Early in the wee hours of the morning just before dawn, Celestia began to stir as she opened her eyes to a still darkened room. Waking up she looked off to her left to find Luna sleeping soundly in one of the chairs by the door, keeping herself half awake and half asleep so as to remain vigilant of any would be intruders or spies. Looking off to her right, on the bed she found something that made her smile in amusement. Katia was wrapping her arms around Ky'ell as the Nord man still wearing his armor had involuntarily spooned her in his sleep. Though this action did not seem to cause her any discomfort, in fact, she looked absolutely content for the embrace. Ky'ell however looked far too comfortable as he lightly snored with his mouth gaping open and his tongue hanging out of his mouth which involuntarily moved around licking Katia's ears in her sleep. Celestia had to shove her fist into her mouth to keep herself from laughing.
The night before, their sleeping arrangements had become somewhat awkward, now that they had a full adventuring party of four. So three of them were forced to share the same bed, which didn't bother Celestia too much as she was thin enough to keep herself perched on the edge of the bed. However, Katia and Ky'ell had some problems the first hour trying to get to sleep. Katia's sensitive hearing kept getting assaulted by Ky'ell's loud snoring. Ky'ell's tunic was like sticky paper to Katia's claws that kept getting snagged in in every time she tossed and turned. Katia kept accidentally headbutting Ky'ell's chest plate waking everybody up. However, the most precarious thing was when Ky'ell had to defend himself from a unwarranted accusation. Ky'ell and Katia's proximity to one another made for accidentally pleasurable circumstances when Ky'ell's "unmentionables" kept inching between Katia's legs which lead to Ky'ell receiving a powerful punch that knocked him off the bed and bashed himself in the face.
'Luna's friend seems a little odd,' she thought. 'But I can tell that he has a good heart. Maybe I should try to nurture a friendship between Katia and Ky'ell.'
Slowly getting out of bed, making sure not to disturb her new companions, she carefully slid off the bed and caught herself as she landed on the cold wooden floor of the bedroom. Still used to feeling a warm royal rug under her hooves when first waking up, Celestia's body felt shocked for a moment from the cold, but regained her composure fairly quickly. Luna began to stir in her chair as she stretched her arms and met Celestia's comforting eyes.
"Good morning," Celestia softly greeted. "Sleep well?"
Luna grumbled as she stood up from her chair and twisted her back, hearing her stiff spine pop and crackle.
"About as well as expected from standing, or sitting guard rather." Luna replied quietly with a shrug. "What time is it?"
Walking over to the wall, she looked through one of the cracks to see that it was still indeed somewhat dark out. Only a few guards were up and about with their torches illuminating the dark paths of the city. A glow on the horizon was barely visible as the sun was still climbing. Almost by muscle reaction, Celestia tried reaching for the sun with her magical grasp to raise it into the sky, but something else happened instead. Her magic smashed into an unseeable barrier that struck back at her as her magic repealed back into her horn and blasted her into the opposite wall. The force of the impact sent a bang throughout the building that woke Katia and Ky'ell with their weapons unsheathed.
"WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY???" they shouted in unison as they frantically looked around.
"Sister!" Luna exclaimed in surprise. "Are you all right? What happened?"
Celestia stood up and brushed herself off as she tried processing what had just transpired.
"I'm not sure. But I think I made the mistake of trying to raise somebody else's sun, and that somebody placed up a firewall that lashed back at me," she concluded.
"What did you think would happen? Even I knew it was a bad idea to try to raise and lower this world's strange moons when I first saw them." Luna chastised.
Celestia gave her an irritated look as she rubbed the back of her head before rearing back in confusion.
"Wait...did you say moons?"
"Yes, apparently this world has two," Luna said as she helped her sister back up on to her feet. "According to their legends, they are pieces of a former god named Lorkhan."
"Your world doesnt have something like that?" Ky'ell asked.
"Indeed not, we only have one, but it is not any less glorious that way," she replied.
After that, the party decided that it would be best that they should depart the city to get an early start towards their first objective. To journey to the tomb of Ustengrav on the other side of Skyrim to obtain the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. They quickly packed all of their belongings and reequipped their weapons as they quietly made their way downstairs and out the front door of the inn while everyone was still asleep.
Making their way across the plains district and towards the front gates of Whiterun, they did their best to make sure nobody was disturbed from their sleep. The only thing that seemed to be awake at this early hour of the morning was the night watch guard that was on their last shift before switching out for the day watch guard to take their place. A few of them who had met Luna out during her fight with Murmulnuir greeted her with distinction. The guard posted at the gates recognized the Sisters almost immediately as he gave the signal for somebody above the wall to unlock the doors and allow the part exit to the outside.
"I wish you safe passage your majesties," the guard said with a short bow. "Even now in the wee hours of the morning, there's talk of vampires and werewolves abroad. Keep your wits about you."
"Thank you sir guard," Luna replied with a bow and a smile.
As they walked outside the gates, the group weaved and winded their way out of the city's outer walls, and out on to the main road towards their destination. The only thing they had to deal with at that present moment, was which direction to go. The road split off into multiple directions, and without proper knowledge, they could be lost.
"So where is this Ustengrav again?" Katia asked scratching her head.
Celestia pulled out her map to scan for the location that the Greybeards had spoken of, when Ky'ell stepped forward to the front of the group.
"Don't worry, I got this. I know where the tomb is," Ky'ell said proudly with his arms crossed.
Celestia simply gave him a raised eyebrow, questioning the odd man's knowledge.
"Oh? May I ask how?" she asked.
"I believe Ky'ell said something about a passive magical mental ability that he has to pinpoint locations that a map cannot. Or at least that normal ones cannot." Luna explained.
Luna pulled out her own enchanted map that showed a variety of locations that they had come across on their journey toward High Hrothgar.
"We believe that this map records the every notable location by automatically drawing it upon itself."
"So where is Ustengrav on this map?" Celestia asked quizzically.
Walking over, Ky'ell pointed on a spot above a shield emblem that contained a triskelion.
"Its Northwest of where the city of Morthal is supposed to be." Ky'ell explained. "From what pa told me, Morthal is pretty wary of strangers, so I suggest we keep on our guard while we are there. Outsiders, especially those of other races are treated with suspicion. Pa nearly got his head caved in with a warhammer while he was there. Khajiit caravans are shunned and ostracized in most places, but Morthal was pretty bad for my parents."
Looking on the map, Katia vaguely made out what appeared to be roads on the map that weaved and winded all throughout the province of Skyrim. She tried her best to find a path that would lead them to their first destination, but got lost pretty quickly.
"So what road are we going to have to go down to reach Morthal? I hope its a safe road. After White River Watch, I'd rather not deal with more bandits," Katia stated nervously.
"Well, that's what you have us for young Katia," Luna said humorously.
Looking at the map and then at the crossroads in front of them, Ky'ell pointed off to the right.
"We will have to go down the west road towards Markarth," he started. "Then we will have to follow the roads for the most part, just up until we make it around the mountain range separating north from south. All we will have to worry about for the most part is Fort Greymoor and Fort Snowhawk."
"What about this northern road that cuts right through the mountain?" Celestia asked wondering why they had to take the long way around.
"That will take you right through Labyrinthian Princess. And I don't think you want to go there." Ky'ell warned.
"Labyrinthian?" Katia asked.
"Yeah, I don't know that much about, it, but I know its a literal maze of a tomb. Its supposed to be one of the oldest things in Tamriel, and the magical threats there are supposed to be really powerful. Something about a group of dragon priests and Archmages settling there in the First Ages of the world. Pa and Ma nearly got mauled by a pack of Frost Trolls that were guarding its front gates while they were passing through."
Celestia let out a sigh, knowing that it would be too risky going through there without knowing what they were dealing with. They were also trying to find a way to return home as soon as they possibly could, so avoiding as much blood and conflict in this world would only benefit them in the long run.
"The long way it is," she agreed begrudgingly.
Ky'ell nodded as he grabbed the map from Luna and rolled it up before placing it into his bags.
"Now, there is only one more thing to do before we can head out," Ky'ell stated.
"Which is?"
"Leveling up," Ky'ell retorted.
"What?" all three girls asked in unison.
Luna watched as Ky'ell purposefully falls backward and lands on the road on his back with a loud thud. Then he starts pointing up at the sky and moving his arm around as if he is moving some invisible object.
Katia, and Celestia gaze up at the sky trying to find out what he was looking at, but find nothing that they are able to see. Being a being of the night and the stars, Luna however was able to bear witness to something amazing. Grand and spectacular constellations in the sky making various shapes and images zooming in and out as if he were controlling the very sky itself. He moved around these images every now and then until he came to an image of an arm holding a short sword as he pointed at the lowest star on the constellation and it began to shine more brightly than before. Then Luna could hear the same ethereal chant as Ky'ell steadily glowed green for a moment before going back to normal.
The man jumped back up on to his feet before proceeding down the dark cobblestone road, leaving behind a confused trio of women.
"What the heck just happened?" Katia asked. "Is he.....special in the head or something?"
"I pick the "or something" cause I haven't the faintest clue what we just saw," Celestia replied.
"I saw something, but I cannot fathom what." Luna mused. "Sir Ky'ell mentioned something about leveling up?"
"Well we can't worry about it right now," Celestia stated firmly. "Let's get started on our little quest shall we?"
The girls picked up the pace as they caught up with Ky'ell and began easing their way on down the road. For the most part, as dawn slowly inched over the horizon, their walk went undisturbed for the first hour as they went past the now ruined Western Watchtower where Luna and Ky'ell recounted their tale of how they discovered their powers while slaying the dragon Mirmulnuir. The group of guards who were stationed at the Watchtower recognized Luna and Celestia as they kneeled in respect, much to Luna's dismay.
As they continued onwards, the sun soon began to peak over the horizon as morning had finally arrived. A few miles ahead of them, they could make out what appeared to be a large stone fortress that slowly became larger and larger the closer they got. Getting a strange feeling, K'yell gave the fortress a large berth as they circled their way southwest. A few miles past the fortress, they ran into a group of farmers that had their homes burnt down by the dragon that destroyed the city of Helgen and were making their way to Whiterun. Luna showed some mercy to them by giving them a sizable sack of gold coins to help restore their lives, if just a little bit.
"There is so much misery and sadness in this world sister," Luna stated glumly. "It is a stark contrast to our beautiful Equestria."
"Yes, these people have had it harder than most," Celestia agreed. "It reminds me too much of the days before we rose to power."
"Is Equestria that wonderful?" Katia asked.
"Oh yes Katia, it truly is. We certainly have our occasional villain or magical crisis, but for the most part, ponies are happy, food is plentiful, and the land is prosperous. We thank the maker for their blessings on our land," Luna stated proudly.
"I only hope that we are able to return home to see it," Celestia replied with uncertainty in her voice.
As they began to pass the fortress, Celestia had a feeling about it that caused them to move off to the thick grass by the side of the road in case that there were unfriendly forces occupying it. Soon though, it went far behind them as they proceeded southwards, following the winding road. By the side of the road, Luna found the smoldering ruins of what once was a small house. Presumably destroyed by a passing dragon or a group of bandits that had torched the place. Stopping for a moment to scan the place, Katia found a chest underneath the floor boards, where she found a bag of jewels, which most likely belonged to the family who used to live there.
Two miles down the road later, the group ran into another complication in the road in the form of three giants carrying massive clubs that were trying to move their herd of cattle. The potential danger drove the group off road into the rocky terrain as they were forced to take an alternate route for a few miles.
Tule fog covered the early morning ground as they tromped through the moist, wet grass trying to look out for any dangerous animals hiding in behind rocks or in any thick brush. Katia was beginning to feel fatigued from walking barefoot on so many rough rocks. Celestia had offered to give her shoes, but her feet ended up being far bigger than any footwear that they had in their inventory. On their way circling back towards the road, Katia tripped on a rock and fell into a muddy pond obscured by the fog with a slap.
"Katia!" Celestia exclaimed trying to keep herself from laughing. "Are you alright?"
The Khajiit woman lifted her face off of the ground still covered from head to toe in a thick layer of mud with an unamused look on her face.
"Peachy," she replied in a deadpan tone.
Katia could hear something like somebody choking on a piece of food as they were trying to swallow it.
Turning around, she saw that it was Ky'ell. He had a fist over his mouth and turned his face away so nobody could see that he was snickering. Katia gave the Nord man a purely venemous look as globs of mud dripped off of her face.
"And just what is so funny Ky'ell?" she gritted out through clenched teeth.
"Y-you are," he giggled. "I guess we need to start wearing rabbit feet and clovers now that YOU have crossed our path."
There was an unamused groan that came from Luna while Celestia gave a melodious giggle while trying to help Katia up.
"Booooo," Luna retorted with her thumb pointed down.
Suddenly, Katia heard a loud snapping and clicking coming from a feet feet away from her head. When she turned, she gave a shriek and blasted five mudcrabs out of the dirt with a fireball that launched them fifty feet away. She jumped behind Celestia as she pulled out her axe and started shaking nervously as her ears folded against her head.
"What was that about?" Luna asked.
"Did you just turn those mudcrabs into burnt mincemeat?"
"I...have a certain...distaste for mudcrabs," Katia admitted.
"You're afraid of mudcrabs?" Ky'ell asked.
"DISTASTE," she clarified in an irritated manner.
'She failed killing one when she was first learning to use fire magic' one of Katia's voices said.
"Hey! I murdered the heck out of that apple at least!"
Ky'ell started guffawing as he proceeded walking back towards the main road.
"I'll let you know if any more produce needs to be beaten to a pulp," Ky'ell said as he laughed at his own joke.
Thirty minutes later as they made their way back on to the road, things started going a bit more smoothly. Nothing for a few miles interrupted their walk, save for the occasional wolf that was usually scared off by Luna's royal voice. After an hour of silent walking as the party passed through the grasslands of Whiterun, they started to feel the incline of the road slightly begin to grow as they approached the town of Rorikstead. The hamlet of a town came into view just as they passed a bend in the road.
The crisp morning air along with the steady warm glow of the morning sun made the little town seem comfy and cozy as they passed through. More than a few farmers seemed to live there as they worked tirelessly shoveling through the rocky terrain to plant their crops. A few guards stationed there in town greeted the sisters with distinction, recognizing them from Whiterun. Looking around, Luna found a quaint little tavern and inn where the party decided to stop for a moment to grab a drink and a bite to eat before hitting the road again.
They walked in through the front door, feeling a pleasant blast of warm air coming from the firepit inside. The tenants of the inn all turned to look at them as the group slowly walked in. One in particular that gave the group a suspicious look was a man in a white satin shawl carrying a Scimitar blade that hung from his waist. Katia became immediately cautious of him as she tried to place as much distance from him as she could. Ky'ell walked right up to the counter and ordered an ale for himself, two alto wines for the Sisters, and under request from Katia, she was given a glass of grape juice. The group sat down at one of the tables as they tried talking amongst themselves to ignore the glares they had been getting from people in the tavern.
"So, what are we gonna be dealing with next on our little quest?" Katia asked the rest.
Luna pulled out Ky'ell's enchanted map which now included Rorikstead's icon and dragged her finger on a winding northern path.
"We go up through here and pass over this bridge. There seems to be a gorge here by a few small bodies of water which we may have to be careful around. There may be chances of rock slides going through there. Then its a matter of winding our way through this small part of the forest and through the city of Morthal where we may have to do a little bit of strategic walking to make it to Ustengrav," Luna explained.
Ky'ell simply gave a short laugh which Luna raised her eyebrow at.
"What? What did I say Sir Ky'ell?" Luna asked.
"Its as simple as all that huh? First A gorge of razor sharp rocks and steep cliffs leading straight into Robber's Gorge, one of the most dangerous bandit camps in the Northern end of Skyrim! And after that, it gets even better!" Katia looked at Ky'ell in alarm. "Fort Snowhawk which has been taken over by a cult of Necromancers and a town that's heavily xenophobic surrounded by snow capped mountains on the south end and a festering, stinking swamp to the north as far as the eye can see. And that's not even covering what we might be facing once we head into Ustengrav."
"That's going to have to be our path Ky'ell. We shall deal with the bandits as they come. And anyone else who threatens us." Celestia said to the Nord man comfortingly. "If we face any spellcasters on our journey, that might be a great opportunity for us to fully evaluate the potential of Katia's unique magic absorbing abilities."
Katia started to feel nervous and uncertainty creeped into her mind hearing all of her new teacher's praises of her. All her life, her abilities had been more of a liability for her rather than an asset. To say that she was scared of what might happen if she failed to live up to Celestia's expectations would have been an understatement.
"Don't worry, I don't expect you to go running headlong into danger against forces you cant beat," Celestia reassured. "Perhaps a few bandit novice spellcasters to start out with might be in order."
"Well Robber's Gorge will definitely have more than a few of those if you are looking for a bit of practice with that sort of thing." Ky'ell suggested. "I should probably work on a bit of my own magic myself. All I can do is use dinky little flame and sparks spells. We are gonna have to be a bit more careful though once we head out of Rorikstead and into the foothills."
"Why is that?" Celesita asked curiously.
"There's over a hundred bandit factions scattered throughout this region from here all the way to Markarth. Ma and Pa wouldn't ever bring the caravan anywhere close to this region if they didn't need to. A lot of traders, merchants, and travelers have been ambushed in this area."
After they payed for their drinks, the party left the tavern, not seeing that the hooded man in the corner had been watching them and carefully writing down everything that they had been saying. Ky'ell lead them out of Rorikstead as they slowly but surely went into more dangerous territory.
They winded their way downhill as they slowly but surely made it towards the first junction in the road. A small outcropping of rocks and giant boulders came into view as the hill leveled off at a spot halfway down. Luna kept her eyes on every spot where somebody could have been hiding. She could immediately see why this terrain would have been a hotspot for bandits. Silence in such a place was the one thing that she hated more than anything.
"Its a little quiet here don't you think?" Katia asked Celestia.
"Yes, much too quiet I'm afraid," she replied. "Let's just hope whoever is out there isnt Pinkie trying to throw us a surprise party. Last time Pinkie tried that on Luna, she nearly took Pinkie's head off."
"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Luna snapped defensively.
"Well, I hope whoever is out there doesn't take too long, cause I'm itching to work out my staticy finger magic," Ky'ell said excitedly.
"Doesn't thou mean spark magic Sir-" Luna began
Suddenly, a sound whisking through the air caused Ky'ell's reflexes to kick in and tackle Luna to the ground and out of the way of an arrow that nearly pierced into her head.
"What the buck?" Luna exclaimed.
"We are under attack!" Celestia cried as she unsheathed her sword.
From out behind the dozens of rocks surrounding their position, over a dozen bandits came out charging them and started firing arrows.
"Never should have come past here," one of the bandits said menacingly. "Kill the Nord, but take the women! They might fetch a pretty septim. Maybe I'll take the blue one as my personal pet."
Anger boiled in Celestia as her horn glowed and launched a lance of fire at the bandit that knocked him on to his feet and burned his skin.
"Sorry sweetie, but we aren't for sale," she said coldly.
"Kill them!" the bandit screamed out as he rolled around.
An orc carrying a battleaxe charged her as he tried taking a massive swing at Celestia to cleave her in two. Rolling out of the way, she sliced his legs off at the knee from behind, causing the orc to collapse to the ground as he screamed in agony. With a quick slice to the neck, Celestia ended his suffering.
Ky'ell while fighting had an odd way for taking out the archers up high on the rocks by grabbing out empty potion bottles out of his bag and lobbing them over the rocks and then shocking them with lightning magic to knock the bandits down off of their vantage points.
Katia had a bit of difficulty as wielding weapons was not among any of her specialties, however, she found a bit of luck after taking the suggestion from Celestia to light branches on fire and hurl them at enemies. The tactic proved crude, but effective for a beginning technique for her.
The others took care of the bandits rather quickly as most of them were equipped with poor weapons and armor. Celestia figured that they must have been relying on shock and surprise rather than strength as trained warriors would have been able to fend them off easily.
"Its a wonder they haven't sent trained warriors into this area much sooner," Katia thought aloud. "We took these guys out no problem."
"Probably too caught up with protecting their own towns and cities instead of patrolling the roads," Ky'ell said with vague anger. "Out here, its every man and woman for themselves. I nearly got nailed out here by one of the clans that stalk this area a year ago."
Further down the path, they went past a winding river with a cliff side facing them from the west as the incline started to level off. The path circled around a bend as it came to a stone bridge that crossed the river to the other side.
In the mid day sun, the group was able to clearly make out what looked to be a camp nestled in amongst the rocks on the other side of the river. A raised bridge, most likely for lookouts went over the road as it connected to the main part of the camp. A perimeter of spiked logs surrounded the camp, no doubtedly a barrier meant to protect from intruders.
"What praytell is that?" Luna asked curiously.
"Some kind of crude fortress?" Celestia offered
Ky'ell was silent for a moment before answering her question.
"Robbers Gorge...we should probably be a bit more discreet with our approach for the moment." Ky'ell said aloud. "If we cross that bridge, they are gonna spot us right away and I'm gonna be pulling arrows out of my ass that I dont want to be in my ass."
"Ky'ell is right. They have a group of archers stationed up there on that makeshift bridge." Celestia added.
As they made their way down towards the water, they raised their backpacks so that their contents would not be destroyed by the water. Luna offered to give them a waterproofing and fireproofing spell at a later time when they weren't in danger. Ky'ell was the first to jump in as his natural Nord heritage gave him an innate resistance from the cold. He gently helped Luna in first as he lifted her up by the waist and carefully placed her in the river beside him. Celestia and Katia were next as Ky'ell tried helping them down. Celestia proved to be a bit more difficult to lift as her weight put a strain on even Ky'ell's strength. Not that he would ever tell her that. The river was ice cold from mountain snow melt, so much so that Ky'ell had to cover Katia's mouth to keep her from shrieking when she stepped in. Luna didn't seemed to be bothered by the cold whereas Celestia began shivering like mad as she .
"How can you stand this?" Celestia whispered loudly. "Even with our fur coats, this is freezing!"
"Long snowy winter nights patrolling Equestria, you get used to it," Luna whispered back.
Circling their way around the rocks, the group found the entrance to a cave that Ky'ell decided to mark on his map so that they could come back to inspect it on their way back to Whiterun. On the other side, they found a spot where the rocks had a lot of dry footholds for them to climb. At the top, they found the back side of what appeared to be the main house of the camp. It was next to a spot where the perimeter fencing was a lot shorter than the rest of the camp as Ky'ell carefully peered over for a moment before ducking back down.
He was able to see that the camp had over a dozen bandits walking about doing their various tasks, assigned the them by their chief. Half of them were lightly armed, with poor daggers and bows while the others were moderately armed with swords and battleaxes. Inside the cabin next to them, they could hear the footsteps of a single man slowly walking around as if he was pacing. Ky'ell pointed over towards one direction as he made hand signs indicating for Luna to take Katia over towards the archer bridge to take out the bandits there while he and Celestia hop over the shorter section of the barrier to take out the chief quickly.
Luna and Katia made it to the other side of the rocks where they carefully stayed low enough and peered over where they saw a bandit with a hunting bow circling back and forth over the bridge as he carefully watched both sides for any potential intruders.
Pulling out her own bow, she pulled out an arrow and tried her hand at using Skyrim's poisons as she grabbed a giant bottle with a foul smelling pink liquid out of her bag. Popping the cork off, she poured the viscous substance over two of her arrows as she took aim and pulled back on her bow and let loose.
'I only hope I remember my archery training' Luna thought.
The first arrow impacted in a good place as it lodged into the bandits neck, causing him to fall down dead to the road below, but the kicker was the other arrow that had...strayed off course and pierced into the bandits crotch.
'Jeez, she's brutal!' Katia thought.
Back on the other side of the rocks, Celestia and Ky'ell had hopped over the perimeter fencing just behind a bandits hut. Sneaking in, they killed off the first three easily before they could raise an alarm. They did the same thing to the next two tents as they circled back around, staying out of direct line of sight. Approaching the chief's hut, they saw that his back was turned and took the opportunity to rush him. Before the chief could turn his head around to see what was charging at him, Celestia and Ky'ell bashed his head into the wall of the hut and took the opportunity of his stunned state to get in fatal blows. Taking out her warhammer, Celestia swung at the bandit chief's sword wielding arm and dislocated it with a satisfying crack while Ky'ell tried wrenching the chief's shield out of his other hand by hitting his elbow with the butt of his sword and hyper extended it.
"Double whammie?" Ky'ell asked her with a mischievous smile.
"You're on!" she replied.
Simultaneously, with a powerful kick, they drop kicked the bandit chief through the wall and into the river where he impacted with a splash.
Suddenly, the two whipped around as they heard a shout coming from the other side of the camp. The bandits had discovered Luna and Katia's presence and began rushing out to kill them.
Luna was having an easy time fending off most of the bandits coming at her, as most of them were fairly weak, except for one which was heavily armored in Steel Plate. She tried sneaking in through the front after her and Katia slayed the lookouts, but their luck turned rotten when Katia triggered a tripwire and fell flat on to her face. The tripwire released a deluge of rocks that had been hidden in a compartment beneath the makeshift bridge. Luna was forced to grab Katia by the scruff of her neck with her magic and toss her into a nearby bush before she was crushed. Bandits close to the entrance must have heard the trap being triggered as they all came out in full force.
Katia managed to compose herself as she was charged by a mage carrying a mace. She jumped out of the way before the bandit mage could get in a strike on her as she pulled out her own axe and prepared for an opening. The mage let loose with a steady stream of lightning which was quickly absorbed by Katia's unique abilities. The bandit was confused for a moment, but went in for another strike as Katia stepped out of the way and held out her axe trying to block. Her attacker inadvertently impaled himself against the axe while charging as he collapsed to the ground dead.
"Did...I just do that?" she asked herself awkwardly.
'You did a good job!' one of her voices complimented. 'I think you have earned a victory pose.'
Setting one leg up on one of the fallen rocks, Katia made the best victory pose that she could, trying hard not to look silly but failing somewhat.
Luna took care of most of the bandits that had detected their presence, but was left with a Highwayman carrying an intimidating steel warhammer that frequently came close to her head.
"Why don't you start running sweet thing? So I can stab you in the back," the man said menacingly.
"I suggest you do the same, before I'm able to do THIS!"
Grabbing all of the fallen boulders in her grasp, she chucked them at the bandit as he was sent flying into the opposite cliff. The rocks impacted against him as he was smashed into paste.
Meanwhile, Celestia and Ky'ell had finished off the other bandits and had started going through whatever treasures that the clan might have stolen from people along the roads.
Celestia sat down on the bed in the hut for a moment while Ky'ell's legs humorously dangled out of the top end of the chest.
"Honed Elven Dagger, Scroll of the Familiar, 50 gold septims, Banded Iron Shield of Waning Frost, oooh a couple of poisons niiiiice! And a staff of flames! Katia might like that."
"What was that last one?" Celestia asked.
"A Banded Iron Shield of Waning Frost? What you want that? You have me for that you know." the Nord replied referring to his innate ability
"While sweet that you would jump in front of frost magic to save us, I'd rather find a more productive way to protect ourselves. I believe I heard someone say that those Enchanting tables can destroy an item and have the user gain its enchantment?"
"It kinda depends on your skill level with that sort of thing, but yeah,"
"Keep any weaker enchanted items you come across, it may benefit us down the road if we can learn more of your world's weapon and armor enchantments."
Luna and Katia met back up with the others as they helped them go through the camp and search for anything useful that they might be able to use on their journey. They found a key on one of the tables that lead down a secret hatch in the floor of the hut.
As they went down, they discovered a small cave where the bandits stored their boats and supposedly stashed most of their stolen haul. Celestia found a journal that spoke of the constant treachery that was going on between the chief of the clan and his bandits, so he was forced to hide their haul in a hidden location close to their camp. The small tattered journal spoke of a small island in the middle of the river near one of the waterfalls. Out of curiosity, Ky'ell decided to quickly investigate this before moving on back on the road towards Ustengrav. Much to Luna's dismay, the three followed him into the water as he started swimming out of the cave and to the outside where they first climbed up the cliffs. However, before they left, Celestia discovered a chest under the water that had sunken into a tight spot. Opening it, she found a few treasures including, two sand colored potion bottles, and great amount of what Ky'ell called Orchish arrows once she pulled them up.
Outside, Ky'ell went upstream as he found the island and the chest spoken of in the journal. Unfortunately, the chest's locking mechanism proved to be too complex for any of them at the moment to pick. Celestia thought about using her magic, but remembered that spells that work on moving parts and machines take a lot of magical energy that she didn't have at the time. So they decided the best course of action would be to mark the location on their map and return when they have a way to open it.
Satisfied that they had now vanquished a threat to Western Skyrim, the party moved back on to the road, where they proceeded towards Morthal.
Following the river for at least twenty more miles, the road began to go uphill slightly once more as they went around a long bend and back into a forested area. The ground started to become lightly dusted with snow as they went to higher elevations in the central mountain range of Skyrim. Refreshing cold air brushed against their face, making them alert to all of their current surroundings. For a few miles, they walked down the icy road, spotting only the occasional elk or fox until another large stone fortress came into their view a mile away. Luna didn't know why, but she felt dark magic emanating from the Fort, making her want to give it a wide berth as they quietly moved past it. Soon, they came to a split in the road that led to a sharp path downhill where the air became thick and muggy.
The path continued for about a half a mile as they finally came into the swamp side town of Morthal where they were greeted with a hostile sight. A large group of the towns people were in front of what appeared to be their chief's long house, angrily voicing their concerns.
"I wonder what is going on?" Katia asked to Celestia.
'Whatever it may be, we must try to move on without disturbing them as best as we can." she urged.
They tried going past the group of villagers, but unfortunately one of them spot them causing all of them to turn in the party's direction.
"Two daedra and their thralls!" one person shouted out. "We cannot let them harm us!"
"Burn them!"
"Toss them in the river!"
Suddenly, they were surrounded by a group of angry frightened villagers that seemed intent on killing them in any way possible. Leading the Sisters to utter out but two words.
"Buck me."
Next Time: Ustengrav and Tensions at Riverwood