Sunset stood on the docks that were outside Windhelm and watched as Delphine oversaw the boarding of their soldiers and supplies onto their fleet. The ships in question were actually half the size of the Emperor's own ship, the Katariah she learned, but they managed to carry at least thirty to forty people with some room to spare. They were taking one hundred of their soldiers with them, leaving the majority of them at Fellglow Keep to continue preparing for the coming battle with Tirek. The plan was actually simple; they were going to travel to Solstheim, figure out where Miraak was hiding, convince him to lend his strength to the cause, and then return to Skyrim for the coming war. She would be on the ship that had brought the Cultists to Skyrim in the first place, the Northern Maiden, but while she did that Delphine would have the their ships following behind her.
Captain Gjalund had, reluctantly, agreed to assist them in their efforts of finding Solstheim, as he knew the way to the island from all of his visits before the one with the Cultists. As she watched the sailors stare at the soldiers in wonder she noticed that Delphine was coming her way, to which she sighed and turned towards her Commander.
"Dragonborn, both General Tullius and General Orak report that their ships are ready," Delphine said to her, bowing her head respectfully once she stood before Sunset, "All three of our ships are ready for departure... all we need is for Captain Gjalund to get underway and we'll be able to start the journey to Solstheim."
"Then prepare to get underway Delphine," Sunset told the women, though she made a quick check of her armor to be sure that she had everything she needed, "I will speak with the Captain in a few minutes, I just need to make sure that my friends and I are ready before we get this journey started at long last."
Delphine nodded and headed down the path that she had walked up, returning to the ships so she could share the command with both of her Generals. Tullius was coming to make sure that Sunset focused on getting to Miraak and making sure that they could form some sort of agreement with him, while Orak merely wanted to make sure that whatever base they made on the island was protected from whatever enemies there were on Solstheim. All she hoped was that they could find Miraak as quickly as possible and get back to Skyrim before Tirek could absorb the remaining Princes, which she had no idea how many were left at this point.
None of the already drained Princes were willing to share the information about how many could be left with her, which told Sunset that, without their magic, they had no way of knowing. All they knew was that Mehrunes Dagon and Hermaeus Mora would be the last two Princes that Tirek would go through, though she could tell that they knew something that she didn't. Seeing how she didn't have the time to waste on asking a question that they would never answer Sunset had decided to head to Windhelm, though now they would be leaving the city and venturing someplace else for a time.
"We've been meaning to do this for some time haven't we?" Fiona commented, stepping up to Sunset as the rest of their group, including Serana, followed suit, "We were attacked roughly three weeks ago, yet we're only now heading to Solstheim to see what Miraak wants with you. I'm amazed that we took this long to plan on heading to the island."
"We've had other things to do first," Sunset replied, beckoning for her friends to follow her as she headed towards the Northern Maiden, "We needed to secure the Daedric Artifacts and create an Alliance that would stand against Tirek when the time came, though we have completed both of those objectives despite the time it took to do each of them."
"And yet we handed the Daedric Artifacts over to our enemy," Serana pointed out, bringing up Sunset's worst failure in this world, "and the Alliance that you put together nearly tore itself apart a week ago. I am somewhat... annoyed... with my father, as he swore that he'd aid you when delivered Revan's head to him, but decided to turn on you when the truth was revealed. I, on the other hand, will continue to stand beside you, regardless of what happens to Nirn while we gather our forces together."
Sunset nodded and crossed over the river that separated the Windhelm docks from the land across from it, though as she did so she could tell that the sailors and the guards were staring at her. As she approached the Northern Maiden she spotted Jarl Ulfric standing not too far away, though she had to wonder what he was going to do next. The last time they had spoken was when he tried to destroy the Alliance, but he had continued to insist that he and Tullius wanted her to step down from being the Archmage, so she could focus on her task. She was grateful that he wasn't trying to kill her, though she sighed for a moment and beckoned to her friends, who boarded the ship as she approached the Jarl.
"I will not apologize for the meeting right now," Jarl Ulfric told her, something that Sunset was actually expecting him to say, "All I will say, however, is that I wish you luck in finding this Miraak and ensuring some sort of Alliance with him. Talos guide your path."
Sunset briefly nodded her head to the Jarl, who seemed pleased regardless and beckoned her onward, to which she returned to the Northern Maiden and briefly spoke to the Captain. Then, once the sailor remembered the purpose for which he had been contracted by the Alliance, he shouted at the other sailors and they got underway. As the ship separated itself from the dock, and headed out into the open water, Sunset called out to Delphine as they neared the other three ships. Her commander called out a reply to her before shouting at the Generals, who called to their own sailors as the Northern Maiden passed by all of them.
Once they were in the open water Sunset turned around for a moment and watched as her fleet got underway, following her out into the Sea of Ghosts as they made their way to Solstheim.
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"Here we are, Raven Rock, just as I promised you and your Commander," the captain said, beckoning to the small settlement that they were approaching, "Can't say I'm glad to be back, but make sure you give whoever sent those cultists to me a piece of my mind for me."
Raven Rock, Sunset noticed, was completely different from the settlements that existed throughout Skyrim, as these ones seemed to be crafted from some sort of large insect, which also included the ash she saw everywhere. As they had drawn closer to the island she had noticed that there was what appeared to be an abandoned fortress of some kind, one that happened to have a dock that they could whip into shape. She stared at it as they approached the settlement, deciding that it would likely be the best place for them to setup their forces until they were done with the island. She resolved to ask whoever was in charge of Raven Rock if they could use the fortress, though she was sure that she would have to run that idea by Delphine when they landed.
As the Northern Maiden finally docked in Raven Rock's harbor, which had room for one to two small ships, Sunset also noticed that Delphine had the other ships remain in the open water, though she was on a rowboat and was coming towards the dock.
"Ah, Gjalund," a voice said, causing Sunset to turn around and find a dark elf standing on the dock, though at the moment he was more focused on the Captain, "I was starting to wonder what had happened to you."
"We, uh... we were delayed by bad weather." the Captain replied, though Sunset wasn't surprised to hear that he was lying to the elf in an attempt to hide what had happened, "And before you even ask... yes, I have the supplies you requested. But..."
"But what?" the elf asked, though it was clear that he was clearly afraid of whatever the Captain might tell him.
"This load cost me double what we had agreed on." Gjalund replied, mentioning the supplies he had picked up before Sunset and her friends had commissioned him to bring them to the island, "The East Empire Company didn't give me a choice. They've raised their prices again, and there's nothing I can do about it."
"After all these years, they're gouging us for every last drake we have." the elf said, sighing for a moment as shook his head, "Let me talk to Lleril. I'll see what we can do."
"All right, Adril. Don't worry about rushing it." Captain Gjalund replied, offering a light smile to the elf in an attempt to make the matter seem less than it actually was, "Just pay me when you can."
Before Sunset really could say anything the elf turned to her and her friends, apparently surprised by the amount of people that had come to the island with Gjalund. He seemed to be studying each of them, as if he was trying to figure out if they were friendly or would turn hostile the moment he decided to open his mouth. In the end the elf sighed and decided on something, which Sunset knew would be directed at them.
"I don't recognize any of you, so I'll assume this is your first visit to Raven Rock, outlanders." Adril said, his eyes moving to Gjalund for a moment before turning back to Sunset, "State your intentions."
"We're searching for someone named Miraak," Sunset replied, deciding that telling the truth would be better in the long run, though as she spoke she spotted Delphine climbing onto the dock.
"Ah, that name has something to do with the Earth Stone, if my memory serves me right," Adril said, beckoning to the glowing stone not far from the small settlement, "but you seem to have brought an army to help you search for one person."
"We're here to ensure that the Warlord finds who she's looking for and doesn't get distracted," Delphine finally spoke up, causing the elf to turn towards her for a moment in surprise, "I also noticed that you have quite the fortress not far from the entrance to this settlement... are you, by chance, in the mood to let someone move into the fortress?"
"You mean Fort Frostmoth?" Adril asked, a light smile appearing on his face, before it disappeared moments later, "That place has been abandoned for two hundred years, though the Captain of the Redoran Guards, Captain Veleth, seems convinced that the ash spawn are coming from that place. We'll also have to inquire about the exchange with the Councilor, Lleril Morvayn, before either of us can do anything about it."
Sunset nodded and beckoned for her friends, including Delphine, to follow her as she made her way towards the entrance to Raven Rock that rested on her right. She waited until they were passed the two Redoran Guards that were keeping watch for trouble, where she stopped and turned to her companions. She knew that her course of action would be to head to the Earth Stone and figure out where Miraak was hiding, but she also knew that Delphine would like to get their base up and running before anything else.
"I can see it in your eyes," Delphine commented, a light smile appearing on her face, but unlike the one Adril had Delphine's stayed on, "and I agree with you Sunset, we must create a base of operations on this island. Fort Frostmoth may be covered and buried in ash, but with some work we should be able to whip it into shape for people to live in once more."
With Delphine agreeing with her Sunset led the group out of the tunnel and headed in the direction of Fort Frostmoth, though before they were even ten minutes outside the settlement she spotted someone in bone armor that was being attacked by three creatures that were clearly made from ash. Bjorn, needing no prompt from Sunset or Delphine, drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and loosed it into the chest of the creature to the Captain's right, knocking it to the ground almost immediately. Cicero and Raja took the one on the left, cutting the creature down before it had a chance to wound the Captain, who cut the final one down on his own.
"Thanks... I wasn't sure I'd make it off this farm alive." Captain Veleth said, sheathing his battleaxe before beckoning to the dead men around him, "I wish I could have said the same for my man here. I was searching for clues that might lead me to wherever they're coming from. I know it isn't the best place to start, but we know they've been coming from this direction."
"How about Fort Frostmoth?" Raja asked, though Sunset could see the piece of parchment that she had picked up, "Apparently there's someone called Falx Carius that's commanding the ash spawn living in the fortress... and he's not pleased with your settlement at all. We had best get in there and take care of this undead commander."
Sunset nodded her understanding and they continued towards the ash covered fortress, though as they did so she also noticed that Veleth was following behind them, almost as if he was eager to see what happened for himself. When they arrived at the fortress they discovered one lone ash spawn patrolling the ruined dock, to which Sunset forced it to explode with a well placed lightning bolt to the chest. Once that deed was done Sunset nodded to Delphine, who walked onto the dock and pulled out a war horn, which she blew into to signal to the ships. They waited as the ships came to the dock, though during that time Sunset was somewhat surprised that the ash spawn didn't come at them while they stood there.
"We will need to repair this dock first," Delphine commented, studying the rotting structure of the dock while they stood there, "then we'll need to figure out how to get rid of the ash... though I have the feeling that you'll figure something out Sunset."
Sunset knew that the women was right, as she already had several spells in mind that would hold up until they were ready to leave the island and, as a bonus, they wouldn't drain any of her own magic. While she thought about magic she could have sworn that she felt the presence of two Dragon Priests nearby; one when they were talking to Adril in Raven Rock, and one that was close to their exact location. She knew that, according to the dragons in the Forgotten Vale, that there had to be thirteen Dragon Priests in total, which meant that the other five had to be on Solstheim somewhere, one of which she was sure had to be Miraak. She resolved to hunt down the remaining Priests and make sure that they were awakened, because she was sure that she was going to need their power as well.
Once the ships neared the dock the sailors pulled out wooden walkways that they used to connect to the dock, before the soldiers marched off the ships and stopped before the group. Delphine then issued orders for them to enter the fortress and destroy every ash spawn that they found, though Orak declared that he wanted to put whoever was leading them down himself. Sunset watched as her forces entered Fort Frostmoth, but as they did so the commander of the ash spawn, Falx Carius himself, appeared near the top of one of the walls and shouted at his soldiers to form ranks and attack the 'invaders'.
A force of at least twenty ash spawn pulled themselves out of the ash, forming their bodies and their weapons, before they spotted their enemies and charged at them. Sunset's soldiers, who trained for the last two weeks for something like this, drew their own weapons and bashed their shields into the advancing enemies, knocking them back for a moment. The archers pulled out their bows and loosed arrows at the ash spawn that stayed in the back, pinning them to the ground so the rest of their forces could cut them down. Orak himself cut at least three of them down all by himself, but Sunset expected as much from the orc considering that he took out an entire fortress by himself in Skyrim.
Sunset watched as her forces advanced into the actual fort, where they encountered more ash spawn and put down everything that stood in their way, until they came to the final chamber and found the commander of the undead waiting for them.
"Your forces are formidable," Falx Carius commented, drawing his warhammer as Orak approached him, "I shall enjoy making sure that you are all turned into ash spawn, so that we may destroy the Raven Rock Stronghold..."
Orak charged forward, but when he drew close to the undead captain he pulled back and allowed the massive weapon to move passed where he had been standing, before delivering a cut to the captain's backside. Falx growled and turned around, swinging his weapon and hitting one of the support pillars that Orak taunted him towards, though all that did was make the captain even angrier. The taunting went on for some time, though each time the captain missed his mark Orak would cut him in some way to fuel the anger, to make him go into a blind rage. When the undead captain did go into a rage state he began to attack everything around him, though Orak simply dodged each of the attacks as he looked for an opening he could use.
When that opening revealed itself Orak disarmed the undead captain, picked up the warhammer, and smashed the head of the weapon into the captain's chest, destroying whatever was keeping him alive as he dropped to the floor, as a few minutes later he didn't get back up.
"Well then, I guess we had better speak to the Councilor," Delphine said, looking over at the Redoran Captain for a moment, before turning back to Sunset, "I suggest that you use whatever spell you've been thinking of while Orak, Tullius, and I head back to Raven Rock with Veleth, though if all goes as planned we should be back with news that this fortress will serve as our base."
Sunset nodded and followed the group of four out of the fortress, where she watched them return to the path they had taken to reach the fortress and begin the journey back to Raven Rock. Sunset, on the other hand, reached into her robes and pulled out two spheres, one made of silver while the other was made of quicksilver, but both of them had magical runes etched on their surfaces. She had painstakingly created these during her time in Labyrinthian, a secret project that she had kept hidden from everyone, so that wherever their base on Solstheim was located she could create a barrier that protected her soldiers.
She moved to the tower that overlooked one half of the fortress, where she flashed to the top of it and set the silver sphere down in the center, to which the magic inside the orb allowed it to suspend itself in midair. She then turned around and sailed through the air to the building diagonally across from it, where she lifted the quicksilver orb into the air and allowed its magic to take over. Once the two orbs were in the air she returned to the middle of the fortress and let the magic flow into her body, to which she activated the spell she had prepared in advance.
The moment she released the magic a shimmering barrier sprung up around Fort Frostmoth, which would be fueled by the two spheres until she told them to stop working.
"There, our soldiers should be safe from harm," Sunset said, silencing her magic as her friends approached her, "and, if Delphine says we need to find someplace else to make our base, then I can easily recall the spell and pick the sphere's up."
Bjorn nodded his understanding, though they all waited outside the fortress for Delphine and the Generals to return with news on who owned the fortress. An hour passed before any of them returned to the fort, though when they did Sunset noticed that they were accompanied by another dunmer, though this one was dressed up as a wizard. Captain Veleth was clearly back at Raven Rock, though Sunset wondered what the decision on the fort was as her companions approached her.
"We come baring good news," Delphine said, showing Sunset a smile as she did so, "Councilor Morvayn has agreed to give us control over Fort Frostmoth, which means that we can begin clearing out all this ash and whip this place into shape."
"That is good news," Sunset replied, before beckoning to the elf that had followed the group into the fortress, "and who might you be?"
"I am Neloth, Master Wizard of House Telvanni," the dunmer replied, though his eyes were looking at the two magical orbs that fueled the barrier above them, "I must say, I am quite curious as to what the magical properties of those orbs are... and if I might be able to study them at some point."
"We'll discuss that at a later date," Sunset told the dunmer, not really wanting to reveal how the orbs had been crafted, but figured that she'd tell the wizard something that would tide him over, "at the moment I am currently searching for Miraak, so any information you have on him would gladly be appreciated."
"Ah, but that makes very little sense." Neloth replied, shaking his head slightly, "You see, Miraak's been dead for thousands of years. There are ruins of an ancient temple of Miraak's toward the center of the island, so if I were you I'd start my search there."
Sunset nodded to the master wizard, grateful that she already had a base of operations and a possible location as to where she could find the person they had come to make a deal with. While Delphine, Orak, and General Tullius oversaw the building of a permanent base of operations here she would head into the nearby mountain and see what awaited her at Miraak's temple. With the barrier up her soldiers would be able to remove all the ash they wanted without having to worry about more coming inside and ruining their work, as the spell was designed to allow the ash to connect with the barrier and then slide off to the sides.
Soon she and her friends would meet the First Dragonborn and then discover what she needed to do so she could form some sort of agreement with him. Then, once they were done with Solstheim, they would return to Skyrim, find Tirek, and then destroy the demon before he had a chance to ruin Nirn.
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Tirek stood on the terrace of his ruined tower, staring out at the open area of the Rift as he ignored the floating artifact that rested beside the portal behind him, wondering if he was even prepared to fight with Mehrunes Dagon. The majority of the other fourteen Princes had dealt some serious damage to him, damage that he was still recovering from, though he could not put it off any longer. Once Dagon was dealt with he had to summon Hermaeus Mora, though he had to wonder what damage the Prince of Destruction would do to this world. He had to resist the urge to sigh as he turned back to the open gateway, to which he summoned his magic and allowed the call to echo through Oblivion.
Not seconds later the portal was torn open as a humanoid creature, at least twice as tall as he was, baring four arms and having skin that was deep red, stepped out of the portal. Dagon only wore a loincloth that was fastened out of metal and some sort of chest piece that only covered his shoulders, leaving his chest wide open. The Daedric Prince stared at him for a moment, with a wicked smile that overtook his face, before all of his hands summoned what appeared to be daedric swords, though on his back he had a daedric greatsword.
"I thank you for summoning me, demon," Dagon said, beckoning to the sky for a moment, which was now filled with cracks, "Because of you the barrier between worlds is almost non existent, so I can now walk Nirn with my full power coursing through by veins... and I'll start by destroying you!"
Tirek barely had time to react as Dagon rushed before him and swung his normal swords at him, cutting into his arms and legs before kicking him in the chest. Tirek growled and summoned his magic into his right hand, but when he released it at the Prince all Dagon did was swing one of his swords at it and an explosion rocked the tower, shattering the floor they were standing on. Tirek leapt backwards and watched as the entirety of the tower below it crumpled under the weight of Dagon's power, something he had expected when he decided to summon the Prince to Nirn.
Dagon appeared behind Tirek and swung all four of his swords at his back, cutting four gashes into his back that destroyed the robe he was wearing, before an explosion rocked his back and blew him out of the air. He sailed through the air and hit the ground in what appeared to be a steam area, but as he coughed and picked himself up Dagon landed on the ground before him, cracking the earth beneath his feet. He then growled and gathered energy into his fist, which he then swung into the Prince's chest, but when the magic happened the energy appeared behind Dagon and the ground behind him began to quake.
Tirek's eyes widened as Dagon brought the swords down on his body, cutting into his shoulders and delivering two deep gashes that went from his shoulders and stopped at the bottom of his chest. Dagon then kicked him hard in the chest, to the point where he could feel his ribs cracking under the intensity of the blows, before he was blown back into the wall of earth behind him. As Tirek slowly picked himself up Dagon sheathed his four swords into his arms and legs before he drew his greatsword, but before Tirek could move out of the way he found the greatsword lodged inside his chest, going all the way through and pinning him to the wall.
"Death is what you deserve," Dagon growled, turning to go for a moment, but then noticed that the last person he expected to see again, Jyggalag, was standing up on the hillside nearby.
Before he could move towards the Prince of Order a rush of energy erupted from behind him, causing him to turn around and find a pillar of dark red energy ascending towards the sky, shattering the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion. When the energy stopped Dagon's eyes widened in surprise when he discovered that not only were his weapons gone, but every wound he had dealt to the demon had suddenly healed up. Tirek himself was now void of something to cover his chest, but his lower body had now deepened to a near black color while his chest, arms, and head had changed to a deep red color. His horns still only came out to about the top of his head, but Dagon knew that the demon was powerful thanks to the power of the other Princes coursing through his veins.
The instant Dagon tried to move Tirek appeared before him and grabbed onto his neck, lifting him into the air before taking his power from his body.
"You came close to killing me," Tirek growled, enjoying the rush of power he was feeling at the moment, "but yet you failed. Once I have your power, and the power of the final Prince, I shall destroy Sunset Shimmer and her allies, before shattering this pathetic world."