It was the middle of the night when Sunset and her friends arrived at Fellglow Keep, though she wasn't expecting to find a group of Thalmor guards patrolling the crumbling walls. Elenwen herself was present when they arrived, falling in step with Sunset as they approached the main door to the keep, explaining why she and her guards were there. The altmer hated to admit it, but in the face of such a powerful opponent, the demon Tirek, she knew that the best way for any of them to survive the ever growing calamity was to join forces with the one person who seemed like she had a chance at besting the demon.
Sunset had no idea if she should be thankful that Elenwen ignored both Delphine and Esbern, who had chosen the wrong moment to start talking to each other about their former days in the Blades, but she eventually decided that Elenwen was trying to preserve the alliance that Sunset was creating.
"There's about twenty of us here," Elenwen commented, referring to the Thalmor that had come to the keep with her, "I sent the remaining ten agents out to our various outposts in Skyrim, so that we can gather all the supplies, weapons, armor, and soldiers that we can."
"And where are they going to be staying?" Sunset asked, knowing that the keep was going to be full of mages soon and that the citizens of Winterhold were still constructing their new home around the keep.
"I have sent for workers as well," Elenwen answered, taking a moment to point at the crumbling walls, "In two days time we shall begin reconstructing these walls to make this place a proper stronghold for your fight against Tirek. We've also been constructing our own area to the west of the keep, where we plan to have another ring of walls to separate everyone from the wildlife."
As Elenwen broke away from their group, no doubt to check on her soldiers before going to bed, Sunset had to marvel that all it took was one creature, Tirek, to set in motion the building of an alliance. She knew that the Blades and the Thalmor hated each other because of a previous war, but now that there was a creature that could possibly destroy the world before Alduin could, how Sunset still had no idea, they had put aside their hatred so that they could work together. Or, Sunset added after a moment, the two factions were burying their hatred inside for the moment, so that when Tirek was defeated they'd be at each others throats once more.
Sunset sighed and entered the keep, briefly showing Raja where she would be sleeping whenever they managed to return to the keep, before turning into bed herself.
When morning arrived Sunset and her friends gathered outside, in the courtyard, where they passed around what would pass as their breakfast before someone came running up to them. It was then that Sunset finally meet the Courier, the strange man that could, somehow, find whoever he had a letter or package for and deliver it to them, wherever they might be. As it turned out the letter wasn't for her, as the Courier approached Cicero and handed him a letter, before tuning around and heading out to find the next person he had mail for.
"Cicero was not expecting any mail anytime soon," Cicero said, unfolding the letter so he could read it, though as he started his eyes seemed to go wide in shock, "Ah, its from the Listener. She says 'Dear Cicero, I hope this letter reaches you safely. I returned to the Falkreath Sanctuary yesterday afternoon, only to discover that the Night Mother had been right when she had commanded that we move her... Astrid and the others that remained behind are no more. Some sort of dremora, no doubt the one we were warned about, tore the door down and slaughtered everyone inside. Don't worry about Babette, Nazir, the Night Mother, or myself, we're safe. I can only hope that you found Magic and are currently working to end the dremora that destroyed our brothers and sisters. May you walk on warm sands my friend. Sincerely, Snowheart.'
I... I only just met the others... and yet they now serve Sithis in the Void. MAGIC! I ask of you this one favor; let us head to the Falkreath Sanctuary, so that I may say farewell to what remains of my fallen friends."
Sunset had no idea how Tirek managed to find the only Sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood, but she knew, from her own experience, that he was capable of destroying whoever was inside when he arrived. Still, she didn't like seeing her friends in pain, even if they barely knew each other, so she placed her hand on Cicero's shoulder and smiled at him.
"Sure thing," Sunset said, knowing that Fiona's journal mentioned that there might be two more Daedric Artifacts in Falkreath, two more that needed to be secured, "We'll head to Falkreath and plan our next move from there."
Fiona, having written every note inside the journal, knew why Sunset was willing to give Cicero the moment to head to the Sanctuary, though the others seemed to wonder about that fact. Once their destination was selected they gathered up their weapons, packs, and supplies before heading towards the road once more, giving them the opportunity to see the construction that Elenwen had commented on the previous night. Most of the residents of Winterhold had their own houses set up at this point, a whole week after the destruction of their Hold, though the Thalmor were beginning to set up their own. Even Delphine had a new inn under construction, apparently wishing to make the area around the keep more like a normal city and not like a complete military compound.
As they got underway Sunset had to wonder which Daedric Prince they would meet first; Hircine, Daedric Prince of the Hunt, or Clavicus Vile, the True Daedric Prince of Power and Bargains. Though that also made her wonder what each of the Princes would ask of her, so that she could claim their Artifact and keep it out of Tirek's hands.
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They spent the better part of the morning walking along the road, taking care of two different groups of bandits, before they reached what Sunset assumed was their destination. It was a cave built under the road, with a blackened pool of water with a busted door half sunk nearby, though when Cicero approached it he started to shake. As they passed by the small body of water Sunset saw a shriveled corpse of a man resting in the water, though that paled in comparison to feeling Tirek's magic everywhere.
The inside of the cave, however, made it look like someone had set fire to the entire place, as nearly everything, from the furniture to the unfortunate people who had been here when Tirek arrived, was burnt to a crisp. Sunset walked into the room to the immediate left of the first chamber and picked up another glowing red stone, to which she now had three thanks to Cicero having one from when they were at the Embassy and the one she originally picked up from Fellglow Keep.
"A Stone of Barenziah," Raja said, staring at the stone as Sunset showed it to her, "my sister was holding out on me, if she knew this stone was here to begin with. Hey Cicero, mind if I take this with us."
"Kindness may have the stone, if she desires," Cicero replied, looking around the main chamber and finding more of his friend's bodies, "Laughter needs to be alone for a moment... or maybe three."
"Sweet," Raja said, pocketing the stone as soon as she had her answer, "Well, now I have twenty-two of the twenty-four stones that used to rest on Barenziah's ceremonial crown... now I just need the other two stones and the crown will be complete once more."
That was when Sunset reached into her pack and presented the thief with the remaining two stones, as she had waited to see if they were worth something before telling her she had the other two. She simply handed them over, as she had no desire to do anything with them and knew that her friend would do wonders with the stones... when she returned to Riften.
The group spent the next half hour inside the ruined sanctuary, giving Cicero some time before they departed for Falkreath and asked around for leads on the artifacts. During that time Sunset noticed that there was a Word Wall, somehow preserved despite the flames that had torched everything else around them, and she wasted no time in approaching it. She learned the Word Krii, though she knew that she required training to use any of the Words she was learning from all the walls they were passing. The Word of Power only reminded her that she needed to return to Labyrinthian before long, so she could get her training under Morokei, Krosis, and Rahgot underway.
When Cicero was finally calm enough to travel, as he spent the last half hour throwing whatever he could find at the walls or pounding them with his fists, they left the ruined sanctuary and began walking towards Falkreath. Once they reached the gates of the small city, however, one of the guards decided to ask them something that Sunset would never have expected them to ask.
"Have you seen a dog on the road?" the guard asked, as if it was a perfectly normal question to ask strangers that were coming to the city for the first time.
"I haven't seen any wild animals all day actually," Sunset replied, knowing that one of the Princes had to be behind the wildlife not coming after them, though now she was beginning to suspect which one it was, "so no, I haven't seen a dog today."
"Oh well, the blacksmith was asking us to keep an eye out for it," the guard replied, immediately turning around so he could return to his post, "said he's willing to pay anyone who's seen the beast or even brings it to him."
Sunset made a mental note to reread the notes that Fiona had made on the artifact of Clavicus Vile, as something about a dog seemed to remind her about that particular artifact.
As they walked into the city Sunset noticed that the majority of the people that they passed seemed to be gloomy for some reason, though it wasn't until they reached the cemetery that she found a couple that was mourning the loss of a family member. Unlike the majority of her friends Sunset had never experienced the loss of a loved one or even the loss of a group of friends, but that didn't stop Fiona from pointing at them and mentioning to the journal. It was a clear sign that she believed that one of the Princes was at work with regards to the family, so Sunset sighed and approached the grieving parents.
"Who are you mourning?" Sunset asked, as she had asked the same question several times when she had been growing up in Canterlot, while she was under Princess Celestia's wing.
"Our daughter." the husband replied, apparently not caring that someone was interrupting them, "Our little girl. She hadn't seen her tenth winter. Damn that Sinding to Oblivion. Came through as a laborer, if you believe him. Seemed like a decent man. He's stewing in the pit while we figure out what to do with him, if you've got the stomach to look at him. What could drive a man to do something like this?"
With the location of the one responsible for the death of a child, and likely it was someone who worshiped one of the Princes, Sunset then walked up to one of the guards and inquired as to where the pit was. It was then that she learned that the pit was located inside the barracks, which just happened to be located next to the Jarl's house, both of which the guard was kind enough to point out to her. Maybe the guard thought that she was here to help with the whole Sinding problem, as she had come from the cemetery, and was willing to point her in the right direction. Or, Sunset also thought, it could be because she was the Archmage and the guards didn't want to get hurt in the off chance they angered her.
Whichever was true didn't matter, as she entered the barracks and made her way down to the jail portion of the area, where she eventually found a nord sitting behind an iron barred cell, surrounded by feet high water.
"Come to gawk at the monster?" the man asked, just as Sunset and her friends stopped in front of the cell, before sighing and approaching the bars from his side.
"No, not at all," Sunset replied, wondering what had caused the nord to do what he did, "I wanted to hear your side of the story."
"Believe me, it wasn't anything I ever intended to do." Sinding said, sighing as he held his right hand in front of him and stared at the silver ring he wore, "I just... lost control. I tried to tell them, but none of them believe me. It's all on account of this blasted ring."
"And what ring would that be?" Sunset asked, wondering if this could possibly be one of the two artifacts that she was searching for.
"This is the Ring of Hircine." Sinding replied, glaring at the ring as if he wanted to take a hammer to it and smash it into a thousand pieces, "I was told it could let me control my transformations. Perhaps it used to. But I'll never know. Hircine didn't care for my taking it, and threw a curse on it. I put it on... and the changes just came to me. I could never guess when. It would be at the worst times. Like... with the little girl. I don't suppose there's a point in keeping the secret if I'm going to die in here anyway. I'm sure you've heard of men who shift to beasts under the influence of the moons. I am one of them. A werewolf. It's my secret, and my shame. That's why I wanted the ring... it was said to give men like me control. Now I may look like a man, but I still feel the animal inside of me, as strong as ever."
"And what were you doing before this... unfortunate accident?" Sunset asked, wondering if he knew how to contact Hircine and would share that information with her.
"I've been looking for a way to appease Hircine." Sinding answered, another sigh escaping from him, "There is a certain beast in these lands. Large, majestic. It's said that Hircine will commune with whoever slays it. I tracked it into these woods, but then had my... accident with the child. I want to beg his forgiveness. Give him back the ring. But while I'm stuck in here, the beast wanders free."
"So what if we were to hunt this beast for you?" Sunset inquired, glancing at the ring for a moment, silently wondering what effect it would have on someone who wasn't a werewolf, or on someone who wasn't native to Nirn.
"Oh my. You would do this for me?" Sinding said, surprised that they would even consider taking the ring back to Hircine on his behalf, "Here, take it. I don't want anything to do with this wretched thing anymore."
Before anyone could move the ring, apparently tightened on Sinding's right pointer finger, loosened itself and flew through the bars, sliding onto Sunset's right pointer finger. She reached to remove the ring, but before she could even touch it she felt it tighten around her finger, much to her and her friend's surprise. She looked back up at Sinding, who seemed relieved that the ring had been removed at long last, even if it meant someone else had to carry the cursed piece of jewelry.
"Seek out the beast." Sinding told them, a light smile appearing on his face as he stared at Sunset, as if he was glad that she had taken his place as the bearer of the ring, "He wanders these woods. Bring him down and... well, the Lord of the Hunt should smile on you. I wish you luck, but you should leave here while I still have my skin. Should our paths cross again, I will remember your kindness. Farewell."
That was before Sinding returned to the center of his cell and transformed before their very eyes, his body cracking as muscles bulged and his hands grew out into vicious looking claws. As a tail grew out of his spine Sinding growled, keeping the grin on his face, just as his feet tore out of his shoes and changed into a powerful set of paws. He then tore his ragged clothes off, revealing that his body was now covered in both black fur and muscles that Sunset was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. Sinding then turned towards the gate and grinned at Sunset, just as his head cracked under the intensity of his transformation and grew a muzzle, followed by wolf ears and the remaining wolf features.
In a matter of seconds the man was no more, as the beast roared and jumped at the wall, digging its claws into the wall as it climbed out of the pit and escaped into the city.
"So... that will happen to me if we don't deal with this fast enough?" Sunset asked, turning around to face her friends, noticing that Bjorn was nodding to her for a moment, "Bjorn, can you find this beast?"
"I've been tracking and hunting beasts for a long time," Bjorn replied, a smile appearing on his face as he tapped his bow, "Let's go hunt this white stag, before the effects of that ring activate."
As they left the barracks and exited the city, using the same gate they entered through, but as they walked up the hill heading towards Riverwood Sunset noticed something approaching them... which turned out to be a grey looking dog. Sunset would have gone back to the blacksmith and told him where the dog he wanted was, seeing how it was so close to the city, but she had more pressing matters... like trying not to become a werewolf on accident. That was, however, until the dog spoke to her and caused her, and her friends, to pause for a moment.
"You are exactly what I was looking for!" the dog barked at them, or at least Sunset thought that was what the dog had done.
Fiona, once again, coughed and motioned to the journal, indicating that they had found the beginnings of yet another Daedric Artifact, which Sunset assumed was Clavicus Vile's.
"Am I really?" Sunset asked, wondering if she could persuade the dog to just follow them on the hunt, instead of wasting time talking to it in the middle of the road.
"Yes, I think you'll be just what I need." the dog replied, causing Sunset to raise an eyebrow, but thanks to flying dragons and everything else she had seen so far she wasn't too surprised at this point, "You see, my name is Barbas. And I have a problem I think you can help sort out. My master and I had a bit of a falling out. We got into an argument and it got rather... heated. He's kicked me out until I find someone who can settle our disagreement. That's where you come in."
"That sounds awfully familiar," Sunset moaned, remembering the events that lead to her crossing through the crystal mirror the first time, before she turned back to the dog, "Look, we're in the middle of hunting a beast so we can speak to the Daedric Prince called Hircine, but I promise you that, when we're done with him, we'll come right back and help you out."
"No thank you, I'd rather follow you," Barbas said, much to Sunset's surprise, "Look, I know that there's someone by the name of Tirek going around and collecting the magic of everyone that he meets... and I'd rather not give him what magical power I have at the moment. So I'll just follow you and wait until we're done with Hircine... though he gives me the creeps sometimes."
Sunset sighed and patted Barbas on the head, before nodding to Bjorn and getting underway once more, though she was somewhat pleased to have an idea on where to find Clavicus Vile's artifact.
It Bjorn an hour of following tracks, and fighting off two groups of bandits along the way, before they reached their destination, a lake up in the hills that held the stag that Sinding had mentioned. Sunset, having little experience with bows, save for the few times she watched Applejack demonstrate her ability with the weapon, opted for Bjorn to take the beast down. Better, she believed, to have the seasoned hunter take the beast down, instead of someone who didn't know the basics and would likely miss her target. Bjorn nodded and beckoned for them all to be silent, which was followed by him pulling an arrow out of his quiver and pulling the bowstring back as he took aim at the white stag.
It took only a brief moment for the arrow to fly through the air and hit the stag dead in the head, dropping the corpse to the ground as a ghostly form of it appeared behind it.
"Well met hunters," the beast said, just as Sunset and Bjorn approached it.
"Lord Hircine?" Sunset asked, continuing her habit to address the Daedric Princes with respect, least they think to destroy her instead of employing her aid in whatever task they required of her.
"I am the spirit of the hunt," the beast replied, turning to face the sky for a moment before turning back towards them, "just one glimpse of the glorious stalker that your kind calls Hircine."
"Will you take back your ring?" Sunset asked, holding her hand out to reveal the silver band, which she had discovered had a wolf head while they were walking towards this area.
"I may consider it." Hircine replied, though Sunset knew exactly what was coming their way, "But you must first do a service for my glory. The one who stole it has fled to what he thinks is his sanctuary. Just as a bear climbs a tree to escape the hunt, but only ends up trapping himself. Seek out this rogue shifter. Tear the skin from his body, and make it an offering to me."
Before either Bjorn or Sunset could reply the Aspect of Hircine disappeared before their eyes, though not a moment later Sunset, wondering if the Prince had left a clue as to where Sinding ran off to, pulled out her map and found an area near them that was now circled, which hadn't been that way the last time she looked at the map. With the location of their target acquired Sunset and her friends immediately set out on the road once more, though Sunset had to wonder if karma had come back to bite Sinding in the end.
It took them another two hours to reach their destination, passing by several areas along the road, such as a saw mill and a cave implanted in the mountain side, before they were standing outside Sinding's hiding place.
Sunset sighed as they stepped into the cave, wondering what they would find inside, but as they made their way into the main area of the cave, which was lit up by the glow of a blood red moon, she found a terrible sight. The camp site they came to was literally littered with corpses, no doubt of Hircine's hunters that had been hunting Sinding the entire time before Sunset had met him, but what Sunset discovered next made her wonder what was happening. She expected to find the bodies covered in claw marks, the telltale signs of a werewolf, but as she and Bjorn studied the cuts and blood patters she knew someone else was inside the cave.
"One of Tirek's lackeys is here," Sunset concluded, knowing what foul deeds the followers of Tirek were capable of with the power he gave them, "now we just need to find them and stop them before they get their hands on Sinding."
That was moments before someone burst out of the bushes and charged at the nearby stone wall, though that was when Sunset got a good look at who had fallen to Tirek's promises. It was a young nord women, no doubt at least fifteen by Sunset's estimates, though she was decked out in leather armor and carried what Sunset could only call a shortbow. As she passed by the group, completely ignoring them, Sunset could feel the aura of Tirek surrounding the women, telling her that she had been under his sway for sometime... which also told her that she needed to eliminate the young women.
"Come on out Sinding!" the women shouted, glancing around her while ignoring the people standing behind her, "I know your around here somewhere! I've already hit you twice and I know your bleeding, so its only a matter of time until you bleed out and I claim Hircine's artifact for my master... AH HA, I see you!"
Before Sunset could react the young women pulled an arrow out, pulled the string back, and loosed the arrow at the top of what she assumed was a peak, where she heard something cry out in pain, followed by something hitting the ground with a loud thud. The women ran up a path that lead her to the top of the peak, though Sunset followed behind her so she could see what was happening before she obliterated the women. At the top she found a massive werewolf, Sinding she realized, pressing his clawed hand against where his heart was, immediately telling Sunset that the women had hit him in the worst location possible.
"You know Sinding, that was actually fun," the women said, pulling out a wicked looking blade as she approached the werewolf, "Sure, you ran around and made me slaughter the other hunters, not that they deserved to recover Hircine's artifact, but you definitely made me work for this. Its only a shame that I could not recover the Ring of Hircine before you gave it away, but one artifact of a Daedric Lord is better than having none in the end. I will not share the same fate as the others that have failed my master."
That was moments before an shimmering aura surrounding the women, causing her to look back and notice that she had company, to which she also noticed the aura surrounding Sunset's hand and horn.
"I'd love to see the look on Tirek's face when he realizes that your dead as well," Sunset growled, extending her hand and dragging the women into the open air above the path they had walked up, "I feel no sympathy for destroying anyone who allies themselves with Tirek."
Before the women could say anything Sunset activated her magic, crushing the women's heart in an instant before she tossed the lifeless body aside. Once the deed was done she turned to Sinding, who was bleeding out. and knew that the werewolf didn't have much time before he left the world. Sinding, as if he knew what was happening in the last moments of his life, seemed to nod at Sunset, as if to thank her for what she had done, before leaning back as the last of his energy seemed to fade from his body. Sunset nodded to Bjorn and let him do the deed of removing Sinding's hide, to which she and the others, including Barbas, turned away to look over the rest of the area they were in.
"You've done well, hunter." Hircine said from behind Sunset, causing her to look back and find the Aspect standing there again, this time appearing as a ghostly form of Sinding's human form, "You have found my favor. That skin will serve you well, child. Look more closely at it. My glories shall protect you from all this world's grievances. Good hunting."
Sunset looked at the armor that Bjorn was holding and noticed that the emblem that rested on the front of it appeared to be a wolf, which wasn't odd considering what it had been made from. The metal parts also seemed to be made of either iron or steel, though Sunset had no idea which metal it could be and figured that it didn't matter. The other thing she noticed was that the ring that had been fastened to her finger was now no longer there, which meant that Hircine took it the moment he gave them his other artifact, the one Fiona seemed to have labeled as the Savior's Hide in her journal.
Regardless of the outcome Sunset summoned her chest and Bjorn deposited the armor inside, allowing them to seal another Daedric Artifact away from Tirek's grasp.
"We'll make camp outside the cave for the night," Sunset told her friends, while also talking to Barbas, "and in the morning Barbas will lead us to Clavicus Vile, though I pray that we don't find another of Tirek's lackeys while we do so."