FVN Chapter 370: Chapter XCIII: Striking The First Blow
Chapter 370: Chapter XCIII: Striking The First Blow
Chapter 370: Chapter XCIII: Striking The First Blow
The house offers praise to... Yolanda Squat Pump, for their most generous and infinitely wise donation. They have hereby been liberated from the mines and granted the succor of the sun (here is to hoping they don't develop some kind of skin disease from the sudden exposure)
On a completely and utterly unrelated note, the miners will no doubt be happy to hear that a new batch of soup has been prepared! Do enjoy yourselves-
Our gigantic mounts cut through the late night sky in a blur of their respective coloring, crossing the entirety of Skyrim within less than two hours. We all remained silent as we travelled, only the sound of beating wings and howling winds distracting us from our preoccupied minds.
As we reached the Velothi mountains I felt the edges of my vision begin to shift and soon a glamor which I could barely detect even now that I discovered it gave way for a closed off section of the mountains, revealing a massive temple complex situated atop one of its peaks, which was no doubt Skuldafn, going by the rather blatant portal to the afterlife at its peak. Before we could fully reach our destination I spoke "Alright, I have something of a plan."
"Now?!" Minthara yells with some minor frustration, though the winds thankfully dampen the noise fully.
"Couldn't have come up with it without a good lay of the land." I shrug and the dragons slow down, moving to effectively levitate in place with whatever magic supported their flight "See that alcove there at the bottom?"
The surprisingly pristine and well maintained temple complex was absolutely brimming with Draugr and cultists and a rather discomforting collection of no less than twelve Dovah all chilling atop massive pillars or the temples themselves. Most of it was under constant patrols, units of the living and undead marching about while on high alert and looking over every single nook and cranny of their routes.
No doubt the local Dragon Priest got ordered to place everything on high alert now that Odahviing had stopped responding.
But at the bottom of the temple, where the stairwell near a large landing platform ended, things weren't simply walled off, why would they wall off something unreachable in any case?
Or so they thought.
Where the temple ended, the normal mountain range continued, and my eyes were swiftly drawn to a rocky passage to the direct south of the landing platform, said passage leading into a small and more importantly empty clearing, a perfect place to stage our assault.
She squints her eyes and nods, her eyes widening ever so slightly as she understood the implication "Yeah, doesn't seem to be very well guarded."
"Or at all." Krein murmurs lightly.
Odahviing also tosses in his two septims "A possible trap?"
"Doubtful" I shake my head "My sight shows nothing, and concealing enough power to trap either of us would be near impossible and definitely not something within the skillset of the cult."
"Did we not just pass through a concealment spell though?" Minthara quirks an eyebrow.
"Hiding a place and hiding a trap are two different things." I point out "Remind me to get you caught up on wards when we are done with this, best not let you die to something dumb like that." I chuckle.
She gives me a deadpan look and shakes her head "Yeah, yeah. How about you tell us of your plan before we spend the rest of the night delaying the inevitable?"
"Heh." I snort "The plan is pretty simple, Odahviing, Krein, and Vulstrunfeyn while we are at it remain flying above detection range while I sneak the two of us to the ground. I make the portal and you guard my ass. Build portal, prepare staging ground and begin assault, simple!"
"So we are to descend when the battle begins then Thuri?" Krein asks.
I nod "Exactly, and not a moment earlier!"
Without waiting for any further response I shadow step behind Minthara, grab onto her shoulder and push the both of us off Odahviing. She doesn't so much as blink as we hurtle to the ground, though her panic does start showing itself as we get juuust a bit too close to the ground for comfort.
Naturally it is then that I unfurl my own wings and cast levitation at the same time, stopping our descent a meter off the stony ground and allowing us to touch down without a single sound being made.
"You know" Minthara whispers as we begin sneaking through the passage "Those stunts of yours are actually fun now that I accepted you always make sure no one gets hurt."
"Excelleeent" I stretch the word out in a creepy croak "Another soul corrupted to the true path."
She gives me a blank look and lets out an amused huff before continuing.
The instant we step into the clearing I get to work.
First step, a concealment ward to ensure we are not disturbed, a dozen grand soul gems should do the trick. The portal's awakening would probably wreck it but we have the dragons to buy us a minute or two for that.
A deafening """AYE!!!!""" resounded in response.
I clasp my crowned helmet and draw my skyforge bla , turning my back to the band of champions. I raise the sword, pointing at the portal, and issue a simple command
"FORWARD!"
And we descend upon the thin passage like an avalanche.
As I stepped through I was immediately met with a fully armored and bursting with magic
Reyvin who wasted no time in pointing to the edge of the clearing we found ourselves in "Gather the melee fighters and automatons here, send them forward when they are ready in sufficient number" He immediately moves on and points to an oddly perfectly carved staircase "All marksmen are to climb this way and rain death on the enemy."
He gives me a quick nod "See you on the other side." And suddenly a pair of massive shadowy wings forms on his back and he leaps into the skies, the immediate heating of the air and the following series of explosions and roars of pain telling me exactly what he was doing.
I looked to the Dragonborn, who looked irritated for some reason. Of course I was then promptly reminded that the heroes of our age could have used a bit more sanity in their lives as she angrily muttered "No way in oblivion am I letting him win, I don't have that much money!" Before I could make heads or tails of what she was muttering about she shouted "MUL QAH DOV!"
All I could see was a blur of red heading towards the enemy before she disappeared
completely.
Shaking my head and getting my mind back into focus, I turned around and began barking
orders. We had a battle to win.
(Dragon Priest's POV)
Nakhriin floated peacefully above his master's portal, forever dutybound to guard the entrance to the afterlife and the great World Eater's feeding grounds.
His master had told him off the most recent treachery, how a great Dovah could ever betray their eldest brother was not something the ancient priest could even comprehend but his was the name of vengeance for a reason and he would slay all who would dare stand against the great one's desire.
The self aggrandizing thoughts streaming through his long-rotten mind were suddenly yanked away without hesitation or care as he felt a massive surge of Magicka in the distance, a power which could only belong to one of the enemy he reasoned as the wave sent a shudder through the entire sacred ground of Skuldafn.
He immediately signaled his undead thralls to take defensive positions and shouted a word of power to the skies to awaken the great Dov atop their places of respite.
And yet, before even the first of his mighty masters could rise, a trio of traitors descended
from the skies, one black as night, the other the blue of thunder and lightning, and the last and most insulting of all, a monster of blood red scale.
Their voices rang out throughout the grand temple, and their treacherous assault sent the
three of the temple's mightiest protectors hurtling through the skies. The traitorous kinslayers hesitated not for a moment and rushed to end their prey before swiftly turning to
the rest of their brethren.
A furious despair welled up in Nahkriin's cold dead heart, but before he could direct his
thralls, both living and dead, the source of the Magicka made itself known as a veritable army
of the living and defiant rushed through the suddenly massive gorge below the temple, a wave of arrows and battle cries cutting through the air with equal might and ferocity. Nahkriin grasped his staff, and grit his rotten teeth. He would avenge this betrayal and punish the defiance of the mortals, by the might of his magic and the will of his master.
The house has opened a fund for a new excavator! Rejoice, you need donate only every stone
in your possession and one day work shall be made easier!
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