the gem as she pulled out the first Black Book they had recovered, Waking Dreams.

"This time around things will be somewhat different... Amaryllis, Lydia, you two will be joining us in Apocrypha," Ma'jera stated, something that caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow as their warrior friend gripped her battleaxe, showing them that she was ready for a fight, especially since she had been on the sidelines for a good portion of their expedition to this island, before she beckoned for them to walk over to an area as she formed the circle and barrier for them.

Wind said nothing, as she knew that the only reason the other two were being invited to join them was so that she could have enough energy to face both Burdens that were lurking in this Black Book, and watched as everyone gathered around Ma'jera without wasting time, allowing her to open the book and take them back to the platform she and Za'kera had first appeared on when they used this Black Book.

"Now then, keep your guards up... there's no telling what Miraak might have set up to stop us." Za'kera said, drawing both of her weapons as she walked forward, where Lydia held her battleaxe at the ready as Amaryllis focused on her bow, due to the fact that they had two melee fighters and having a ranged fighter would make things easier for them, while Wind simply moved without readying her magic.

What they discovered was that there were no enemies in the area they had appeared in, as both Za'kera and Wind knew that there had been some Seekers in the area when they first arrived, but this allowed them to search the area, finding a few more tomes for Wind to add to her library, before stopping at a glowing tome, one of the chapter books they had seen in the previous Black Books. The glowing book brought them to an area that seemed circular in nature, like the depths of one of the towers that dotted Apocrypha's landscape, especially when Amaryllis glanced upward and found that there was a lot more to this place than what she assumed, as there were several floors far above them that they would likely have to move through at some point. While she thought about that Lydia happened to find a Seeker minding it's own business, as all of them loved to read, and when it turned on them she smashed her battleaxe into it's face, causing it to scream before disappearing, even if that meant tearing itself off her weapon. As Lydia did that Za'kera found another one guarding what looked like the path forward, as they had to walk up some steps before finding it floating near a walkway and another set of stairs, to which she rushed forward and cut it down before it even had a chance to fight back, even though she knew all of the Seekers fled before being dealt fatal damage.

Wind, of course, hung back and collected some additional books, as she found more to read the longer she stayed in this strange and terrible realm, allowing her to understand the danger of Hermaeus Mora's domain, though that was when she found a large book at the end of the walkway Za'kera had cleared, resting on a pedestal to be exact. In that moment Wind picked up the strange tome, called Boneless Limbs, and found that such a thing lead to a set of stairs moving out so they could move forward, to which she pocketed it and rejoined the others as they headed deeper into Apocrypha, which made her wonder how many times they would find tomes like that in this book. Of course none of them were surprised to find that Ma'jera had left them alone, no doubt leaving them to share the information she had acquired with her father, to which they decided to ignore the fact that she wasn't there and focused on clearing out whatever happened to be on the path in front of them so they could reach the end of the last Black Book. What they discovered was that the path came to an end rather quickly, as the stairs lead them through a door that connected to a balcony of sorts, without the railing, that was on the outside of the massive tower, but they did find another glowing chapter book and used it to move into the next area that had to be cleared out.

This time it looked like they had been teleported to a passage between two points of Apocrypha, to which they made their way down the path in front of them and quickly found a chamber that had two Seekers guarding it, split up no less, which was perfect since Amaryllis used her daggers to cut one down before it knew what was going on, leaving the other one for Za'kera to cut down.

After that the path came to an end as it reached another pedestal, this one having an identical book to the one Wind had picked up not a few minutes ago, where she found that this one was called Delving Pincers, making her wonder if the one who wrote these had been talking about Hermaeus Mora. When she collected it, however, they watched as a chance took hold of the area near the glowing tome that would take them back to the balcony area, a new passage had revealed itself, to which she and the others retraced their steps for a few seconds and made their way over to it. What they found out was that it was a door they had missed, which might have appeared after she collected the second tome, that lead to an eyestalk device, one Za'kera activated and caused them to watch as the wall in front of them stretched outward, like a worn or something, before the end dissolved and revealed that it connected to another passage. That also forced them to walk up a single ramp, though it was worth it since they quickly discovered that they were on another level of the tower, as there was an opening they walked through that brought them to a floor that was above the first one they had started in a couple of minutes ago.

What they discovered was that the floor wasn't flat, rather it was made up of walkways that lead to doors, which were no doubt linked to a few eyestalk devices, so while Za'kera and the others moved to the right Amaryllis activated the device to their left, opening a door that was in front of her companions. On the other side of the door Za'kera found a small room that had one of the Apocrypha chests, which had a few tomes for Wind to collect and, surprisingly, a sharp Stalhrim sword and a pair of gauntlets made of the same material, only looking heavier than Amaryllis' Stalhrim armor. Of course she did take the Stalhrim gear, as they were enchanted in some manner, even though she had no idea if they were going to give either piece to someone else, before focusing on the rest of the floor that they were exploring right now, though as she did that Wind found another unique tome that matched the other two she had picked up. This one was called Prying Orbs and picking it up unlocked the main door of this floor, allowing the group to move forward once more, were they walked down a short passage before reaching another glowing book, causing all of them to sigh for a moment before teleporting to the next section of Apocrypha's summit.

The area in question appeared to be a chamber that had no roof, where they were near the top and it appeared that they were required to head down to a new passage, though there were a pair of Seekers in this area, causing Za'kera to rush at the closest one as Amaryllis, sticking to her assassin armor, loosed a pair of arrows into the furthest one. Wind continued to do nothing as she collected some tomes, from either the tables they walked by or from all of the piles that the Seekers left behind when they were defeated, and once her companions were done clearing out the area she joined them as they headed into the next passage. It eventually brought them to a fork in the road, as there were two more passages to pick from at one point, though as Za'kera picked the right one it shrunk before her eyes and the passage sealed, returning to a normal wall as they watched it, and the same happened when Lydia tried the one in front of them, all while Wind was sure she heard the sound of the passage behind them changing. Sure enough she and the others found that the passage they had used brought them to a brand new area, meaning it had been a distraction of sorts so they could move forward, and this new chamber had another tome at it's peak.

As they exited the passage, however, a Seeker decided to attack them and Amaryllis showed off her new skill, switching her armor and weapons to Haknir's set for a moment as she swung the blades and hacked into the Seeker, surprising it for a few seconds before she cut it down. Of course such a thing surprised both Za'kera and Wind, while Lydia didn't seem to care that much, while they had to admit that she moved like she had been using those weapons for a long time, instead of a day or two, though once that was done Wind claimed the next unique book, Gnashing Blades, before finding that it caused another passage to move into position for them to move forward. This time around the passage had a section that extended outward, instead of retracting like the last two they had seen, allowing the group to move deeper into Apocrypha as they kept their guards up, pausing only for a few seconds so Wind could claim a few more tomes that were resting on a couple of tables they walked by. At the end of the winding passage the group found another chamber, with an open ceiling like the last two, where it was easy for everyone to see a Seeker reading a book near some steps, who Lydia cut down with a swing of her battleaxe, while Za'kera found another one further along the path and lashed out at it with her blades, so it fell at the same time as the first one did.

At the peak of this chamber they found an eyestalk device, instead of another book, and when it was activated they took a moment to watch as the passage they had used to get here changed direction, causing them to rush back down to it and head down the new direction it was facing. The passage ended up bringing them to a larger chamber that almost looked like a square, though in the center rested a pool that a Lurker would emerge from, something that was confirmed not even a few seconds later, causing Lydia to rush at it as Za'kera and the others tried to figure out what to do next. The solution to their problem was easy, as there were two eyestalk devices to activate, the one in the Lurker's section unlocking a door on the other side of a wall and the other on the other side of the wall that opened the door that was blocking the way, which was good for them. As they did that Lydia finished off the Lurker, while Wind gathered more books for later on, before the group regrouped and headed for the opening, where Za'kera found a staircase that lead up to a dead end, which just so happened to be where another glowing book was resting, allowing them to teleport to the next area they had to clear out before reaching Miraak's domain.

It brought them to a passage that ended up delivering them right to what seemed to be the heart of the tower, as Za'kera and the others found a large pillar surrounded by energy in the center of the floor, which had massive gaps between each walkway, and, based on what they were seeing, there were four pedestals resting around the area. This time around they found a few Seekers who did nothing more than float out of the way, meaning they knew what each of them were capable of and didn't want to be done in by them, allowing them to walk onto the circular walkway and study the platforms, since they had to be linked together in some manner. Wind discovered that each of them had symbols for her and the others to look at, where one had a symbol that looked like gnashing fangs, the second had pincers, the third was a mass of tentacles or tendrils, and the last was an eye, to which she quickly pulled out the four books she had recovered and placed each on one the pedestal it belonged to. What that meant was placing Gnashing Blades on the first, Delving Pincers right on top of the second, Boneless Limbs on the third, and Prying Orbs on the last one, which caused a surge of light green energy that revealed another glowing book next to the central pillar, which they used to move even closer to where Miraak was waiting.

Such a thing dropped them off in a rather small room that had a passage leading out to an open platform, one that had a Word Wall for Za'kera to access, though off in the distance rested the highest tower of Apocrypha, Miraak's domain, and it meant they were close to their goal, where Amaryllis found that Za'kera wasted no time in taking the Word for herself as Wind glanced around for the two Burdens.

"Dragonborn, you have done well to reach this point," a voice said, where they found Miraak standing on the raised area to their right, staring at them as Za'kera readied herself for whatever Hermaeus Mora wanted the two of them to do, though at the same time he turned his head to look at the platform across from him, where they turned their heads and found out something interesting, "however, you and I will have to engage each other later... after the Daughter's apprentice takes care of that."

What he was referring to were the last two Burdens that Wind was looking for, a dark one with a look of pure hate in both of her eyes and a shadowy one that radiated fear, as a Seeker floated close to them and quickly fled like it was afraid of what it had seen, meaning Hatred and Fear were waiting for her. In that moment, however, they watched as Fear cut down Hatred with a swung of her right hand, where she grinned as she absorbed the power of her fellow Burden and formed a sphere of energy around the area she was in, meaning something was happening and they had to be careful. Wind quickly frowned as a figure appeared from the mass of energy, a dark version of herself, who had long crimson hair that looked like moving flames, her hands were sharpened and resembled claws, her legs and hooves now resembled the legs of the griffon race, the tail matching with the dark flames, and she had large draconic wings. Fear had become some sort of dark chimeric being, no doubt drawing all sorts of strengths from the races that she knew about while taking out the various weaknesses that each possessed, and in that instant she smirked as a large portal opened behind her, one heading to a crystalline realm with a ghostly green aurora to it.

In that moment Wind sighed as she unleashed her power, surrounding herself in a light blue aura for once, before rushing through the air as she targeted Fear, who smiled as she jumped backwards and passed into the realm, which she felt was the realm known as Deadlight. Together the two of them passed through the portal as Wind swung her left arm and sent a burst of lightning at her foe, smashing into her chest and knocking her into a crystalline structure, breaking it apart within seconds and dropped it on top of Fear, even though she knew it wouldn't last for long. Based on what Wind was seeing at the moment this realm was almost lifeless, as there was something else lingering in this realm, no doubt a fragment of the Prince that Dagon had slain in the past, though she turned her attention back to her foe as Fear burst out of the wreckage and loosed dark flaming missiles at her. In the following moment Wind gathered some of her magic and used two spells at the same time, the first being a set of flames that were equal to her foe's while the second was a few spinning blades that were made out of wind, as she was planning on causing an explosion and using whatever smoke came to disguise the rest of her attack.

Fear didn't seem surprised by her actions, rather she watched as the two flame spells cancelled each other out and then dodged the second spell before any of them could hit her, where she moved through the air and launched bit of energy at Wind, a barrage of sorts that would zero in on where she was positioned and knock her into submission. Wind used one of her barriers to block the attack, even though the barrage cracked it with ease, though as she did that she found that Fear danced around the area they were fighting in and continued to fire blasts at her position, where she considered some of her options before teleporting out before the attacks hit her. Of course she made sure to keep up a stronger barrier in the area she had been in a few seconds ago, to keep Fear distracted and was a little surprised to find that it worked, though to capitalize on this turn of events she gathered her energy and formed a lance made out of magical energy. Given her now stronger magical energy, thanks to her mentor freeing her Burdens and having her take them down, she was sure that this would do some serious damage to part of Deadlight, but right now that didn't matter to her since this realm belonged to the fallen Prince no one knew about.

Once she was sure that her attack was ready, and Fear seemed to have no idea what was going on, Wind sent the lance of energy flying through the air, where she watched as it zeroed in on her foe, only for the unthinkable to happen as her foe turned her body, snatched her attack out of the air, and sent it flying back at her, consuming her in a blast of energy that rocked the land around them.

"Aw, what's wrong? Trying to finish the fight before we even get started?" Fear asked, though she understood why that was on Wind's mind right now, as the longer they fought the more powerful she would become, as the hopelessness would no doubt creep in and would weaken her former self's resolve to defeat her, so her fear would strengthen her and lead to her beating Wind in no time, so she was trying to win before that happened, to which she chuckled, "Fine, you want to bring an end to this, without fighting me for a long period of time? I can do that!"

In that moment Wind watched as Fear gathered a vast amount of her magical energy and launched it into the air, where it expanded into a massive sphere of flaming energy, almost like a moon or a rather large meteor, meaning she was likely planning on blowing away everything that was between the two of them, before blasting her into submission and whatever else she was planning on doing. With that thought in mind Wind gathered her magic again and found that a massive surge of flaming missiles was coming towards where she was resting, with her robes smoking from her returned attack, to which she formed a barrier in front of her and started to form a dome all around her, to wait out the attack and attack Fear the moment it was done. Of course the plan didn't work out that well, as Fear's attack smashed through several layers of her barrier, as she made sure to start a new one a few seconds after the last was started, to increase her chances of survival, and she could feel the power trying to break through, to push her back and blast her into submission, but she did have one last trick to play, hence why some of her power was split from her and was forming all around this place. When all of her barriers shattered, which happened to cancel out the last of the barrage, Wind summoned every ounce of her energy, everything that she had access to, and several pillars of energy formed all over the area of Deadlight that they were in right now, forming spears of energy that she turned on Fear and intended on puncturing her from all sides.

Of course it wasn't that simple, as Fear formed her own barrier to stop the spears, some of which were close to their target and were digging through her own barrier, though as Wind readied herself, as she planned on detonating the spears, her foe sent a wave of energy outward and shattered her attack like it was nothing before her might, empowering her sphere as it set the sky ablaze in a matter of seconds.

Wind sighed for a moment as she saw that, as it seemed like this was it, Fear was going to beat her without her even doing a bit of damage to the Burden, as annoying as that sounded, and she understood that while Hatred had fled to this place to team up on her, to avoid being killed, Fear had killed her and taken her power for herself. She guessed that such a thing was why the Burdens were separated and sent to the various Black Books that rested all over Solstheim, to prevent one of them from killing the others and becoming far stronger than she was, but Fear had figured it out and took advantage of it before the fight had started. Part of her had to wonder if her mentor was disappointed in her, being defeated by the last of her Burdens, though to be fair the battles that lead to this really didn't prepare her for what she had to face, and even the power that had been awakened in her wasn't enough to do anything. Of course Wind wanted to win, as she wanted to stop this darkness from being unleashed upon the world, not to mention proving herself to everyone who doubted her in the past, something that caused a dam or something inside her to break as she forced herself to focus on Fear and forced all of her magic to the surface.

As she did that something else happened, she found a specter floating nearby, a gray robed figure whose face couldn't be seen, though the power coming from it seemed to be that of the missing Prince of this realm, before it raised a hand and placed it upon her chest, where it disappeared and surged into her body, power rushing into her as well, before her aura filled the area around her.

Wind really had no idea what was going on, but right now she had more important matters to deal with as Fear sent her massive sphere down towards the area she was standing in, to which Wind let go of her staff, which floated in the air off to her right, before raising her left hand for a moment as focused on her chosen spell. In the following moment she let out a burst of magical energy that rushed through the air and stopped right in front of the sphere, where it expanded outward and formed a massive barrier, a flat magical circle that stalled the attack, between her and Fear. She knew that this wasn't something she was capable of on her own, be it with her own magic or with the boosted power from her Burdens being knocked out and her limits being removed, to which she offered a silent prayer to the fallen Prince as she readied some more of her magic in her right hand. Fear let out a roar, like that would do anything in this situation, while focusing on her attempts to break the barrier, but that was all Wind needed as she formed an arrow made out of magical energy, this one being crystalline blue, which she sent flying through the air and let a smile appear on her face as it passed through her barrier with ease, before puncturing the sphere like it was made out of butter.

Fear didn't seem to understand what was going on, which Wind was fine with since it meant she was right in line with the attack and the arrow pierced her chest, causing her to look down at it in surprise, before both her and the sphere quickly detonated in the skies of Deadlight. Wind, however, dismissed her barrier and held her arms out, where she gathered all of the magical energy that was in the air, from her battle to be exact, and drew it into her body, causing a torrent of power to rush around her as she felt the last two blockades on her true power being torn down. One thing she noticed was that her body slimmed down and filled out in some places, becoming more lady-like, possibly more regal, meaning if she had been back on Equus this would have been her awakening as the Changeling Queen to replace her mother, but given what she had been though something dawned on her, her mentor had been paving the way for the eighteenth Prince, as there were two Princes for every Divine, and this would balance their world out. Of course that was a shot in the dark for her, as there was no way to know that without asking Ma'jera, but for now she emerged from the smoke with a smile on her face, as she had no reason to be afraid of her power or what she was supposed to become, rather she was going to use all of her new power to tear down their foes and secure this world for the future generations.

She also had a feeling that Amaryllis would be pleased with this turn of events, especially given everything that she had been through since her arrival on this world, but for now she floated back to the others, as she wanted to hear what else Ma'jera had to say before worrying about what the future held for them.

Interlude: A Realm Reborn

Amaryllis had a smile on her face as she and the others joined Wind on her side of the portal, because their friend had not only bested the last of her Burdens, which wasn't a small feat when they considered all of the power that had been thrown around, she had also unlocked all of her power, just as her mentor intended. Of course she knew there was more to the equation than that, as they were dealing with a Demiprince and her father, especially when part of her was sure that a piece of the former Prince that ruled over this realm had boosted Wind's considerable power, allowing her to smash Fear apart and claim her true power. Za'kera seemed impressed by what they had witnessed, Lydia appeared to be indifferent once more, though to be far she was a warrior and took simple pleasures in fighting her Thane's enemies, and Ma'jera had to be pleased with her apprentice's deeds, even though Amaryllis had a feeling that Wind would outrank her mentor soon, if her thoughts on the matter were correct. At the same time she could tell that Miraak didn't seem to care about this, thanks to his emotions, while Hermaeus Mora had to be taking notes on what they had seen and what might be coming up next, yet another clue as to what might be coming their way, or maybe she was imagining things and was grasping at straws that didn't exist.

Wind, on the other hand, was floating in the space she had been positioned in when she loosed her final attack that wiped out the last of her Burdens, where she raised her hands for a moment and studied her magical aura, where she found that her mentor's plan had worked out quite well, her full power had been brought to the surface. This was the power that her mother and grandmother wanted, to make an heir that had the magical power to overthrow the Princesses and replace them, which had been a reason behind why she had originally feared her true might, worrying that her mother would turn her into a weapon, hence why she hid her power in the first place. Given the direction that this world was heading in, with the Aldmeri Dominion's dark plans, Wind understood her mentor's desires and now had access to her true power, though she was as strong as a Demiprince at best, not the Daedric Prince status that she thought her mentor had been pushing her towards. Of course that wasn't considering all of the fragments of power that lingered around Deadlight, as she could feel the power of the fallen Prince lingering around this place, making her wonder if there was another step she needed to complete to do what her mentor wanted.

"With your Burdens defeated, you now have access to your true power," Ma'jera commented, speaking as everyone came to a stop near Wind's location and focused on the figure in front of them, who stopped looking at her hands and turned to look at them, before she tilted her head for a moment as she felt the power that was coming from Wind, "If you apply your power to all of Deadlight, well, we might be able to restore this place to its former glory, before Dagon wrecked it during his battle with the fallen Prince."

As Ma'jera said that Wind let out a sigh as she landed nearby, where this time no one approached her since they knew that it might interfere with whatever her mentor wanted her to do with this realm, though once she was ready she sent bits of her magic out, like she was surveying the realm for something. For a time, like the next minute or two, Wind didn't feel any disturbances or signatures that might do whatever her mentor was hoping would happen, making her wonder if she had imagined the feeling of the fallen Prince's power and that it was just the spur of the moment that allowed her to wipe out Fear. As she thought about that, however, there was something out in the depths of this shattered realm that stirred, just like what happened during her battle, and she felt some sort of force whispering to her, like the fragments of the fallen Prince was calling out to her for some reason. She really had no idea if it was her mentor messing with her, or if what she was hearing was actually the voice of the fallen Prince, though in response to that she did the only thing that seemed like it might help her out, Wind gathered her maximum power and solidified her aura, acting like a beacon as the air shuddered under her might.

Amaryllis could feel Wind's power as it rolled all over the dead realm, even though she was impressed that she had figured out a way to make it work like a beacon, before finding that the aura was cracking, where Ma'jera informed them that they had to stay here as she weaved a transparent barrier around them. Wind's true power was far more than what she and all of the others considered, as it was cracking the ground that was around her, sending fissures through all of the crystals that were scattered throughout the realm, and caused lightning to dance among the clouds that were still in the sky, as if she was breaking Deadlight. As that happened, however, she also saw ghostly spheres dancing in the air, which seemed to be responding to Wind's siren call, if one thought about her beacon in that manner, as they were moving towards her and she didn't seem to mind that fact at all, almost as if she knew that they were coming and had created the beacon for them to find their way to her. Of course Ma'jera and Hermaeus Mora were interested in what they were seeing right now, but as she noticed that Amaryllis noticed something else, the way to Apocrypha had been sealed for a moment and it looked like more portals were opening, no doubt the other Princes, and possibly the Divines, were coming to see what in the world the pair was up to, and if it threatened Nirn in some way.

As all of that happened the ghostly fragments gathered near Wind, taking the form of a transparent robed figure, which had to be what remained of the fallen Prince of Oblivion, though before anyone could do anything it transformed into a mist that wrapped around Wind, like a vortex of energy that started to cover her. None of them were surprised to find that Wind was quickly covered in the ghostly power, forming a sphere of energy that was her size and lifted into the air once it was done forming, though this time Wind's pull power, mixed with the leftover energy of the fallen Prince, was causing an interesting reaction to the area they were in. The ground cracked open, as if an earthquake was hitting this realm, and the only safe place seemed to be where everyone was standing, as Ma'jera's barrier protected them from harm and allowed all of them to watch as crystals shattered and the ruined structures were destroyed as the power shattered Deadlight, where the sections of land separated from each other and created floating islands. Amaryllis knew that Wind had the potential to be strong, especially after a Demiprince took a liking to her and decided to take her under their wing, but after witnessing all of this she now knew that Wind's potential was far higher than she originally thought, especially if the remnants of the fallen Prince were giving her the rest of their power.

Not a few moments later a surge of power shattered the rest of Deadlight, making it look like they were floating among a sea of ruined crystalline pieces, and in the center of it all was the glowing sphere that Wind was resting in, though as soon as Ma'jera stabilized their fragment everyone watched as a surge of energy came from where the sphere was located, all of them assuming that Wind was about to emerge. What actually happened was that several beams of energy burst out from where the sphere was located, six of them by Amaryllis' count and she was sure each of them represented one of the six gems that were called the 'Elements of Harmony', though her focus was on what was happening to the area around them, as there had to be a reason for all of this. All of the fragments that were scattered across this plane of existence seemed to be pulled back by the sheer force of the beams, as if Wind was reforming the dead realm in a way that made it full of life, and as that happened the mass of each fragment was added together, forming a large sphere around their companion, to which Ma'jera lifted all of them off their piece and let it fall back into alignment as well. After some time Amaryllis and the others watched as the mass sunk downward before expanding outward, flattening in a way that was more like a continent and less like a sphere, where they watched as hills, forests, rivers, and even a volcano, confirming that she was making a land where life could prosper.

One of the hills was far larger than the others and seemed to have multiple levels, where they watched as a stone wall was formed and houses, a mix of what they had seen in Solitude and what was in Canterlot, based on what Amaryllis knew, so it meant Wind was expecting some new arrivals to come to this realm, and on the furthest reaches of this new realm they watched as a rectangular arch formed. It was a portal back to Nirn, as Ma'jera informed them that Sheogorath had done the same thing multiple times when he invited heroes to the Shivering Isles, often either driving said heroes mad or dying during their stay, though the Madgod didn't care and was amused by everything that happened in his realm. Other than the city and the portal there was nothing else in this realm, civilization wise, meaning Wind would either need some time to form whatever else she thought this place might need or leave it to whatever formed in this plane, before they found a mass of small white orbs flying through the air. What they discovered was that the orbs reached the ground and suddenly transformed into all of the races that existed on Nirn, ones Amaryllis had seen and ones that might have gone extinct, or went into hiding to survive, as Ma'jera and Hermaeus Mora noted that there were some Kothringi, Lilmothiit, Kamal, a few Lamias, and all sorts of other races that Amaryllis couldn't keep track of.

Such a thing told her everything she needed to know about this place, this realm must have been a haven for the races of Nirn, where they could live in peace with each other, and Dagon must have been disagreed with the existence of this place, to the point where he attacked the realm, forcing the fallen Prince to expand their energy to save their citizens, keeping all of them trapped as souls until this point in time.

As Amaryllis thought about that she and the others watched as the energy around Wind started to break apart as it started to descend, where they discovered that her body looked more like a royal's, similar to Fear's without all of the additions she had added to make herself stronger, and her breasts were a few sizes smaller than Amaryllis'. Her chitin had changed as well, taking on a silver white color, while her hair had grown longer, reaching just passed her shoulders, and had taken on a ghostly white color while the last few inches were a red color, which was mirrored on her tail, before finding that her robe had changed as well. This time it looked like something an Arch-Mage would wear, only it opened near the bottom and resembled an open leg cape, while she wore blue pants over her legs and lower body, or this world's version of that to be exact, while the outline of her robe was the red color and the inside was a light purple color with a design that looked a lot like feathers. As Wind landed Amaryllis noticed that the leg cape had six points, before their friend opened her eyes and stared at the area around her, allowing the group to see that she now had red colored eyes, before she glanced at her new body and noticed all of the changes that had occurred after taking in the power of the fallen Prince, all while her staff just floated in the air nearby.

With that done, and the reforming of the realm complete, Ma'jera made them land and dismissed her barrier, allowing all of them to touch the new ground, before Amaryllis noticed that there were also several large crystals sticking out of the earth, arranged in a six pointed star formation, before they focused on Wind.

"I am no longer Crudelis, the daughter of Queen Chrysalis, nor am I Wind Rose anymore... I am Zoravoir, Daedric Prince of Harmony," Wind said, though as they listened to her speak, and registered the fact that she was changing her name, that was when Amaryllis felt her friend's aura for a time and found that it wasn't a stranger taking over Wind's body, rather she was in full control of her body and felt that such a change to her nature required a new name, "and Deadlight is no more... welcome to the Plane of Oblivion now known as Elysium."

"Someone thinks too highly of themselves." a voice stated, where the group turned and found that the Demiprinces of the other Princes, in addition to the Demigods and their parents, were in attendance, though the speaker was Tibetal, Dagon's son, who cracked his knuckles as he stepped towards his new target, where Zoravoir glanced at her new citizens and just beckoned for them to move, which they did so without delay, "Time to show you the difference between a Demiprince and a pretend Daedric Prince."

Zoravoir tilted her head for a moment as she waited for Tibetal to clear the area that the others were standing in, and the moment he rushed at her she did the same thing, crossing the distance in a second before punching him in the chest, an attack that sent him flying off into the distance. Of course that wasn't enough to convince him that he was going to lose, as he was Dagon's son and that meant he had to uphold his father's honor, and her thoughts were right as he came rushing back at her, showing everyone that he wanted to tear her down and put an end to this madness. In response to that, and before he was able to hit her, Zoravoir shifted her left hand for a second and the wind responded, knocking Tibetal to the side before he had a chance to hit her, before she gathered a bit of magical power into her right hand, as if knowing that something was coming. Sure enough Tibetal got up and rushed at her again, showing Amaryllis that they had been right in accusing him of being a brute, as he wasn't being smart about this and was constantly rushing into battle, which meant he rushed right into Zoravoir's trap as she swung her fist and the magic slammed right into her foe's chest without delay, not to mention sent him into the ocean that was part of her creation, knowing him out in the process.

In that moment Amaryllis smiled again, as it seemed like things were going their way and made her wonder what the next few days might have in store for them, because it was only a matter of time under they returned to Skyrim and gathered their forces for the event that would determine the fate of this world, which would happen once Zoravoir got used to her new power and responsibilities.

Interlude: Final Preparations

After Wind took control of the dead realm, and replaced the fallen Prince as Zoravoir, Amaryllis found that the rest of their day was spent in Apocrypha, as Miraak pulled Za'kera over to what seemed to be the peak of Hermaeus Mora's realm and started to train her in the ancient art of the Thu'um. That was the reason they had come to Solstheim in the first place, to take care of Miraak in some manner, though her friend took to his training and learned the Words that he had to share with her, teaching her the basic Shouts that a Dragonborn would learn. Of course he was treating her like an apprentice, instead of an equal, but she was fine with it and showed him that she was capable of handling everything that was thrown at her, all while preparing herself for what the future held for her and her companions, especially since they would be returning to Skyrim once her training was complete. Given that information Amaryllis found that she didn't need to worry about her friend all that much, as there was no reason for her to hang around Apocrypha, not with Lydia hanging out nearby to make sure her Thane was safe and sound, she ended up in the new realm, watching as the revived races resumed their lives, even if it meant starting over.

Zoravoir, on the other hand, continued to reshape the land, forming domains for the various races that apparently lived in this place before Dagon shattered it and slew her predecessor in battle, resulting in Deadlight's creation and forcing the former Prince into the state they had been trapped in. She was impressed by the sheer power of a Daedric Prince, as her friend was capable of manipulating the fabric of reality, in this realm anyway, and created whatever she wanted, making a port town and a floating sea city, molding forests for those who lived there, making a city for those who preferred that sort of life, and all sorts of other things. It was like Zoravoir was getting the hang of her powers, even though she sighed as she also made a dungeon area, a tower of some kind that rested in a mountain range, as she discovered that there were several individuals among her people who were heroes and wanted to keep their fellow citizens safe. In addition to that she had a few ideas on what to do for her own race that would defend her realm, like how Sheogorath had the Saints and Seducers, but she seemed to be holding off on such a thing until everything else was finished, and as Amaryllis watched, from a wall of the soon to be castle of Elysium, she even saw a white dragon off in the distance.

She really had no idea how long she had been standing on the wall, even though Elysium had a sun and moon system that followed Nirn's own system, instead of what she and Zoravoir were used to on their home planet, but eventually Zoravoir stopped messing with her realm and floated down to the wall, where Amaryllis bowed her head in respect.

"You know you don't have to do that, right?" Zoravoir inquired, though it was easy for Amaryllis to tell, without the need of her emotion sensing abilities, that her friend was overwhelmed by the power that was coursing through her veins and the responsibility that came from being a Daedric Prince, but she was going to deal with the stress in her own time, that much she was sure of.

"With all due respect, yes I do... I know better, as Ma'jera would say." Amaryllis replied, because her encounter with the Prince of Madness, and the curse she had borne for some time, had taught her to respect the Princes of Oblivion and not to mess with them or their strange children, hence why she was treating Zoravoir with the respect she deserved, even if she was going to have to earn the respect of the other godly beings on her own, "Still, you picked a good name."

"I've always hated the name 'Crudelis', and 'Wind Rose' was always a persona I created to learn more about the races we shared our world with... Zoravoir seemed like something the gods would be known by." Zoravoir said, which was what Amaryllis had been thinking when she heard the name for the first time, as she knew that her friend had despised the name her mother had given her all those years ago, so she wasn't too surprised to hear the reasoning for this decision, before she glanced out at her new realm and the people in it, "Still, this was worth all that headache, especially with all of the races that were here, saved by their Prince and then stored so they could be revived when someone claimed the empty throne. Just think about all the knowledge that was lost with the people of this realm, about the races and cultures of Nirn, and everything we could learn from them over the next couple of days... provided that we stop the Thalmor and their organization from activating the Numidium."

"It's a shame that there aren't any Dwemer here, otherwise we could learn how to safely deactivate and dismantle such a terrifying mechanical monster," Amaryllis commented, because that was the only race that didn't seem to be represented in this world, as it appeared that every race of Nirn called this place home, save for the Dwemer, but she was happy to see that her friend was just fine with this turn of events, even if she seemed to think the same thing, "however, I agree with you, this was a wonderful thing to have happen... you might end up being visited by Hermaeus Mora at some point, since this has to be the first recorded instance of someone outright replacing a Daedric Prince."

"Second, actually. Sheogorath was manteled, remember?" Zoravoir inquired, reminding her of the fact that the current Prince of Madness was actually the Champion of Cyrodiil, who manteled Sheogorath and faced Jyggalag around that point in time, back during the Oblivion Crisis that Dagon started so he could destroy Nirn, a quest that ultimately failed, before she thought of something, "On that topic, I've taken both of Neloth's former apprentices and liberated them of the curse, or at least the contagious aspect of it, so don't be surprised if you see the pair walking around... I would have passed on the curse to Neloth, but I have the feeling he would have just spread it around anyway."

Amaryllis nodded her head to that, as Neloth did seem to be mentally unstable at times and she knew that if he was stuck in the state of the Moomer, the curse state that most were stuck in, he'd would likely spread it around to the rest of the island, not to mention make it so he could infect the other provinces as well. If it wasn't for the fact that they needed him to speak to Morrowind's Great Houses, like how they needed the First Councilor to speak to his House, she was sure both of them would have done something to the Dark Elf in question, punish him for his crimes against everyone else, but there was time for that later, once Nirn was safe. Still, she amused herself by imagining what sort of form Neloth would be stuck with if he was cursed by one of the Moomer that he loved to experiment on and study, as he still had that boat, likely full of transformed figures at this point in time, all while following after Zoravoir as they headed for the gray stone castle she had built into her realm. The other thing Zoravoir told her, and would tell the others later, was that she already removed the curse on Lydia, though she let the former Nord stay in the form that she wanted to be in, as it appeared that she liked her new Moomer form a little too much, and she altered it so that her breasts and udder were slightly smaller, giving her greater balance and control.

While Zoravoir did offer her a room for the night, for when it got dark out, Amaryllis accepted it and said that she would be back when it was time to rest, as there was one other thing she wanted to check out, which involved using the portal her friend had set up to return to Solstheim, placing her a fair distance outside the Skaal Village. Based on what she could see all of the people that were inside the village were just fine, in fact many were confused as to whether or not Za'kera would be successful in beating Miraak, though Storn had a smile on his face as he and Frea observed the rest of their people for a time. Such a thing told her that the corrupt Dragon Priest must have removed his influence over the last Stone, the one that was stuck inside his temple, though there was no way for her to figure that out without flying over there to check out what might have happened to the ancient stone. As she thought about that, however, she felt a strange surge of power, as in Equestrian power, and it was coming from a nearby cave, where she determined that it wasn't Zoravoir, otherwise she was sure that one of the Princes or Divines would have interfered, but it caused her to frown as she flew over to where it rested, carefully drawing her blades for whatever might be inside it.

What she discovered were a number of Riekling structures were slumbering critters that didn't wake up, piles of what she assumed were cheese, and a few brown stains that smelled of chocolate milk, before discovering a final chamber that was far larger than the rest that she had passed through. This one had a raised section that caught her attention, as it held an odd structure that looked like the Rieklings had taken a carriage and encased parts of it in snow, with a snow horse with a pair of antlers, a scene reminding her of the tale of Santa Hooves, but that wasn't what held her attention. What held most of her focus was the fact that there was a lady sitting on the carriage who radiated the power of a Daedric Prince, but right now she happened to be wearing a red elf dress and hat, with a thick candy cane stuck in her mouth like it was a gag, just to stop her from speaking, and she was tied up with bows and ribbons. Sheogorath was present as well, running around the sleigh like he was having a field day or something, and he seemed to be dressed up in a suit that one would assume 'Santa' would wear, though it shared his colors, so people knew who was in town, and his staff seemed to have taken on the form of a long candy cane.

In addition to all of that Amaryllis found a chimera creature that she instantly recognized, as she had seen it a few times in the past, when she was in Canterlot and Ponyville, as it was none other than Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony, and such a thing made her wonder why he was here, before figuring he came because of Zoravoir.

"And the guest of honor arrives at long last... we dressed up Namira when she came to see what Sheogorath was up to," Discord remarked, pulling out a pocket watch for a few seconds before it transformed into an annoyed little rabbit, who was wearing a more formal shirt and claimed that someone was late, before dashing off, causing the being to ignore it as he turned towards the other mad being.

"Ah Discord, it is wonderful to have you around again... your chaos makes things infinitely more interesting for me and the other Princes," Sheogorath said, though Amaryllis had a feeling that such a thing was a lie, the Princes didn't like the Prince of Madness all that much, or at least that was what she got from what she had seen so far, and she suspected that none of them liked having Discord around, who had either slipped into this world thanks to the crack in the Liminal Barrier of his power allowed such a thing to happen.

"You were waiting for me? And here I was thinking you had come because of Wind's ascension, becoming the newest of the Daedric Princes." Amaryllis remarked, though this scene raised questions in her mind that she shelved for right now, as her mind was on what was going on and how it was going to affect Za'kera's plans, since Discord's arrival could mess with all sorts of things and she wanted to figure things out before he suddenly departed from this world.

"Well, I can't do anything about the other one, as she's now far stronger than me, but I can still take you home," Discord stated, something that caused her to raise her eyebrow for a moment as the mad being summoned a glass of chocolate milk and drank the glass, because of course he would do something like that, before tossing the extra to Sheogorath, who turned it into a soft brown cheese and ate it, "There's an army of demons posed on invading our world, and I'm tracking down the rest of the displaced..."

"While I would like to help you out, we're in the middle of a war of our own," Amaryllis replied, something that caused the mad being to stop while Sheogorath slapped his knee, sending the cap into the wall, where she mentally moaned and just decided not to pay attention to the Madgod, deciding to focus on Discord for a few more seconds, "the Aldmeri Dominion is plotting to bring an end to this world, and right now we've taken the next step in stopping them, so I can't just leave my friends behind in their time of need."

Discord stood there for a moment, clearly debating what he should do with her, before waving his hand as if he was telling her to get lost, meaning he was leaving her to her devices, to which she shook her head as she left the cave, leaving both of the mad beings to their party, if it could be called that, and focused on what needed to happen next.

Amaryllis found that they spent another week on Solstheim, Za'kera learning all of the Words of Power and Shouts from Miraak, Zoravoir putting all of the finishing touches on her new realm, and Lydia continued to train herself to make sure she was ready for what was coming up in the near future. She spent her days learning about the races of Elysium, while at the same time finding that all of them liked having a few new races to learn about, the Moomer to be exact, but it was just a way for her to pass the time since Za'kera wasn't in danger while she was in Apocrypha. While they prepared Amaryllis also discovered something interesting, that the First Councilor had learned of their reasons for coming to the island and that he had sent a letter to Morrowind, to his House to be exact, showing them that he agreed with their plans and that they might have allies coming in from the ashen province. Neloth, despite her thinking that the wizard was insane, did the same thing, no doubt to put them in his debt, so two of the Great Houses of Morrowind would learn of their efforts and might send some forces to aid Za'kera in purging the continent of the Aldmeri Dominion.

On the third day, however, Amaryllis was proven right, Neloth was still insane as she discovered what he had done in his studies of the Moomer, he had turned himself into one of the very creatures he had cursed his apprentice to be, where she found that he had made some changes to it. Nela, as Amaryllis was going to call her, had given herself a sexier body than all of the others of her new species, remaking her robes to fit her new form, though in addition to that she had also given herself a second set of breasts, sized to match the main pair. Another thing she discovered was the fact that Nela had altered her hip area so her udder didn't impact her walking at all, so whenever the figure walked she was doing so in a sexy manner as her cow tail swung behind her. Other than that she found that most of the normal changes, the hooves, ears, horns, muzzle, and all of the other cow features were present, though Amaryllis frowned as she discovered what the wizard had done, as she was hoping he'd be embarrassed and Nela was just riding high on her foul victory, as she even cut out the contagious aspect, making the form hers.

Ma'jera disappeared on the sixth day of their training, though Amaryllis noticed that she was carrying a large gem that looked like it might be found inside a volcano, but she didn't stay gone for long, because the Demiprince returned in due time and they found that the gemstone was missing, only for Zoravoir to raise an eyebrow.

"You restored the Red Tower, didn't you?" Zoravoir inquired, something that caused Amaryllis to raise an eyebrow when she heard that piece of information, because they knew that most of the Towers were deactivated and the Red Tower, which was the erupting volcano in Morrowind, didn't have a Stone anymore, causing her to put together what was going on right now.

"Indeed. In the event that the Numidium is activated, we have decided to play one last card, to reinforce this world... and by that I mean reactivate the deactivated Towers," Ma'jera said, where Amaryllis could tell that she was happy, since her former apprentice had understood her plan within seconds of discovering what she had done, before she thought about the rest of the plan that she and her father, not to mention the Divines since she was sure they were involved, had come up with, "We have several Towers that still need to be reactivated, which should prevent all out destruction if our foes are about to awaken the Numidium... or not, we're not entirely sure what's going to happen."

Amaryllis knew that Ma'jera and Hermaeus Mora had a good idea of what might happen, but due to everything that was going on the future of this world had to be constantly changing, to the point where even the Prince of Fate had no idea which future was the one they were heading for, so it was impossible to stop what was coming. With that news in hand, however, Ma'jera spent the rest of the sixth and seventh day preparing the Stones for the other Towers that needed them, or at least that was what she was assuming based on everything she had learned so far, but she decided not to question what the Demiprince was doing. Za'kera also finished her training under Miraak, where Amaryllis found that her friend had an aura of sorts that she suspected belonged to the Dragonborn, when one fully recognized their power in some way, while at the same time Zoravoir was done with her realm and moved her portal back to Skyrim, that way they could travel back to Skyrim. Interestingly enough they found that Frea was interested in joining them, while most of her people wanted nothing to do with the war they were preparing for, though while she hated Miraak, for enslaving the Skaal, she seemed to understand that they needed his power in the days to come and said nothing to him as she joined Za'kera's forces.

Once the week was done, and everyone was ready to go, Zoravoir activated the gateway and they traveled back to Skyrim at long last, appearing outside the fort that Ma'jera had set up a while ago, surprising the forces that were there, though it took Za'kera no time to regain control of the situation. In addition to that she found Maven Black-Briar visiting the fort, as she had a surprise for her, which appeared to be a pure white horse, one wearing light horse armor that meant he had to be ready for war, another prize to be given to her that she might have to pay for at a later date. In addition to that she and the others found that her forces bared flags possessing a sun marking, a new dawn when Amaryllis considered what the artists meant when they designed it, and that they were ready to tackle whatever was waiting for them, especially since none of them had any idea what the Thalmor were planning. Kya, who had remained in Skyrim, reported that all Thalmor had been routed, in fact she slew all of them herself, save for those who were captured for information, those ending up being executed by the insane Argonian, but her forces had protected Skyrim and made sure they were ready for what was to come.

With that done Za'kera climbed on top of Frost, the gifted horse, as Amaryllis called Shadowmere to her side, and the rest of their group climbed on top of the provided horses as well, to which they turned to the south and knew that it was time to get things started, as they were ready and Amaryllis was eager to bring the Aldmeri Dominion down before they were able to complete their terrible mission.

Author's Note

Edited late September 2022

War: Army Gathers

"So, what do we do first?" Amaryllis asked, speaking as she and Za'kera rode at the head of the army that was leaving the fortress city that Ma'jera had created for them to get ready for this event, with Lydia and everyone else following behind them, some on horses and others on carts.

"We need to head through the south gate, which I was transported through by Elenwen's forces," Za'kera replied, where it was easy for Amaryllis to figure out that she was speaking about the wrongful imprisonment she suffered, all because the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion feared the awakening of a new Dragonborn Emperor, or Empress in this case, given that it would mean war, "after that we need to carefully make our way to Cyrodiil and survey the situation, figure out where our enemies are and push them out of the heart of Tamriel. Once we've done that we'll focus on clearing them out of the other provinces as well, no doubt restoring all of the Towers in the process, and hopefully recruit the other races and their leaders into our forces... after that, well, we march on the Summerset Isles, taking out the heart of the beast before they have a chance to activate their trap."

Amaryllis knew why her friend didn't mention the Numidium, as there was a chance that speaking about it might terrify their forces into inaction, so she was calling it a 'trap' to make things much easier on them, though as she nodded her head both of them found someone standing in the middle of the road. The figure was a Nord, one of the older ones, who was wearing the attire of a blacksmith, mixed with a hide chest piece, and his eyes had this presence that showed them that he had a lot of experience, though Amaryllis had an idea as to who they were staring at, as she was sure it was Eorlund Gray-Mane, the smith who worked the Skyforge. Behind him stood several other figures, all of them wearing the aprons of a smith, and she was sure she knew who was in front of them, as there was Onegul, the Nord smith from Windhelm, Balimund, another Nord smith who worked in Riften, Ghorza, an Orc smith from Markarth, and even Beirand, yet another Nord smith from Solitude. In addition to those five there were a number of smiths behind them, of all races and genders, meaning they were either upset with something or there was a gift they wanted to give the army before they started to march on Cyrodiil, which caused Za'kera to come to a stop and lead to Amaryllis calling for everyone to stop as well, just so they didn't run each other other.

Za'kera, true to what Amaryllis knew about her friend, climbed off Frost and approached the group of smiths, because she preferred to be on equal footing with those she was talking to, instead of talking down to everyone like they were inferior to them, though if she was to become the Empress of a new empire she was going to have to learn some things, if they made it through this war.

"Eorlund Gray-Mane. What can I do for you and the other smiths of Skyrim?" Za'kera asked, because she was eager to find out why they were here, standing in front of her and her army, the latter being something she never would have taken a moment to consider if it hadn't been for Amaryllis pointing out what her destiny might entail.

"We have a gift for you, commissioned by the Jarls of Skyrim, that is waiting in Dragonsreach," Eorlund replied, though as he said that he and the other smiths bowed their heads, showing the group that they were being respectful towards the one who had brought together the province, convincing both Tullius and Ulfric to stand down for the time being, before they stood straight once more, "and, before you depart for war, Jarl Balgruuf and the other Jarls want to share a feast with you and your right hand."

Amaryllis considered that for a moment, as it seemed like the Jarls were trying to follow Maven's lead, offer Za'kera some sort of gift in the hopes of being remembered when everything was said and done, to cash in some sort of favor with the next potential leader of Tamriel, but she said nothing as Za'kera simply nodded her head. In that moment they ordered the rest of the soldiers to make for the Pale Pass, a zone between Skyrim and Cyrodiil that a fort rested in, meaning Lydia and the others would be stopping there for some rest before they marched on the Thalmor that were no doubt ruling the heart of Tamriel. Such a thing made her think about Orsinium, which was the domain of the Orcs, which she heard had been moved to an area between Hammerfell and Skyrim, so there was a chance that Za'kera's forces might encounter a group of Orcs while they were waiting, maybe even invite the race into joining the fight for their future, but for now they would have to wait and see what happened next. As the army moved to the south, following Ma'jera and Zoravoir, she and Za'kera followed the blacksmiths to Whiterun, where Shadowmere and Frost would no doubt be placed in the stables for a time and readied for when the feast was finally over, though she had a feeling that they would be departing in the early hours of the morning, delaying the start of the war by a little.

What surprised them when they entered Whiterun was that the Companions and a number of people, the local heroes no doubt, were gathering like everyone was marching off to war, causing Amaryllis to come to the decision that she needed to see what the rest of Skyrim was doing, as it seemed like the whole province was planning on going to war, which was far more than what they had planned when they set this event in motion.

When they reached Dragonsreach one of the servants ushered them over to a side passage and lead them through the servants quarters, leading them right to a room in Balgruuf's private section that housed the armor, before they paused for a moment as they laid eyes on what the Jarls commissioned for Za'kera to wear. Amaryllis had to admit that the armor was stunning, beautiful even, as there were plated sections on the chest, leggings, boots, and gauntlets, while having what looked like dragon scales etched into the rest of the metal, all while having Nordic designs etched into the entire set, which showed them the skill of the smiths that worked on it. It looked like it was made out of pure steel, well crafted steel at that, but Eorlund informed them that it was actually ebony mixed with quicksilver, somehow coming out in the elegant steel armor that they were staring at, and there was even a small collar around the neck. In addition to all that they had made a helmet to go with it, one that matched the rest of the armor and was designed to look like a dragon's head, and they even found that it had openings for Za'kera's ears, so they wouldn't be crushed by the helmet, though it was easy for them to see why it needed so many smiths to complete the commission.

As Za'kera moved behind a divider and put the new armor on, Amaryllis knew that one of the smiths must have taken her friend's measurements at one point, otherwise this wouldn't have been possible, but she said nothing for a time, letting her friend do her thing without bothering her, and sure enough she emerged from the other side with the armor on, save for the helm since it wasn't needed at the moment.

"That looks good on you, makes you look more like a warrior empress," Amaryllis commented, as there was no other set of armor like it in all of Skyrim, much less Solstheim and possibly Morrowind, where she could see that it had been crafted in a way that said 'dragon empress', given that she and Alduin were in an alliance and that meant the dragons were on her side, for the time being, before she considered something, "All you need now is a cape..."

"I can live without a cape... but we shouldn't leave the Jarls waiting," Za'kera remarked, where she started to head over to the doors that would take her down to the main area of Dragonsreach, as in Balgruuf's throne room, though as Amaryllis joined her she knew how the Jarls had known to get things ready, even though none of them knew when they would be returning to Skyrim, as she was sure that Akatosh had something to do with this.

Sure enough the Jarls were waiting for them in the main chamber of Dragonsreach, though while Za'kera was changing it looked like he had arranged for new tables to be brought in, so everyone had somewhere to sit, and once they arrived the assembled group took their seats, even though many were admiring Za'kera's new armor. As Amaryllis expected there was something the Jarls wanted, namely Ulfric and his Stormcloaks were fully joining the war against the Aldmeri Dominion, as while Ulfric was here, for the night, his own right hand was leading his forces towards Pale Pass, something that caused Tullius, who sat near Elisif, to speak up as well and informed them that every Legion soldier was doing the same. It wasn't much of a surprise, as the Legion was only here to deal with Ulfric and his army of rebels, so if the Stormcloaks were on the move it made sense that the rest of the Legion would do the same, to make sure nothing bad happened, even though they learned that several of the Jarls were planning on joining the army as well, mostly to earn glory. Za'kera didn't make an attempt to dissuade them, as she knew that Nords were stubborn and those who followed Ulfric were more than that, so she figured that this might help resolve the rebellion in Skyrim, show them the cost of war and convince them to stop the whole civil war business.

As they ate Amaryllis learned a few more things, most, if not all, of the Thieves Guild was on their way to join the army, no doubt to use their skills to sneak into secure places and steal information for the army, also to be paid a huge sum once this was said and done. The mages from the College of Winterhold were coming as well, no doubt having heard the call of their Arch-Mage before Za'kera even returned to Skyrim, and each Jarl reported that their own Court Wizards, despite their thoughts and beliefs on war, were leaving as well, bringing all of the magical might of Skyrim to the table. Of course most of them knew that the crypts of Skyrim were emptying, the Draugr hearing the call of their old masters, though that paled in comparison to what else they discovered, a Daedric army was spilling out of the cave the last Oblivion Gate was resting in, which was now a gaping maw, and they were taking an alternate route to get to Cyrodiil, meaning Dagon was planning on using a pincer attack. In addition to all of that Amaryllis also found that Nazir was present, causing her to mentally sigh as she realized that she needed to talk with her Family after all of this was over, who revealed that the Brotherhood was on it's way, meaning he must have recruited a number of assassins in the time she was gone, and he reported that Serana and the vampires were actually making their way to the western part of Cyrodiil.

Such a thing told Amaryllis that Molag had a plan, no doubt he was going to open his own portal to Tamriel and cut off the path the Aldmeri Dominion might use when they realize they were outmatched, meaning the pincer attack would come from three directions and would leave the southern side open, but Amaryllis had a feeling that the Divines had a plan that would only become known when the war started.

One thing that surprised them was the report that movement was seen in Orsinium, causing Amaryllis and Za'kera to just glance at each other for a few seconds before returning to everything else that was being said right now, as it appeared that all sorts of people might be converging on Cyrodiil. The other provinces either didn't seem to know what was going on or didn't care about the upcoming war, since there was no troop movement from Black Marsh, Hammerfell, High Rock, or any of the other provinces, meaning they would need to head into the other locations at some point and see where they rested in regards to this war. Amaryllis also considered the other landmasses that were scattered around the world, such as the continent of Atmora to the far north, the homeland of the ancestors of the modern Nords, Akavir to the east, which had four regions and who knew what sort of races, Pyandonea was said to be to the south, home to the Maormer, or Sea Elves, and to the west used to rest Yokunda, where the Redguards used to live until it sunk. With so many continents there was a chance that more allies or even enemies might come to deal with them, in what way she and Za'kera might find out at some point in time, but for now it seemed like most of the provinces were biding their time, waiting to see if their army could kick the Aldmeri Dominion out of Cyrodiil or if they would be torn apart by the elves.

Eventually the meal came to an end and they were given some private quarters for the night, where Amaryllis slept with her powers active, because now that the war was getting ready to start she wanted to make sure Za'kera survived, so this was to catch assassins before they reached her.

When early morning arrived she found that such a thing didn't matter, no one dared to come for her friend in the middle of the night, so they shared a quick light meal with Balgruuf and the other Jarls, before returning to the stable so the pair could climb onto their steeds. Sure enough Ulfric, Tullius, and a few Jarls, such as the old one from Dawnstar, were doing the same thing, and when they departed from Whiterun they found the rest of the Legion's soldiers and the Stormcloaks were marching on the city, only to fall in behind the pair and their leaders. As that happened Amaryllis found a red scaled dragon flying through the air, which she assumed was the same one that tracked them down and followed them all the way to Solstheim, and hung back no less, but it meant Alduin would know they were on their way, meaning Zoravoir and the others would be ready upon their arrival. Other than that it didn't appear that anyone else was getting in their way, so they were able to ride in peace, though they found that Helgen had been shattered, fragments of stone resting all over the area as a path lead towards the gate Za'kera was heading towards, where it was easy to see that Ma'jera must have used a bit of her magic to open the way for the army to move without stopping.

It didn't take them very long to find their way to the fortress that their army was gathering in, where they found a number of dragons resting on the peaks, Alduin showing his resolve to lend them a hand in their upcoming war, and they quickly discovered a large group of Orcs standing nearby, where one of them was wearing a set of armor that was a mix of orcish metal and bone, with tribal painting on it.

"I am Bazag Murzor, King of New Orsinium," the heavily armed Orc stated, who sounded more warrior like than what the Orcs of Skyrim sounded, making them wonder what sort of dangers and hardships the residents of the new Orsinium had to face since setting up their new home, and he beat his chest twice with his right hand, likely a greeting in orcish, while finding that he carried a greatsword on his back, "my soldiers and I have come to tear down the Aldmeri Dominion, for our own reasons, and heard that you were planning the same thing... we are here to join forces with you."

"Its an honor to fight alongside you and your great soldiers," Za'ker replied, which was the truth, as she had a feeling that the Orcs that were in front of them would be a great addition to their growing forces, and Amaryllis agreed with the idea as she found that there were at least a hundred of them, all while many of their soldiers were gathering around, admiring the armor Za'kera was wearing.

Amaryllis smiled for a moment as they road through the new camp that had been set up, as their forces were ready and their allies were marching on Cyrodiil, meaning that it was time to get this show on the road, to which she released her armor disguise and let it revert to the ancient assassin armor, retaking her place as an assassin, while looking forward to what happened in the very near future.

Author's Note

For anyone wondering the armor Za'kera gains is the Dragon Carved Armor, a set from an armor mod.

War: Marching on Cyrodiil

Za'kera took a few moments to make sure that everyone was ready for what they were about to do, that the warriors were armed and their armor was prepared, the archers had good bows and plenty of arrows, the mages had potions to refill their mana, and everyone else had whatever they needed. Based on the reports that they had so far, from the scouts that had been sent to survey the situation in Cyrodiil, was that there was an army of Thalmor scattered throughout the province, as they had moved in as soon as they heard that the Emperor had been slain and were now forcing the former nobles and the rest of the population to work for them. The Aldmeri Dominion was literally preparing for war with the rest of the world, as they were gathering resources as they prepared to target one of the provinces that were scattered around the continent, so many of the cities and villages were being turned into prison camps, forcing the people to work before eventually killing the ones who refused to work or were too tired to move on. It just showed that their enemies didn't care for anyone that wasn't part of their organization, rather they were punishing the other races of this world as they sought the end of the remaining Towers that stabilized Nirn, before focusing on the Adamantine Tower.

Amaryllis let out a sigh as she heard that, as it sounded like things were getting worse for the other provinces, despite the fact that Skyrim had been at peace for a time, but it was why they had gone through all the trouble of recruiting all of these allies, to make the Aldmeri Dominion pay for what they had done to this world, but she remained silent as she, Za'kera, and all of the leaders gathered inside the fort.

"The Dominion has control over all of Cyrodiil, taking advantage of the death of the Emperor, and they're setting up camps all over the province," Za'kera stated, going over the information that they had been given so far, as it was enough to make her pause and form a plan of attack for when they reached their destination, while at the same time glancing at the map in front of them, her very words causing everyone to focus on her and not worry about Amaryllis, "our focus should be on wrapping all around the Imperial City, cutting the taint out of the cities and villages, while freeing those that are trapped in the containment camps... we'll also need to tell Dagon's forces about this, so they don't trample everyone in their path. Most of the higher ranking members of the Dominion's army, for Cyrodiil, should be inside the Imperial City, watching over their forces without sullying their boots with any actual work, so if we can surround the city we can send in the shadowy members of our army to capture our enemies, secure the Elder Council, and free everyone else without any loss of life, as there might be some citizens inside that they could use as hostages."

"Even if we do that, it'll take some time to get inside the city itself," Amaryllis added, because while she had a feeling that she could sneak into the city with her powers, given her previous position as an infiltrator for the Hive, such a thing didn't mean that she had the power to get so many people inside the massive city, giving the Dominion time to lay waste to all of the people Za'kera wanted to save.

"Not necessarily, as there's one advantage we have that the Dominion doesn't know about: the beggars." Za'kera said, to which a few of the individuals around them raised an eyebrow as they understood what she was talking about, all while Amaryllis noticed that Nocturnal's daughter, Raven, was lingering in the shadows, no doubt listening in and seeing if she might be able to assist them, "They know everything and anything that happens inside the Imperial City, not to mention a number of secret passages that we might be able to use... at least those are the rumors I heard, back when I was traveling the wilds of Cyrodiil, so I have no way of knowing if they're true or not. With Raven helping us we should be able to find a way to obtain the aid of the beggars and get inside the Imperial City, allowing those that are chosen for the event to head inside and complete our objectives... once Cyrodiil is free, and we're sure of that, we can see how the other provinces are holding up and determine which one to strike at next, or talk to if they've repelled the Dominion."

"I'll talk to them when the time is right," Raven commented, which was what Za'kera was hoping for, because the leader of the Skyrim Thieves Guild was the best person to talk with the beggars that lived on the outskirts of the city and knew the layout better than the guards, though that also meant that everyone else had to secure the direction their forces would be coming from, otherwise the plan would fail.

"Good, then let's get out there and show the Dominion just how resolved we are." Za'kera stated, where the group nodded their heads for a few seconds, confirming that they agreed with her order and that they would smash whatever forces the Dominion had set up all across Cyrodiil, before she turned for a moment as she glanced at her trusted companion, who would ensure she survived this ordeal, "Amaryllis, track down our allies and inform them of the camps that the people of Cyrodiil are trapped in, that way they don't march through them in their haste to tear our enemies down... we might be able to gain new allies along the way."

Amaryllis said nothing as she bowed her head, showing the others that even she listened to the Dragonborn Empress, as that was what Za'kera would be and there was no stopping that future from becoming a reality, though as soon as they were done with their discussion she spread her wings and took off, as she had to track down Dagon's forces and Serana's forces before either did something stupid. Of course she made sure Shadowmere followed after Za'kera and the others, as she didn't want him to be left behind, and as she flew away she noticed that the army started to move, a force that she knew would bring down the Dominion and save this world from their dark plans. The first thing she did was head to the east, where Dagon's forces should be found, as based on what she knew they were planning on marching down to where Cheydinhal rested, and invading the province from that direction, which might let them link up with any Dark Elf forces, if their time on Solstheim payed off with the two Great Houses. Once she did that Amaryllis knew that she was going to have to track down Serana's group, as they were somewhere to the southwest, working with Molag's daughter to form a Dark Anchor so the forces of Coldharbour could tear the Dominion apart, or at least that was what she assumed they would be doing given that one Prince's forces were already marching in this world.

Finding Tibetal's forces was easy enough, given that it was an army of Daedra that was marching without caring about the environment around them, and Dagon's son waved her off when she told him what Za'kera wanted him to do, though his adopted siblings were quick to remind him that they wanted to be on the Dragonborn's good side and that meant saving the innocents, causing him to sigh as he nodded his head.

Tracking down Serana's group was somewhat harder to track down, which made sense due to the fact that there was a number of vampires among them and they knew how to keep to the shadows, but she found that their forces were right between Anvil and Skingrad, near the border of Valenwood. Such a thing would allow them to take down two enemy held locations before marching towards the Imperial City, where they would spread around and join forces with the rest of the army that had been gathered to save this world, and it didn't take her long to track down the vampire she was currently looking for. Of course Harkon didn't care about the people that were being used as slaves, though he admitted that it was a good plan, that saving them would mean more allies for the war effort, so they would pass the message on to the rest of their allies, as the ones from Coldharbour were still waiting for the way to be opened. Once they knew what was going on Amaryllis took off and headed back in the direction of the main force, so she could return to Za'kera's side and get ready for the opening stage of their war, because if they successfully reclaimed Cyrodiil it would give them so many openings to deal with the Dominion.

As she flew she glanced at the large tower in the middle of the Imperial City, the White-Gold Tower, and knew that it was only a matter of time until another Tower was restored to it's former glory and their enemies had been taken out, to which she smiled for a time as she readied herself for what the future held for them.

Ariantar Atheus was a high ranking member of the Dominion, one trusted with the subjugation of both Cyrodiil and the foul races that called it home, as his superiors had been waiting for something to happen to the Emperor and his precious Elder Council, where the perfect opportunity came with the deaths of several members. This was one of those times that he had to thank the remnants of the Dark Brotherhood, as with them killing the Emperor, not to mention destroying the name of the Penitus Oculatus, it made things so much easier for him and his forces, allowing them to take the city while all of the citizens were in mourning. Of course someone had, unfortunately, beaten him to the punch by slaying the heirs to the throne, as he had been planning on capturing them before they could inherit the throne, imprisoning them with next to nothing and starving them for a while, before destroying the morale of Cyrodiil with a public execution. It would have made things so much easier for him and his forces, rounding up the broken races and putting them to work so they could feed the Dominion's war machine, but he would have to make due with holding the Elder Council hostage and then slay all of them in the manner he had planned for the royal heirs.

The Altmer let out a light chuckle as he sipped on some wine, as he was sitting at the Emperor's table, eating his food and drinking his wine, as for the time being he was in charge of everything and no one dared to move against him, and based on how things were going he was going to be the Regent Lord of Cyrodiil for a long time, long enough to run this province into the ground before his superiors called him back.

"Lord Ariantar, we have a situation report." one of his guards stated, looking like he was out of breath, which was odd, due to the fact that there was nothing, in the entirety of Cyrodiil, that could force his hand or make his soldiers exert any real effort, save for stomping the worthless races into the ground, where they truly belonged.

"What, are the peasants asking for more food? If so, deny their requests, and if they act up, well, behead one of them to send a message to the others." Ariantar stated, as that was what he had done to those who lived in the Imperial City once he had taken it over, they tried to demand more food to survive, stating that his rations weren't enough, so he had one of his guards behead the offender and forced the others back in line.

"It's not the other races... it's a force, coming from Skyrim." the second guard said, something that caught the attention of their boss, as they all knew that only two forces were allowed to come down from Skyrim, the first being Elenwen's forces with news of their victory, including the destruction of the Stone they were sent to find, while the second was Tullius' own army, which would mean the end of Skyrim's worthless civil war.

"Must be Elenwen, either coming for reinforcements or to tell us her mission is complete... though she could have sent a letter warning us of her arrival." Ariantar remarked, clearly showing that he had no respect for Elenwen, as he ranked far higher than her and yet she acted like she was far superior to everyone that was around her, before he finished off the rest of his wine, leading to him getting up as he noticed that it was still early in the morning, hours before the citizens were supposed to come out, "Very well, take me to the walls so we can verify that Elenwen is coming."

His guards nodded as they turned around and marched out of the Imperial Palace, a building he was thinking needed to be smashed at one point in the future, as it would help to break the morale of the remaining people of Cyrodiil and show them that the time of their empire had come to an end. As they walked through the city, however, he turned his head for a moment and found that the people were hiding inside their homes and businesses, places that his soldiers raided to make sure no one was hoarding food or preparing for a revolt while they were distracted by something else, meaning his plans had been successful. In fact it was his guards that patrolled this city, as the Imperial Guards were imprisoned inside their barracks and were staying there, as he ordered his guards to kill anyone who dared to leave the structure and even made an example of one to make sure the others understood that he wasn't to be trifled with. He had broken the Imperial City, closed the Arena since it wasn't important, meaning the people there were locked down in the underground section, and the people knew to keep their heads down as they worked, otherwise he would do horrible things to the offenders, just as he did to those who had opposed him so far.

After thinking about all of that he and his guards ascended one of the towers that would allow him to walk along the top of the walls that surrounded the Imperial City, where he eventually came to a stop and glanced to the north, facing Skyrim so he could see what force his guards had seen earlier, but what he saw caused him to pause. Coming from the direction of the city of Bruma was a massive army that was unlike anything he had seen so far, a force that was made up of the mortal races of Tamriel, some bearing the colors of the Imperial Legion, some baring the flags of the Stormcloaks, and others had a new flag, a radiant sun that meant a new dawn was coming. There were mages, warriors, archers, Orc barbarians, and, if his eyes weren't deceiving him, dragons that marched and flew through the air, especially one that was as black as night, a beast that could only be Alduin, a figure in the history of the Nords, though before he could remark on the situation one of the guards noticed something to the east. It was a massive force of Daedra, ones hailing from the Deadlands, the realm of Mehrunes Dagon, meaning the unthinkable had happened, there was a breach in the Liminal Barrier that protected this world from the realms of Oblivion, and at the front of the army marched an imposing brutish Argonian that looked like a berserker who brought destruction.

It could only be a Demiprince, the spawn of a Daedric Prince, causing him to glance back at the main army, finding several figures who seemed to radiate power as well, the children of a number of Princes, and riding at the head of the army was a Khajiit in grand armor, causing him to growl for a moment.

"Elenwen you cow... she failed to kill the Dragonborn, Za'kera Saratamil, even though we handed the Khajiit to her on a silver platter!" Ariantar remarked, though this was far worse than anything he and the other higher ranking members of the Dominion could have foreseen when they considered the prophecy of the Dragonborn, as it said that the figure was supposed to kill Alduin and the other threats that plagued Skyrim, and instead it looked like she had allied with them and had gained allies in the most unlikely of places.

"Um, sir... we have a problem." one of the guards said, where Ariantar could tell that he was looking to the west, with what appeared to be a look of fear on his face, something that caused him to turn his head and see what in the world his soldier was staring at right now, though it couldn't be worse than what he was seeing right now.

He instantly took back those words as he noticed a large circular device hanging up in the sky that was between the cities of Anvil and Skingrad, a dark device that seemed to darken the sky around it as lightning danced around three points, all while the center seemed to be a dark portal leading to a realm he didn't want to see. In the Dominion there were tales of such devices, Dark Anchors that were used by the Prince of Domination when he tried to merge Nirn with Coldharbour, all the way back during the sixth century of the Second Era, an invasion that failed and the stories claimed that all of the dark devices had been destroyed. Either Molag Bal had saved a few Dark Anchors or he had rebuilt the forge that created them in the first place, though as he realized what he was staring at, and the sense of dread that came from looking at it, several hooks surged out of the portal and struck several locations around where the portal was being set up, and before he knew it another army of Daedra was marching through Cyrodiil. He knew his forces were strong and could hold their own, as all of them had been trained to enforce the will of the Dominion on the provinces of Tamriel, but facing off against the forces of two Daedric Princes, especially Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal, made him question his chances.

In the end, however, he glanced in the direction of the Dragonborn, as this wasn't what was supposed to happen and he knew that things were going to change, from what they originally planned for this province, and gave the order so his army could get ready to face this threat, because if they won now it proved that their plan was righteous and that there would be no stopping the Dominion's plans.

War: Tower Reactivated

With the Dominion's forces inside the Imperial City routed Zoravoir found that their next course of action was to make sure the people were safe, as Za'kera wanted to show the people that they weren't the same as the dark Altmer that had taken over the city. One way to make sure that message was delivered was by having some of the healers tend to the wounded, to make sure their enemies didn't rough up the people that called the city home, before finding that all of the guards that had been freed were shamed to have been forced to lay down their arms when Ariantar's forces arrived. That told them the name of the Altmer that was in command of the forces that had occupied the city, but both she and Za'kera knew that they wouldn't be getting any information out of him, as Amaryllis had assassinated him earlier, opening the way for them to take the city back. Za'kera had to admit that it had been a rather interesting plan, one that she couldn't believe actually worked since she was sure a sudden change in tactics would have clued their enemies in and make them suspect that something was wrong, but she wasn't about to complain, as it seemed that the Dominion's soldiers might have been scared of their own leader and followed his orders without question.

As the two of them walked they found an Altmer approaching them, where some magic washed over his body and the form shifted before their eyes, allowing them to find Amaryllis, in all her dark glory, making her way towards them, even though she eventually came to a stop and bowed her head.

"I have to admit that that was a good plan you came up with," Za'kera said, as her plan had been to get some people inside the city and get some information, so they would know what to do once Cyrodiil was reclaimed, but while she expected her friend to take out the enemy commander she wasn't expecting her to take his form and use it against the Dominion's forces, with no one questioning it as well, "Thanks to the efforts of you and your team we have reclaimed the Imperial City, not to mention that it allowed us to free the people and the imprisoned Imperial Guards."

"I'm glad that we could have been of assistance." Amaryllis replied, where she found that some of the soldiers looked like they were a little annoyed, that an assassin, her clan, and some thieves were getting praise, but knowing Za'kera she was waiting for Cyrodiil to be totally reclaimed before offering her words to the others, "Brynjolf and the other thieves found a few things that might be of interest: more communication crystals, supply routes for where Cyrodiil's food was supposed to go when it was harvested, and plans to invade some of the other provinces of Tamriel... apparently Elenwen's job was to distract all of Skyrim and weaken it so the main force could sweep over it in a day or two."

"That would open the way for them to invade Hammerfell and Morrowind from multiple directions," Zoravoir commented, as most of Tamriel's provinces bordered Cyrodiil in some way, save for High Rock and the Summerset Isles, and the other islands they knew about, so taking this province and then burning Skyrim to the ground was a good move, only they made their move first, 'however, now that we know the Dominion was planning on invading the other provinces, and might be moving to assault them as we speak, we might be able to forge some alliances with the leaders of the remaining provinces of Tamriel. There's only one problem we need to overcome..."

"What, you mean convincing them that we mean them no harm, even though we're allied with the Daedric Princes, some of which are known for their destructive and dark habits?" Za'kera inquired, which made sense since some of the people had to be worried about the fact that the forces of Deadlands and Coldharbour were marching on the Dominion's forces, though as she said that they walked through the Imperial City, waving to the people she knew.

"While that would be a valid concern, and might be depending on who we're talking about, the other leaders won't talk to a war hero like you, as they'll be expecting an actual leader." a voice said, where Ma'jera floated over to where the group was walking, though her words caused Amaryllis to nod her head for a moment, because she had been thinking about it for a while now, "You know what we're referring to... if you want to talk with the other leaders, and convince them to join up with us, you'll have to do so from a position of equal, or even greater, political power. If you want more allies, you must become the Empress of a new empire."

Za'kera said nothing to that, where it was easy for Amaryllis to see that she was considering the information that she was being given, as she must have been thinking that being the Last Dragonborn, a figure of legend, would have been more than enough to convince her potential enemies to become allies. For Skyrim that made sense, as the people of the snowy province put a lot of faith in their legends and many knew that such a figure would have arrived to save the world, even if they were surprised to find that she decided to ally with Alduin and the others, to face a darker threat. For the rest of the lands of Tamriel there was no telling what they might feel in regards to her legend, so instead of bringing a legend into the mix it was easier for them to raise Za'kera to her final station, that of Empress, and have her talk with the other leaders, as they would be willing to listen to what she had to say if she approached them like that. Amaryllis, however, knew that her friend needed to think about this, no doubt because it wasn't something she was expecting to have happen during their war with the Dominion, and the others remained silent as well, either waiting for Za'kera to say something or thinking about what might happen in the near future.

Amaryllis knew that there was another aspect to this, the arrival of a new empire, one aided by the Divines and Daedric Princes, might be followed by Ma'jera revealing the Stone that she intended on connecting to the White-Gold Tower, due to part of her plan being to restore the deactivated Towers, but instead of saying anything she simply followed Za'kera as she waited to see what happened next.

The first thing Za'kera did was make sure the Elder Council was okay, as they had been ruling the city during the absence of the Emperor and would have likely been taken captive somewhere inside the city, only to find that they were chained up in the basement of the Imperial Palace, where Ariantar likely lived during their time in this city. Based on what she and the others found the members of the council had been left with no food or water, being the Dominion was starving them, and based on what Amaryllis discovered it looked like the Altmer were planning on executing every member of the council at some point, as she found documents suggesting that in the palace. Ariantar was planning on breaking the morale of the city in one foul swoop, show the people their leaders, people they either trusted or looked up to, or just suffered the lives of if they hated them in some manner, and then execute them to completely break the city, making it easier for him and his forces to seize the rest of Cyrodiil in no time. As such Za'kera had some healers come to the Imperial Palace and tend to the Elder Council, to make sure they hadn't been abused by Ariantar and whoever had been tasked with guarding them, whenever the Altmer commander wasn't here, before focusing on the rest of the city.

All of the defenses were intact, Raven and the thieves sealed the prison passage so no one else could use it against them in the future, before a real smile appeared on her face as they found all of the resources that Ariantar was supposed to ship out to the other provinces the Dominion was planning on attacking.

As such that afternoon they held a feast to celebrate their victory over the Dominion's forces, having freed the people that had been captured and forced into their homes, which everyone appreciated and would boost their morale for the next stage of their war against the Dominion. Amaryllis joined them for a while, though she eventually joined the dragons that had positioned themselves all around the Imperial City's coast, across from the actual city, as they were keeping an eye out for any enemies they might have missed. Of course the forces of Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal remained away from the city, as both had tried to attack it in the past and had been pushed out, to the point where a battle might start if either force approached the city, so they were focusing on securing the edges of Cyrodiil. It was a good move, as it would allow them to know if enemies were coming from a direction they weren't expecting, all while she kept an eye out for assassins that were coming to take Za'kera's head, but for the most part she found that the night was fine and that no one dared to come close to the city, save for those who had been freed from the Dominion's claws.

Even though it didn't seem like anything was going on right now, with no Dominion spies trying to figure out what might have happened to their forces in Cyrodiil, if the agents in the other provinces were even aware of what had occurred, she kept an eye out and made sure the province was as safe as it could be.

When morning arrived Amaryllis and Zoravoir discovered that the Imperial City was full of excitement all of a sudden, as in everyone had been inspired by their forces and seemed to be getting ready, as the mages were getting ready to join up, all of the fighters from the Arena and the Fighters Guild were eager for a fight, and others were coming. Zoravoir told her the piece of information that put everything together for her, some of the soldiers spread the tale about what they were doing right now, that they were going to save the world from the Dominion, and it was drawing nearly everyone in Cyrodiil to the Imperial City. Even though she knew that recruitment had been on their minds she knew that this was far more than what they were initially expecting, especially since it wasn't connected to the other provinces, and it explained why the smiths were so busy, they were outfitting everyone that happened to be joining the army, the Cyrodiil branch anyway. Za'kera, on the other hand, was busy inside the Arena, where it appeared that someone had an announcement to make to everyone that happened to be in the city, no doubt forced by the gods of Nirn.

The reason she considered such a thought was due to the fact that she found every Divine and Daedric Prince standing near where Za'kera was standing, taking a more humanoid size and not being gigantic, in the base of Dagon, and most, if not all, of the godly children were standing nearby as well, where she found Sheogorath waving his staff at Jyggalag, who had been staring at Durum.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make." Za'kera said, because a great deal of their allies and troops were sitting up in the rings that allowed them to watch the fights that happened in the Arena, save for Tullius and Ulfric anyway, and she beckoned to Zoravoir for a moment, allowing everyone to see that it was about one of their allies, "As many of you know there are nine Divines and sixteen Daedric Princes, with the separation of Sheogorath and Jyggalag there are now a total of seventeen... however, I would like to introduce another Prince to all of you, one that has joined the pantheon that will be aiding us in tearing down the Dominion: Zoravoir, the Daedric Prince of Harmony."

Amaryllis found that many of the people were unsure of how to react to the news that there was another Prince, two if they had no idea Jyggalag existed, though her friend held her head up and walked like she had been an existing Daedric Prince, no doubt Ma'jera's training coming through, causing her to chuckle a little bit. The fact that she walked with the confidence of a Daedric Prince, not to mention had the power of one, eventually won over the people and she could see a number of the scholars trying to figure out just how many more Princes might be out there, if they were only now finding an eighteenth member. Of course they were interested in what else the Prince of Harmony did, as every Prince had other aspects to them, other titles that mortals called them by, like how Boethiah was the 'Prince of Plots' and the 'Dark Warrior' to some, though the only one who could give Zoravoir that information was whatever remnants of her predecessor she could converse with. Amaryllis found that her friend had really grown into her role as the next Daedric Prince, and used all of her training to maintain control over the power that came with such a title, before noticing that Ma'jera was pulling out a golden chain that looked like it belonged to a small necklace, smaller than what the Amulet of Kings was rumored to be at before it was destroyed.

"But that's not the only reason we came here, as there's one more announcement to be made," Ma'jera remarked, where her words caused everyone to die down as they turned their heads towards Za'kera for a few seconds, no doubt curious as to what else might be shared with them today, even though Amaryllis noticed that her necklace was missing a gem, as it was hollow in the center.

"People of Cyrodiil and Skyrim, I, Za'kera Saratamil, am the Last Dragonborn, chosen champion of Akatosh," Za'kera said, where her words caused many of the people who weren't in the loop to start whispering among themselves for a time, no doubt realizing what the existence of a Dragonborn meant, given that those in Cyrodiil once called their rulers by the same title, until the death of Martin Septim, "and with my armies retaking Cyrodiil, while driving out the Dominion, it falls onto me to take on the mantle of Empress, to unite all of Tamriel once more and stop our enemy from fulfilling the terrible plan they're trying to set in motion."

"Are you insane? Why would we desecrate the Empire's throne by putting a Khajiit on it?!" Ulfric exclaimed, though as he took a step forward Amaryllis discovered something, no one approved of his words, as the majority of the people that were in the stands were those from Cyrodiil, with the commanders from Skyrim mixed in, meaning they were those who knew Za'kera more than anyone who came from Skyrim.

"Because it was what Akatosh planned on doing, to stop the Dominion." Za'kera replied, where she didn't bother to raise her blades, as there was no reason for her to do so right now, something that caused Ulfric to stop as he realized that no one was rooting or cheering for him to take her down, before she tilted her head for a moment, "Besides, I've never had a problem with people worshiping whoever they wanted, be it one of the Divines, a Daedric Prince, or the other deities that the Dominion has a problem with people worshiping... meaning you could kiss the White-Gold Concordant goodbye. Though if that's not enough, than by all means, come at me."

Ulfric paused for a moment as he heard that remark, where Amaryllis knew that he was a proud Nord warrior and that he could face off against all sorts of warriors, in fact he had proven that fact during the first wave of the war by taking down several of the Dominion's forces, but she could feel fear. Sure, he knew how to use the Thu'um in the form of the very first Shout that Za'kera had learned, though that paled in comparison to the knowledge that had been drilled into Za'kera by the Dragon Priests, meaning she was far stronger than the Jarl of Windhelm. She could see that he understood that just by looking into her eyes for a few seconds, demonstrating how calm she was in the face of an impending battle, if he drew his axe and charged at her, before he glanced around at several of the figures who were resting among their allies, as in some of the most powerful figures in Skyrim. Harkon and Miraak, for example, were watching him with some interest as both of them waited for someone to make a move, because if Za'kera was slain the alliance would be broken, but one would likely attack him, not counting the fact that Alduin would smash him before bringing about the end of the world himself, and it wasn't counting what the others might do if he tried to cut her down for this event.

In the end, however, Ulfric released his weapon and backed off, showing that he understood that challenging her at this point in time was a bad idea, but Amaryllis wouldn't put it passed him to try once the war was over, even if it might break the new empire if it suddenly lost the one leading it. With that done many cheered for Za'kera, showing that she held the support of her people and neighbors, those who knew her far better than anyone else and knew she wouldn't attempt this without a good reason, while Akatosh summoned a sapphire that looked like a smaller version of the gem that fit inside the old Amulet of Kings. A few seconds later he and Ma'jera combined the two pieces together, where Amaryllis found that they had made a new amulet, likely the Amulet of Rulers or something, before slipping it over Za'kera's neck, something all of them watched with some interest. As that happened, however, Amaryllis and everyone could feel something in the air shift, the awakening of the White-Gold Tower when she thought about it, as part of Ma'jera's purpose was to reactivate the Towers of Tamriel, before a smile appeared on her face.

Not only was Za'kera going to become the Empress of a new empire, and no doubt seek more allies from the remaining provinces of this continent, another Tower had been reactivated, meaning the Dominion was losing ground and soon their plans would be utterly ruined, they just had to be persistent and face whatever might be coming their way.

War: Unexpected Arrival

After taking on the role as the Empress of the new empire, something that actually inspired hope in the people of Cyrodiil, even those who initially disagreed with it before trusting in the judgement of the Divines, Za'kera found that she had to spend the rest of the day with the Elder Council. It was to learn of her new responsibilities, duties, and everything else that was a requirement of being a ruler of an entire empire, and her first action, which really got the attention of everyone in the city, was the burning of the White-Gold Concordat, showing them that the Dominion's decree was no longer valid. She was acting upon what she told Ulfric and the rest of their allies, people were allowed to believe in whoever they wanted to, be it Talos, Akatosh, one of the old nordic gods, the Divines, or even the Daedric Princes, even though she knew that many would be secretive if they worshiped one of the Princes. Most of Skyrim was overjoyed and fell in with her because of that, more than they had been before this point in time, because many had been upset over the worship of Talos being outlawed by the Dominion, while certain individuals weren't affected by her actions, like they were planning for grander things once they had taken down their foes.

Amaryllis knew they would have to keep any eye on Ulfric and his most trusted retainers, as she had a feeling that one or more of them might try something during the events of this war, but she kept her thoughts to herself, because Za'kera did seem to know what she was thinking and kept an eye on them as well.

Zoravoir, of course, spent her time talking with the scholars, as many were interested in the newest Prince and wanted to know more about her, so they could edit their tomes and spread the word that there were now eighteen Daedric Princes, which included admitting that Jyggalag actually existed, as many had question whether or not he existed. The other thing that happened was that the Prince of Order tried to speak with his daughter, only to find that Durum had, while none of them had been looking, switched back to her Mad state, who had no desire to go back to her father's side, as she was Sheogorath's kid at heart, much to the Mad God's twisted joy. Of course that had an interesting effect, due to the Mad side of Durum returning the Moomer Wand was empowered once more, an artifact Amaryllis refused to hand over since one wrong move could spread untold chaos among their forces, especially with how potent the curse was, thanks to what they had seen back on Solstheim, due to Neloth's experiments. Lydia, of course, refused to return to her nordic form, rather she was at home with her bovine form and marked the start of a new species on Nirn, even if the others were careful of her after discovering that she was altered thanks to some of Sheogorath's power.

While not the whole truth, Amaryllis was unwilling to admit that it was her fault for bringing this form to Tamriel, due to her visit in Solitude, even if Sheogorath might have been looking for a way to make it happen at some point in time, but at least people weren't running from Lydia when they learned the truth. Of course, much to her dismay, she found that some of Sheogorath's followers weren't troubled by this new form and even embraced Lydia's bovine form without delay, where she sighed and ignored the people in question, leaving the mad people to their fate. Durum did alter the curse to make it more like Lydia's form, so all of the newly transformed wouldn't be useless in a fight, but Amaryllis didn't want to hear her talk about it, given that the mad Demiprince only wanted to spread her father's will upon the world, or just drive people around her insane, a favorite pass time of the Prince of Madness. Her only saving grace was that the Princes of Order and Madness wanted her with them constantly, as Jyggalag wanted to spend some time with his daughter before they started the war again, though she departed from where they were wandering and focused on her own task.

Her task was a self imposed one, the very same that she took on after seeing that vision from the Elder Scroll, of them and their army, lead by a warrior empress, and that was to protect Za'kera from her enemies, hence why she remained in her shadows, completely unseen by those that were around her friend. As an assassin and an infiltrator Amaryllis was used to remaining in the shadows, out of sight from allies and enemies, and the power of Sithis, combined with her powers, made it impossible for anyone to see her, even if she was leaning against a wall, observing the room around Za'kera. She tuned out the conversation between Za'kera and the Elder Council, as it was of no interest to her, not when she understood what her friend wanted to do, to bring back everything the White-Gold Concordat took away from the empire, including finding additional allies to join them in saving the other provinces. Amaryllis wasn't expecting a Dominion spy to appear after the retaking of Cyrodiil, since not a lot of time had passed since that point in time, but they had to be careful, as there was no telling what their enemies were capable of, not when they were planning on destroying the Adamantine Tower with the power of the Numidium.

As such her time lurking in the shadows was rather boring, given the uninteresting topics they were talking about, due to them not applying to her at all, but she gladly did it and watched over Za'kera without fail, even if her friend might regret accepting Akatosh's position in the end, despite the hard work she was putting into her new station, all while both of them kept their eyes open for what the future held.

Three days after their conquest of Cyrodiil, days wasted by the Elder Council based on Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, they got an interesting report during one of the council sessions, where Za'kera was speaking with the leaders of her now enlarged army, so she could figure out where to go next and who to talk to first.

"Empress Za'kera, our scouts have spotted a fleet of ships out on the water outside Anvil," the scout stated, where she knelt before the table that the council was being held at, though Amaryllis felt that she was speaking the truth and wasn't lying to get them out of here, so they didn't have to worry about a Dominion spy, even though her words caused them to stop for a moment, "but they aren't flying the Dominion's colors, they're... well, they're flying multiple colors: the navy blue of the Maormer Fleet, along with an icy blue flag, a flag with a brown color and a yellow stripe, a blood red flag that has four unknown sigils on it, and a flag with tiger stripes."

"A fleet from the island of Akavir, with flags from Kamal, Tang Mo, Tsaesci, and Ka Po'Tun, no doubt led by the war leader Tosh Raka, the 'Tiger Dragon' himself," Ma'jera commented, where she tilted her head for a moment, showing Amaryllis that this had to be an unexpected development that she and her father didn't see coming, or rather they did but felt that there was a slim chance of this happening, not without Za'kera making the first move, "This is both good and bad... if he's here to become allies we won't have anything to worry about, but if he's here to declare war on us, well, there's a chance our forces will decimate each other... he's not called the 'Tiger Dragon' for nothing."

"Meaning he knows how to Shout." Za'kera said, as it was just that easy for someone to figure out what the Demiprince meant, especially after dealing with her for the amount of time she and her friends had been traveling with her, so all of them were used to her words and thoughts on whatever manners they encountered, "In the off chance that he's come to speak with us, and not lure us into a trap, I'll ride out to meet him and his forces, see if we can't talk and figure out what he's trying to do... and if he's here to invade, well, we should have a small force on the road near Anvil, with scouts ready to sound the horn of war to gather our remaining soldiers."

Amaryllis could tell that this was something they didn't need right now, not with them planning their war against the rest of the Dominion's forces, since they were trying to figure out which provinces were still fighting back and which might have fallen already, in which case the latter needed reclaiming, but said nothing. A few moments later she joined Za'kera and a small force of soldiers, probably around fifty, that would be riding towards Anvil, with Ma'jera, Zoravoir, and a few others coming along for the ride, to see the fleet with their own eyes. With the two mages beside them Amaryllis knew that they would be able to move a decent number of soldiers to their side if a fight broke out, possibly giving them time to hold off Tosh Raka's forces before the main force emerged from the fleet, but her attention was on their potential enemies and the information they had on each race. Once more Ma'jera proved to be a font of knowledge for them to tap into, as she told Za'kera, and everyone else at the same time, that the Kamal were snow demons, the Tang Mo were monkey people, while the Tsaesci were supposedly snake people, or people who wore armor that made them look snake-like, and the Ka Po'Tun were tiger people, meaning they were similar to Khajiit.

The other thing she told them was that the Tsaesci worshiped four deities that symbolized the elements, those being Ilni, Myn, Nfya, and Zisa, standing for air, fire, earth, and water respectively, where Amaryllis determined that the symbols on the Tsaesci flag had to be the symbols of their gods.

It took them a while to get to Anvil, given that it was on the western end of Cyrodiil, and upon their arrival Za'kera stopped on a hill that allowed them to look out over the harbor, seeing past it to the large fleet of ships that were resting close to the city, where the people had to be freaking out by this sight. Amaryllis could see the races in question from where they had stopped, several ships, those made to resemble frozen vessels, had some tall individuals standing on the deck, who looked like they were either wearing armor made to resemble ice, like Stalhrim, or were ice that had been molded to look a lot like humanoid warriors. On another couple of ships she found some brown furred people who carried staffs, as in the ones that people would spin around and served no magical purpose, and wore monk-like clothing, but since they looked like anthropomorphic monkeys she knew they had to be the Tang Mo, like how the ice warriors were the Kamal. After that she spotted the Tsaesci ships, looking ornate and ready for war, while the soldiers looked more like samurai, based on the armor they were currently wearing, though Amaryllis was sure that there were both men and snake people standing side by side, as one ship had a fair amount of men and people who had the lower body of a snake. The Ko Po'Tun were the last ones she focused on, where it was rather easy for her to tell that their ships were full of anthropomorphic tiger people, all looking ready for war with their plate armor and weapons, a vast array from spears and pikes to swords and battleaxes, before she laid eyes on someone she suspected was Tosh Raka.

Her reasoning was because he stood at the front of everyone, even those on his ship, though while most of his body was like the rest of his people she found that from his arms, from the elbows to his hands, were covered in dragon scales that matched his body, something that was echoed on his legs, from the knees down to his feet, and he also possessed a pair of wings and a dragon tail, possessing the tiger stripes.

"So, that's why he's called the Tiger Dragon." Za'kera commented, as she had no idea what sort of tales revolved around the figure in question, about how he obtained his new body, before they noticed that he also had a pair of curved horns on his head, the helmet molded to fit over the additions, making him look like an imposing figure, where she sighed and started down the hill, "Well, let's get down there and see what he wants... with how armored everyone is, I have a feeling this might be a warning before a new battle starts, even though I'm hopeful that doesn't happen."

Amaryllis said nothing as they rode down the hill and entered the city, the force of soldiers remaining on the hill while they were joined by Ma'jera and Zoravoir, who would summon the soldiers in case an attack happened, and when they reached the harbor they found a single ship approaching the docks, Tosh Raka's to be exact. Since Anvil didn't have any defenses against pirates, or if they did the Dominion had disabled them to make it easier to move their own troops when the time came to invade the provinces of Tamriel, there wasn't much they could do but wait for his ship to reach the harbor, while the people backed away. As that happened Amaryllis also noted that there were a fair number of Daedra on the outskirts of Anvil, no doubt guarding it until their Princes told them otherwise, meaning they had some reinforcements in case Tosh Raka attacked them, but it didn't ease her mind at all, not when it was Molag's forces. Based on what she was seeing there were thirty ships out in the harbor, which was counting the one coming towards them, meaning that there were six ships per race, and if the main ship was this decked out she had a feeling the others were as well, meaning an army was resting in front of them, a force that would do some damage if they attacked Anvil, all while it looked like the Maormer fleet were staying back for now.

As the ship docked she also noticed something else, there were three other figures on the ship that seemed important, as if Tosh Raka had ordered that the leaders of the other races of Akavir join him on his ship, as each one seemed far more important than those who were on the other ships. One of them was an imposing ice warrior who appeared to be either a general or a lord, because his helm had several points that could be mistaken for a crown, or maybe it was intentional to make his position as a ruler known to those who saw him, and it looked like he had a large mace on his back. The next one in the lineup was the Tang Mo leader, a warrior who wore red baggy pants with a blue sash, a blue cape wrapped around his neck, a golden sash that looked like a half shirt wrapped around his left shoulder and side of his body, and a pair of golden bracers on his wrists, with an elegant wooden staff as his melee weapon. The last one was a slim lady whose lower body was that of a snake, as in her legs had been replaced by a snake's tail, like a Lamia, though her upper half looked like a snake as well, a royal blue with crimson stripes, and she wore some metallic armor to cover herself in battle, though she also had four arms, instead of two, with four swords on her back.

These four were the rulers of Akavir, with Tosh Raka standing above the other three, and based on how they walked it was clear that he held all the power of the continent, meaning if he wanted to declare war on Tamriel the other three would no doubt follow his orders, especially when they came to a stop and he did the same in front of Za'kera, who climbed off of Frost and stood at the ready.

"I take it you're the one in charge of the forces of Cyrodiil?" Tosh Raka asked, his tone confirming that he was who both of them, and those observing this situation, thought he was, and he was far more imposing than what any of them thought when they heard about the Tiger Dragon that ruled over Akavir.

"I am Za'kera Saratamil, the new Empress of the empire that spans Tamriel," Za'kera replied, though while Amaryllis could feel that she was nervous about this situation, and to be fair who wouldn't when one looked out at the mass of ships that could burn Anvil to the ground in a matter of moments if Tash Raka wanted to, she forced herself to stand like she was the reincarnation of Tiber Septim, back when Talos walked Tamriel, "You're Tash Raka, the Tiger Dragon that rules over all of Akavir, aren't you?"

"That's correct!" Tash Raka stated, where he let out a light chuckle, as if he was pleased by this turn of events, given that it saved them some time in terms of conversation, before he turned his head for a moment and beckoned back to those that were right behind him, "I am joined by Jotuun, Lord of the Kamal, Sun Wukong, King of the Tang Mo, and Vata-Perwa, Mistress of the Tsaesci... and we are here to offer you an alliance, against the Aldmeri Dominion. They tried to invade my domain some time ago, along with the domain of the Maormer, hence why Lady Seirhy has decided to remain on her own ships, so they can keep an eye on our enemies, and we're eager to get some revenge for their actions."

A fleet this massive was a boon none of them were expecting, as not only did it mean they wouldn't have to worry about the Dominion knowing of their actions until it was too late, but it also gave them a way to get their forces to the island that their enemies called home, to which Za'kera welcomed them and moved so they could talk, all while Amaryllis followed as she waited to see what the next few days held for them.

War: Surprises in the Marsh

The addition of Tosh Raka and his fleet, an unexpected arrival and a very welcome addition to their forces, provided Za'kera with the means to protect Cyrodiil from the Dominion's forces, while opening the way for her to send some to investigate the north, where the Adamantine Tower rested. She wanted to know if the Dominion was setting up their forces in the area, as while her current target was the Summerset Isles, as they were going to tear the headquarters of the Dominion down, there was the matter of the Tower that the Numidium was going to be used on. In addition to that Tosh Raka reported that his fleet had burned down all sorts of Dominion ships on their way to Anvil, stopping them from invading the other provinces to the south, earning them some points in her eyes, since they didn't have to worry about their enemies finding out for some time. Many of their allies had to agree that this was a good thing for them, as the more time the Dominion was in the dark about what was going on right now, with the fleet being destroyed and Cyrodiil being retaken, the more time they could spend gathering the forces of Tamriel and preparing for their forces for the final stage of their war, which they were far from setting in motion.

All of his accomplishments earned Tosh Raka a place at the war table, in fact Za'kera insisted because he was so formidable and didn't want to insult him by suggesting he wasn't worthy of a seat with her and her allies, and he showed due respect to the godly children that were in the room as well.

"With Skyrim and Cyrodiil under your control, with Akavir and Pyandonea as allies, it is time that you figure out where the rest of the provinces stand," Tosh Raka commented, as he was staring at the magical version of the map that Ma'jera had made for them to look at while they talked, a good way to visualize the movements of their forces and what had to be done to decrease the Dominion's control over Tamriel, "which means we'll need to send messengers to Morrowind, Black Marsh, Elsweyr, Valenwood, Hammerfell, and High Rock, to see whose on our side and who we'll need to crush with the might of our armies. Based on what you've told us so far we might have some allies in Morrowind, thanks to the Houses you helped back on Solstheim, but the other provinces are still unknown to us."

"That's correct, so I'll send some messengers to deliver the news to the other provinces," Za'kera stated, as she had been talking about this very thing with the Elder Council, because they had known about the political state of the Empire and the rest of the provinces of Tamriel, allowing her to figure out who to send messengers to and who to avoid for the time being, hence why she beckoned to the map, "According to our information, High Rock is still a province of the Empire, as in they haven't been bothered by the Dominion's forces yet... or at least we hope so... while Hammerfell seceded due to the treaty that is no longer in effect, so those two I'll send messengers to. Depending on how their rulers react to this news, whether good or bad, we might either have new allies or we might have additional enemies, seeking to claim the throne of the Empire for themselves, but that leaves the other provinces up for debate. The Great Houses should unite most, if not all of Morrowind, under their banners and ally themselves with us, though I'll send someone to double check anyway, just to be sure, while someone will need to head into Black Marsh to figure out where they stand."

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk with Elsweyr or Valenwood yet, because one's allied with the Dominion and the other is in the air?" Zoravoir asked, as they all knew the tale of how the Dominion 'restored' the moons and earned the favor of the Khajiit in the progress, of which Ma'jera was certain that it was a lie, a trick, while everyone else listened to what they had to say on the matter.

"That's right. From what we know, the people of Elsweyr have been tricked into helping the Dominion, while we have no idea where the people of Valenwood stand on the matter," Za'kera said, where she leaned back in her chair for a moment, as being the Empress of an entire Empire was more exhausting than she originally believed it to be, but at least she would be ready for the final battle, whenever it arrived, before she focused on the meeting once more, "For now, we should send messengers to Hammerfell, High Rock, Morrowind, and Black Marsh... once we know where they stand, we'll have a better idea of what to do next."

"Oh, I can help with that!" a voice stated, where they found Kya, who had been itching for something to do and had gotten into a fight with Tosh Raka's guards once the group returned to the Imperial City, a fight she had won, which caused the war leader to roar with laughter when he witnessed it happen, raising her hand, "I was born in Black Marsh, spent a good deal of time exploring it, before I left to find some fun, so I should be able to find the leader and deliver a message to whoever it might be."

Amaryllis could tell that there was more to the story than what they were hearing, she could feel it with her powers, and Za'kera tilted her head a little, towards her no less, no doubt asking her to make sure Kya stayed focused on the task and not get carried away with her desire for fun. It would be interesting, heading into another province to find someone that was in charge of the people that called Black Marsh home, though the part that worried her was the portion that Kya was keeping a secret from them, hence why Za'kera wanted her to go with the Argonian. Both of them were concerned that there might be a reason behind Kya's appearance in Skyrim, that her Sheogorath induced insanity, the desire to spill blood and bring death to the land, had caused her to be banished from Black Marsh, and if that was the case she was going to be in trouble if she returned to her homeland. If that was the case it meant that whoever captured her would ignore the message and either cage her, try to rehabilitate her, or outright execute her without reading the message, which was part of the reason that Za'kera wanted Amaryllis to go along and make sure the mission was a success.

As she thought about that, however, Amaryllis remained silent and waited for the meeting to be over, as there was more for them to discuss before the messengers were sent out with their messages, all while wondering what was going to happen to them when they tried to enter Black Marsh.

In the morning, with the messages readied, Za'kera handed one to Kya, who, in a moment of good decision, handed it over to Amaryllis for safe keeping, before straightening her scythe on her back and bowed her head for a few moments, just like her escort did without delay. As much as Amaryllis wanted to stay beside Za'kera, to keep her safe, she knew that the rest of the city would do anything and everything to keep her safe, so for the time being she stepped away from her role as the Empress' shadowy and silent bodyguard, taking up the role of Kya's keeper. Of course Za'kera repeated what she had said the day before, that this was for the eyes of the one who ruled over Black Marsh, be it a ruler or a new council, as Kya's memory might be false since it had been some time since her last visit, just to make sure the Argonian understood her orders. That was another reason behind why Amaryllis had been chosen for this mission, as she could keep Kya in line and make sure she didn't go crazy, though time would tell if she was capable of that, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she acknowledged the order to deliver the message to Black Marsh's leader.

Once everything was said and done Amaryllis climbed on Shadowmere as Kya climbed onto her own horse, one that had been provided by the stables and bared the marking of the Empire, so those in Black Marsh would know them from afar, before making their way to the border between Cyrodiil and Black Marsh.

It took some time for them to reach their destination, which made sense due to the fact that the province in question was on the eastern side of Cyrodiil, though as they approached the treeline Amaryllis noticed something interesting, Kya got a bit nervous, while maintaining the air of someone who was in control. Such a thing was more than enough for Amaryllis to wonder if her and Za'kera's thoughts on Kya were true, that she was an exile, someone who had been banished in the past for some reason, and that she remembered that day quite well, so this had to be stressful for her. She had to assume that Kya must have slaughtered either innocents or someone important in her madness, given how the Argonian was acting at the moment, due to her emotions, before running from the area to avoid being captured by whoever might have chased after her. In that moment she wondered something new for once, as in where Kya had gotten her scythe, a weapon that was designed to reap through her enemies and send their souls to the afterlife, before thinking that maybe she had been a follower of Molag Bal, stealing it from one of his soldiers, yet the Prince of Domination's daughter hadn't said anything when she laid eyes on the odd weapon.

As they passed through the treeline, however, Kya paused for a few seconds before steeling herself and headed into Black Marsh, causing Amaryllis to keep an eye out for potential enemies, since she had no idea how they would react to Imperial messengers, other than the rumors that they expelled all outsiders, before she sensed something.

"We are being watched." Amaryllis commented, keeping her voice low so only Kya could hear her, who knew of her power to sense emotions and could figure out that she had noticed the arrival of someone else, or a group of someones, if her head was on straight anyway, only to find that the Argonian had nothing to say right now.

Based on her observations there were at least ten to fifteen observers, where she was a little surprised to discover that it took her this long to sense them, meaning they were either faster than she was right now or they were able to suppress their emotions, both options weren't that great in her mind. After a few more moments she held out a hand for a moment and came to a stop, causing Kya to do the same thing, before lowering her hand as she stared at the path in front of them, as someone was moving around with invisibility, trying to study them, and given that they were going to get the drop on her and Kya she silently switched her daggers for her swords. Not a few seconds later she found a figure emerging from the shadows in front of them, an Argonian with black scales, much like Kya, who was wearing black leather armor that was light and reminded her of what she wore when she first joined the Dark Brotherhood, and the figure was female, based on the form of their body. In addition to the one in front of them she discovered that the rest were a mix of Argonians and Lamias, like those found in Zoravoir's new realm, and each one seemed to possess scales that allowed them to blend in with the environment, a useful trait to make sure the enemies of Black Marsh were taken care of without being seen, or at least that was her thoughts on the matter.

Based on the fact that one of them was standing in front of them, and the others were lurking in the shadows, told her all she had to know, this Argonian had to be a commander or leader of some kind, though as she brought Shadowmere to a stop, as to avoid running over the figure, Kya did the same to her left, while her emotions were all over the place, which meant this was an important encounter.

"Skae... brother..." Kya said, where Amaryllis figured that she was abbreviating the Argonian's name, like how she did with her own name, though it also told her that something had happened in the past, her family member had been changed in some drastic manner since she was last here.

"My name is 'Death-From-Shadows' now, or 'Shadow' if you prefer... and it's 'sister' now, dear sister," the Argonian replied, something that told Amaryllis more than what was being said, as an event must have happened in the past and turned Kya's sibling into her new form, making her remember the tales about the Hist trees and the power of their sap, before she noticed that the figure had a pair of blades at the ready, swords to be exact, "Why have you come back, Kya? You do know the King and his council banished you all those years ago, and stated that you were to be killed if you dared to step foot in Black Marsh... in fact, the only reason your still breathing is because we were told a messenger would be arriving with the 'Black Hand'."

"One would assume that you're referring to Shadowmere, when you're actually talking about me." Amaryllis commented, where she climbed off her steed for a moment and stood in front of her companion, allowing the magic to wash over her body, as most of the time she made it look like she was just an ordinary traveler or assassin, instead of the Listener, and as her true armor returned she could tell that the scouts were taken aback by her true form, "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Amaryllis, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, and Kya and I are on a mission for Empress Za'kera, as we are to deliver a message to your leader."

Shadow stared at her for a few moments, clearly debating what to do in this situation, before disappearing a second later, where Amaryllis remained still as she focused her mind and drew her blades the moment she was ready, parrying both of her opponent's blows before pushing her back, and as Shadow regained her footing Amaryllis vanished as well, only to reappear with the edge of her blade against the Argonian's throat.

"I have to admit, you're better than I thought you would be." Shadow said, where Amaryllis pulled her blades back as the Argonian beckoned to the others to stand down, though while she showed no reaction to nearly losing her life Amaryllis could tell that her emotions had been kicked up a notch and that they had been hidden from the others, "Very well, we'll take you to Helstrom, where our King and his council rule from, and see how they receive your message... it can't be any worse than what happened when the Dominion showed up."

Amaryllis returned to her steed and wondered what might have happened to the Altmer that tried to attack the province, before finding that the Argonians had their own steeds, dark furred mounts that could be hidden and didn't make a sound while they waited, and all of the Lamia didn't have any. She soon discovered the fate of the invaders as they passed by a place called Stormhold, which appeared to be where the Lamia of Shadow's group had come from, where she found that the members of the Dominion had been captured and put to work, either as slaves, to repay the past that the Argonians had been forced to endure, or as workers. Of course many of them had lost their black clothing, but the Lamia had done something nice and got them form fitting loincloths and cloth chest pieces, it was mostly to strip them of their former lives and former positions, before she noticed something odd, many had scales on their arms and legs, similar to those found on the Argonians and Lamia they were living with. Some even had a tail, an Argonian's tail, and they didn't seem disgusted by that fact, rather all of them seemed happy and in tune with the area that they were now living in, causing her to wonder if it was due to long term exposure to the Hist Trees and the sap that came from them, altering their minds and bodies in some manner, like what happened to Kya's former brother.

Shadow insisted on stopping for a few minutes, as the Lamia of her team had been pulled from Stormhold and she simply wanted to make sure that everything was fine before heading to Helstrom, allowing Amaryllis to glance around and see a few things, like how some of the buildings were made of stone, others were huts, and she was sure there was a cave for some to live in. Based on what she was seeing it looked like the Dominion was sending their agents to try and make some progress into claiming Black Marsh, in fact she was sure it had been happening for quite some time, as some of the Altmer had turned into Naga, their lower halves that of a snake, and one looked like she had a child on the way. The races of this land were integrating all of the invaders into their society, opening their minds to the rest of the world and changing them to fit the land they were now calling home, especially since one was admiring the claws that had replaced her feet, likely due to it happening a short while ago. It was strange seeing such upbeat Altmer, especially from the Dominion's forces, so it worried her a little, before noticing that some of the altered were training to join the guards that protected Black Marsh, to protect a place they originally came to conquer, and it meant that whatever they knew was likely known by the King of this vast province.

The new inhabitants were even friendly to them, even Kya for that matter, though Amaryllis had to smile, as it seemed like allying with Black Marsh would be a good thing for them, especially if the Argonians were able to overturn the invaders, so all she had to do was wait and see what happened when they spoke to the King of this province.

War: Proving One's Worth

They ended up spending thirty minutes in Stormhold, giving Amaryllis time to chat with some of the residents, because she was curious as to what else might have changed in the Altmer that were present in this city, as it was hard to believe that the race that wanted to end the world had forsaken their plan, or some of them anyway. Many of the altered Altmer, as she soon discovered, were now against the terrible plans that their former brethren had made, hence why they were training with the Argonians and Lamia that called Black Marsh home, pushing their new bodies further than any of them cared to do when they were Altmer. Another change was that some of them clearly found individuals to fall in love with, or at least that might have been her thoughts on the matter and not reality, as the slave option was still viable, but given how each of them were acting she tossed that idea out the window. Their minds had been opened, seeing the world for what it was and not what had been drilled into their heads by those who ruled over the Dominion, and they were doing their part to save it, even if they were stuck in Black Marsh for the time being, which they seemed to enjoy.

In addition to all that there was a scarlet scaled altered Altmer, who was Argonian from the waist down, which included a tail, her arms and both of her shoulders had been transformed as well, her eyes had changed, and she could see horns growing out of her hair, who was training to become a warrior and help her new people out, wielding a sword and her magic to do battle.

The other thing that worried her was Kya and her banishment from her own homeland, as the ebony Argonian stood off to one side and said nothing to those who walked by her, even though many of the people seemed happy to see her, even those who had no idea who she was. It was clear that Kya had committed some great crime before she left her home, due to how the pure Argonians and Lamia were acting around her, like she was a criminal and they would be punishing her in due time, but no one dared to touch her since she was the messenger tied to the 'Black Hand'. Even her own sister looked at her like she was a murderer that deserved to be imprisoned for the rest of her days, or maybe made to replace what had been lost, or serve whatever punishment the King felt she deserved for whatever her crime was. It made sense as to why Kya was keeping her emotions hidden, even if Amaryllis could feel them, as most of the people she knew wanted her dead and other wanted her punished, especially her sister for that matter, which had to be a stab to the heart, given how she had felt earlier, when they first encountered her sibling.

Eventually Shadow called for everyone to regroup, as in her, the Argonians under her command, and the pair that they were supposed to be escorting, Kya and Amaryllis, before leaving Stormhold and making their way to Helstrom, which was one of the most revered locations in Black Marsh. While they rode for their destination Shadow informed Amaryllis, and her sister at the same time even though it was clear that she wasn't interested in talking to Kya, another knife to her heart, that whenever they were invaded by the Dominion they preferred to capture their foes, giving those a single cup of sap to drink. One was enough to open their minds to the rest of the world, instead of seeing it as something to destroy so their race could ascend to their 'godly' states once more, and more was provided for those who wanted to continue down the new path, with breaks between each cup so they didn't overwhelm the Altmer. Extended exposure to the Hist Sap caused one's body to change shape, which Amaryllis had seen during their time in Stormhold, as it was both mental and physical, and Shadow wasn't at all surprised by everything that had happened to the Altmer, another thing that made sense due to the fact that she had been male and turned female, likely due to a Hist ritual or something.

In the end Amaryllis decided not to worry about what the people of Black Marsh were doing to the invading Altmer, rather it seemed like things were going smoothly and they were making good progress on their end, allowing her to focus on the journey ahead of them, during which they would likely remain safe thanks to the guards.

As they traveled deeper and deeper into the province, seeking out Helstrom, Amaryllis discovered that many of the guards were interested in the transformed Altmer, some either caring about their knowledge while others actually grew to like the people who had been imprisoned beneath the robes. Based on what she knew the Argonians wouldn't feel that way if they were being attacked by, say, the Dunmer of Morrowind, in fact she was sure that they would have enslaved everyone and not given them the option to join their forces, repaying them for what happened in the past. It also showed her that the people of Black Marsh were far more open minded than people thought, no doubt due to the Hist sap, which gave her an idea on how they might be able to turn the tide against their enemies, even turn the Dominion's forces against each other if they were lucky. If the Hist sap remained pure during travel, and contained the same potency as if coming from the tap it was produced from, they could free the minds of the Altmer and their allies, allowing them to capture their enemies and even turn them into allies in due time, if it worked like what they were seeing in Black Marsh.

It was an idea she would have to pitch to Za'kera and the King of this province, if the latter agreed to speak with her friend in Cyrodiil, or here in Black Marsh, but for now she kept her eyes on the path and listened to what the others were saying, just in case they revealed anything interesting that might help them out in the future.

Helstrom, as Amaryllis eventually discovered, was a fairly large city that was well hidden, meaning it was downright hard, if not impossible, for invaders to find it, no doubt due to the Hist making sure to keep the Argonian's capital hidden from all those who wanted to harm the province. The guards were more armored than those they had seen in Stormhold, not to mention well hidden since it took Amaryllis a few moments to find them, without using her emotion sensing power to be exact, and each one looked like they were capable of bringing down anyone who dared to approach this place. It was only due to the fact that Shadow's team was with them that they were able to enter Helstrom, especially since many here just stared at Kya, meaning she must have wronged this place in some manner before she fled to whatever province she lived in before heading to Skyrim. Like Stormhold this city was a mix of elegant stone structures and huts, the stores being the former and the houses likely being the latter, before she spotted a larger building in the middle of the city that had to be the castle, where the King of Black Marsh and his council rested.

Of course they had to climb off their steeds to make the ascent into the city, allowing them to walk down the streets and approach the castle, though once Amaryllis passed the main gate she found that the passage to the King was lined with his elite guards, which made sense when she thought about it. She then discovered a throne that was fit for a ruler, one that looked like a cross between branches and stone, while the figure on it was a rather muscular looking Argonian with green scales that wasn't afraid to show off his chest, while he wore metallic gauntlets on his hands, which matched the guards on his legs. He also wore a black cape that also wrapped around his neck like a scarf, she wasn't quite sure what it was as they stared at it, while having red bands on his arms and a red sash around his waist, in front of some armored leggings to round out his appearance, and she was sure he had white feathers on his head. In addition to all of that he had a crown that rested on his head, in front of his horns, that looked like it had been carved out of bark, yet one could easily mistaken it for metal, like all of the other rulers she had come across during her time in this world.

The King wasn't unarmed, as there was a silver trident off to his right, leaning against a pillar as it waited for him to use it in battle, and the instant Kya stepped forward with Shadow most, if not all of the guards, had their blades in their hands as they stepped towards her, while all the King had to do was raise a hand and everyone backed off, demonstrating his might to Amaryllis without having to stand up.

"King Abiru... father..." Kya said, though as she said that Amaryllis could tell that while she had been expecting to meet her father, after volunteering to be the messenger to Black Marsh, her emotions were all over the place, so it was hard to tell what was going through her head at the moment.

"Kya, which comes from 'Kills-You-Alot'... why have you come home?" Abiru inquired, where it was easy to feel the stab of pain that pierced her companion for a moment, as Kya had been hoping, against all odds, to have a nicer reception than this, and while Amaryllis could tell that the King wanted to step down and embrace her, based on his feelings, he didn't, as he was their King and had to set an example, "Why have you returned after all this time, after you killed most of your own siblings, slaughtered some of my best soldiers, stole the Bloodstained Scythe, and escaped from Black Marsh?"

"I... I..." Kya started to say, clearly showing that she was struggling to accept how uncaring her own family was, which only made Amaryllis wonder how many siblings she had before her mind had been compromised by Sheogorath's madness, before the Argonian steeled herself as Amaryllis used her magic to both hide the message, so no one would see if leave her pack, and move it to Kya's hand, to prompt her to be strong, "I came here with a message from the new Empress of Cyrodiil, to be delivered to the ruler of Black Marsh and his council."

"Is that so? Well then, it had better be important," Abiru replied, where he held a hand out and Kya stepped forward, just enough to place the message in his hand before falling back to the area that Amaryllis was standing in, though she knew that they were keeping Kya alive because of the Black Hand business, before he opened the message and read it, while his emotions stayed calm and collected, "So, this 'Dragonborn' has taken over the Empire and wishes to wage war with the Dominion, even if it means taking the fight to the Summerset Isles... and she sends an assassin to deliver it, as well as an exile from our land."

"Empress Za'kera Saratamil trusts us to deliver the message and to show you that we mean no ill will towards this part of Tamriel," Amaryllis stated, as while she knew that the Argonians had been expecting her arrival, thanks to the Hist she had to guess when she recalled Shadow's earlier words, there was no way to tell if they were going to execute them based on her attire or if they would stand down.

"My King, I bring news," a voice said, where they found another scout stopping to their left, who looked like he mgiht have been riding for some time and had rushed to the castle as soon as he reached Helstrom, all while taking a second to kneel towards his King, who turned his head towards him, "We've spotted three more Dominion ships near Lilmoth, doing what the other ships did when they came to Black Marsh, and our scouts are sure they'll be launching an attack on the city in a day or two."

"Fools... they never learn." Abiru said, where he let out a sigh, no doubt because he was getting tired of dealing with every Dominion assault that was coming at Black Marsh, even though it didn't look like they were suffering any casualties, but in that moment he glanced at Amaryllis and Kya, causing them both to stand straight, "Very well, gather the usual team and have them gather on the beach near their ships... we'll see if Kya and our little assassin can hold back their desire to spill blood and take lives, and see if they are able to capture their enemies."

Amaryllis knew what he was referring to, as he wanted to see just how much his daughter had changed over the years, as the last time he had seen her she apparently slaughtered most of her siblings and her father's guards, not to mention she stole her weapon from the castle, and he was eager to see if she was the same or not. At the same time she found that his words were interesting, that he would openly challenge them to only capture their enemies and not kill them, like she and the rest of her forces would if they were facing the Dominion, but it linked back up to what she thought about on the way to this place. She said nothing as she bowed her head, showing the King that she was willing to follow his orders, despite the fact that Za'kera was her leader, while Kya rubbed her right arm for a moment, clearly unsure if she could follow what her father wanted or if she would fall into her blood soaked madness. A few seconds later Abiru stood up and held out his right hand for a moment as he walked forward, the trident launching into the air before he grabbed it and swung it, which showed her that he wasn't someone they wanted to mess with, as he left his castle.

Not even ten minutes later they and the group that the King had sent for departed from Helstrom, all of them on steeds, as they headed towards the southern end of Black Marsh, which was where Llimoth rested, and as they departed from the city Amaryllis noticed a few of their riders were carrying barrels that were likely filled with Hist sap. That wasn't the only thing she discovered, as there were a few altered Altmer in their group as well, who looked like they were outfitted to be stealthy, confirming that Abiru wanted them to capture the invaders and not kill them. Such a thing was different from the actions of Hammerfell, who went to war and beat the Dominion back, to the point that a treaty had to be drafted between the two provinces, but she was eager to see their practices in action. Of course some of them seemed wary of her, given that she was wearing ancient Brotherhood armor and she was the Listener, even if they had no way of knowing that since she hadn't introduced herself yet, but she had a feeling the Hist was responsible, given the statement Shadow had given them when they first met her.

In addition to the group Amaryllis found that Kya's sister was with them as well, no doubt to keep an eye on her sister, to be sure of whether or not her madness would get in the way of her proving herself to their father and the rest of Black Marsh, but she had a feeling they would figure things out in due time.

It did take them some time to reach their destination, especially since the King had them stop around noon for a quick bite to make sure none of his forces went hungry, before they reached the outskirts of Lilmoth, where they found some of the King's scouts waiting for them. Apparently the Dominion's ships were a good distance from the city, despite the fact that they were within firing range if the Altmer felt like it, but since they hadn't fired upon the city yet, and were drawing even closer as time went by, Amaryllis had the feeling that they were planning a ground assault. Seeing that Abiru stared out at the water for a moment and found three Dominion ships heading for the city, to which he turned towards them and gave them his orders, Amaryllis and Kya were to take the furthest ship, Shadow and half her men were to take the second, and everyone else was to take the closest ship. As Amaryllis considered her options, about how to get onto her target without being seen, two things happened, the first being that Kya stabbed the end of her scythe into the ground and left it there, to show her father she was trying to abide by his wishes, while the other was that the others dived into the water and just vanished, not coming up for air at all.

Such a thing reminded her that Argonians could breath underwater, for long periods of time, which explained a few things to her as she recalled that information, before she gathered herself and took to the air, cloaking herself in shadows so her targets wouldn't see her coming, all while Kya dived into the water as soon as she was ready.

What she discovered was that there were a number of Altmer on the ship, about two dozen by her reckoning, which told her that the Dominion was being overconfident in sending a small force or this was the start of a fleet to bring Black Marsh under their thumb. Regardless of which idea was right she landed on part of the ship and found that no one heard her, as part of her armor made her move silently, and none of their enemies had any idea she was there, to which she gathered a bit of her magic and send out tendrils made of shadows. Since King Abiru had ordered the Altmer to be captured, instead of outright killing them for invading his territory, she was going to abide by his wishes and wrapped the tendrils around the arms, legs, and mouth of her first target, binding the figure so they couldn't move before carefully catching them so a noise wouldn't sound when they hit the floor. As she did that, and focused on the other enemies that were around her, it was easy for her to find that Kya had arrived, because she climbed out of the water and lashed out at her enemies, using her arms in a way to knock out her enemies and drop them to the ground, showing that she was combating the madness that had plagued her mind for so many years.

Sure enough the Dominion's forces weren't expecting a raid like this, as Amaryllis found that Kya had taken to being more like an assassin for a time and was knocking foes out without killing any of them, and once they were in control of the ship one of the other Argonians climbed aboard before directing them to the area Abiru was standing in. It took them a couple of moments to get the ships into position, and figure out where the wooden walkways were stored so they could escort all of the captured Altmer to the King, but as soon as those conditions were met they were able to move their prisoners off the ship. Amaryllis had decided to use her power to bind the arms and mouths of the other Altmer, releasing the legs of all those she took out on her own, as she didn't want them barking their madness at her and everyone else, about how they were destined to destroy the world or how every race was inferior to the Altmer, and once they were in position she took a moment to see if the other teams had been successful. Shadow's team had been successful in capturing their ship, as the crew had been captured without a single casualty, while the other half had done the same thing, meaning all three vessels had been taken, all of the Altmer had been captured, and now it was time to decide their fate, hence why those baring the sap containers had set their containers down on makeshift tables, which they carried and deployed whenever an attack like this happened.

In the following moments Abiru had the cap carriers offer their captives a drink, allowing each Altmer to take in some Hist sap, even though Amaryllis and the others had to remove all of the gags to make that happen, and when one finished the offered cup he had that one unbound. It was then that Amaryllis saw first hand the changes that the pure sap brought to those that took it into their bodies, as she had been expecting the first one to get up and charge at Abiru with his blade in his hand, given how the Altmer hated the other races and wanted them to bend their knee to the Dominion. What actually happened in the next couple of seconds was that he seemed, well, overwhelmed by everything he was seeing right now, as if he was seeing Black Marsh and the rest of the world in a new light, just like the altered Altmer they had seen back in Stormhold, before a genuine friendly smile appeared on his face. After that it wasn't long before the others joined him, as each one seemed to accept the new reality they were being shown and didn't seem to have the desire to fight back, but as she thought about that she considered that such a fight might have been in their heads, but she wasn't about to argue or question Abiru's methods.

Eventually the crew of the three ships were all liberated, as that was the best way to describe what she had seen, though in that moment, before they departed for another city so he could see to the placement of their new residents, Abiru had one final cup poured and took it, only to present it to Kya.

"You have proven that the madness isn't as strong as it used to be... maybe it is curable," Abiru said, where Amaryllis could tell what he wanted, despite keeping his face and body calm for those that were around them, he desired the return of his daughter, who she had been before Sheogorath's madness had consumed her and left someone he had banished, after losing so much in the process.

Kya took the cup for a moment, staring down at the sap for a few seconds as she debated whether or not she should just down it or destroy it, before she threw her head back and downed the sap without wasting time, where Amaryllis watched as she drained the entire cup, either to not disappoint her father or because she wanted to be rid of her madness and not be ruled by her desire to spill blood. For a few seconds nothing happened, not like what occurred when the Altmer drank their cups, before the cup fell out of Kya's hand as her entire body violent shook, like she was having an allergic reaction to the sap, which shouldn't be possible given how everyone else reacted to it. It was like the madness was trying to take over, to kick the Hist sap out and take full control over Kya's body and mind, where she staggered backwards and everyone who was in the area backed away as she gripped the handle of her scythe, though as she pulled it out of the ground Amaryllis found that Abiru had stepped forward, trident in hand. She could feel his despair, even if he didn't show it, he really didn't want to end his daughter's life, in fact he had been hoping to save Kya from this fate, but before he could do anything Kya raised her weapon and drove the base into her chest, though instead of harming her it pierced some sort of darkness and knocked out some dark substance, which Abiru threw his trident at, smashing it to dust.

Amaryllis had a feeling that the Hist sap had allowed Kya to see the root of her madness and had banished it, where her father had slain it after seeing her resolve, though as Abiru caught his daughter, who was now unconscious to make sure her mind didn't suffer from this ordeal, he ordered them to return to Helstrom, as he had a message to think about and what his response might be, where she followed him to see what his final decision was, and if he would join them in their fight to save the world they called home.

War: Waiting in the Marsh

After showing King Abiru that they we capable of capturing their enemies, instead of killing them, he insisted that they stay in the castle for a day or two, while he and his Council went over what Za'kera had sent him, meaning there was a good chance he might agree to see her or even reject her message. If the former happened Amaryllis had a feeling that he would come with them and bring a squad of his soldiers, plus some of his shadowy forces, to meet with Za'kera and the other rulers that were joining them in their fight to save this world from the Dominion. If the latter happened, however, she suspected that she would be the only one leaving, as there was no telling what Kya's fate might be, even though she had purged herself of the madness that had overtaken her in the past, but it would end with her delivering bad news to her Empress. The only good thing about Abiru declining, as she thought about it, was that he didn't seem interested in invading Cyrodiil, so they didn't have to worry about him stabbing them in the back while they focused on another province, so that was something she guessed.

While she waited to see what sort of answer the King would bring to the table, and what she needed to tell Za'kera, she found that Kya was in the courtyard of the castle, training with some of her father's guards, though instead of using her scythe it looked like she had taken up a trident. It was a reminder that she had been freed from Sheogorath's madness, or at least it sure looked like it since the Hist sap had purged something from within her body earlier, which her father stabbed with his own trident, and while Kya should be resting she apparently didn't want to stay still. From what she could see this was what the Argonian princess, or maybe ex-princess was more accurate since she had been banished by her father, was like before she was cursed with madness and this allowed her to at least reclaim who she once was, which also explained her skill with the scythe. As she thought about that she also wondered where the scythe had been kept before she stole it, as it seemed like something that should have been under lock and key for some time, possibly even forgotten, but figured there was no reason for her to delve into the mystery.

Being freed from the madness meant that Kya was no longer consumed by her desire for battle, rather she fought like a normal person would, study the situation and react accordingly, and her movements were finer than they had been not a few days ago, showing that she had been trained as a warrior princess, or at least it looked like that.

A few moments later they found that Abiru, armed with his trident, emerged and approached the area that Kya was in, to which his daughter and her sparring partner stopped before kneeling towards him, with their heads bowed, showing him and everyone else that she had been cured of her madness and that she was back. Amaryllis, who was watching with her back to one of the walls, found that he came here for a very specific reason, he wanted to spar with Kya and her partner backed off as soon as he informed them of his reason for coming here, to take a break from speaking to the council about the message Za'kera had sent. As soon as they were ready the pair clashed with each other, showing everyone that both Kya and their King were equally skilled in using this type of weapon, like an image fighting itself or something, where both tridents gleamed as they clashed, sparks flying as Abiru tested his daughter, making sure she truly remembered how to fight, to see just how much damage the madness had done to her. As far as both he and Amaryllis could tell she was fine, her movements were perfect, her body and mind appeared to have been fully healed, and there was nothing to suggest that she had been inflicted with madness for a long time, save for the memories of the event that burned in the minds of those who lost their family members that day.

In the end Abiru proved that his experience was far too much for Kya to overcome, not when she had spent years being a beast that craved violence and bloodshed, as he knocked her to the ground and pointed the tip of his weapon at her, to show everything that he was victorious, before pulling it back and offering her a hand, which she took and let herself be pulled onto her feet.

After that she spent some time making sure the now liberated Altmer were truly on their side and not about to turn back to the Dominion, though all she found was that each and every one of them had pulled off their black clothing, replacing it with what all of the other altered Altmer wore, and went about their days as they learned where in Black Marsh the King would be sending them. Even though she had aided Abiru and his men in capturing these people, instead of killing them on their boats, it still surprised her when she witnessed how strong the Hist sap really was, breaking through years upon years of arrogance and dark thoughts like a hot knife through butter. In mere moments, to those observing, a person went from someone who wanted to dominate the world and became someone who was more in tune with the world, including the desire to protect it from harm, and it still freaked her out a little. It really made her wonder if the key to solving most of their problems with the other provinces was the use of Hist sap, as in track down a group of people and give it to them to make them understand that the Dominion was using them for their dark purposes.

In the end she sighed and simply smiled as she watched the city's people for a time, finding that everything in Black Marsh seemed to be moving smoothly, in fact her presence wasn't needed all that much, not after what happened when they hit the ships, to which she looked forward to seeing what Abiru's decision was.

As it turned out it took more than a few hours for a decision to be reached, meaning Amaryllis and Kya ended up spending more time in Abiru's castle and in his presence, more than what Amaryllis was expecting when they arrived in this place, giving them a bit of time to relax and wander around as they waited. The first thing she did was change her attire once she realized that she didn't need to be an assassin in Abiru's presence, in fact his people were more than enough to secure the area, and what Amaryllis changed into was a set of native attire made to fit her new true form, a light gray colored chest piece that wrapped around her shoulders and cupped her breasts, with a cloth skirt that was halfway down the upper part of her legs. Of course some of Abiru's men inspected every piece of her Dark Brotherhood armor, which allowed them to find the enchantment that allowed it to match whatever form she was wearing, something she had to demonstrate for all of them since they weren't used to seeing a shapeshifter, though the guards nearly pulled their weapons on her when she took on the King's form, as per his orders to see it himself. After seeing what happened to all of the Altmer, and how Abiru accepted each one after they were freed, she knew that she could roam in her true form, change back to the first form she had been given when she landed in this world, or just hang out in her favorite Khajiit disguise for a time, and none of the people in Black Marsh hated her because of her powers.

Such a thing caused her to chuckle as she laid on a rather thick branch of the tree she had found, in her Khajiit form for the first time in a long time, and realized that living in Black Marsh might not be so bad, as one of Abiru's retainers, and if Za'kera was defeated, and their alliance was destroyed, he seemed like the best person to work with, provided they figure out what to do with the Night Mother and the Brotherhood. Of course she wasn't planning on betraying Za'kera, not after all they had been through, but one needed a contingency in case things went south and living in Black Marsh seemed like a good idea right now, even though she might have to get a new job, given that it looked like the King's shadow squad was totally full. At the same time she found that she enjoyed the couple of days of peace this gave her, without the threat of the Dominion and the war looking over their heads, making her wonder if some Hist sap had been slipped into her food, but dismissed that idea, as Abiru wouldn't do that to a guest, especially since she was connected to the new Empress of Cyrodiil and her vast network of allies. The other thing she thought about was the fact that Kya hadn't been imprisoned in the time they had been here, so while many knew of her deeds, during the time she had been infected with madness, they were now treating her like the person she used to be, even though Kya mourned her fallen siblings, while Shadow simply stayed in the shadows near her father, no doubt keeping her own sadness contained.

On the third day Amaryllis learned that another assault force was coming, this time from Elsweyr, and she joined them in a heartbeat, where she rode out with the subjugation squad, or maybe liberation squad was more accurate, and found that this one was made up of Khajiit and Altmer. Sure enough they deployed similar tactics to what they used against the ships, they carefully sneaked through an area that was between them and their targets, which meant waiting at a tree line that was a fair distance from the border, and then captured each one without them understanding that enemies were even in the area. Once that was done Amaryllis joined the squad in liberating the prisoners of the lies the Dominion had filled their heads with, repeating the strange event on the beach once more, and found that it was slowly growing on her, where she had a feeling that it would become second nature to her if she spent too much time in this province. In addition to all that they had a camp set aside to clothe the newly liberated people, or at least the Altmer since the Khajiit didn't need to alter their clothing, not unless they wanted to, and once everyone was ready Amaryllis and the others returned to Helstrom to report to the King and his council.

Of course the new group didn't know much more than the last couple of groups that had invaded Black Marsh, other than that they needed to bring the Argonians down before crushing the other provinces and destroying the world, though she and the others knew all information was good information to Abiru.

"Most of the Altmer know the same as the groups we encountered in the past, so no new information there, but the Khajiit are a different story," Abiru commented, speaking to Amaryllis and Kya after he listened to everything the new arrivals had shared with him and his guards, while Shadow kept an eye on the surrounding area, where he could see that he held their interest and curiosity, which he shared with them, "According to the pair of Khajiit mages you liberated, there is a group of their race that believes the Dominion lied to their faces sometime ago, about the reappearance of the moons, and after you freed them both mages are sure that they were lied to."

"I wouldn't put it past the Dominion to lie about such a thing, as they're well known for their silver tongues." Amaryllis said, as that had been a problem in the past, according to what she knew on the matter, the Dominion taking advantage of the situation and speaking quickly, often leaving treaties that would fracture the Empire and make their first task easier, which was the conquering of Tamriel so they could get to the Towers, "and the 'Dawn Magicks' they claim to have used are likely made up, as we have an ally that is the daughter of Hermaeus Mora and she knows nearly everything about magic and the history of this world... if it exists, she'd know of it."

"That's going to upset the Khajiit, but we might be able to turn it to our advantage," Kya pointed out, because if there was a group of Khajiit that were working under the Dominion's thumb, but believed that they had been lied to about the short disappearance of the moons, she was sure that they might be able to convince them to join the Empire again, especially since it was possible that Ma'jera might have been responsible for the deed, "If we spread the word in some manner, that the Dominion lied and took advantage of the Khajiit, we could cause them to fracture, meaning we really wouldn't have to fight, we'd just have to swoop in and capture everyone... we could liberate a whole province without losing anyone, be it enemy or ally."

That was the other thing Amaryllis was getting used to, Kya's original personality, as she was far less bloodthirsty and was more intelligent than she looked, acting like a warrior princess and maybe a war general at the same time, which told her that Abiru might have been grooming her to join the council, before the madness seized her mind and caused her to be banished from her own home.

"That is a sound strategy, undermine the bonds that exist between our enemies and take their forces without loss of life," Abiru said, though it was basically what he did when the Dominion invaded his territory, his forces captured the invaders and liberated them from their inner darkness, but Amaryllis knew that he didn't force the liberated to stay in Black Marsh, they chose that of their own free will, "Very well, in two days time I, and a group of my guards, will leave this province and meet with Za'kera Saratamil, to meet with her and the other rulers that have decided to respond to her invitation to join her in the Imperial City. I won't commit to joining her war effort, not until I've had a chance to speak with her and see what she wants from the people of Black Marsh... but, if she's anything like you, Amaryllis, I might be willing to join her with the purpose of liberating all of the other races."

As Amaryllis bowed her head she knew what Abiru meant, he was referring to her open-mindedness, as she had taken to his tactics with an open mind and was surprisingly good at simply capturing whoever her targets happened to be, despite the fact that she was a skilled assassin, but she said nothing as the King dismissed his daughters, leaving the two alone in his throne room, showing that he trusted her.

"You are more open-minded than many I have met, Amaryllis, and the people like having you around," Abiru commented, as during the time that Kya had been back in Black Marsh, which he was overjoyed to have since he got his daughter back, he had seen this stranger take to his methods without hesitating, she simply switched from assassinating her foes to just capturing and liberating them, and his people liked hanging out with her, "Tell me, have you considered moving to Black Marsh and starting a new chapter in your life? We could use someone of your skill and ability."

"To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind... and while I am honored that you would say that, right now my loyalty is to Empress Za'kera," Amaryllis replied, because loyalty was important to her and Za'kera had earned it during the time she had spent with her as they faced their enemies, and based on what she was feeling Abiru seemed pleased to hear about her loyalty to her current boss, otherwise it would cause him to question if she was trustworthy or not, "but you never know, when the war is over I might decide to retire from my current station and move elsewhere... and Black Marsh is at the top of that list."

Her reasoning was due to the fact that this province accepted her, no mater which form she was in, unlike most people in Skyrim, because the people from the snowy province didn't like outsiders and it was taking them time to accept that their beloved Empire was going to be run by a Khajiit soon, so it instantly made her like this place far more. At the same time the other half of her reasoning was that if they were able to defeat the Dominion, but Za'kera was killed and her alliance shattered, an event she had to accept might be possible, since they had no idea what was going to happen between now and the end of this war, it was good to have a backup plan. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in their chances, in fact she had a feeling that they would be able to stop the Dominion and safely dismantle the Numidium, to the point where none of it could be used against Nirn, but she wanted to be prepared in the event that things went south. Working with Abiru seemed to be the best case plan in her mind, in case something bad happened to her friends or the Empire, and he was a leader that she could follow with ease, especially after everything she had seen and done so far, especially since he didn't seem disappointed in her answer.

With that done, and it appearing that they were done for now, Amaryllis excused herself and headed out to explore the city some more, figuring that she could get used to things before they returned to Cyrodiil, not to mention interact with some of the people, just in case she returned here to live and work under Abiru's banner, before wondering what the next few days had in store for her and the others.

War: Council

Amaryllis discovered that things were as Abiru said, as once the two days passed them by he gathered those that would be joining him for the journey to Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, which included her, Kya, and Shadow, not to mention several others that were part of his security service. Of course those staying behind were under orders to continue what they were doing, keep Black Marsh safe and capture anyone who dared to invade the province, freeing them from the darkness that clouded their minds, and she found that they were eager to make their King proud. One thing she noticed was that some of the other members of their group glanced at Shadowmere, either due to the fact that they had never seen a steed like him before or they hadn't been expecting to see him in their lifetime, it was hard to tell sometimes, something Kya seemed very grateful for. Amaryllis also knew that Kya was torn by what had happened during their time in this province, she was glad to be back in control of her life, but the other side was ashamed of being driven to madness and slew most of her siblings, before fleeing Black Marsh for a long time.

She really had no idea if Abiru had lifted his daughter's banishment or if she was still banished from her home, neither of them had said anything about it in the time they had been in Black Marsh, but she wasn't about to pry into something that was personal for the pair, so she was waiting for one of them to say something first. While she thought about that she also noticed Shadow's continued silence, no doubt she was thinking about what needed to be done to keep her father safe, and that thinking about her sister's banishment was likely a sore subject for her. Everyone else, on the other hand, seemed to be happy to have the lost princess back, meaning most of their current group must have forgiven her for her crimes while she was under Sheogorath's madness, but of course there were those that desired punishment and kept quite, since they didn't want to anger their King. Amaryllis decided to just let it be and not worry about everyone's thoughts on the matter, as they would no doubt inform Abiru of their opinions at some point, if they hadn't already done so, so she focused on riding back to Cyrodiil and figuring out what sort of progress had been made.

There was one other thing she discovered, they were bringing a number of scrolls and tomes that had been taken out of an ancient Blades building before the Dominion had burned it during the Great War, no doubt the one Esbern had told her and her companions about, which he was going to be overjoyed to see again.

Other than that there was nothing else for her to focus on, so she focused on the journey out of Black Marsh and found that a few of the Lamia that were in Stormhold, plus some of the altered Altmer, were planning on joining them, no doubt as a sign to the other leaders so they understood what Abiru was about. It was an interesting idea, though she had no way of knowing if Tosh Raka and the leaders of Akavir would take the news, given that they had been attacked by several ships that belonged to the Dominion, so they might not agree with his suggestion to capture and liberate the people they were currently fighting. That conflict of interests worried her more than she was willing to admit, because she knew that all of their allies wanted a piece of the Dominion, based on what had been said so far, so taking prisoners might not sit well with most of them, but she had a feeling Za'kera would grow to like the idea, especially if they found a commander, making her wish she hadn't outright killed that one Altmer during the attack to liberate Cyrodiil. Her personal thoughts on the matter were that they could have Tosh Raka and his allies focus on the ocean between them and the Summerset Isles, keeping the Dominion from realizing what was going on, leaving Abiru and their land allies to liberate the provinces that were still under their control, and once that was done they could focus on the Summerset Isles.

It took some time for them to pierce the tree line and pass into the land of Cyrodiil once more, where Abiru and the rest of his group found that Amaryllis and Kya hadn't been joking, not that he thought they had been kidding about the size of the army Za'kera possessed. Of course the pair was also surprised when they discovered more than the banners of Skyrim and Cyrodiil resting among their forces, as she found a force of Dark Elves baring the banner of Morrowind, with five more baring the emblems of the Great Houses mixed into the mass, the banner of High Rock and those who lead the province, and even some from Hammerfell. Just like Abiru the other rulers had brought with them a force to keep themselves safe, in the event that the Empire shattered and total war broke out between the provinces, though while the Argonians had a smaller force Amaryllis knew that they could hold their own, especially since Kya would rush to her father's aid if the talks between nations fell apart. Of course Valenwood and Elsweyr were absent, as both provinces were under the control of the Dominion, so there was no reason to call on their enemies to join a war council, but Amaryllis hoped that, in time, the remaining provinces would be freed and would be able to join them in tearing down their enemies.

After taking a moment to think about the forces that were resting near Cyrodiil, and allowing Abiru to understand what he and the others were getting themselves into, Amaryllis made her way to the Imperial City and escorted him to the building the other readers were gathering in.

Sure enough she found that Za'kera was happy to see that they had returned and that the ruler of Black Marsh was willing to come and speak with them, as she wanted to figure out who was willing to join the war effort and who was going to sit back and watch this fight unfold. From what Amaryllis discovered Morrowind had a representative from each Great House, and Neloth, against all odds, was the one for Telvanni, the rulers of High Rock apparently elected a High King to stand in for them, so not all of them would have to leave their homes, and Hammerfell had a Queen present. In addition to them there was the King, or maybe Warchief, of Orsinium, three people standing for Skyrim, those being Balgruuf, Elisif, and Ulfric, and all of the rulers of Akavir, plus the Queen of the Maomer, Lady Seirhy she recalled, had joined them. Of course Black Marsh was now represented by Abiru, the forces of Oblivion had Ma'jera, and Cyrodiil had both several figures from the Elder Council and Za'kera to represent them in this meeting, which meant all of their allies had been assembled and were now waiting for the council to start. Such a thing caused Amaryllis to shift into the shadows once more, this time with her true armor on, allowing her to watch over the area and make sure no one tried anything funny, only to find that she wasn't the only one with that thought, as Shadow did the same and she found a shadowy figure standing for each of the provinces, meaning everyone was keeping themselves safe.

Like the last time this happened Amaryllis tuned out the conversation for the most part, enough so she could focus on the defense of the chamber while having a decent idea of what everyone wanted, and one of the first things Za'kera told them was what she told Ulfric, the ban on worship was no more. Such a thing earned her some points with the other rulers, as a fair number did, in some way, acknowledge Talos and worshiped him as a Divine, though after that they asked why there was a Khajiit on the throne and not an Imperial, given the nature of the Empire. Apparently many of them didn't approve of a mortal hero, the Dragonborn, taking the throne from whoever was next in line, despite the fact that all the successors had been slain before the Dark Brotherhood had been called in to deal the finishing blow, where Amaryllis noticed some of them glanced in her direction, blaming her for this event. She really didn't care how they felt about her, because Za'kera was the one she cared about helping right now, though at the same time she knew that Abiru approved of the change that had washed over the Empire, otherwise he wouldn't have come out to meet with her and the other rulers.

While several of the rulers were on the fence about the change in leadership, which was understandable, they moved onto what the next step of their plan was, since there were still two provinces standing between them and the Summerset Isles, as many understood that they needed to liberate Valenwood and Elsweyr first.

"Our next step is obvious, once you think about it: we attack the provinces and crush the Dominion." Tosh Raka stated, as he was, and would always be, a leader who would always be a warmonger and would respond to attacks by attacking his enemies in return, and given the scope of his army it made sense why he would think that way, not to mention his own power for that matter.

"Correction, we should capture their patrols and liberate them, as it will give us access to everything they know and might reveal some secrets to us," Abiru countered, causing some of the other leaders to turn towards him, before finding that he had some altered Altmer standing near the door, which Amaryllis could see that Neloth was interested in all of a sudden, a bad sign for sure given his personality and habits towards his apprentices, "We need to undermine the Dominion's hold over the remaining two provinces, and to do that we should first start by capturing their soldiers and liberating them from their hold. Not only will the Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajiit be grateful for being freed, but they'll also share with us what they know of our enemy's plans and where their bases are located, meaning we'll be able to attack their own strategy and tear it down, disrupt whatever alliances the Dominion have with the provinces in question, and find weaknesses to exploit so we don't have to lose soldiers before our big fight with whatever forces are waiting on the Summerset Isles."

"King Abiru's idea works, we've seen it in action back in Black Marsh," Kya said, showing them that she agreed with what her father was saying, even though none of them knew that she was one of his children, something they were keeping to themselves for the time being, "Some of the Dominion's forces marched in from Elsweyr, which we caught and liberated before they could do anything, so it is entirely possible that we can pull it off in the other provinces and turn whatever information we're given against our enemies."

"What's wrong? Are you afraid of the Dominion?" Tosh Raka asked, though it was clear that he thought of Abiru as more of a weakling for even considering tackling their enemies in a more stealthy manner, all while Amaryllis noticed that many of the leaders seemed to like Abiru's idea far more than his total war plan.

"No. In fact, I have a bone to pick with them as well... I'm just offering up an idea for what to do to the forces that are in Valenwood and Elsweyr," Abiru replied, where he turned his head a bit and noticed that Za'kera was thinking about what had been said so far, not to mention she had to be thinking about what the other leaders had to say on the matter, which showed him that she wasn't a warmonger, rather she liked to listen to what everyone else wanted to say before making her mind known.

Amaryllis discovered that the room was well and truly divided between the two ideas, as the rulers like Ulfric wanted to take the fight to their enemy, crush them under their might and take glory for their province, while the others, such as Elisif, felt that undermining the Dominion's hold was the best move. It was about what she expected, that some wanted to have all the glory and others wanted to go about this in a quite manner, though she remained silent as she listened to all of them listing why one option was better than the other, all while knowing that they were trying to influence Za'kera into making a decision on the matter. She was, in essence, the Grand Commander of their army, everyone looked to her for their orders, but they were also trying to figure out a way to bring her down, if she made the wrong decision and brought defeat to their army, especially after the success of reclaiming Cyrodiil from the Dominion's clutches. Based on the size of their forces, or at least what she had seen so far, Amaryllis felt that they could easily divide the army in half, the combat side going with Tosh Raka's fleet to take down the Dominion from the sea, preventing them from learning that they were losing the fight on the mainland, while the others would follow Abiru and liberate the remaining provinces.

In the end, after about ten or so minutes of talking, Za'kera let out the faintest of sighs and stood up, where she could see that everyone was glancing towards her, focusing on what she had to say about the matter, though Amaryllis, Zoravoir, Kya, and the others remained on alert as well, since they had no idea what she'd say.

"Both sides bring up good points, so Tosh Raka will be in charge of ensuring that none of the Dominion's ships reach any of the provinces, while also making an attempt to capture anyone of importance," Za'kera stated, something that caught a good number of the rulers by surprise, that she was agreeing on both points and not just one of them, confirming the idea that Amaryllis had come up with while she was listening to them talk about the methods they could use to bring down the Dominion's forces, "while at the same time the remainder of our forces, those who would prefer to disrupt the Dominion's plans, will fall under the banner of King Abiru and listen to his instructions on how to liberate Valenwood and Elsweyr."

Once more Za'kera didn't mention the Numidium, and Amaryllis couldn't blame her, as the knowledge that such a thing was real, and was going to be used against them, might drive their forces for the hills, but at the very least it looked like the others were pleased with her orders, making her curious as to what the next few days held for them and their forces.

War: Elsweyr Campaign

Following the discussion between rulers, and discovering that Tosh Raka just wanted to do battle with their enemies with no real regard for strategy, Amaryllis focused her efforts on assisting Abiru and his forces, as they were gathering like minded people for the assault on Elsweyr. Of course it wasn't actually an assault, as their plan was to call upon the freed Khajiit who were in Black Marsh and figure some things out before they did anything else, as they had no way of telling what state the province was in, what the Dominion had done, and where their targets were resting. As such their best plan was to attack the bonds between Elsweyr and the organization that was currently taking advantage of them, spreading rumors of their own and doing everything in their power to disrupt the complicated bonds that exist between both parties, though with Ma'jera on their side they knew that the Dominion had lied about bringing the moons back. Of course she knew that such a thing might not be enough to ensure a division between the people of Elsweyr and the forces of the Dominion, so that meant they had to find out where the leader of the Khajiit might be and talk them into turning on those that had deceived them.

The first thing was going over the map of Elsweyr and discussing the current situation the province was in, information that came from the few Khajiit that had come with Abiru earlier, though right now they had to wait for the rest to come before he made his move.

"It appears that the province has been divided between two kingdoms, Anequina and Pellitine," Abiru said, gesturing to the map that was in front of them right now, where Amaryllis could see that the former was the northern half and was an area full of savannas, badlands, and dry plains, while the latter was the southern end, a fertile land of rain forests and jungles, and thanks to the Khajiit they had a good idea of where each city rested, "while the majority of our focus should be on the northern half, to help protect Cyrodiil, we should sneak some agents into the southern half and begin working to separate the province from the Dominion. If we could find the current Mane, well, we'd be able to save a lot of time and effort, as it would disrupt whatever plans the Altmer have for the province, because I'm positive the Dominion would keep such a figure safe, until they were needed for something special."

"Like killing him and blaming it on someone else?" Amaryllis inquired, as that seemed like a worthwhile plan, imprison the spiritual figure of the Khajiit until it was time to kill him in a way that passed the blame onto one of their enemies, such as Za'kera's Empire or one of the other provinces, to install hatred into the Khajiit and turn them on those who might actually be trying to help them.

"Indeed, which we must avoid at all costs." Abiru stated, though he was pleased to find that Amaryllis was listening to all he had to say and was thinking about what might happen in a specific situation, making him understand why Za'kera had her close to her at all times, she was far smarter than one gave her credit for and her abilities meant that there was next to nothing she couldn't do, "So for now I want you to join the northern group, learn what you can, capture patrols so we can free them, and do whatever is necessary to turn the Khajiit against the Dominion."

Amaryllis knew that Abiru wanted another set of eyes in Elsweyr, so she nodded and spent a while figuring out what sort of attire she needed for her time in the northern half of the province, where she altered the Black Marsh attire a little, to make it more akin to what someone would wear in a desert or savanna. Of course that also meant that she had to take on her Khajiit disguise once more, which she was fine with since it was one of her favorite forms, before speaking to the freed individuals who had joined the King, who made some suggestions so she could alter her attire and fit in with the people of the province they would be heading towards. Given her enhanced powers she knew that such a thing might not be all that necessary, since she could linger in the shadows and not be seen or heard, until she wanted to anyway, but this allowed her to explore the cities they ended up stopping in, without causing a scene with armor that belonged to another province of Tamriel. In the end she looked like someone who belonged in Elsweyr, at least until she talked since it would take some time to get used to the customs of the province they would he heading into, though since they had the group that was sent into Black Marsh that meant they could take over the building they had come from and use it as a base for the rest of this operation.

Other than that there wasn't much for her to do, save for resting and waiting for the mission to start, especially since they were waiting for the rest of the liberated Khajiit to arrive before they headed for Elsweyr, so Amaryllis found a room and decided to rest inside it. She wasn't too surprised to find that Za'kera didn't come and talk with her, as she was the one leading an entire Empire and that meant she was stretched between everyone who wanted a piece of her, so she didn't let it bug her at all, instead she focused on her rest. The other thing she recalled was that Kya had decided to stay with her father, as heading into a province for a stealth mission wasn't her thing, even if she had been freed from the madness that had been bothering her for years, so this meant she could be near him and help him in other ways. It also gave the sisters time to speak with each other and try to reconnect, to be sisters again, though that was if Shadow wanted to do that, since she hadn't said anything to Kya since the day they entered Black Marsh, but, once again, that was something they could work out on their own.

In the end Amaryllis decided to get some rest and ready herself for the mission she would be joining soon enough, as it wouldn't be good to be exhausted when going into enemy territory, though she was eager to show the Khajiit that they had been lied to and see what sort of reaction they had to that information.

When the rest of the freed Khajiit joined them Amaryllis and her group left the Imperial City, where they headed south for a time and made their way towards Elsweyr, though she knew that their target was the city of Riverhold, the gateway to northern Elsweyr, which happened to be the best place for them to start. The reason for that was due to what Amaryllis discovered from talking with Abiru and those who had been freed, the city in question had one of the largest marketplaces in the province, with people flocking to buy and sell goods, from carriages no less. Sadly they would stick out like a sore thumb without one of their own, though the Khajiit knew where to find some, as the silent rebels had bases in all the cities of Elsweyr and, after discovering that they wanted a silent war with the Dominion in this province, they were the best ones to help them out in laying low. Of course the name convinced Amaryllis that they might be dealing with a gang of assassins or thieves, as it was 'Silent Tails', though if such a group was standing against the Dominion's forces, while no news was escaping to the rest of the continent, they might have a chance at overcoming whatever was between them and liberating the province.

Before they reached their destination Amaryllis switched into her disguise and made sure everything was in place, which everyone else agreed with after checking out her current alterations, though after that no one said anything as they made their way into Elsweyr.

Sure enough she found that Riverhold was more like Falkreath or even Morthal, the seemed to be open to the area that it rested in, making it easier for them to enter the city, though she also discovered that it had some rather impressive structures, some being houses and one being what she suspected was a castle, made of stone and wood. She wasn't sure what the style was, since each race seemed to have their own styles when it came to building things, but the Khajiit were happy to see Riverhold and she mimicked their motions, to not draw attention to herself or her allies, since she found a group of Dominion guards in front of the main gate. Fortunately they looked bored out of their minds and didn't care too much about her group, allowing them to enter Riverhold without wasting too much time, though after that happened one of her new friends lead them down one of the streets, heading to what appeared to be one of the more shadowy sections of the impressive city. Based on what she could tell one of the Khajiit that had been in the group they had liberated was a member of the Silent Tails, in fact the one she was thinking of might have been infiltrating the Dominion to gain all sorts of information to give to her superiors, only to be sent to Black Marsh on a suicide mission, given that none of the Altmer that had been sent to Abiru's domain had returned.

Her suspicions were proven to be correct as they reached a house and she made sure that no one was watching, where it was easy for Amaryllis to find that the Silent Tails were in control of this part of the city, given the black clothing the nearby Khajiit were wearing, and tapped on the door in a pattern that only one of the organization would know. Not even a few seconds later the door opened and they were allowed inside, where Amaryllis found that a family, members of the gang no doubt, were the caretakers of the house and, once everyone was inside, they headed into the back and moved one of the bookshelves after using a tiny bit of magic. She guessed that what they had done was use a key or something to open the door, where they headed into the cavern that was behind the house, hidden by all the stone so the Dominion wouldn't see it, making it a perfect base for a group who wanted to see their home freed from the Altmer. At the end of the passage they found a larger section that was where the bulk of the Silent Tails were stationed, where it looked like four to five dozen Khajiit were planning what to do and how to bring down the Dominion, and, unless Amaryllis was mistaken, they also had ideas on where the Mane might be located.

One Khajiit stood out from all the others she was seeing, a slim male that could be a thief or even an assassin, who had dirty brown fur all over his body and wore a set of attire that looked more suited for stealth, before Amaryllis found that the tips of his ears and half of his tail were black colored.

"Deathtail, I have returned... and we brought new allies to aid us in our mission." their guide said, bowing her head toward the Khajiit that was in front of them, where Amaryllis was sure that it was a nickname and not his true name, meaning he had to be an assassin, something that caused the Khajiit to step forward and study them.

"Is that so? And who are you supposed to be?" Deathtail asked, speaking directly to Amaryllis, instead of the ones he knew at a glance, confirming that he had to be the leader of this outfit and that everyone respected him, all while he seemed to be looking for signs of weakness that he could use, in case she was a Dominion spy, brought to him to be slain without the Altmer knowing what happened to her.

"I am Daro'vari, a simple traveler moving from city to city," Amaryllis replied, as she and the others agreed that creating a cover for her was the best thing, that way no one would think twice about her presence in Riverhold and the other cities of Elsweyr, before the shadows whipped around her and revealed her true self to them, causing some of them to step back, save for the leader anyway, "but my true identity is Amaryllis, the shadow that watches over the Empress... I am here to break the bonds between Elsweyr and the Dominion."

Deathtail tilted his head for a moment before he moved, which was the same time Amaryllis reacted, their blades clashing in the space between them for a few seconds, faster than the others could see, and were sheathed before anyone even knew that they had moved, where she found that the Khajiit was giving her a light smile.

"Very well, 'Daro'vari', your expertise would be most welcome," Deathtail said, where he gestured to the others for a few seconds and she found that everything returned to normal, meaning they were in and were counted as allies, before he turned towards the table as she reverted to her new Khajiit disguise, as him using her fake name meant he knew what she meant and was willing to work with her.

Amaryllis knew that this was only the start of their work to drive a wedge between the Khajiit and the Dominion, and she was eager to see what happened when they started to tear apart the bonds that forced this province to serve the Altmer once more, regardless of how long it took to bring out the desired outcome.

War: Breaking Bonds

Amaryllis discovered that Deathtail was assigning the Khajiit who brought her group to the hideout, Zaraya she learned, to her side while they were working against the Dominion, meaning the two of them would be working from the shadows until Elsweyr was freed from the Altmer. That meant they were going to be studying their enemies from alleyways and whatnot, all while spreading rumors and lies about the organization, though there were some truths mixed in as well, which would really get the Khajiit worked up if they listened to what they had to say. Deathtail, of course, wanted to know exactly what they were going to say so he could either edit them or get things ready to help spread the rumors around, as the more of his kind that knew of the iron grip of the Dominion, and the fact that they gladly sacrificed their allies lives without offering any of their own, the better. The Silent Tails were surprised to hear what was really going on, that the Dominion sought to end the world by removing the Adamantine Tower with the power of the Numidium, something that spurned the group into action when they learned it, meaning they were eager to bring down the Dominion.

After that she and Zaraya moved from one shadowy area to another, this time hiding their identities so none of the guards, the Altmer ones anyway, knew that familiar faces were staring at them from the shadows, though as they did that Amaryllis paused as she found something strange.

"What in Oblivion am I looking at?" Amaryllis asked, as she was sticking to one of the shadows, so none of the Khajiit that were out in the marketplace would see the surprised look in her eyes, while at the same time Zaraya stopped behind her for a few moments and stared out at the crowd that she was currently observing.

Out in the marketplace there were all sorts of feline creatures, not just the Khajiit she was used to seeing, as there was one that looked like a normal house cat, though he was wearing a small golden collar, a small golden cloak of sorts on his back, a small golden head piece, and he was capable of speaking, hence how she knew the gender so quickly. Sitting near the first one was a feline that was nearly identical to the first, only the second was slightly bigger than the first, before she found a female Khajiit, of the type she was familiar with, laughing at a joke that had been said, though she was dressed as a traveler. Standing behind her was a jaguar Khajiit, who looked more like a warrior despite not having metal armor on at the moment, before she spotted another new individual, a shorter female who looked more like a lynx and seemed suited for the lower half of Elsweyr, not the northern half. She then spotted another male who looked like the last one, only his fur was white and he didn't seem all that different from her, though he wore guard armor, like he was an escort for her or someone else, before she found something that confused her, a lady who looked more like a Bosmer, though the top of her shirt was open, showing off the sides of her breasts, while she had a leopard print tattoo on the left side of her face and her left arm.

Near the leopard elf, or whatever she was, stood another human-like figure who stood on his heels, who had light fur over his body and possessed a feline tail, and he also had some sort of cat print tattoo on his arms and face, though the lower portion of his robe stopped at the skirt level, why she had no idea. After that she found two new types of Khajiit, who she could see looked like tall bipedal tigers, though the second one was even taller and had a plantigrade stance, but despite that difference she could tell that both were dangerous, since they were wearing leather warrior armor. After that she was able to see a large cat, tiger sized she guessed, who was sitting down and seemed to be sharing a tale or something with all of the others, before she found another one that was even taller than the first, but seemed to have a shorter body span and straighter legs. She then discovered two more figures, both female based on what she was seeing, though while both were man sized, with one being slighter shorter, both also had digitigrade legs, and while the shorter one seemed to have normal hands and feet, in terms of Khajiit, the other had claws on their hands and feet while their heads were more feline than the others, making them more cat-like than most of the other Khajiit.

The last two she could see looked like lionesses, who stood as tall as the last pair, though as Amaryllis focused on them for a time she found that one was slightly shorter than the other and didn't have claws on their limbs, while the other one did have claws and had a more feline head, while the former looked like a priestess and the latter looked like a warrior, maybe a monk since she had no weapons.

"I take it this is your first time encountering the other breeds of Khajiit?" Zaraya inquired, though she thought it was a little amusing to witness this, that Amaryllis had no idea that there were more types of Khajiit out there, instead of the one she was used to seeing, meaning a bit of education was in order before they moved forward, just to make sure she didn't out herself to the guards by not knowing the other breeds, to which she gestured to them in the order Amaryllis had spotted them in, "We have the Alfig and the Alfig-raht, the Cathy and the Cathy-raht, the Dagi and the Dagi-raht, the Ohmes and the Ohmes-raht, the Pahmer and the Pahmer-raht, the Senche and the Senche-raht, the Suthay and the Suthay-raht, and the Tojay and the Tojay-raht... to be honest, its rare to see some of them, as they tend to keep to themselves."

"With how some of the other races treat beast races, I'm not even surprised." Amaryllis remarked, though as she studied each one, committing their forms to memory in case she needed a new disguise and didn't want to fall back on a race she was familiar with, she noticed how disgusted some of the Altmer were when they laid eyes on the types of Khajiit that were in this area, before they hid said emotion before one of the felines noticed it, "We might be able to use this to our advantage, to aid us in breaking the bonds between the Dominion and Elsweyr... but first, we need to start pulling at the seams, with rumors and accusations, or whatever we come up with."

The problem was that the forces of Elsweyr basically worshiped the ground that the Dominion walked on, due to the like of them bringing the moons back with 'Dawn Magic', and while Amaryllis knew there were those who didn't agree with the idea of bowing to all of the Altmer, most of them were lingering in the shadows. Such a thing meant they had to figure out a way to actually pull both factions apart from each other, which told her that they had to spread rumors about the Altmer and just slander their name, even though that would be easy to do given the fact that their organization hated all of the other races and made sure their superiority was well known. As she thought about everything they knew, however, a new idea came to mind, one that centered around the Altmer commander she slew back in Cyrodiil, before using his form to totally mess up the Dominion's forces, and it became an even better idea when she passed by an inn and noticed that all sorts of people were there, Khajiit and Altmer alike. It was an idea that might spell the end of the Dominion's hold over the city and start a rebellion that would free Elsweyr and if they found the Mane, and if he or she accepted the aid of the new Empire, their forces could wash over the province and liberate everyone from the Dominion's grasp.

Zaraya knew something was up, just by watching how her charge moved, especially after seeing the breeds of Khajiit for the first time in her life, and sure enough she found that they were heading back to the hideout without any of the guards spotting them leave, where they ended up in Deathtail's presence once more.

"I have to ask something, before we get started: is it known in Elsweyr that the Commander of the Dominion's forces in Cyrodiil, Ariantar Atheus, is no more?" Amaryllis asked, because if the Dominion knew that he was dead her idea would be broken in an instant, and coming up with a new one that could allow her to deceive their enemies would take too long, as there was no telling what the Dominion had planned.

"He's dead? A shame, I was looking forward to executing him at some point... but no, no one in Elsweyr, be they our own forces or the Dominion's, knows that he's dead." Deathtail replied, though as he said that his eyes lit up as he recalled the power he had seen earlier, her shapeshifting power, something that was followed by Amaryllis taking on the Altmer's form once more, causing the Khajiit, a Cathay she noticed, to smile, "Oh, I have a feeling that I'm going to like the idea that you've been thinking about. What do you have in mind?"

Amaryllis reverted to her own Cathay form for a moment before detailing her idea to them, where she could see that all of the Silent Tails liked it, as it was something all of them could get behind and they instantly got started on transforming the information she gave them into spreadable rumors that would damage the bonds between the two races, so when she sprung her trap it would have disastrous effects for their enemies.

Amaryllis ended up spending a week in Riverhold, allowing her and her allies time to whisper into the ears of everyone in the city, as in spread rumors about the Dominion that were only heard by the various Khajiit, while she used her power to be a nameless grunt so she could gain information from the Altmer captains. Her reasoning for doing that was to figure out if they had received any messages from the other provinces and seized them, before the Dominion's forces learned of the assault on Cyrodiil, allowing the others to work their magic in spreading all of the rumors they had decided on. Such a thing meant that she had to put a few in the heads of the Altmer, mostly in the chance to see if there were others like the liberated Altmer, who didn't want to subjugate the other races and were too afraid to speak their minds, which was all she needed, since it spread dissension among their enemies. For her plan to work the Dominion's forces needed to be divided, filled with discord so they couldn't react well when the time came to spring her trap, and to be sure that no one accused her of trying to bring down the Dominion she made several different Altmer forms, using several per day to make it seem as if multiple people thought the same way, and Amaryllis was pleased to see that it was working.

While she did that Deathtail and the Silent Tails went to work spreading the other rumors to the Khajiit of Riverhold, just to make them more upset with the Dominion's forces, so when it was time to make their move against their enemy whatever bonds they had would be broken. She could tell that her plan was working as she intended, as when she watched both the Khajiit and the Altmer from the shadows it was easy to see the tense between them, as many of the former now believed that they had been lied to and were waiting for something to happen to speak their minds, while it was clear that the latter were more disgusted with the former. Both races were basically a bomb waiting to go off, so they could consume the city with their fighting, and right now they were waiting for a spark to set them off, which she would provide in due time, once she was sure that they could capture their enemies and liberate both races at the same time. She knew that it was going to be hard, despite the work they had already put into weakening the bonds between the Khajiit and the Altmer, but she was up to the challenge and was eager to liberate another province from the Dominion's foul grasp.

The key to the situation, as she eventually discovered, was a somewhat drunk Alfig who had what appeared to be a small magical focus, a crystal attached to a necklace, who a respected member of Riverhold when she wasn't drunk, who agreed to help them out when the time was right... so on the seventh day, with everything ready for them to break the city away from the Dominion's grasp, Amaryllis emerged from one of the houses that the Silent Tails lived in, while wearing the form of Ariantar, and got to work.

"Hehe, fancy Altmer thinks we're fools!" the Alfig said, speaking when Amaryllis was within range of the inn, no doubt the location that she had been drinking in before she and the other liberated individuals reached the city, though as she said that Amaryllis was sure that her voice reminded her of someone, which was when she stopped and everyone around the area glanced at them, expecting trouble to follow, "Thinks he can shove lies down our throats and expect us to follow their orders... hic... but I know your game!"

"And what would the dumb drunken cat know?" Amaryllis replied, recalling the rude and offensive voice that the Altmer had used when he was talking to his own allies, not to mention how he acted towards the other races, something she had perfected over the last few days, just to really drive the point home, "Lesser creatures, like you, should know their place in this world."

"Oh... hic... I know you lied about the moons! Your fancy 'Dawn Magic' doesn't exist!" the Alfig stated, where Amaryllis was able to see that they were really drawing a crowd, as a number of Khajiit and Altmer had stopped what they were doing as they heard her statement, but the Alfig's had stopped everyone cold, which was exactly what Amaryllis was expecting, the Khajiit to realize the lie and the Altmer realizing they had been caught, "You were just... hic... planning on using our people as disposable soldiers in your... hic... war effort."

"That had better not be true," a voice said, where Amaryllis found something interesting, the Tojay-raht monk had stepped up and was now right in front of her face, the lioness monk she had seen a week ago to be exact, and sure enough the rest of her group, possessing one of each breed of Khajiit, stood nearby, and she even gripped Amaryllis by the collar, while all of the Altmer guards seemed unsure of what to do.

"So what if it is? There's nothing you can do to us... we OWN you and your province, little beast, and we can do whatever we want with your kin..." Amaryllis said, though before she could finish her statement, as since intended to end on 'kind', the monk punched her right in the face and knocked her backwards, enough to draw blood and start the riot she and the Silent Tails had been waiting for, the Khajiit ambushing the Altmer in moments.

Thanks to the ensuing chaos she was able to switch to her own Cathay form and joined the riot, capturing Altmer before they had a chance to do anything, though as that happened she found that the monk seemed to be following her, likely due to the fact that she caught onto what was going on. Amaryllis guessed what was going on, the monk had figured out that she had been Ariantar, due to her unique eye color no doubt, and had tracked her down within a few moments, but as the two stared at each other the other members of the Silent Tails, backed by the Argonians who had been waiting for this, continued to liberate Riverhold. What happened next was that the monk kissed her, where she could guess why due to what was happening to the area around them, and she returned it, though once that was done they turned on the rest of the Altmer and resumed capturing them as all of the other Khajiit joined the fun. Sure enough she found that Abiru's group pulled away at one point and started liberating those who had been captured, allowing them to see the truth and not be tied to the Dominion anymore, where Amaryllis had to explain the situation so they understood what was going on right now.

After some time Riverhold was no longer under the Dominion's dark hold, with the liberated Altmer bowing and taking a moment to apologize to the Khajiit, weirding the felines out, but it was the start of Amaryllis' plan to liberate this province, as with one city claimed they had the stepping stone they needed to liberate Elsweyr and she knew that it was only a matter of time until the Dominion lost this province, a day they were looking for.

War: The Missing Mane

With Riverhold falling to the might of Amaryllis' plan, leading to everyone being liberated from the Dominion's hold, they were able to turn their attention to the other cities that rested throughout Elsweyr, as there was a benefit to spreading all those rumors around the city and merchants. Those who left the city, before the big event, would take the rumors to the rest of the province and spread them like wildfire, opening the way for Amaryllis, Deathtail, and their allies to open the minds of the people and liberate everyone so they weren't trapped under the Dominion's dark thumb. For now they were focusing their efforts on the rest of the northern cities, such as Dune, Orcrest, and Rimmen, and once the northern half was free they would turn their attention to the southern half of the province, to free the cities of Alabaster, Corinthe, Senchal, and even Torval. Once all of the cities were free, and the people were liberated, she would return to Za'kera with news of her success and see if they had to advance on Valenwood, as there was a chance that some of her remaining forces were dealing with the mess over there while she was in Elsweyr.

She discovered something interesting as she stood around the map table with her allies, Khajiit, Argonian, and Altmer alike, which happened to be that Torval was the seat of the Mane's power in Elsweyr, where she determined that the best place to hide the Mane would be in the city they ruled from, as it seemed like a move the Dominion would make. Sadly none of the now freed Altmer could back her up, as none of them were ranked high enough to know that information, but that didn't stop the Khajiit from agreeing with her as they considered it, especially when they thought about her earlier proposal, that the Dominion was keeping the Mane around to execute them and blame the Empire. Such a thing lead them back to the idea of using the merchants to spread the rumors, as there was a chance that all of the high ranking Dominion forces would hear of this and stop the planned execution, before it was too late, to focus their efforts on calming down the province and forcing the Khajiit back into their submissive position. Of course such a thing meant they had to ensure that their enemies in the dark for as long as they could, because if the Dominion knew what was going on it would lead to the start of a war in Elsweyr, though the more people they saved the more allies they would have for when it was time to march on the Summerset Isles.

One other thing she discovered was that the Tojay-raht monk insisted on being near her at all times, either because she was thankful for the plan that saved Riverhold or she wanted to make sure Amaryllis was safe from harm, though in the end she decided that it didn't matter and welcomed the monk's aid. She discovered that the monk's name was Sakaia, an unusual name for a Khajiit, and she was known by two titles, the first being 'Lightning Fist', no doubt because of her speed and reflexes, while the second was 'Ghost Fist', a combination of her monk skills and the fact that many felt that Khajiit, no matter the breed, were just thieves or assassins. Amaryllis knew that people had to stop judging others based on the race they were born as, like how everyone mistreated the Khajiit, or how all Nords were seen as barbaric warriors, even if that was a bit extreme when she thought about it, to everything else she had heard of the other races, and there was a chance those sayings would disappear once Za'kera was in control of the continent. The Alfig, on the other hand, simply laid down in her corner and got over her drunken headache, showing that she could be an alcoholic and drink too much, but right now she knew that they had a plan to save all of Elsweyr and she needed to be sober to help them out, though she slurred her name, due to being drunk.

Amaryllis wasn't too sure if the Alfig was calling herself 'Sereyne' or if she meant to say another name, though for the time being she decided that it didn't matter and focused her efforts on the map in front of them, as there were more cities for them to liberate before Elsweyr was free from the Dominion's grasp.

"So you're telling me that everyone who was sent into Black Marsh is alive, and that no harm came to them?" Deathtail asked, as he, like many of the members of the Silent Tails, had been worried about their brethren who were sent into the marsh with the Altmer, never to be seen again, and talking with Amaryllis meant they were able to get information on what happened, even though they could speak to the individuals if they so wanted.

"King Abiru insisted that capturing and liberating any intruders was the best course of action... so yes, they're alive and all of them are unharmed." Amaryllis answered, though while that was still amazing, not to mention the fact that the rest of the Silent Tails were overjoyed to have their missing friends and family members back, her focus was on the task in front of her, one that she intended on fulfilling to the best of her ability.

From what she gathered Deathtail's younger sister had been in one of the groups sent to Black Marsh and Amaryllis did what she could to see if her group could be returned as well, causing her to draft a letter to the Argonian king and send it by carrier hawk, so it would reach it's destination in due time and they'd have an answer in a few days. After that they did everything they could to prepare for the other cities of Elsweyr, as everyone knew that the same trick wouldn't work twice, and if it did than that meant that the Dominion's forces weren't as sharp as they assumed, and they had to be prepared for the possibility of being discovered by their dark enemy. So far the plan was the same as what happened to Riverhold, they were going to set up an event to cause a rift to emerge between all of the Khajiit and the Dominion, opening the way for them and their allies to liberate the city and the people who called it home. If they found out where the Mane was, and managed to free them, well, that would boost their chances of freeing Elsweyr and making sure their enemies lost this province as a supply base for their war against the other races of the world, before worrying about Valenwood, the last of the provinces between them and the Summerset Isles.

As they started to liberate the other cities of Elsweyr, sticking to the northern half for now, Deathtail asked how they were getting all the sap to free both his people and the Altmer who were ordered to seize control of the other provinces, only to find that King Abiru provided them with a fair amount of sap, even though Amaryllis was sure that most of it went to their efforts in Valenwood.

After the liberation of Riverhold it only took a day for them to do the same to two of the northern cities, freeing them so they were no longer trapped under the Dominion's thumb, while liberating the people so they could move on and help them do the same to the rest of the province. It was quite refreshing when Amaryllis thought about it, she didn't need to kill anyone with her weapons, rather she and Sakaia staged their 'fights' around some part of the city they were planning on liberating next, never using the same location twice for fear of a pattern emerging. Of course no one escaped to tell the tale of what happened, if they could help it, but that didn't stop them from making sure that the blame was laid squarely on the Dominion's shoulders, so if anyone did observe their events it would be passed on that the Khajiit were under fire from their own allies and cause more cracks to form between the two races. Once they were liberated the people finally understood why they were going through things like this, to save them from a terrible fate, but before that they said next to nothing to avoid being revealed to their enemies, a system that was working far better than Amaryllis dared to hope when she considered that things could, and usually would, go wrong.

Somehow by the fifth day after Riverhold had been liberated they were in total control of the northern portion of Elsweyr, without losing a single life no less, something that caused Amaryllis' forces to cheer as she considered their next options, they could either move onto the Mane's domain or circle around and liberate the southern end. There were problems with both options, she knew that much, so she had to decide what was more important right now, tracking down the missing Mane or liberating the southern end to launch a pincer attack on the center of the province, which would trap the rest of the Dominion's forces in this province in the center. In the end she decided on the latter, because if they provided such a wide area of escape she was sure that they would lose some of the Altmer and the Dominion would learn of their efforts in no time, so she, Deathtail, and Sakaia focused on the southern cities for the next few days. Such a thing meant those who were being sent into the center of Elsweyr had more time to spread their rumors, while also keeping themselves safe from harm, to lure the Dominion into a false sense of security so when it came to ambush them they wouldn't be able to stop them from saving the province.

Of course many of the Khajiit wanted to go to Torval first, to save the Mane before something happened to them, but they knew that her idea also had some merit and went along with her plan, though with all the work their forces put into their rumors she had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before the southern half was freed as well.

Sure enough it only took a day for them to save Senchal from the Dominion, liberating the tail end of Elsweyr, before they turned around and started spreading out to the other cities and villages, allowing them to spread around Torval as slowly as possible, without their enemies seeing it coming. One thing she eventually discovered was something called the Great Divide, which seemed to be a long stretch of road in the Quin'rawl Peninsula of the southern half of the province, one that Sakaia told her contained something called the 'Halls of the Colossus'. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the name meant, it was an area built to either construct and house the Numidium, or it was a testing ground that lead deep into the caves below the ground, away from the prying eyes of everyone else in the world. Such a thing told her that they might have discovered where the Dominion's Numidium might be resting, before it was used to smash down the Adamantine Tower and end the world as a whole, so she swore to come back and see whatever was inside it, once she had saved the Mane, their people, and all of Elsweyr.

After thinking about that, and liberating all of the southern end of Elsweyr, Amaryllis and her forces surrounded Torval in no time, making sure to block the exits so none of the Dominion's forces could escape while bringing no attention to them at all, while she, Sakaia, and everyone else vital to the show moved into their positions.

Sure enough it wasn't long before they started another riot, with the Altmer under fire from the Khajiit, though while the others focused on liberating their captives, like they had done since she showed them what to do, Amaryllis found one of the enemy commanders heading towards what appeared to be a special building, like where a spiritual leader might call home. Such a thing told her all she needed to know, they were going after the Mane and she had to stop them, though as she reached the temple area a few guards, wearing special leather armor for the climate of the southern end of Elsweyr, stepped out of wherever they might have been hiding and knocked the Altmer out. After that they turned and formed a path of sorts, half of the group on Amaryllis' right and the other half on the left, before she found out why they bowed for a moment, the Mane, in all her glory, stepped out of the temple, meaning she had either been imprisoned and had been freed by her guards or she went peacefully to deceive the Dominion as they waited for the right time to strike. The Mane was armored like her guards, only more elegantly and make her look like a spiritual leader who did battle with her foes, all while having some braids attached to her helmet, though she had no idea what made a Mane so special, as she looked like a Cathay, but she bowed her head as well, to show respect.

With the Mane freed Amaryllis was able to focus on liberating the rest of Torval as she waited to see what the future held, especially in regards to the Halls of the Colossus, because if they were lucky they could cripple the Dominion's machine before it could be used against the rest of the world, she just had to be patient as she waited for her allies to come and see what, exactly, she had discovered.

War: Preparations

As soon as Ma'jera was done with the Numidium, meaning she and the godly beings were done altering the material into the shape of a new Tower, she ceased channeling her power and allowed Amaryllis to watch as the gods returned to whatever they had been doing before this point, likely watching over them. With their work done the two magic users weaved their power around the small group and teleported them back to Torval, so they could drop Amaryllis and Sakaia off before returning to the Imperial City with Za'kera, so they could focus on the next stage of their plans. She was fine with this, as it meant that everyone could celebrate the downfall of the terrible Numidium and the fact that they had stopped the Dominion's plans, though they also had to inform her new allies about what had happened and see if the Mane would join the war against their enemies. Zoravoir, on the other hand, simply nodded her head as she joined the others and headed back to Cyrodiil, showing her that her friend had to have some things that needed to be done before worrying about what the future held for them, where Amaryllis nodded as the Cyrodiil group disappeared and the portal closed behind them.

Such a thing made her wonder if Ma'jera had known where the Numidium had been resting and simply waited for one of their allies, such as herself, to send word that it might have been discovered, but decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, as they had torn the machine down, repurposed it into a Tower, and used that Soulstone as the Stone that powered it, leaving some poetic justice behind when she considered it.

"So, the Numidium is taken care of... what do we do now?" Sakaia asked, because while she knew that the plan had been to free Elsweyr, which they had completed before Amaryllis sent the message to Cyrodiil, everything after that was truly up in the air, hence why she was asking the one who seemed to know exactly what the Empress had planned.

"Before my companions and I depart, so we can head back to Cyrodiil, I need to speak with the Mane, see if we can add the might of Elsweyr to our army," Amaryllis replied, though even as she considered that she knew that many would seek to join the army so they could repay the Dominion for tricking them for so many years, before taking a moment to glance in the direction of Valenwood, the last province that needed to be liberated, "After that it all depends on what I learn when we return to Cyrodiil, as I'll either be assigned to liberate Valenwood, I might be assigned to stand guard and make sure no foe comes at the Empress, or we might send the fleet to the Summerset Isles... no way to know until we make the journey back to the Imperial City."

Sakaia nodded, as it made sense when she thought about it, before they joined the rest of the group from Riverhold, as all of them were celebrating their victory and this was a well deserved break before worrying about what the Mane might say when Amaryllis went to talk with her. As it turned out they didn't have to get up and seek out the Leader that had been saved earlier, as the Mane showed up and personally thanked Amaryllis for revealing the truth behind the Dominion's foul actions, even though she had remained a prisoner in her own palace to protect her people. With the Altmer betraying the word they gave her, even though she had no reason to worry about them backstabbing her like this, there was no reason for them to stand down and let the Dominion do whatever they wanted, and she intended on making her way to Cyrodiil so she could speak with Za'kera, personally. It wasn't that she didn't trust the representative that was sent to save her and her province from the Dominion's dark plans, in fact many of her people trusted Amaryllis and she did as well, but there were some topics that needed to be discussed between rulers, something she understood and nodded her head to once she heard the Mane's reasoning.

When morning arrived Amaryllis found that her party was much larger than she expected it to be, as she was heavy those who had been ordered to follow her into Elsweyr, her liberation force to be exact, Sakaia and the representatives of the other types of Khajiit, the same group she had seen in Riverhold, and the Mane with her guards. Such a thing lead her to wonder how this had come about, more in the sense of her wondering how she had gone from a simple assassin to a tool of the Daedric Princes, before ending up as an envoy to the other provinces, resulting in her riding alongside so many of the leaders of Tamriel. It was funny when she considered it, as once upon a time she had worried how she was going to live or make a living with her powers, though now, after the time she spent with Za'kera, she was sure that she could retire from being an assassin and truly become the Empress' shadow, like a spymaster or something, which she would consider in the future, once they were done with the Dominion. Of course there was her Family to consider, as leaving them didn't sit well with her right now, especially since she was the Listener and the Night Mother had been quite since the list she had given her some time ago, but she had a feeling that once things had settled down, and the world was no longer in any danger, they would have new assassinations to carry out.

It took them some time to get close to Riverhold, given how far it was from Torval, though this allowed the others to see the large brass tower off in the distance, where many of the Khajiit were shocked and surprised by it's existence, since this was the first time they were laying eyes on it, leading Amaryllis to share the story with them, just so they knew that they had used the Dominion's weapon to stabilize Nirn once more. Sakaia and the others understood why no one had said a word about the existence of such a terrifying weapon, as the tales about it were bad and knew that if it was activated the Dominion would have wiped out everything in their path, no matter who stood in it's way. Their reasoning, Amaryllis found out, was quite reasonable, the staff that supposedly controlled the Numidium was either lost or had been destroyed, so it was hard to say what it's true fate might have been since it was lost during the Warp in the West, but knowing the group that rebuilt the Numidium she had to guess the Dominion had the staff. Of course whoever was in control of things must have been waiting until they knew that the machine had been awakened with the new Soulstone, before using the staff to control the terrifying weapon, but now none of that mattered, as the Numidium was no more and the staff was useless to them, which they wouldn't know about until it was far too late to stop them.

After that the group stopped in Riverhold for a time, mostly to spend the night and rest up for the next part of the journey to Cyrodiil, and when morning arrived they passed through the border and headed for the Imperial City, where Amaryllis found that all sorts of camps had been set up outside the Imperial City.

What she meant by that was that there were flags representing the Jarls of Skyrim, the Great Houses of Morrowind, the King of Black Marsh, the Kingdoms of High Rock and Hammerfell, not to mention the Warchief of Orcsinium, the flags of their allies from Akavir, and now the Mane of Elsweyr. A single glance at the city was more than enough to tell those that were seeing it for the first time that war was coming, a great battle that would decide the fate of this world was looming over their heads, and they could either stand on the sidelines or join them. Of course Amaryllis knew that there was more for the Khajiit to see, namely the army of dragons, the force of undead Draugr, several species of Daedra, and ever race that belonged to this world, especially since she spotted a flag that likely belonged to whoever ruled Valenwood, which she was pleased to see, as it meant she didn't have to head into the province to liberate it. With that piece of information in mind Amaryllis knew what was coming next, they would be speaking with the other rulers and getting ready for the next stage of their war, meaning they would be getting their ships ready to make for the Summerset Isles and liberate the last of the Towers from the Dominion's grasp.

As they entered the Imperial City, finding it was far busier than before, Amaryllis found that Za'kera was getting ready to speak to the leaders of the other provinces, as in most of Tamriel's rulers would be discussing how to deal with the threat that remained, before discovering that they were one ruler short.

"It seems Lady Seirhy is missing." Amaryllis commented, speaking once she separated from the people of Elsweyr, leaving the Mane and Sakaia to figure some things out before joining the table, though the one who heard her speak was Za'kera, as most of the others hadn't noticed her, given the fact that she could blend into the shadows.

"She and the Maormer are likely still somewhere near Anvil, keeping an eye on the Dominion's ships," Za'kera replied, as that was what the Sea Elves had been doing since the fleet from Akavir had arrived, none of the Maormer ships had come close to the continent, causing her to wonder if Lady Seirhy wanted nothing to do with politics and was trusting Tosh Raka with the proceedings, "however, given that we're going to be talking with every ruler, save for the Summerset Isles, she should be here as well, since her people were attacked by the Dominion... would you go find her and see if she's willing to join our discussion?"

Amaryllis lowered her head a little, showing that she acknowledged the request, before disappearing from the chamber the rulers would be chatting in and reappeared outside the building, taking a moment to make sure that no one noticed her before reverting to her true form and took off. What she found was that everyone was definitely getting ready for the journey that was ahead of them, blacksmiths were making weapons, armor, and whatever tools they might need during the battle for the Summerset Isles, citizens were preparing rations, alchemists were making potions, and everyone else in the city was hard at work. It was simply amazing when she glanced down at everyone, the races of Nrin were working with each other to save their world from the Dominion, instead of trying to tear each other apart, and it seemed like everyone in the Imperial City was doing the same thing, getting ready for when it was time to leave for the domain of their enemies and begin the final battle for this world. Anvil, from what she could see from a distance, was readying every ship that had been docked recently, filling them up as they waited for the departure order to be given at last, though right now it was easy for her to see that all sorts of races were working on them, especially the ones that had belonged to the Dominion, readying them to serve the Empress.

The Maormer, on the other hand, were definitely out at sea, some distance from Anvil while in range so they could send a rowboat or something back to the city to tell their allies what was going on or attend the meetings, the latter they seemed to be avoiding so far, and from what she could see they seemed interested in a Dominion ship that was getting close to their blockade. Such a thing made her wonder what in the world this race did to deal with their terrible enemies, despite seeing a few of Abiru's Argonians standing on the deck with the Sea Elves, the latter dressed in attire suited for the seas, but as far as she could see it didn't look like Lady Seirhy was present. As she looked down at the Maormer she found that many of them had an interesting skin color, all sorts of whites and blues that could be seen in the sea, and their ears, from what she could see, looked almost like fins, making her wonder if they spent some time underwater, another reason that all the races called them 'Sea' Elves. A few seconds later a new figure stepped out of the ship, a slender lady who wore a light blue skirt and a light blue cloth cover around her breasts and chest, though it was open in the back for some reason, and while she seemed rather beautiful, with her sapphire blue skin and her pearl white hair, Amaryllis could tell that there was something different about her.

Lady Seirhy, as she was sure that was who she was looking at, barely glanced in her direction before beckoning for her to come down to the ship, which she did so without delay and shifted into an Imperial form, since some people didn't feel safe seeing her new true form.

"I take it the Empress wants to speak with me?" Seirhy inquired, though Amaryllis could tell that she was focused on what she and her forces were doing right now, the ship that was some distance from where they were resting, the last one as it looked like there were no other Dominion ships in the area.

"Yes, because the other rulers are there as well." Amaryllis replied, something that caused the crew to glance at each other for a moment, as they likely didn't believe her and even if they did it seemed unreal anyway, though it caught Seirhy's eye, as she turned her head back a little so she could focus on her, "We're planning what our next move is, and we thought you would want to be there as well."

Seirhy said nothing as she focused on the ship they were currently targeting, where Amaryllis watched as a ripple moved through her body as scales formed over her arms and legs, shark scales to be exact, before her face pushed out into what looked like a shark muzzle, a fin grew out of her back, explaining the opening, and she grew a shark tail which emerged from her skirt. In that moment Amaryllis realized that the Maormer ruler was a wereshark, or maybe she had the power to take on a form like this and such a thing caused the rumors of the beast to spread, before Seirhy dived into the water with the grace of someone who did this for a living. She watched as the transformed Sea Elf stayed underwater for a time, likely due to the gills that she was now seeing, before Seirhy turned and sped off towards the Dominion ship, at a speed that, if her estimates were right, could rival her flying speed, before she focused on what the ruler was doing. In that moment she watched as the shark lady jumped out of the water and landed on the ship without her foes hearing her movements, how she had no idea, and it wasn't long before she started knocking out everyone that was around her, eventually leading to her signaling for her ship to come in.

It was amazing, she had taken care of a ship that had about twenty crew members, even if most had been sleeping while the rest worked to get to their destination, and it wasn't long before the Argonians moved forward to slip some sap into the mouths of the unconscious Altmer.

"There, now my preparations are complete." Seirhy said, though she remained in her transformed state, while giving the order for them to return to Cyrodiil so they could see what Za'kera and the other rulers had to say, surprising Amaryllis since she previously seemed like someone who didn't want to worry about the meetings.

Amaryllis nodded as they headed back to Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, as she knew that there weren't much else for her and the others to do but wait and see what sort of plan would be created for the war against the Dominion, though she knew that soon they would be heading for the Summerset Isles and begin the battle for the fate of this world, she just had to be patient and wait for it to happen.

War: Final Journey

Amaryllis found that the rulers talked for some time, many wanting to confirm that Za'kera wasn't about to restrict their beliefs and make them worship only the Imperial Pantheon, where she informed them that they didn't have to worry about that, because if she tried something like that it would only make her as bad as the Dominion. Lady Seirhy did join them in the end, as her fleet was important in the final stages of their war against their enemies, and her wereshark form surprised many of the people that were there, as she showed them that she had more control over it than most werewolves did, save for the Companions and a few others. Sure, she had been surprised by the transformation as well, but she wasn't about to judge anyone based on their appearance, given that her power allowed her to take on any form she wanted, and having someone like her as an ally was a good thing, since she could swim through the water fast and surprise their enemies. That, with her fleet and Tosh Raka's fleet, meant that they controlled the seas and the Dominion had no chance of breaking through their barricade, meaning the Altmer must have attacked them while they were distracted by something else, as a frontal assault win for the Dominion seemed unlikely.

For the most part Amaryllis ignored the conversation and made sure no enemies found their way into the chamber, not that she was expecting such a thing in the first place, though one thing that caught her attention was that Za'kera wanted to change how all races were viewed, as in she was challenging racism itself, something that made her smile as she listened to all of them, knowing it would be quite the battle.

Eventually they ended the meeting and she walked away with one thing, they were ready for the final stage of their war, as in it was time to depart for the Summerset Isles and deal with the Dominion's main force, which would either end in their total victory or end in their defeat. As far as Amaryllis could tell whoever had been sent into Valenwood had found the rulers in the same position that the Mane had been in, trapped and waiting execution in a way that blamed the Empire for the deed, and they had been able to reactivate the Green-Sap Tower, by sinking to it's Stone. Ma'jera explained it that the Perchance Acorn were many and connected, while the tampering that had been done to one in the past merely altered it's song, not fully deactivating the Tower, and their new song gave it life one more, meaning they had reactivated two Towers so far. In addition to that Ma'jera also explained that she was going to teleport the Orichalc Tower, which sunk with the island of Yokunda, out of the sea and move it to one of the other provinces, one that didn't have a Tower to watch over, so it would further strengthen the world, once she had the sword that was it's Stone reforged anyway.

Strangely the city was quiet as the night replaced the day, as in everyone was resting and no one, not even the drunken Alfig, wanted to drink or party before they departed for the Summerset Isles, meaning everyone was focused on what they were about to do, declare war on the Dominion, that that knowledge had caused them to make a good decision before facing off against their enemies.

"This is it. Amaryllis, are you ready?" Za'kera asked, as she had walked to the chamber that held her desk, which she was getting used to seeing as hers now since it had belonged to the Emperors and Empresses that came before her, and made sure the changeling was in the room with her before the door closed, because she was curious as to what her friend was thinking right now.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Amaryllis replied, appearing from the shadows, which she had gotten used to using so she could keep Za'kera or her allies safe from whatever might be coming at them, even if it hadn't been necessary, before she took a moment to glance out one of the windows, in the direction of their final destination, "We're about to engage in what might be one of the greatest battles in the history of his world, with the stakes being the highest they've ever been... if we win, it means the world will live on and live will continue, while if we lose it will mean everything comes to an end. Everything we have worked for, gathering our allies and uniting pretty much the entirety of this world, even beyond since the forces of Oblivion are aiding us as well, is about to bear fruit, we just have to be sure it's the fruit that we want."

"Out of curiosity, aren't you eager to get back home?" Za'kera inquired, because in all the time she had known Amaryllis, a while when she thought about it, she was sure that the changeling had mentioned that her original plan had been to head back home and leave this world behind her, but after some time it seemed like she tossed the idea to the side and started to connect with Nirn.

"Maybe once upon a time, but there's no way back to Equestria, so Nirn is now my home." Amaryllis said, as she knew the reason behind why Za'kera was asking her this, because this battle technically wasn't hers, this world wasn't hers, so she was curious as to why she didn't speak with the gods and figure out a way to get back to her own world, where she gave a light chuckle for a moment, "besides, I'm loyal and I'm not about to leave you and everyone else to fight this battle, not after all the hard work I put into securing the allies from the other provinces... I'm in this until the end."

Za'kera nodded her head to that, as she knew Amaryllis well enough to know that such a thing was the truth, and let her friend do whatever she wanted for the rest of the night, as they needed to be ready for whatever might be coming once they reached the Summerset Isles and declared war on the Dominion's forces.

When morning arrived, and everyone had a chance to get some breakfast, Za'kera, Amaryllis, and their friends from the other provinces, like Kya and those who had been recruited in Skyrim, made their way to Anvil with a force of soldiers that would be part of the fleet they were sending to the Summerset Isles. Of course the majority of their soldiers were staying here for the time being, mostly to protect Cyrodiil and conserve their energy, so when they reached their destination the Demiprince could open the portal and bring their allies, as it was a matter of deception. That much Amaryllis knew without having to be told, as the Dominion would be overconfident when they saw the fleet, given the fact that the Altmer were a race of arrogant people and didn't believe they could be taken down, and it was the perfect deception, to lure them into a false sense of security before the truth was revealed. Plus there was the fact that they didn't have enough ships to safely transport all of their forces, even with the ones they had taken from the Dominion, so this was the best course, split their forces in two and have the smaller portion summon the larger one when they reached the Summerset Isles.

With the traveling force gathered, and the remainder was set to standby as they waited for the portal to be opened, their fleet departed from Cyrodiil with all the haste they could muster and set off for the Summerset Isles, though Amaryllis stood near the wheel and looked out over the sea in front of them.

"This is actually happening... I'll admit, for a time I was wondering if we were actually going to get this far," Zoravoir said, speaking to Amaryllis as she, too, stared out at the sea and focused on everything they had done to reach this point, which also included her taking on the power of a fallen Daedric Prince, her words suggesting that she might have been worried that they would have never reached this point, "Are you nervous?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." Amaryllis replied, as everyone on this ship, not to mention most of the fleet, was nervous as they considered what they were doing, they were getting ready to start the greatest battle this world had seen in a very long time, since the days of the Oblivion Crisis or even the Planemeld, and one wrong move would render all their hard work over the last month useless, "I know I got used to killing by working with the Dark Brotherhood, not to mention all of the fights that we were in since joining Za'kera, but a battle of this magnitude... I don't think any of us are ever ready for something like this... well, except those from Akavir."

"I'll give you that, they are certainly ready for battle." Zoravoir stated, as she hadn't considered that fact when she stared out at their combined forces, where she found that Tosh Raka and his forces were preparing on their ships, no doubt all of them waiting for more Dominion ships to arrive so they could either destroy them or help capture them, before she took a moment to consider something, "Oh, I also heard that the Maormer are going to bring up one of their ancient ships, just to add some extra firepower to our arsenal... they're likely planning on a defensive strategy, in case our enemies send some ships to flank our forces."

Amaryllis raised an eyebrow as she heard that, as it was news to her, before she turned her head and glanced over at the area that the Maormer ships were in, finding Lady Seirhy was returning from the water and that she didn't seem drenched by her swim, meaning either her attire was enchanted or it was something that was linked to her wereshark form, which she seemed at home with. Not a few moments later part of the sea ahead of them shuddered as a ship burst out of the water and came to a stop when it was level with the rest of their fleet, where she found that the sails had holes in them, no doubt from being underwater for so long, it had a maw of sorts on the front of it, and the cannon slots had either gold or bronze designs around them. It was a rather imposing ship, one that looked like it might have been designed to inspire fear in those who looked at it, though she was surprised when she found that the crew seemed to be made up of people who seemed to be part of the sea itself, with coral growing out of them, some had shells as helmets, and all sorts of odd additions that made them look fearsome as well. The captain, however, was far more fearsome than his crew, as he stood a bit taller than those that worked under him, he seemed to have a beard of tentacles, a crab claw as his left arm and a crab leg as his right leg, sized to match his other leg and took away the potential of an awkward gait, and she found that he also had a light green shade to his skin.

According to Zoravoir this was the infamous 'Davy Jones', a feared captain who had retired himself and his crew, plus the Flying Dutchman, to the depths of the sea to prevent people from tracking down him and his treasure, though it seemed like he might have owed a debt to the Maormer and this was his chance to pay it so he could rest without anyone coming to bother him in the future.

In addition to that she found another ship appearing some from mist, a ship that seemed to be pirate in nature, with the skull and crossbones flag, though the crew was a forces of Daedra that didn't seem to serve a specific Daedric Prince, to which Zoravoir informed her that it was Velehk Sain, who she met back in Winterhold. It seemed like he was coming just to have some fun, meaning she had to worry that he and his crew might attack them while they were distracted by the rest of their upcoming enemies, though she had others who would be focused on Sain so she could focus on their task. One thing she did was think about the blades she carried, the Deathbrand blades to be exact, and gripped them for a few seconds, where they found another pirate ship appear out of the mist, though it was a ghost ship, one they could see through, and she could see the crew of Haknir Death-Brand aboard it, causing her to chuckle. It seemed like her weapons had one last power she didn't know about, the ability to summon a crew of ghosts that would likely do her bidding, which just meant that their chances had improved greatly, meaning more people were likely to survive before the Dominion realized that they had to target the living soldiers and not the otherworldly ones.

With that thought in mind she and the others focused on the rest of the journey they had to undertake, as soon they and their forces would reach the Summerset Isles and do battle with the Dominion, to decide the fate of this world at long last, though all they could do now was rest and wait for their fleet to reach their destination.

War: Summerset Isles

As they made their way to the Summerset Isles, and readied themselves for the final stage of their war with the Dominion, Amaryllis discovered that their destination was an archipelago, consisting of ten islands of varying size, with Summerset Isle being the heart of everything. The other nine islands were that of Auridon, Buraniim Isle, Calluis Lar, Sapiarchs, which had a college with the name resting on it, Dranil Kir, Errinorne Isle, Eyevea, Silatar, and Wastan Coridale, though there was also an eleventh island, that of Artaeum. According to Ma'jera Artaeum was the hole of the Psijic Order and they were known to 'move' the entire island from time to time, for long periods of time, which meant they either shrouded it in a mist that caused people to become confused and navigate themselves out of the area or it was actually moved into a dimension that the Psijics had access to. Either way the count was ten right now, as Artaeum was gone right now, though they couldn't count on any assistance from the mages in question, as they preferred to observe the world and not interfere at all, though she felt that they were stupid for staying on the sidelines at a time like this, especially with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

While she learned that Za'kera went over their plan of attack for the final province, her force would be landing near the southeastern tip of the island, a beach near Dusk Keep, one of the major cities of the main isle, while Tosh Raka and all of those who desired pure war would attack from the north. The Maormer and their sea allies would be dealing with the isle of Auridon, where the cities of Firsthold, Skywatch, and Vulkhel Guard were located, and once the flank had been secured the main force could focus on marching inland, so they could take Alinor from the Dominion's clutches. Her reasoning was due to the fact that it was the seat of the Dominion's power and, more importantly, because there was a chance that the leader of the organization might have access to the Stone of the final Tower, the Crystal Tower, and taking them out would cripple the Dominion's power entirely. If they were successful in this the world would be saved at last, the Towers restored and secured to maintain the future of Nirn, thus stopping the Dominion's ploy to wipe out this world and 'ascend' to the world they thought they came from, showing how foolish they were in her eyes.

Amaryllis also knew what her task was, she was supposed to infiltrate the city, track down the Dominion's commander, the one responsible for everything that has been happening in Tamriel, and then either capture them or kill them, the former being followed by a helping of sap to open their mind and the latter being her taking their place to surrender, ending the war before it got too chaotic.

"Wouldn't it be better to just wipe out everything on the two main islands? We certainly have enough soldiers to pull such a thing off." Ulfric asked, as based on what he had seen so far there was no reason for them to do as Za'kera said, partly due to the fact that she was a novice in terms of warfare and, more importantly in his eyes, she was a Khajiit, so she didn't have his respect at all and her orders really didn't matter in the end.

"We aren't here to commit genocide by wiping out the Altmer... even with all of the dark things the Dominion, the race in question doesn't deserve that fate." Za'kera replied, though while she had known that some of the leaders, who desired war and glory above all else, would oppose her orders she had been expecting to happen on the battlefield and not on the ship they were using right now, but she did see that some of the others were looking at him with disapproval in their eyes, such as Abiru for instance, "We're here to take down the Dominion and stop their foul plans, not slaughter the entire race that calls the Summerset Isles home... basically, we want to liberate the isles, not leave them soaked in blood from those who will likely fall during the upcoming battle."

Ulfric frowned for a moment before he, and the other leaders who wanted war, departed from the room they had met in, causing Za'kera to sigh as she wondered if she had been right to bring him and his Stormcloaks, who despised all of the other races, to the Summerset Isles, while knowing that if they turned back now it would ruin the surprise, as she was sure that someone on either of the main islands had noticed their fleet.

"He's going to be trouble... him and Tosh Raka, anyway." Abiru commented, speaking once the offending leaders were no longer in the room, though he didn't let Ulfric's opinions on the other races stain his own thoughts on the others, but even if he had gotten into a skirmish with the Nord leader he would have used a bit of sap to open his mind.

"I know... they're going to either cause a bloodbath, or get themselves killed for glory." Za'kera said, though she hated how Ulfric didn't listen to her, as the only thing that caused him to listen to her words was the presence of Alduin, a beast that was said to bring about the end of the world, where she had a feeling that if they failed to defeat the Dominion the dragon might fulfill his own destiny, "Amaryllis, I know the task I gave you is important, but after we make landfall do you think you can head over and make sure Ulfric's force doesn't do anything stupid? I know I told them to attack from the north, in what seems like a potential blind spot, but given what we've heard I'm sure he'll try to attack Auridon, all to claim glory for himself and those who serve under him... I'm worried that they'll get themselves killed while we're facing whatever force is waiting for us near the main beach."

Amaryllis nodded her head as she heard that, as she understood the order she had been given and wanted to see if she might be able to stop Ulfric and Tash Raka from doing something stupid, though she suspected that it would end with her failing to do anything and one or more of the Stormcloak leaders might end up dead because of Ulfric. Truth be told she really didn't care for the racist Nord Jarl, his second in command, or even most of his forces, as they were all bared hatred towards the other races, especially Za'kera since they believed that the position of Emperor or Empress was reserved for either an Imperial or a Nord, and only suffered this alliance because of the Divines. She suspected the same thing that her friend did, if either the Divines or Alduin hadn't been present, when Za'kera claimed the empty throne for herself, it would have shattered the alliance right then and there, with Ulfric charging into battle and wasting soldiers over something that was so pointless. So given their distrust for Za'kera, and the times where it looked like they were ignoring her orders, both of them were right to be worried that Ulfric might step out of line and get himself, not to mention many of his own forces, killed in an assault they weren't supposed to be taking part in.

For that reason, alone, she was going to have to follow them for a time and make sure they didn't do something stupid, of which they were sure Ulfric or his followers were going to do, while hoping that nothing bad happened while they headed for the sections of the island Za'kera wanted them to land on. As she thought about that they drew closer to both islands of the Summerset Isles, where the Maormer, their sea allies, and Tosh Raka's forces headed for their destinations, where the Tiger Dragon headed for the northern tip while the others headed for Auridon. Sure enough she found that the ships that contained Ulfric and his Stormcloaks followed after Lady Seirhy, meaning they were seeking glory and would likely find death if they were unlucky, but for now her focus was on what might happen when Za'kera and the others landed on the beach. Part of her had to wonder if the Dominion knew that they were even here, due to the fact that Auridon could see them coming and easily warn those on the main island, allowing whoever was in charge to understand what was going on and that they would be under attack soon enough, causing her to glance towards the beach.

Sure enough she found a rather large force of Dominion soldiers, wearing the same armor that those in Skyrim wore when on the job, waiting for their arrival on the beach, though they were some distance away from where Za'kera wanted them to dock, meaning they were likely planning on attacking the fleet before they were able to land.

"Intruders!" a voice stated, where they found that it was coming from an Altmer mage on a raised section that seemed to be where they would shout at before firing on them, who seemed to believe that they would stop and stand down before even reaching the island, though Za'kera signaled for the others to keep moving in as her ship breached the shore and she was able to jump down onto the sandy terrain, "You trespass on the land of the Aldmeri Dominion, watched over by our grand and glorious ruler Morral Graeious, and all intruders shall be destroyed on sight. You have ten minutes to stand down and submit to our rule, or be blasted into the sea that you..."

"Ma'jera! Zoravoir! Open the portals!" Za'kera stated, where Amaryllis watched as the pair, the former standing on the ship to her left and the latter to her right, stepped up and gathered their magic, causing shining light to appear in their hands for a few seconds, while surprising the Altmer and his army.

What happened next was that their enemies found that the magical pair opened a number of portals back to Cyrodiil, a fact that allowed their soldiers to march out in ranks as Za'kera moved forward as well, standing at the head of her army since she was the leader of everyone. While that went down the soldiers that were on the ships lowered walkways that all of them used to disembark and gather near the rest of their allies, surprising the Altmer with the sheer number of people that were standing in front of them, despite the fact that they had brought an army to deal with intruders. That was before Alduin and the dragons flew through their portal, joined by the Draugr that chose to join them and the Dragon Priests also marched with them, something that caused many to consider what was going on, but based on what Amaryllis was seeing it looked like they had been brainwashed into believing that the Dominion was unstoppable. Such a thing caused her to let out a sigh as all of their initial forces finished portaling over to this island, as it seemed like their enemies were being as foolish as those she had faced in the past, though she dropped down and joined them, as she felt that helping them gain control of the beach was important, before checking on Ulfric.

As they did that Za'kera drew her blades, feeling the weight of her enchanted ebony blades once more as she got ready for the battle to come, though it was easy to see that she was hoping, or even praying, that the Altmer would stand down after seeing this army appear out of the portals they had created, before she raised one blade and pointed at the force on the hill in front of them.

"Soldiers and allies of the Empire... charge!" Za'kera said, raising her voice enough so that it could reach everyone, which she was aided in by either of the powerful mages that had opened the portals, though her words had the effect that she was looking for as she started to move.

Amaryllis watched as the army moved forward, charging at the Altmer's position, while at the same time the dragons took to the air, forcing the mages within the enemy group to divide their attention between the two groups, half focusing on the sky while the others focused on those who were coming right at them. She knew what Za'kera wanted, to take most, if not all, of their enemies captive and liberate them, though knowing that this was war, and that they had dragons on their team, such a thing might not be possible and it seemed like their forces, for the most part, were focused on the fight, save for Abiru and his own forces. The Altmer weren't ready for this sort of attack, not by a long shot, as mages struck them from afar with magic, archers loosed arrows into the air and avoided their own allies, the soldiers and undead hacked into them, and the dragons rained flames down on those who were at the back of the Dominion's forces, keeping their attacks away from all of their allies. Truth be told Amaryllis found that she wasn't even needed in this fight, not by a long shot, as Za'kera forced her way towards the commander that had told her to surrender, Kya disarmed her foes, as in removing all of their weapons while leaving their bodies intact, while Zoravoir and Ma'jera loosed magic that knocked whoever each of them happened to be targeting.

With that thought in mind she slipped into the background so she could take to the skies and see what Ulfric was up to, as she had a feeling his forces were causing trouble, before tackling her own mission and seeing if she could bring an end to this war before things got too serious for her and her friends.

War: End of the Road

With Za'kera and the others dealing with the enemies on the beach, so they could make their way towards the heart of the island, Amaryllis made her way over to Auridon, finding that Lady Seirhy, her forces, and all of their sea allies were starting their part of the assault. Based on what she knew this was the best way to make sure their enemy didn't flank them, even though she had no idea how the Dominion was supposed to flank them with all of the forces they had gathered just for this event, but one never could be too careful, since they had no idea what the Dominion had done to their home. She found that the Maormer didn't really need help right now, as each one was knocking the Altmer on their rears and taking them into custody for a time, so they could be transported back to their ships and be liberated from the Dominion's dark grasp, while only killing their foes when it was absolutely necessary. So far it didn't look like the Maormer, despite their dislike for the Altmer force for the attack on their home, were letting their rage and anger control them, rather they seemed calm and far more collected than anyone she had seen during an event like this, even though this was the second battle like this she had seen.

After checking on them, and finding that they didn't need help in dealing with their enemies, Amaryllis found her way over to where the Stormcloaks had positioned themselves for an attack, where it looked like they had sailed passed Skywatch and were planning on attacking Firsthold. It was just another piece of confirmation for her, given that she and Za'kera had been worried that Ulfric would do something stupid, and made her wonder what she was going to find when she finally found his forces, since they were further along Auridon than Lady Seirhy's forces. It didn't take her all that long to find the ships that belonged to the Stormcloaks, given the blue bear flags that they carried with them at all times, and after that it was easy for her to find an area that served as a battlefield between the Nordic force and the defenders of Firsthold. What she discovered just confirmed how stupid Ulfric was and how dumb his people were for following such a stupid command, especially since they were supposed to be aiding Za'kera in liberating the island from the Dominion, while making her take a moment to wonder if she was going to have to save them.

The scene she had discovered was the area outside the walled city of Firsthold, where there were bodies all over the place, Altmer and Nordic alike, confirming that the Dominion had noticed their coming and had readied the island for attackers, though the only reason half of the Stormcloaks were alive was due to Tosh Raka's forces stopping to save them. Sure, part of her was sad to see so many die in vain, especially given the orders Za'kera had given them earlier, though the other side didn't care as much since they had brought this upon themselves, instead of leaving it for Lady Seirhy's forces to take care of at some point. Ulfric, on the other hand, was already huffing as he unleashed the power of the Thu'um, knocking some of the Altmer out of the way as Galmar rushed forward and smashed some of their heads in with his warhammer, though as that happened some of the archers rained arrows down on his forces, several soldiers falling to the Dominion's arrows, before she found that one Altmer, a ranger with some high ranking armor, had her eyes set on him. She knocked one of her fine arrows and loosed it, where it struck Ulfric near his left shoulder, something that outraged the Jarl as he charged into battle again, hacking his way through the Altmer coming at him, before a second one struck him, just above the waist on the left side.

The third arrow pierced his heart and dropped the mighty Jarl to his knees, while Galmer was blasted into the ground by a number of mages, showing their forces that maybe this might have been a bad idea, though it didn't stop Ulfric's people from attacking the walls, while the ranger dropped down and made her way towards him. As that happened the forces of Tosh Raka smashed their way through the defenders that were in front of them and overturned the misfortunes of the Stormcloaks, though before rejoining the fight the ranger switched her elegant bow for a pair of short swords, which had a slight curve to them. She knew what was coming and watched as the ranger beheaded Ulfric, before he could Shout at her and knock her backwards, showing that she understood his power, though as that happened, and the tide of the soldiers changed around her, Amaryllis made her move, before it was lost. She landed behind the elf for a moment, shifting her form to match one of the Altmer soldiers that were around them, and cut her down, before she had a chance to defend herself, though this time around she used the shadows to cover the body and snatch it, leaving the area bare so she could take on the form herself, while collecting Ulfric's head in a sack.

The ranger had presented a perfect opportunity to her, giving her a way to enter the main city of the Summerset Isle and gain access to the area that the Dominion's leader was currently waiting in, where she glanced at her form and found that, in some ways, she was more striking than an Altmer should be, making her wonder if maybe the ranger had been one of the other races, like a Bosmer, before joining Tosh Raka.

"It seems that you have things under control," Amaryllis commented, causing the Tiger Dragon to turn towards her for a few seconds, with a look that indicated he might strike her down, where she shifted her form for a brief moment, allowing him to understand who he was talking to, before making the ranger's form her own entirely once more, taking in the odd white-gold hair she had.

"Indeed we do, 'Sylvanna Windrunner'," Tosh Raka replied, informing Amaryllis that he had figured something out about the form she was taking right now, once more making her wonder if there was another breed of elf in this world, even if she had no idea what they would be called, before he glanced at Firsthold once more, "You should learn more about the person your impersonating... wouldn't want to spoil the surprise by saying or doing something the elf wouldn't do."

Amaryllis nodded her head and stuck to the shadows as the forces in front of her liberated the city of Firsthold, as while the Tiger Dragon loved to do war he did have some of Abiru's people with him and it let him liberate them, where she and her allies spoke to those who had been saved so far. Such a thing allowed her to figure out more about her new form, the so called 'Ranger-General' who really screwed herself over by jumping down to deal with Ulfric, even though the armor she wore left more to be desired, as while there was armor on the lower half of her body, designed to be light for running and protective at the same time, there was a gap that exposed her stomach area. It was odd, meaning Sylvanna had thought of herself as someone who was hard, if not impossible, to kill, while the chest piece looked like it was designed to hold up her breasts and provide protection while doing that, though everything was light and meant that she would be able to move fast, and it came with a black cape and a silver hood, which matched the armor she was wearing. Other than that she was able to gain some valuable information from the liberated Altmer that were around her, even though they did find it odd that she was asking about herself, given that they had no idea who was in front of them and she ignored it, but once she had everything she needed she departed for her own true destination.

She was about to use Ulfric's stupid idea to her advantage, hopefully gain an audience with the one pulling the Dominion's strings, and bring an end to this war before things went south for them, she just had to be patient and see what sort of resistance would be waiting for her when she reached Alinor.

Amaryllis found that the city of Alinor, the seat of the Dominion's power, was a rather large city that held a number of tall spires, which seemed to catch the light and break it into all the colors of the rainbow, which might be an annoying sight for people to see all the time, and, of course, it had walls she had to pass by. As she expected the Dominion had guards out in force, making sure all travelers were watched over and inspected, just in case of Imperial plants no doubt, even though no other species were allowed into the city, much less allowed off their ships. Truth be told she didn't like this one bit, the fact that the Altmer were willing to treat the other races even worse than the Stormcloaks did, though she did discover that the other elven races were allowed in after some searching, meaning she didn't have to worry that much. She also found that many of them were glancing her way, meaning Sylvanna was either a well known figure on the island or they were slightly interested in what she was carrying in her right hand, the tripled layered sack that contained Ulfric's head, which had been designed that way to avoid dripping blood everywhere.

One thing she noted was that the soldiers were on their way out to the battlefield, to do battle with Za'kera's forces, but if she was fast enough this might bring an end to the war that they had brought to the island, though before she could enter the city one of the guards stopped her in her tracks.

"Sylvanna Windrunner, what brings you all the way to Alinor?" one of the guards asked, confirming that they knew who she was impersonating and that they were interested in what she was here, and not over on Auridon, which had to be the area she had been stationed in a long time ago.

"I have a gift, for Lady Morral's eyes only." Amaryllis replied, as what she had discovered was that Sylvanna was straight to the point when she talked to everyone, though there were times where the Ranger-General would keep information to herself and not share it with anyone, regardless of who they were, and she raised the sack for a moment, connecting it to her comment.

The guards nodded and told her directly where to go, just in case she had forgotten and meant that it must have been a while since Sylvanna had come to the city, though she was thankful for it and headed in with the group that was admitted, where she slipped into the shadows and made her way to the building in question. This was another reason as to why she was partly grateful to Ulfric, because of his foolish behavior she had gained the key to reaching Morral Graeious, who was her main target and would be the key to bringing an end to this war, especially when she thought about the other aspect that she had discovered about her current disguise. Sylvanna was someone who either liked or enjoyed bringing death to those that opposed her, which in this case meant the Dominion, and sometimes it affected her speech, though taking the head of someone was well within her habits, so no one would question her if they saw it with her. Other than that she had a feeling that she wouldn't need to act like the elf for too long, not if her plan worked and she dealt with the Dominion's leader, hence why Amaryllis focused on making her way through the city and found that many of the people seemed to wary of her.

It took her some time to reach her destination, about twenty minutes anyway, and when she entered it the guards that were inside stopped her and asked why she was here, prompting her to repeat the statement the guards at the main gate had received, and they beckoned to one hallway, allowing her to head up some stairs and reach the room that her target was in. As she quickly discovered Morral Graeious was an Altmer lady who wore fine clothing that seemed to be a dress that also doubled as armor, or at least she guessed that had been the thought process, which was black with a golden trim, and she had golden earrings with emeralds at the end. Her target had gray hair that reached beyond her neck, kept fine and to the point where it was stunning in some way, and her features revealed that she was rather stunning as well, at least in terms of an Altmer, and her office was rather elegant as well, showing her that the elf liked luxury and might be another way to mock the Emperor. Based on what she could see it looked like Morral was reading something when she entered the chamber, no doubt a report of the activities her agents were involved in, though she closed it when Amaryllis walked in, her expression showing that she was interested in what she was doing here.

"Sylvanna, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?" Morral asked, though at the same time Amaryllis took a few seconds to glance around the chamber and found that there were no weapons on the walls, but she knew the lady had one and she had hers to fall back on in case she needed to use one.

"A gift, courtesy of those attacking Firsthold." Amaryllis replied, where she stepped forward and placed the sack right in front of the Altmer, who raised an eyebrow before opening it and discovered that Ulfric's head was in it, though she did nothing as she stood there, showing indifference towards this fact.

"It seems the Emperor bribed the Stormcloaks with revenge against us and it cost him some of his allies... good, the more of them that die the easier our mission will be." Morral said, the smile on her face making Amaryllis a little annoyed with her, but she remained neutral and uncaring, showing that she had no concern for the lives of everyone else, before the elf looked up for a moment, "You said they were attacking Firsthold... are they in need of reinforcements?"

"Not at all, we decimated them completely and utterly." Amaryllis stated, as she didn't want the Dominion to know that Firsthold, not to mention Skywatch, had fallen due to the combined might of the remaining Stormcloaks and the force of allies that had saved them, just to keep them in the dark as the main force made their way to the city, "He took out quite a number of soldiers before my arrows put him down, as he thought himself invulnerable and it proved to be his downfall... he, like all our enemies, wasn't expecting death to claim him, as it claims all things."

"...right..." Morral said, which showed Amaryllis that she had hit the nail on the head, some people didn't appreciate or like Sylvanna's words, not enough to ask her to stop since the Ranger-General had a reputation that many couldn't ignore, to which she turned around and focused on a safe behind her, "Still, you did us a service and must be rew..."

That moment was all Amaryllis needed, as it revealed the short sword that Morral had on her and allowed her to use a bit of her magic to pull it out without her target realizing what was going on, driving it right into Morral's chest before she had a chance to react to what was going on. After doing that Amaryllis switched it out for Mehrunes' Razor, activating the quick kill power that was lingering on the blade and ended the life of the one who lead the Dominion, though once she did that she switched the blades and moved Morral's hands, making it look like she had killed herself. Once that step was done she studied all the letters that were scattered around the chamber, finding the ones that were from Morral and studied her handwriting, before drafting a letter that was in Morral's penmanship, a note to inform those that read it that the war was over and that she was passing on the torch to Sylvanna Windrunner. Such a thing meant that, if things worked as she had planned, she might be able to bring the war to an end and get the people to take a bit of Hist Sap to liberate their minds, but if that failed than it would be up to Za'kera to set the mess right.

Once she was done, and her ploy was created, she emerged from the room and, in the calm manner that Sylvanna was known for, called for someone to come quick as she made sure the scene was discovered, all while pocketing an important looking jewel, as she suspected it was connected to the Tower, and readied herself for whatever happened when the guards arrived.

War: The Ploy

Amaryllis kept a straight face as the Altmer guards followed her into Morral's chamber, after making sure that her blade was clean of blood so no one accused her of killing the leader of the Dominion, where they quickly confirmed her words, that their boss was dead and that she had killed herself. This was possibly the most risky assassination she had ever done, and might ever do when she considered the consequences if she failed, because if she pulled this off it would open the doors for her to end the war without any additional loss of life. The guards stepped forward as she thought about that, studying the body and everything that was inside the chamber, including the sack that contained Ulfric's head, just in case she brought in something that had been the cause of Morral killing herself, even though Amaryllis told them that she never opened it, since she found their leader like this. Fortunately it appeared that they didn't believe that she was responsible for what they were seeing, which was good for her as she stood there, as cool as she could be while mimicking Sylvanna's personality and all of her habits, before gathering herself the moment they found the suicide note.

This was it, either they would believe that the letter was genuine and look to her for leadership, which she was hoping for, or they would declare this a fake and the city of Alinor would tear itself apart as the warring parties fought each other to take over the Aldmeri Dominion.

"Lady Sylvanna... I'm not sure how to say this, but Lady Morral named you as her successor," one of the guards said, where Amaryllis remained still for a moment, doing her best to be surprised in the way that Sylvanna would have done in this sort of situation, and it was clear that the rest of the guards were unsure of what to make of this sudden event.

"I see. Did she write down her reasoning for this decision?" Amaryllis replied, where it looked like the guards were taken aback by Morral's 'decision', even though it did look like her ploy might be successful, that they were believing it and not questioning it at all.

"She wrote down some of her concerns, about an army she had seen, but nothing about her decision... I guess she felt you were befitting of taking her place." another guard said, which was what Amaryllis was hoping for when she wrote the short suicide note she had left behind after copying Morral's style, though this one, a mage, seemed worried about something, which was either good or bad for her, "She must have seen something in her crystal sphere, something that caused this decision, even though she seemed just fine earlier this morning... whatever she discovered must have spooked her, to the point where she'd take her life."

"Lady Morral, I bring news from the..." a voice said, where Amaryllis discovered another Altmer, a war general based on all the armor he was wearing, as he looked more like someone from the Imperial City, only his armor was molded to match all of the armor that the warrior Justicars wore during their time in Skyrim, before he stopped as he witnessed the scene that was in front of him, 'What in the...?"

"General Pellinar, sir." the guards stated, taking a moment to salute the figure that was in front of them, while Amaryllis just stood there and raised her eyebrow for a few seconds, as Sylvanna only followed her leader, Morral to be exact, and with that figure dead there was no one she needed to bow her head to, "We have terrible news: Lady Morral was found dead a few minutes ago, by Lady Sylvanna, and it looks like she took her own life, as we have found no signs of tampering that would suggest someone else did this. Also, we found a note telling anyone who found it that Lady Sylvanna was to take over as the Leader of the Dominion's forces... she must have seen something in her scrying sphere that shocked her enough to take her own life."

It was times like this that Amaryllis was glad for some of the stupid people she had encountered during her time in this world, as she had no idea that Morral had an orb that allowed her to see other things, even though it was possible that it had been blocked by Ma'jera some time ago, and that these morons were connecting dots that didn't exist.

"That is most troubling." the General, Pellinar, commented, showing that he was willing to listen to the information, since he stepped forward and studied the chamber as well, finding everything the guards had discovered over the last couple of minutes, even finding that the letter was written in Morral's penmanship, before he sighed and saluted Amaryllis, which the pair of guards mimicked, "I have found nothing that suggests that this was an assassination... Lady Morral committed suicide, that much I can confirm... all hail Lady Sylvanna Windrunner."

"Thank you, General. Now then, you said you had news from somewhere? The front, correct?" Amaryllis replied, where she honestly couldn't believe how easy it was to fool them into believing that their own leader had killed herself, in her very own chambers, and left a note saying that someone like her was her replacement, but she made sure to keep presenting herself in the way Sylvanna would.

"Yes, from the front. We've received word that the force we sent to the beach has been routed, and that the force capable of such a thing is on their way here." Pellinar stated, giving Amaryllis all the information she needed right now, because it meant that soon the city of Alinor, and the entirety of the Aldmeri Dominion, would soon witness the full power of the new Empress, witness all of the forces that she had gathered to stop them from destroying the world, the final key that might end this war, "What are your orders?"

"Recall the soldiers that have been sent out and regroup at the main gate... we'll observe their movements before making our move against them." Amaryllis said, as it seemed like she was making a defensive strategy, which was true since she knew that there were soldiers on the other side of the main gate, getting ready to leave for the beach, and if Pellinar was able to move fast he would save those lives, before she turned, made sure she had Ulfric's head, and walked out as she dismissed them to do their duties.

Amaryllis made her way back to the main gate as quickly as she could, finding that Pellinar completed his duties with ease, calling for everyone to regroup inside Alinor while those that were outside were recalled by the mages, no doubt using small communication crystals to update them on their orders. It was fascinating to find that none of their enemies had, in the time she had been fighting the Dominion, used them to inform the others about what was going on, once more maybe being blocked by Ma'jera's magic, but instead of worrying about that she stopped on the wall of the main gate and stood there for a time. Sure enough Pellinar joined her after some time, where Amaryllis was able to see that the soldiers that had been on the other side of the wall had reentered the city, allowing the soldiers to regroup and wonder what was going on, given the orders they had been given so far. This was for the best, as they needed to be worried about things so that the shock of what was coming their way would stop them from wanting to continue the war, or at least obey her orders to stand down in the face of the Empire's brand new power.

An hour later she found what she was expecting to find, Za'kera riding towards Alinor with the full force of Tamriel behind her, with the surviving Stormcloaks having fallen in with them after the fall of their leaders, and that was only the start of a scene that freaked out the soldiers around her. It wasn't long before Ma'jera and the other Demigods and Demiprinces, along with the forces of Oblivion, appeared nearby and marched alongside the main force, which really worried the Altmer that were near her, especially when they struggled to understand what they were seeing. In addition to that they found all of their allies, such as Tosh Raka and the Maormer, marching towards Alinor as well, where Amaryllis heard the sound of a few soldiers wishing that this was a nightmare and that they should wake up soon, refusing to believe what was coming towards the city. Amaryllis felt sorry for those individuals, as not a few moments later she heard a number of weapons fall to the ground as the Dominion's soldiers found that the Daedric Princes, at least Dagon and Molag, were present, and the mere appearance of those figures crushed the fighting spirit of the soldiers that were observing this scene.

This was all she needed to cement Za'kera's victory over the Dominion, the more intelligent members of the faction were seeing just how hopeless this war was and knew that nothing they did would stop the force in front of them, in fact while it was easy to take out the mortal soldiers they still had to deal with the Daedra, dragons, and everything else, to which she sighed for a moment.

"General, fly the white flag as soon as you can." Amaryllis said, keeping her voice calm and collected, as Sylvanna never let anything get the better of her, based on what she had discovered so far, though without turning her head she could tell that the soldiers were surprised by her words.

"Lady Sylvanna... you can't be serious!" Pellinar replied, as he knew that Lady Morral would have forced them to change out and do battle with the army that was marching on Alinor, so his words were due to the difference in how their leaders worked, due to the fact that she seemed to be giving up in the face of this disaster.

"Tell me, General, are you seeing what we're seeing?" Amaryllis asked, where she raised her hand and gestured to Za'kera and her massive army, allowing her to fully see just how many soldiers they had gathered before coming here, too much in her opinion, and she could see that he was slowly understanding what she wasn't saying, "If it were just the Empire we would have had a good chance at beating them into submission, but they have dragons, soldiers from every province of Tamriel, Daedra from every plane of Oblivion, and the Princes themselves as back up... in the face of this force we would be better off surrendering, instead of being utterly wiped out."

Pellinar said nothing as he nodded his head and called for one of the soldiers to find a white flag, where he and Amaryllis walked back down to the main gate so they could leave Alinor, and once the flag was brought to them the General held it as they headed outside. This was the final part of Amaryllis' plan, the most important step in her mind, and the only way Za'kera would know it was her, and go along with this, was her unique eye color, the one thing most people ignored and she, of all people, recognized no matter what form she was in. She had thought about it for some time and discovered the key to how she got away with that part of her disguises breaking, most people inserted the eye color of whoever she was presenting herself as, so the Dominion saw Sylvanna's eye color and not her own dual colored eyes. Za'kera was special, as she was the only one who could see past what was blocking the others and see her true eye color, no matter the guise she wore, and she was counting on that aspect to shine through so she would understand what she was doing, instead of seeing her as an enemy.

Of course the only flaw was that Pellinar brought a company of soldiers and mages with him, high ranking members of the Dominion she guessed, but she paid them no mind as they departed from the city and approached the army, where she found Za'kera, Ma'jera, and Zoravoir walking up to where her group was standing, and, sure enough, Za'kera recognized her eye color without revealing too much.

"I see, we were wrong to assume that the Emperor was behind this attack... we're dealing with an Empress," Amaryllis said, because if she spoke to Za'kera, in a way that made the others realize she had known about her, it would ruin the entire plan, but for now it looked like they understood that this was her first time seeing the figures in front of them.

"That's right. I am Za'kera Saratamil, the new Empress that leads the Empire," Za'kera replied, where she took a moment to glance at the group that was standing near Amaryllis, finding that they were important members of the Dominion, likely the ones directly under the main commander, before focusing on them, "I see you're flying the white flag... does this mean?"

"We are surrendering. I mean, not even we, the great Aldmeri Dominion, can stand against the powers of the Princes of Oblivion or their children," Amaryllis stated, which was the truth of the matter and the soldiers around her understood it without her having to say too much on the matter, before she gestured to the other figures that were behind her, making it look like she was understanding what was in front of them, "If you had brought an army of soldiers from the provinces of Tamriel, and just them alone, I would have considered having the army march out to fight you... however, with the force you have mustered, flying the white flag is the only path forward."

"You should be happy we're even talking... we found your Numidium earlier." Ma'jera commented, acting as if she really didn't care about them, which Amaryllis was used to after spending so much time in her presence and the other children of the Daedric Princes.

"Numidium?" Amaryllis asked, making it seem like she had no idea that a new Brass God had been created, which she was sure had been created by Morral and was unknown to most of the Dominion, before she chuckled for a moment, as if she found something amusing, "Oh Lady Morral... you sneaky Altmer... plotting the end of the world in such a dangerous way, with an entity that could easily backfire."

"Yes, it could have, but we carefully tore it apart." Zoravoir said, which was all Amaryllis needed to spread fear among the group that was standing behind her, as now they knew that the Empire's forces had the power to bring down a Numidium, even if their thoughts were incorrect in some manner.

Za'kera, however, accepted their surrender and beckoned for Amaryllis' group to follow them, which she did so without any delay, as this would allow her and her allies to actually end this war, and with the Dominion realizing that Morral was planning on destroying everything, without telling anyone, they seemed broken, meaning this might be the end of their war and the start of a new era.

Interlude: Aftermath

Amaryllis was pleased with herself, as she had done what many had deemed possible, she stopped the genocide of the Altmer race, given that many wanted to punish them for plotting to destroy the world by wrecking all of the Towers and using the Numidium to destroying the main one. After Za'kera marched on Alinor it was all over, the Dominion and the rest of the army had no hope left in them, not when they had to worry about the Demiprinces and Princes of Oblivion, not to mention everyone else that was gathered in one spot. Losing Morral had broken them, an unexpected side effect she hadn't been anticipating when she decided to go forward with using Sylvanna's form to gain access to their enemy's base, and as such Pellinar and the other leaders of the various branches followed Amaryllis as she surrendered to the Empire. She had been expecting some sort of reaction to her waving the white flag, but in the end everyone understood her reasoning, that there was no hope of survival for the Dominion if they waged war with this mighty force, so they followed her into the tent and listened as the war was brought to an end.

The terms were simple, the Dominion would cease hostilities and accept that Talos was, in fact, a Divine, which they had all the proof to back since he was willing to talk with them and he even had a Demigod son who didn't like the Altmer, while also accepting an offering from King Abiru, which they, and Amaryllis, accepted without much delay. Such a thing meant that the people of Alinor would be liberated from the Dominion's grasp and none of the racism would remain in them, or at least it would take some time for it to disappear entirely, and she was fine with that. Pellinar seemed surprised by how simple the demands were, even though Amaryllis said that she would have to move the official office of the Dominion to Tamriel, due to foster good faith with the Empire, though she would be assigning someone she trusted to watch over the Summerset Isles while she was gone. It was basically a way for her to justify not remaining on the island all the time, given her new role, and she intended on coming back at random intervals to surprise the people who now worked under her, which she didn't tell Pellinar about, just to make sure they had no idea when she'd return.

With the conversation done, and the Altmer knew that they might have gotten off easy, even though Tosh Raka would no doubt have words with them on how they would be repaying the attack on his domain some time ago, the General left with his group as Amaryllis remained near Za'kera, under the guise of speaking more about their plans, and once they were alone she let out a sigh.

"I cannot believe this... you did it. You really did it!" Za'kera said, keeping her voice low so only Amaryllis, Zoravoir, and Ma'jera would hear what she had to say, even though many of the leaders likely knew what was going on right now, due to many knowing about Amaryllis' powers, but she found it hard to contain her excitement.

"No... WE did it, your majesty." Amaryllis replied, where the shadows shifted for a moment, her way of watching the tent's entrance in case someone came their way, as she shifted into her base form again, while keeping Sylvanna's voice, just in case someone was listening, and if they had a guest she'd shift back instantly, "We were brought together to save Nirn, as that is the true meaning of your prophecy, and your army has done it, convincing the unconvincible to bend the knee... a wonderful display of power, worthy of an Empress."

"And with the world secure, the Demigods and Demiprinces, as well as our parents, will return to our realms... for a time, anyway." Ma'jera said, where she found that Za'kera, Amaryllis, and Zoravoir turned to look at her, showing her that they were interested in what she had to say, even though one had an idea as to what she meant, "We only allied ourselves with you to knock the Dominion into submission and secure this world... now that your goal has been realized, well, there is no reason for us to stay in this world. We will leave you alone, for a time anyway, but know that with the Liminal Barrier left in its current state there will come a day when one of the Princes will come and ruin the Fifth Era, just like how Molag Bal set his Planemeld plan into action in the Second Era and Mehrunes Dagon ushered in the Oblivion Crisis in the Third Era... so while we might have been allies today, to save this world, we might be enemies tomorrow."

"So, what... save the world to destroy it later?" Zoravoir inquired, though it sounded like one of the Princes had something planned for the future and didn't want the world to be wiped out by the Dominion, even though that seemed to be what all of them did from time to time, plotting to use the mortals for their own gain.

"Maybe. Depends on the Prince." Ma'jera said, where she shrugged, as if she didn't care about Tamriel or the mortals she had worked with during her time in this world, which was understandable given who they were currently talking to, before she collected her staff once more and headed for the tent's entrance, where she stopped for a few seconds, "Such as how Dagon would seek to end this world, Molag would seek to make it part of Coldharbour, or Meridia, for example, might seek to make you servants of her light... time will tell, and I don't think Akatosh will tell you anything this time."

Amaryllis understood the situation, the fate of this world was up in the air, as the Princes only helped them to keep their playground intact, while she knew the Divines had aided them to save their world, but now they were on their own, for a time anyway, so it was only a matter of time before another disaster arrived. At the same time, however, she knew that it wouldn't happen for some time, probably a few years at the very least, and given the amount of time since the last event she had to guess they would have a hundred years or so before the next Prince made their move against this world, just like those who came before them. At that point in time she and Za'kera would be gone, leaving the Empire to her friend's descendants, since she would need to have some to preserve her lineage, though there was no telling what the future held and they would have to take each year as they came at them. She was sure that they would come up with something in due time, depending on which Prince came at them, though the only good thing was that they had Zoravoir as an ally, a very important one at that when she thought about it, and it might be the key to whatever event was in the future.

With the conversation done Amaryllis changed into Sylvanna's form and left the tent with Za'kera, making it look like they had been talking for some time and that everyone would be interested in what they had to say later, though what Ma'jera had told them might unite the people of the world for some time. She honestly should have seen this coming, that most of Oblivion was only helping to save Nirn so keep their playground safe and sound, so whatever plans they were setting up would be able to bear fruit in due time, but she had been so focused on stopping the Dominion the thought never crossed her mind. She knew that Za'kera hadn't considered that information either, that Ma'jera and the other forces of Oblivion would be temporary allies, save for Zoravoir anyway, so if things went bad she guessed they might find sanctuary in the realm she had recreated some time ago, if she still cared about mortals when that time came. She also knew that her days of being an assassin would be limited, since she was taking over the role of the Dominion's leader thanks to her ploy, but with her powers she was sure that she would be able to find a way around that problem.

After that Za'kera informed her allies that the war was over, they had convinced the Dominion to surrender in the face of the massive army they had gathered, something that, as Amaryllis was expecting, called for a celebration to be held, which caused them to spread out around the camp and party. Given that it had been started by Sanguine and Sheogorath, well, there wasn't much they could do about it and simply went with it, though the Altmer of the Dominion were wary of this as some joined the event, mostly because of the fact that two Princes had started it. From what Amaryllis saw everyone was happy to have the war come to an end, even though some had been hoping for more damage to be done to the Dominion or the Summerset Isles, but now that they knew that the forces of Oblivion would turn against them in the future, be it in the near future or the far future, having more allies was for the best. Sakaia and the other types of Khajiit were happy to welcome the liberated Altmer into the fold, even though it would take some time for everyone in Alinor to follow suit, but at the very least the city knew that they had been saved from a terrible fate and might work towards a better future now, or at least that was her hope on the matter.

As the celebration went on, however, she found an odd scene, Sheogorath was chatting with someone she wasn't even expecting to see again, a chimera creature made up of many species of her home world and who could snap his fingers to do whatever he wanted, which meant he had to be Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. The reason no one was freaking out was because he had appeared near the Prince of Madness, so many assumed that he was a new creation or a long lost creature that had returned to its master, even though the reality was far different than what they knew. Based on what she was seeing it looked like they might have been friends in some manner, making her wonder just how strong the Spirit of Disharmony actually was if he knew Sheogorath, but decided that she didn't want to know, as it would just drive her mad if she kept thinking about it. Of course she found that Discord, Sheogorath, and Durum, the latter having joined her father as soon as the war was over, turning their magic on an Altmer for fun, where the two denizens of the Shivering Isles showed off the new Moomer race they had created, where Amaryllis was glad neither looked in her direction since it was something she'd rather forget about, and sure enough it got Discord laughing.

After a few minutes she found that Discord was done talking with Sheogorath, for the time being no doubt, and he walked over to where she was standing, meaning he likely saw through her guise and knew who she was, though she leaned on a post and watched the others celebrate their victory over the Dominion.

"It seems you and your friend have done well." Discord commented, keeping his voice low so only she would hear him, all while confirming that he knew about Zoravoir, meaning he must have been watching them for some time, even though she found that her friend was talking to some of the other Princes, no doubt about some of the races that called her new realm home.

"Well, we believed that travel between Nirn and Equus was impossible, so we worked hard to save this place." Amaryllis quietly replied, which was the truth, for her at the very least, and despite the fact that Discord was here, meaning he had to have a way back to their home world, she found that she didn't want to do home, as this was her home now, "I know what you're going to ask, and the answer is no. We're just fine with our lives in this new world."

"I was going to ask if you want to come back and check up with the rest of the Displaced, but it seems I have my answer... a lot sooner than I expected, anyway." Discord said, where he shrugged for a moment as he started to step away from the area she was standing in, though his words told her that there were more like her and Zoravoir out there, lost among the stars of their vast universe, and the Spirit of Disharmony was, interestingly enough, the one seeking them out, "Aren't you a little interested in the others, like Princess Twilight for example?"

"As tempting as it is, we'll be too busy to justify heading back." Zoravoir stated, as she had sensed that Discord would want a word with them and she happened to share Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter, hence why she moved over to make sure he knew their opinion.

"Oh well, I guess I'll spend a little more time catching up with Sheogorath," Discord replied, where he shrugged for a few seconds and turned, showing that if they weren't willing to come with him then he was going to leave them to their own devices, "we haven't seen each other for years... or has it been decades... and this was the perfect opportunity to catch up before I track down the next of the Displaced."

Amaryllis said nothing as Discord walked away from where she was standing and focused on the celebration, as her worry was on what the future of this world held for her and her friends, not what the other lost souls were doing right now, and she let a small smile appear on her face as she waited to see what the future held for them.

Epilogue: Dawn of a New Era

Following the events of the Battle for the Summerset Isles, as it became known as, Amaryllis and her group of followers, the Justicars who had been liberated from all the darkness that the Dominion shoved into the Altmer race, arrived in Cyrodiil, Anvil to be exact, and set up a base of operations near one of the city's gates. Za'kera wanted 'Sylvanna' nearby and this was the best they could manage, without totally upsetting the rest of the Altmer, though she was fine with that since it allowed her to focus on making sure the Justicars didn't do anything stupid and ruin the peace they had obtained. This set up let her send messages between her new base of operations and the home of the Aldmeri Dominion, to her loyal subordinates, and also allowed her to head back every now and then, to surprise them when they weren't expecting it, just to make sure things were running smoothly and Morral's supporters weren't causing chaos. Pellinar was one of the ones that joined her, but he was able to move between the two locations more freely, following her orders and making sure to keep the peace, though even he would be surprised by her actions, just to keep everyone on their toes.

As she thought about the Almer Amaryllis turned her attention to the other races that had decided to check out Cyrodiil, as many were interested in Za'kera's attempt to make a more equal Empire for everyone, trying to deal with racism and make it so no race, no matter who they were, were ridiculed or bullied because of their race. Such a thing meant that the many types of Khajiit were present, as were some Maormer, there were some from the races of Akavir, the Argonians, and many of the other races that called the world home, showing that many approved of her actions and wanted it to succeed. Of course it would take some time to get over the racism the Dominion had installed in many of them, but thanks to everything that had been do so far they had taken the first steps necessary to try and overcome the past, now that the world wasn't in danger of being destroyed, at least not yet. Za'kera, however, was more than willing to accept the responsibility and challenge that her actions had brought her, even though her duties as the Empress meant that many continued to bother her, where she had the Elder Council to fall back on, who gladly served despite their own desires to gain more power over Cyrodiil.

Amaryllis had also witnessed the departure of Alduin and the other dragons, many taking to the wilds of Skyrim and doing their best to remain separated from the races of the land, though the majority spread out across the whole of Tamriel, to find new homes and resume their lives. True to her word Ma'jera and the other Demiprinces, and all of the Demigods, also departed from the world and returned to their own planes of existence, resuming their duties as the children of the gods, which meant that all of the Daedra pulled out as well, traversing the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion as they returned to their homes. Zoravoir, despite the fact that she wanted to stay in Cyrodiil and help out, given all the work everyone had put into saving the world, also returned to her Plane of Oblivion and fully embraced her duties as a Daedric Prince, even if it meant she had to remain on the other side of the Liminal Barrier for the most part. Amaryllis, of course, was sad to see it happen, since she had become friends with the former princess, but it was something that had to be done and she had no say in the matter, only saying nothing as she accepted the difference between her and her friend.

In addition to all of that she figured out a way to maybe, just maybe, turn the misfortunes of the Brotherhood around, as before Zoravoir left they found the old Sanctuary that was between Anvil and Kvatch, where her friend made sure that no outsiders would be able to find it. Such a thing meant that only the members of the Brotherhood would be able to find it, and with the power of both a Daedric Prince and her right as Sithis' Chosen, or whatever Amaryllis was called, they were able to restore it and purify an area for the Night Mother, before she sealed the door with a new passphrase. With such a thing done she sent word to Nazir and arranged for the coffin to be moved once more, as well as a number of new sisters and brothers, as he had found assassins to join the Brotherhood, having passed his test with flying colors. While she had a desire for the Dark Brotherhood to serve Za'kera, as in take out her enemies and whatnot, she knew it wouldn't work, as it would strike fear in everyone, so she intended for them to resume their duties once everything had calmed down, which meant finding people to take the vacant roles that the Brotherhood was missing.

Given her new position as the Leader of the Dominion, well, she couldn't be the Listener of the Brotherhood all the time, so Amaryllis found a way to divide her responsibilities between her roles, as every now and then she'd be the shadowy Listener, rumored to be a dark furred female Khajiit, other times she'd be Lady Sylvanna, the leader of the Dominion, and other times she'd be nobody, a literal shadow watching over the Empire.

Following the end of the war Za'kera's army essentially disbanded, each race returning to their provinces to follow their rulers once more, with the Imperial Legion continuing to serve her and keep Cyrodiil safe, though they also had all sorts of new recruits from the other provinces, people who wanted to serve with their new friends. The people of Skyrim were sad to see that Ulfric, many of his fellow Jarls, and a good portion of the Stormcloaks had perished in the war with the Aldmeri Dominion, or at least that came from those who shared his viewpoints, but the restoration of Talos worship prevented the people from raging over the punishment the Dominion had received. Of course, since he was a fallen hero, Ulfric earned a song befitting of his exploits and deeds, though it also signaled the end of the Civil War, but as far as Amaryllis knew there was still no High King or Queen, as while many now supported Elisif they didn't think she was ready for the duty of ruling over the whole province, which she also agreed with. That meant there might be another War of Succession in the future, as Amaryllis was sure that someone would rise a banner and try it at some point in time, though she guessed time would tell, due to the fact that Akatosh had nothing else to say to her, other than congratulating her for a job well done before he and the fragments of the other Divines returned to their plane as well.

In addition to that she learned that the Volkihar Clan had been led by Harkon for a few more days, who wanted to darken the world and rule over everything, now that he knew such a thing was possible after helping them save the world, but, as it turned out, Serana and Valerica had more allies and they tore him apart. As it turned out most of the vampires had seen what was possible when a villainous organization gained the attention of the entire world, which would have happened to them if they found a way to claim Auriel's Bow from her and used it to darken the sun, so they killed Harkon to stop that from happening. It was amusing to hear such a thing, given all the time Harkon ruled by fear or absolute power, though it meant that the Volkihar Clan was now being led by Serana, who was trying to find a way to mold the clan into a new force that wasn't a menace to Skyrim, as in making them into a helpful force so they weren't hunted down. Of course that didn't sit well with Isran, meaning that he must have lost some loved ones or something to the vampires and wouldn't rest until he got his vengeance on them, but with how the rest of Skyrim seemed to be reacting, as some of the clan members were hunting down bandits and criminals, she had a feeling they'd turn against the Dawnguard if things kept up like that.

Of course there was an interesting rumor around that point, of a black robed figure who appeared out of nowhere and fled before anyone could figure out who it was, as if they had been made of shadows or something, but since it didn't turn up the people focused on their own problems and other things.

Thinking about that caused her to consider Miraak for a time, as the ancient former Dragon Priest had departed after the war for the world was over, in fact she was sure he had left while everyone was distracted, but based on what they could tell he seemed uninterested in his original plans. In fact she was sure that he wanted to explore the rest of the world, see if he could learn new things without having to fall back on Hermaeus Mora or the realm he had been trapped in for a long period of time, and the Prince in question just let him go, why she had no idea and she really didn't want to know what the Prince of Knowledge had planned for him. Such a thing meant that Solstheim was free and they didn't have to worry about him returning at some point in time, as he no longer cared about ruling the island, much less Skyrim, but with a wandering ancient Dragonborn out there she was sure that it would come to bite them in the rear at some point in time, how she had no idea and she really didn't want to know that either. Either way she was sure that everything would be fine for a while, after everything that had been done to save the world from danger, and it was strengthened even further by Ma'jera also fulfilling her last statement, she pulled the sunken Tower out of the depths of the sea, reforged its Stone, and set it down in Black Marsh, which caused Za'kera some headaches when King Abiru inquired about its existence.

Despite all of that, however, Amaryllis let out a light chuckle as she watched the sun rise over Cyrodiil, as she had far more work to do to make the world a better place and was sure that she, and her allies, would be busy for some time, but she was looking forward to whatever the future had for her and the rest of the world.

Prelude: A Changeling's Search

It was another beautiful night in Canterlot, where the moon and the stars were shining without a single cloud in the sky to block them, though there were sounds of ponies walking down the various streets as they got ready to hit the clubs and party for a few hours. Most ponies worked and played during the day, during the time where Princess Celestia raised the sun as her sister, Princess Luna, lowered the moon, and they generally retired to their homes and their beds when night fell over the land, which was when Princess Celestia lowered the sun as Princess Luna raised the moon. For a long time there had been only one ruler of Equestria, as the city of Canterlot was the capital of the country, and that ruler was Princess Celestia, though a few years ago that changed when Princess Luna returned, freed from whatever darkness had taken hold of her body and created Nightmare Moon. The majority of the city just went with it and resumed their lives as if nothing had actually changed, and for the most part they were right, except that with Princess Luna's return came the return of the Night Guard, the guards that patrolled the city and the castle during the night, exactly like the Royal Guard, their counterparts, did during the day. Since one princess ruled during the day and the other ruled over the night, it made sense for there to be two groups of guards as well, one that served as Princess Celestia's bodyguards while the other did the same for Princess Luna, and they made sure the city was safe as well.

To some this was perfect, as they didn't have to worry about anyone trying anything, least the guards chase after them for whatever crime they committed, while those that did commit crimes found it to be rather vexing, since it meant more work before an operation could be put into motion. That was Amaryllis' situation, as she had to be very careful with the Night Guards that were patrolling the city and the castle, because they were trained to deal with threats like her, but she wasn't foolish enough to break into the castle and do something ridiculous, like attack one of the Princesses or steal from the royal treasury. Her plan was to break into the castle prison, find the cell that Queen Chrysalis was being kept in, and then, once her Queen was free, escape into the night so they could find the rest of the loyal changelings and rebuild their hive, hopefully for the better this time around. Amaryllis was a changeling, one of the few who sided with their Queen and rejected Thorax's ideals when he came to claim the position as the Leader of the Hive from Chrysalis, creating the new breed of changelings that he ruled over as their King, an act that broke the hive mind and made it even harder for her and the others to stay in contact with each other. She and the other loyal changelings had been separated from their Queen, both because of the loss of the hive mind as well as the fact that she just disappeared, and she was the only one acting in Canterlot at the moment, as the others were searching the other major cities, or at least that was what she had learned the last time they got together.

Changelings shared the same body types that all ponies, regardless if they were unicorns, earth ponies, or even pegasi, had, but Amaryllis was slightly different from the rest of her kind, as her carapace was amethyst purple colored and both her mane and tail were the same color, though the rest of her body, as in her legs, the area around her carapace, and her head, was the same color that all of the other changelings had. She also had insect wings, which had the same color as her carapace, a curved unicorn horn, and a few holes in her legs, just like the rest of her kind, but the other thing that set her apart from the rest of the changelings, and their Queen was counted in this thought, was the fact that her right eye was red colored and her left eye had a yellow color to it, something she didn't think about all that often, despite the fact that her Queen had told her it meant she was destined for greatness, a hard thing to believe.

She pushed that thought from her mind as she focused on what she was planning on doing tonight, because she had spent the last week studying the patrol routes of the guards and when the door to the prison would be open, and her chance was coming, meaning she had to pay attention, otherwise she'd miss her opening. A little over a week ago she had heard one of the Royal Guards, who had gone off duty due to the Princesses switching, mention a rumor about a special guest in the prisons, a queen that had been behind the attack on the royal wedding some time ago, and that they were waiting for Princess Celestia to make up her mind on what to do with the queen. It wasn't hard for Amaryllis, who was disguised as someone who was passing through the city at the time, to determine that the guard had to be talking about Queen Chrysalis, the only queen in the entirety of Equestria, which had set her down the path of figuring out how she was going to get inside the prison and break her Queen out of her cell, and how they were going to escape the city. Normally she would have taken longer to make sure she knew everything about the area and her target, but considering she had no idea what they were going to do to her Queen she figured that a week was more than enough time, hence the reason she was making her move tonight.

As she finished that thought she noticed one of the Night Guards walk down the alleyway that was near where she was hiding, though she waited for a few seconds before emerging from behind the bush that she was using as her cover and headed towards the castle, as she had decided to hide near the houses that were close to the entrance of the prison, which appeared to be the right idea. It didn't take her long to reach the entrance she was planning on using, where she found that the guards that were normally guarding it weren't near it, which made sense since they were in the middle of changing positions with some of the other guards, and this was her chance to get inside the prison without anyone even noticing her head inside. What was interesting was that there was no one at the desk that rested in the room she entered, when normally there would be someone here and she would have had to use her disguise she crafted for this situation to get further into the prison, but this worked out in her favor and she wasn't about to waste any time. She moved behind the desk and opened the drawers as quietly as she could, where she found the key to the door that would allow her to walk down into the actual prison, but there was no book on who was down here, something that was likely in another part of the prison, though she determined that she didn't have the time to look for it, since she had no idea how much time she had before the guards came back and discovered her presence.

With the key floating in her telekinesis, and the desk drawers were closed, Amaryllis unlocked the door that was blocking her way, carefully opened it so she didn't make that much sound, and then, after determining that there no one was anywhere near her position, she walked into the prison, closed the door behind her, and started looking for the cell that her Queen was resting in. Just to be on the safe side, in case anyone entered the prison, Amaryllis let a brief green flame roll over her body, where she activated her shapeshifting powers and transformed herself, where her carapace became a coat of fur, her wings became bat-like, she gained tuffed ears, the simple robe she was wearing over her body morphed into the lavender armor the Night Guards wore, and she was sure her eyes became cat-like slits. Changelings were capable of taking on any shape or form they wanted, be it a unicorn, a pegasus, an earth pony, a griffon, or any of the other races across Equestria, and the bat ponies that made up the Night Guard were no exception, and depending on how strong they were the clothing they were wearing shifted as well, though that took extra power to do so and she was only adding the armor so none of the other guards would suspect anything. It was over in a span of a few seconds, which would make it impossible for anyone to determine a changeling was down here, but even then she kept her guard up, because she had no idea what would happen and wouldn't calm down until she and her Queen were out of Canterlot.

Once the transformation was complete Amaryllis focused on looking at the cells that were around her, where she found that the first pair of cells were empty, something that wasn't hard to believe because of the fact that there weren't all that many criminals in the city, causing her to move forward as she kept her eyes and ears open, just in case some of the guards walked into the prison or if someone said something. She was expecting there to be a few guards at some point, because this area was connected to the castle itself and the guards were supposed to know the ins and outs of the prison, in case they had a prisoner down here, but so far it appeared that no one was down here, which only make her more cautious as she continued checking the cells. Not even a few moments later she came to a stop as she heard some voices near her position, no doubt two guards chatting with each other, though since she hadn't heard them when she entered this part of the prison she had to assume that they had come in after she did. She decided that the best course of action would be to keep silent and see if she could gleam any information from the pair of guards, hopefully something on where her Queen was being held and what she needed to do to get through the locks, and hoped that she wasn't wasting time listening to what they were talking about.

"So, what are we doing down here again?" one of the guards asked, where Amaryllis was able to tell that it belonged to a stallion, not that she was surprised by that since most of the ponies in the guards happened to be stallions, even if more mares were starting to join the guards as well, though at the same time there was something about that statement that worried her, especially since the guard that had spoken had to know why they were down here, meaning that this could be an act that they were putting on.

"The Captain got word that someone entered the prison a few minutes ago," the second guard, a mare by the sounds of it, replied, though there was no doubt that she and her partner were looking around the cells that were near them and all of the paths that could lead someone to one of the few exits, meaning that Amaryllis was already running out of options, in terms of how she was going to escape anyway, but she remained calm and continued to listen to what else the pair might say to each other, "given that we haven't heard anything from the guards inside the prison, the Captain asked us to check it out and see if we've got an intruder running around... though he suspects that, if we do have an intruder, it might be one of the changelings, so we're supposed to find them and prevent whoever it is from leaving, especially since they might be looking for the missing Queen..."

Amaryllis paled for a moment, as that statement meant that she had walked right into a trap and that the Night Guards that were in the prison knew she was here, meaning that it was only a matter of time until they stopped what they were doing and figured out where in the prison she was standing, while at the same time the conversation that the guards were in the middle of also revealed that all of the rumors she had heard about her Queen and where she might be located had been false. She honestly couldn't believe that she fell for this sort of trap, as an infiltrator was supposed to be better than this, nor could she believe that she had actually bought the rumor about the ponies holding her Queen somewhere in this prison, because she should have known that was a lie the moment she entered and didn't hear the sounds of Chrysalis shouting at something, regardless if they were near her or not. It was her own fault for assuming that her Queen had been asleep, since it was currently nighttime outside and most creatures were asleep at this point, hence why she set her plan into motion when the moon replaced the sun, but right now she needed to get moving, before someone saw her again, so she shook her head and turned around, so she could leave the way she came in, hopefully before the two guards spotted her. Luck seemed to be on her side as she carefully returned to the room she had been in a few minutes ago, where she carefully opened the door and closed it behind her without drawing the attention of the guards that had been talking, as it looked like they were deep in their conversation, before locking the door and returning the key to where she had found it, hopefully to make it look like the guards had been wrong about what they had seen, though in the end she knew that she wouldn't be returning to Canterlot for some time, now that the guards knew that someone had infiltrated the prison and suspected it might be a changelings, before she refocused her mind and headed for the exit.

When she walked outside, however, she found a few Night Guards, at the very least five of them, standing near the area that was around the door she happened to be leaving through, all waiting for something to happen, though this was just further confirmation that this was either a trap the ponies had set up, as there weren't this many guards near the door during the nights that she studied the patrol patterns of the guards, or she had incredibly bad luck and had chosen to set her plan into motion at the wrong moment.

The moment the guards turned and looked at her was the signal for Amaryllis to get moving, as the instant one of the bat ponies started to move she dropped her disguise as she used some of her power to teleport further down the street they were on, allowing her to get a head start as she headed towards the main gate, even though she knew that her pursuers only had to turn around before following after her. Flying straight out of the city was a good idea, but at the same time the consequence was that all of the other guards in the area would see her as she flew through the air, so she felt that it was best that she didn't waste her energy on that and focused on running through the streets of Canterlot, all while thinking of a good form to assume to ditch the guards. She thought about using the form of DJ Pon-3, but quickly discarded that idea, as she was having an event tonight and if anyone saw her while she was using that appearance the game would be over in a matter of seconds, if not immediately, so she had to think of a different form to use for a couple of minutes, at least until she was outside the city anyway. In the end Amaryllis decided on a blue coated mare with a pale blue colored mane that had a few red stripes in it, though this time she chose to be a pegasus with a stopwatch as a Cutie Mark, hopefully making it look like she was a tired flyer who was heading home for the night, which seemed like a good idea to her since she was positive that there wasn't someone like this in Canterlot at the moment and, even if there was a pony who looked like her current disguise, which was possible given the combinations a pony's body could have, she was sure she wouldn't run into such a pony, which would have ruined her night even more than it already was.

Of course that was before she turned a corner, so she could take the back way to the gate she was heading towards, and ran right into a pegasus that looked exactly like the form she had picked for herself, revealing that her luck had to be the absolute worst tonight, though before she could do anything the mare in question screamed 'Changeling' at the top of her lungs as she ran out into the street, causing Amaryllis to curse her bad luck for a few seconds as she ditched the disguise and burst into the air, as her last plan had been ruined and now she had to flee as fast as she could, without running into any of the city's guards.

As she expected it didn't long for the flyers of the Night Guard to take to the skies and chase after her, which was the main reason she had tried to avoid going this in the first place, but now that her position was known to the guards her choices were to either try and hide, to wait for the heat to die down, or just run and hide somewhere in the one place most ponies, and the guards were counted in that thought, were afraid to enter, the Everfree Forest. The only ones that weren't scared of that place were the Elements of Harmony and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as that was what Amaryllis had heard during her various investigations into the dark place, so she knew that she could lose a number of her pursuers by the time she reached the edge of the forest, meaning she could hide there for an hour or two before making her way over to one of the other villages or towns, like Ponyville for example, where she might be able to obtain some information on where her Queen was located. It was a gamble on her part, especially if what the Night Guards had said when she was in the prison was true, that no one knew where Queen Chrysalis was located, but she needed to give it a try and figured that she might uncover something if she spent some time in Ponyville, which happened to be the home of the ponies that had helped Thorax beat her Queen, leading to the situation she was in. All she had to do was lose the guards that were flying after her as she left the city behind, which wasn't easy considering that all of them were trained to keep their city safe and might have seen her as a threat, hence the reason she spent some of her energy weaving through the clouds so she could shake her tail and be alone for a while.

Due to Ponyville being close to Canterlot, between half an hour to forty-five minutes away by flight, she did end up losing a few of her pursuers after getting a certain distance from the city, no doubt because they didn't want to leave the civilians unguarded in case more changelings were hiding, but the real magic happened when she reached her destination and flew down to the ground so she could follow the path in front of her. She turned her head back for a moment as she finally entered the Everfree Forest, allowing her to watch as the majority of the Night Guards stopped in their tracks and stared down at the forest, showing Amaryllis that even those trained to protect the Princesses were cautious about this place and weighed their options. It was exactly what she was expecting, that her pursuers would pause once they noticed where she was going, and instead of sticking around Amaryllis rushed into the forest, disappearing into the vast amount of trees that were all around her, making it nearly impossible for the guards to follow her at this point. Amaryllis, despite knowing that she could just stop and rest, to watch the guards leave the area, headed deeper into the forest and focused on her objective, because if she could reach Ponyville she could disappear into the night crowd and the guards would completely lose her, this time without being able to find her.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was to come to an abrupt stop as she discovered a gorge in the ground in front of her, one that separated the part of the forest that she was in from the other piece of land, where an ancient castle just so happened to be resting, one that seemed like a place the ponies talking about, but what really caught her attention was a cave that was at the bottom of the gorge. The opening was of a decent size and seemed to be in a place where no one would think to look for her, even if the guards decided to come into the forest and continue their search, so she decided to modify her plan a little and flew down to where the cave rested, as she could lay low for a few hours, to make sure all of her pursuers were gone, before heading to Ponyville and disappearing into whatever crowd might be having fun, or there was the option to take the form of a traveler and arrive in the morning, either way would prevent the guards from finding out where she was hiding. It took her only a few seconds to get down to where the cave opening was located, where she closed her wings and headed though the opening, so she would be out of sight in case any guards came this far, though as Amaryllis walked forward she found what appeared to be a number of stones that looked like the stumps of trees that had been cut down. At first she thought it was strange that someone would make a number of stones in the same manner, like they had taken chunks out of the chamber she was in and had spent some time making it look nice, but what stopped her from questioning what she was seeing right now was the large deep blue crystalline tree that was in front of her, one that had a few branches on it, though at the end of a few of its branches rested an interesting gemstone, five to be exact, with a sixth resting in the tree's trunk.

She really had no idea what she was staring at, despite how interesting it looked, and had the feeling that if she wanted to figure out what this might be it would require speaking to the residents of Ponyville for a time, but since she wasn't all that interested in the tree she turned around and stared at the passage she had walked through to reach this point of the cave, as she needed stay focused and be ready in case any of the Night Guards showed up, though even as Amaryllis thought about that she did something that surprised her for a moment, she yawned.

"I shouldn't be... this tired..." she commented, because she was sure that her adrenaline would have kept her wide awake until she found somewhere in Ponyville to crash for the night, before starting to plan out what she was going to do next, but oddly enough she found that the chamber she was in, with the strange crystalline tree, seemed to have the opposite effect on her, so instead of remaining awake she staggered for a moment, like she was either drunk or exhausted, before collapsing on the ground and started to drift off as she headed for the realm of dreams.

As Amaryllis hit the ground she had no idea that the gemstones in the mysterious tree's branches were glowing just a tiny bit, no doubt the remnants of some ancient and powerful magic, nor did she realize just how much her life was going to change by her deciding to use this odd cave as her hiding spot as she waited for the Night Guard to stop chasing her, but despite all of that it was clear that she would figure out what had happened to her when she got up, even though the rest of the world faded as she succumbed to the darkness at long last.

Amaryllis groaned as she pushed herself off the ground, because she had no idea why she had the sudden urge to sleep once she found the strange crystalline tree, but, as she regained her senses, she found that she couldn't hear the sounds of any guards around her, which meant that she hadn't been found while she was sleeping, which meant the event hadn't endangered her and that she was free to move once more. As she opened her eyes, so she could get moving and arrive in Ponyville as soon as possible, she paused as she discovered that she was no longer in the cave she had discovered earlier, rather she was laying outside, in a wide open area, that seemed to be in the middle of winter, as the majority of the area around her happened to be covered in snow it and there were a few spots that didn't have any snow. Another thing she discovered, besides the number of trees that were near her, which was far less than what the Everfree Forest had, was a worn path that had been made in the ground near where she had been laying, a dirt and stone path from the looks of it, meaning that it must have seen a lot of travel and that it was possible that she would see someone at some point, despite the fact that the road was also partly covered by the snow that rested all around her. She could tell, with a brief look at her surroundings, that she wasn't in the Frozen North, the northern most point of Equestria to be exact, where she knew the Crystal Empire rested inside a protective barrier that protected it from the rest of the Frozen North, but it did make her a little curious about her location, especially since she needed to get to Ponyville as soon as possible to continue her search for her missing Queen.

As she got up to leave, however, she quickly discovered that her location wasn't the only thing that had changed, because her front legs now ended in five smaller appendages, fingers as she recalled, giving her arms that were similar to what a minotaur had, while the rest of her body had been changed to fit a bipedal stance, even though her former hind legs still had holes in them and she had two mounds on her chest as well, which the minotaurs referred to as breasts, based on a few of her memories, but she knew that she would have to think about that later, as her main concern was that she was in a foreign land, in a unfamiliar body, and the robe she had been wearing earlier now only covered the top half of her new body, which was embarrassing since it exposed her lower half, something she would have to fix after she figured out what had happened to her.

"Okay, I have no idea where I am, I have no idea how to walk in this form, and I'm sure I'll need some suitable clothing before I find a town or a settlement," Amaryllis said, because she was pretty sure that, since this clearly wasn't the Frozen North, as even the trees looked different from the ones she had seen around Canterlot, she was likely in some other land that was far away from Equestria, one where the rules about clothing were that both the upper and lower halves of one's body were covered in some manner, though that was when she studied her body a little more, finding that her horn and wings had survived her sudden transformation, "Well, that's a relief. I can fly out of here, if I need to do so, though before that I should try to figure out where in the world I am, before..."

Amaryllis paused for a second as she heard the sound of what she assumed were footsteps, loud ones to be exact, though instead of staying near the road like a fool, which would allow anyone to see her, she forced herself to get up and move, so she could hid behind one of the nearby trees, where she was thankful that it was wide enough for her to hide behind, as if it was thinner she would have been forced to think of another plan. She waited for a few seconds, to see if the noise was getting closer, and when she heard someone walking near her position she turned her head slightly and spotted three beings walking down the road that she had been resting near earlier, beings that she didn't recognize at all, hence why she focused on them and studied each of them so she could understand what sort of residents were in the area she had just appeared in. All three of the strangers were bipedal like she was, though their legs didn't end in hooves like hers did, and the two in front looked wealthy, based on how fine their clothing was, as one of them, a male she assumed by the short hair and how his head looked, had a fine green shirt on and had some fur wrapped around his neck, along with a brown pair of pants and some black shoes. The being that walked beside him had to be female, again based on the length of her hair and her facial structure, not to mention that she had mounds on her chest as well, and she was wearing a fine brown set of clothing that was different from what her friend or significant other was wearing. The being that was walking behind them wore what Amaryllis assumed was some sort of armor, nothing like the metal armor that the Royal and Night Guards she was used to observing wore all the time, though it seemed like his armor was crafted from an animal's pelt, or several of them at the very least.

The other things she noticed was that the man wearing armor and the rich man were wearing what appeared to be swords on their belts, while the lady had a much shorter blade on her belt, a dagger she guessed, but what interested her was the fact that they had what she assumed was a brown horse walking behind them, as it was as large as Celestia was rumored to be and didn't seem to be that intelligent, one that had a couple of packs on its back, which only made her curious as to what they were doing out here... though when the horse stopped a few seconds later the lady did as well, to see what was wrong, even though Amaryllis knew it wasn't about her since none of them had see her yet.

"Come along, we can't afford to make any more stops." the male noble, as that was what Amaryllis was assuming he was based on the clothing he was wearing, said, where she watched as he and the guard stopped in their tracks and turned towards the lady and the horse, though his tone made it sound like he was annoyed that they were constantly stopping on their journey, "We need to find our way to Solitude, which means traversing these terrible roads, and we can't get there if we keep stopping"

"Well, my feet are killing me and we haven't taken a single break since we had lunch, so we're stopping." the lady replied, her tone revealing that this had been a long day and she was waiting for it to be over, especially since the person she was with seemed to be annoying her, while the guard seemed to be keeping an eye out for potential dangers, meaning parts of the road were dangerous, before she glanced at the other noble for a few seconds, "Why are we even going to a wedding at this far flung end of the Empire in the first place?"

"I told you, like I've told you several times since we left Cyrodiil, that this is the wedding of Vittoria Vici, an extremely well connected merchant with the East Empire Company." the male noble stated, where Amaryllis could tell that he was getting angry with his companion, no doubt due to how many times he's explained the same thing to her, something that showed that she wasn't okay with them being here in the first place, before he sighed and calmed down a little bit, as if coming to the decision that getting angry now was the last thing he needed, "She's the Emperor's cousin, remember? I'm hopeful that these gifts we've brought with us will put us in her good graces, secure that import deal that we've been working towards, and lead the way to an audience with the Emperor himself! Once the wedding is over, and I have a chance to chat with her about the deal, we'll get a cart and head back home, so we can put this journey behind us."

Amaryllis had no idea who the two nobles were talking about, and the guard seemed to be totally ignoring them while they discussed the same thing once more, confirming that they had spoken about it multiple times since they left the area that they lived in, but what she gathered from their conversation was that she was in some unknown land, one that seemed to be part of an Empire and was ruled by an Emperor, meaning there had to be a king or something who ruled the land in the Emperor's name. The name of the noble that was mentioned, Vittoria Vici, meant nothing to her as well, just like the name Cyrodiil meant nothing to her, but Solitude sounded like it had to be somewhere in the land she was now in, based on the fact that the nobles were heading to it right now, and she was sure that it was either a city or a town, where she came to the decision that she would have to find a map at some point and figure out where she was. The nobles then spent a few minutes discussing the various 'gifts' they had brought with them, which apparently ranged from some expensive clothing to some expertly crafted bowls, goblets, and other wares that someone could eat with or drink from, including a few rings and necklaces, making Amaryllis wonder just how much the pair had brought with them, as it sounded like they should have brought a wagon with them and not the single horse that was standing near them. When the pair of nobles finally reached the end of their discussion, much to the relief of their guard, they started walking down the path that was in front of them once more, meaning they were resuming their trek to the area Solitude likely rested in, causing the guard and the horse to follow after them once more, though as that happened the horse shifted it's stance and something fell onto the ground, something that none of the three individuals noticed as they continued down the road.

Since she had seen what was going on Amaryllis knew that one of the nobles must have packed some of their stuff in an incorrect manner before they left their home, or maybe their servants had done the deed, though she had no idea how it had managed to make it this far without falling off sooner, but she decided not to question it as she waited for the nobles to disappear completely, since there was a chance that they could glance back at some point and spot her, which she did want to avoid right now. Once they were gone she pulled herself up and carefully walked over to where the fallen object rested, though she had to pause every now and then because she wasn't used to this new body of hers, which resulted in her falling face first into the snow a few times, where she was thankful that no one was around to witness this, before she finally made it over to her destination. What she discovered was what looked like a dirty brown set of clothing, a shirt of some kind that had sleeves and a long skirt that could probably reach her ankles if she put it on, but since it appeared that the nobles hadn't noticed their missing luggage, and likely wouldn't notice until the next time they came to a stop, which would be a few hours from now no doubt, she decided to wear it for the time being, since it was far better than what she was wearing right now. She was thankful that the clothing wasn't a single piece, otherwise she would have had to rip it into two halves to even put it on, which would have ruined it and possibly prevented her from putting it on, but it did look like this new land had standards and separated their clothing into shirts that covered their chest area and pants that covered their legs, not counting any shoes and other articles that someone could wear.

She quickly put the clothing on before someone else came down the road, or up the road for that matter, where she found that her body still had the coloration that she had in her original form, there were a number of odd modifications that she wasn't expecting to find, like the breasts for instance, but it wasn't long before she was dressed and the robe she had been wearing earlier was positioned like a hood and cloak, making her look like a wanderer. It was the best she could do right now, since she didn't have anything else to add to her appearance, though she did consider using her magic for a moment, to see if she could do something to make her seem different, but decided that, for now, she could stick to her strange new base form and try her magic out later, once she stopped falling to the ground while she was walking. What she needed right now was information on where she was and the various beings that called this land home, that way she had a better idea of the various forms she might be able to take when she tried her magic out in the future, something that would be a great benefit to her survival, causing her to walk down the road and follow after the nobles, all while hoping to avoid them entirely. Once she had a better idea of the land that she was currently in, and the beings that were around her, she would start to figure out how to get back home, to continue her search for the other changelings and their missing Queen, even if that meant going outside Equestria to find them, even though she was sure that such a thing would take some time and a bit of effort on her part, given the strangeness of her current situation.

One thing was for sure, she needed to be careful as she explored this new land, since there was no telling what dangers might be lurking around every corner, but at the same time she was curious as to what this place had in store for her, for the short period of time she would be spending here anyway, and made her look forward to what would happen when she finally encountered someone or something new.

Wanderings: Exploring the Plains

As Amaryllis walked to the west of Whiterun she kept the same pace that she used when she departed from Riverwood a few hours ago, which had allowed her to reach White River Watch and take down the bandit leader who had been leading that particular group, though this allowed her to look at the area that was around her, take in the sights like she was just another visitor to these lands, which she technically was when she thought about it, and make a note of the landmarks that were around her, just in case she came through here at some point in the future. Of course one of the things that she noticed were the farms that were on her left, including the houses that the farmers lived in and the areas that the animals were kept in, while the majority of the stuff that was off on her right seemed to be the wide open plains she had looked at earlier, when she reached the highest point of the path she had used to exit Riverwood, where it was easy for her to spot a number of trees that were scattered here and there. She was sure that there were a number of wild animals in the plains, either facing each other to see who would become the other's dinner, as was the law of the wild based on what she knew, or they could be running from certain danger, such as from a saber cat, or just picking on whoever happened to nearby at any given moment, like hunters and random travelers that were cutting across the plains, to save some time during their travels, but for now she didn't let that bother her as she moved further and further away from where the city of Whiterun rested. She even noticed that there weren't any other travelers on the road at this time, meaning they were either further away from where she was located, as in further along the road in either direction, or she was actually alone right now and that it would be some time before someone joined her on the road, though all of this gave her some time to figure out the locations that Amren told her about so she could find the bandits that took his father's blade, given that she had no idea as to where the camp, Redoran's Retreat, was located, save for the directions he gave her.

While she followed the road that was right in front of her, and kept her eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, one of the structures she made a note of was a stone watchtower that was off on her left, with some stone walls that made it look like a fort of some kind, which was further validated by the fact that there were a few guards walking on the walls and the one that was standing on top of the tower, all so they could keep watch over the land, be it keeping an eye on the bandits and any other dangers to their Hold. It reminded her of the couple of guards that had been watching over the front gate of Whiterun, even if they had stopped Za'kera from entering the city in the process, but at the very least they had been willing to listen to her when she informed them that what the khajiit had told them was the truth, that she had spotted a dragon and that it was dangerous, to which she decided to keep her thoughts to herself and allowed the guards to go about their business, since this wasn't something that needed her attention and was followed by her continuing down the road that she was following right now. Interesting enough there was a larger stone structure off in the distance, which happened to rest off to the right of the road she was on, which meant that it had to be Fort Greymoor, the bandit infested fortress that she should avoid in her quest to find Redoran's Retreat, which was where the bandits that had stolen the blade of Amren's father had wandered off to, though she was sure that someone, at some point in time, would come by to tackle the fort of bandits and purge their evil from the land, hence why she focused on her current task and not something else that would be a distraction. By her estimates the walk from the entrance of Whiterun to the area near Fort Greymoor took her about ten to twenty minutes to make, which was fine in the grand scheme of things, but, from what she could tell, the sun was in the process of setting and night would be upon the land in the next few hours, which she guessed made sense considering she had taken some time in those two bandit infested areas earlier, before heading into the city, though despite what was going on she had the feeling that she would be back inside the city before night fell.

She eventually reached the fork in the road that Amren had described to her earlier and turned to her right, so she could follow the road until she reached the location that the stone bridge rested in, which would tell her that she was close to where the cave was located, as it was supposed to be a short distance from the bridge in question, something she would be able to confirm or deny once she reached her next destination. At the same time she noticed that a few of the bandits that were walking on the walls of Fort Greymoor, to keep an eye out for guards and people they could rob, didn't seem to pay her too much attention, which she was fine with since that meant that she could move on without having to deal with another bandit camp, as this one appeared to be much larger than the ones she had faced today, though the fact that all of them ignored her meant they likely didn't see her or felt that a single traveler wasn't worth the effort to take down. As she walked down the road, and continued to take in what was around her, she noticed a trio of altmer standing near some large rocks, though while one of them was wearing a black robe with a hood the other two were wearing brass armor, or what she assumed was brass armor, which matched a brief description of the Thalmor she had been given, though for the time being she decided to ignore them as she focused on heading towards the stone bridge, as she knew that interacting with them would only cost her more time. When she finally reached the stone bridge she found that there were no foes in this area, as no wild animals or bandits were waiting for her, which told her that the road might be somewhat safer than what she originally thought it would be, before she turned to the left and started searching for the cave that was her true destination, but, at the same time, she kept a hand at the ready, so she could pull out her sword if something attacked her, which she hoped didn't happen while she was out here.

Fortunately it was rather easy to find the cave that she was looking for, as there was a dip in the ground and there was a lone wooden door, resting between some large rocks, that reminded her of the mine she had cleared out earlier, but the moment she approached the door she discovered something else, that these bandits didn't even both to post any guards outside the entrance, to which she opened the door and headed inside, while making sure to start sneaking the moment she was inside the cave, to make sure none of her targets heard her coming.

On the other side of the door she found a few crates that looked like they had been there for a good amount of time, due to all of the webs that were on one or two of them, indicating that the spiders had been given some time to work on each of them, even if said spiders were no longer present right now, before she spotted a cart that likely had been used to take the stones inside this area and transport them elsewhere, as if someone was mining in this area recently, and some lights that revealed more torches or lanterns. She extended her magic for a bit and extinguished the flame that was inside the lantern that was on the wall to her left, just to increase her chances of not being detected, before doing the same thing to the next two lanterns that were along the path she was following, only to pause as she reached a small opening that lead into a decent sized area, an area that looked like the bandits counted and sorted their loot, or a food preparation area of some kind. Regardless of what this particular area was used for she spotted one of the bandits that had taken the blade that Amren's father had used in the past, who appeared to be wandering around right now, though at the same time there was a dog walking beside him as well, which meant that it would likely be hostile towards her and that it would need to be put down if she wanted to find the leader and take him out, even though that wasn't her main objective this time, but she would do it to bring some measure of peace to Whiterun. She was sure that Jarl Balgruuf or Proventus might have placed a bounty on these guys, given their nature to pillage whatever they wanted, but even as she thought about that she finally touched the sack that had the head of the bandit leader she had killed, Hajvarr Iron-Hand she recalled, and laid it on one of the boxes that were near her, as based on what happened when she was in Dragonsreach it appeared that she didn't need the head to prove what she had done, which still surprised her since proof was usually a good thing to have, which just meant that the people of Skyrim accepted one's word and left it at that.

Once that was done she pulled her bow out and nocked one of the arrows that she was carrying in her quiver, as she just remembered that she had the weapon in the first place, before she raised it and aimed at her target for a second or two, which was followed by the arrow flying through the air and struck the dog in the head, causing it to stagger for a moment and fall to the ground, but, oddly enough, the bandit didn't seem to notice what had happened, especially since the animal had been near him when she struck it. Amaryllis was honestly surprised by that, as the dog had yipped in response to her attack, before falling to the ground and going still, but, since the bandit hadn't noticed her deed, and was currently right in front of a small wooden table, she switched the bow for her dagger and sneaked into the area that was in front of her, as it was time to see if she could replicate what she had done back in Embershard Mine. She made sure to stay in the shadows, like any good agent of the Hive would have done in her position, and found that her target made no alterations to what he was doing, meaning he had no idea that she was even there, so when he finally got up and stopped near a tunnel that had to lead deeper into the cave, to where the leader was located, Amaryllis stopped behind him and slit his throat, replicating what she had done earlier. As he hit the ground she paused for a few seconds, as she was also surprised by the fact that killing her foes was getting easier and easier with every bandit she took out, especially since none of the others had made a noise that indicated they had heard what was going on, though once she was sure that no one was coming for her she took a moment to search the area for anything she might need in the future, which included some coins from the bandit, some iron arrows that had been resting on the table that the bandit had stared at once, and a locked chest, which was rather easy to unlock, though all that was inside it was a small coin pouch, a blue potion, and some steel arrows, items she collected and stashed away with the rest of her stuff.

From there she turned around and headed towards the tunnel that the bandit had walked towards before she killed him, a tunnel that was rather short and quickly brought her to a smaller room, where one bandit, a female nord that was wearing a set of fur armor, was walking around at the moment, while the leader of this small group, who happened to have a set of armor that was the exact same that Hajvarr had been wearing, was sitting in front of a fire with his back turned towards the tunnel's opening. Amaryllis found that the female bandit seemed to be tired or angry about something, as she wasn't paying attention to the tunnel at all, so when her target's back was exposed, and the bandit in question had come to a stop for a moment, she emerged from the tunnel and approached the bandit from behind, where she slit her throat as well and made sure the body didn't land on the ground with a loud thud, to keep the leader in the dark. Her plan appeared to work quite well, as the leader didn't move his head to look at the area she was lurking in, meaning he hadn't heard the noise or heard his underling cry out as Amaryllis ended her life, to which she quickly picked the coins from the bandit's body, and a few lockpicks as well, before she sneaked into the area that the leader was resting in, which seemed to be where he stared at a campfire, though she made sure to be as quiet as she could, since there was always the chance he might hear her as she got closer. She was surprised that none of the bandits in this area seemed to hear any of the noises she had made so far, be it the sounds of their comrades dying or the dog yipping in pain as it died, along with the fact that none of her foes even suspected that something might be wrong, but she wasn't about the question it as she reached out with her dagger and sliced through the leader's throat, ending his life in a matter of seconds, just like the others she had faced so far, even if his body fell backwards and rested on the flat stump he had been sitting on while she was working on clearing out the rest of this small cave.

Instead of questioning how she was able to do all of this, since she was sure that someone should have noticed something odd while she was sneaking through the cave they were calling home for the time being, she just accepted it and looked in the large chest that was near her and opened it, where she found a leather helmet that reminded her of the ones that she had seen back in Helgen, even if none of the Imperial soldiers had been wearing it, a decent sized coin pouch, a piece of paper that was like the map she had found earlier, at the first bandit camp, and a silver necklace with a sapphire in it, an item she could get a good price for.

"There you are," Amaryllis commented, where she picked up the final item that the chest contained, a sword that had the same length of an imperial sword, though it's head was curved towards her and there was a guard around the hilt, which protected the wielder in some manner, though given the unique form of the weapon she had to assume this was what she was looking for, to which she slipped it into her pack, along with the rest of the other items that had been inside the chest, to which she stopped crouching and headed for the cave's entrance.

It didn't take her long to reach the exit and head outside, where she stretched her arms for a few seconds and found that she quite liked her khajiit form, especially since it was the closest to her original form, though eventually she lowered her arms and started the walk back to Whiterun, only this time she was going to cut across the plains and get to the gate a little faster than if she had followed the road like she did on the way here. As she walked, however, Amaryllis took a few more moments to look at the area around her, taking in the sights as she wondered if her quest to get back home was one that was even possible, but for now she would have to see if she could find someone to answer the question, because if she was stuck in this world she could make a living being a hero, or at the very least someone who dealt with problems, be they bandits or the occasional wild animal, or even recovering what had been stolen, like she was doing right now, though it was something she could think about if she was truly stuck in this world. Just thinking about animals made her pause as she heard something move in the nearby area, where she spotted one of the mudcrabs that she had heard about, which happened to be crabs that had the ability to hide themselves in the ground, a power to camouflage themselves as stone and granted them to attack unsuspecting prey when something came near one of the creeks that existed in the land, but it didn't seem interested in her and she moved on before it decided to approach her. She had a vague idea why someone might find the mudcrabs to be such a terrifying creature, due to them being able to hide themselves until they were ready to strike, but she wasn't frightened of them, not when she knew about such a skill and could spot them from the area that she was standing in, and that remained true after the first mudcrab found more of its kind and seemed to snap at them, in a form of communication no doubt, where they headed off in another direction and seemed to focus on another creature that seemed to have caught their attention, allowing her to leave before a wild animal came at her and tried to have her for dinner, which she wanted to avoid at all costs.

One thing that caught her interest, after she left the mudcrabs to their business, was the fact that there was a decent sized fire some distance in front of her, something that likely made the other wild animals stay away from the area, though what made her pause for a few seconds were the pair of tall beasts that were wandering around the area in question, but the tusks and snouts on them, including the large amount of fur on them, told her that they were mammoths. That was when she spotted one of the towering humanoid creatures, giants as the Imperial soldiers called them, that was standing near the large fire that she had been curious about, reminding her of what she saw when she walked by one of the farms not all that long ago, which caused her to stop as she considered investigating the camp for a few seconds and seeing if she could find anything interesting before heading to Whiterun, like some coins or stolen property that could be returned to one of the city's residents, even though she knew that she could take the easy route and just head back to Whiterun, leaving the giant and his mammoths alone. Of course, as she came to the decision to walk around the giant camp, since that was what this area appeared to be, she spotted a pair of nord hunters approaching from the direction she wanted to head in, so she could cut through the camp and head to the large city, though they were more focused on the giant and nothing else that might be around this area, especially since they started loosing arrows at the giant. She felt that they were insane for even trying something like this in the first place, because the trio of warriors she had seen walking away from the first giant she had seen, the fallen one to be exact, seemed like they been great warriors in their own right, trained to fight those sorts of creatures and bring peace to the rest of Skyrim, and her thoughts were proven right not a few seconds later, as the instant the first arrow hit it's mark the giant turned around and started walking towards the hunters, lifting its club a few times in a threatening manner, which both of the hunters ignored as they fought it.

Interestingly enough one of the hunters broke away from their partner and headed into the camp, where Amaryllis took a moment to hide herself to the best of her ability and watched as the hunter opened the large chest that apparently was inside the giant's camp, which caused the giant to growl as he swung his club and hit the hunter in the back, crushing the unfortunate nord against the large rock in the process, before turning towards the other hunter and started to advance on his position. As the giant did that, however, Amaryllis decided to see why the first hunter had been so interested in taking a moment to check the larger chest, instead of helping take down the giant, to which she silently approached the chest and opened it, where she found one of the scaled helmets, this time with an enchanted aura around it, a light brown potion, a large coin pouch that had to contain at least a hundred coins, maybe even two hundred if she was lucky, a few lockpicks, a pair of brass gauntlets that reminded her of the elves she spotted earlier, and a white many sided gemstone that seemed important. In the interest of time she grabbed everything that was inside the chest with her magic and stuffed it all in her bag, where she turned just in time to see the giant slam his club into the ground, in front of the hunter, and launched the poor nord into the air, where he disappeared within a matter of seconds, which showed her just how strong the giant was and that one had to be highly skilled to take one of them. That also informed Amaryllis that she had to move before the giant turned around, since she was out in the open right now, to which she quickly moved in the direction of Whiterun and quickly disappeared before the giant could find her, though she eventually stopped after a few moments and hid behind one of the rocks, where she waited to see if the giant was chasing her, but the sound of silence told her otherwise, so she breathed a sigh of relief as she focused on what she had taken from the chest, since some of the pieces she might be able to sell inside Whiterun.

The thing she decided to check out wasn't the armor or the potion, like anyone else would have done, in an effort to figure out what was inside the potion or determine what sort of enchantment was on the armor, before selling them to someone at a later date, rather she focused on the odd gemstone that was the size of her head, or at least it sure seemed to be that size, because it was so odd when she considered all the items that she had found in that chest, to which she gripped it for a moment as she lifted it out of her pack.

A new hand touches the beacon. a loud voice said, almost like it was speaking in her ear, causing Amaryllis to drop the gemstone as she readied herself for whoever was speaking to her, where she drew her dagger in the process as she took a few seconds to look around the area she had hidden herself in, only to find that she was still alone, something that caused her to turn towards the gemstone for a moment, Listen. Hear my voice and obey my decree. A foul darkness, brought about by a necromancer, has seeped into my temple, a darkness that you will destroy in my name! Return my beacon to my temple, at Mount Kilkreath, and I shall make you the instrument of my cleansing light.

Amaryllis stood there for a second or two as she wondered if this was all in her head, if she had finally gone crazy, or if this land really had strange beings that could talk to someone from a gemstone, or a beacon as the voice called it, even though she did know that there were strange stories of what the alicorn Princesses of Canterlot could do, before regaining herself as she picked up the gem and stared at it, wondering if she would hear the voice again or not, even though she had a few words for whoever spoke, if they were still listening to this object.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, but I have no intention of finding my way to Mount Kilkreath, wherever it's located, and returning this stone to your temple, all to fight a necromancer," Amaryllis stated, because there was always the chance that the voice was the necromancer herself, since it was a feminine voice that had spoken to her, and she wasn't about to walk right into the trap like an idiot, and even if this wasn't a trap there was the very real possibility that the necromancer would kill her, something she would like to avoid since she really wasn't used to her new body, before she sighed for a few seconds as she focused on the beacon, "but, since I'm not a heartless person, I'll carry your beacon into Whiterun and sell it to Belethor, so he can find a more worthy hero that will gladly jump at the chance to help you out, all without thinking about what you're asking of them."

Interestingly enough the voice didn't respond to what she said, either because the speaker was so shocked that she had disobeyed the "decree" that had been mentioned or was pleased that the gemstone was going to be passed to someone else, but Amaryllis decided not to think about it and shoved the beacon back into her pack, before turning towards the path that would allow her to reach the front gate. From what little she knew about this land the shops would be open until eight pm, meaning they went from eight in the morning to eight at night, though with the low position of the sun she knew that selling the beacon would have to wait until the following day, as it was getting pretty close to the time that the shops would close at, even though she did know that some of the merchants might go to the inn to speak to each other and have a bite to eat before heading to bed, or to party for a time. At the same time that meant Amren might be heading back to his house, so the chances of her bumping into him again, when night was approaching, were very slim, so she decided that Amren would have to wait until the morning as well, meaning that all she could do right now was return to the city and get inside the walls, before she considered something as she focused on her walk towards the main gate. She knew there was an inn near the shops, The Bannered Mare, so she could either rent the room that was in that building, if one of the other patrons hadn't already done that, or she could curl up somewhere around the city and hope the guards left her alone for the night, allowing her to get some sleep before morning arrived, but even as that idea came to her she decided that she might as well check out the inn and test her luck. Thanks to her decision to run away from the giant's camp, so she didn't get crushed but the club, she was able to make it to the main gate of the city rather quickly, though to be sure the guards recognized her she moved behind the house near the stables and returned to the form she had used to get inside the city, the nord one that the guards had seen earlier, and found that none of the guards seemed to pay much attention to her as she headed back into Whiterun, making her wonder if she could have gotten away with using her khajiit form to enter the city and bypass the guards.

As she walked through the main gate, however, she found that several of the shopkeepers were leaving the places where they worked and were either wandering around the districts of the city, to get a bit of exercise after spending nearly all day standing behind the counters of their shops, or were heading to the inn to socialize with their friends before turning in for the night, and that also included some of the other residents doing the same thing, meaning that this had to be common in Skyrim. Amaryllis found that the only people who paid attention to her presence were the guards, which actually made sense when she thought about it, and as she walked towards The Bannered Mare she found that the other residents were focused on their own problems, so they didn't pay attention to a total stranger in their city, meaning she could take a bit of time to walk around the city and take in the sights if she really wanted, though instead of doing that, like a visitor might do, she just kept walking. It took her a minute or two to reach the inn that she was heading towards, though when she opened the door she found that there were a number of patrons already sitting around the fireplace in the center of the building, with a number of tables near the entrance and a few stools in front of the bar, which the innkeeper was standing behind, a room to the left that had to be where the kitchen and staff rooms were located, and on the other side of the room rested a set of stairs that lead up to a decent sized room, one that had to be the one patrons payed for. The Bannered Mare was an interesting place, that much she could tell at a glance, and the patrons seemed to be having fun already, despite the fact that they stopped working not too long ago, so she made her way towards the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, as she knew that she needed to buy some food before she set out on her quest, especially since she no longer needed to fed on love energy, which she was used to eating in the past, plus, after her encounter with Orgnar in the Sleeping Giant Inn, she knew that the innkeeper might have some rumors to share with those who asked.

Hulda, the owner of the inn, was nicer than what she expected and found that she was more than willing to answer a few questions, believing Amaryllis to be a stranger to the city, which wasn't too far from the truth and she didn't ask why she was in Skyrim, where she learned that the overturned boat was called Jorrvaskr, which served as the mead hall and home of the Companions, an order of warriors that worked all over Skyrim, depending on what sort of work was available for, as it sounded like they killed creatures, like giants and saber cats, while rescuing those in need. There was also the Temple of Kynareth, which rested near the bottom of the stairs that lead the way to Dragonsreach, and the dying tree that was near it was called the Gildergreen, which apparently was a sacred tree or something, but from what Hulda could tell her Danica Pure-Spring, one of the priestesses that lived in the temple and worked there, was looking for someone to help her restore the tree to it's former glory, as the tree had been struck by lightning, hence the current state that everyone saw when they walked by the Temple. Amaryllis had no idea what needed to be done to restore such a tree to it's former glory, but, at the same time, it was something else that she was going to ignore for now, which prompted her to ask about who could teach her about magic, so she could ask one of the mages of this land if it was possible to go from one world to another, before really figuring out how she was going to get back home to resume her search for her Queen. The answer, as it turned out, was that she could either head to Dragonsreach and ask Farengar if he could spare a few moments to help her out, as he had all sorts of spell books that someone could purchase and learn from, which might not happen since he seemed to be focused on trying to learn more about the dragons, or she could head to the College of Winterhold and see if the mages there would admit her to their ranks, though Amaryllis could tell that Hulda didn't think very highly of the College and had a feeling that such a thing was likely on the minds of some of the other residents of the city, given that many in this city didn't seem to care about magic.

Once she had all the information she needed, for now anyway, Amaryllis purchased some food from Hulda, who had her helper, a redguard by the name of Saadia, take the items and cook them, so they would be ready in a few minutes, before also renting the room for the night, which only cost ten coins, something that surprised her since she was expecting it to cost a bit more, but once she knew which room she was renting, as Hulda beckoned to the stairs that she had spotted the moment she entered this inn, she relaxed with the patrons and listened to them, all while enjoying the bread, cheese, and meat she had purchased.

Eventually she turned in for the night, after hanging out with the patrons and avoiding the mead they were in the middle of drinking, mostly to see if they could tell her anything else about Skyrim's Holds, and when she woke up in the morning she made sure her disguise was still on, before heading downstairs to find that the only ones left were Hulda and Saadia, which made sense when she thought about it. Regardless of how many people were here she sat down and ate more of the food she had purchased the previous night, finding that none of it had spoiled overnight, while at the same time she listened to Hulda for a few minutes, who informed her that some of the early merchants who were coming from the east were slightly happier now that Hajvarr Iron-Hand was dead and his group had torn each other apart in an effort to figure out who their new leader would be. Amaryllis was honestly surprised that all of them were dead, meaning either they had done the deed themselves or another hero had come in and dealt with them while they were weakened and distracted by what they were doing, but she paid it no mind and knew that the only way to make the road safer was to find the other bandits along the way and take them all out, though that was something for another day, even though she wasn't too keen on taking out more bandits right now. After that she listened to a few more rumors while she ate her breakfast, where one had been about a giant statue near Winterhold, of a goddess or figure by the name of Azura, another was the state of the war, now that Ulfric was free and at large once more, and a third was a reminder of Aventus Aretino, the boy in Windhelm who was in the middle of trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood, giving her something to think about when she returned to the road, in case she went to the College to see if one could move between worlds.

Once she was done with breakfast, and had some provisions for the road, she thanked Hulda for the information and letting her rent the room out, even though she didn't need to do that since the lady informed her that it was her duty to do such a thing, before heading outside and finding that all of the stalls had their owners back at them, meaning the shops were open and she could sell off some of the stuff she had picked up earlier, when she was exploring the plains and looted those chests. Even though she knew she could visit one of the shops and sell some stuff, to lighten her load, the first thing she did was turn to the right and headed up towards her destination, which was, once again, Dragonsreach, because now that she knew who could tell her about magic, and if it was possible to open a portal back home, she intended to get some answers before she left, but even if she didn't like the answer that Farengar gave her she could always try the College of Winterhold and ask them the same questions. As she walked towards her destination she realized something, that she didn't see Za'kera leave the city, meaning the khajiit had either remained in the city, to gather provisions for whatever the Court Wizard had asked of her, or she had left the city while she was exploring the plains, but either way she wished the survivor of Helgen luck in doing whatever Farengar wanted her to do. Of course she found that the priest or monk that was standing in front of the statue the previous day was still there, preaching to whoever would stop and listen to what he had to tell them, but she paid him no mind this time around as she climbed the stone steps and approached the entrance of Dragonsreach once more, where she focused on what she needed to learn from Farengar, as his words would tell her what she would be doing for the foreseeable future, be it gathering components to return home or figuring out what sort of life would suit her if she was stuck in this place.

When she walked into the massive building, and climbed the short set of stairs in front of her, she found that Jarl Balgruuf and Proventus seemed to be in the middle of another discussion, and that Irelith was adding to what they were saying, but she headed over to Farengar's room and was relieved to see that the mage was already up, working on whatever he had been working on before Jarl Balgruuf introduced Za'kera to him yesterday, though as she stood in the doorway of his part of the building he looked up from where he was standing and noticed her standing there.

"Ah, the slayer of Hajvarr Iron-Hand," Farengar commented, indicating that he had heard what she told Irileth earlier, as in the previous day when she approached her and Za'kera, when she came to collect the bounty on the bandit leader, before he pulled himself away from the alchemy table and faced her, showing that she had his attention for a moment or two, as she knew that he would return to his work in time, "I would have thought that you would have left with your companion, who I sent to Bleak Falls Barrow to recover an artifact for me, something I have determined to be crucial in determining what to do about the dragons and their return."

"We aren't companions, rather we happened to arrive outside Whiterun at the same time," Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she noticed something odd, Farengar mentioned dragons, as in more than one, making her wonder if there had been another dragon attack since the black one destroyed Helgen, even if no one had mentioned a second one since her arrival in Whiterun, before shelving the thought for now as she focused on why she had come back here, "anyway, I was wondering if you could answer a question about magic for me, before I resumed my travels. I was curious if it's possible to travel from Skyrim to somewhere else, such as another world."

"You mean one of the realms of Oblivion?" Farengar inquired, though instead of waiting for Amaryllis to say anything else, or give him a proper answer, he turned to the map that he had on one of the sides of his room and seemed to think about what she had told him, making her wonder if this was a good thing to bother him with, given the fact that he was trying to figure out how to stop the black dragon and any others that had popped up lately, and before she could speak up it looked like he was going to speak first, "Once upon a time such a thing was possible, in fact the end of the last era was when the Oblivion Crisis happened, where the minions of Mehrunes Dagon opened gateways to his realm, the Deadlands, to bring their engines of war to our world and destroy it, but, thanks to the efforts of the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim, Dagon and his daedra were stopped, though it is said that the Divines placed a barrier, or something like it, around our world to prevent such a thing from happening a second time. Which, I'm sorry to say, means that opening a portal to one of the realms of Oblivion is next to impossible."

"Is... Is that so?" Amaryllis inquired, doing her best not to show that she was disappointed by the news, as it meant that whatever had brought her here, to this land, had come from Equus, something she couldn't access from this place, which meant that it was just as Farengar said, creating a portal between here and her home world was basically impossible for her to do, though it didn't take the mage long to nod his head, where she thanked him for the answer and excused herself so he could get back to his work.

Her entire plan had been about finding a way back home, doing whatever it took to gather the resources to do just that, but now, with the information she had just received, that plan no longer mattered, as she was now a permanent resident of this world and nothing was going to change that fact, even though she had been hoping she would only be in this world for a short period of time, instead of forever. That also meant that she was going to have to figure out a more reliable way to live her life, maybe by becoming an apprentice under one of the various vendors she had seen in the market, or maybe by joining the guard at some point, if Jarl Balgruuf could trust someone like her, and there was even the change that she could head out and see if she could find Za'kera again, to assist her in figuring out why that black dragon was attacking the rest of Skyrim, or at least Helgen anyway, but the chances of that happening were slim. That thought, however, made her recall what she had learned in Riverwood, about a boy in Windhelm that needed some sort of help, which meant that she could take up the role of a hero or a helper, though she was sure that meant killing bandits and recovering stolen items, which she was sure would grow old after awhile, but this thought was more in the sense of snapping him out of what he was doing and return to a normal life. In the end she decided that, for now, she would head to Windhelm and see what sort of problem the boy needed help with, though as she came to that decision she reached the bottom step of the stone stairs and stared at the dying tree, to which she started to search around the area and eventually found Amren, who was actually leaving his house for the day and was overjoyed when she stopped him, which was the moment that she reached into her pack and withdrew his father's sword, something that he apparently spent months searching for and had been stressing out about since his wife didn't seem to care about it. There was no reward for recovering the sword, as all Amren had to offer was a sword and shield technique that his father had taught him, though she told him that it was unnecessary, as helping him was more than enough for her, even though she counted the loot she had taken from the bandits and the giant's chest as her reward for her deed, though once she was done speaking with Amren she headed for Belethor's shop to sell some things to him.

Belethor, as it turned out, was happy to have a customer step into his store and walk up to the counter, where Amaryllis pulled out the couple of expensive looking items she had acquired from the last couple of chests she had opened and set them on the counter, where she watched as he inspected the items and their quality, before offering her four hundred coins for the lot. Based on the look Belethor had when he was going over all the items she had sent on the counter they were worth a little more than what he was offering, or at least that was what she thought, but in the end she didn't think the offer was too low, rather it was designed to give the customer a good deal and would allow Belethor to make a good return once he sold the items at a higher price. In the end, however, Amaryllis took the trade and was four hundred coins heavier as a result, though as she made sure to add the coins to her haul she considered learning the spell that would let her summon her own personal chest, just so she didn't have to walk around with so many coins on her person, as she had a feeling that it would entice a thief to approach her. Once that was done she made sure everything in her pack was ready for the next part of her trek through the provinces of Skyrim, while at the same time Belathor made sure the items he had bought from her were placed on displace so he could sell them to whoever came to his shop in the near future, but that was when she spotted something she had forgotten, as she noticed the beacon she had found while she was searching the chest that was in the giant's camp earlier.

"Oh, before I go, I found this as well," Amaryllis said, as she had forgotten about the beacon, the main reason behind her visit to the shop, and quickly pulled it out of her pack so she could set it down in front of Belethor, who raised one of his eyebrows as he stared at it, meaning he was studying it and determining how much he could sell it for, after buying it and giving her some coins for the odd gemstone, "When I touched this thing it spoke to me about returning it somewhere, but it's been silent since that moment, so I thought you might buy it as well, just to make sure it gets into the hands of a hero or a scholar."

"Interesting. It's unique, I'll give you that, but all I can offer you is thirty coins for it," Belethor replied, where Amaryllis felt that his tone was suggesting that he could afford to buy it for more than what he was offering, as he could sell it for a lot more than what she thought it was worth, but, at the same time, she really didn't care too much about the item and the being that had spoken to her when she touched it, meaning she basically wanted it out of her life so she could focus on what she might encounter next.

"That's fine." Amaryllis stated, showing that she was fine with the price, as she didn't want the beacon at all and was sure that Belethor would find someone to take it off his hands, for whatever price he actually asked for it when someone tried to but it from him, to which Belethor offered her a smaller pouch with the coins inside it, something that was followed by her handing him the beacon as she claimed the coins, allowing him to place it on one of his shelves and come up with the price he was going to ask for it.

With that done, and she was no longer weighed down by some of the stuff she had been carrying, Amaryllis headed out into the market and made her way back towards the main gate, as it was time to leave Whiterun and see what else the land of Skyrim had to offer, all while trying to find out what she was going to do now that her first plan had failed, even though she was sure she would figure something out in due time.

Brotherhood: New Arrivals

Getting around the Throat of the World proved to be rather easy, as all Amaryllis had to do was fly above the path that was to the south of it and stay away from the mountain, while making sure to go at a good pace so that Meeko didn't freak out, even though he was actually a pretty good passenger, almost as if he understood that fighting her would cause them to fall out of the air. Of course there might be the fact that she was used to the animals of her home land and the ones in Skyrim weren't like what she was used to, but she had the feeling that she was right about Meeko, and since he was being good she was able to focus her efforts on making sure they reached their destination without much delay, even though she was also keeping her eye open for any dangerous beings. Sure, she had only seen the black dragon once since her arrival in this land, but, at the same time, she wasn't about to let such a beast spot her and attack her, as she was positive a dragon would try to eat her if she was spotted, but fortunately there weren't any creatures like them in the area, allowing the flight to be as uneventful as it could possibly be. At the very least flying over Skyrim meant that she could take in the landscape and not have to worry about the various animals that wanted to kill her, of which there were plenty based on what she had seen so far, she could mark the landmarks in her mind as she flew above them, and she didn't have to worry about bandits trying to stop her every now and then in an attempt to steal her gold, or be interrupted by mock battles that covered the entire road, like she had seen earlier.

Speaking of which she spotted a cave that was to the south of the mountain, one that had a group of Stormcloaks and Imperials fighting in front of it, another mock battle from the looks of it, which only make her wonder what was going on with the civil war and the fact that the two sides claimed to hate each other, and yet they never seemed to kill each other, almost as if they were waiting for someone to make a decision before blood was actually spilled. Sometime after that she found yet another fortress off on her left, showing her that the ancient Nords apparently liked building stuff like this, and this one seemed to be home to bandits, due to the lack of identifying flags that the two factions used, meaning they might be a bounty on their heads, for some brave adventurer to claim if they were willing to fight an entire bandit clan. From above she recognized the area that she was looking down at, because that particular fortress was the first one that she had seen when she arrived in this world, meaning those nobles she had seen earlier, who had dropped the first article of clothing she wore in this land, might have been robbed by the bandits that called that fort home. Near that fortress, off to her right to be exact, rested one of the military camps that the two factions used, one that belonged to the Stormcloaks if she was reading the symbol on their flags correctly, though that was before she noticed a very familiar town at the end of the road, Helgen. It was like what Za'kera told her, the town had been wrecked by something large and parts of it had been burned to the ground, all signs that a dragon was responsible for the damage, but instead of sticking around, as she was sure that bandits might be crawling around the remains of Helgen, she focused on the road leading to Falkreath and followed it, leaving the ruined town behind.

After leaving Helgen behind she found that there really wasn't much less to look at, save for the ruined tower that was near the village that served as the capital of Falkreath, so it only took her half an hour to reach the area that the black pool was located in, the sign that she was in the right area and descended towards the ground, where she landed, let Meeko touch the ground once more, and opened the door in front of her... but, as she walked inside, she heard someone talking and it sounded very familiar, even if she only encountered the individual one time in the past.

"But the Night Mother is mother to all!" a voice said, though as Amaryllis reached the bottom step, and could see what was inside the main chamber, which was where she first met all the members of her new Family and got her first set of side contracts, she found Cicero, and the crate he had been transporting, near the bottom step, and it appeared that he was in the middle of talking to Astrid and the others about something important, "It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobedience? And surely... punishment?"

"Keep talking, little man, and we'll see who gets 'punished'." Arnbjorn stated, his tone revealing that he didn't much care for Cicero and what he had been talking about, before Amaryllis and Meeko arrived in the Sanctuary anyway, and it looked like he might be getting ready to do something about Cicero, only for a quick glance from Astrid to stop him in his tracks, even if he seemed upset about something, making her wonder what she might have missed since her departure and if she could ask what that something was.

"Oh, be quiet you great lumbering lapdog. The man has had a long journey, that much is obvious, so the least you can do is be a little civil." Festus said, showing that he didn't agree with what Arnbjorn had been thinking as he turned to face both Cicero and the crate that was behind him, which made Amaryllis wonder if the Night Mother was inside the crate and had yet to be removed from the container, even though that was when Festus turned towards the jester, "Mister Cicero, I, for one, am delighted that you and the Night Mother have arrived at last, after such a lengthy journey... your presence here signals a welcome return to tradition."

"Oh, what a kind and wise wizard you are." Cicero replied, where Amaryllis got the feeling that he hadn't been given a very warm welcome by the members of the Family, as it was probably somewhat worse than what she got, but that didn't seem to bother him at all as he smiled and looked at the group in front of him, despite the fact that he was focusing on Festus at the moment and had a smile on his face, which seemed to be his favorite emotion to display, "I'm sure that you will earn our Lady's favor."

"You and the Night Mother are, of course, welcome here, Cicero." Astrid stated, as she had been waiting for them to arrive for some time, if what Amaryllis remembered was to be believed, so she wasn't about to make the Night Mother or her Keeper upset with her and the rest of her Family, which would mean reigning in the Family members that weren't too keen on what was happening at the moment, before she glanced at the jester again, "And you will be afforded the respect you deserve, due to your position as the Night Mother's chosen Keeper. Understood... husband?"

Arnbjorn growled for a moment, almost as if he wanted to rip Cicero apart for whatever he had said before Amaryllis arrived in the Sanctuary, but, at the same time, he seemed to understand that, as the leader of their Family, Astrid's word was the law and they were supposed to follow it, to which he said nothing and simply glared at Cicero, as if he hated the idea that he had to respect the jester, though he also relaxed his hands for a moment, so he didn't step forward and swing his weapon at Cicero.

"Oh, yes yes yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Cicero said, his tone revealing that he was happy that they were able to come to some sort of understanding, instead of him being attacked by one of the Family members, maybe more if he did something that upset the rest of the Family, and Amaryllis suspected that he was even happier that the long journey he had been on was finally over, especially after all the bumps he had encountered on the way here, but she remained silent as she watched them speak.

"But make no mistake, Cicero, I am the leader of this Sanctuary, of this Family, and my word is law." Astrid said, where her words echoed what Amaryllis had been thinking a few moments ago, almost as if she was worried that the arrival of the Night Mother meant she would lose what power and authority she had over the others, and she suspected that if things were like what they were in the past such a thing could have happened, and she wasn't afraid to let Cicero know what one of her laws was right off the bat, "Are we clear on that point?"

"Oh yes, mistress. Perfectly! You're the boss." Cicero replied, showing that he must have been used to this happening in the past, before making the trip up to Skyrim, but, at the same time, his words seemed to appease Astrid, as she smiled for a moment as the rest of the Family dispersed, returning to what they had been doing before he arrived with the crate that contained the Night Mother, leaving the jester to whatever it was he needed to do to make sure the crate was moved to the area that likely had been set up for it at some point in time.

Amaryllis was, of course, a little surprised that none of the others seemed interested in helping Cicero with the crate that he had brought to this Sanctuary, but, at the same time, it appeared that the man wasn't annoyed by that fact and seemed fine with working alone, so she decided to focus on Astrid, as she could tell that there was something she wanted to talk about and that it was best to talk with her first, before she tracked down Nazir and informed him that all three of her first targets had been taken care of.

"Ah, I was wondering when you were going to get back." Astrid said, revealing that she remained true to the belief that Amaryllis was a born assassin and that nothing Nazir threw at her would take her out, though for now it remained to be seen how long that lasted, since she was sure she would be getting some more difficult contracts in the near future, "I was done speaking with that muttering fool anyway. You and I have some business to discuss."

"I take it you have a major contract for me?" Amaryllis asked, because before she left the Sanctuary earlier she knew that Astrid was in the middle of finalizing some details with someone in Skyrim, the first major contract that she would be given, something that would be even harder than what she just went through, and part of her was a little eager to see what sort of assignment she was getting.

"I do indeed, my dear sister." Astrid replied, though at the same time she was happy to see that Amaryllis was a little excited for her first major contract, confirming part of her earlier thoughts about the changeling, and she was hoping that her belief that Amaryllis was a natural assassin would be proven correct as well, before she returned to the matter at hand so she could give her the details of the contract, "You must go to the city of Markarth, which is located on the western side of Skyrim, and speak with the apothecary's assistant, who you will either find in The Hag's Cure, the shop that she works in, or somewhere else in the city, like the inn or just walking on the streets. The girl's been running her mouth lately, wants an ex-lover killed, and, according to what we've learned, she's apparently performed the Black Sacrament. Her name is Muiri, and you'll know you've found her when you find a Breton with a green marking on her face, going over the nose while also resting on both sides of her face. I need you to talk to her, set up the contract, and carry it out."

"Shouldn't be too hard to find her, even if it's a big city." Amaryllis remarked, because with her ability she could simply ask a guard where the store was located, while in the guise of a traveler, and then appear to Muiri as an assassin, so she knew that the one she would be working with had come to talk with her, though she hoped there was more to the story than just wanting an ex-lover killed, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Just do what the client wants, be professional, represent us well, and get the job done... and, since this will be your first real contract, I'll let you keep whatever Muiri pays, as I'm sure she'll be generous." Astrid answered, revealing that most of the money from the contracts likely went to the Sanctuary, to fund some of the more expensive contracts or to buy things that they needed, like food and other provisions, before she glanced down at Amaryllis' hooves, "Also, where did that dog you came in with wander off to?"

As it turned out Meeko decided to explore the Sanctuary while Amaryllis was talking to Astrid, but, once she found him in the dining area, she knew that there was no reason to worry about him, as Meeko was sitting with Arnbjorn, who was actually smiling for once, and some of the other members of the Family, like he was already part of the Family based on how they were treating him, to which Astrid admitted defeat and walked away... but, after Amaryllis informed Nazir that her contracts were complete, and got seven hundred and fifty coins per target, she returned to the entrance and decided that it was time to talk with a familiar face.

"Cicero! We meet again." Amaryllis said, because she was happy to see him again, especially since she had helped him convince Loreius to fix his wheel and help him move the wagon once more, allowing him to transport the crate that carried the Night Mother to the Sanctuary, only for Cicero to raise an eyebrow for a moment, like he had no idea who she was or something like that, "What? Don't you recognize me? I helped you convince Loreius to help with the broken wheel."

"Cicero remembers a Khajiit helping him, not... whatever you are." Cicero replied, though his happy tone revealed that he wasn't bothered by meeting a new member of the Family, one that had been absent when he first arrived in the area and had introduced himself to the others, nor was he upset that someone was trying to convince him that they were someone else that he had encountered on the road.

For a moment Amaryllis wondered what he was talking about, but that was when she glanced down at herself and found that she hadn't switched back into her Khajiit disguise, rather she was still in her normal form due to flying here with Meeko, to which she chuckled and let the magic wash over her once more, allowing her to show Cicero the form that he was referring to, while a look of shock appeared on his face.

"I am that Khajiit, though what I really am is a changeling, a shapeshifter." Amaryllis stated, where she could tell that Cicero was impressed by what he saw and waved his hands through the area her wings had been in moments ago, along with the area her horn had been in, finding that it was nothing like the illusions that the residents of Skyrim and the other provinces could use in their daily lives.

"I must admit that I wasn't expecting this." Cicero said, though his reaction was just like what the others had done when she revealed herself to them earlier, they seemed to be rather accepting of her true nature and were thinking of how she could use her abilities to get her contracts done, something that she was coming to terms with, "But this form is one I recognize, for Cicero never forgets a face."

"I knew you were telling the truth when I met you, about transporting your mother." Amaryllis stated, though at the same time she rested a hand on the crate that Cicero was standing near, because she now knew that it likely contained the Night Mother, the Unholy Matron as Astrid called her, and that Cicero deserved all the respect he deserved thanks to his position as the Keeper, even if she wasn't totally sure of what that meant.

"I did! I did!" Cicero replied, once more showing that he was happy that someone understood what was going on and that he was likely happy about her helping him with the broken wheel, by convincing Loreius to come and help him with the tools that he had on him, "But she isn't just my mother, she's our mother... the Night Mother! You have might pleased me, by convincing Loreius to fix my broken wheel, but you have surely pleased our mother with your actions."

"So, what brings you to this Sanctuary?" Amaryllis inquired, because while she knew that Cicero had been telling the truth earlier, about moving the Night Mother to a new crypt, even if this place wasn't a traditional crypt, she was a tad bit curious about the reasoning behind why Cicero wanted to come here, to Skyrim of all places, and this would let her learn something about the newest member of her Family before she left for her first contract.

"The Night Mother's crypt in Bravil was... desecrated." Cicero said, though from what little Amaryllis knew there had been fights breaking out all over the provinces of the land, either recently or in the past, but she wasn't about to question the period of time that he was talking about, since he seemed focused on answering her question, "The Imperial Province was being ravaged by strife at the time, and currently nowhere there is safe, or at least it was that way when I departed from the province. So Cicero brought our Lady to her new home. Here! This is the only Sanctuary left in all of Skyrim, you see. Such was my... honor. As Keeper."

Amaryllis got the feeling that, while Cicero was honored to be the Night Mother's Keeper, there was a part of his role that he didn't like and that he was quick to make sure no one noticed his little bouts of disappointment, but instead of calling him out on those moments, like someone else would, she was more than willing to listen to him and learn more about the organization she had joined.

"Astrid told me that the Night Mother killed her children to honor Sithis. Is that true?" Amaryllis asked, because while she didn't doubt what she had been told, when she first entered the Sanctuary and had questioned the leader of the Dark Brotherhood about something she had said, she wanted a second opinion, to either verify what she had been told or maybe learn the truth.

"You are correct, she is the undying spirit of a great woman who birthed the children of Sithis... and killed all of them, in his honor." Cicero answered, where he glanced at the tunnel that would lead up to where Astrid was located, where she was either leaning against the wall or was staring at the map that was on the stone table that had a few daggers in it, but it seemed like he was pleased with what Astrid had told her.

"And what about Sithis?" Amaryllis inquired, as she had heard the name a few times since coming to the Sanctuary and was curious if she could figure out anything about the mysterious figure, even though she could have asked the rest of her Family members the last time she was here, something that she hadn't considered before she left to deal with the first set of contracts Nazir had given her.

"Hm, that one is... difficult." Cicero admitted, informing Amaryllis that Sithis was a being that had to be hard to talk about, even for the Dark Brotherhood and those that followed him, but, at the same time, he was more than willing to give her an idea of who the mysterious being was, "It's like telling you about the cold of space, or terror of midnight. Sithis is all those things. For He is... the Void."

"I see." Amaryllis said, though she had to admit that Sithis was like terrifying being of some sort, based on what she just learned from Cicero, but at the same time she guessed that was more than enough for her, as there were a few more things she wanted to know before she left for her contract, "So, is there anything you can tell me about your duties as the Night Mother's Keeper, or anything you can tell me about yourself?"

"Well, Cicero takes care of our Lady's body... oils it, preserves it, keeps it safe. Makes sure nobody disrespects our Matron's coffin." Cicero replied, telling Amaryllis that what he really did was make sure nothing happened to the body of the Night Mother and made sure both her body and her coffin were in good condition, something that seemed to match his position as her Keeper, before he raised a hand to his chin, "As for me... well, I'm just the Keeper, not the Listener. Oh no, there is no Listener at the moment. Not yet! But some day, some day, some day I pray, that one will come to hear her say... The words."

"The... Listener?" Amaryllis repeated, as this was the first time she had heard of such a thing, because she was sure that none of the other members of her Family had mentioned the Listener in the past, but, since it appeared that Cicero was in the mood to talk, before focusing on the Night Mother, she had the feeling that he would answer the question when she asked it, "Forgive my ignorance, but what in the world is the Listener?"

"Oh, well, the Listener is the only person that the Night Mother speaks to, and it is the highest honor attainable by a member of the Dark Brotherhood." Cicero answered, where Amaryllis raised an eyebrow for a moment, as that wasn't something she was expecting to hear, but she remained silent as he continued his explanation as to what the Listener was and what he knew about the figure, "Of course our Lady is dead, so she doesn't talk with words, since her lips are... rotted. But she talks inside the Listener's head. I hear it's... intimate. Ah, but there has not been a Listener in years, and our Lady has not chosen Cicero, nor has she picked Astrid. Or... well, anyone for that matter. But some day..."

Amaryllis was surprised by that sort of thing, as it almost reminded her of the Hivemind and how her former Queen would speak to both her and the other changelings that she ruled over, but since that seemed to be the last thing Cicero wanted to talk about, so he could tend to the Night Mother, she excused herself headed towards the entrance of the Sanctuary, though as she did that she let the magic wash over her body as she returned to her normal form, and once she walked outside she took to the air and departed for the city her first major contract was in.

Based upon what Astrid had told her, and what she recalled from her map, Amaryllis knew that there was a long road one would normally take to reach Markarth and that there could be a good number of obstacles along the way, but flying over to the city meant that she could avoid the potential enemies that would be in her way and allowed her to see another part of Skyrim, a different region than what she had seen so far. She spotted a fortress off in the distance, one that was larger than some of the others she had seen so far, and a few different camps scattered around the last bit of the forest that she flew over, one that appeared to be home to some bandits, another that seemed to be where a lone hunter was resting for the night, and an entire compound of people that were wearing odd clothing that made them look like they were used to living in the wilds of the land, and not like a hunter. Of course she instantly learned not to go anywhere near where the wild people were living, as they either seemed to notice her flying through the air or head a noise that she made, as she had to avoid a few shards of ice that were sent her way and moved away from the camp she had been flying over, all while making a mental note to avoid these areas in the future, if she came this way again. She had the feeling that she would be coming back this way at some point in the future, since the targets of the contracts seemed to be scattered throughout the provinces of Skyrim and there could be one in this area in the future, so it was good she discovered that these camps were places she wanted to avoid, before focusing on what she was doing as she headed in the direction of Markarth.

Fortunately it appeared that the route she was taking only had a few camps that the groups of aggressive wild people called home, allowing her to focus on the location that she was heading towards, which would take an hour to an hour and a half for her to arrive at her destination, though she knew she would have a limited amount of time to find Muiri and get the information she was after, before the client was out of her reach.

It took her roughly an hour and ten minutes to find the city in question, though it was hard to miss the entrance that had been carved into the side of a mountain, or what had once been a mountain since there was no ceiling attached to the top of the front gate, meaning that whoever built the city also cared for sunlight, and all of the buildings that were just outside the city's entrance were also made of stone, all made in the same style. Fortunately, since it was getting darker out and the sun was going down, she landed behind where the stables were located, or at least what she assumed was the stables, and shifted into the form of a traveler, an imperial that wore the leather armor she had worn for some time at the start of her journey, before walking out of the shadows and headed towards the gate. From what she could tell whoever the carriage driver was seemed to be sleeping at the moment, in the small tent that was near the carriage, and the owner of the stables was asleep as well, though the part that interested her was that whoever the guards were supposed to be weren't outside the gate, meaning she could walk in and not be bothered by someone for once. When she walked through the gate, however, she found that Markarth was vastly different from the other major cities she had been to, as it all seemed to be made from the same stone the gate was made out of and there were bronze doors here and there, which gave her an idea of where all the shops and houses were located, and there was also a small river that ran through the city, no doubt connected to the one she had seen outside.

The other interesting thing was that there was a pair of dead bodies nearby, a male Breton and a female Nord by the looks of things, so neither of them were Muiri, which would have been awkward if she came here to start a contract and the one she was supposed to talk to was dead before she even arrived, but thankfully that meant the person she was supposed to be talking to was somewhere in the city, and the approaching guard was the best person who could tell her what she needed to know.

"What happened here? Is there a killer about?" Amaryllis asked, hopefully passing herself off as a traveler that had just arrived in the city and had no idea what was going on, though since it was getting late, and some of the guards had to be getting tired, it appeared that it might not matter what she said, as the guard looked like he was ready to turn in for the night and let this mess be someone else's problem.

"No, old Weylin went crazy and attacked a visitor, and since he resisted arrest we were forced to put him down," the guard replied, though while his tone made Amaryllis think there might be more to this than what she was seeing, as it just seemed odd that someone would go crazy and attack a visitor on the streets, she decided that this was the least of her worries and, more importantly, that she could focus on her own objective and not get sidetracked again.

"I see. Well, I'll be moving along then," Amaryllis stated, though while she did turn and walk a few steps, to go with the type of person she had chosen to be for the moment, she did stop like she remembered something and turned around so she could face the guard once more, showing him that there was one more thing she needed to ask, "Would you happen to know where Muiri is? I came to Markarth to speak to her about something important, before I head to Solitude."

"You mean Bothela's assistant? Last I heard she was in the Silver-Blood Inn," the guard said, though his tone indicated that he didn't want to talk about it and returned to his work, which was perfectly acceptable to Amaryllis, who nodded her head in thanks and headed towards the first set of doors that were near the gate she had walked through, as the sign that was attached to the building made her think it was the inn.

Sure enough her thoughts were correct, as the moment she entered the building she found a number of patrons that happened to be sitting at the bar, getting drinks and telling stories, while some sat near the fireplace and did the same thing that their friends were doing a few steps from where they were sitting, but, as she took all that in, she spotted a young lady matching Astrid's description of Muiri who was watching the door and, upon seeing the way their eyes seemed to meet, headed into one of the rooms as if she was retiring, allowing Amaryllis to follow after her and shift back into her assassin form as soon as she was no longer in anyone's sight.

"Why... why were you looking at me like that?" Muiri asked, though there was a frightened tone to her voice for a few seconds, especially when she turned around and found that Amaryllis was now dressed up in her full assassin attire, which also included her Khajiit form due to how often she was using it, but the interesting thing was that Muiri was more focused on the here and now, instead of what she had seen a few moments ago.

"The Dark Brotherhood has heard your pleas, Muiri." Amaryllis replied, deciding to get right to the point, as in figuring out what the lady wanted her to do and which targets she needed to eliminate for her, if there was more than one anyway, before she closed the door so none of the other patrons noticed what was going on in this room, since it appeared that appearances were important to some people in Skyrim.

"The Dark Brotherh..." Muiri started to say, almost as if she was terrified of the fact that someone might have called on the group of assassins to kill her in her sleep or something like that, before she remembered that she had been the one to reach out to them in the first place, which was why a look of relief appeared on her face, "Oh. Oh! I... my goodness, you're really here! The Black Sacrament... it actually worked?!"

"Indeed it did." Amaryllis answered, as she felt that it would be best to make sure Muiri knew that the sacred ritual people used had worked as it was supposed to, even if she felt there could be a better way of confirming when someone did it in the first place, before she focus on the real reason she had come to Markarth in the first place, "Now tell me, what do you need the Dark Brotherhood to do?"

"What I need?" Muiri asked in return, once more showing that Amaryllis' presence seemed to be making her forget the reason she had performed the Black Sacrament in the first place, even though it took her a few seconds to regain herself and recall the reason why Amaryllis was here, where her hands turned into fists as she recalled the information she had been looking for, "What I need is for Alain Dufont to die! I want him hunted down and murdered like the dog he is!"

"I can do that." Amaryllis said, though it was really sounding like she and Alain had a falling out at some point in the past, something that kind of killed the mood and feel of the entire contract, which she made sure not to show to Muiri as they were talking, before getting to the other piece of information that she needed, "Is there anything else you can tell me, before I leave to kill Alain?"

"I didn't know it when we were, well, together, but Alain is actually the leader of a band of cutthroats, bandits, and as far as I know they're holed up in some old dwarven ruin, Raldbthar." Muiri replied, giving Amaryllis the remaining pieces of information that she needed to fulfill the contract, even though she knew that there was a little more Muiri wanted to tell her before she departed from Markarth and headed to the ruin in question, "I asked around and it's near Windhelm, or at least that was what Calcelmo told me. Those bandits are using it as their base, where they stage their raids, but I want you to go to that ruin, find Alain Dufont, and kill him... and I don't care about his friends, so you can do whatever you want with them. But Alain Dufont has to die!"

"As you wish." Amaryllis stated, though this made things more interesting, because if Alain Dufont was the leader of a clan of bandits, like Muiri was saying that he was, the act of getting to him was going to be interesting and would likely test her skills, allowing her to improve as an assassin before she found him and ended his miserable life, especially since she had no problems with cutting down bandits.

"Excellent. Once Alain is dead, I'll pay you, in gold." Muiri said, though Amaryllis felt that the part about gold didn't need to be said, as she was under the impression that the payments for these contracts were in gold and that such a thing was common knowledge, but she wasn't about to question what the young lady was saying, "I've saved up a bit. I hope it's enough for what I'm asking you to do. But, well... there is one more thing, if you're interested?"

"Go on, I'm listening." Amaryllis replied, where she was a little curious about what else Muiri could ask of her, as she was sure that the contract had been set in stone with her acknowledging that Alain Dufont was the only target the young lady wanted her to take out, but that didn't stop her from being interested in what she had to say before she left the city and sought out her target.

"If you can, I want you to kill someone else, in addition to Alain." Muiri stated, where she steeled herself for what she was about to ask, something that made Amaryllis a little interested in what she was going to learn, where she remained quiet and waited for the second target to be revealed to her, "You don't have to do this, not as part of our deal, but if you do... I'll pay you even more. The other person I want you to kill is Nilsine Shatter-Shield, in Windhelm. If Nilsine dies, too... I'll make it worth your while."

Based on what Amaryllis knew the wording was important, as the contract was on Alain Dufont and no one else, since it appeared that Nilsine wasn't part of the deal, but all she did was nod her head and open the door that she had closed a few minutes ago, leaving Muiri with the knowledge that her problem was going to be taken care of and that there was nothing for her to worry about. As soon as she was back in the hallway, and before someone spotted her, Amaryllis shifted back into her Nord disguise and headed outside the inn, so she could depart from Markarth and head over to Windhelm again, where she could ask around for the exact location of the ruin in question, though as she did all that she had the feeling that this was going to be an interesting contract.

Brotherhood: Fulfilling the Contract

Amaryllis had no idea how much time had passed between the moment she had fallen asleep and the moment she had started to wake back up, though as she started to come to she could have sworn that she heard the sound of moving water around the coffin that she, and the Night Mother, were in, though she was somewhat happy to see that the coffin had been created to prevent water from getting inside it and harming the ancient corpse, otherwise she was sure that she would have drowned before even waking up.

"Hurry, Nazir!" she heard a familiar voice say, though that was when she realized that Babette was just fine and that she hadn't been killed by the Penitus Oculatus, and her words indicated that Nazir had definitely survived the aftermath of the assault on their Sanctuary, and she was also sure that Babette had to be using one of her vampire powers to figure out that Amaryllis was inside the coffin, "I'm telling you, she's in there!"

"I'm going... as fast... as I can, you stupid she-devil." Nazir commented, his statement sounding broken due to the fact that he was speaking in between his attempts to pull the coffin out of the pool that it had landed in, especially since she did knock it through the window so the two of them could survive the roaring flames that had been eating away at the rest of their home, "I don't see you... helping..."

"I'm not exactly built for manual labor, you know that." Babette replied, referring to the fact that her body was that of a little kid, meaning that she couldn't do things that adults usually did, not that such a thing seemed to bother her at all, before she focused on what was happening at the moment and stopped thinking about her body, "Now come on, you've almost got it!"

"One more... pull... yeeaahh!" Nazir said, though that was where Amaryllis heard the sound of the coffin being pulled out of the pool and was positioned on the ground, just like it had been inside the chamber it had been in earlier, and, as she expected, she heard the sound of her brother panting for a moment, showing that he had put a lot of effort into getting the container out of where it had landed after what she did to escape being burned alive, "There, the Night Mother's coffin is no longer in the pool."

"Can you get it open?" Babette asked, showing that she either didn't have the skills to get it unlocked, since she did prefer to use her small child body to her advantage whenever she was out on contracts, or she did have the skills and was merely testing Nazir to see if he had the skills before she offered her assistance in getting the coffin unlocked, though Amaryllis wasn't sure how it had been locked again, since she definitely didn't do that.

"I... I think so." Nazir answered, his tone informing her that he needed a few seconds to regain his energy, since he did just finish hauling a heavy iron coffin out of the pool that Amaryllis had pushed it into earlier, thus saving both of their lives in the process, before he took a deep breath and readied himself for the next step of what they were doing, "Just wait for a couple of seconds and I'll tell you if I can open it or not."

You must speak with Astrid. Here, in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. Amaryllis heard a third voice say, one that came from the coffin she happened to be resting in, as it was the voice of the Night Mother, though part of her was happy to hear that Astrid had survived the attack on the Sanctuary, meaning she had either been outside when the attack went down, just like Babette, or she had been knocked out and was untouched by the flames due to landing in a safe place, like in the pool the coffin had landed in, without crushing her if the latter was true.

It was in that moment, just after the Night Mother had spoken to her, that Amaryllis was able to fully rouse herself and shake off the desire to fall back asleep, where she turned around and faced the part of the coffin's lid that the Unholy Matron was constantly staring at, as it was time to exit the coffin and reunite with the surviving members of her Family, as she knew some of them would want to finish their contract, before the lid opened and she found both Nazir and Babette waiting for her as she took a step forward.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. It's all right. You've been through a lot." Nazir said, referring to the mess in Solitude, with the Emperor's decoy, the assault on their Sanctuary, which Amaryllis couldn't see at the moment since she was facing the wall that the stairs to the first chamber were built into, and the fact that she threw herself into the Night Mother's coffin to get them out of the area that could have cooked them, "Maybe you should just sit down for a bit... provided we can find something for you to sit on."

"I'm... I'm fine." Amaryllis stated, as the truth of the matter was that she hadn't taken any damage from all the soldiers she had fought to get to this point, even if her earlier anger, at seeing her Family targeted and killed, had finally faded, but that was when she focused on what she had been told, as it might lighten the mood, even though she could see that the rest of the area had been charred by the Penitus Oculatus' attack, "The Night Mother told me that I have to speak with Astrid, and that she's here, in the Sanctuary."

"She's here!?" Nazir nearly exclaimed, though at the same time Babette seemed slightly happy by that news, as it did mean not all of their Family members had been killed by the Penitus Oculatus, but even as he said that Amaryllis got the brief impression that he wasn't sure where Astrid could be inside the ruined sanctuary, meaning that she had to be hiding from him and Babette, "By Sithis, I thought we had lost her as well. Let's go!"

As Amaryllis walked away from the coffin, so she could figure out where Astrid was located, she discovered that the rest of the Sanctuary was ruined, either by pieces of the ceiling that collapsed the tunnels, or the flames that had eaten all of the corpses, either leaving charred bodies or just bones in some cases, but she could tell that their home was ruined and that it would take forever to return it to what it used to be. It was rather sad to see the Sanctuary is such a state, one that made the Dawnstar Sanctuary perfect in comparison, granted she hadn't seen much of that one since the guardians had allowed her to get to Cicero in seconds, rather than her having to explore the entire place to find him, but all of this pointed to one thing. The only place that Astrid could be in was her room, even if that had been torched as well, but it did seem to be the best place to start her search and that was where she headed, though while it took her maybe a minute to get up there she was surprised to find that a dresser remained, one with some scorch marks on it, though behind it rested a short tunnel that brought them to an unusual sight. It was in that moment that they discovered Astrid's fate, as it looked like she had been knocked out by someone and had been set on fire, as her body was seriously burned to the point that it looked like she should be dead, but the sound of Nazir and Babette moving behind Amaryllis seemed to awaken the leader of their Family, who gasped for air as her eyes opened, allowing her to gaze upon the surviving members of their Family, or, to be more specific, to gaze at Amaryllis.

"Alive...." Astrid managed to say, though even as she said that Amaryllis knew that there was no saving her from all of the wounds and burns that had been inflicted upon her body, in fact the only ones she knew that could reverse all of this damage were the Princesses of Canterlot, and they were on a world that couldn't be accessed at all, so Astrid's chances of surviving this were incredibly slim to having no chance, "You're alive... thank Sithis..."

"Astrid..." Amaryllis said, though that was as far as she got, because seeing the leader of her Family like this, even if she did suspect her of being the one who told Commander Maro about their plot to kill the Emperor, was enough to make her stop talking and just look at what was going on at the moment, while she knew that both Nazir and Babette were just as surprised as she was, meaning they must have thought Astrid was dead at first.

"Ssshhh.... Please. There is much... I have to say, and... not much time..." Astrid stated, though her usual commanding tone was gone, in fact everything that Amaryllis was used to seeing and hearing was gone, leaving her as a broken person that was near the end of her life, hence the reason she said nothing and listened to whatever Astrid had to tell her before her life gave out, "I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry. The Penitus Oculatus... Maro... he said that by giving you to them, he would leave the Dark Brotherhood alone... for the rest of our days. By Sithis, I was such a fool to believe him. All of this... it's all my fault. You are the best of us, there is now denying that, and I nearly killed you... as I've killed everyone else..."

A side of Amaryllis wanted to rage at Astrid, since her earlier thoughts about Maro uncovering the assassination plot had been true, especially since it appeared that their dying leader was responsible for killing half of their Family members by striking a deal with Commander Maro, while the other side of her wanted to remained silent for a time, not wanting to say or do anything as she considered what she had been told and if there was more to Astrid's crimes than what they had heard so far.

"Don't you see? It was me!" Astrid continued, apparently taking Amaryllis' silence as her unwillingness to speak, even if she had spoken her mind about several of the things she had done in the past, while also revealing her sins to both Nazir and Babette, who kept quiet as she talked, just so they could get the whole story from her, "I set you up, wanted you dead. I betrayed you, the Night Mother... everything I hold dear. And now Maro has betrayed me. I just wanted things... to stay the way they were. Before Cicero, before the Night Mother, before... before you! I thought I could save us... I was wrong. But you're alive! So there's still a chance... a chance to start over, to rebuild. That's why I did... this. Don't you see? I prayed to the Night Mother! I am the Black Sacrament!"

"Astrid, what are you saying?" Amaryllis inquired, because while she understood the majority of what Astrid had just said, the parts about her betraying her and the rest of the Family, only to be betrayed by Commander Maro, the only part she was having difficulty understanding was the last part, though even as she said that she looked at what was around the fallen leader of her Family, the candles, the nightshade petals, her unique dagger, and the position that Astrid was laying in, one that made her realize she was the effigy of the Black Sacrament, just like she had been told.

"I'm saying you were right." Astrid said, revealing that, after all of this had happened, she realized that Amaryllis had the Family's best interests at heart and that she had been that way from the day she joined them, even with a few of the suggestions about how to improve themselves when there was no Listener, before opening her mouth again, "The Night Mother was right. The old ways... they guided the Dark Brotherhood for centuries... I was a fool to oppose them. And to prove my... sincerity, I have prayed for a contract. Amaryllis, you are to lead this Family now, and I give you the Blade of Woe, the symbol of my office, so that you can see it through. You must kill... Me!"

Amaryllis stood there for a moment as she levitated the Blade of Woe into her hand, allowing her to look at the blade that Astrid carried with her at all times, even if she never used it, before letting out a sigh as she came to a decision, as she brought the blade right down into Astrid's chest, bringing her life to an end in an instant, though at the same time she felt a bit of her own health being restored, meaning the Blade of Woe had an enchantment that stole the life energies of the person that the wielder was facing. She waited for a few seconds, just to make sure Astrid was gone, before sighing as she pulled the blade out, grabbed the sheath that it went with, and added it to her belt, as she knew that it and the Razor would be a good combination for the future, before heading out to where the Night Mother was waiting, giving Nazir and Babette time to understand what they had just learned.

Astrid is dead. It is as it should be. May she find redemption in the Void. the Night Mother side, speaking when Amaryllis was close to her coffin once more, where all she did was remain silent, as it appeared that the ancient being preferred to have someone listen to her talk and not have someone talk back to her, in the sense of a conversation, and she had the feeling that this was important for the future of her Family, But while you live, the Dark Brotherhood lives. We must fulfill our contract. Emperor Titus Mede II must be eliminated. Speak with Amaund Motierre at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. He will know the true Emperor's location. But first, inform Nazir of your plans. For you are the Listener, and must bind this Family together.

At the very least Amaryllis was happy to see that the Night Mother shared her thoughts, that the Emperor had to be eliminated and their contract had to be completed, especially now that the true Emperor had likely heard the news that the Dark Brotherhood had been wiped out, no doubt from Commander Maro himself, and it was time to exploit the fact that the Penitus Oculatus likely believed they had been destroyed as well, which was the reason why she was heading back to the Sanctuary's entrance and stopped when she found Nazir.

"By Sithis, what a mess." Nazir commented, as he didn't like the fact that nearly everything that they owned had been consumed by the flames and that half of their Family had been killed by the Emperor's security force, as it seemed easier to blame them for what had happened, instead of blaming Astrid, but even Amaryllis could tell that he was getting used to the fact that he was going to have to blame Astrid for everything that happened, "I guess this is the end of us."

"Actually, we're not finished, not yet anyway." Amaryllis replied, causing Nazir to glance at her while Babette turned her head a little, showing Amaryllis that the ancient vampire seemed torn about what Astrid did and that she was focusing on their former leader for an unknown period of time, before she focused on her brother once more, "The Night Mother has spoken to me again, and she's given me a new task."

"What?" Nazir nearly exclaimed, almost as if he had been wondering if the Night Mother and Sithis had forsaken them, due to what just happened to their Family, the last in the entirety of Tamriel from what Amaryllis gained from what she read in Cicero's journals, before he focused on what he had just been told and what it could mean for the future of their Family, all while Babette seemed to be staring in the direction of Astrid's hidden chamber, "Well... what did she say?"

"She said that I must speak with Amaund Motierre once more, whose apparently hanging out in the Bannered Mare at the moment." Amaryllis stated, though even as she said that she could tell that Babette had already connected the dots and was envisioning what the future would hold for them, once the contract was completed, while Nazir seemed surprised about the information, before the truth dawned on him as well.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Nazir inquired, almost as if he knew what the truth was and was unwilling to speak it out loud, out of fear of the possibility that Amaryllis was pulling his leg and that she was going to disband the Dark Brotherhood, even if he did know that such a thing had a very low chance of even happening, and that the only reason he was even considering it was because he had felt they were safe in this location, only for one of their number to betray them and bring about the destruction that was around them.

"It does mean what you think it means. The contract is still on, and the true Emperor must be assassinated." Amaryllis said, though even as she said that she knew there was one more target she wanted to take out, before this contract was brought to a close, because Commander Maro was the one that had given the order to attack the Sanctuary and that did make him partly responsible for the death of their Family members, something she intended on collecting, and it would help reinforce the belief that the Dark Brotherhood was alive and that no one was safe.

"There's still a chance... but how are we going to kill the Emperor, when our plan has been ruined?" Nazir asked, as he knew that the Gourmet was now a wanted figure in all of Skyrim, as that was something that Babette had learned earlier, on her way back from one of the minor contracts he had given her, so there was no way that Amaryllis was going to be able to use that disguise again, not without some alterations to the form so it looked like someone else.

"Oh, I'm sure that Amaund will have some information to share with me when I talk to him," Amaryllis answered, as the way she saw it the man had given them all the pieces of information they needed for the first plan, even if that had failed due to Astrid messing up, so all she had to do was approach him and get the information that he had this time, all so she could figure out the best way to kill the Emperor, as the time for something like taking the place of the Gourmet was over, meaning it was time for some infiltration, which was her specialty, "Trust me on this, Nazir, this time I won't fail the Dark Brotherhood, and the next time we see each other I'll be bringing good news!"

"You know, I will put my trust in you. Fly, my sister. Find out what that slimy bastard Motierre has to say, then send the Emperor to Sithis." Nazir replied, where a smile appeared on his face and the fear of his Family being reduced to nothing disappeared, showing Amaryllis that he was ready to follow the path she was walking and that he was prepared to see what was waiting at the end of the road the Night Mother was directing her down, "Ah, but when you're done, there's no use returning here, is there? I was thinking that we could use the Dawnstar Sanctuary, make a proper home there. Listen, when you're finished with this Emperor business, meet Babette and me there... and don't worry, I'll find some way to move the Night Mother. Now go... and come back with a barrel full of gold, hmm?"

Amaryllis nodded her head in agreement, as she was happy to see that both Nazir and Babette were feeling slightly better after everything that had happened to them and their Family, before she told them what the phrase to get into the other Sanctuary was, since she was the only one besides Cicero that knew it right now, and left them to their own devices as she headed for the entrance of the now ruined Sanctuary. While she did that there was one member of the Family that she hadn't seen, both during her return to her new home, after killing the Emperor's decoy, and after waking up inside the Night Mother's coffin, and that was Meeko, because she hadn't seen any dead dogs around the area and knew that he would have fought to protect his new Family. As she took to the sky, and headed for Whiterun on what appeared to be the early evening of the day following her attempt on the Emperor's life, all she could assume was that the Penitus Oculatus had kidnapped Meeko for some odd reason, even though there was the slim chance that he could have been released back into the wild in case the Family was doomed to die, so he didn't suffer the same fate. For now her focus was on her target and the information that Amaund would have for her, as Meeko would have to come later, and she used her faster speed, as time was of the essence, since she had no idea how much time was left before the Emperor departed from Skyrim and was put beyond their reach.

It took her seventeen minutes to reach Whiterun, where she landed behind one of the walls and shifted into a male Nord that looked like a weary adventurer that was going to rent a room at the inn for the night, who the guards glanced at for a moment before she headed inside, where she quickly made her way to the Banndered Mare, though as soon as she entered the inn she found Rexus sitting near the fire and that Amaund was heading into the back room, though when she followed him, and closed the door behind her, she discovered that the man looked like he had aged a little, even growing out a short beard in the process, which seemed impossible based on the amount of days they had been working on the contract he hired them to do.

"What is it?" Amaund asked, though even as he said that, and Amaryllis knew it was the same man since his voice was the same from the last time they had seen each other, he took a seat that happened to be facing the door, while at the same time Amaryllis dropped her disguise for the time being, as they needed to have a quick chat about the real Emperor, and anything else that came to her while she was here, "I said I didn't wish to... be disturbed."

"Amaund Motierre, you and I have some unfinished business." Amaryllis replied, informing the man that she came to chat about the contract he wanted her and her Family to do, even though it cost them much more than what she originally thought it would cost them, but right now she was focused on the fact that the man in front of her had information that she needed and that she couldn't leave without learning what he knew.

"By the gods. You... you're alive!" Amaund exclaimed, apparently not caring about someone hearing what they were talking about, as if he was asking for someone to lash out and stab him, something that Amaryllis was tempted to do since her Family was gone, but she reminded herself why she had come here and listened to what he had to tell her, "But I had heard... your Sanctuary... Please! You mustn't think I had anything to do with that! I wanted the Emperor dead! The true Emperor! I still do! It was Maro! He..."

"I want to talk about the Emperor... the real Emperor, not one of his decoys." Amaryllis stated, stopping the man in his tracks, as she really didn't want to talk about Commander Maro, not yet anyway, and it seemed that her statement actually caused him to pause and listen to what she was saying, before she sighed and glared at the man, as it appeared that her new armor was enough to intimidate anyone at this point, "Where is the Emperor?"

"You mean, after all that's transpired, the Dark Brotherhood will still... honor the contract?" Amaund inquired, as if he had been afraid that she was going to tell him that the deal was off due to the fact that her Family had been decimated by the Penitus Oculatus, but when she nodded her head a little, to indicate that she was going to do that, a grin appeared on his face, indicating that this likely pleased him, "Why, this is astounding news! The Emperor is still in Skyrim, but he won't be for too much longer. He's onboard his ship, the Katariah, which is moored offshore in the Solitude Inlet. But you must hurry! If you can get on board that ship, and kill Emperor Titus Mede II, as contracted... I will reveal the location of the dead drop that holds your payment."

"Good, now I know where he's located." Amaryllis said, though she was getting annoyed with Amaund, mostly because of the fact that he was being loud on purpose and was trying to get her to do something, so unless everyone in the main part of the inn was busy drinking, and would have no idea what had happened in this room, she was sure someone would inform the guards as to what was going on, before she focused on the other thing that she wanted to ask, before she left and headed back to Solitude once more, "Now then, where can I find Commander Maro?"

"Ah, yes, I can imagine you would want to settle that score." Amaud nearly laughed, almost as if he felt a little sorry for the man that had invoked the wrath of the Dark Brotherhood, before he considered the information that he had and what he wanted to tell her, which was followed by him deciding to give her what she wanted to know, "Last I heard, Commander Maro was at the Solitude Docks, conducting the Emperor's departure... though one of the guards I got the information from told me that there was a whine coming from one of the crates his soldiers were putting on their own ship."

"Oh, I am so going to kill him." Amaryllis commented, as she now knew what was going on, because she had been very curious about what happened to one of her Family members and it appeared that she now had confirmation on where the missing member was located, before she turned towards the door and then glanced back to Amaund, "Not only did he give the order that killed most of my Family, he's stolen my dog as well!"

Amaund said nothing as Amaryllis shifted back into the disguise she had been using to get inside the city and opened the door that she had closed earlier, where the people that were inside the inn saw the same Nord adventurer that they had seen enter the establishment, before she excused herself and exited the building, while making sure to promise the innkeeper that she would be right back, even if she wasn't planning on returning in this form. She quickly made her way back outside the city, making it look like she had forgotten something important, and the guards barely paid any attention to what she was doing, allowing her to slip through the main gates and head over to the wall that she used to cover herself when she was changing forms. The moment she was sure that the coast was clear, and none of the guards could see her, she shifted back into her true form and took off, quickly getting to the point where no one would be able to see her all that well, before she headed to the northwest and started to fly through the air, as it was time to make Commander Maro pay for the deaths he had caused and for stealing Meeko, and then she could find the Emperor's boat and finish him off, as she was getting a little tired of this game they had been playing with him.

Amaryllis discovered that, thanks to how fast she was flying, it only took her about thirty-five minutes to reach the docks that were near Solitude, though she landed on the hill that was heading down to the dock, as it appeared that there was no one in that area and that there were no guards as well, so she was able to land and shift into her Khajiit assassin form with ease. Of course, as she did all that, she did notice the massive ship that was in the inlet, just like Amaund had told her earlier, which meant that the Emperor was likely waiting for the rest of the Penitus Oculatus to arrive before he departed for Cyrodiil, or wherever the ship was supposed to be sailing to next, and it would be rather easy for her to get aboard the ship, even if she couldn't land on the deck itself. Fortunately she had an idea where another entrance to the ship rested and would be checking it out in due time, but her first order of business was to head down to the smaller ships that were currently in the docks and find her first target, though it wasn't hard to spot Commander Maro standing on the walkway, in front of a boat that two of his soldiers seemed to be loading, which was where Meeko was being held against his will. The only reason she could think of, for why they would kidnap her dog, was to give their Commander something to take his mind off of what had happened during the Emperor's visit to Skyrim, namely the death of his son and the fact that they had ruined Gaius' name, but even as she thought about that she remained silent as she approached the area in question, as it appeared he was chatting with his soldiers before their departure.

"And the outpost at Dragon Bridge?" one of the two soldiers asked, showing that they must have been going over all of the stuff that had been prepared ahead of time, for when the Emperor was originally planning on coming to Skyrim, and it appeared they had reached the end of the list that they were talking about, but none of them had noticed that they were no longer alone as they talked.

"It will be shuttered by the end of the month." Commander Maro replied, though even as he said that he sounded like he was happy about what they had been able to do, something that his soldiers hadn't picked up on yet while Amaryllis was able to detect it rather quickly, before he considered something else, "After that, well, it can be turned into whatever the residents of Dragon Bridge want to turn it into."

"Very good. And you'll be returning to..." the other soldier started to say, only to stop when he and his partner realized that neither of them really knew what their Commander was going to do once they left Skyrim behind, where this had to be the first time that either of them even considered such a thing, though Amaryllis remained silent as she listened to them and waited for the perfect time to strike down the first of her targets, where they pair glanced back at their Commander for a couple of seconds, "Well, if you don't mind me asking, where exactly will you be going now, sir?"

"Hmph. Now there's an excellent question." Commander Maro answered, showing that he approved of what the pair was doing as he looked at one of the crates that happened to be on the small boat they were loading up, which was where a whine could be heard, informing Amaryllis as to which crate Meeko was trapped in, only for him to turn his gaze back to the soldiers that were in front of him, "Truth is, as soon as the Emperor sets sail, I'm resigning my position."

"Oh... I see." the first soldier said, though that was when he and his partner stopped what they were doing, put what they were carrying down on the deck, and then saluted their Commander, showing Amaryllis that Maro was definitely well liked, potentially even loved, among the members of the Penitus Oculatus, "Well then, Commander Maro, let me be just say that it's been an honor serving under you."

"The honor has been mine." Commander Maro stated, where he returned the gesture and put a smile on both of the soldiers' faces, almost as if he only did this to the soldiers that impressed him, or maybe this was his final act before he was no longer their leader, before he lowered his arm, "You both should be proud of what we've accomplished here. The Dark Brotherhood is no more, and the Emperor is finally safe!"

The two soldiers nodded their heads in understanding, though before anyone said anything else, or got back to what they had been doing, Amaryllis revealed herself and they turned to look at her, while at the same time Meeko let out an excited bark, as he seemed to be the only one that really recognized her, regardless of what disguise she was wearing, and she was blaming that on his nose, before she focused on her target as she drew her daggers.

"By the gods... you!" Commander Maro declared, showing Amaryllis that he did recognize the armor that she wore, as he had a good chance to study it before he sent those three soldiers to their deaths, before a look of rage appeared on his face as he realized that he never heard from those soldiers, along with the fact that the "Gourmet" up and disappeared as he confronted her, "But it can't be. You're dead. You..."

In that moment he seemed to go berserk as he roared and pulled his greatsword from his back, where he brought it down on where Amaryllis was standing, but thanks to her new skills, and her more agile movements, Amaryllis was able to dodge the attack and let the head of the sword collide with the wood of the dock, where it actually got stuck thanks to how beaten parts of the walkway seemed to be. She then used that opportunity to stab Commander Maro in the chest several times, with both the Blade of Woe and Mehrunes' Razor, forcing her foe to let go of his weapon and raise his fists, but as he tried to hit her with some punches she dodged them like they were nothing and lashed out again, this time slicing open his neck and let his body fall to the ground. Fortunately, since Commander Maro had been the one to lash out at her, all of the guards that were in the area didn't move to bother her, while the two members of the Penitus Oculatus seemed too stunned to do anything, allowing her to climb aboard their boat, walk over to the crates they had been loading, and undid the latch on Meeko's cage, who climbed out and landed on the deck of the boat, where he growled at the soldiers for a few seconds, showing that he wasn't happy about being caged like that. Amaryllis calmed him immediately, as she didn't want the guards to bother her and alert the Emperor as to the fact that she was here, which was why she left the dock and had Meeko follow her, even though she walked over the stone bridge and headed in the direction of the Katariah, as it was time for the Emperor to meet his end.

As soon as she reached a good spot, where Meeko would be safe for the period of time she was inside the large ship, Amaryllis made sure that he would stay in the area that she was stopping in, which was where he sat down and panted with a smile on his face, before she dove into the water and headed for the underside of the ship, though it didn't take her long to find the chain that would allow her to enter the lowest floor of ship, and let her leave the water so she didn't drown while looking for the Emperor.

The first thing she encountered on the ship was the sound of a sailor that was tired from all the work he had done in the last couple of hours, where he dropped off the cargo that he was carrying, with his back turned to the area that she was in, and then headed back the way he came, either going to get himself something to eat or he was going to relax until it was time to set sail. Amaryllis wasted no time and started to move forward, where she carefully sneaked through the part of the ship that she was in, as it appeared that there were a number of sailors down here and most of them seemed to be in the process of heading to sleep, meaning it would be awkward if she took one of their forms and was confronted by one of the Penitus Oculatus, as she was sure they were somewhere on the ship. It didn't take her long to reach what she had to assume was the eating area for the sailors and the soldiers that were guarding the Emperor, even though it was mostly deserted, save for a single soldier that seemed to be off duty and was in the process of getting drunk, which would tick off whoever his commanding officer was. As she carefully explored the ship she also overheard two soldiers discussing the attack on the Sanctuary, where they sounded pleased by the fact that it had been burned to the ground and that they were sure that all of the assassins that called that "rat hole" home were dead, though she restrained herself from lashing out at the soldiers, as bodies would make someone raise the alarm, and moved on with her search. On the second floor she found a few doors around her, one that seemed to lead to a room that one of the Penitus oculatus was working in, as in working on some gear, before finding a few metallic cells that seemed out of place, which was when she found that one of the cells was occupied by a female Khajiit in rages, who hadn't noticed her at all, but what caught her attention was the fact that her fur was ash colored and it looked like red Daedric runes had been etched into her skin.

Instead of worrying about the prisoner, as that was what the Khajiit had to be, she turned towards one of the other rooms and found an odd sight inside it, as one of the sailors was holding a bloody dagger while another sailor, this one dead, and a dead member of the Penitus Oculatus rested on the bed in front of him, like he was having a mental episode of some kind, but the last thing she wanted was for him to ruin everything and alert the Penitus Oculatus.

That was the reason why she smacked him in the back of his neck and he fell unconscious, where she wrote a quick note and placed it in one of his hands, as well as a mead bottle in the other, as there happened to be on in the room that she had opened the door to, making it look like he had gotten drunk and killed two people before passing out, before she left the room and continued looking for the room the Emperor was in. On the other side of the floor that she was on she found a room near a ladder that would take her up to the deck, the last place she wanted to be, and discovered that the person who owned this particular room was the ship's captain, who just so happened to be asleep, but fortunately for her there was a key to her left, a master key by the looks of it, and she took it with her magic, before closing the door as quietly as she could. The next thing she did was return to the side of the ship that the drunken sailor was in, passing by the room with the two dead bodies, where Amaryllis slipped the key into the thick wooden door that happened to be in her way and entered the part of the ship that no doubt had the door that lead to where the Emperor was waiting, though at the same time the vast majority of the Emperor's guards seemed to be asleep, save for someone that was likely Commander Maro's second-in-command was walking around one of the rooms in front of her. Since the man's back was turned towards the door, and he couldn't see the direction she was coming from, all Amaryllis had to do was wait until he wasn't paying attention and walked up the stairs that were to her right, allowing her to reach the next level of the ship, where she found another wooden door that likely headed back to the ship's deck, while the iron one to her right seemed to be the best option for her to pick.

As such Amaryllis used the master key on the door and slipped into the large room that was in front of her, one that looked like it was near the back end of the ship, and sitting in the middle of the room, at what appeared to be an official desk of some kind, was a man that looked just like the decoy she had killed earlier, though he was actually staring at the door she came through and seemed to sigh for a moment.

"And once more, I prove Commander Maro wrong. I told him that you can't stop the Dark Brotherhood from fulfilling their contracts... in fact, no one can stop them." Titus Mede II commented, speaking to himself for a moment, even though Amaryllis was sure that he was actually talking to her and the fact that Commander Maro had tried to stop her from taking his life, almost as if it had been Maro's idea to use the decoy and not the Emperor's, before he glanced up at her, "Come now, don't be shy. You haven't come this far just to stand there gawking at me."

"You were... expecting me?" Amaryllis inquired, though at the same time, as she stood up, she scanned the room and found that there were no guards to be found, it was just the two of them, meaning that this wasn't a trap that she just so happened to be walking into, like when she impersonated the Gourmet earlier, but she kept her weapons at the ready, just in case things went south.

"But of course. You and I have a date with destiny." the Emperor replied, his tone suggesting that he either knew the history that Astrid had told her about, in regards to rulers that had been killed by assassins over the years, or that he knew nothing about that part of history and that someone had told him this meeting would happen, "But that's the way it is with assassins and emperors, isn't it? Yes, I must die. And you must deliver the blow. It is... it is simply the way this situation will end. But I wonder... would you suffer an old man a few more words before the deed is done?"

"I'm listening." Amaryllis said, because part of her was interested in what the Emperor had to tell her, due to the fact that he seemed completely resigned to his fate, like he knew that his life was going to end in the next couple of minutes and that there was nothing he could do to prevent that from happening, once more making her wonder if someone had told him that this would happen, though at this point the only ones that could do that were one of the Divines, who could have spoken to him before this trip and informed him that he was destined to die, regardless of what his security service tried to do, before she focused on the figure before her once more, though she did think about the odd Khajiit and decided not to ask about her.

"I thank you for your courtesy." the Emperor said, his tone informing her that he was actually pleased that she wasn't like all of the other assassins, who simply would have stabbed him while he was talking and would have been long gone by the time someone came to check on him, before he focused on what he was going to say next, "You will kill me, and I have accepted that fate. But regardless of your path through life, I sense in you a certain... ambition. So I ask of you a favor. An old man's dying wish, if you will. While there are many people who would want to see me dead, there is one that set the machine in motion. This person, whomever he, or she, may be, must be punished for their treachery. Once you have been rewarded for my assassination, I want you to kill the very person who ordered it. Would you do me this kindness?"

"I'll... consider your request." Amaryllis answered, though she was conflicted over this favor, as Amaund was the one who wanted them to kill the Emperor for some reason, but lately it was like the man had lost his mind or something and was begging for someone to put a dagger in his head or slit his throat, and here the Emperor was offering her the chance to remove an annoying client that wouldn't shut up, almost as if Titus Mede II had been told of the plot to kill him, by the one who wanted him dead, as she noticed the Emperor nearly paused when he mentioned 'he' in his last statement, a near slip up if she ever heard one, and now he was asking her to eliminate the final loose end.

"Thank you. Now, on to the business at hand I suppose, hmm?" the Emperor said, where he got up from where he was sitting and headed to the curved window that was in the backside of the room, allowing him to look out at the water that was all around the ship, no doubt waiting for Amaryllis to do the deed and leave before the guards came to check and be sure everything was alright.

Part of Amaryllis still considered this to be a trap, but at the same time the Emperor was so resigned that it made her wonder what in the world was going on, to which she simply walked up behind him and sliced open his neck, killing the Emperor of Tamriel in a matter of seconds before dropping his body to the floor, though instead of wasting more time she unlocked the door with the master key and left the ship. She quickly discovered that there was a short balcony of sorts in front of her, somewhere that the Emperor could stand and stare out at the water behind his ship, though it was a place of safety since it looked like there were no ropes or ladders to get to this point, to which she shifted back into her true form, leapt off the rail, flew over to where Meeko was waiting, picked him up, and then headed for Whiterun. There was much more to this assassination than what she originally believed there to be, back when she was first told that her Family was being hired to kill the Emperor, and the bad part was that she didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle, and she was sure that both Nazir and Babette would have no words of advice for her. All she could do at the moment was return to Amaund and give him the news that he was waiting for, that the Emperor was dead and that the contract he had hired them to do was, at long last, complete, so she could receive the payment and head back to Dawnstar, as it was time to move on with the next part of their lives. The only good thing about this was that all of the sailors and the Penitus Oculatus had been asleep, meaning it would be hours before the residents of Solitude, much less the rest of Whiterun, heard about the fate of the Emperor, meaning Amaund could be well on his way back to Cyrodiil by the time the couriers told people around the province that the leader of the empire was dead, meaning no one would be able to see or hear his reaction... even though it would be some time before she decided what to do about Amaund and the Emperor's last request, which was just fine with her.

Since she was carrying Meeko it took her an hour to get back to Whiterun, where she shifted into a female Bosmer archer, who just so happened to have a dog as her companion, and they entered the city together, where she headed right for the Banndered Mare once more, entered the inn, where she discovered that most of the people, save for Rexus, were drunk and paid them no mind as she entered the room that Amaund was in, where she closed the door as soon as Meeko was with her and made sure her form was what the man was expecting.

"Aha! You're back!" Amaund stated, his tone and face revealing that he was happy to see her again, though the only thing that Amaryllis was annoyed by was the fact that the volume of his voice happened to be much higher than what it should be, especially given what they were going to be talking about, and she was sure that if he kept at it she was going to fulfill the Emperor's last wish and put the man out of his misery.

"Yes, and Emperor Titus Mede II lies dead, killed in his quarters on his ship." Amaryllis replied, as that was the truth of the matter and she kept her voice low enough so that only Amaund could hear her, because that seemed like the sort of thing that an assassin would do when they were returning from one of their contracts and the person they had to speak with happened to be inside a city or one of the various inns she had visited since her arrival.

"I know! I know! I received the news not moments ago!" Amaund exclaimed, his voice remaining in the loud tone that he had used when she entered the room, though at the same time Amaryllis raised one of her eyebrows, because there was no way, in any of the numerous realms of Oblivion, that someone already knew the Emperor had been slain, as she had seen no couriers and the few people that were awake certainly didn't know the news, otherwise they would have made sure everyone in the city had been awakened by this bit of news, "This is glorious! My friend, you may not realize it, but you have served the Empire, indeed all of Tamriel, in ways you cannot possibly imagine. Ah, but you care little for politics, am I right? You want money! And money you shall have! Your payment waits for you at a dead drop, which is inside an urn, in the very chamber where we first met, in Volunruud. Now please, go. Collect your money, and let us never look upon one another ever again. Our business, thank the Divines, is concluded."

Amaryllis said nothing to that as she came to a decision, where she drew the Blade of Woe and drove it straight down into Amaund's head, going right through both his skull and his brain, because he knew something that no one else knew at the moment, and was acting like he was trying to get her caught for the crime they had committed together, but at the very least this would ensure that none of the patrons would hear the news before the rest of the city did.

"But we had a deal..." Amaund managed to get out, despite the fact that Amaryllis was sure he was dead in seconds, due to the area she had attacked, before whatever lingering life vanished from his body, leaving her to pull her dagger free and clean it, before returning it to it's scabbard, reverting to her Bosmer disguise, and then headed for the city gates with her dog following behind her, as it was time to collect the payment and then head back to the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

Amaryllis wasn't sure what was going on, since there was no way Amaund could have survived her attack and tell her something before dying, especially given the fact that doing something like that to someone was usually instant death on the target's part, but she pushed it out of her mind as she focused on heading to Volunruud, so she could collect the gold Amaund told her about and put this entire venture behind her, all while focusing on what the future held for her and the rest of her Family members.

Vampire: Journey to the Castle

Amaryllis, Wind, and the rest of their group stood there as they stared at Serana and Lynthia for a time, as the pair of ancient vampires seemed to be focused on the other and didn't seem to care about anyone else, or at least for right now since the former had asked for their aid in getting back to her family home, the home of the Volkihar Clan based on what the latter had said before Serana seemed to pale. There was something about what Lynthia had said, about the ritual day and the sacrifice that had been made by the head of Serana's clan, that had chilled Serana to her core for a time, though it had to be the ritual day, as while Amaryllis wasn't familiar with the ritual days of the Daedric Princes she did know that they were very important and Molag's had some sort of influence on the reawakened vampire. Of course Serana wasn't the only one who was frozen right now, as Sharva seemed to be still and she felt that it might be due to the runes that were on her, where she assumed that while the ashen Khajiit was bound to Dagon it was possible that the someone in Molag's cult provided these runes, twisting them to make her the servant of the Prince of Destruction, or maybe she didn't want to piss off Lynthia, as she was the daughter of a powerful Daedric Prince. Amaryllis really had no idea why all of these Demiprinces and Demigods were suddenly coming out of the shadows, to join Za'kera in her quest, though all she could figure out was that it had to be due to having an interest in Akatosh's upcoming war with the Aldmeri Dominion, all while Wind didn't seem bothered by this at all, no doubt due to the fact that she was the apprentice of Hermaeus Mora's daughter, meaning she had access to far more knowledge than anyone else in the whole of Skyrim.

In the end Za'kera stepped forward and put herself between Serana and Lynthia, which was rather brave, or foolish since it depended on who was viewing the situation, causing the two vampires to focus on her for a few seconds as she broke the odd tension that had been resting between them, all while Amaryllis kept herself at the ready in case one of them just so happened to do something foolish.

"Look, I don't know what is going on between you two, but I'd rather not have you at each others throats," Za'kera said, as she had a feeling that if the two vampires remained like this for some time it would end up in a fight, likely resulting in the pair tearing up this place and resulting in Serana perishing, given that her potential foe was the daughter of Molag Bal, as she knew he was very powerful, just like Hermaeus Mora, "though we're heading to Castle Volkihar so we can learn more about what is going on with the vampires... you two can do whatever you want once we're done."

Amaryllis found that Lynthia smiled a little, like she was pleased to find that the Dragonborn was willing to stand up to her and stop a fight from happening, while Serana huffed before walking to her right for a second, likely to put some distance between her and the daughter of Molag Bal, before her friend sighed and walked by the monolith that Serana had been trapped in for who knew how long. She knew that it was time for them to leave Dimhollow Crypt, since they had found the 'artifact' that the vampires had been looking for, meaning they were going to have to pass through another Nordic area before being able to leave this place, hence why she, Za'kera, and the others readied their weapons for anything else that might be waiting for them. Sure enough they found something waiting for them on the other side of the bridge that they were walking over, which was heading off in the opposite direction of the area they had come from, where Amaryllis found a stone creature of some kind bursting out of wherever it had been imprisoned and rushed at her and her companions, a gargoyle based on what Lynthia said as she hung back to watch them, or maybe it was to watch Serana. What Amaryllis found was that the skin of the gargoyle was rather tough, which made sense considering she was attacking stone, and the same seemed to be true as Wind lashed out with a pair of Ice Spikes that slammed into the creature's chest, though it was then that they found that Za'kera seemed to be having a better time since she had ebony blades, all while Sarana quickly found whatever plans she had for combat needed to be changed as she hurled her own Ice Spikes at their foe, in addition to the red drain spell that some vampires used.

What Amaryllis found to be interesting was that Lynthia didn't raise a hand to help them, not that she was surprised by it since the ancient vampire didn't seem to care about most of them and might only be focused on Serana, though in the end they were able to cut down the gargoyle and found a path leading to the ruins that seemed to be the way out, even if it did look like they would have to fight through a few more undead before leaving. Sure enough there were a number of Draugr that needed to be taken down so they could continue moving towards the exit that had been built into this place, to which she and Za'kera swung their weapons and cut down their foes, while Wind and Serana blasted some of the others with a few ice spells, leaving Lydia to take down a more powerful one who had an ebony weapon. Of course Amaryllis seized the weapon once their foe fell, since leaving weapons like that behind seemed like a crime, all while Sharva didn't seem to care as she hacked and slashed her way through some lesser Draugr, as she seemed focused on getting them out of there and less on her own safety, meaning she had to be a careless fighter at times, which might be bad given how the group was operating right now. After clearing out that chamber they found a lever that opened a metallic gate and lead right to one massive chamber, which seemed to be the exit that would take them outside, though there were all sorts of undead, both Draugr and skeletons anyway, scattered all over the place, plus a Word Wall that Za'kera could learn from, to which they sighed as they advanced on their enemies, this time Amaryllis hung back and used her bow to take out a few Draugr, just to even the odds for the others.

It took a bit of time for them to take down the enemies that were in this chamber, allowing Za'kera a chance to head over to the Word Wall and claim the Word of Power that was on it, Gaan as she informed Amaryllis and Wind once the deed was done, before they gathered the treasure that happened to be in the large treasure chest, before heading over to the exit they had spotted and departed from Dimhollow Crypt, allowing them all to step out into the cold environment of Skyrim at long last.

"Ah, it's so good to breathe again! Even in this weather, it's better than the cave." Serana commented, showing them that she was taking in the air once more, which was understandable given that she had been trapped in that cave for a very long time, something that only Ma'jera might know given her studies and information, but she also pulled up a hood that came with her attire, which kind of shielded her from the sun's rays.

"We're on the other side of the mountain, meaning we'll either need to move on foot or retrace our steps to get back to our carriage," Tolan said, as they had left their carriage near the smouldering ruins of the Hall of the Vigilants, given the nature of the mountain path that brought them to Dimhollow Crypt, though he glanced at Serana and Lynthia for a few seconds, no doubt debating whether or not he wanted to be involved with them, "I'll head back to Isran and give him the news about what was inside Dimhollow... maybe he will have some information on what's going on right now, and maybe have an idea on what we need to do next."

Amaryllis noticed that Tolan didn't mention vampires at all, no doubt because he didn't want to enrage or annoy the pair of ancient vampires that were standing nearby, who simply stared at him for a moment as he turned and walked away, but after he departed Za'kera turned and headed for the area that their carriage was resting in, even though they were now heavy two ancient vampires, who followed behind her and her companions. As they walked towards their destination, so they could rest and use the horses to get to Serana's home, Amaryllis figured out a few things that may or may not make things much more complicated, as it appeared that their newest companion had fled her home in the middle of a feud that her parents were in, something she figured out because she mentioned that if one of them was there it might be bad for all of them, while the other she would be happy to see. Such a thing told her that it was likely that she was in trouble with one of her parents, likely her father, and that she would prefer to be reunited with her mother, though Serana didn't give any specifics right now, confirming her desire not to share information with people she didn't trust entirely, so she could only guess and make assumptions right now, and when she glanced at Wind her friend nodded her head, which told her that she must have come up with the same thoughts. Other than that they remained silent as they made their way back to where the carriage rested, even if it meant wasting time tracking it down, but it gave them time to consider what Serana had to say on her home and where it rested, an ancient castle that should still be standing after all this time, though if her family was still alive Amaryllis was sure that the place she had called home had to be standing.

Eventually they tracked down the carriage and everyone climbed onto it, Lydia taking her seat in the driver area while the others climbed in on the backside, where they got moving and made their way towards Solitude, where each of them just wanted some time to themselves and not to be worried about running into more enemies, even though it was unlikely that more vampires would find them on their travels.

One thing they ran into was a group of Thalmor agents, ten wizards and ten soldiers based on Amaryllis' count, who just so happened to be fighting Kya, where the insane Argonian swung her scythe and hacked her way through them without any concern for herself, causing Serana to raise her eyebrow as she watched the battle go down, since it was blocking the road and they needed to wait for it to be over. Once more it was hard for Amaryllis to tell if the blood that had been spilled on Kya was actually her own or if she seemed to enjoy bathing in the blood of her enemies, as she was an odd one and it was strange to see her in battle, even if she let out a battle cry at one point, as it was 'Roina guides my blade', making her take a moment to wonder if it was the nickname of a Daedric Prince or if she was insane enough to have created her own god to satisfy her mind and explain her habits. In the end it didn't matter what the Thalmor did as Kya cut her way through all of them, like they were novices and she was an expert showing someone else the correct way to do battle, but once it was done she got up and smiled as she stared at the blood that had was resting on her weapon's head, clearly pleased with the scene that had been created over the last couple of minutes. With that done she seemed to notice that they were there, as if she was now seeing them for the first time or something, and placed her weapon on her back before moving the bodies out of the way, even though she did take the coins, gems, and weapons for later, or at least that seemed to be what she was doing, allowing Lydia to get underway once more and let them pass where Kya happened to be standing, leaving them to focus on their true destination once more.

It took a while for them to get to Dragon Bridge and head up a road that was beyond it, heading to the west as they went up a hill, though Serana continued to direct them along the path she remembered and it quickly brought them down the backside of the mountain range that Solitude rested on, before eventually bringing them to a fort that seemed to be one of the Thalmor outposts, even if they were focused on a boat that allowed them to reach an island with an imposing castle, no doubt the one they were looking for.

"Hey, so... before we go in there..." Serana said, where she came to a stop at the base of the bridge that lead right to where the front door of the castle rested, though at the same time Amaryllis could feel a surge of emotion from her, as she had no idea which of her parents might be waiting for her when they passed through the door, so she was worried for one and hopeful for the other.

"Are you all right?" Za'kera asked, though while she didn't have the powers that Amaryllis and Wind had, to sense what sort of emotions someone was experiencing at any moment, it was easy for her to tell that Serana was worried about seeing who was on the other side of the door, something that made her stop and ask the question, just to calm Serana down before they headed inside the castle.

"I think so... and thanks for asking." Serana replied, showing that, while she didn't trust them all that much, she actually did like people trying to be kind to her in some way, instead of being brutes or uncaring individuals, before taking a few moments to gather herself as she stared at the castle for a time, "I wanted to thank all of you for getting me this far... but after we get in there, I'm going to go my own way for a while. I think... I know your friends, the Dawnguard, would probably want to kill everything in here, but, after seeing you guys in battle for a time, I know that I don't have to worry about you guys attacking whoever is on the other side of the door... a word of warning, once we're inside just keep quiet for a bit and let me take the lead, just in case my father's the one we end up meeting."

Za'kera nodded her head, which was echoed by Amaryllis and the others, before they followed after Serana as she walked up to the front gate of the castle, where the gatekeeper, a mind controlled Nord to be exact, seemed pleased to see them and raised the structure and allowed them to enter the castle in no time, only to discover an Altmer vampire, once more in the attire of a more noble figure, waiting on the other side.

"How dare you trespass here! Wait... Serana? Is that truly you? I cannot believe my eyes!" the vampire stated, where at first he came across as someone who was about to defend the castle from intruders, something that would have caused them to draw their weapons if he had continued speaking like that, before he paused as he discovered Serana standing among them, causing him to smile as he walked over to the ledge, "My Lord! Everyone! Serana has returned!"

Serana quietly informed them that the speaker was Vingalmo, a retainer and advisor to her father, before they walked up to where the vampire was standing and stared out at the open chamber that happened to be in front of them, one that had all sorts of tables and chairs set up, like a dining hall of sorts, and there were a number of servants who seemed to be serving the vampires that had paused in their feasting.

"My long-lost daughter returns at last." a voice said, where Amaryllis found that it came from a rather impressive person who stood in the middle of the dining hall that was in front of them, even it was down some stairs, someone who had to be the Lord of this castle, Serana's father no doubt since she could feel the worry coming from the vampire, before she found that he was interested in something else, "I trust you have my Elder Scroll?"

"After all these years, that's the first thing you ask me?" Serana asked, her tone and emotions showing that she had been hoping for something totally different, that even if she had been hoping to avoid contact with her father part of her had a desire for a warm welcome, even though he seemed cold and only desired the Scroll that was on her back, before she took a moment to sigh as she and the others walked down the stairs, "Yes, I still have the Elder Scroll."

"Of course I'm delighted to see you, my daughter." her father replied, where Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other, as they could tell that he was lying through his teeth and only cared about the powerful artifact that was on Serana's back, even though he glanced over to Za'kera and the others for a moment, taking note of them before pausing as he noticed Lynthia standing among them, "Must I really say the words aloud? Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike. Now tell me, who are these strangers that you have brought into our hall?"

"These are my saviors, who freed me from my prison." Serana answered, taking the reigns as she told them, to paint the group in a good light for when they encountered her parents, especially in the case of her father as Amaryllis figured, but the return of the Elder Scroll and herself caused all of the vampires to share some words with each other, while focusing on what they were doing.

"For my daughter's safe return, you have my gratitude. Tell me, what are your names?" the Lord of the castle said, where he turned his attention to Za'kera, Amaryllis, Wind, and the others for a moment, showing them that while he was happy for the return of the Elder Scroll, and he claimed that Serana's return made him happy as well, he was interested in who they might be.

"I am Za'kera, the Last Dragonborn and Thane of Whiterun," Za'kera replied, figuring that a title or two might impress the vampire lord and open the way for them to talk, while deciding not to mention the fact that she was the commander of an army, especially one that was building itself right now, before moving onto Amaryllis and the others, where she noticed that Harkon raised an eyebrow when Lynthia was mentioned, "And you are?"

"I am Harkon, Lord of this Court." the vampire said, where it was clear that he was putting emphasis on his title as well, if only to make them aware that they were standing before royalty, either because he was intimidated by the presence of Lynthia, the highest form of vampire royalty, save for her mother anyway, or he wanted them to be taken aback by what he had to say, "By now, my daughter will have told you what we are."

"She didn't tell us anything, we figured out you were vampires rather easily," Amaryllis remarked, as there wasn't much to say to that, as they were wearing the attire of the various blood sucking enemies they had seen so far, which she didn't include Babette in since her sister had a better fashion sense than these guys, even though she did see that some of the vampires were gnawing on bones for some reason.

"Not just vampires." Harkon stated, almost like he was offended by her statement, no doubt believing himself to be above the others of their kind that were outside the castle, causing Serana to roll her eyes as she heard him say that, no doubt a little annoyed by what her father had said, before he thought about something else, "We are among the oldest and most powerful vampires in Skyrim... the members of my Court can easily topple a Hold, if I were to give them the command to do so. For centuries we lived here, far from the cares of the world, but all that ended when my wife betrayed me and stole away that which I valued most."

"Based on what I'm seeing, a Hold is beyond their powers... a small settlement, on the other hand, is more reasonable for all of them," Lynthia remarked, though it really sounded like she was trying to pick a fight with Harkon, one she might be able to win since she was far more experienced than he had to be, as she was the daughter of the first vampire and the Prince of Domination, before she smirked for a moment as she saw some annoyed looks on Harkon's Court, hence why she glanced at him for a moment, "then again, most of you are fledglings compared to me."

"Anyway, you deserve a reward for the service you have done for me." Harkon continued, either ignoring Lynthia or just decided that he would deal with her in due time, where Lynthia just stood there and watched him, even though one of the servants seemed to realize who she was and offered her a cup of blood, which she took and swirled around a little, giving her a more noble appearance, "There is but one gift I can give that is equal in value to the Elder Scroll and my daughter: I offer you my blood. Take it, and you will walk as a lion among sheep, men will tremble at your approach, and you will never fear death again... here, let me show you the power!"

In that moment Harkon seemed to choke as he called upon his inner power, blood red lines appearing and crisscrossing all over his body for a few seconds, like he was turning into something else before their eyes, before the blood shattered as he emerged, as a creature that looked like a more humanoid gargoyle, while his attire had been reduced to a loincloth, a jewelry chest piece, and a cape which sort of blocked his tiny looking wings, like an infant's wings... even though Lynthia chuckled as a pair of leathery bat wings, black colored, emerged from her back and fit through some holes that she made at some point in the past.

"Can you please stop trying to show off at every chance you get?" Amaryllis asked, because traveling with the children of the gods, be they the Divines or the Daedric Princes, was getting old real fast and she could tell that her friend was tired of it as well, though she found that Lynthia just chuckled as she heard the remark, causing her to mentally moan as she and the others found that Za'kera was stepping forward.

"Look, I'm not interested in becoming a vampire, rather I would have your cooperation," Za'kera replied, where she took a moment to turn and glance at the assembled figures that were around them, all while Amaryllis and Wind knew that there were more vampires lurking somewhere in the shadows, as some were annoyed that she would turn down the offer, as it would have placed her in the Court as well as given her immense power, "War is coming, one unlike anything this world has seen in a long time, and I intend on meeting our enemies on the battlefield with everything our world has to offer, be it mages, warriors, thieves, assassins, werewolves, vampires, and even the dragons... and I would prefer if your Court and the Dawnguard stopped this pointless feud and lent us your aid."

"You expect us to simply step down and join hands with the ones trying to kill us?" Vingalmo inquired, though it was more like he was demanding an explanation from them, something that caused the Court to laugh as they heard what she had to say on the matter, almost as if they thought she was insane or foolish for saying such a thing, even Harkon seemed to find this funny, "Next you're going to tell us that Alduin has returned, or something foolish like that..."

"Well, the World-Eater has returned, and he's allied with us to take down the Aldmeri Dominion," Wind remarked, speaking for the first time since they arrived at the castle, though Amaryllis was glad that she had her mask on since she had to take a moment to smile as she found that all of Harkon's Court stopped laughing, as if they considered her statement for a few seconds, before she glanced at Za'kera, "Hey, do you think he'll come if you speak his name to the heavens?"

"No idea... it might annoy him, to be exact, but I think we might be able to do that." Za'kera remarked, something that did cause the vampires to pause for a moment as they considered their words, like they were starting to believe that they had been telling the truth and not lying about what was going on, to which she turned for a moment and make it look like she was leaving, before pausing for a moment, "Lord Harkon, if you would like to join up with us, come to the new fort that has been built near Whiterun... trust me, you can't miss it."

Amaryllis kept the smile on her face as they left the stunned Court behind, where Lynthia fell in with them and both of her wings disappeared as quickly as they had appeared moments ago, before Serana glanced at her father for a few seconds, as he was still stunned by what had been said, and actually followed after them, showing them that she had more sense than her father, but a full scale war likely interested her and caused this decision to be made, though Amaryllis knew this was the start of them stopping the last of Skyrim's dangers before moving forward with their next plan.

Solstheim: Helping the People

With the Black Book in hand, and their time in Nchardak was done, Wind and the others departed from the Dwarven ruin, as all of them figured that peering into the reading of it should happen in a safer environment, giving them time to see if they bumped into any additional tomes, since Wind seemed sort of against reading one of the ancient tomes. Amaryllis knew that while her mentor seemed to think she was ready for the trials ahead of her, and she kind of felt the same way since she had seen how powerful Wind had become, but there was something in Wind's way that only she could overcome, meaning until that time they would collect more Black Books and help the people of Solstheim. When they emerged from Nchardak, and were able to start the trek back to Tel Mithryn, they found a dragon resting on one of the tilted domes of the area they had walked through to reach the ruin's door, a white scaled beast that seemed to be watching them, who flapped his wings and took off as soon as they spotted him. Neloth, as per usual, seemed to believe that he had scared off the beast with the sheer power that a master wizard of House Telvanni was capable of unleashing, since he walked towards Tel Mithryn with his head held high and words that indicated that he was stronger than dragons.

"It would seem that Miraak sent that dragon to keep an eye on us," Amaryllis remarked, speaking to her group for a couple of seconds, all while they followed behind the insane wizard, who didn't seem to care that they were a few steps behind him at the moment, though she let out a sigh as everyone walked back to the mushroom tower, "he'll know we've found the second Black Book... whether or not he stays true to his word, however, remains to be seen."

"Yes, and in the meantime we should figure out where the other Black Books are hidden," Za'kera said, as she agreed with Amaryllis' statement, about the Dragonborn that clearly served Hermaeus Mora and was looking for a way to leave the realm he was currently living in, even though he could likely form a portal on his own, thanks to the damage to the Liminal Barrier, and the Prince of Fate was keeping him contained in his realm, "which means helping Neloth some more... he has one of the tomes, so we'll have to see what else he wants from us so we can get our hands on his book."

Neloth, of course, also made sure to escort the beaten Reavers over to his tower as well, though he made a detour so he could cage all of them in the ship that Ma'jera prepared for him, though there weren't any enemies in the area, the scene no doubt scaring off everyone, before they were able to return to Tel Mithryn, where they found Talvas hanging out in her new home with a sad look on her face.

"Varona, where are you? I'm hungry for apple cabbage stew, with canis root tea!" Neloth stated, speaking as soon as they entered the upper levels of his tower, though it appeared that his Steward had either returned to her part of the tower, as there were three other smaller mushrooms and one had to be her domain, or she had departed for Raven Rock, no doubt to gather supplies, before Neloth turned his head for a moment, "Talvas... no, wait, you're more of a 'Talva' in your new form... have you seen Varona?"

"N... No, Master, I haven't seen Varona since she left for Raven Rock." Talvas, or Talva as the wizard called her, answered, where it was clear that she didn't seem too happy about this situation, about being reduced to a mere research subject and having lost her position as Neloth's apprentice, among the other things that she had lost since they had arrived in this tower to get Neloth's help in tracking down the Black Books.

"Well someone had better find her... and tell her I want apple cabbage stew, with some canis root tea." Neltoh said, where he glanced back at Amaryllis and the others for a moment, no doubt informing them that this was their task to do while he did whatever research that was occupying his time, before he returned to the cage his former apprentice was in, no doubt because he was curious about something.

Za'kera sighed as she returned to the base of the tower, allowing her and her companions to head back outside, as there was no telling where in the world Varona might be, since there was a good distance between Tel Mithryn and Raven Rock, though what she did was have Amaryllis take on her true form once more and scout out the path Varona might have used to get to the settlement. Not a few seconds later she took to the air and found that there were a few Reaver camps, likely the same ones she had seen during her flights so far, quickly spotted the Dark Elf in the ash covered ruin, noticed a couple of Skaal in the middle of a hunt, and a few other things as well, but she didn't see anyone dressed as a Steward running over the ash. When she reached Raven Rock she paused in the air and thought about things for a moment, since it looked like she might have missed something, before turning around so she could head back to the others, though as she did that she discovered a trio of Ash Spawn near Tel Mithryn and pointed it out to Wind. Not a few moments later they lashed out at the ashen enemies before they were able to do anything, Za'kera cutting them down with her swords, Lydia smashing them with her battleaxe, while Wind blasted one with lightning, allowing Amaryllis to simply watch as she scouted out the rest of the area.

What she discovered, however, was the fallen form of Varona, stabbed to death by the Ash Spawn by the looks of it, not to mention some heavy slashes across her chest, though to be sure nothing was stolen she did a quick search and found a list of groceries, a key, and a sake of gold, to which most of the group sighed as they returned to Tel Mithryn, finding that Neloth was still studying Talva's new body.

"Well, we found Varona." Za'kera stated, something that caused Neloth to stop in his tracks as he turned to face them, as he could see that they didn't have good news for him and it made him to frown a little more, but to be honest Amaryllis really didn't care about him, as the only reason they were helping the wizard out was so they could get his Black Book and whatever Wind had to do inside each of them, "I'm afraid she's dead..."

"Dead? Well that's annoying." Neloth said, his tone informing them that he really didn't care about Varona, seeing her as more of a tool and someone who could be replaced, either if she failed or was slain in the line of duty, which was running the tower, getting groceries, and whatever else Neloth had her do, "How did she die?"

"Ash Spawn, based on the looks of the scene we found." Wind replied, where she also noticed his total lack of care for his previous Steward, in fact he didn't seem to be troubled by Varona's death and the problems it might cause him, though he simply sighed for a moment as he took in the information that he was being told, allowing them to stand there and wait for him to say something.

"There are more and more of those things showing up around here lately. Oh well, I suppose you'll have to find me a new steward." Neloth stated, confirming that he really didn't care much about Varona's death, especially since he was already trying to replace her with someone else, causing them to keep a straight face, since it wouldn't do them any favors if he noticed that they were annoyed with him, "Try Raven Rock... they are in awe of me there. I'm sure almost anyone would be willing to serve me, once they learn that a position is open."

Amaryllis and the others glanced at each other for a few seconds, no doubt debating what to do about this situation, but said nothing as everyone headed down to the base of the tower and departed for Raven Rock, leaving Neloth to whatever his current studies were, though he didn't try to get his hands on the Black Books they had. As soon as they were outside the tower, and found that it was in the afternoon, meaning they had spent a good deal of time in Nchardak, Za'kera turned to their left for a moment before starting to head back to Raven Rock, allowing the others to follow after her as they kept their guards up. Once more they discovered that Amaryllis was right about what might be in their way, as there were next to no enemies for them to worry about, the Reavers were probably elsewhere, a pair of mages ended up killing each other in the distance, and some Skaal were hunting a floating creature of some kind for it's meat, so they were able to traverse the ash covered island with some amount of ease. They were fine with this turn of events, as none of them wanted to fight anything right now, though while they did that Amaryllis spotted a tower with a cart outside it's walls, a stone tower, but at the moment it didn't seem important and she focused her mind on making sure no one was going to attack them during their trek to Raven Rock.

It took a while for them to get back to the settlement in question, where they found that the guards were fine with them returning and said nothing as Za'kera lead them down to the street that cut through it, where they found Captain Veleth standing near what had to be the house of whoever ruled over Raven Rock, though upon seeing them he walked over to where they were standing.

"You've returned. So, what of General Carius?" Veleth asked, showing that he recognized them and that he was eager to learn if they had killed the person responsible for sending the Ash Spawn to attack Raven Rock, especially since he lost two members of his guard in the last attack they helped him repel.

"He's dead. You don't have to worry about the Ash Spawn attacking anymore." Za'kera replied, as that was what Amaryllis told her earlier, that she had taken care of her target and saved this settlement before it was attacked again, where they could see that the Captain was relieved to hear this information, meaning he could turn his attention to whatever else was out there, like all of the Reavers.

"I'm not sure how he managed to survive for two hundred years, but it's good to hear he's been eliminated," Veleth said, a smile appearing on his face as he realized they wouldn't have to worry about the Ash Spawn for the foreseeable future, or at least until someone else seized control of them and started attacking Raven Rock again, though in that moment, as the group started to head towards the market, he pulled out a sack of coins, "I told Councilor Morvayn about your promise to take care of General Carius and he told me to give you this upon your return... and that the General has been taken care of. It's far better than a soldier's pay."

Amaryllis was surprised by the amount that was inside the sack, as from the outside it looked like a few hundred, like five or six, but inside it rested between seventy-five hundred to ten thousand coins, meaning the settlement wasn't falling on hard time, like that one Dark Elf told Gjalund earlier, though as the others stared at the payment she noticed that Veleth had something else to say.

"I take it there's more that you need from us?" Amaryllis asked, though Za'kera pocketed the coins before she and the rest of the group focused on what she was saying, since she could see and feel that the Captain wanted to say more than what he had said so far, something Wind picked up on as well when she realized what she had felt, but they remained silent as they turned on the figure.

"Second Councilor Arano was asking about you, and he wants to speak with you," Veleth replied, where he beckoned to a part of Raven Rock for a moment, no doubt meaning that the person they would have to talk to was out there, waiting to speak to either one or more of them about something, before he let out a sigh as he faced them, "I don't know what he wants to talk about, but it sounded urgent... it might be more important than taking out General Carius."

Wind and the others shared a glance for a few seconds as they informed the Captain that they would speak with Arano as soon as possible, where he went back to his business and allowed Za'kera to move forward, only to find the Dark Elf that wanted to speak with them near the path leading to the corrupted Stone, something she was going to deal with soon, and he turned to face her group as they stopped near him. Fortunately they were near a section of the path that wasn't used all that much, allowing Arano to inform the group that he had Veleth send them his way because he was worried about Councilor Morvayn being killed, that some of his enemies might be in Raven Rock and there was no way for the guard to move against them without someone learning of their actions. His suggestion was to check with Geldris Sadri in the inn, a place that went by the name the 'Retching Netch', as he might have something that would allow them to figure out who in the world wanted Morvayn dead, and that they check his leads before bringing them to his attention, since he didn't want to show his hand to their enemy before he was ready. With that conversation over Za'kera walked over to the inn, where they found that it did go down into the ground, as the main floor was the basement and the upper floor seemed to be one of the sitting areas, but fortunately most of the people were outside and a male Dark Elf, the innkeeper, was the only one near the bar.

What they discovered was that Geldris was amused to see that Arano had someone who was willing to track down their foe, a Ulen apparently, before informing them that they should wait in the Ulen Family Tomb to see who arrived, as there were no members of that family on Solstheim and yet someone was leaving offerings for them, to which they nodded and backed away to a corner.

"You guys should track down whoever might want to become Neloth's new Steward, as it might take some time before this Ulen spy shows themselves," Amaryllis remarked, as she had been trained to be an assassin and this seemed to be one of the most perfect opportunities for her to put her skills to the test, especially since it seemed like the ruler of Raven Rock was in danger, though she found that Za'kera nodded her head in agreement.

Wind sighed as Amaryllis left the group, following the directions that had been given to them so she could figure out where the tomb was located, though while she did that everyone else started to track down some of the residents of Raven Rock so they could figure out who might want to start living in Tel Mithryn as Neloth's latest Steward. One of the Dark Elves, the alchemist, turned them down as soon as the question was asked, informing them that she'd rather swim all the way back to the racist city of Windhelm, while another one, who happened to be one of the Severins, claimed that Neloth was just a madman and not worth working for, even if he was of House Telvanni. They then heard some interesting rumors from the rest of the people they talked to, as some claimed that he tore out the heart of his previous apprentice, even though they were unaware of what happened to Talvas, others claimed that he drank ash, one thought Neloth was crazy for wanting to transport a living white mammoth for his studies, and other rumors that surprised them. Based on what they learned the majority, if not the entirety, of Raven Rock didn't like Neloth and wanted nothing to do with him, even though they did find that the local blacksmith wanted some help with someone in the mines, who had stolen an ancient nordic pickaxe, before one Dark Elf, a male, jumped at the chance and left before they could stop him.

In the end Za'kera decided to just help out the people of Raven Rock, first by shattering the structure around the Stone on the outskirts so they could kill the Lurkers that emerged from two different patches of water, though even without the aid of Amaryllis the three of them were able to take them down, before heading for the mine and found two figures arguing about something.

What they discovered was that the elderly Imperial, a male called Crescius Caerellius, was here looking for clues as to what happened to his ancestor, especially since the mines had collapsed at one point and the Empire shut it down, but he had found a letter and a key recently that sparked his interest in the matter. Even though he didn't trust them Crescius, in the end, handed over the information he had and asked them to track down anything that might be use in his quest to make the East Empire Company pay for their lies, though his mood did sour when Wind asked about the pickaxe that he took from the blacksmith, who handed it over before leaving. Za'kera was interested by what they might find if they explored the mine's depths, as there was no telling where the Black Books might be located and a little exploration would do them good, since it would cross off a location from their list, as she was sure that Ma'jera had one to keep them going, and Wind agreed with her idea, causing Lydia to rush down the wooden steps as she descended into the mine. At first all they found were a few Skeevars and a few spiders, most of which Lydia crushed with the edge of her battleaxe, since none of them were worth her Thane's time, before reaching a boarded up wall that, upon being smashed to pieces by Lydia, brought the three of them to a locked door that the key went to.

On the other side rested a nordic ruin, which had to be why this place had been locked off, though Za'kera unlocked the door and they headed into the first part of the crypt, or at least the part that the people of Raven Rock dug into, all while Ma'jera floated behind them, allowing the three of them to focus on their mission, as she was observing and making sure her apprentice improved on her own. Sure enough it wasn't long before Za'kera, Lydia, and Wind found some Draugr that were waking up, ranging from the basic ones to the deadly Deathlords, and attacked them accordingly, though they had to be careful when facing the stronger enemies, since their Shouts were enough to knock most of them backwards if one of them were caught by such an attack. Wind discovered that if she threw up a Ward in front of her and her companions, one of the first spells she learned thanks to the starting lessons of the College, it would block the majority of the Shout, which was Unrelenting Force since that seemed to be the only one these enemies knew, though her spell allowed them to stay safe for a while before her companions lashed out at the undead. She also channeled some of her other spells while they fought the Draugr, hurling Fireballs and Ice Spikes through the air, weakening her foes to the point where they could be finished off by either Za'kera or Lydia, all while her mentor studied her movements, no doubt making sure she lived up to her grand expectations.

After a few moments they found a passage leading to a circular chamber, which had a number of Deathlords waiting for intruders, though this time none of them let the undead strike first, as Wind lashed out with some Thunderbolts as both of her companions cut down their enemies, before they were overwhelmed by foes. Once the undead were taken out Za'kera took a moment to collect any ebony weapons, just like she had seen Amaryllis do in the past, before finding some gold and weapons inside a large chest, though once it was empty they continued through the door in front of them and kept their guards up. The passage on the other side allowed them to pass by some coffins that didn't open up at all, which they were fine with, before spotting one that had a bunch of ice covering it, Stalhrim based on what the blacksmith had told them, as the pickaxe he wanted them to recover was said to be able to break through this stuff. A few seconds later Lydia, who told her Thane that she would do this task, walked away from the coffin with several chunks of Stalhrim and discovered that the carved pickaxe was just fine, meaning it might be useful in the future, to which they resumed moving deeper into the ancient nordic tomb.

They then passed by two soul gems that were set up to hurt whoever got near them, which Wind dealt with thanks to two well placed Wards, before they entered a chamber that was partly filled with water, had a short walkway with a Deathlord on it, and what looked like a pedestal that had a lever on it, to open the way for them to continue moving. Sure enough the undead attacked them and Wind lashed out with a Thunderbolt, blasting it off the walkway that it happened to be on, but she also used a second to take it out, allowing Za'kera to move forward and see what else might be waiting for them, which lead to Lydia slaying another Draugr with her battleaxe. That allowed them to reach a chamber that had a pedestal with a tome on top of it, an Ice Spike tome, though Wind claimed it, as it was never a good idea to leave spell tomes behind, even if no one would be following them through this ruin, before they found a way up to the upper level and crossed over to the top of the chamber that happened to contain the tome in question. After that they found their way to a walkway that was above everything they had passed so far, thanks to a metallic cage around it, and not a few moments later they found a tunnel in the left side of the passage that seemed to be what they were looking for, as it lead to a decent sized open area that required them to jump down to the ground.

The chamber in question had a massive structure on one side, the side they were facing, and there were a number of red runes on it, though the group did find a skeleton that had a greatsword resting in front of it, a weapon that seemed to be the same color as all of the runes and had a few short spikes on the sides, though Wind did find a journal on the skeleton and collected it.

"Hm, so this is the 'Bloodskal Blade', and it seems connected to the door," Wind commented, taking a moment to read the journal and found that it also had some information that the elderly Imperial would want to see once they returned from this place, though she smiled as Lydia picked up the greatsword, as she found a passage about the power of the blade and what happened when it was swung, "by that it looks like if one swings it in a certain way they'll release a wave of energy, one that might be able to open the door in front of us."

Lydia, appearing to have no need to listen to the rest of the explanation, switched to using the Bloodskal Blade and swung it at the wall in front of them, releasing horizontal, vertical, and diagonal waves of energy that sliced into the wall and they watched as each one sunk into the wall before being replaced by new ones, hence why she continued her movements for a few moments. In no time the runes were no longer in their way and the door opened, revealing a number of swinging axes that they had to avoid, though these ones were easier to avoid than what had been in Miraak's temple, allowing them to move down the passage before Za'kera head the chanting that came from one of the Word Walls, meaning they were close to the guardian. At the end of the passage it was easy for them to find a water filled chamber, save for the outer ring that happened to be where the Word Wall rested, though on the inside they found a coffin that was under the water, only it unlocked when they entered the chamber and they discovered a Dragon Priest with different robes than what they were used to seeing. This one seemed to have a metallic robe on, or a robe covered by metal in some places, while appearing to be somewhat dark, like he was a master of shock magic, though as he faced them, allowing the group to see that even his mask was different from what a normal Dragon Priest wore, Wind drew her staff and stepped up, knowing that they would have to face the creature in front of them.

Of course Wind happened to be proven wrong, as the Dragon Priest either recognized her Ayleid staff or realized that he was in the presence of a Demiprince, because he allowed them to move and floated by Ma'jera, giving Za'kera a chance to learn another Word of Power while Ma'jera found a lever that opened the way to where a Black Book rested, which just so happened to be the Winds of Change... though as they figured out how to leave Wind had to wonder what Amaryllis was up to and if she would be done when they returned to Raven Rock.

Amaryllis discovered that an hour went by inside the Ulen Family Tomb, though to be sure no one suspected anything she had hidden herself in a place where no one would see her and took on a Dark Elf female disguise before heading into the tomb, where she made it look like she was praying while she waited to see if the plan would work. Based on the time that went by she was sure that Za'kera and Wind had found someone to be Neloth's new Steward, plus do whatever else they might do to pass the time while they waited for her to come back with news about who was trying to kill the First Councilor of Raven Rock. When the first hour was up she discovered that someone else came in and tended to one of the ash tombs as well, where she found that it happened to be one of the Severins she had seen earlier, Tilisu if her memory was correct, but she said nothing as she emerged from her hiding spot and exited the tomb without revealing herself. Once she was back outside, however, Amaryllis made her way back to the private area that she and the others had spoken to Arano in, who happened to be there still, and carefully reverted back to the form she had been using when he last saw her, and the moment they were back together she informed him of the trap she had laid.

"I suspect that one of the Severins, Tilisu, might be your culprit," Amaryllis said, where she leaned against the wall for a few seconds and noticed something interesting as she did so, the Dark Elf in question left the tomb sooner than she thought, even if she wasn't an Ulen and had to be leaving the offering in their place, sending up red flags in her mind, "the plan you were told about worked, just as Geldis said. I also suspect that you'll need proof, so what would you have me do to see if she's truly the culprit?"

"You'll have to search Severin Manor," Arano replied, to which he gestured across the way, without drawing attention to what he was doing, to a house that was on the outskirts of Raven Rock, giving her an idea of where she had to go next, but after that he pulled out a set of keys and handed her one, "that key should help you get inside, in case the door is locked, but I'm hoping you're wrong about it being the Severins."

Amaryllis nodded and stepped away from where she was meeting Arano, where she silently and carefully approached the building in question, discovering that no one was looking this way and no one happened to be walking towards her, hence why she unlocked the door and headed inside Severin Manor. What she discovered was that no one was inside the place, as she felt no emotions coming from the first floor or the basement, to which she embraced the shadows and studied the chambers that were in this place, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. That lead her to discovering that there was a smithy in one of the rooms, complete with a tanning rack, meaning the Severins made their own things and didn't buy items from the blacksmith, save for materials, and there was another chamber that served as a room for one or more people, even if there was only one bed right now. After that she found the grand bedroom, one large enough to hold a bed for two, several display cases, a few mannequins that were bare, and a safe that happened to be unlocked, which had to be a mistake and would cost the Severins dearly, especially since she found a letter that definitely incriminated the family in the plot to kill the First Councilor.

With the letter in hand she heard the front door open and felt two sets of emotions, finding Tilisu and her mother, Mirri, had returned, though both seemed to realize that someone had invaded their house and claimed that House Hlaalu would have it's revenge against Morvayn, though she wasted no time in drawing her blades from their scabbards and cut them both down, allowing her to return to Arano without wasting any time.

"I have the evidence you wanted, plus Mirri and Tilisu are dead, as they tried to kill me," Amaryllis remarked, handing over the information she had recovered from the manner, something that caused the Second Councilor to raise an eyebrow as he read what was on the letter, as it had to be hard for him to accept that the family in question wanted his boss dead for something that happened so long ago, "Want me to take care of them?"

"Just you? They have an army of assassins!" Arano said, as he noticed that part of the letter, about the hidden forces that were in Ashfallow Citadel, and had to wonder if Amaryllis had a death wish, since he had no idea who she was and the fact that she was the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, not to mention it's leader, but she wasn't about to tell him that, since it usually made people afraid.

"Indeed, but I'm better than them." Amaryllis stated, because while she wasn't one to brag, in fact that was something she usually didn't do, she knew that whoever the assassins were wouldn't stand a chance against her and her powers, hence why she was so confident in the fact that she would be able to take down whoever was in Ashfallow Citadel, causing Arano to raise an eyebrow for a moment.

In the end the Second Councilor agreed to send her, and her alone, to Ashfallow Citadel, as it would allow the rest of the guard to remain here in case an attack was on it's way from House Hlaalu, though once she knew where her destination was she excused herself and departed from Raven Rock without delay, knowing that it was only a matter of time until the assassins realized the Severins were dead. Once she had some distance between her and Raven Rock, to the point where none of the guards could see her, she shifted into her true form and took to the skies, heading to the east, as Arano told her that Ashfallow Citadel was near Tel Mithryn, the tower she had spotted earlier. It wasn't hard for her to track down the tower again, nor did it take her long to find two figures wearing chitin armor, a deeper color than what she and the others had seen so far, who happened to be moving like they were keeping an eye out for enemies and glanced around like she would have if she were in their position. They were assassins, possibly the Morag Tong based on what she had learned in the starting days of her time with the Dark Brotherhood, one of the many conversations she had with her Family, and they were keeping an eye out as they waited for their boss to give the order to attack Raven Rock.

Before either of them could do anything she dropped out of the air and removed the head of the first assassin, before she drove her blades into the heart of the second, killing her before she had a chance to retaliate, though Amaryllis paused for a few seconds to be sure that no more were out here, finding that the area was bare, allowing her to collect the arrows her targets had, as they were elven, orcish, dwarven, glass, ebony, and even daedric, before heading inside the tower.

Once inside she carefully searched the ash covered area and found a way down into the depths of the buried citadel, even though she found no one near the entrance, another mistake in her books, before heading down a set of stairs and kept an eye open for enemies as her senses informed her that there were many between her and her target. One assassin was leaning on a wall near the bottom of the stairs, where she stepped through the shadows before stabbing him in his back, allowing her to head down a short passage that brought her to a tunnel, which seemed to connect the start of the citadel to the end, even if she would have to deal with some traps along the way. Sure enough she found all of her enemies in no time, as they were standing along the tunnel and in all of the side rooms, though with some of the shadowy areas she had a way to make them come to her, as all she had to do was make a noise and the enemies in a certain area would come out to see what was going on, allowing her to lash out and kill them before they could arm themselves. Of course some of her enemies proved that they were willing to listen to what was going on around them, but in the end it didn't matter as she cut them down, giving none of them a chance to defend themselves, while opening the raised walls that were in front of her, removing the defenses that were between her and her target.

In the end she found the head assassin in the final chamber, with two guards no less, though none of them stood much of a chance as Amaryllis stabbed one in the back before removing the heads of the other two, especially since she included the leader in that, though once she was done she made sure to loot the place as she wondered what would happen when she regrouped with the others.

War: Retaking the Imperial City

Za'kera and her forces rode down the path that would bring them by Bruma, though her focus was on what else was going on in the province, as she could see all of the smoke coming from where Dagon's forces were marching and she could see the portal to Coldharbour opening off in the distance. Sure, playing that card now meant that the Dominion might notice it and plan around Molag Bal moving it over to the other provinces of Tamriel, but right now it was a good move that had to be made, showing their enemies that even the gods of this world didn't approve of what they were doing. She had to wonder if the person in charge of the Dominion's forces in Cyrodiil was quaking in their boots, seeing the sheer force that was coming to ruin their plans, before she considered how they were going to get into the city, as in the route that the beggars might have for those she sent into the city. Part of her knew that sending Amaryllis was a requirement, as her friend was one of the best assassins she had seen so far, and she was sure there were others that would be useful in retaking the city, though for right now there was one thing they had to do before they reached the city, which was taking Bruma back and liberating the citizens in the camps.

As she thought about that, however, they found a force of Dominion soldiers marching out of the city that was off to their right, where Za'kera raised a hand and gestured to the enemies that were coming their way, as it looked like a hundred foes were emerging from the city, where she suspected there were more emerging from Bruma.

Lydia and the other warriors smashed into the soldiers of the Dominion, surprising the Altmer force with the sheer power that they possessed, where Amaryllis noticed that a number of their enemies were actually afraid of Lydia, like they were scared that her bovine form would be passed onto them if she touched them. It was an amusing thought when she took a moment to consider it, not that they would have done that to the Dominion since death was the only thing they deserved right now, though it allowed Lydia to open the way for Za'kera to climb off her horse and join the battle. Sure enough the Dominion's archers and mages readied themselves as she approached the battlefield, showing that they understood that she was the cornerstone of the army, that taking her out would cripple their forces and divide them, though before those enemies could do anything Zoravoir swung her arm and lightning struck all of the ranged enemies, stunning them so their mages and archers could deal with them. Za'kera, on the other hand, drew her blades and watched the soldiers for a few moments, silently daring her enemies to come at her as her forces stood back, showing that they trusted her power and that it was unwise to get in her way, all while Amaryllis kept her weapons sheathed as they observed what was going to happen in the next few moments.

When one of the soldiers approached her, daring to strike her down, Za'kera swung her blades and moved slightly faster than the Altmer in question, cutting him down before he had a chance to hit her, before moving onto the next couple of enemies that dared to get in her way, all while a number of soldiers gathered nearby, forming a wall that she would have to fight through to get closer to Bruma.

"You should know not to get in our way," Za'kera commented, though as she said that she noticed that Alduin and all of his dragons flew out to the rest of the province, to conquer every Dominion held area while making sure not to burn the entire province to the ground, all while she focused her mind for a moment and stared at the enemies that were right in front of her, "Fus... Ro DAH!"

In that moment her Shout smashed into the wall of enemies and scattered them without wasting time, causing bodies to fall as pieces of armor and weapons were scattered everywhere around where all of them had been standing, opening the road to Bruma at last, causing her to step back as her soldiers moved forward. Even after seeing her power the soldiers of the Dominion held their ground and tried to push them back, to keep Bruma under their thumb, though as she watched that Za'kera noticed that Amaryllis had disappeared, no doubt heading inside the city to find the citizens who had been trapped in their homes or businesses. With them distracting the Dominion, keeping their attention on the eastern side of the city, she knew that her friend and a few of the other stealthy figures, as several others were missing based on what she was seeing right now, were heading into Bruma from the northwestern gate and that the Dominion wouldn't see it coming at all, not with the army literally at their gate. She was fine with that, as Amaryllis was an assassin and this was her strong suit, even if she was a capable fighter as well, and right now it was important that she played to her strengths, so most of her forces would continue to march towards the Imperial City while she kept Bruma's guards distracted, and once this city was safe they would continue to the south.

Amaryllis, on the other hand, silently moved over to the other gate that lead into Bruma and found several stealthy figures following her lead, causing her to briefly nod her head before they headed through the gate, finding that the Dominion's forces were definitely distracted by the army at their gates. Such a thing was fine with her, as it allowed her and the rest of the assassins to make their way through the city, leaving the thieves to see if there was anything inside the castle that they could use against the Dominion, though she changed her mind after seeing a rather powerful mage walking back to the castle, an Altmer mage to be exact. It was interesting to see that one of their enemies was choosing to ignore the ongoing battle that was outside Bruma's eastern gate, making her wonder what he might be up to, so while the other members of the Brotherhood went out to find enemies to assassinate, and the Guild members looked for important documents and items to steal for their war effort, she followed the mage. Based on what she was seeing right now he was heading for the castle, a stone structure that looked far more secure than most of the buildings in Skyrim, due to the fact that the houses were mostly wood, save for those in both Solitude and Windhelm, and it didn't seem like anyone else was inside it, which meant the guards were facing the main force and the captives were elsewhere.

As the mage pulled out a blue crystal, which looked like a device to communicate or use a powerful spell, Amaryllis did her job, sneaking up into the area behind her foe before slicing open his neck, making sure to kill him before he had a chance to do whatever it was that he was trying to do, and with that done she pocketed the crystal, as Ma'jera or Zoravoir might be able to figure out what it was, before heading outside.

What she found when she returned to the other shadowy figures was that there wasn't anything important inside Bruma, in terms of information that would help them taking down and route the Dominion's forces, but the assassins found some enemies to take care of, before they could hurt the army. In addition to that they found out where all the captives were being held, as they were stuck inside the Great Chapel of Talos, both ordinary people and the guards, which told them all they needed to know, the Dominion imprisoned and killed those who weren't useful to their plans, as hostages to use to make the rest of a city work in their foul camps. With the guards freed from the chapel, and the citizens were safe, she and her allies assaulted the backside of the Dominion's forces, or at least she did as she switched into her melee form for the time being, leaving Nazir and the others to make one final sweep of the city, for information, while the guards followed her as she smashed into the backside of her enemies. It was a pincer attack, trapping the Dominion's soldiers between their two forces and didn't give them anywhere to go, where Amaryllis kept an eye open for anyone who might surrender after seeing how screwed they were, but, sure enough, the Dominion's forces didn't seem to care about their own lives, as if all of them were preparing to throw their lives away for whoever was leading them.

In the end it didn't take them long to bring down the Dominion's soldiers and liberate Bruma, while finding that a portion of the main force had found the nearby camp and decimated their enemies as well, freeing the people from the cages they had been stuffed in, allowing her to regroup with Za'kera.

"It's a shame we can't take hostages... getting some information from them would have been useful." Za'kera said, where she glanced at the bodies of the fallen Dominion soldiers and wondered how they could be so blinded by their purpose, to the point where none of them saw right from wrong and convinced them that dying in battle was better than living to see another day, before she glanced at Amaryllis, "I don't suppose you have good news?"

"Well, I found the leader of Bruma's invaders, and he was carrying this crystal," Amaryllis replied, taking a moment to pull it out as she watched their soldiers getting ready for the next stage of their march on Cyrodiil, even though the smoke that was coming from the east and west told them that the two Daedric armies were having some fun.

"A communication gem, no doubt to be used to tell someone about our forces," Ma'jera commented, taking a moment to stare at the crystal that had been acquired, which she collected from the assassin and found that it was connected to at least seven others, no doubt the other provinces of Tamriel, and she added a bit of her power to seal it off, so the rest of the Dominion's forces didn't figure out what was going on.

"I have some news." a voice said, where Raven stepped out of the shadows and stopped near Za'kera, which made sense due to the fact that she had disappeared after they started to march on the Imperial City, causing the others to gather for a moment so they could listen to what she had to say, "According to those I spoke to, without our enemies learning that I was in the outskirts of the Imperial City, there is a secret passage that hasn't been sealed yet... it is the same passage that Emperor Uriel Septim VII used before the Oblivion Crisis occurred. Of course it won't lead directly into the city, but we can use it to get close to the walls, meaning a small force should be able to sneak inside while our main force surroundings the rest of the city."

"A distraction, causing our enemies attention to remain on us while our allies find whatever information they can, free the hostages, and then crush their leader," Za'kera said, showing that she understood what was being said and that they were going to have to do something to take control of the Imperial City, before she turned her head for a moment, taking a few seconds to glance at Amaryllis, the Brotherhood members, and the rest of her new stealth force.

Amaryllis nodded as she set out, as she knew what Za'kera wanted of her and she would see to it that they captured the enemy commander, because he had to have some information on what the rest of the Dominion's forces were doing, not unless they found something inside his quarters that gave them more knowledge on their enemy's movements. She found Nazir, not to mention the rest of the Brotherhood and several of the Guild members, were following after her as Raven did the same, the Demiprince of Nocturnal having summoned a horse made of shadows to ride on, meaning she was going to direct them right to their destination. Amaryllis was fine with that, since it meant she could focus on potential enemies all of them might encounter on the road, patrols wondering what happened to their forces at Bruma, where Raven told her that they would be heading down to the south a little, past the ruins of Vilverin, where they would be able to cross over to the island that the Imperial City was built on. From there it was a simple matter of heading to the north a little and finding a sewer entrance that would lead them into the passage that Emperor Uriel Septim VII used, even if he died trying to leave the city, slain by the Mythic Dawn, where she hoped that they would be able to enter without being seen by their enemies, otherwise things would go from bad to worse for the people inside the city.

Thanks to Raven's directions they were able to reach the area in question without too much delay, where they climbed off their horses and crouched for the last piece of their journey, finding that the main force was slowly coming down the main hill and would be distracting their enemies for some time.

Finding the sewer grate allowed them to slip into a section of the sewers that likely lead to the area that the Emperor had been assassinated in all those years ago, where everyone remained silent as they slipped inside the sewers, even though Raven did unlock the lock on the grate and replaced it once everyone was through it. From there they carefully made their way through the underground portion of the Imperial City, though while Amaryllis was expecting to find something, like a few skeevers or even some walking skeletons, like the tales claimed, it seemed like the area had been cleared, which made things that much easier for them. What she discovered was that most of the area they passed through looked like it might belong to the upper parts of the city, like the Emperors needed some sort of elegant escape route, though since a lot of people knew about this Amaryllis figured that it would be best if they sealed this passage off, if they succeeded in making Za'kera the Empress of a new empire. There was even a natural cavern that the path passed through, where they found that it used to be where some Goblins used to live, based on some thrown together fences that looked ancient, and, once more, they didn't have to worry about enemies, allowing them to reach the prison that was the end of the passage, where she found it odd that no one had sealed it after the Oblivion Crisis.

Amaryllis found that no one was inside the prison, meaning the captives were likely trapped inside their houses inside the main city, to which they made their way out of the cell and headed up the stairs that were in front of them, making their way into the circular area that surrounded the prison. Once they were outside everyone moved more quietly than before, as if they were shadows moving across part of the land, and when Amaryllis reached the gate she had the others pause as she flew up to the top of the wall, as she wanted to see what was going on with the rest of the city. What she could see at the moment was that every Dominion soldier was facing the north, where the main army was moving at the moment, and once she figured out that the way was clear she returned to the others, without making a sound, and they resumed their march, crossing the stone arch that connected the prison to the rest of the city. Normally one would see a force of figures moving across this path, in broad daylight no less, but thanks to Za'kera and the rest of their main force, including both Dagon and Molag's forces, it was easy for them to get inside the city without delay, where Raven silently opened the large door for them and closed it once everyone was inside.

From there they separated into smaller groups, one assassin paired up with a thief, that way one could find information while the other killed their enemies, though Amaryllis was left alone, as they had an odd number and she was fine with it, as it allowed her to focus on her main target. Based on what she knew about the forces of this world Amaryllis was sure that her target would either be inside the Imperial Palace, or the base of the White-Gold Tower, or maybe she'd find them on part of the wall, staring out at Za'kera's forces as they wondered what might happen next. Over the next few minutes she heard the sounds of something happening inside the Imperial City, as it sounded like the guards were now fighting all of the Dominion's soldiers that were scattered around this place, meaning the groups were either already finding people to free or they had seen the incoming army and were planning on defending their homes. Sure enough it lead to many of the Altmer calling for 'Ariantar' to be warned of what was going on, though she wasted no time in finding a pair of guards and separated them, so she could kill one and take his place with her powers, allowing her to figure out which section of the wall the enemy leader was on, even if she killed the other guard once she had what she needed.

It was all too easy for her to figure out where Ariantar was located, where he was issuing orders to his subordinates, all to prepare for the impending assault on the Imperial City, though he was surprised when he learned that the guards he had imprisoned inside the barracks were now revolting against his jailers. She observed him for a few moments, taking a bit of time to memorize his movements, before sneaking up behind him and sliced open his neck, dropping his lifeless body to the ground, though once that was done she played her hand as her power washed over her body. A few seconds later she stood where the fallen commander had been standing, where she made sure the body was hidden by some of her magic before taking a second to wave off in Za'kera's direction, something that was followed by a smile appearing on her friend's face as they realized what she had done. In the following moments she issued some insane orders in Ariantar's voice, as in she made it sound like they would be opening the main gate of the city, to lure their enemies into a trap, but she could see that Nazir realized what was going on and knew what to expect, as he and the other assassins moved into position, while the city guards readied their arrows for what was to come.

Her plan ended up working like a charm, the Dominion's soldiers were trapped between the main force and the now freed guards of the Imperial City, and as they fell she knew that the first important step to retaking Tamriel from the Dominion had been achieved, taking the White-Gold Tower and the Imperial City, making her look forward to what the future held for them and their army.

War: Halls of the Colossus

With Elsweyr saved from the Dominion, and the Mane was free to continue leading her people, Amaryllis stared out of Torval and focused on the direction that the Quin'rawl Peninsula, because in that area rested something that might turn the tide of this war, before any of their enemies knew what they had discovered. With the potential discovery of the Numidium's resting place, a place she thought would have been under lock and key somewhere near the Summerset isles, she knew that Za'kera, Ma'jera, and Zoravoir would want to come see if she was right or if she was being paranoid. If her thoughts were right, and the brass giant was somewhere in the Halls of the Colossus, it would be a game changer, as they would be able to destroy the Dominion's trump card without them even knowing that it had happened, ruining all their efforts and securing a solid victory for their side. If her thoughts were wrong, well, then that meant the Numidium had been moved somewhere else and they were going to have to take a loss, a pretty massive one given what it was capable of, and she was hoping that she was right, that it was somewhere in the Halls and all they had to do was find it.

All of that was why she had asked the Alfig to try and magically link up with the Imperial City, with either the Demiprince of Hermaeus Mora or the new Daedric Prince, to inform them that she might be able to stop the Warp from happening, and all she could do right now was stare out at the city and what laid beyond it.

"What's wrong?" a voice asked, where Amaryllis found that Sakaia, as she expected, was remaining near her and must have figured out that she was deeply thinking about something, or maybe worried was the correct word to use in this situation, to which the monk came to a stop nearby and glanced out at the city as well, "As Elsweyr's savior you should be celebrating with the rest of our allies, instead of standing out here, staring off into the distance like there's more to do."

"Well, you aren't wrong about that, we still have to liberate Valenwood and take back the Summerset Isles," Amaryllis said, because she knew that there was more to do and that she couldn't get too involved in whatever celebrations were going on right now, before she focused on the direction she was interested in, "Tell me, do you know about the Warp in the West?"

"Yes. Supposedly multiple parties activated the Numidium, distorting time and space... or something to that effect, if my memory is correct." Sakaia answered, where she tilted her head for a moment as she considered the information that was being given to her right now, despite the fact that, for the time being, she was failing to see the connection between that and why Elsweyr's savior was staring off into the distance, "Why do you ask?"

"You see, the Halls of the Colossus are in the Quin'rawl Peninsula, where the Numidium was built," Amaryllis replied, going over the connection she had made in her mind by just listening to the name of the location, where she found see that her companion was trying to connect the dots herself and might have an idea as to what she was getting at, "my allies back in Cyrodiil have reliable information that the Dominion has been working on a brand new Numidium, no doubt salvaging the parts from what happened during the Warp in the West and using old schematics left by the Dwarves... we're afraid that it might be activated in the near future and used against the world."

"So... you're hoping that it's... inside the Halls of the Colossus?" Sakaia inquired, though Amaryllis could tell that she was afraid of her answer, knowing of the potential danger that the Numidium posed to all of creation and that they couldn't allow it to be activated or even completed, if the Dominion hadn't finished it yet.

"I am. Destroying it will help save our world, and cripple our enemies hopes of winning." Amaryllis said, where she knew this was the reason they weren't telling anyone about the Numidium, as those that knew about it would be afraid and the rest would be afraid if the mages or ruling officials were suddenly afraid, before she sighed as she thought about what might be in the Halls, "Hence why I'm trying to contact the city... some of my allies will be interested in hearing about this and should come running, no doubt by portal if I'm right about whose coming... if not, well, then I'm getting some rest and heading out to confirm my suspicions on my own. We have some powerful allies, some capable of amazing magical feats, hence the reason I'm sure they'll teleport here, instead of riding like normal people would."

Sakaia barely had time to say anything else as a ripple of energy passed through the area and an oval shaped portal tore itself open nearby, where Amaryllis watched for a few seconds as Za'kera, in all her glory, stepped through it, along with Lydia, her ever vigilant knight, Ma'jera, and Zoravoir.

"We got your message and came as quickly as we could." Za'kera said, meaning that someone must have held them up in the Imperial City, no doubt Neloth petitioning for the right to come with them so he could see the Numidium with his own eyes, though Amaryllis didn't trust that elf, not after what happened in his tower, "So, the Halls of the Colossus... do you really believe the Dominion left the Numidium behind, after all the work they poured into making it?"

"They're arrogant, and I'm hoping they made a critical error," Amaryllis replied, showing them that she was hoping that the massive brass construct was somewhere inside the Halls, given the name of the place, all while letting the others come to the conclusion that she had waited for their arrival before heading out to see if it was there, before she waved her right hand towards Sakaia, "Oh, and allow me to introduce Sakaia, a Tojay-raht monk whose been helping me and our allies in taking Elsweyr back from the Dominion."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, friends of the Savior of Elsweyr." Sakaia stated, taking a moment to bow a little, as she knew that Za'kera was an Empress now and that one had to be careful when dealing with people like her, even though part of her was sure that the Mane would want to chat with her at some point.

"While this is nice and all, we have work to do and not a lot of time to do it in." Ma'jera cut in, showing them that she didn't use her magic to bring them here for a discussion, hence why she was already turning and floating off in the direction that the Quin'rawl Peninsula was in.

Za'kera, on the other hand, was more than happy to talk with Sakaia as they headed off in the direction of the structure Amaryllis had learned about earlier, though since they had been forced to come without their steeds Zoravoir lifted them into the air so they could follow after Ma'jera and not fall behind. Of course their new friend was surprised by what was going on, meaning she must not have seen magic like this before or didn't believe that such a thing was possible, but she kept quiet as they moved above the ground, out of reach of anyone who might want to bring them down. Amaryllis was focused on whatever might be inside the Halls of the Colossus, because there was a fifty-fifty chance that the Numidium would either be there or it would be missing, just like she thought about earlier, and each item they passed by brought all of them one step closer to finding out which idea was right. Zoravoir remained silent, no doubt recalling the tales about the Numidium and the danger it posed to the world as a whole, so she had to be hoping that it was resting inside the Halls of the Colossus, just to relieve some of the pressure that the upper ranks of their army was facing.

They found that Ma'jera, true to their thoughts, knew exactly where to go, bringing the group to a massive set of doors, no doubt made of some sort of metal the Dwarves discovered and used before their disappearance, that was down in what looked like a giant ravine. By Amaryllis' estimates the Numidium had to be about half as tall as the White-Gold Tower, or maybe two-thirds at the max, and the metallic doors reflected that, though Ma'jera informed them that there had been a side passage into this structure at one point, back when some dragons were imprisoned inside the Halls. Of course they were no longer down there, having been released at some point during the Second Era and killed in battle, so no one had to worry about running into an evil dragon while they were exploring this place, before the Demiprince set them down in front of the doors. In that moment, as the group was staring up at the door, Amaryllis found all sorts of carvings that she was sure came from the time of the Dwarves, depicting a giant made of brass that held incredible power, which told her that the ancient race knew what they were playing at and did so anyway, regardless of the potential consequences that it might bring upon them.

"The Halls of the Colossus... quite an elegant entrance, for a race that didn't believe in the Divines or the Daedric Princes," Ma'jera commented, reminding them of the fact that the Dwemer had their own pantheon, whatever it was Amaryllis had no idea and she really didn't care enough to find out, before she raised her staff and loosed her magic, the doors glowing for a few moments before opening to some degree, "Come. Let us see if the Numidium is here."

As it turned out the opening she had created was wide enough for them to pass through and small enough so nothing else could slip through, be it dragons or a giant mechanical monster, allowing them to see that the path in front of them was wide, enough for workers on either side and a walkway for the giant, before connecting to a long diagonal shaft that went deep into the earth. This time around Zoravoir used her magic to lift them into the air so they could float alongside her and Ma'jera, allowing Amaryllis to focus on the walls and the path they were following, while Za'kera kept her eyes on the end of the path and Sakaia was just glancing around with interest in her eyes. One thing Amaryllis discovered as she and the others floated down into the depths were several areas where large sections of brass, components for the Numidium no doubt, were just resting all over the ground, though the lack of cobwebs told her all she needed to know, the forces of the Dominion had been here at some point, working on their terrible trump card. Many of the pieces looked like plating, as in what went over the insides of the terrible machine, though it was hard to tell if they were leftovers or if these were pieces that were supposed to be added at some point in time, leading her to guess that she and the others would find out when they reached the bottom of the passage.

When she and the others passed a certain point, however, she felt a slight change in the air and could see that Za'kera and their companions were feeling the same thing, meaning they had to be getting closer to their destination, though she had to hope that this meant the Numidium was down here.

"My fur feels like it's charged... just what were the Dominion doing down here?" Sakaia asked, though it was easy for them to tell that she really didn't want an answer to that particular question, not when she could imagine what it meant all by herself, a thought they all shared.

"They were gathering mana, no doubt to awaken the Numidium," Zoravoir answered, as she couldn't help herself, she had to talk about what they were feeling and what it meant for their plans if either truth happened to be right, and while most of the group remained silent she could tell that her former mentor was listening, "my guess, based on what we're feeling, is that the Dominion tried to create a power source for the giant, like how the first one was supposedly powered by the Heart of Lorkhan and the second was fueled by the Mantella... they might have been attempting to make something that did what those two objects did."

"The mages that were stationed here were probably drained of their mana everyday, to break their limits and create the immense power source the Numidium needed to function," Ma'jera added, where Amaryllis found that it was rare for her to add her own thoughts to the conversation, as usually she just listened and told people off when they said something that was wrong in her eyes, before they neared what had to be the end of the passage, likely twenty to thirty minutes after starting their descent.

Resting in front of them, after the group came to a stop at the bottom of the diagonal passage, was a massive platform, a ring shaped one to be exact, with a hollowed center that was truly massive, though they walked off to the right since there was more to the path that still went diagonal, right down into the center, the path that the Numidium would use once the Dominion brought it to life. In the center of the massive underground chamber, resting in the center of the open pit that the platform was resting around, was a massive and imposing looking Dwarven machine that, at a glance, could resemble one of the centurion that protected all the Dwarven ruins, but that was where the similarities ended. The construct was two-thirds the size of the White-Gold Tower, as Amaryllis had to look over the railing to see how far down it's legs went, it certainly looked like a machine built to resemble a humanoid creature, with arms that ended in hands and had five fingers on each one, and, based on what she was seeing, it was complete. By that she meant that there were no holes, no pieces that had to be added or replaced, meaning the Dominion had done a great job rebuilding the terrible machine from all the parts that were left behind, or just the schematics if they were unlucky, and it meant that the Numidium was slumbering, waiting to be activated.

What made things somewhat better was when the group reached what appeared to be a control center, no doubt made to awaken the massive construct at the builder's command, and there were all sorts of dead bodies, Altmer mages who wore the same attire that the Dominion wore, only there was a glowing bronze stone, about the size of one's head, floating just an inch or two above the commander's open hand.

"They were using themselves as batteries, their souls and mana being used to create this stone," Amaryllis said, because she knew enough from listening to Ma'jera and Zoravoir to guess such a thing on her own, though in the next few seconds the Demiprince lifted her hand and the gem floated over to her, where she studied it as the others glanced at the control area they were in.

"I'm going to guess that they assumed this would power the Numidium... instead it killed them all." Za'kera added, as that was what it looked like, all of the Altmer had been killed with no wounds to their bodies, in fact some looked like they had a smile on their faces, like victory was theirs or something, but instead this was their victory, a massive win that their foes wouldn't know about until later on.

"And all their souls are inside this... a Soulstone, if you will." Ma'jera commented, where she stepped out onto the ring and let her magic roll over the entire area, something that caused Amaryllis to notice that other magical energies were slowly gathering at certain points around the chamber, "Given the power of a Numidium, we need the gods to aid us... you'll see what I mean soon enough."

Amaryllis was unable to say anything as Zoravoir joined Ma'jera as they spread out, where the other gods, both Divine and Daedric, teleported into the chamber and stared at the machine that was in front of them, some disgusted, some looking indifferent, and some glad that they were getting a chance to deal with it. In the following moments more magic washed over the chamber that they were standing in, where she, Za'kera, and Sakaia stood still as they watched what the gods had planned for the dangerous machine that could bring an end to the world if the Dominion had their way. As they watched she noticed something interesting, the components of the Numidium were starting to melt, the sheer magical power that was in the air seemed to be breaking down whatever magical defenses the machine had and was tearing the machine to pieces, or molten metal as the case was. Ma'jera opened a portal in the ceiling and sent the molten mass into it, where all of the observers were able to see that it lead to part of Elsweyr, the northern half anyway, and the material was hardening into a new form, the foundation of a structure that was as wide as the White-Gold Tower.

In that instant Amaryllis understood what they were doing, not only were they destroying the Numidium, tearing apart the Dominion's trump card, they were using all of the materials that went into it to build a brand new Tower in Elsweyr, which would stabilize Nirn even more than before and cripple the Dominion's efforts, causing her to smile as she watched them work, as this was the best outcome and she couldn't wait to see what happened when the Dominion realized what they had done to the Numidium.