Skyrim: The Faces of Death

by Blackdrag-rose

War: End of the Road

With Za'kera and the others dealing with the enemies on the beach, so they could make their way towards the heart of the island, Amaryllis made her way over to Auridon, finding that Lady Seirhy, her forces, and all of their sea allies were starting their part of the assault. Based on what she knew this was the best way to make sure their enemy didn't flank them, even though she had no idea how the Dominion was supposed to flank them with all of the forces they had gathered just for this event, but one never could be too careful, since they had no idea what the Dominion had done to their home. She found that the Maormer didn't really need help right now, as each one was knocking the Altmer on their rears and taking them into custody for a time, so they could be transported back to their ships and be liberated from the Dominion's dark grasp, while only killing their foes when it was absolutely necessary. So far it didn't look like the Maormer, despite their dislike for the Altmer force for the attack on their home, were letting their rage and anger control them, rather they seemed calm and far more collected than anyone she had seen during an event like this, even though this was the second battle like this she had seen.

After checking on them, and finding that they didn't need help in dealing with their enemies, Amaryllis found her way over to where the Stormcloaks had positioned themselves for an attack, where it looked like they had sailed passed Skywatch and were planning on attacking Firsthold. It was just another piece of confirmation for her, given that she and Za'kera had been worried that Ulfric would do something stupid, and made her wonder what she was going to find when she finally found his forces, since they were further along Auridon than Lady Seirhy's forces. It didn't take her all that long to find the ships that belonged to the Stormcloaks, given the blue bear flags that they carried with them at all times, and after that it was easy for her to find an area that served as a battlefield between the Nordic force and the defenders of Firsthold. What she discovered just confirmed how stupid Ulfric was and how dumb his people were for following such a stupid command, especially since they were supposed to be aiding Za'kera in liberating the island from the Dominion, while making her take a moment to wonder if she was going to have to save them.

The scene she had discovered was the area outside the walled city of Firsthold, where there were bodies all over the place, Altmer and Nordic alike, confirming that the Dominion had noticed their coming and had readied the island for attackers, though the only reason half of the Stormcloaks were alive was due to Tosh Raka's forces stopping to save them. Sure, part of her was sad to see so many die in vain, especially given the orders Za'kera had given them earlier, though the other side didn't care as much since they had brought this upon themselves, instead of leaving it for Lady Seirhy's forces to take care of at some point. Ulfric, on the other hand, was already huffing as he unleashed the power of the Thu'um, knocking some of the Altmer out of the way as Galmar rushed forward and smashed some of their heads in with his warhammer, though as that happened some of the archers rained arrows down on his forces, several soldiers falling to the Dominion's arrows, before she found that one Altmer, a ranger with some high ranking armor, had her eyes set on him. She knocked one of her fine arrows and loosed it, where it struck Ulfric near his left shoulder, something that outraged the Jarl as he charged into battle again, hacking his way through the Altmer coming at him, before a second one struck him, just above the waist on the left side.

The third arrow pierced his heart and dropped the mighty Jarl to his knees, while Galmer was blasted into the ground by a number of mages, showing their forces that maybe this might have been a bad idea, though it didn't stop Ulfric's people from attacking the walls, while the ranger dropped down and made her way towards him. As that happened the forces of Tosh Raka smashed their way through the defenders that were in front of them and overturned the misfortunes of the Stormcloaks, though before rejoining the fight the ranger switched her elegant bow for a pair of short swords, which had a slight curve to them. She knew what was coming and watched as the ranger beheaded Ulfric, before he could Shout at her and knock her backwards, showing that she understood his power, though as that happened, and the tide of the soldiers changed around her, Amaryllis made her move, before it was lost. She landed behind the elf for a moment, shifting her form to match one of the Altmer soldiers that were around them, and cut her down, before she had a chance to defend herself, though this time around she used the shadows to cover the body and snatch it, leaving the area bare so she could take on the form herself, while collecting Ulfric's head in a sack.

The ranger had presented a perfect opportunity to her, giving her a way to enter the main city of the Summerset Isle and gain access to the area that the Dominion's leader was currently waiting in, where she glanced at her form and found that, in some ways, she was more striking than an Altmer should be, making her wonder if maybe the ranger had been one of the other races, like a Bosmer, before joining Tosh Raka.

"It seems that you have things under control," Amaryllis commented, causing the Tiger Dragon to turn towards her for a few seconds, with a look that indicated he might strike her down, where she shifted her form for a brief moment, allowing him to understand who he was talking to, before making the ranger's form her own entirely once more, taking in the odd white-gold hair she had.

"Indeed we do, 'Sylvanna Windrunner'," Tosh Raka replied, informing Amaryllis that he had figured something out about the form she was taking right now, once more making her wonder if there was another breed of elf in this world, even if she had no idea what they would be called, before he glanced at Firsthold once more, "You should learn more about the person your impersonating... wouldn't want to spoil the surprise by saying or doing something the elf wouldn't do."

Amaryllis nodded her head and stuck to the shadows as the forces in front of her liberated the city of Firsthold, as while the Tiger Dragon loved to do war he did have some of Abiru's people with him and it let him liberate them, where she and her allies spoke to those who had been saved so far. Such a thing allowed her to figure out more about her new form, the so called 'Ranger-General' who really screwed herself over by jumping down to deal with Ulfric, even though the armor she wore left more to be desired, as while there was armor on the lower half of her body, designed to be light for running and protective at the same time, there was a gap that exposed her stomach area. It was odd, meaning Sylvanna had thought of herself as someone who was hard, if not impossible, to kill, while the chest piece looked like it was designed to hold up her breasts and provide protection while doing that, though everything was light and meant that she would be able to move fast, and it came with a black cape and a silver hood, which matched the armor she was wearing. Other than that she was able to gain some valuable information from the liberated Altmer that were around her, even though they did find it odd that she was asking about herself, given that they had no idea who was in front of them and she ignored it, but once she had everything she needed she departed for her own true destination.

She was about to use Ulfric's stupid idea to her advantage, hopefully gain an audience with the one pulling the Dominion's strings, and bring an end to this war before things went south for them, she just had to be patient and see what sort of resistance would be waiting for her when she reached Alinor.

---

Amaryllis found that the city of Alinor, the seat of the Dominion's power, was a rather large city that held a number of tall spires, which seemed to catch the light and break it into all the colors of the rainbow, which might be an annoying sight for people to see all the time, and, of course, it had walls she had to pass by. As she expected the Dominion had guards out in force, making sure all travelers were watched over and inspected, just in case of Imperial plants no doubt, even though no other species were allowed into the city, much less allowed off their ships. Truth be told she didn't like this one bit, the fact that the Altmer were willing to treat the other races even worse than the Stormcloaks did, though she did discover that the other elven races were allowed in after some searching, meaning she didn't have to worry that much. She also found that many of them were glancing her way, meaning Sylvanna was either a well known figure on the island or they were slightly interested in what she was carrying in her right hand, the tripled layered sack that contained Ulfric's head, which had been designed that way to avoid dripping blood everywhere.

One thing she noted was that the soldiers were on their way out to the battlefield, to do battle with Za'kera's forces, but if she was fast enough this might bring an end to the war that they had brought to the island, though before she could enter the city one of the guards stopped her in her tracks.

"Sylvanna Windrunner, what brings you all the way to Alinor?" one of the guards asked, confirming that they knew who she was impersonating and that they were interested in what she was here, and not over on Auridon, which had to be the area she had been stationed in a long time ago.

"I have a gift, for Lady Morral's eyes only." Amaryllis replied, as what she had discovered was that Sylvanna was straight to the point when she talked to everyone, though there were times where the Ranger-General would keep information to herself and not share it with anyone, regardless of who they were, and she raised the sack for a moment, connecting it to her comment.

The guards nodded and told her directly where to go, just in case she had forgotten and meant that it must have been a while since Sylvanna had come to the city, though she was thankful for it and headed in with the group that was admitted, where she slipped into the shadows and made her way to the building in question. This was another reason as to why she was partly grateful to Ulfric, because of his foolish behavior she had gained the key to reaching Morral Graeious, who was her main target and would be the key to bringing an end to this war, especially when she thought about the other aspect that she had discovered about her current disguise. Sylvanna was someone who either liked or enjoyed bringing death to those that opposed her, which in this case meant the Dominion, and sometimes it affected her speech, though taking the head of someone was well within her habits, so no one would question her if they saw it with her. Other than that she had a feeling that she wouldn't need to act like the elf for too long, not if her plan worked and she dealt with the Dominion's leader, hence why Amaryllis focused on making her way through the city and found that many of the people seemed to wary of her.

It took her some time to reach her destination, about twenty minutes anyway, and when she entered it the guards that were inside stopped her and asked why she was here, prompting her to repeat the statement the guards at the main gate had received, and they beckoned to one hallway, allowing her to head up some stairs and reach the room that her target was in. As she quickly discovered Morral Graeious was an Altmer lady who wore fine clothing that seemed to be a dress that also doubled as armor, or at least she guessed that had been the thought process, which was black with a golden trim, and she had golden earrings with emeralds at the end. Her target had gray hair that reached beyond her neck, kept fine and to the point where it was stunning in some way, and her features revealed that she was rather stunning as well, at least in terms of an Altmer, and her office was rather elegant as well, showing her that the elf liked luxury and might be another way to mock the Emperor. Based on what she could see it looked like Morral was reading something when she entered the chamber, no doubt a report of the activities her agents were involved in, though she closed it when Amaryllis walked in, her expression showing that she was interested in what she was doing here.

"Sylvanna, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?" Morral asked, though at the same time Amaryllis took a few seconds to glance around the chamber and found that there were no weapons on the walls, but she knew the lady had one and she had hers to fall back on in case she needed to use one.

"A gift, courtesy of those attacking Firsthold." Amaryllis replied, where she stepped forward and placed the sack right in front of the Altmer, who raised an eyebrow before opening it and discovered that Ulfric's head was in it, though she did nothing as she stood there, showing indifference towards this fact.

"It seems the Emperor bribed the Stormcloaks with revenge against us and it cost him some of his allies... good, the more of them that die the easier our mission will be." Morral said, the smile on her face making Amaryllis a little annoyed with her, but she remained neutral and uncaring, showing that she had no concern for the lives of everyone else, before the elf looked up for a moment, "You said they were attacking Firsthold... are they in need of reinforcements?"

"Not at all, we decimated them completely and utterly." Amaryllis stated, as she didn't want the Dominion to know that Firsthold, not to mention Skywatch, had fallen due to the combined might of the remaining Stormcloaks and the force of allies that had saved them, just to keep them in the dark as the main force made their way to the city, "He took out quite a number of soldiers before my arrows put him down, as he thought himself invulnerable and it proved to be his downfall... he, like all our enemies, wasn't expecting death to claim him, as it claims all things."

"...right..." Morral said, which showed Amaryllis that she had hit the nail on the head, some people didn't appreciate or like Sylvanna's words, not enough to ask her to stop since the Ranger-General had a reputation that many couldn't ignore, to which she turned around and focused on a safe behind her, "Still, you did us a service and must be rew..."

That moment was all Amaryllis needed, as it revealed the short sword that Morral had on her and allowed her to use a bit of her magic to pull it out without her target realizing what was going on, driving it right into Morral's chest before she had a chance to react to what was going on. After doing that Amaryllis switched it out for Mehrunes' Razor, activating the quick kill power that was lingering on the blade and ended the life of the one who lead the Dominion, though once she did that she switched the blades and moved Morral's hands, making it look like she had killed herself. Once that step was done she studied all the letters that were scattered around the chamber, finding the ones that were from Morral and studied her handwriting, before drafting a letter that was in Morral's penmanship, a note to inform those that read it that the war was over and that she was passing on the torch to Sylvanna Windrunner. Such a thing meant that, if things worked as she had planned, she might be able to bring the war to an end and get the people to take a bit of Hist Sap to liberate their minds, but if that failed than it would be up to Za'kera to set the mess right.

Once she was done, and her ploy was created, she emerged from the room and, in the calm manner that Sylvanna was known for, called for someone to come quick as she made sure the scene was discovered, all while pocketing an important looking jewel, as she suspected it was connected to the Tower, and readied herself for whatever happened when the guards arrived.

Comments

[badninja]

That was a masterwork assassination. I think another franchise’s assassins would have been very impressed.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11182677 Another franchise... Assassin's Creed?

[badninja]

11182713

Yup.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11182732 Cool. Glad to see that you liked the chapter.

[Night_Moon60606]

well, no surprise there that Ulfric and his lot did something stupid, unfortunately, it would seem that he is going to get a half decent song about his death...Krosis...still, Best Assassin Buggy managed to get something good out of it, so maybe worth it? i dont know...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11183154 I mean, she got direct access to Morral's chamber and took out the head of the Dominion, plus engineered a ploy that might help her end the war... can't get much better than that.

[Night_Moon60606]

11183159
not without explosions, no...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11183165 You have to remember that Za'kera doesn't want to lay waste to everything in her way... if she wanted to be a warmonger, well, than I'm sure she would have done something like that.

[Night_Moon60606]

11183169
there r other ways to have explosions, but yeah, i do get the point, after all, i was the one making it with the sections from the Art of War i posted...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11183172 Indeed. Also, the jewel is, based on the lore entry of the Crystal Tower, one of the keys to get inside, since you were interested in what it might be.