//------------------------------//
// Vampire: Dealing with Harkon 
// Story: Skyrim: The Faces of Death 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

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.