With Vahlok on their side Za'kera learned where the three missing Black Books were resting, one was resting with Azhidal, in a place called Kolbjorn Barrow, another could be found in the chamber Dukaan was laid to rest in, located deep inside White Ridge Barrow, and the third one was in a ruin known as Benkongerike, likely infested by Rieklings. They discovered that the ancient Dragon Priest wasn't surprised when he learned that Zahkriisos was located near a buried barrow that was outside where Raven Rock rested, in fact it seemed like his masters also blessed him with some sort of map of the modern land, to help him find the others, or maybe he was just that smart. Vahlok then pointed at Za'kera's map, using a finger to reveal that Azhidal's resting place was outside Raven Rock, Dukaan's was on the northern portion of the island, and Benkongerike was on the way to Saering's Watch, the ruin they had passed by to get the first Word of the Bend Will Shout, but it was good information for them to acquire. Tharstan, on the other hand, continued to study Vahlok and the rest of the tomb, finding that the legends about him and Miraak were true, though for now their new ally focused on Za'kera and her companions, even though he was wary of Ma'jera, no doubt sensing that she was the Demiprince daughter of Hermaeus Mora, an enemy of his own masters.
In the end it didn't seem to matter that much as they left the tomb, allowing Vahlok to gather his awakened forces so they could travel to Kolbjorn Barrow to awaken Azhidal, meaning Za'kera needed to head to Benkongerike and White Ridge Barrow to recover their Black Books.
Once the undead left the group Za'kera headed back to the Skaal Village, as they needed to drop off Tharstan before doing anything else, which he seemed to agree with when he heard what they were doing, though Amaryllis knew that her friend was holding off on speaking to the shaman, until they had the other books. Of course they had to wonder what sort of knowledge was resting in the head of the old man that was the spiritual leader of the Skaal, especially given the fact that he was able to make a barrier to hold back Miraak's dark influence, but everyone determined that they would figure it out later, once all seven Black Books were in their possession. It didn't take them too long to reach the Skaal Village, where all of the villagers were glad to see that Tharstan was fine and that no harm had come to him, before Za'kera continued down the path that allowed them to reach Saering's Watch earlier, as she knew where to find Benkongerike. As the group walked Amaryllis glanced over to the area to the northwest of the Skaal Village and spotted some pirates that were moving into a small patch of earth that didn't seem very important, though according to the Deathbrand tome one of the pieces of the pirate lord's armor might be in that area.
She excused herself for a moment as she flew over to the pirates, finding one in nordic armor and two dressed fit for the seas, though she was able to hide behind a tent and shift into an Argonian pirate, who was ignored by the pirates, hence why she cut them down before they had a chance to do anything, before she found that they had opened the chest and that it held the Stalhrim helm of the pirate lord.
With the helm in her possession, and she found a map of Solstheim with four positions marked, the other armor pieces no doubt, Amaryllis returned to Za'kera's side as they made their way to Benkongerike, though it didn't take the group long to find the cave in question and headed inside, everyone drawing their weapons accordingly. On the other side of the cave entrance they found a tunnel that went down a little and then jogged to the left, bringing them to a decent sized cavern that had a few Rieklings wandering around, where the little creatures turned and hurled their spears at them, causing the group to lash out at them in return. Za'kera focused on hacking and slashing her way through her foes, Wind loosed some of her smaller level spells at her targets, since there wasn't enough room for some of her more powerful spells, Amaryllis loosed a few arrows to prevent reinforcements from joining the battle, and Lydia swung her battleaxe as she hacked the incoming boars to pieces. After clearing out the cavern Amaryllis found a passage heading deeper into the cave and they took it without delay, finding that it allowed everyone to pass by some scattered barrels and goods that Za'kera was sure that the Rieklings had salvaged from those who got too close to their home, as in those they killed in the past.
More of the small blue skinned critters appeared in the next portion of the cave that wasn't a tunnel, hence why the four of them moved into battle before their enemies could, hacking, slashing, and blasting the Rieklings into submission once more, though they also discovered that the critters didn't have any grand treasure, allowing them to move on without the need to track down loot. Another thing all of them discovered was that some of the Rieklings liked to hide in barrels and jumped out of them when they sensed enemies coming near them, or people in general to see what was going on, but it didn't stop Za'kera or Lydia from cutting them down as Wind studied the passage they were following and Amaryllis kept an eye out for danger. There were also a few traps that they had to avoid, and by that the group just stood out of the way as each one was activated, meaning it hit no one and used up the charge that the inhabitants of the cave had set up in the past, allowing them to move forward without being harmed by everything the Rieklings had set up. That brought them to a much larger area that seemed to be more like a nordic ruin, even if parts were covered in ice and whatever the Rieklings used to mark their territory, which happened to have some of the small critters patrolling the area, to which Za'kera and her companions lashed out at them accordingly.
With Amaryllis and Wind focusing on the enemies that were further away it didn't take them that long to cross the larger chamber that the path had brought them to, allowing the group to enter the proper ruins and found some Rieklings right in front of what had to be the main door, something that caused them to lash out at them.
Once their enemies were taken care of the group moved forward and found a small chamber with a staircase leading up, but Wind did find a hut off to the right that had a number of tomes in it, most of them being the Lusty Argonian Maid, and the vast majority of those happened to be the first volume with one second volume mixed in, though she did find a spell tome mixed in and claimed it. She found it was the Telekinesis spell, a useless one for her since she still had her powers from her home world, but it was a nice addition to her collection as she followed after the others, finding that the staircase brought them to a passage that seemed to lead to the main chamber of the ruin, with a locked door to the left. Fortunately she spotted a key and levitated it over to Za'kera, giving her a chance to open the door and search the main chest for any useful loot, mostly finding a piece of ebony armor in it, the boots, but with it in hand they headed down the other passage and braced themselves for whatever they might find. What they found was that it definitely brought them to what had to be the main chamber, since Za'kera could hear the Word Wall close by, and there happened to be a combination lock over on the other side of the area, so they dealt with a number of Rieklings that were scattered throughout the area, since they viewed the group as invaders and wanted them gone.
While they did that Amaryllis found something that caused her to pause for a moment, she found one of the coffins that held Stalhrim inside it, so once all of the Rieklings were taken care of she acquired the nordic pickaxe and extracted every piece of the material in question, while Za'kera and the others found a missing carving that went to the four pillars that were attached to the last gate.
"It was interesting fighting Rieklings in a nordic ruin," Wind commented, though as she said that she and the others moved the four pillars into position, as they had figured out that the combination to the puzzle was eagle, whale, whale, and then snake, and once all four of them were in position Za'kera pulled the switch on a raised pedestal and the gate opened not a few seconds later, "though I'm more interested in finding that Black Book and heading to White Ridge Barrow for Dukaan and the other one we're looking for."
"It's likely down that path," Za'kera remarked, as once they entered what should be the final chamber, where she found the Word Wall, it was easy for them to find another small path off to the left, which had to lead to the area that the tome was located in, so the first thing she did was take in the next Word of Power and add it to her arsenal, though as soon as that was done she headed down the passage.
"There it is, Untold Legends: The Other Lives of Ysgramor," Ma'jera said, naming the Black Book in front of them, while using her magic to lift it off the pedestal that it was resting on and added it to her collection, leaving only two more before her correction was complete, though her motions told them that they should track down the other tome before bothering to see what was inside this one and the next one.
With that done they headed through the other door and found themselves in a small chamber that connected to the front of the cave, even though Lydia had to pull a lever to lower a door, but once that was done they headed outside and found that not a lot of time had gone by, to which Za'kera headed to the west as she tracked down the area that Vahlok had told her that White Ridge Barrow was located in. There wasn't much for them to worry about during their journey to where the sixth Black Book rested, though they had to head to the southwest after a time and it allowed them to pass by a cave that looked like it might also house a ruin inside it, before Amaryllis and Wind spotted the ruin in question. The odd thing was that it seemed like no one was interested in this ruin, as there were no Reavers or Rieklings standing around the outside of the entrance, a dome shaped area based on what they were seeing, though that didn't stop them from drawing their own weapons as they opened the main door and headed inside. What they discovered on the other side of the door, however, was a number of slain Reavers that looked like they had barricaded the door before perishing, given all of the blood that happened to be on the floor, meaning a fight must have broken out and that a lot of Reavers were likely waiting down in the depths of this place.
Za'kera braced herself for whatever they might find as Lydia moved the bodies away from the door and she removed the wooden beam that had been blocking up the door, allowing her to open the door and find that it contained a slain Reaver on the other side and a path leading down to another chamber, not to mention a sickly white spider that had been killed fairly recently.
"I haven't seen this type of spider before... meaning we had better be careful, as there's no telling what else we might find in this ruin," Wind commented, as the spider looked like it had been enchanted in some manner, how she had no idea and she could sense that her mentor had an idea of what they were looking at, in fact she was positive that Ma'jera knew what this was and was keeping that information to herself to see how they reacted to everything else.
It was how her mentor operated, after all, knowing nearly everything because she was the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, all while sharing none of it until she was either ready to do so or until someone else figured out what she knew, like this was a game to her or something, but Wind forced herself to focus on their task, as she knew that a Demiprince saw them as toys, just like their parents, and her mentor was no different. After the first albino spider, as Wind was calling it, they found two more fallen figures, another Reaver and one more spider, before discovering an active albino spider as it emerged from an opening, meaning there were still some living creatures located in this ruin, though it didn't last very long as Wind lashed out with a Fireball. She knew enough about the spiders of this world to know that they had no love for anything that wasn't a spider like themselves, though as she did that Za'kera and the others moved down the passage in front of them, carefully keeping an eye out for anything that might seek to end their lives, since there had to be some Draugr down here. Za'kera then swung her blades at another spider that jumped at her, finding that the albino ones were much smaller than the ones she was used to facing, before finding a wooden staircase heading downwards, which they took and discovered a passage that happened to be the main one they needed to take.
Around that point Amaryllis found a small red spider, definitely an enchanted spider that had to be made from the albino one, though as soon as they discovered that they learned something else, it summoned a flaming cloak around it as soon as it noticed them coming, meaning someone was making an army of enchanted spiders for some reason. In response to that discovery Amaryllis switched to her lowest quality arrows and used them to take out the spiders before they came at her companions, or at least the red colored ones since the white ones had no powers, based on what they were currently seeing. Her reasoning for that was due to the fact that one of the flaming spiders actually jumped across a gap that rested between them, like it was a bomb that could be thrown or something, but her arrow took it out as the others moved into the chamber and Wind hurled Ice Spikes at the pulsing spherical containers that seemed to be eggs, so it was a way for her to control how many enemies they had to face. Za'kera eventually found a way down into the lower section of the ruin, or at least one part of it, before discovering a Reaver who had yellow lines all over her face and a twisted yellow spider that seemed to be biting into her neck, bonding the two together like the spider was a parasite that was now in control of the Reaver, the legs attached to the back of her head, neck, and shoulders.
Lydia, sensing the danger, dropped down on the Reaver and crushed her with her battleaxe, taking a moment to sever the arm that had a weapon before removing her foe's head, though in that moment they found that the Mind Spider survived and was getting ready to infect someone else, to which Wind seized it with her magic and incinerated it, preventing from latching onto one of them. She didn't want to imagine what would happen to Za'kera if the foul spider had taken over her mind, given that she was the Dragonborn, and she sure that that she and Amaryllis might be immune to such a thing, due to their previous forms back on Equus and the Hive Mind, but given their uniqueness, and the taint that came from being linked to the Moomer Curse, she was also sure that a transformation might have happened if the spider got them. She had no way of knowing what would happen, of course, so this was all speculation on her part, though to be honest she didn't want to be some sort of spider hybrid figure that had multiple arms like a spider, along with the abdomen and everything else, so her focus would be on making sure those enemies were incinerated. Ma'jera, on the other hand, summoned what looked like glass orbs and seemed to be collecting living forms of the types of spiders they were finding right now, likely for whatever experiments she might have for them, to which Wind ignored her to the best of her ability and focused on taking down all of the spiders in front of the group.
After a few more moments they discovered a passage that lead deeper into the ruin, once more filled with spiders to they let Ma'jera take the ones she wanted before wiping out the rest of them, and Amaryllis found some nodes that looked like a few gems could be pulled from them, something they could worry about later, once they had the Black Book.
The door after the geodes brought the group to a small passage that linked up with a barred door, one that lead into a massive chamber that had to be the main one of this ruin, meaning Dukaan, the Word Wall, and the sixth Black Book had to be nearby, before Za'kera opened the door. Such a thing revealed a person over on the other side of the chamber that seemed to be the one in control of every spider they had seen, even though the Reavers seemed to be possessed by the Mind Spiders, and Amaryllis could tell that Ma'jera was thinking about something, though she focused on their opponent as she readied a couple of arrows. Seeing that Za'kera held her hand up a little, to stop the others from messing with her plan, and a slight turn of the Demiprince's head told her everything that she needed to know, to which Amaryllis loosed a pair of arrows at her targets, taking down the mind controlled Reavers before they had a chance to know that enemies had arrived. The Dark Elf, who had to be the one responsible for what they had seen so far, was surprised by what was going on right now and Ma'jera moved next, weaving her magic into a large orb that trapped the lady, while snatching the pair of now freed spiders, meaning she was definitely going to experiment on the Dark Elf at some point in the near future, which seemed to terrify the lady as darkness surrounded her.
Ma'jera apparently didn't want them to see what she was going to do next, though Amaryllis had a feeling that the Dark Elf was going to be twisted into a Daedra, given everything the Demiprinces had done, before they made their way to the side that had been cleared and pushed through some webs to find a chamber with the Word Wall, a coffin, and the Black Book they were looking for.
"There it is, The Sallow Regent." Ma'jera remarked, once more giving them the name of the Black Book, not that they cared all that much since she was the one that would be carrying it, like all of the others they had found so far, and as she claimed it the coffin opened, revealing a Dragon Priest with metallic armor that looked like it was linked to frost, like how Zahkriisos' had been shock attuned.
Sure enough Dukaan seemed to know that they weren't here for him, though Za'kera said nothing as she claimed the next Word of Power before worrying about how to get out of this place, but now they only had to find one more Black Book and claim it, meaning their time on Solstheim was nearing it's end, and they looked forward to seeing whatever the next couple of days held for them.