Sonata had been correct in thinking that a storm would be happening soon the moment she heard the sound of thunder outside Dragonsreach, because the moment she and her friends walked outside the sky was as black as night. It actually made things a lot easier for them, because Sonata had originally planned on attacking at nighttime while the majority of the orcs that were stationed at Fellglow Keep were asleep. It was an underhanded method, she knew that already, but considering the fact that her enemy would likely do the same thing if their situations were reversed was how she justified the reason. Her friends were eager to make Lord Grul pay for everything he had already done to Skyrim, even though it meant agreeing to attack while the orcs wouldn't be expecting it.
She had also rejected Jarl Balgruuf's offer of sending several of his own guards to aid her in her mission, because none of them were a match for the orcs that she and her friends would be facing. She knew that the orcs would tear them to pieces in a matter of seconds if they fought at the front of the line, or would be destroyed by magic if they used their bows from the back of the group. The orcs always eliminated the weaker enemies first, this was something that Sonata had noticed the few times that she had seen them fight, because they preferred to keep the stronger ones alive after they had beaten them. She didn't want to lose any more lives in the process of hunting down and killing Lord Grul, the mad orc warlock that appeared to be bent on bringing destruction to this world.
Even as she and her friends made their way out of the city, and started in the direction of Fellglow Keep, Sonata had to wonder how the warlock had managed to build such a strong army and still possess the power to corrupt people to his own way of thinking. It was almost as if one of the many gods of the world was growing tired of Nirn and wanted it erased so they could start anew, though the opposite was technically true considering that the Divines seemed to be helping her in her quest. Besides, she had half of her full power thanks to two fragments of the necklace fusing together after the defeat of Alduin the World-Eater, which had also been part of Lord Grul's plans.
He was forcing her to take out the enemies that would bar his way to destroying the whole world, though only two of them, Harkon and Miraak, remained at the moment.
"Something on your mind Sonata?" Kree asked, though at the same time it started to rain on them, indicating that this was a storm that they were walking through.
"Just thinking about Fellglow Keep at the moment," Sonata lied, knowing that Kree would tell her to stop thinking about Grul's master plan if she told her the truth, "We're going to want to hit them hard the moment we arrive, though everyone should be alert in case they have something hidden up their sleeves, which I'm sure that they do. Once the fighting starts we'll want to make sure that they don't sound any alarms, otherwise they might make the fight harder than it needs to be."
She already knew that there was something strange about Fellglow Keep, because Lord Grul would never let his orcs be seen by someone unless he truly wanted them to be lead into a trap. It was possible that he might be growing tired of her searching for Harkon and had his orcs bring the Vampire Lord to this particular keep so they could end their fight. Or maybe this was a group of orcs that had displeased their master and were seeking to regain his favor, by taking over a fortress and planning an attack on Whiterun. In the end it didn't matter to Sonata, because she and her friends were going to have to take them out before they did something stupid... while keeping her eyes on the orc warrior that she had acquired.
Krovor Bloodaxe came to her aid at a strange time and gave her information that was most helpful, but the fact that he had betrayed Lord Grul, and got away with his defection, didn't sit well with her at all. He had been a part of an army that had destroyed villages, killed innocent people in the name of his master, and did whatever foul acts that Sonata had no knowledge on. She often considered that this was a move made by her enemy; send someone into her ranks to try and bring her down from the inside, which was why she kept her eyes on him the moment he came to her. Her time as the Siren Queen had taught her not to blindly trust anyone that came forward to help her, which was why Starswirl, and everyone else that wasn't her sisters, had to work to earn her friendship, though Kree and her friends were the strict exception to her former rules.
The orc that was walking behind her had done nothing besides give her the location of Grul's main base... and the information she had been given wasn't really enough to make her fully trust him yet, not when she was sure that he was going to stab her in the back at some point in time.
Once they were outside the city the group made their way towards Fellglow Keep, following the one guard that was returning to his post, who wanted them to know exactly where the keep was before he returned to his duties at the watchtower. Sonata smiled as they walked through the rain, because soon another group of Grul's followers would be dead and she would have one less thing to worry about.
"Ugh, I hate the rain," an orc said, shaking his arms for a moment to get the water off of his armor, before staring out at the darkness that surrounded the keep, "I cannot wait for Lord Grul to capture the Divines and burn this world to its core... maybe then I can finally enjoy life again."
"You say that every time your put on guard duty," another orc stated, clearly annoyed that the other orc wouldn't stop mentioning the weather, "so either say something new or don't bother speaking at all."
"Well, I wish Lord Grul hadn't assigned me to guard some keep that mages liked to use," the first orc commented, knowing that his companion would like the change in their conversation, "Personally I'd prefer attacking, pillaging, and burning Dawnstar to standing here, on the outskirts of Whiterun... or maybe sacking the College now that our target and the Archmage are no longer there."
"Once Lord Grul's gateway is complete we'll have the full power of an endless army at our backs," the second orc replied, a smile appearing on his face for a moment, "then we can get around to destroying what remains of the College."
Usually a comment like that made the first orc reply with his own, to which the two of them would argue over what their master was planning and where they were going to be stationed next, though this time he remained silent. The second orc wondered if his partner was thinking of something funny to say, in an effort to liven up their pitiful situation, but as the seconds passed he was beginning to think something was wrong. The orc was almost never stopped talking, not unless one of their superiors was giving them their instructions or if Lord Grul himself was walking past them.
After a minute of waiting in silence he finally snapped from the lack of the other orc saying nothing, to which he turned to his companion and grabbed his shoulder, though when he touched him he noticed that there was an arrow sticking in his heart... and that he fell to the ground and stopped moving. The second orc realized that something was out there in the darkness, using the shadows to pick them off one by one, but he grinned as he turned around and bolted for the center of camp. He didn't get two steps forward before an arrow pierced his chest, knocking the wind out of him, but he steeled himself and kept moving, intending to raise the alarm before he died.
He barely crossed half the distance between his post and the alarm as the second arrow tore into his heart and knocked him to the ground, but as he lay there, dying from a ruined heart, he smiled as the other orcs noticed him, to which they raised the alarm as they realized that they were under attack. He let out a final breath as his body went still, knowing that whoever had killed him and his companion would soon face the full might of their garrison.
Sonata was a little disappointed that they couldn't take out the second orc before the alarm was raised, but she was also surprised that the orc didn't notice his companion was dead for a whole minute. Their short conversation had been interesting, considering the fact that the lowest levels of Grul's army already knew what his master plan was, though she already knew that Grul was planning on opening a gateway to summon his reinforcements. She almost wished she had told Kree to hold off on loosing the first arrow, because it almost seemed like the two orcs knew as much as the Lieutenants themselves and were likely going to talk about Grul's mysterious master during the night, but there was no taking back what had been done. All she could do now was ensure that the orcs were put in the ground before they could do any harm to the people of Whiterun, or any other settlement in the nearby area.
She signaled to Lorthan for a moment, who nodded and started moving to the right of where Sonata was standing, heading towards the secondary group that would be flanking the courtyard that was in front of them. She, Lydia, Saerza, and Krovor would be attacking from the front, drawing the attention of the orcs to them so they wouldn't notice the fact that Lorthan, Gol, Mez, Kael, and Serana would be flanking them from behind. If they were lucky the darkness would be in their favor and the orcs wouldn't know what hit them, allowing the group to silence their enemies, where they could then check the rest of the keep to be sure that there weren't any remaining orcs left.
The orcs came pouring out of the keep in groups of three, quickly growing to the size of a small army, leaving Sonata to wonder how so many of them could have been living in such a small area, but then she shook her head and signaled for them to attack. Kree stood up and loosed an arrow at one of the orcs, hitting him in the chest, though before their enemies could find her she disappeared into the shadows around them. Sonata already knew that the Divines were aiding her in her missions, as she had already seen in the past, but she was also sure that several of the Daedric Lords were likely aiding her in their own ways, which was why she was sure that Nocturnal was allowing her and her friends to disappear so suddenly.
Sonata actually wondered what Grul would think if he knew that she was receiving aid from both the Divines and the Daedric Princes, because she was sure she'd have a laugh or two at his expense.
Lydia and Krovor attacked their enemies from the front, allowing Sonata to dance around the enemies that were still pouring out of the keep so she could see where the others were. That was when she spotted what appeared to be several Dwarven constructs, pulled from Blackreach if she was correct, that were corrupted by Grul's green flames. The flanking group was fighting them, using their temporary powers to their advantage in their fight with the constructs, leaving Sonata and the others to deal with the other orcs. This time she decided to join the battle herself, her sword clashing with whoever she sought out, though she restrained from using too much magic, as she had to rest after loosing her powered up state.
As much as she liked her 'Super Siren' form, as she had taken to calling it, she also discovered that it would wear her out if she wasn't careful, so it would be her trump card for when she truly needed it.
When the enemy mages and warlocks joined the fight, as Sonata knew they would, she turned her attention on some of them and dashed passed them, her hand lightly touching the shoulder of one, before landing on the ground and disappearing into the shadows. That was followed by a crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning tore out of the sky and crashed into the orc that Sonata had touched, while spreading to the other two around him and knocking them all to the ground. It was a special rune she had used, designed to concentrate a single lightning blast to her chosen target, though sometimes it jumped to nearby enemies as well, allowing her to help reduce the number of enemies they had to fight.
Things were going so well until one mage survived a lightning blast that killed the two soldiers beside him, to which Sonata approached him with the purpose of making sure he stayed down.
"Oh, I should have known it was you," the mage said, staring up at Sonata as she approached him, though oddly enough he wasn't using his magic at all, "We were planning on having this be a surprise for Whiterun, on Grul's orders, but now I guess we can settle on killing you at long last. I'm sure that you are somewhat familiar with the Dwarven Centurions, though we have pooled several of them into one being that will crush you into a fine powder... he's name is Malus, and he'll be coming for you."
The moment Sonata heard the name Malus she knew that something was wrong, because a few seconds passed before the ground started to shack and buckle all around her and the orc. She stood her ground and waited, wondering what was even happening, before pieces of the ground broke apart as parts of a Dwarven construct erupted out of the ground. She watched as the hand gripped the area around it before heaving itself up, as if something was pulling itself free from the earth beneath her, before a second hand appeared to her left. It took her a moment to realize what was happening, and another for her mind to accept what she was seeing as more pieces tore apart the ground beneath her, but once she accepted it she turned to her friends.
"Get out of here!" Sonata shouted, though she jumped into the air and walked on the wind as she watched what was unfolding before her eyes, silently glad that her friends were wise enough to run when she had told them to.
Sonata watched as a massive Dwarven construct, at least five times the size as any of the ones she had seen in Blackreach and empowered by Grul's dark magics, tore itself from the ground and ruined the entirety of Fellglow Keep, smashing the keep into pieces as its feet touched the ground around it. She had absolutely no idea where they had built such a monstrosity, in so little time no less, but now that it was awake she knew that it was going to kill everything in its path as it hunted for her. This was just another test of her powers, as if the warlock was trying to figure out her strengths and weaknesses, but she knew that she couldn't allow the construct to remain in Grul's control.
She silently swore to herself, as she had known that she and the others should have taken care of the orcs that had followed them into Blackreach, but there was no going back and changing the past... she was going to have to live with her choices and hope that nothing else went wrong.
Before the construct had any time to lock onto her location, or her friends for that matter, Sonata burst through the air and sailed for the machine's right knee, intending to bring it down in one motion. When she struck the knee with her elemental magic she was shocked to find that the creature was unaffected by her attack, which made her worry that the entire thing was protected against her powers. She tried the same thing several more times, attacking a variety of places while the massive construct tried to swat her out of the air, but the same result continued to show itself.
After a few seconds she was beginning to worry that Grul had created this construct with the sole purpose to cancel out her powers, which meant that it was the device he had planned on using to capture her alive so he could siphon her energy to bring about the end of Nirn. She then went on the defensive, looking for something, anything really, that would allow her to deal any sort of damage to the construct, while also avoiding the metallic hands that tried to catch her. That was until she spotted some sort of symbol on the construct's head, left shoulder, right leg, the middle of its chest, and, oddly enough, the center of its right palm.
Due to her being distracted for a moment the construct managed to hit her with its fist, sending her flying through the air and colliding with the earth around her, though she was thankful that her natural abilities had slowed her down, otherwise she was sure that she would have broken a few bones or snapped her neck during the fall.
"It seems that I little choice in the matter," Sonata said, bringing herself back to her feet as a red aura surrounded her, though when she looked at her hair she found that it was now red colored and was spiked like the last time she had entered this form, "Let's see how the construct feels about this form."
She drew the weapon that the draugr deathlord had given her, the powerful Blood Blade as Saerza had called it, and watched as her own power seemed to surround it as well, likely increasing its own reasonable abilities. She grinned as she took to the air once more, flying right at the construct that had been slowly making its way towards her, before she flipped over its outstretched hand and drove the blade into the machine's right leg... right into the symbol she had seen. That was followed by the construct letting out what appeared to be an inhuman sound, almost like a scream of pain or something, before Sonata pulled the blade free and backed up into the air, though she did notice that there was a small geyser of green energy from where she struck the construct.
She looked at the next symbol she had spotted, the one that happened to be resting on the middle of the machine's chest, and decided that she might as well try the same thing again. Sonata maneuvered around the construct, confusing it for a moment, before flying up to her target and driving her empowered weapon into the symbol, which was followed by another inhuman howl and another geyser of green energy when she backed away. It was then that Sonata discovered that this had to be some sort of test, as if Grul was actually seeing if she was as smart as he believed she was, though it only made her angrier, because Grul saw everyone as mere pawns to be discarded.
Sonata had to be careful when she went after the symbol on the construct's palm, as it could have easily crushed her if she wasn't careful, but in the end she managed to slip past its defenses, stab the symbol will her weapon, and dart back to safety as the inhuman howl followed her. The shoulder symbol was another easy one for her to take out, though this time the construct stumbled and went to one knee for a moment, to which it hung its head in what appeared to be shame. She actually paused for a moment, wondering if this was a trick to make her lower her guard, but she remembered that the massive construct would destroy anything in its path to get to her.
Sonata then let out a sigh before she drove the blade into the final target atop the construct's head, to which the machines seemed to go still as it collapsed on the ground in a heap of metal. Once she was sure that the machine was dead she powered down and returned to the ground, where her friends gathered around her, in what would normally be a celebration of their victory... though when she looked on their faces she noticed that Lydia was missing. Before she could ask what happened Krovor approached her, carrying Lydia's body, allowing her to see that one of the orcs she had been fighting had scored a lucky hit in the middle of her chest.
"I am sorry Dragonborn... Lydia is no longer among our number," Krovor said, though Sonata wasn't sure if he was actually sincere about his feelings or if he was faking them.
"I'm going to make Grul pay in blood for what he's done," Sonata growled, though the sky flashed while she spoke, as if someone was agreeing with her anger, "I will make him pay for all the lives he has either taken or ruined over the course of his cursed existence... and I will make him beg for mercy once I'm done with him."
Sonata was furious that one of her friends had been taken from her, never to return, but that made her think about her sisters and her anger increased, though she eventually let out a sigh and regained control of her emotions. There would be a time and place to unleash all of her rage and anger, like when she found Grul or his Lieutenants, so she had to remain calm and continue fighting. They would stay in Whiterun for a little while longer, so they could give Lydia the burial she deserved, before continuing with their original plan.
She only hoped that they could stop Grul before he did something even worse than what he had already done... otherwise she was sure that more people would be joining Lydia soon enough.
Grul walked through the remains of Dimhollow Crypt, the hidden resting place of the vampire princess known as Serana, with a small group of soldiers following him. The draugr that called this place home appeared to have attempted to bring the entire place down to hide themselves, as if they were actually trying to keep something from him. The thought made him chuckle a tiny bit as he used his power to move some of the rocks out of his way, allowing them to walk across the bridge that led to the vampire structure in the middle of the chamber. Even now he could feel the lingering essence of the power that had been used here, though he pulled out the dark green crystal that he carried at all times, allowing it to absorb every ounce of power that remained in the stones around him.
The power would be added to his reserves, allowing him to continue his preparations for the opening of his master's portal so he could burn this world to a cinder, though once it was all inside the crystal he and his minions continued moving. It didn't take him long to reach the chamber that housed the draugr, all of whom appeared to be ready for his eventually arrival, as if they had been expecting him to show up at some point. Even the mighty Gurgath the Wicked was awake, though Grul noticed that the powerful draugr wasn't carrying its signature blade, though in the end he was less interested in the weapon at the moment... as it was quite easy to determine who was carrying it at the moment.
The mighty draugr lifted another weapon at Grul and seemed to issue a command to the other draugr, no doubt in the Dragon Language, but Grul merely lifted a hand and beckoned for his followers to do what they had been ordered to do. Instead of the warriors running into battle, like they usually did, the mages stepped forward and started chanting spells, to which green chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around all of the undead, preventing them from moving or attacking anyone.
"I can see that you believed that I would be coming to take your mighty weapon," Grul commented, stepping forward as his crystal floated around him, though the only other sound in the room was his staff touching the ground every so often, "and you would have been correct, had the weapon actually been what I was seeking to begin with. Gurgath the Wicked, your soul burns with immense power from your time as one of the former champions of the Daedric Prince Molag bal, while also including the amount of power you gained during your training to become a Dragon Priest, which never happened. Your soul will empower me and my crystal, allowing me to begin my hunt for the essences of the seventeen Daedric Princes, whose powers will fuel the opening of my portal... and bring about the end of this world."
The orcs watched as Gurgath's soul was ripped from his body by Grul's foul powers, causing the body to turn to dust as the soul was absorbed into the crystal. Once the ceremony was done he also seized the souls of the other draugr in the room was well, adding to the pool of power that he and his fellow orcs were gathering. With the souls inside the crystal he chanted a spell and witnessed several visions pass by his eyes, revealing the locations of sixteen pieces of power, though that left one piece out. He decided that sixteen was still enough to enact his plans, to which he turned to his followers and started giving them the locations they needed to head to in order to obtain these pieces of power.
Grul grinned as his followers left the crypt behind and went on their way, because he was now three steps ahead of his foe and that wasn't likely to change in the near future.