Sombra visits Skyrim

by Blackdrag-rose

31: Priest Hunting

Raika opened her eyes and found herself laying in the same area of Fort Dawnguard that Sombra had summoned the first Shadow Gate earlier that day, only now it was night time. She moaned and picked herself up, seeing Trixie laying near the opening of their area and Sombra, having been separated from her shadow at last, was sitting on a tree stump near them. As she got onto her feet she noticed the argonian laying next to where she had been just a few moments before, though she didn't want to be anywhere near him for now. Once she was up she approached Trixie and gently nudged her, causing her to open her eyes, she thought she did as the mask was still on, and get up.

"So...what happened with that gate?" Raika asked, knowing that it wasn't normal for them to have to wake up from using a gate.

"Unexpected visitor," Sombra replied, spying the argonian that had ruined the spell, "The Gates are supposed to know exactly how many people are passing from point A to point B, so when there's an extra person it causes unforeseen effects on the magic. Despite the ruined magic we'll need to tell Isran what we've seen and how many vampires are waiting for the Dawnguard inside that castle."

Raika nodded and the three of them moved towards the entrance to Fort Dawnguard, leaving the argonian behind for any of the other members of the Dawnguard to find. As they approached the doors Raika looked towards the path that they had walked up earlier that day, finding that new wooden gates had been put up while they were gone. She wasn't sure what the new gates would do against the vampires they had seen, but she didn't think that they would find them that quickly. She pushed open the front door and found several members of the Dawnguard running around, moving around crates that no doubt contained even more armor and weapons.

"Ah, our valiant recruit and her friends have returned," Isran said, seeing the group enter the open chamber, "So, what were the vampires looking for in Dimhollow Crypt?"

"A women with an Elder Scroll," Raika replied, stretching her arms as they approached the bald man, "She wanted to go back to her family home and we took her there, but I made sure to scout out how many vampires were there..."

"You let them take the Elder Scroll?" Isran demanded, shock filling his face, "Why didn't you just kill every one of them and take it from their dusty hands?"

"We were lucky to escape with our lives," Sombra told the bald man, "Judging by how many vampires were standing around us and how many they had lurking beneath the floors your lucky to have any knowledge of their numbers."

"Fine, hold your horses," Isran said, holding his hands up while unknowingly making a pun, "We've got all night to discuss numbers and determine what extra layers of protection we'll need to defend this fort. Then we'll discuss how to recover the Elder Scroll once we're done with our preparations."

"And what preparations would those be?" said a voice behind them, causing them all to turn around and seen a group of five nordic vampires standing there with their weapons drawn.

"How in Oblivion did you find the fort that fast?" Raika asked, wondering if the group had snuck through the gateway before Sombra could have closed it, "We literally just left your castle a few minutes ago."

"Fools, we've known where your fort was located for weeks now," the vampire continued, chuckling as he stared at Raika and his friends stepped in front of him, "It was only a matter of time before Lord Harkon or one of his followers was attacked by the Vigilants of Stendarr, but when it happened we were ready to strike out at all of you. Your hall has been destroyed and soon your fort will follow in its tracks."

"Stendarr says to protect the weak, heal the sick, and give to the needy. I can tell that your prefer to be unkind and ungenerous to the people of Tamriel. May the Nine Divines have mercy on your souls."

Before the head vampire could even respond his head went flying, rolling past his friends and stopping in front of Isran as everyone stared back at the now open door. The argonian from earlier stood at the door, but in his right hand was a huge two handed sword that looked like it was older than most weapons that Raika had ever seen. His hood was drawn back now, revealing the deep red scales underneath and a scar that crossed his left eye, but otherwise he looked like he was prepared to fight someone. One vampire, a female nord, loudly growled and leapt at him, but before she could even reach the argonian she was cut in half in midair.

"Traitor," another vampire growled, drawing his steel sword while the remaining two pulled out bows, "Lord Harkon will hear of this transgression and put a bounty on your head. The whole of the vampire nation will be hunting you before dawn touches the land again."

The argonian walked forward and the vampire attacked without wasting a second, finding his sword blocked by the giant sword that the argonian carried. The vampire spun around and brought the weapon down hard, but the argonian was prepared as he blocked the attack, bounced the sword off his own, and then pierced the vampire's heart without pause. The other two, realizing that they were surrounded by enemies on all sides, prepared to sacrifice each other so at least one of them could escape and tell the other vampires about the traitor. The argonian moved to the right and brought the blade down on the first vampire with ease, slicing him in half as if the argonian had cut bread. The second vampire, sensing her chance, moved towards the front door and was immediately stopped, finding the argonain's weapon sticking out of her chest before she hit the ground.

Raika had never seen anyone besides the Princesses move as fast as that and drop enemies that fast, so she wondered exactly who was standing in front of them. The argonian pulled out a vase and cast a spell on the five bodies, turning them from flesh and bone to pure ash before he collected all the ashes. He muttered something about honoring Arkay by burying the ashes of the fallen somewhere where they could provide for trees and various plants.

"Who are you exactly?" Isran asked, drawing his warhammer as he approached the argonian.

"I am he who served the Nine during the Oblivion Crisis," the argonian replied, collecting his weapon before turning to face the assembled group, "I am he who stood at the side of the Hero of Kvatch, Rend Org'resh, and the Queen of Knights, Nightmare Moon, they who fought against Mehrunes Dagon. I am he who recovered the ancient weapons and armor of the First Divine Crusader, Pelinal Whitestrake, and used them to destroy Umaril the Unfeathered, whose weapon I have carried since that fateful day. I am Shadowscale, the Divine Crusader reborn, though I prefer being called Shadow these days."

Raika, having personally met Rend only a day ago, had figured that most of what happened during the Oblivion Crisis had been solved by Rend and Rend alone. Now it made some sense that a lot of stories told of a third important figure during that trying time, someone who had fought beside Rend and Nightmare. She never would have suspected that the Divine Crusader would have been a vampire, nor would she had expected him to serve someone who wanted to become a tyrant to everyone in Tamriel.

"By Stendarr, forgive me for not realizing who you were," Isran said, bowing before the argonian, "I had heard that the Divine Crusader had died during the fight with Umaril, but it seems that the new Knights of the Nine didn't trust many people with the truth. Never in a thousand years would I have suspected that the Divine Crusader would have turned out to be a vampire."

"Please rise," Shadow told the man, letting him rise to his feet, "I was cursed with vampirism while I was helping Rend with his quest, but eventually I came to terms with my current state and realized that the Divines had more plans for me. So, when the Oblivion Crisis was over, I made another pilgrimage to the nine wayshrines and received another vision from the Nine, telling me to head into Skyrim and wait at Castle Volkihar until the Dragonborn showed him or herself. After almost three hundred years the Dragonborn, in the form of Raika here, finally arrived and I knew it was the time that the Divines had told me to wait for."

"What is your mission now?" Raika asked, wondering what the Divines could have told Shadow to make him live with those vampires for so long.

"I was to help the Dragonborn stop the Volkihar Vampires," Shadow replied, pulling out a cloth and wiping the blood off his weapon, "So, what's our next step in stopping Harkon?"

"Well, I was thinking I really needed to get some sleep first," Raika told him, "I literally just destroyed Alduin the World-Eater and immediately started this quest, so I am tired beyond belief and if I go any further I'm likely to fall over and get killed by something. Forgive me if you were expecting to start a righteous quest as soon as you revealed everything, but my friends and I desperately need some rest."

"I understand," Shadow replied, putting the cloth away and sheathing his weapon, which faded into the robe he was wearing, "I shall wait until morning or evening until it is time for us to depart on our mission. I shall also keep watch for any more vampires that might be lurking in the canyon and dispatch of any that threaten the safety of everyone here."

--------------------------

The night had passed without any more vampires coming to the fort and either demand that the Dawnguard surrender to the might of Lord Harkon or just out right attack. That meant that the vampires that had been slain by Shadow were either the only group in the immediate area or Shadow had seen more and had dealt with them. When Raika came down the staircase and moved towards the meeting room she found Isran speaking to Shadow, no doubt about the Divine's trials he had to overcome to get the ancient relics. Trixie sat at the end of the table, though she wasn't wearing Nahkriin's mask at the moment, and Sombra simply sat across from her with a book open net to him.

The only person she wasn't expecting to see was Serana, who sat between the two groups all by herself, but when she noticed Raika she waved her over.

"What are you doing here?" Raika asked, sitting across from Serana, "After everything we did to get you back to your family home?"

"My father's ordered all the vampires under his rule to search Skyrim for a Moth Priest," Serana replied, reaching behind her and placing her Elder Scroll on the table, "apparently this Elder Scroll holds the key to revealing how to fulfill a prophecy he called 'The Tyranny of the Sun'. Basically its a time where all vampires gain power over the Sun and have no need to fear its power over them."

"So you want to find this priest and learn how to stop the prophecy?" Raika asked, making sure she got the picture straight in her head, "And I'm assuming that we have an idea of where this priest might be?"

"Well, Isran won't speak to someone like me," Serana told her, beckoning to the still ongoing conversation, "but he'll listen and speak to your friend Shadow, who claims to be this 'legendary' Divine Crusader. From what I can gather they are confirming several stories on the Moth Priests and should have some definite answers for us, or rather you, soon."

Raika had no idea what a Moth Priest even was or what in any realm of Oblivion they had to do with an Elder Scroll, but if the vampires were looking for one then so were they. She just hoped that Isran, in the short amount of time they had been there, had something for them to work with and could send them directly towards the priest.

"So Isran, any idea where our Moth Priest went?" Raika asked, turning to face the chatting pair.

"Only rumors I'm afraid," Isran replied, moving his right hand and placing a finger on someplace near the fort, "but one rumor I heard said that the Moth Priest was going to visit Forelhost, not too far from where we are currently stationed. I suggest that you head there and see if he's still in the area, but if he's not then you might as well come back and check the other rumors."

Raika sighed and pulled herself out of her seat, turning around so she could head to the front door and see if the Moth Priest was actually at Forelhost. She had absolute now idea why the Priest would be interested in the ruins, save for the fact that there was a Dragon Priest somewhere inside. As she walked to the door she heard a bunch of seats being pushed back and a bunch of feet following after her, telling Raika that her friends were following. As they walked outside Raika spotted the other soldiers running around, carrying more crates that she suspected were full of provisions and ingots.

Getting out of the canyon wasn't a problem for them, as all they had to do was retrace the path that they had taken to enter it the day before, and they eventually found themselves back on the main path. Once they were back on the road they turned to the southwest and began walking, knowing that they just had to climb around a mountain and they'd find themselves in the ruins of Forelhost. During their hike they came across a lone bear, who raised itself to attack them and was quickly put down by Trixie with a well placed ice spike. Eventually they crossed over a fallen pillar and approached the entrance to Forelhost, finding a small camp and an altmer dressed up in the clothes of a Stormcloak officer.

"You there," the altmer said, seeing them approach and getting onto his feet, "The General sent me to...acquire...a weapon of incredible power for the war effort. Will you help me acquire the staff of the Dragon Priest called Rahgot?"

"A question for you first," Raika replied, knowing that his story was already full of holes, "I had heard that a Moth Priest had come this way to do some research and I was wondering if he had actually made it here."

"How about this," the altmer said, "You get me the staff of Rahgot and I share my information on the Moth Priest with you."

"Fine," Raika growled, knowing that he was likely going to screw the deal the moment that he had the staff, "just unlock the door and well go kill the blasted Dragon Priest."

As they approached the door Trixie pulled out Nahkriin and put it on, though Raika couldn't help but notice that the altmer was staring at the mask the entire time. The moment that the door was unlocked Raika threw it open and walked inside, her weapons drawn as she busted down the wooden door just a few steps in front of her. That action immediately caused the ghosts that inhabited the ruins to awaken, turning to face the intruders as Raika severed the ghostly head of the first one she came to.

"Let none of these undead fragments of the Dragon Cult survive," Raika shouted, spinning around and bringing her swords down hard on a second ghost, "We shall permanently destroy the Dragon Cult and make sure that they never return to Skyrim."

Trixie, Serana, and Sombra moved in front of her, weapons and various spells at the ready as they were greeted with a wave of awakened ghosts and draugr. Raika and Shadow followed behind, though Raika was quick to leap over their shoulders and drive her blades deep into one of the large draugr the moment she got close. A trail of lightning bolts, one red, one yellow, and one black, flew past her and blasted three of their enemies into the next week, taking them off their feet and tossing them into the walls around them. One draugr slipped past them and approached Shadow, though it never made it to him as its body was cut into dozens of pieces and scattered across the floor.

"I shall honor the dead," Shadow said, magic leaping from his fingers to every body he passed, "and raze this unholy temple of the undead to the ground in a sea of holy fire."

Raika didn't know what was scarier at this point; staring Alduin in the face, fighting the darkness that rested inside Sombra, or the fact that the Divine Crusader was trying to roast them all alive with the rest of the undead. Between the fact that the others were tearing the undead apart with their magic and Shadow was cutting and burning his enemies, Raika found that she didn't need to fight as much as she had to in the past.

They passed by several sleeping areas, where even more of the undead rose up to greet their living intruders, and Raika spotted a journal that had somehow remained intact over the years. As her friends destroyed the undead Raika picked up the journal and skimmed through the pages, finding that they had a lot of stuff to go through to reach the inner sanctum. Or, if any of them were masters at picking locks, they could open the well without getting the key and save maybe an hour or two before the flames got to them. One ghost, finding that Raika wasn't paying attention, drew back its arm and swung at her, but she raised her sword and disarmed it before driving her blade through it completely.

"Never assume that the Dragonborn isn't aware of her surroundings," Raika spat, picking up her other sword before moving onto the next room with the others.

They rounded a few more corners before they came to a large wooden door that lead deeper into the ruins and was guarded by a single draugr deathlord. Shadow held up his hand and stepped down to where the draugr was standing, backing up just a tiny bit when it swung its greatsword at him and missed. The draugr swung again, but this time Shadow ducked under the blade, raised his right fist, and drove it hard into the draugr's chest, causing it to drop its weapon. Then Shadow spun around and smacked the draugr on the back, forcing it to fall over before he picked up the fallen weapon and drove it through its dead heart.

"I had plenty of time to practice with all the types of weapons that are scattered throughout Tamriel," Shadow remarked, drawing himself up as the body burst into flames, "I have perfected the art of fighting with swords of all sizes, hammers that could lightly tap you or crush you in an instant, axes that could harm or even kill in seconds, and my bare fists."

Raika sighed as they continued through the ruins, coming to a hallway that had several open coffins and a group of draugr that was waiting for them. She leapt forward and drove her blades deep into the first foe she came to, before tearing them out and cutting a second enemy down as it raised its weapon into the air. As she picked herself up more lightning passed by her, blasting several more draugr off their feet and crushing them into the wall behind them. Once the group was taken care of Raika spotted the side passage that the journal had mentioned and immediately took it, backing up to avoid the trap before passing through it.

Shadow, once again, stepped forward and produced a lockpick, sliding it into the keyhole of the gate in front of them and turned it several times before he pushed the gate open. Raika wasn't surprised by that, because if he had enough time to master all the ways to use a weapon then it made sense that he could unlock anything without really trying. With the gate out of the way they descended into the water and made their way even deeper into the forgotten ruin, coming to yet another area with a group of freshly awoken draugr. Her friends stepped forward and began their assault, spells flying into the dead as their newer weapons clashed with the ancient weapons all around her.

They rounded yet another corner, passed through another door way, and walked up a set of stairs before they came to an eating area that housed another group of draugr. Raika was already surprised by how many of the undead they had already seen, but there were nowhere near the end of the ruin and yet more of them seemed to spill out of the walls. Shadow, seeing how many more of the undead stood in their way, pulled out his two handed sword and approached the group in front of them. The first draugr swung his battleaxe at him, but Shadow ducked under the blade and sliced his enemy in half before moving onto the next foe.

Trixie and Serana followed after Shadow, blasting any draugr that either strayed out of Shadow's reach or tried to loose an arrow at any of their friends. Raika and Sombra brought up the back, just making sure that every draugr that the others had fought were actually dead and grabbing any magical item that Raika deemed was worth taking. While they walked Sombra spotted another dragon claw, much like the golden one they had found in Bleak Falls Barrow so long ago, made of what he assumed was some green material. As the group moved further into the ruins Sombra stopped and picked up the claw, hearing a gate open up somewhere in front of them.

They rounded yet another corner and walked up one of the infamous Hall of Stories until they came to the Nordic Puzzle Door that Raika had suspected they would find. Sombra approached the door and stared at the bottom of the claw, seeing the ancient combination and placing his spare hand on the top ring until he saw the fox symbol. He smiled and moved the second ring until he spotted the next symbol, the owl symbol, and moved onto the last ring, the lower ring. Before he moved the last ring he had everyone back up, just in case the combination on the claw was wrong and he sprung the traps that the door had. Once the last ring showed the snake symbol he pressed the claw against the keyhole and waited a second, hearing a click as the door began to shudder and move down.

"Trixie," Raika said, causing the young mage to turn to her, "as much as I want to kick the stuffing out of this Dragon Priest for wasting my time, I think you should take him. When you beat him make sure to grab both his mask and his staff, as I won't be coming back here after we leave."

Trixie nodded and pulled out her sword, walking into the open chamber and keeping her eyes peeled for anything that could awaken any more draugr. The moment that she stepped onto the bottom of the staircase she heard four coffins open up, wondering how her stepping on a step could have awoken them. She sighed and turned to the nearest coffin, driving her sword through the heart of the draugr before it could even raise its weapon against her. As a second realized that she was attacking Trixie called on her magic, turned around, and threw a lightning bolt that struck the undead hard in its chest.

Before any of the other two draugr could see her and what she had done Trixie called upon her images and six copies of herself stepped into the area around her, each of them wearing a shadowy image of Nahkriin's mask. The seven of them ran up the stairs, magic leaping out of their hands at the other two draugr and casting them into the sides of the chamber so hard that Trixie was sure they wouldn't get back up. She started to look around for Rahgot, but then the coffin in the center of the chamber opened up and the Dragon Priest flew into the air, landing not far from where she and her images were standing.

Rahgot took a moment to study his surroundings before noticing Trixie and her images, though he seemed to focus on Nahkriin's mask as if he thought that she was his old friend.

"Nahkriin, dii fahdon, hi lost daal wah mii!" Rahgot spoke in the Dragon Tongue, fully expecting Trixie to understand him, "Fun zey, fos dreh Drog Alduin uth do mii?"

Trixie and her images stood there for a moment, waiting for Rahgot to realize that she wasn't who he was thinking that she was and actually attack her. A few more moments passed before flames wrapped around Rahgot and he pointed his staff at one of her images, telling Trixie that he had seen through her.

"Hi! Hi los ni Nahkriin!" Rahgot shouted, flames surrounding his left hand, "Rodraan wah dir kosmeyiik!"

The fireball flew into one of Trixie's images and utterly destroyed it, though it seemed that finding the wrong opponent only upset Rahgot even more. Trixie called upon the lightning and tossed it at her opponent, lightly striking Rahgot in his shoulder and causing him to turn directly towards where she was standing. Before he could throw a spell at her he was hit in the side of the head with an ice spike, though he immediately spun around and threw the fireball at her other image, blasting it into Oblivion.

Trixie thought that fighting Rahgot like she had done to Nahkriin would work in the same regard, but he seemed to strike out at whoever struck him first. So, with this information in mind, she directed her images to the other side of the chamber and Rahgot's gaze followed them as one threw a fireball at his head. Rahgot dropped his staff and brought his hands together, summoning a fireball that Trixie was sure would wipe all her images off the face of Skyrim until she called on them once more. Keeping the images and their spells going was till sapping at her magic, but Trixie managed to get up and held onto the legendary sword, preparing to slip it through Rahgot's rotten heart the moment that he cast his spell.

The fireball soared towards her images and exploded, though Trixie could sense that they had been destroyed and had very little time to follow through with her plan. Before Rahgot could turn and face her Trixie brought up the Magistrate and pierced Rahgot right in his chest, already feeling the sword's magic tearing at the magic that kept him alive. It took a few moments, but eventually Rahgot stopped moving and Trixie pulled her sword free, pausing to collect the fallen staff and the second Dragon Priest Mask.

"Victory, my name is Trixie Lulamoon," Trixie shouted, spotting her friends reach the top of the stairs, "Slayer of the Dragon Priests Nahkriin and Rahgot."

Raika spotted the mask in her hand and was glad that she had chosen the right person to deal with the Dragon Priest, though Trixie was eager to hand her the staff as she stashed the mask in her robes. They approached the large iron doors and passed out of the ruins at long last, welcoming the cold Skyrim air once again as Raika spotted yet another Word Wall. Before they jumped off the wall and talked to the altmer that sent them into Forelhost in the first place Raika approached the Wall and absorbed another Word of Power, still not caring which one it was. With that taken care of they leapt off the wall and hit the snow below them, though Raika was quick to get up and walk towards the elf's camp.

"Okay, we've taken care of Rahgot and got his...staff?" Raika started, only stopping when she noticed that the elf was dressed in Imperial armor and was talking to an Imperial soldier, "Care to explain?"

"Die cur!" the elf shouted, drawing his weapon as the soldier did the same.

Raika drew her sword and slew the Imperial soldier without pause, but then simply disarmed the elf and pressed the blade's tip against his throat.

"Tell me," Raika growled, "where is the Moth Priest?"

"Fool, he was never here," the elf chuckled, just making Raika even madder, "Go ahead and get on with it, I won't survive ten minutes once word of my actions reaches the ears of Tullius and Ulfric."

Raika brought back her arm and severed the elf's head within seconds. Once the deed was done she sheathed her sword and tossed the staff to Trixie, who caught it and returned it to her robe for safe keeping. Their next step was to either head back to Fort Dawnguard or head someplace else that they could get a reliable source of information on their missing Moth Priest. Then an idea came to mind for someplace else they could search, someplace where she knew a researcher would never pass up the chance to visit.

"So, where to next?" Serana asked, crossing her arms as she stared at Raika.

"The College of Winterhold," Raika replied, seeing Trixie's eyes light up, "there's someone there that can give us the information we need to find our missing Moth Priest."

Raika was just hoping that Urag would be willing to give up the information without asking for something in return, as was the common practice of everyone in Skyrim.

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

The Divine Crusader? As in the Knight of the Nine? Awesome!
And did Trixie just wreck Rahgot? Even more awesome.
Two Dragon Priests down, Six more to go.
I call that Morokei is the next one going down.

[Sonata Blaze]

5768734 Maybe Morokei? He uses the most magic out of the Eight Dragon Priests. I wonder how long a relationship between them would last, though I'm sure that it would end if they tried to recruit her into the cult.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Stendarr be praised, the Divine Crusader still lives!