Ballad of the High King is a Roleplay set in the Poetic Edda, taking place in between 1E 139-140. It centers around the story of Harald Word-Bringer, who became the first High King of Skyrim, and his attack on the last bastion of the Falmer in Skyrim. It has a sequel, Walking Winter's Woe which starts a month after the end of Part IX.
Part I[]
Rumors reached Nahlotjun's ear that a dragon had been spotted near the town of Yorgrimmr in eastern Skyrim. He sent Heyvahkrin to confirm these rumors and to protect the dragon if they were. She headed towards the mountain range were the dragon had been sighted and found a clearing where the dragon had killed a treasure hunter. She took the map to the temple from the hunter's bag, but was unable to find the Dragon Claw that unlocked the temple.
Harald returned to Vindhjalmr with his housecarl, Skorm Snow-Strider, upon hearing that his father had fallen ill. He went straight to the Palace and found the Jarl bedridden and being treated by the Court Wizard, Grípir All-Wise. Sigurðr was sick with the same illness that killed Åsta, Harald's mother, years ago. Grípir could only use his skills to ease the Jarl's pain. Seeing his father like that pained the thane, bringing back memories of his mother's last days. The mage told him to speak to his father's steward, Holma Brimill, as Harald was now the de facto Jarl due to his father's condition.
Skorm was waiting for him in the hallway. Harald told him to fetch the steward and bring her to the Palace's great hall. The housecarl left to complete the task and the thane went to the hall to drink alone.
The housecarl asked around and learned that the steward was at the city docks. He found her busy overseeing the loading of a shipment. He told her to meet the thane at the great hall when she was done, then headed there himself. A few minutes later Skorm returned and Harald beckoned him to join him. The large man sat down and drank with his friend. They talked about Skorm's family, not wanting to bring up the subject of Sigurðr's failing health. The talk lightened the mood and they laughed and drank until Holma arrived.
Harald ordered her to bring him up to speed. Holma listed off a bunch of mundane tasks that the Jarl had yet to oversee and the problems of the citizens and the local area. Harald paid attention to every word as best as he could, but interrupted when Holma mentioned something about a dragon. She explained that one was spotted near Yorgrimmr. Apparently it was hiding out in the Velothi Mountains south of the town. Worried for the town's safety and that of its winter supplies, Harald decided to put out a bounty on the dragon. He wasn't going to allow a dragon to destroy his father's legacy.
Hefndir Sturmhaukr and his two subordinates: Reeth Gylden-hand and Tiskr Rjaakasig; had just finished a giant-killing quest. He had wanted to return to Icereach, to his wife and child, but they had heard rumors in Dunstad about possible dragon sightings in Yorgrimmr. He couldn't just ignore that so the Stormhawks were heading there. He had had the opportunity to fight a dragon before, but lost the fight. He wouldn't be defeated again, he was stronger now.
Kane Styrson was in the city of Vindhjalmr. He had been in Skyrim for roughly two months working as a mercenary. He saw a contract on the city's notice board. It was for a dragon hunt, posted in the name of Thane Harald Word-Bringer. He decided to accept it, so he began heading to the nearby town of Yorgrimmr. He took another contract as an escort for a caravan that was headed to the town and traveled with them. The ride was peaceful and he took the opportunity to learn more about the dragon rumors from the merchant.
Harald and his housecarl took a ship to Yorgrimmr, arriving in the morning after the news of the bounty. He had written on the bounty for any willing adventurers to meet him in the Chief's Longhouse in the town so the thane headed there to await the adventurers.
The Stormhawks took a carriage to Yorgrimmr, but didn't stay in the town. Instead, they immediately headed to the mountainside to search for the dragon. Their search proved fruitless as they had no idea where the dragon's lair was. As such, they decided to return to town, but Tiskr stayed behind to keep an eye out for any dragon activity. He made camp at the edge of the mountain range and kept an eye out for the dragon. Unfortunately he didn't see anything and just waited for his compatriots to return.
The Stormhawk duo asked around and was pointed to a farmer named Hrefna that lived south of the town. Reeth stayed behind to search for the farmer in the town, while Hefndir returned to fetch Tiskr and head to her homestead. The mage headed to the townsquare and entered the first tavern, the Marked Pike Inn. He chatted with the innkeeper, asking about the dragon. He learned that the Thane Harald of Morovunsker had placed a bounty on the beast.
Jofrodr Sword-Thrower woke up in the Ylgermet Mead Hall after a long night of drinking with his Shield-Brothers. He went up to check out the bounty board where he came across a new one posted by Thane Harald of Morovunsker. It was a dragon hunt. The pay was good so he accepted immediately, though he needed some backup to fight a dragon. He asked around and his Shield-Sister, Reyla Silver-Moth, accepted his offer. Jofrodr was eager to kill this dragon so that he could gain fame and plenty of gold. He considered waiting for their Captain to return to give them a better chance of killing the beast, but he didn't know when they would come back from their Orc Quest. So it was just him and Reyla.
The two of them headed to the Chieftain's Longhouse, where the thane was said to be. The guards let them in once they stated their business and inside they found Chief Jænis Brák with two men: Thane Harald and his housecarl Skorm Snow-Strider. The Companions sat down at the table. Yorgrimmr's chief introduced them and they discussed the details of the bounty. Most of the Companions of the Ylgermet had left a few days prior on an Orc hunting quest, so Harald wasn't surprised that only two showed up. Still, he wasn't pleased with this. Fighting a dragon was work for more than two people.
Hefndir found Tiskr at his camp and gathered him to head to the farm. They found the farm not far from the town, but were greeted at sword-point when they tried to knock on the door. The farms had been spooked by the strange men in armor, so Hefndir introduced himself to try to calm their nerves. They succeeded in calming them and began to question Hrefna about the dragon. She told them that her brother-in-law was the one that spotted the dragon and gave a rough location of its whereabouts. The Stormhawk thanked her for the information then went off to regroup with Reeth. They returned to the town and searched around for the mage at one of the taverns. They found Reeth at the Market Pike Inn. The trio headed south to the mountains, eager to face the dragon.
Kane headed to speak to the town's chieftain. After showing the guards the bounty they let him in to speak to the thane. Kane found him at a table with a handful of others. The foreigner introduced himself and sat next to Jof and Reyla. Thane Harald explained the details of the bounty, going over the rumors and telling them that they had narrowed down the area where the dragon was likely hiding, as Harald had sent some scouts from his company at Morovunsker. The thane was also going on this quest, since the three bounty hunters were too ill-equipped to kill a dragon. He told them to get ready as they would be leaving soon. He paid them part of the bounty upfront. Jofrodr took all the gold himself, saying that he would split it with Reyla and the foreigner later.
After the bounty hunters left, Harald asked what his housecarl thought of them. Skorm thought they had potential and voiced his approval of the thane's decision to join the hunt. He had been wanting to go after the dragon, but would never go against the thane's wishes. Harald learned from his father to do things with his own two hands. They gathered their own supplies and awaited in the town square with horses and a sled until the bounty hunters returned.
Jofrodr led the trio into town to buy supplies for the trip south to the mountains. He led them to a shop he knew and brought some supplies with the gold that the thane gave them. Kane took the opportunity to buy a journal to help him in his quest to learn more about his father's clan. After they were done shopping, the Companions introduced themselves properly to the stranger. Kane did as well. The thane and his housecarl met up with the group in the town square and they departed for the dragon sighting location.
Heyvahkrin encountered three Atmoran scouts that had come to investigate the area. She kept an eye on them and discovered that a bounty had already been placed on the dragon by Thane Harald Word-Bringer of Morovunsker. She waited for the thane to arrive.
Jofrodr asked Kane for his reasons for coming to Skyrim and the foreigner mentioned his clan, Clan Silver-Tongue, asking Harald about it. Harald had heard the name before and assumed them to be descendants of Companions that didn't remain in Skyrim after the Return. They suggested that Kane seek information from the Skalds to learn more.
Eventually they arrived at the forest and ran into Harald's scouts. They told them about a clearing that they discovered that wasn't natural, clearly caused by the dragon's thu'um. While they were discussing the clearing, Heyvahkrin approached them. The thane recognized her outfit's similarities to the Dragon Cult and she went by a dovahzul name. He questioned her in the dragon tongue. She replied, confirming the thane's suspicious and let it slip that she wasn't alone. Harald looked around for her associates. Skorm and the others began to get ready for combat. The cultist, Heyvahrik, told them to stop what they were doing. Harald was worried about how confident she was despite being outnumbered. She was clearly a Tongue.
Harald told the others to stand down and questioned her motives. She wanted to halt their hunt without bloodshed. Jofrodr stated that there were no more cultists, having cast Life Detection to search the treeline. Harald aggressively asked her why they shouldn't just kill her and her dragon master, as they weren't going to allow such a dangerous beast live so close to Yorgrimmr. Harald asked her if she would step down and let them kill the dragon, but he expected her to refuse. Her name meant duty and courage, she was likely very loyal to the dragon. She argued, trying to appeal to their simpaties to the endangered dragons. She failed, the Atmorans had no empathy for their former overlords. The female Companion, Reyla, said that there was no reasoning with zealots and Harald agreed. They were at an impass. He ordered Heyvah to step aside or fight.
Heyvah chose to fight. Skorm threw the thane his weapon and Harald shouted, but the woman shouted as well. She used Slow Time and time around her slowed down to a crawl. She began to move incredibly fast, faster than Harald with his Whirlwind Sprint. Not only that she moved more fluidly than him with his shout. She tripped him and then took out his three scouts, before disappearing into the treeline. All they could see of her were blurs as she moved. When she was gone, they questioned what happened. Harald knew the shout that she had used, Slow Time, he had heard of it during his training with the Hawk Cult. It allowed her to slow down time considerably, which made her appear to go fast while in fact they were the ones slowed down. Harald told them of the limitations of the shout and they came up with a strategy to use against her. They chased after the cultist, but she was long gone. Not even Jofrodr's spell could find her.
The Stormhawks stuck to the paths and eventually found an unnatural clearing near the location where Hrefna suggested they look. The clearing showed signs of the dragon, the trees there had been broken with extreme force all at once. Reeth inspected the ground and found dried blood under a layer of snow. Before they had time to investigate further, Hefndir heard noises coming from nearby. He spotted eyes in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. It was a large snow sabercat and it was prowling closer to them. The half-elf slowly approached the sabercat, keeping himself between it and his subordinates. Reeth shot a lightning bolt at the cat, causing it to pounce on Tiskr. The two warriors hacked at the sabercat and eventually managed to get through its thick hide and kill the beast.
They took the dead cat with them as they followed the dried blood trail, which led to a cave. It was dark by the time they arrived so they made camp near the mouth of the cave to sleep through the night. During Hefndir's watch, he heard growls coming near them. A large sabercat cub attacked them, but it was no match for the half-elf. He killed the animal with relative ease by himself.
The sun was going down, so Harald decided to make camp. They headed to the clearing, finding evidence of a recent battle there as they heard the cry of a dying animal and found fresh blood in the snow. The thane told them to investigate in the morning, as they needed to get the camp ready to last the winter night in the wilderness. They took turns on watch, Jofrodr taking first shift because of his Life Detection spell to keep and eye out for the cultist. Luckily he didn't see anything and the night went by peacefully.
Agrunac Ilzeglan was travelling through Skyrim when he heard the rumors of the dragon spotted near Yorgrimmr. He headed for the town right away, sure that helping to kill the dragon would help him accomplish his mission by earning him fame. He found an inn near the town square and headed inside to get more information on the dragon. The innkeeper was annoyed with him and refused to give him any leads. Agrunac was forced to go search for the bounty board at the town square. There he found the bounty on the dragon posted in the name of Thane Harald Word-Bringer.
He followed the instructions on the bounty and headed to the Chieftain's longhouse. The guards barred his entry until he explained himself, but told him that he was too late to meet with the thane. He had departed from Yorgrimmr the previous day with a group of hunters. He asked them for some information and they pointed him to a local farmer that spotted the dragon to the south. He thanked them then headed to the farm. The farmer, Hrefna, welcomed him at weapon point. He questioned her and, a short misunderstanding, eventually got her to tell him about the clearing where her brother-in-law had seen the dragon. He thanked her and went off into the forest in search of the clearing.
After the sun rose the Stormhawks headed deeper into the cave to find the source of the dried blood trail. They found a half-eaten corpse at the end of the trail. Reeth found a pouch on the body and inside found a Silver Dragon Claw.
Nothing happened during the night, so the thane's group got a full night's rest and packed up camp in the morning. Harald chose to follow the blood trail in the clearing. There was dried blood near the fresh one that followed a parallel trail. Skorm suggested that it might from a survivor of the dragon attack that caused the clearing. The trail led to a cave nor far from the clearing, inside they found a fresh campfire who's ashes were still warm. Reyla led them inside with her magelight. The fresh blood trail led to an adult sabercat by the campfire, while the dried blood led futher in. They followed it and ran into three individuals.
Hefndir noticed some light coming from behind them. He yelled out to the strangers, telling them to stop and identify themselves. Harald told them who he was. He came face to face with them and saw that the dried blood wasn't from them, but a torn up corpse on the ground. He wondered if they were friends or foes. The Stormhawks introduced themselves as well, telling them that they were on the hunt for the dragon. Seeing that they shared the same foe, Harald decided to trust them and went to investigate the corpse since he assumed it was killed by the dragon. Hefndir wasn't interested in these strangers, especially since Harald was kin of Ysgramor. He walked past him, refusing to help them.
Harald ordered Skorm to stop them. Skorm blocked the path of the other two Stormhawks while the thane examined the corpse. It was certainly killed by the dragon, probably before the sightings. Reeth threatened Skorm with a lightning spell while Tiskr drew his weapons. Hefndir threatened to shout them apart if they didn't let his compatriots pass. Skorm wasn't afraid of their threats so he didn't move, still following the thane's orders. Harald threatened the masked leader and demanded them to back off and tell him what they learned from the corpse. The situation was getting more tense until the mage stopped his spell and told his friends to calm down. He offered to tell the thane all they knew if he let them pass. Harald agreed once they swore on their honor and told Skorm to stand aside. The housecarl did so and the situation defused.
The mage told them that the body of the treasure hunter came from the clearing, no doubt killed by the dragon. The sabercats dragged it into the cave, which was their lair. They followed the blood trail there just the other day and that morning found a dragon claw on the corpse. It was likely that the dragon's temple was nearby and the beast killed the treasure hunter to keep its location a secret. Kane reminded Harald of the female cultist and he asked the Stormhawks if they had encountered her. They hadn't so asked him to explain. The thane warned them about her power. She was their clue so the group decided to hunt after her, first returning to the clearing to follow the tracks that the scouts had found there previously. Jofrodr and Reyla stayed behind to investigate something in the cave. The others returned to the clearing.
Jofrodr and Reyla investigated the cave and found a Sabercat cub hiding from the group. Once the others were gone the cub seemed more at ease. Reyla was able to calm it down further by giving him some jerky and got the cub to follow them outside. On their way to the clearing it took a liking to her. She named it Tannr.
The Stormhawks had reached it first and spooked the thane's scouts, but Harald calmed them down when they got there. He told his men what they found and asked them to report anything they found. One of the hunters, Þuli, showed them a torn up knapsack that they found southeast of the clearing. They also found another trail that led to the clearing, where the bag had been stuck to a tree. Inside was part of a map, but the part that was useless to them. They figured that the temple was nearby as they were pretty high up the mountain, so they split up to search for it. Since then Jofrodr and Reyla returned, with Tannr following after them. Skorm remained with the scouts, the Stormhawks went off on their own and Harald led the bounty hunters to the south.
The thane's group eventually came across the source of the blood trail with the help of the cub, finding the treasure hunter's severed arm in a plateau. At the plateau they discovered the dragon cult's temple with the puzzle door hidden on the mountainside.
The Stormhawks went up the mountain to get a better vantage point to look for the temple. They jumped across a crevasse and found a ledge that overlooked a valley plateau. On that plateau they found man-made structures. By the time they got there the thane's group had already reached the plateau and found the temple door. Though it was only with Reeth's dragon claw that they managed to open the puzzle door and gain access in the temple. The door opened once the carved rings were in place and they headed inside. Reeth sent a magic signal to tell Skorm that they found the temple, then went to the door and unlocked it with the help of the masked Stormhawk. The door opened once the carved rings were in place and they headed inside.
Heyvahkrin followed after the group from afar as they got closer and closer to the dragon's temple. By then three others had joined the thane's hunting party and they found the Dragon Claw that opened the temple. She waited outside, hiding atop the temple arch while they headed inside. She followed after them into the temple.
Skorm and the scouts searched around the clearing for a time until they saw the signal from the Stormhawk mage that they found the temple. They were about to head there when heard Agrunac approaching in the forest. Thinking that it was the cultist, they hid and waited for her near the camp. Agrunac felt someone's presence in the clearing and checked to see if they were Dwemer, they were not. Þuli distracted the man, giving him warning shots. Meanwhile, Skorm circled around to flank the stranger. Skorm approached him from behind, armed. They quickly captured him, though he gave them no reason to attack. They questioned Agrunac, but he only told them his fake backstory. Skorm learned that he was a bounty hunter from Sólsetrheimr. The story seemed to check out so Skorm ordered the scouts to stand down. He decided to draft the bounty hunter into their quest and took him to the temple.
As they went up the flight of stairs at the entrance, Harald accidentally set off a trap. He told the others to stand back and then used Whirlwind Sprint to move himself out of danger. They reached the entrance hall without further incident and found natural sunlight coming into the room, which was odd. They found two corridors that led out of the hall so they decided to split up. The Stormhawks took the left one while the others took the right.
Harald triggered another trap, but it only damaged his shield. When they found some stairs their group split up again, with the Companions heading up while Kane remained with Harald. The duo fought a draugr before making it to a large chamber that connected to many bedrooms. They found a decorated metal door, but it was locked. They took a passageway into the temple's Hall of the Dead to search for a key. They encountered a group of draugr led by a high ranking member of the cult. They engaged them in battle, but were outnumbered.
Jofrodr and Reyla found themselves in a mess hall with a bunch of undead. They fought them off and then discovered that the temple led to a secret crater inside the mountain. With this new info they headed back to the thane's group to inform him.
They found Harald and Kane fighting draugr in the Hall of the Dead and saved them, as the duo had been outnumbered. With their help, the two men managed to kill the undead. Harald found a key on the undead leader and they returned to the locked metal door. The thane went to unlock the door, but a large group of undead come from the rooms on the balcony to stop them. They defended themselves from the horde of draugr.
The Stormhawks went down a dark corridor, fighting a draugr that burst out of one of the connecting doors. After it was dead they looted the room it came from then continued along the hallway. It led to a large chamber, which led to the library, the armory and some bedrooms. Reeth went up to search the bedrooms while Hefndir and Tiskr tried to get into the armory. They failed, damaging their weapons in the process. They then checked the library and found a key to the elaborate metal door in the large chamber. However, when they went to unlock it they set off a gas trap.
When Skorm and Agrunac arrived they didn't find the rest of the group, but the temple door was opened. They followed it inside to the entrance hall and took the left corridor from there. It led them into the Stormhawks just as they had set off a poisonous gas trap in a large chamber. Skorm and Agrunac ran up the stairs to a balcony to avoid the gas. The mage explained the situation and they decided to search around for a way to stop the gas. Skorm went to open a door, but was blasted to the floor below by a draugr's thu'um. Half a dozen draugr attacked the group.
Part II[]
The Thane's group helped each other during the fight, Reyla Silver-Moth keeping them healed up while Jofrodr Sword-Thrower used his telekinesis on the thane's spear to pick out the Draugr from a distance. Working together, they thinned the numbers of the undead until finally the last of the fiends were dead once more. The group rested for a few minutes before opening the door and heading outside into the temple's inner sanctum.
The Stormhawks fought off the draugr. Skorm Snow-Strider told them that the room with the draugr lord had a chain that might shut off the trap. They began trying to make their way to the room to shut off the gas trap. They fought with near perfect unison, as they were used to each other's fighting styles. They killed the undead warriors and Reeth Gylden-hand pulled the chain. The gas stopped, but what was already there remained.
The inner sanctum was located in a crater hidden inside the mountain. The thane's group headed through the snowy surface and to the altar at the far end. Above the altar was a cavern outlook where Kane Styrson spotted the dragon. Kane saw the beast in it's full glory. A mix of shock and fear waved over him, but he soon shook the feeling off. Harald had never seen a dragon before. He was surprised at how big the thing was. It made him angry that such a beast lived so close to Yorgrimmr. Reyla was filled with a mix of shock and riled anger upon being presented a master of the Dragon Cult. Jofrodr was feeling a mix of amazement and fear at the sight of the beast. He had never seen a living dragon, let alone a beast so large. The biggest foe he had faced were some trolls, nothing compared to the size of the dragon. He was utter shocked to see it face-to-face. Tannr immediately reacted with instinct and ran away back into the temple, leaving the humans alone.
The dragon laughed and taunted them. Harald told the others to follow his lead. He told them to slowly head closer to the altar, while trying not to get the dragon to attack them. The dragon was angry that they were ignoring him. Jofrodr knew they needed to do something as the dragon got ready to shout at them. Harald then talked with the dragon in Dovahzul, which caught the dragon off-guard. While the thane distracted the dragon with a conversation, he gestured for the others to get in position. Jofrodr trekked through the snow towards the altar. He kept his distance from Kane and Reyla so the dragon couldn't kill them all at once.
The Stormhawk group walked through the gas, luckily avoiding breathing it in as Skorm had opened the doors to the outside. Despite his size, Agrunac Ilzeglan managed to keep from breathing in the poison. A wave of fresh air sent the gas away as they found themselves in a secret crater in the middle of the mountain. They spotted the dragon there, standing on a ledge above and altar, with the other humans at that same altar.
Hefndir Sturmhaukr approached the dragon and spoke to it in Dovahzul, much to the dragon's surprise. The dragon was angered by the Stormhawk and shouted, creating a storm over the crater. The thane told them all to scatter to evade the storm that shot down lightning at them. Hefndir shouted as well, creating his own storm that boosted the dragon's own. Hef's shout hurt the humans more than the dragon, angering Harald greatly as his plan was ruined. The mortals rushed into cover, trying to avoid the storms.
Agrunac remained behind cover, letting the humans take the risk. Reeth used Lightning Shield to protect himself from the storms. Still, the shield wasn't enough and he was seriously injured. Since he was nearby, Agrunac healed the mage. Tiskr Rjaakasig split from the others to avoid the storms. Harald kept behind cover, waiting for a chance to strike at the dragon. Skorm took cover beside Harald. He was hit by the lightning, so his thane came to protect him. That only caused Harald to get injured. Kane stayed behind cover while the storms raged. Reyla headed to the altar. She was in trouble, the lightning was strongest there and it baraged near her constantly. Nonetheless, she used her magic to keep herself healed. Jofrodr managed to evade the lighting as he ran from the altar, but saw that Reyla was in trouble. He rushed back towards the altar to help her. Reyla had cast a healing circle near the altar. He was glad that she was safe and with her ritual bolstering him, he decided to try to attack the dragon with his telekinesis. Reyla agreed and the two of them attacked the dragon with their magic. The dragon shouted at them in return. Jofrodr felt a rush of fear grasping at his mind, disorienting him. Reyla used her magic to clear his mind. With his confidence returned, Jofrodr tried to attack the dragon once more, however two lightning bolts shot right at him. They intercepted each other and exploded right on his face. The Companion was knocked unconscious immediately.
Skorm dragged his injured thane to the altar for him to be healed. While Harald was healing, Skorm went off to help an unconscious Jofrodr. He dragged Jofrodr back into the temple where Reyla remained to heal him. Skorm rushed back outside to help fight the dragon. When he was back on his feet, Harald tried to organize a unified front against the dragon. He formed a plan to bring the dragon to the ground and attack him from all sides and began to carry it out with the other dragon hunters.
Hefndir taunted the dragon, trying to draw him out. It only succeeded in angering the dragon, who shouted with unrelenting force at him. By the time he got back up, the dragon had taken flight. Hefndir ran as the dragon tried to shout at him again from the air. He barely managed to escape another shout. The mage began to distract the dragon for the tongues to be able to catch him off-guard. Tiskr used Dragonrend on the dragon, sending him to the ground. Harald was surprised that the younger Stormhawk was also a tongue. Harald charged at the dragon and ordered the others to attack. The female cultist came out of hiding and attacked the group, trying to protect the dragon. The Stormhawks attacked the dragon while he was down, but Hefndir was blown away. Tiskr, Skorm, Reeth and Harald took on the dragon while the others fought off the cultist. They slowly chipped away at the dragon's thick scales, though they failed to leave any serious injury on him.
During the fight, Harald was caught in the dragon's bite and was gravely wounded. He just barely managed to stay conscious. The pain from his multiple wounds was unbearable. If it wasn't for his Woad ability shielding him, he would've been torn to pieces from that bite. Reeth went to save him, so Tiskr and Skorm were left to fend for themselves. The mage treated the thane's wounds, but given how serious they were Harald would need magic. The thane told him to get Reyla.
Skorm and Tiskr fought off the dragon while Reeth went to heal the thane. Tiskr lost his shield to the dragon's claws and his damaged axe failed to leave any significant wounds on the dragon. Without Harald's full Dragonrend, the dragon was able to shout and created a magical shield around himself so Tiskr's shouts no longer worked on the beast. Seeing as his attacks were useless against the dragon, he retreated to help the others kill the cultist. However, as he was running away he was hit with the dragon's thu'um and had his life-force drained to heal the dragon. Skorm was shot into the air with a shout and left with dozens of small cuts from the magic wind.
When Jofrodr woke up he was back inside the temple with Reyla and Tannr standing beside him. He asked what happened and Reyla explained the situation to him and said to get out there and help. Jofrodr picked himself up and thanked Reyla for taking care of him while he was out. He drew his sword and rushed out back out to the crater. He saw that Harald was injured and that Reeth was standing over him. Jof called Reyla to heal the thane, as they would not get paid if he died. Reyla asked him for help to fend off the lightning on her way there. He readied his defensive spells and kept her safe until they reached Harald. While she healed the thane, he protected them with his Spell Absorption.
Out in the open fighting the cultist, Kane was hit by the lightning a few times. Luckily for him, the cultist was also hit so she wasn't able to get the upper hand on him. The two exchanged blows, both of them experienced swordsmen. He stalled the cultist until Agrunac arrived to help. The two of them teamed up against her, but the cultist was still managing to defend herself from their attacks. Hefndir also joined in the fight. The cultist was unable to defend against all three of them at once with swordsmanship alone so she shouted and slowed down time. Agrunac activated his Deeper Thought to be able to perceive time regularly. The humans weren't so lucky, she quickly dispatched them and nearly took off Hefndir's head, but only removing his helmet. The Stormhawk panicked after his helmet was removed and stopped fighting her to cover his face. Kane didn't understand why this was so important, but stepped in to defend Hefndir against the cultist as she tried to finish him off, while Agrunac held his own. She easily dodged his attacks with her superior reflexes, but he had stalled her enough that she was back to regular time.
While weakened, Tiskr managed to persevere and got away from the dragon. He saw that the cultist had managed to knock Hefndir's helmet off and went to help him conceal his identity.
The storms finally dispersed as Reyla finished her healing. With him being saved from certain death, Harald returned to the fray with renewed motivation. He called Jofrodr to his side and they teamed up to once more to throw the spear multiple times at the dragon with his skill and the mage's telekinesis. The dragon formed a magical shield around himself, but Reeth's continued attacks made it waver and allowed Harald to strike the dragon. Harald shouted at the dragon to weaken it and Jof threw his sword at it with telekinesis, hitting the beast's chest. He returned the thane his spear, who then stabbed the dragon through the wound that Jof had left in his chest. Skorm joined in the attack and wounded the dragon's eye. The Companion charged at the dragon, summon an Aetherial sword and stabbed the dragon's arm. His attack caused the dragon's arm to buckle. He fell to his side, leaving himself open to the Atmorans. The group continued their attack, the dragon had been worn down by their attacks. Jermulgraag's injuries were mounting. Harald kept the dragon from escaping once more and then stabbed the dragon through the chest with his spear. Jofrodr summoned a spear while the dragon tried to hit him with his tail. Jof held his ground and stabbed at the tail with the spear, but was still knocked back from the force of the tail. With the others backing him up, Harald was able to finish the dragon off by stabbing him through the heart with Skakinn. Jermulgraag let out a final roar before dying in his own temple.
Heyvahkrin returned to her defensive stance now, but they saw that the dragon was finally killed by Harald stabbing it through the heart. When his helmet was retrieved, Hef and Tiskr charged at the outnumbered cultist. They flanked her, but she surrendered before they attacked. As they tried to restrain her, however, she attacked them and made a run for it. She shouted and slowed down time again. By the time the effect was over, she was long gone.
The hunters celebrated their victory over the dragon. Hefndir gathered claws from the dragon as trophies to prove their kill. Jofrodr joked with Skorm about Hefndir's uselessness in the fight. Agrunac knelt in front of Harald and asked to be taken into his service, seeing Harald as the perfect nobleman to manipulate in order to achieve his mission. The thane agreed, as the man had proved himself capable enough to keep the cultist at bay. Kane walked passed the group and knelt before the dragon. He viewed this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to gaze upon a son of Auri-El. The Companion talked with Kane and suggested that he join their crew in Ylgermet, as he had proven himself a capable fighter. However, the Cyrodiilic refused his offer. He wanted to get out of the mercenary life and settle down. Tiskr looted a new shield and axe from the draugr in the temple. Reeth talked with the thane to ask for payment for their services. The thane told them to seek payment when they returned to Yorgrimmr, so they remained with the Atmorans until then. Harald thanked Reyla for saving his life, but she brushed it off. Skorm then convinced Harald to take a trophy of their kill back with them, so they lopped off the dragon's head and then had the scouts bring it back into town on the sled.
Eventually Heyvahkrin returned to her master and reported the dragon's death to him. She apologized for her failure, but there was nothing she could do. He wasn't pleased, but seemed to understand that she did her best to defend the dragon. While she wanted to get revenge for this, he told her that they would have their opportunity eventually.
Relan Vǫlundr had heard the rumors of a dragon terrorizing the town of Yorgrimmr and decided to head to there to see if any of the would-be dragon hunters wanted for new weapons. While at Yorgrimmr he made a deal with the local smith to use her forge. During his time at the smithy, he created a terrifyingly sharp steel dagger: Jorntönn. Though his pride got the better of him and he spent much of his time either criticizing the Blacksmiths' work or making improvements on it. This earned him the ire of the blacksmith, Alla Luðinnsdóttir, and she kicked him out of her smithy.
The thane's group arrived in Yorgrimmr the next day. Harald rode in the front on his horse. Skorm had the second horse, leading the sled carrying the dragon Jermulgraag's severed head. As soon as the first townspeople saw the dragon skull, word spread across all of Yorgrimmr. The people gathered around the group, their mouths agasp at the sight of the dragon's head.
When they made it to the town square, Harald gave a short speech that caused the people to cheer his name and applaud the heroes. Harald dismounted and the people swarmed around him to personally thank him and to bask in his presence. The townspeople called him Harald the Heroic, he took the byname gladly. Jofrodr was already chatting up the townspeople telling them of the great battle against Jermulgraag, while emphasizing his own deeds most of all. Kane smiled at the praise. He wasn't gloryhound, but he did enjoy the townspeople's thanks and blessings. Reyla kept on the sidelines and allowed Harald and Jof to hog the fame, being a reserved individual. Chief Jænis arrived in the town square and called for a feast in their honor. The chieftain's announcement made the people cheer louder. That day Yorgrimmr was enthralled in a festival that lasted well into the night. Not even the cold could stop the Atmorans from celebrating. Agrunac kept to himself for the most part, but celebrated along with the humans to fit in. Relan didn't participate in the festivities and instead kept to his work. The Stormhawks didn't partake in the festivities, they kept mostly to themselves and waited for their payment. That came soon enough. It was during the festival that Harald paid the hunters for their work, making Jofrodr very happy. He also kept his promise and split up the initial 3000 gold with Reyla and Kane. Harald paid the Stormhawks collectively 4000 gold for their aid in killing the dragon. They split that gold up evenly.
During the celebration in Yorgrimmr, Jofrodr had learned that the Orc problem to the northwest that Captain Bodvar Little-Bear had gone to stop had only gotten worse. The rest of the Companions from Ylgermet had also left to fight the Orcs while he was gone on the dragon quest. The bounty on the Orcs had been raised to 500 gold a head, so most mercenaries had departed to help fight them. Reyla suggested that they follow after their captain and Jof agreed. They enjoyed the rest of the feast, then slept at their mead hall.
Bakel gro-Dursa, Chief of the Akul Khazak orc stronghold, had begun to increase his people's raids into human lands, terrorizing the lands of southern Fǫlskinn in greater numbers. The Jarl of the hold put out a bounty on them, one that drew the Companions to intervene. This bounty caught the attention of Captain Bodvar and his crew. Many of them set out to the hold to take on the Orcs.
When they arrived they found that two other Companion crews had taken the bounty and were forced to cooperate with one another to defeat the Orcs. This caused in-fighting among the crews, who didn't see each other as comrades. Ultimately, Captain Heimir Long-Serpent of the Hildisvin managed to convince Bodvar and Captain Styrbjorn of the Vedrfolnir to head up Mount Sheave in a large warparty to hunt down the Orcs. This proved foolish, as the Orcs somehow surrounded the human forces in an ambush.
The humans proved ineffective against the Orcs. Not only did Bakel have access to a network of tunnels under Mount Sheave that had been built by the Norakul Tribe for generations, but the humans also appeared to be disorganized and not cooperating with each other. This came to a head when they went up on mass towards Mount Sheave. Bakel had his warriors use the tunnels to get around the human force and ambush them.
The ambush was a disaster for the Companions. Captain Heimir and his second-in-command, Heiðrekr Tranin, died as well as half of their crew. Bodvar and the Ylgermet crew managed to fight their way out, as did the Vedrfolnir crew. They retreated to the village of Sílfrisin, but the Orcs followed them and attacked the village. The Companions fought them back, but fearing another attack they evacuated the villagers to a safer place and set up camp in a nearby mine. The Orcs found that the village had been mostly abandoned. They looted and torched the place, then tried to hunt down the last of the Companions. The Companions sent for reinforcements from the Harbinger. They learned that their waiting around caused the Jarl to increase the bounty on the Orcs and subsequently attract more Companions and mercenaries to the region.
The day after the celebration at Yorgrimmr, Harald Word-Bringer ordered his longship at the docks to get ready for the trip back to Vindhjalmr. Skorm Snow-Strider and Agrunac moved the dragon skull aboard while he oversaw the scouts loading up the supplies. There were peasants around the docks. They were gathering around to see Harald and look at the skull with awe. Local bards were already starting to make crude songs about the great battle with Jermulgraag. Kane Styrson came to the ship as it was getting ready to leave the pier. The Cyrodiilic asked for a ride back to the city and the thane accepted. Once the supplies and the skull were in place, the ship pushed off the pier and began heading west to the city of Vindhjalmr. On the way, they talked and Kane asked if he could enter into Harald's service as Stinralg had. Since the man had proved his fighting skill on the dragon hunt, the thane decided to take him into his service.
Reeth Gylden-hand and Tiskr Rjaakasig remained at the tavern while Hefndir left to explore the town in search of new equipment. At the tavern they heard about an Orc problem that was plaguing the hold of Fǫlskinn to the northwest. Hef eventually came upon a smith by the western gate, creating weapons in a peculiar purple glowing forge. The smith recognized him as one of the dragonslayer and welcomed him to his forge. The smith introduced himself as Relan Vǫlundr and upon noticing Hef's draugr weapons he said that they were unfit for a hero. He showed Hefndir one of his "seven treasures", the elven sword Kljúfasǫngr, saying that it was the type of weapon a hero should use. The smith handed the sword to Hefndir for him to try it. Impressed with the sword, the half-elf agreed to buy it. He wasted practically all his gold on it, but it was worth it. The smith also fixed up the draugr's axe for him, while offering to buy the draugr's sword. Satisfied, Hefndir agreed and returned to the tavern.
When Hefndir returned, he showed his new sword to his subordinates. They talked about the sword's smith, Vǫlundr, as he was quite famous. Tiskr had met the man before as they both grew up in Drekahóll. On their way out of town, Tiskr asked his master if he could remain in Skyrim instead of heading back to Icereach. He still wanted to fight as he had not dealt the final blow on the dragon. Hefndir was proud of his decision and even granted Tiskr the sword Kljúfasǫngr as he would not be needing it back home. Reeth decided to remain behind as well, to keep an eye on his friend and make sure he stayed safe. They parted ways with the Stormhawk. Hefndir left for Dagastar to catch a ship back to Icereach.
Jofrodr and Reyla began getting ready for the long trip towards the Orc infested lands. They bought new scalemail at the local blacksmith and heard that a new smith had come to town, Vǫlundr. Jof sought him out as he had heard of the smith's reputation, and had him maintain his sword, though when it came time to pay the two disagreed on the price and left on sour terms. Reyla enchanted a ring at the local mage's shop. Jofrodr gave some gold to Reyla and asked her to buy them a cart and a horse for the trip. When the preparations were complete they left early next morning and rode all the way to Sílfrisin.
After exchanging insults with Jofrodr, Relan was no longer excited to work for the dragonslayers and decided that it was time to leave. Though when he was heading to the docks he ran into a familiar face from his time in Drekahóll, Tiskr. They talked and he learned that Tiskr was a part of the Order of the Stormhawk and that the man that had bought Kljúfasǫngr was his master. Tiskr had in fact borrowed the sword for his next quest against a group of Orcs up north along with another stormhawk, the mage Reeth. Relan decided to accompany them on this quest, to witness someone wielding one of his treasures firsthand. They headed to the village of Silfdrífa.
When the thane's group arrived at Vindhjalmr, Harald gathered up the people at the docks to tell them of his victorious quest against the dragon. The citizens cheered on as he played up the scene. With the crowd having slowed them down, the thane's group took almost an hour to make it to the palace. He had the guards bring his leftover supplies and the skull into the palace, while he remained behind and greeted his brother Olaf, who had arrived at the city from his temple. The two argued initially, but warmed up to each other in the end. Skorm decided to leave them be, leading Kane and Agrunac away to get themselves acquainted with the palace.
They talked about their father's illness, the Winter Worm. It had claimed their mother and now Sigurðr had fallen pray to it. Olaf warned Harald to prepare himself to take the throne, as their father would not last much longer. Harald already knew that and brushed him off. The two argued again before he headed to see his father. The old Jarl was awake, but delusional. He had gotten very frail, so Harald approached him with care. The Jarl mumbled about Harald's birth and his dead wife. He felt great sadness seeing the man he most respected like that. The lad stayed with his father for a bit, before leaving him to the care of the Court Wizard. Harald reflected on his upcoming responsibility as Jarl on his way out.
Skorm led them to the palace steward, Holma. She welcomed Skorm back and asked how the quest went. The housecarl explained the situation then told her about Kane and Agrunac. She told him that his family had arrived from Morovunsker and Skorm left the two of them with her. She told Agrunac to paint his armor to the colors of Austrmǫrk now that he would be serving Harald. She told them to always act with honor since their actions reflected on Harald from now on. They officially introduced themselves to the steward and she signed their names to her logbooks, then led them to their new quarters in the servant's wing of the palace.
That night Harald ate with his men, but stayed quiet throughout the meal. Once it was over he called Kane and Agrunac to the throne room for them to perform their proper oaths to him. They did things according to tradition, with each man kneeling before him and swearing upon his sword. Agrunac had studied the human traditions in order to better fit in as a spy. He knelt before Harald and swore to never abandon battle and to fight for Harald always. Satisfied with the man's oath, Harald gave him an arm-ring to signify his position as his housecarl. Kane swore to fight for him as long as he lives and to avenge Harald should he die before him. Harald was pleased and gave him an arm-ring as well. He beckoned the two men to stand as his new housecarls.
Harbinger Randagulf received the letter from the Companions engaged against the Orcs and decided to help them, gathering together a small band and heading to the village of Sílfrisin where the survivors were staying. Elisiv was among the group that went with him.
Agrunac lived in the palace and began to fit the role of a housecarl and make the locals warm up to him. A strict training regiment and shows of force gained him the admiration of the city guards. This respect would go a long ways to getting the thane's ear. His Dwemer superiors checked on him and he reported how his mission was going so far. All was going according to the king's plan.
Now a housecarl of Harald, Kane had lodgings and a salary. He began to save up the salary to buy a house in the city. He lived with Stinralg and adapted to the lifestyle of a housecarl. His new companion was a lot more interested in getting in with the guards and maintaining a good training schedule, while Kane focused on his dream.
Skorm spent time with his family, taking care of his son and daughter now that he had returned to the city.
Along the way, Jofrodr and Reyla encountered some trouble with giants fighting some Atmorans, but chose not to interfere. The Stormhawks were not far behind them and also chose not to interfere. Not long afterwards Jofrodr and Reyla noticed that the Stormhawks were following them. Since they weren't causing any trouble they let the trio follow their cart at a distance. As the Companions approached the village, they saw that it indeed looked abandoned. Some of the buildings looked damaged and others were completely burned down. They rode inside and saw nothing but death and destruction. The Orcs had done a number to it. Tannr warned them of nearby danger. At the town square they found a pack of wolves eating freshly dead corpses. The Companions attacked the wolves to get them away from the corpses. After injuring the alpha and killing others, they got the rest of the pack to retreat. While they were investigating the eaten corpses, a group approached them.
Bodvar's scouts had spotted a small Orc party heading to the abandoned village and went to investigate. They noticed smoke coming from there and figured the Orcs went to loot the village for any valuables left behind. Noise from the village square attracted them there and they encountered the remains of the battle against some wolves. He ran into Jofrodr and Reyla. They greeted him and asked what happened to the village. He explained that they had evacuated the town after they suffered too many losses to keep a strong patrol on the perimeter. They were all hiding out in the mines north of town. Bodvar caught them up on the situation with the Orcs and the other Companion crews, then stopped someone standing on a nearby roof. Jof saw that it was Reeth and said that it was a friendly. The Captain knew about the Stormhawks, but didn't seem to like them much.
When the Stormhawks had arrived at the village they found it seemingly abandoned. Some of the buildings looked damaged and others were completely burned down. Tiskr and Relan began looking around the settlement for any survivors, while Reeth went to search for tracks. They didn't find any survivors, only bodies remained. They could see signs of battle around the village. In fact they noticed a bit of smoke coming from the east. It was a very small column, barely noticeable against the bleak winter sky. They headed there to investigate.
The column of smoke was faltering as they approached. By the time they reached the source it was already out. They found that the source was a burned out house. The ashes were still warm so the attack was recent. They looked around for the attackers. As soon as they turned the corner they found a large splatter of blood across the snowy street and nearby was the body of a dead Orc. More fresh blood littered the street ahead, along with more bodies. They found more bodies there. Among the dead Orcs was a lone man. He was kneeling in the bloody snow with his hand grasping an amulet close to his chest. The man was mumbling something, but none of them could hear him well enough to know what he was saying.
They approached cautiously, but the man didn't seem to notice them. He kept praying then stood up and retrieved his axe from a nearby dead Orc. Tiskr complemented the man's fighting prowess, seeing as he had killed a group of Orcs alone. They introduced themselves to him and he revealed that his name was Hans. His accent was quite strange. He ignored them and began to walk away. Reeth was interested in following the man, but Tiskr stopped him so that they could focus on finding the Orc stronghold. Reeth climbed one of the nearby buildings to see if he could spot any Orcs. He came down, not finding any sign of the stronghold. All he found were more humans gathering at the village square. Tiskr decided to leave the humans alone and go into the wilderness to search for the Orcs.
Kal Curse-Bringer heard about the Orc problem plaguing the southern parts of the hold of Fǫlskinn. She headed there once the bounty on the Orcs was raised by the Jarl. The mercenary arrived at the village of Silfrísin, only to find it seemingly abandoned. Though as she was searching the vacant village, she heard some commotion from the village center.
Bodvar asked Jofrodr and Reyla to come with them to find the Orc party that had been spotted coming to the village. The duo agreed and followed the other Companions through the village. One of the Companions then saw Kal coming down the road. Neither Jof nor Reyla knew her. The Captain went to greet her with the two of them. They questioned the stranger and discovered that she was a mercenary come to kill Orcs for the bounty. Since they needed every man they could get, Bodvar invited her to accompany them and she agreed.
Eventually they found a bloodied road where four Orc corpses laid. They examined the bodies and concluded that they weren't killed by the Stormhawks, someone else had killed them. Kal, also wasn't responsible. The group tried to find the person responsible, but after coming up short they went back to the Companion camp at the mines. On the way there, the duo told their captain about their dragon hunt.
Reeth and Relan tried to convince Tiskr to seek help from the Companions. The three of them wouldn't be able to take on the Orc Stronghold alone. Tiskr decided to search for the Orcs first. If things got hairy, Reeth could use his magic to teleport them to Icereach. They followed tracks from the dead Orcs, but lost the trail completely about a four kilometers from the village, where the snowy hills gave way to a craggy landscape of stones and rock walls. No matter how hard they looked, they couldn't pick up the trail again.
The lookouts greeted them before they headed into the mine shafts and to the makeshift camp set up in a large chamber. Bodvar separated from the others, heading to the captains' tent at the back of the camp. There he met the newly appointed Captain Rolf of the Hildisvin and Captain Styrbjorn. They began to talk about their next move, but it quickly turned into an argument and then a shouting match.
Kal sat down near the entrance and minded her own business reading as the Companions settled their own business. Jofrodr stayed by the captains' tent while Bodvar went to meet with the captains of the other crews. He could hear the yelling between the captains clear enough. It was mostly just two of them yelling, the third seemed quite calm. It wasn't just the captains that were fighting, he could sense the tension in the cave between the Companions as well. To pass the time, Jofrodr went over to talk to that new mercenary. He had quickly grown tired of listening to the Captains arguing from their tent. He interrupted Kal's reading and asked more about her. She ignored him for the most part, not giving him straight answers. He gave up trying to get answer out of her when he noticed that a brawl had broken out between the Companions of the Hildisvin and the Vedrfolnir. He was only invested in the fight when he saw that Reyla had been dragged into it. Jof rushed off, while Kal let them handle it alone.
Reyla kept to herself, keeping Tannr close as they wanted for their captain's next orders. Not much was happening in the Companion camp until she overheard some arguing near her. It was men from different crews, they were yelling at each other, blaming each other for the ambush. Things escalated when they began to insult each other. Reyla tried to break it up, but was unsuccessful as it devolved into a brawl. She was dragged into it as a crowd gathered around them. Jof tried to push through the crowd around the brawl and was shoved into the circle of fighters. He tried to hold his own, but wasn't as skilled at hand-to-hand and was beaten. Reyla fought alongside Tannr. She wasn't strong enough to bring the man down on her own, but she held her own.
The Captains' yelling was only interrupted by a brawl that had broken out among their crew outside. They headed out to put a stop to it, but it was a new arrival that finally broke it up, the Harbinger of the Companions.
When Randagulf arrived at the village camp, he found the brawl taking place. He broke it up. The Harbinger brought order to the camp and gathered the captains to figure out a plan for taking out the Orcs. They met in full view of the other crewmen and discussed the events of the previous ambush and how to deal with the Orcs. They explained the situation to him, but it turned into an argument. However, Randagulf kept them in line. With the fighting stopped, Reyla healed Jofrodr's bruises.
The Stormhawks headed up a mountain path that they assumed the Orcs might have taken. The farther up they got the more treacherous it became. It was getting hard to follow as the snow was hiding loose stones and faults in the path. Relan felt that he stepped on a loose stone as it shifted under his weight and began to plummet down the mountainside. Tiskr grabbed Relan and made sure he didn't fall. Since this path was too treacherous they headed back. All this trekking around had wasted a good portion of the day, the sun was already starting to go down. The Stormhawks decided to set up camp.
The Stormhawks found stable enough ground to set their camp, a covered ledge area that got them out of the snow and protected them from the worst of the winds. Relan summoned his magic forge to keep them warm, which impressed the Stormhawks. During Relan's shift, a group of Orcs appeared from seemingly nowhere outside their camp. Tiskr wasn't asleep so he reacted quickly and protected the others while they got their bearings. Relan summoned a Dremora to aid them and they managed to kill the Orcs. They waited to see if more Orcs were nearby, then went to sleep.
Lamush gra-Kala heard of an Orcish tribe causing trouble in northeastern Skyrim. She figured that it might be where her brother, Bakel gro-Dursa, has been in hiding since his exile. She scoured high and low for it and eventually found the stronghold atop Mount Sheave.
Bakel's attention was drawn away from the humans momentarily, when he received reports of a red-skinned Orc coming up Mount Sheave. Bakel was enraged that one of Oshcrun would dare came into his new domain. What fueled this rage was also fear, fear that he would be humiliated once more like his failed Ritual of Blood. He ordered his Orcs to watch this Oshcrun and should they find the stronghold, to deny them entry.
Lamush had felt eyes on her long before reaching the gates of the stronghold. It was obvious that the Akul Khazak stronghold knew that she was coming and let her go up unopposed. The main gates was guarded by two wooden watchtowers where Lamush could see archers pointing their bows at her. She stood before the gate of their stronghold and demanded to be let in. A heavily armored Orc recognized her as a member of the Oshcrun Tribe and refused to let her in despite all her attempts to convince him. Seeing no other option, she invoked the Code of Malacath and demanded a duel with the stronghold's champion in order to be allowed unmolested entry.
After a few moments, the heavily armored Orc revealed himself as the champion Boruus gro-Muluur and met Lamush outside the stronghold for their duel. They exchanged numerous blows, but after a well placed strike she removed his helmet and left him with a nasty injury on his already disfigured face. Still, Boruus refused to surrender. Lamush was about to finish him off when Boruus' mother interrupted the duel and convinced the red orc to stand down. With the duel won, Lamush entered the stronghold.
She headed straight for the chief's longhouse. She wanted to see if her suspicions were correct. The guards outside the stronghold stopped her entry on orders of the chief. She pressured them and confirmed that Bakel was their chieftain. They seemed to be too scare of him to defy his orders got her to leave the longhouse courtyard. She went about her business and visited the smithy, but only received the cold shoulder. Everyone in the stronghold was trying to ignore her. Furious, she stormed back to the longhouse and yelled for Bakel to face her. A little girl was the first to show herself, she warned Lamush not to make her father angry. The she-orc ignored the warning and continued to challenge the chief. Boruus' mother came to fetch the girl, Durzha, just as the doors of the stronghold swung open by a fully armored Bakel. Having received a direct challenge, Bakel could no longer hide from his past. He put on his armor, grabbed his cleaver and stormed out of the longhouse. The sight of Lamush's red skin made him hesitate, but after she needlessly taunted him he furiously accepted her challenge and swung at her with his large cleaver. They clashed and he was actually overpowering her. She was going to lose, so she told him the reason for her coming to find him: to tell him the fate of his mother.
Tiskr was woken up in the middle of the night by Reeth, who showed him some dim lights in the distance. They didn't know what caused them, but guessed that they had something to do with the Orcs. Though they waited until morning before setting off to investigate the lights. Try as they might, the three could not find source of the lights. They went exactly where Reeth had seen them coming from, but there was nothing there out of the ordinary. It looked like just normal mountainside landscape: rocks, stone and snow. They wondered what could have been the source of the lights. They searched for another hour around the area and still found no sign, when they were suddenly attacked.
An Orc appeared out of seemingly nowhere and attacked Relan, while another fired an arrow at Tiskr. They fought off the Orcs once more, but Relan was stabbed in the lower torso during the fight. Reeth did his best to stop the bleeding, but Relan was left with an open wound. Meanwhile Tiskr was searching for a secret passage from where the Orcs came from. He uncovered a hidden crevasse in the rockwall where a person could slip in and out from. He could also see a faint light of torches inside the passage. He called the others over and after some short deliberations, they headed into the hidden crevasse.
The Stormhawks squeezed through the crevasse and found themselves in the poorly lit cavern corridor that the Orcs had came from. They could see that the corridor wasn't natural, as wooden beams were holding up part of the corridor. It looked very much like a mine shaft. They took a torch from the wall to be able to see and began to traverse the mines. They followed the mine shaft for quite a while before reaching something. They found a chamber that served as an outpost and a crossroads, as it had three other passages leading to it. It held some crates of supplies along with sleeping furs in a makeshift sleeping mat on the ground.
By the time morning came, the Companions had a plan. The Harbinger had separated the Companions into 9 war parties, each with around 20-30 men and gave each of them a path to head up the mountain. Mixing up the crews was an unpopular plan as they weren't getting along, but Randagulf's authoritative approach was keeping them in line for now. He knew that he needed to get these men to fight together instead of fighting each other or the Orcs would smash them.
Jofrodr and Reyla were placed in Randagulf's party. The Harbinger had a scout from Rolf's crew lead the party through the wilderness. The scout led Randagulf's party up the western path. There were 24 of them in the group. The Harbinger had seperated them into 4 half-dozen sized parties and spread them out through the path. This was to try to stop the whole group from getting surrounded all at once. As they were walking, however, Tannr raised his head and ears and was looking them around as if he was trying to listen to something. They chose to follow the sabercat. After a few minutes, the humans heard the sounds two, sounds of battle. The group approached what looked like a plain rockface, but the sound was coming from it somewhere. It echoed around the area. Jofrodr used his Life Detection magic and saw that there was a cavern behind those rocks. Tannr led them to the entrance of the cavern, a small crevasse on the side of the rock, hidden by perspective. The inside was lit by faint torchlight and they followed the tunnel to a chamber were a stranger was fighting four Orcs, with two already dead on the ground.
Hans had wandered the outskirts and followed the trail of the Orc scouts into the mountains. Even when it got dark he continued to hunt the green elves. That is when he noticed the lights. The Orcs had failed to conceal themselves from him. He found out that they had built a network of tunnels in the mountain to be able to safely traverse it. They were not safe; he was there. He went into the tunnels and fought his way through another group of Orcs at a basecamp. He killed two, but they managed to injure him. Before he could attack the others, a group of Companions made it into the tunnel and joined him in the fight. The Companions outnumbered the Orcs and quickly overpowered them, letting Hans finish off the last of them. The room they were in looked like a basecamp. Randagulf came to the conclusion that the Orcs must have made a network of tunnels in the mountain to easily travel without being seen and used it to ambush the Companions. The bloodied Hans was praying in an unknown language. Jofrodr questioned him and learned his name, but didn't learn any more than that. Hans left without resting and the Companions decided to follow him through the tunnels.
Bodvar's gathered his party to set off. Only half his men were from his crew, the rest were all unfamiliar to him. The Battlers he had been placed in charge of were rather unremarkable, except for the quiet mercenary Kal and the blonde woman that had come from Jorrvaskr, Elisiv Begalin. Elisiv served as tracker and led the party up the mountain. Elisiv spotted something up ahead, Bodvar had her investigate with Kal. The two women were joined by two other Battlers as they approached the site that Elisiv had spotted. They found the remains of a camp, one as recent as last night, and bodies of Orcs. Wolves were currently feasting on the bodies, but they proved no match for the Companions. They figured that the Orcs tried to ambush the ones camping there and failed, dying in the process. They brought this news back to Captain Bodvar and he decided to follow the trail of the ones that killed the Orcs. Eventually they came upon more orc bodies up the mountain. As they searched the are, the shield-sister found a hidden crevasse that led to a secret tunnel into the mountain. The war party headed inside to investigate.
The Stormhawks searched the supplies for anything useful until Relan warned them that someone was coming. They hid behind the crates and waited. When they put out their lights, the Stormhawks could still see torchlight coming from connecting passages, though one was brighter than the rest. It was the same one that they had come from. The Stormhawks saw the lights coming closer and closer with each passing minute, until the torches were practically in the room. It was hard to see as their eyes had began to adjust to the darkness. When the torches came into view it nearly blinded them. They saw that the ones holding the torches were humans. They didn't recognize any of them, but they seemed to be wearing Companion style armor and colors. Seeing that they were not enemies, Tiskr revealed himself and began to leave. He still didn't want to work with the Companions. Bodvar recognized them and tried to get them to stop, but Tiskr ignored him and called Reeth and Relan to his side.
It was about a week after Harald's return to Vindhjalmr that tragedy finally struck. Jarl Sigurðr subcoming to his illness. He went to sleep one night and never woke up again. Harald was the first to hear the news, Gripir told him himself. The mage interrupted him while he was sleeping with a serving girl. Since the situation was serious Harald had her leave and then went to relay the news to his brother.
The nobleman stood by his father's bed as Olaf prayed for their father's safe passage to Sovngarde. The local priests of Shor were called to aid Olaf in the funeral rites. News of the death were already spreading through the palace, leaving the servants to mourn for their beloved Jarl. Harald followed the priests as they bought his father out of his chamber. They took him down the stairs and to the Hall of the Dead under the palace, where all the Jarls and their close kin were buried, to prepare his body for the upcoming funeral.
He stopped when he passed the steward Holma to tell her to order the Lawspeaker to send out criers to inform the city of the Jarl's passing. Later in the day the citizens gathered at the Palace Plaza. The city had taken the death of the Jarl with a heavy heart. Harald addressed them and told the people that he would hold a week-long festival in honor of his father until his funeral. That cheered up the people. Holma argued that they didn't have supplies to waste on a long festival in the winter. Harald told her to stop sending tribute to the Confederacy and use those spare supplies for the festival. They argued over this. He didn't want to keep feeding the delusional kings of Atmora that refused to leave the dying continent. She reluctantly followed his orders, but warned him that it would anger the Confederacy when they didn't get their shipments.
He sent personal letters to his late father's vassals and friends, including old Jarl Arngrim of Saarthal, who was his father's 1st cousin. He invited them to attend the funeral that would be held within the week. Harald remained deep in thought about his future for the rest of the day. He visited his ancestor's graves and wondered how he would fair as Jarl and if he would be remembered as fondly as some of them.
Agrunac pretended to celebrate during the festival and tried to improve his friendship with the guards and Harald's men. He also participated in the brawls at the Fighting Pit to earn himself a reputation in the city. Fame would bring him closer to the now Jarl Harald.
Kane finally managed to save enough money up to buy a home in the Stone Quarter. When he went to speak to her she was talking with the Lawspeaker, Haukon, about the vassals that were arriving for the funeral and mentioned that lands to the south of the hold were being raided. He waited until their talk was done before paying the steward for the home. He gave her the gold from his past jobs and the pay that he had saved up in exchange for the deed to the house. In the document he officially took on the name Kane Silver-Tongue. He was now one step closer to his dream.
Kane felt very lonely during the festival. He had no family in the city, only an empty house. The foreigner envied Skorm spending time with his wife and kids. He wanted nothing more than to have a happy family like him.
Skorm and his family attended the week-long festival, watching the performers, eating in the markets and spectating the fights in the Pit. One day that he was with his kids and his sister, they noticed that Kane was watching them.
Part III[]
The news of his mother's death came as a shock to Bakel gro-Dursa and he quickly lost the interest in their duel. His anger shifted from Lamush gra-Kala to their father, but it was overshadowed by the grief that he felt for his mother. Despite all this, he would not stop the fight unless Lamush retracted her challenge, essentially surrendering the duel. She agreed and the two stopped their fight before one of them was injured. Grieving for his mother, Bakel retreated to his longhouse and had his Heart-Wife serve him food and drink. Lamush came with him. He told Lamush of the threat of the Companions and how they had gathered to take him down. She agreed to stay and help him fight them off. While they feasted he introduced his half-sister to his family: his daughter and his wives. In his drunken state he acted aggressively towards his Heart-wife Mornz and his daughter Durzha.
Reyla Silver-Moth didn't trust this stranger, but following the Harbinger nonetheless. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower asked Hans if he needed healing as he looked to be bleeding, but he refused. The Companions followed him despite their reservations about him. She and Jof talked about the man's strange speech, he talked in an archaic way and spoke a language none of them did. There was a lot of mystery around this man.
Hans stopped and told them that there were Orcs ahead. Reyla readied herself for battle as they cautiously approached the chamber where they heard sounds from. They found a large mining chamber. Wooden platforms and stairs lined the sides of the chamber, where a group of Orcs were swinging away at ore veins. The humans put out their torches and ambushed the Orcs, with Hans jumping right into battle. Randagulf ordered his men to help the stranger in his assault.
Reyla stayed back and used her magic to boost the strength and resistance of the humans while they killed the miners and the Orc guards in the chamber. Due to their surprise attack they suffered few losses. Hans had proved himself a brutal fighter and as soon as the fight was done he prayed in that same strange language. The man's helmet had been knocked off in the battle and revealed that he had white hair, red eyes and weathered skin. Jofrodr questioned him about his identity, but Hans only answered that the language he was speaking was that of the ancients. That angered Jof greatly, but Reyla got him to calm down. The Companions re-lit their torches and headed down the tunnel, catching up with Hans rather quickly as he headed further.
After spending the night drinking with his sister, Bakel was awoken to the news that the Companions had set off on another expedition up the mountain. He ordered his men to get ready and sent a few patrols through the tunnels to deal with the humans. However, news later arrived that there were humans in the tunnels. Seeing the threat they posed, he gathered up a force of mighty warriors and went into the mining tunnels to stop the humans. Having pledged her support for him, Lamush joined him in the mines. Bakel ordered the miners to seal off several of the tunnels to trap the humans.
The Harbinger's warparty followed after the man for almost an hour, going through the network of mining tunnels in the mountain. They came into an intersection where the mining tracks made to bring mining carts along met. They were crude constructions, but still effective. Hans stopped and looked around. Tannr lifted his ears. Both of them clearly heard something. Jofrodr used his Life Detection to see what was up ahead and stated that there were Orcs ahead. Hans charged ahead at the dark tunnel to fight the Orcs. As he was getting close the light from his torch illuminated the section of tunnel and showed a group of Orcs chopping down the wooden structure holding the roof up. He wasn't fast enough to stop them and they destroyed the last of the structural pillars. The tunnel began to rumble as the pressure mounted on the unstable rocky roof. The Companions retreated to avoid getting crushed by the falling rubble, but Hans kept running and was separated from them by the collapsing tunnel.
Captain Bodvar Little-Bear's warparty continued through the tunnels blindly. Kal Curse-Bringer wasn't too pleased with this, but didn't complain aloud. Captain Bodvar took the lead as they headed through the cramped mine shaft. The rocky corridor was barely wide enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder and only a bit above 2 meters tall. To Atmorans it was really small, but not for the Orcs that had built it. As the Companions were walking they noticed a marking on the wall left. The group was distracted by it, but Kal noticed that it was a trap. She warned the others before the Orcs sprung their ambush, allowing the Companions to fight them off.
Bodvar's Companions continued through the mine network, keeping watch on both ends of their marching column. They eventually came upon a mining chamber, though it contained only corpses. Someone had passed by this place before them and killed the Orcs. Elisiv Begalin realized that they weren't the only warparty to make it into the tunnels. They heard rumbling from a nearby tunnel and soon enough a band of humans appeared. It was Randagulf and his warparty, running away from a collapsing tunnel. They explained the situation to Bodvar's group and the Harbinger decided to split the two groups up to find a way to the Orc Stronghold before they could collapse all the tunnels that led there. Kal was placed in Elisiv's group. Jofrodr and Reyla were with them.
Bodvar and the Harbinger's groups backtracked, while Elisiv's went through an adjacent unexplored path. The tunnel seemed to be a straight path, but it was a bit hard to tell what was up ahead as the Companions' torches only illuminated up to a certain point and cast shadows on the wooden beams and jutted out rocks of the tunnel. Kal suggested that they be careful, they had previously been ambushed on a similar looking tunnel. Elisiv agreed and they proceeded cautiously. Jofrodr confirmed their suspicions with his magic. He grabbed a torch from one of the other Companions and threw it as far as he could. The flames flickered as the torch flew, but weren't put out by the time it finally landed on the rocky ground. The light revealed a shieldwall ahead as well as another side tunnel with more Orcs who were trying to collapse the tunnel. Elisiv ordered a charge into the enemy to stop them before the tunnel could be brought down.
Reyla used her magic to help take out the Orcs, shooting energy blasts at them and boosting their strength. Kal slipped through the skirmishing and made it to the miners that were trying to collapse the tunnel. She and Jofrodr killed them and secured the tunnel while Elisiv and the other Companions crushed the Orc soldiers. They didn't stay in the tunnel for long, since the miners had done a lot of damage to the wooden supports so it was unstable. The tunnel led to another mining chamber, where the Companions saw another group of Orc warriors that outnumbered them. The enemies seemed to be distracted by something else. Before the Companions could retreat, the Orcs spotted them and attacked.
Elisiv ordered the Companions to stay in the tunnel and form a shieldwall since they were outnumbered. Kal, Jofrodr and Reyla remained behind the shieldwall since they didn't have shields. Reyla kept the Companions healed and their strength boosted, but couldn't do much as the Orcs swarmed against the shieldwall and tried to overcome the humans. Jofrodr summoned a spear and gave it to Reyla for her to help attack the Orcs from a distance. They took losses, but the Companions held strong and killed many of the Orcs. When their numbers had diminished, Elisiv ordered the shieldwall to advance and push them back.
The Stormhawks walked for a while until they saw a group of Orcs up ahead. Since the Orcs hadn't noticed them they decided to follow instead of attacking. The orcs stopped to rest in an outpost room. It was the perfect place for an ambush so Reeth Gylden-hand and the others attacked before they were discovered. They caught the Orcs by surprise and finished them off quickly thanks to the mage's lightning. They tracked the footprints of the group and found a large mining chamber which housed too many Orcs for the Stormhawks to defeat. They backtracked to find another way through and ran into another group of Companions.
Randagulf's party ran into a group of humans belonging to the Order of the Stormhawk and Relan Vǫlundr, Andvari Gray-Mane's old apprentice. The Stormhawks had discovered a possible way to the stronghold so they lead the way. When they arrived at the mining chamber the Orcs spotted them and attacked. With the Companions aiding them, the Stormhawks were able to break through the mouth of the tunnel and make their way down to the bottom floor where a tunnel linked up to the mine exit. During the fight, Randagulf discovered that Relan could summon Daedra, shocking him. Though initially put off by this, the Companions learned to fight alongside the daedric servant. They found that the Orcs there were being attacked by another group, Elisiv's party. Together the Companions overwhelmed the Orcs from both sides and killed them all.
Captain Bodvar's group exited the mine network of tunnels into the mountainside. They found themselves high up in the mountain range, near the peak of Mount Sheave. They could just about make out the wooden palisade of the stronghold in the distance to their east. They decided to inform the other crews that must be in the surrounding area that they found the stronghold's location. The Companions gathered every piece of wood they could from inside the mine tunnels and built a pyre to bring the other crews to their location. It wasn't long before some of the other warparties arrived. When both Captain Rolf and Captain Styrbjorn's parties arrived and were informed on the situation, the three captains set off with their men to attack the stronghold. Battlemaster Helgi was left behind with a few men to keep the pyre going and gather up all the other Companions that had yet to regroup with the main force.
Hans ran after the fleeing Orcs, cutting down those in his path until he came to a large mining chamber with tens of Orcs warriors and archers awaiting him. He charged fearlessly at his foes all the while the archers shot volleys at him. He was pelted with arrows, but still remained afoot. The largest of the Orcs, the Orc Chief Bakel, challenged him to a duel. Hans surprised him when he spoke Orcish, but the distraction was not enough to overcome the chief. He was relentless in the fight against Hans, dealing two fatal wounds to his arm and torso, but he would not die. Hans put fear into the Orc chief through his ferocity and unwavering onslaught. That fear made the Orc sloppy and Hans managed to cut his neck. However, before the axe could kill him, the Chief used his Oshcrun Standard to burn Hans alive. That finally killed Hans and his charred corpse fell to the ground. Death, though, would not accept Hans for he was Ysmir. While he laid unconscious on the ground his body healed himself and he dreamed of his creation by Sithis.
Bakel retreated to see the stronghold's shaman, leaving Boruus in charge of the mine while he got his neck wound healed. Lamush went with her half-brother and complemented Bakel's fighting skill. He told her to warn their father that he was coming to kill him. The old shaman, Mornz's mother, gave him a concoction that healed his wound. However, before they returned to the mining tunnels a lookout warned the chief that a large group of Companions was coming up the side of the mountain towards the stronghold. Bakel told Lamush to go warn Boruus and tell him to hurry up dealing with the humans in the tunnels while he gathered up the women in the stronghold and the archers to protect the Akul Khazak from the incoming Companions.
Durzha watched from her bedroom window at the longhouse as the column of dark smoke shot through the sky. She heard her father yelling and gathering together many Orcs nearby and wondered what was going on. Bakel gathered up the able-fighting women at the courtyard and told them on the incoming threat. He then had them go to the smith's to arm themselves with as well as they could. Durzha sneaked her way to the smith's and tried to join the band of warrior women, but Bakel found her and sent her back to the longhouse with her mother. When the women were armed, he led them to the gates to await the human invaders.
Randagulf and Elisiv's groups tried to catch each other up, he told them that he found the Stormhawks and they had joined their war effort. However, their conversation was cut short as the Orcs tried to cut off their only advance into the stronghold. Luckily for the Companions, Jofrodr used his telekinesis magic to hold the tunnel roof in place. He urged his companions to go on without him. Reyla didn't want to, but Jofrodr convinced her due to her being the only healer as long as he promised to survive. She reluctantly joined the Harbinger's charge through into the last mining chamber before the tunnel behind them collapsed with Jofrodr's magicka having run out. In the last mining chamber they found the largest group of Orcs thus far led by the Orc Champion Boruus and the Red-Orc Lamush.
Lamush returned to the mine and informed Boruus of the imminent attack on the stronghold. The humans had managed to make it to the chamber adjacent to the mine entrance and fought off the Orcs that tried to stop them. Boruus had them try to seal the tunnel, but one of the humans used magic to hold the tunnel up despite the Orcs' best efforts to collapse it. The Companions rushed into the mine entrance chamber and Boruus had his soldiers charge to meet them.
The Companions formed a shieldwall to protect themselves from the Orc archers and warriors. The Orcs charged at them, but with Reyla's magic boosting their strength the Companions managed to hold them back. Reyla used her energy spells to blast the archers, but she had to keep most of her magicka focused on healing and boosting the other Companions. Reeth remained behind the shieldwall and focused on shooting lightning bolts at the Orc archers atop their platforms, while Tiskr Rjaakasig went into the fray of battle. Kal used her invisibility to slip past the Orc soldiers to try to kill their archers. She sneaked her way to the platforms where the archers stood and ambushed the nearest one. However, they all turned on her then and she would have died if not for the intervention of a burned bloody man, Hans.
Hans was awoken by the sounds of battle once more when the Companions had made it to the chamber some time later. He was fully healed, but still wore the burnt armor. He headed up the wooden platforms at the back of the chamber where a female mercenary was fighting the archers. He saved her from a deadly volley and helped her kill the archers before an Orc champion intercepted them.
The Harbinger was shot by arrows, but Reyla managed to heal him. Elisiv stood strong on the shieldwall before the Orc Champion engaged her. Randagulf saw that his daughter was in danger so he helped her duel against Boruus. He pushed the champion back. Elisiv fought against Lamush, but was unable to hold her own against the female Orc. Luckily her father came to her aid again and took over the duel. Elisiv took command of the shieldwall alongside Tiskr. Lamush's strength seemed superior, but his fighting skills were far beyond hers. Nonetheless, if not for the healer keeping the Harbinger from death, she might have won the battle. The Harbinger wheedle her down, not even her Oshcrun Standard was able to defeat him, until she saw no way to win against him. He forced the Orc to retreat.
The fight against the Orcs was not going in the humans' favor, not until Reeth noticed that the Orcs had left numerous oil barrels around the mine. He zapped one of them with lightning and set off a chain explosion that coated much of the enemy force in burning oil. That dealt a crushing blow to the Orc warriors.
The Orc Champion Boruus had headed to the platforms and got into a fight with Kal. Lamush retreated from the battle and ran into Boruus' fight. The charred warrior should have been long dead, but he was more formidable now than when he had faced Bakel. Boruus refused to flee so Lamush left him to his fate. Hans ran after the retreating Red-skinned Orc. With the help of the blonde Stormhawk Tiskr, Kal was able to kill the Orc Champion. The battle in the mines was gruesome, with many Companions meeting their end, but the Atmorans were able to defeat the Orcs.
Bodvar's warparties assaulted the Orc stronghold and while being pelted by arrows by the Orcs. They raised their shields to protect themselves as they headed towards the gates. With their axes they hacked away at the wooden gates until there was a breakthrough and then swarmed into the stronghold where they were met with a force of primarily Orc women by the stronghold's chief. The women were often used as fighters when the men were unavailable. The Orc women were nearly as strong and well trained as the men due to the manual labor they had to handle in the stronghold. However, the Companions had a lot more numbers and experience with warfare so they managed to push the Orcs back and spread throughout the stronghold. By then Battlemaster Helgi had arrived with reinforcements.
Durzha was watching the fighting from the longhouse. Her eyes wide as she saw her tribesmen cut down by the ruthless humans. She had seen death before, but never in this scale.
Bakel tried to contain the humans, but his warriors had been scattered. Bodvar led his men through the streets of the stronghold, attacking the scattered defenders and setting fires to their homes as they raided it. Bakel encountered Captain Styrbjorn and dueled him, killing two of his men and decapitating the Companion. The Orc chief rallied the scattered Orc defenders to his longhouse's courtyard for a final battle against the humans, whom were now enraged by the death of one of their leaders. The battle grew more in favor of the Orcs, as Chief Bakel's undefeated slaughter of numerous humans inspired the Orcs and put fear into the Companions. Captain Bodvar tried to take command of the attackers and bring up their moral by challenging the Orc chief to combat.
Mornz burst into Durzha's room and dragged her away. She sought to bring her daughter to safety now that the humans were reaching the longhouse. With her was the chief's pregnant Forge-Wife. She led them towards the sully gate in the eastern part of the stronghold. She joined up with her mother Murbut, the tribe's shaman, and a group of Orc children.
Jofrodr was trapped in the other side of the debris, as were a few of the Companions that hadn't made it through. Some were dead, but others were just knocked out from falling debris. He did his best to drag them to safety. He made it out of the mine network, back-tracking to where Bodvar had exited. He saw the stronghold in the distance. It was smoking so he assumed that the battle had already begun.
Lamush retreated to the stronghold on the surface, but found that it was already embroiled in the battle with the Companions. Lamush knew that the stronghold was lost and that her brother would soon meet his end. So she decided to save herself, but the humans had overwhelmed the western part of the stronghold where the entrance was. While she was trying to find a way out, she ran into a group of women and children being led by Mornz and her mother. The Heart-wife told her of a secret sully gate that they could escape through and beckoned the Oshcrun to help them escape the carnage. Lamush agreed and led the Orcs out of the burning stronghold and safely to an ally stronghold to the south.
Bodvar and Helgi attacked the Orc chief, though the Orc was able to fight off both of them at once. Bakel heavily injured the captain and fatally burned his Battlemaster. He would have killed the captain if not for being distracted by an incoming human, Hans.
Hans followed Lamush to the surface where he found the stronghold already engaged in a battle with the other Companions. He joined that battle and let the she-Orc go. He saw the Orc chief in the middle of a duel with two Companions at the longhouse courtyard. Hans cut his way through the battle to reach the chief and get his revenge. His arrival distracted the Chief while he was about to kill a Companion Captain. The distraction was enough time for the captain to move out of the way of the attack. The Orc tried to finish the captain off quickly, but his desperation made him sloppy and he was unable to kill him before the undying warrior reached him. However, even with Hans joining the duel the chief was still able to hold them off.
Randagulf's warparty did not rest, instead they headed outside into the stronghold and found that it was ablaze and in the middle of battle. Other Companions led by Captain Bodvar had attacked the Orcs' home and were fighting in the longhouse's courtyard. Harbinger Randagulf led the survivors of the mining tunnels into the battle, attacking the Orcs on their flank. Their arrival turned the tide of the battle, which had been in the favor of the Orc Chief. Reyla stayed back and focused on supporting the Harbinger's men. Her support proved vital to the battle as she allowed the humans to overcome the Orc's berserker rages.
Reeth joined the fight against the Orc chief, zapping him with lightning as Hans and Tiskr fought him. Even with the Stormhawks helping them they were not able to kill the Orc Chief. They had to chip away at the chief piece by piece and even then his furious blows nearly killed them.
Kal headed into the fray against the Orcs. She dueled against the Orc smith that wielded a mighty warhammer and defeated her with her superior speed and agility. Afterwards she joined the fight against the Chief.
Elisiv saw that the group that was fighting the Orc chief was having trouble so she helped lead Reyla there so that she could heal them. The healer boosted their strength and kept them from dying from the Orc Chief's furious attacks. By then the Tongue had used his shouts to weaken his armor and the mage had blasted him with lightning, while the warriors stuck at him numerous times. Bakel was unable to kill any of his opponents with the healer there. Ultimately, Tiskr cut Bakel's throat and killed him. The battle ended with the deth of the Orc Chief. The rest of the Orcs were slaughtered and their stronghold burned to the ground.
The Companions recovered after the massive battle, burying their dead, counting the kills, looting the stronghold and resting. Once they had done this the crew split up and went their separate ways. Reyla saved Helgi from the fatal burns that he had suffered against the Orc Chief. Reeth collected some blood from the Orc chief to study him, as the Orc had an usually large size for his race. By the time Jofrodr arrived at the stronghold the battle was already over. Jofrodr reunited with Reyla. She was glad that he was safe. They joined Helgi's party on their way to Dagastar to get their reward for this quest while Bodvar led the rest of their crewmembers back to their mead hall. Randagulf sent a small party to Dagastar to collect their reward while he returned to Drekahóll with the other Jorrvaskr companions. Elisiv convinced Kal to come with her and the Jorrvaskr crew to Drekahóll to await her reward there. Since she had never been to the city she agreed to go with the Harbinger.
Relan took the opportunity to take some of the Orcs' resources and minerals for himself, using his daedric butler to collect them and send them to Oblivion for safekeeping. Afterwards he retrieved his lend treasures from the Companions and when the Companion crews decided to leave he chose to join Bodvar Little-Bear's party until they dropped him off at Vindhjalmr. He said his farewells to the Stormhawks and promised Tiskr Rjaakasig a new shield to replace the once he lost during the battle against the Orcs. The Stormhawks followed the crews to Dagastar to get their reward from the Jarl of Fǫlskinn.
Hans didn't stay long after the battle, only remaining to loot new armor pieces from the dead Companions and Orcs to replace his destroyed burnt armor. He left to continue his endless crusade against the elves.
Once the Orc survivors arrived at Margior Lamush split off from Mornz, Durzha and the rest of the Orcs and returned home to Crun Kala.
During one of Agrunac Ilzeglan's fights his superiors contacted him through the Calling, the telepathic ability of the Dwemer, but that didn't stop him from winning. He reported to them how his progress with his mission to get the Jarl's ear was going. Satisfied with his progress they informed him that they were already conducting the next part of the King's plot. A group of Dwemer disguised as Falmer would be raiding the lands in the south of Skyrim, close to the border with Mereth, to increase tension between the Atmorans and the pale mer. With the funeral approaching and the arrival of Harald Word-Bringer's vassals to his court, Agrunac was sure that they would bring up the issue.
Kane Styrson felt very lonely during the festival. He had no family in the city, only an empty house. The foreigner envied Skorm Snow-Strider spending time with his wife and kids. He wanted nothing more than to have a happy family like him. Skorm and his family attended the week-long festival, watching the performers, eating in the markets and spectating the fights in the Pit. One day that he was with his kids and his sister, they noticed that Kane was watching them. Skorm spent the rest of the festival with his family and even watched a few fights in the Vindhjalmr Pit with his son and Kane.
Harald welcomed his vassals as they arrived in the city for his father's funeral. Among them was his father's cousin Jarl Arngrim Sea-King of Saarthal and his son. Carousing with nobles became his day to day until the funeral. Harald had little experience with dealing with this diplomacy, but he adapted to it quickly and successfully. He'd need friends and allies now that he was to be Jarl.
Shortly before Jarl Sigurd's funeral took place, Lady Jóðdís of the village of Bjargveltask arrived in the city and told Harald of attacks that had been happening in her southern lands. They had not yet discovered the source of the attacks and Harald decided to send some men under Skorm to investigate the raids. He wasn't going to let his people suffer. Agrunac was the first to volunteer for the mission, trying to win the Jarl's approval with his initiative. Harald approved of this and decided to send Kane on the mission as well. They were only to return with proof of the identity of the aggressors.
Despite the week of feasting, music, fighting and cheers, the city had once again been gripped with grief on the day of the funeral. The populace gathered at the palace plaza, where a large funeral pyre was built for the Jarl. The plaza was full and the people had to gather all the way to the Stone Quarter. Thousands of people wanting to mourn their beloved Jarl. Olaf and the Fox Priests conducted the funeral processions and afterwards the late Jarl's vassals and family members laid gifts beside him on the pyre. Harald was the last one to give a gift, placing a circlet on his father's head. Olaf lit the pyre and they prayed as the ashes reached to the sky.
With his father's soul sent to Sovngarde, Harald prepared for his inauguration as Jarl of Austrmǫrk. He asked his brother to be the one to conduct the ceremony as a High Priest of Shor. Harald continued to carouse with his guests from the funeral as they remained in the city for his inauguration. He learned more about his father's youth from stories that Jarl Arngrim told of their time together in Saarthal. He realized that his father and him were not so different at that age.
The ceremony of inauguration was held the day after the funeral at the palace plaza. The plaza was full of people eagerly awaiting for the event to begin. The ceremony began with Olaf leading Harald out of the palace and into the plaza, leading him towards the first step of the stone throne that was placed in front of the crowd. He did not wear his father's crown, that was still in Olaf's hands. Olaf addressed the crowd of civilians in the plaza asking for their approval for Harald to climbthe throne. Harald laid his claims to Austrmǫrk and the people approved. He swore to uphold the peace and laws of the land in the name of Shor, kneeling in front of Olaf. Olaf crowned him Jarl Harald the Heroic to the cheers of the crowd.
One of his first tasks as Jarl was to ask his lawspeaker, Haukon, to investigate Kane Styrson's ancestor on the housecarl's behalf. The lawspeaker sent a letter to the Skalds for them to look for Valdarr of the Silver Tongue among their records of the 500 Companions.
As a single bachelor and now the ruler of a hold, Harald began to receive plenty of marriage proposals from all over Skyrim. He looked through them, even from the lowest of clans, so long as the women came to meet him personally. The last thing he wanted was to marry some Jarl's ugly daughter. None of the prospects that came to meet him interested the young Jarl, not even the pretty ones. They were all the same to him, pretty women trying to stroke his ego so that he chose them as his wife. He sent them all away.
Harald's housecarls traveled to the lands under attack and searched around for clues. What they found were only burned down hamlets and farmsteads and no sign of the attackers. They rode towards Áfastr's Hamlet. It was a farming settlement about a week's ride from Bjarveltask. The farmer had recently sent his tribute to the village so the housecarls suspected that he was still alive. They rode around the curve of the road and got their first glimpse of the farm in the distance from in between the trees. The group heard a terrible cry echo over the area, followed by a scream and yelling. Skorm rushed towards the farmstead, with Kane and Agrunac going after him.
As he approached the farmstead, Agrunac was contacted by his superiors with the Calling. They had planned for the Jarl's housecarls to finally discover the fake Falmer soldiers attacking the Atmoran lands. The superior told Agrunac the details of the plan and he began to help them enact it. Kane rushed into the clearing of the hamlet only a few moments after Skorm. Skorm arrived at the clearing only to find the homestead being attacked by a group of white armor-clad men. While Skorm had never met them in person, their pale skin, white hair, angular features and pointed ears gave them away as Snow Elves. He charged into battle on his horse, getting in between the elves and the innocent farmers. The elves outnumbered him, but soon Kane and Stinralg joined him and together they managed to hold them off. Agrunac explained that they were Falmer. Kane had never seen the snow elves before, but he had fought against Ayleids so he knew what to expect. Agrunac was the first to follow Skorm into battle, with Kane drawing his sword and snapping the reigns of his mount seconds later. They had to fight off the half-dozen elves while protecting the farmer and his family. Among the elves was a mage that was causing them a lot of trouble. Kane took the initiative against the mage. He was distracted by memories of his life with the Free-men fighting the Ayleids and the Snow Elves landed a hit on him. The mage killed his horse, but the Cyrodiilic was able to land safely when he was thrown off. He charged at the mage and thrust his sword right through him. The mage refused to die. He managed to burn Kane before the housecarl put him down with his dagger.
The Dwemer hindered the other housecarls during the fight the best he could without breaking his cover. He stopped the Atmorans from killing any of his fellow Dwemer until they were ready with their ploy. That ploy came when Kane fought against the Falmer mage and killed him, though in fact the fake Falmer was still alive. While the Atmorans were distracted the Dwemer replaced the mage's body with a real dead Falmer. When the switch was done, the other fake Falmer retreated.
Despite his injuries Kane rejoined the fight to help Skorm, who had been surrounded. However, the elves began to retreat. Skorm ordered them to remain at the farm in case the Falmer returned, while Agrunac healed the civilians and the wounded housecarls. After confirming that the enemy weren't returning the housecarls escorted the farmer and his family to the village before heading back to Vindhjalmr with the body of the dead Falmer mage as proof of the attackers' identities.
The Ylgermet crew headed back to Silfdrífa, where Reyla and Jofrodr retrieved their horse and got a carriage to take them the rest of the journey to Dagastar. Even with a carriage, it took the Companions 3 weeks to arrive at the coastal city. Once there they headed straight for the Tower of Dawn where the Jarl lived. They waited in the courtyard of the tower, joking among each other, before the Jarl summoned them to give them their reward. Reyla didn't like the steward that had led them there, he seemed untrustworthy.
At the Jarl Skuld's throne room, she presented them with three chests of gold as a reward. However there were four crew and even combined the gold was not the amount promised to them. The Jarl said that she had reduced the bounty due to the damage suffered by Silfdrífa during the quest, which angered the Companions. Jofrodr in particular was quite vocal about his outrage. However infighting between the crew over how they would split up the remaining reward turned their anger from the Jarl to each other. Helgi of the Ylgermet argued with a member of the Vedrfolnir crew and it looked their a fight would break out. Reeth of the tried to calm down the Companions, but to little avail. He told Tiskr to leave and see if Relan's shield had arrived from Vindhjalmr. Tiskr was angry with the Companions' in-fighting so he agreed to seperate himself before he stepped in.
When he arrived in Vindhjalmr, Relan rented a room at one of the city's largest inns and began to work as a blacksmith there. He created Vardasturm, the shield that he had promised Tiskr, and sent it on a boat to Dagastar, where the Stormhawks had gone.
The Companions at Dagastar continued to argue how to split up the gold until finally a brawl broke out when the Vedrfolnir leader tried to claim the largest chest for his crew. Helgi and him exchanged blows briefly before the Jarl angrily broke up the fight. She had her steward separate the reward fairly through the reported kills of each crew and then had the Companions leave her tower.
The Stormhawks took their share of the reward and gladly separated from the Companions. They stayed in Dagastar, where Tiskr retrieving the shield that Relan had made for him. They were able to find themselves a merchant ship that would take them to Icereach, the so called cursed island where the Atmorans refused to go and where the Stormhawks had set up their secret headquarters. The merchant dropped them off on the southern shore of the island and they walked all the way to the northern marches where their headquarters was located. There they reunited with Hefndir Sturmhaukr. Tiskr returned Kljúfasǫngr to his master after telling him of their success and how they had vanquished the Orc Chief.
Helgi ordered Jofrodr and Reyla to sell their carriage while he went to fetch them a ship to Yorgrimmr. The two did so at the local stables before reuniting with the rest of the crew. They took a cog back to their hometown. At Yorgrimmr they decided to finally leave Tannr with a professional trainer as the cub was growing quite large and soon would be beyond their control. They met with the kennel master Urlath and paid the Nede to take care of their pet and teach him properly. After that Reyla went to the local magic shop and ordered a new staff for herself given how much she needed a new weapon after the fight with the Orcs. She purchased it with her share of the dragon reward.
Once they arrived at Drekahóll, Elisiv showed Kal around the city and she was allowed to stay in the Jorrvaskr mead hall by the captain of the crew, Gunnar Battle-Born, as a guest. During the wait for her reward, Kal grew to like the crew and befriended Elisiv. After the envoy returned with their reward from the Jarl, Kal decided not to leave and instead to join the Companions. Elisiv vouched for her skills, as did the Harbinger. Gunnar accepted her request and had her fight the crew's Battlemaster, Gudmund the Deathless, to prove her skill. Gudmund underestimated Kal in his inebriated state and she was able to win their duel to first-blood and obtain membership into the Jorrvaskr crew as a Battler. Randagulf met a peculiar mage by the name of Lars Sun-Laud and his compatriot Fjol, both of whom had watched the fight.
Lars had returned from the Soul Cairn after finishing his study of its magicks, learning from Durnehviir and making a deal with the Ideal Masters. What he had not anticipated was that time moved differently in Oblivion than on Mundus so what for him felt like a few years at most was over a century back home. When he arrived Tamriel was in the 139th year of the 1st Era and Skyrim's political landscape was drastically changed. The Dragons were no longer in charge, having been defeated by the humans at the end of the Merethic Era and Alduin being killed by a group of Tongues. The Dragon Cult was no more and they were considered enemies of the common Atmorans, so Lars had to keep his identity hidden from the populace. All the people he knew were long dead and he found himself in a strange but familiar world.
For several months he studied the new dialect of the Atmorans, which had evolved a bit since he had departed for the Soul Cairn, and tried to get himself acquainted with the history of the province up until now. He used his magic to raise an old friend of his, Fjoll, to serve as his servant and companion in this new time. During this time a local hunter from Drekahóll spotted Lars summoning one of his Bonemen from the Soul Cairn, which led to a bounty being placed on the black-boned skeleton. Luckily for the mage, that amounted to nothing as the people of Drekahóll were unable to find the Boneman or any trace of Lars in the wilderness. Once he was confident in his knowledge of the current culture and history of Skyrim, he decided to integrate himself into the populace. He headed to the nearest city, Drekahóll - a former vassal town of Bromjuunar that was now the seat of a new Jarldom.
Lars and Fjoll managed to get into the city and took up residence in one of the local inns inside the walls. Fjoll's rotting smell caused some commotion at the inn, but they were able to ignore it. To pay for his room Lars and Fjoll sold animals they hunted in the surrounding wilderness. As he was exploring the city to see how it changed and grew in the last century, he came across the mead hall of the Companions, Jorrvaskr. He walked into them conducting an initiation ceremony at their training yard. A woman was fighting a large brute of a man. The fight ended quickly, only after a few swings, as it was to first-blood. Lars chatted with an older Companion for a bit and learned that he was the current Harbinger. Lars spent his time in the city mostly with the Companions, building a friendship with Harbinger Randagulf.
While he was sleeping with one of his serving girls, Harald was interrupted by Holma. She told him that Skorm Snow-Strider had returned from his quest to discover the source of the attacks near Bjargveltask. Harald dismissed the servant and met with his housecarls in his throne room. They presented him with a body and told him that it was Snow Elves that were responsible for the attacks. Harald didn't believe them at first, but the body was clearly an elf. Harald was enraged by the news and Agrunac fueled his rage by spouting his theories that the Falmer thought Harald weak and that is why they were attacking now. The Dwemer suggested that the Jarl answer these transgressions with overwhelming force as per King Tzovnak's plot. Harald agreed with him and, after some deliberations, declared war against the Snow Elves. It was his duty as Ysgramor's heir to deal with the elves and finish what his ancestor started during the Return. After war was declared, Agrunac reported to his superiors. Their plot had been successful.
Jarl Harald began to prepare for the coming war, gathering his soldiers and sending out calls to arms to all corners of Skyrim. He gathered the people of Vindhjalmr at the palace plaza and passionately proclaimed his war declaration against the snow elves to them. He showed them the body of the dead elf and told them of his crimes as justification for the war. His proclamation was answered with cheers and enthusiasm from the populace as they called for vengeance against the elven aggressors. Kane, along with the other housecarls, helped in planning for the invasion and training the soldiers that had started joining after Harald's proclamation. Agrunac, meanwhile, was keeping his superiors informed on all the details of the Atmorans' war plans.
While he trained new soldiers in Vindhjalmr, Harald sent orders to his fortresses in the south to patrol the border with Mereth and for all his vassals to begin training new soldiers as well. In order to defeat the elves they would need a mighty host and he was not sure how many of the other Jarls or Companions would answer his call to arms. To this end, Harald decided to name Skorm as the new Thane of Morovunsker, as since Harald's coronation as Jarl the fortress had stood without a commander. He told the new thane to head there and prepare the troops for the coming war. Skorm took the job wholeheartedly and renewed his oaths to Harald. He moved to Morovunsker with his family and began to raise troops at the fortress.
Relan had no shortage of work in Vindhjalmr since the war was declared. As such Relan was packed with requests for new weapons and armor for the war effort.
Captain Bodvar accepted the Jarl's request and headed to the city to meet with him and personally inform him of his commitment to the cause. Reyla and Jofrodr remained at Yorgrimmr for now, taking on smaller quests to earn money while they waited for the war to begin. Bodvar met with Jarl Harald in the Vindhjalmr palace. He believed that the Companions were honor bound to answer Harald's call to arms because of their oaths to Ysgramor. The Jarl welcomed him with open arms and told him his plan of beginning the invasion in the fall.
Jarl Arngrim of Saarthal was surprised at his cousin's hot-blooded after learning of the war declaration. He discussed the news with his three sons and decided that he was too old to participate in a long campaign himself. His eldest son and heir, Hjörvard Sea-King, pledged to join the war in his place. He went to Vindhjalmr with a host of Saarthal's best warriors.
Jarl Skuld of Fǫlskinn was disinterested in the war. She didn't want to join herself, not wanting to waste her people's lives on what she saw as a pointless crusade. Her lands were in no danger from Falmer aggression. Nevertheless, she had to offer her support for the cause or fear backlash from the populace. She offered gold and supplies instead of troops, but her husband Anarr joined the war with some of his close allies - including his two sons - despite his wife's wishes. They assumed the identity of of mercenaries so as not to tip off Skuld to their presence in the war.
The news reached the College. Gauldur heard it first from the many apprentices, who in turn had heard the news from the town crier of Frøsselvirk. Gauldur's apprentice, Geirmund, met him in his chambers. They discussed the war with the Snow Elves and Gauldur chose not to repremand the apprentices for their gossip. He ordered Geirmund to gather the Master Wizards for a meeting to determine the College's stance of this looming war. The meeting was held in the conference room, with all 6 Master Wizards being present as well as Gauldur and his apprentice. They were why they were called so they didn't skip around the issue. Each master made his stance on the war clear, some were for it, others against and the rest apathetic towards it. They didn't believe Harald's justification for the war, but Gauldur wasn't interested in discussing the reasoning behind it. What he was interested in was what the war could bring the College, access to precious Falmer artifacts and magicks. During the Return, the 500 Companions slaughtered the elves indiscriminately, destroying all their relics and knowledge in the process. Gauldur wanted to use Harald's war in order to get access to the elves' artifacts and knowledge and keep it for the College. They accepted his proposal and the College pledged their support for the Jarl's war with this objective in mind.
The news of the war arrived in Drekahóll. Jarl Ivar Jeekingr was not happy with this news as he saw Harald as a young upstart who had only recently been made Jarl, but had played a move that made it impossible for Ivar to turn down his call to arms. If he did he'd be seen as a traitor to Ysgramor and a coward. He wasn't going to let the boy Jarl show him up. He ordered his Thane to ready their forces and begin enlisting a militia to bolster their numbers and not leave their western border undermanned. Jarl Ivar's crier shared the news with the rest of Drekahóll and spewing propaganda in order to get people to enlist in his militia. Thane Egil Gray-Mane, Ivar's cousin, started a program to train the militia. Lars listened to the town crier sharing the news with the populace in Drekahóll. The crier gave few details short of asking for volunteers for the Jarl's militia, so Lars went to visit Randagulf to uncover more information of the upcoming war.
The Harbinger and Captain Gunnar immediately accepted the call as the Companions had been founded to fight the Snow Elves to begin with and they saw it as their duty to answer the Jarl's call to arms. As a member of the crew, Elisiv would be going as well. While the others trained under Gudmund to prepare for the war, Elisiv and Kal went on a quest about the rumor of a black skeleton that appeared near the city, but it proved to be a dead end after they met with Thane Egil Gray-Mane, whom had already tried to go after the monster and found nothing.
Several weeks later, a lesser member of the Order arrived at Icereach and informed them that Jarl Harald Word-Bringer had declared war on the Snow Elves over some supposed attacks that the elves conducted against the Jarl's lands. The Stormhawks didn't believe it, Hefndir in particular was enraged by this news. Enough so that he departed from Icereach, leaving his family behind in order to go help the Falmer against the Atmorans. He refused aid from Reeth, Tiskr and the other Stormhawks, not wanting to involve them in the war. He also left behind Kljúfasǫngr in Icereach. He assumed the identity of Karyor, leaving behind his persona of Hefndir Sturmhaukr. After saying his goodbyes, he left on the same ship that brought Vaskr to the island. Once on mainland Skyrim, he began heading for Mereth to seek out the Falmer.
Part IV[]
Yslenor Denloth's agents were the first to discover the increased Atmoran activity near the border. They reported to her that the humans were sending scouts to check the elves' defenses, which troubled her. She decided to send word to her father in the capital, warning him of the increased activity. After meeting with him personally to deliver her report, using Gondorin's wayshrine to teleport directly to Ilinhame. There she spoke to her father, Arch-Curate Torvus. He was quite worried about the report and sent her back to the fortress with three spies with orders to uncover what the humans were planning. Afterwards, Torvus met with Arch-Paladin Udhellor Uremyn to inform him of the threat and ordered him to begin preparations of their defenses in case of an attack by the humans. Udhellor wanted to inform their queen of the threat, but Torvus refused his request.
Lars Sun-Laud encountered the Harbinger in the middle of a conversation with Captain Gunnar in Jorrvaskr. Lars questioned him and learned that the Companions would be pledging to Jarl Harald's cause, as they were bound by their duty to Ysgramor. He also learned more about the militia that Jarl Ivar Jeekingr as conscripting to bolster his forces. Lars wasn't too pleased that the Jarl wanted to use commonfolk in the war, neither were the Companions, but none of them could do anything about it. The Jarl was within his rights and he would not listen to any of their council. Lars decided to join the war effort, if only to help reduce the unnecessary deaths of innocent people.
Gunnar questioned Lars about his origins, but the mage was able to dodge the question and instead asked the Harbinger with aid in training for the war. Randagulf and Gunnar agreed to allow Lars to train with the Companions at their mead hall as they saw it as a good way to get the men used to fighting mages. He was introduced to the rest of the Companions and began training that same day. His first opponent was the Harbinger's daughter, Elisiv Begalin. He dueled the Shield-Sister in the training yard to first blood. She was much more nimble and experienced in dueling than him, but Lars was able to use his shock mage to get the upperhand, stunning her and allowing the mage to knock her off her feet and leave a cut on her arm. The fight ended there. The other Companions, that had been observing the fight, were displeased with Lars' use of magic and called it dishonorable, but Gunnar chastized them for not realizing that elves would be doing the same when they fought in the war.
Kal Curse-Bringer spent her time going on quests to earn her keep in the Companions. The first one she tried to go on was a rumor of a black skeleton that she had first heard when coming to the city of Drekahóll, but it proved to be a dead end after she met with Thane Egil Gray-Mane, whom had already tried to go after the monster and found nothing. Afterwards, she took a second one about concerning the stealing of crops. After talking to the farmer that posted it, she went to the refugee camp and questioned a female refugee named Valdis for more information a little before making a deal to train and give her a dagger in exchange for the information. After getting it, Kal headed back to Jorrvaskr and asked Elisiv for help taking down the thugs, believing she would not be able to fight them off on her own without her dagger. Elisiv agreed to help and they confronted the thugs, resulting in a fight that caused Kal's left shoulder to be injured. After killing most of the thugs, their leader came out and attempted to convince them to stop; however, Kal insisted she had to get rid of him. A fight broke out between them after Kal asked him to come quietly and he threw a poisoned knife at Kal and Elisiv. Elisiv was hit and poisoned; however, Kal's armor kept her unharmed. After a short fight, Kal killed him and they went to take care of their injuries before collecting the bounty.
Reyla Silver-Moth found a quest from the stablemaster that had sold them Sunchaser. Apparently his prized mare had been stolen. She accepted the quest and Jofrodr Sword-Thrower joined her. They met with the stablemaster, but he had few details about the possible thieves. They decided to bring the kennelmaster that had been training Tannr to help them track the thieves. He agreed to help them, as long as they paid him, and took one of his best hounds to track the thieves from the stables.
Karyor bought a horse in Dagastar as well as some supplies for the journey and then traveled to Shorstein, where he'd cross the border into Mereth.
As the weeks following the dissemination of Jarl Harald's message throughout the rest of Skyrim have been passing, more people flocked to Vindhjalmr. The number of volunteers joining the army had become so great that the city barracks no longer fit them all. Tents had to start being set up outside the city beside the Ice Quarter. Harald had to close down the Vindhjalmr Pit in order to use it for training his soldiers, which wasn't a popular decision, but was nonetheless necessary. The barrack's training yard was too small for all the new militiamen that he was training.
The Falmer spies headed north into human territory and sometime later returned with terrible news of Jarl Harald's impending invasion. The agents reported that he was successful in convincing a large portion of the humans to his cause, mainly due to his descent from the human hero Ysgramor. Yslenor shared the news right away with her father and was ordered to prepare her defenses at Gondorin as well as have the spy Admar continue to monitor the humans.
Lars continued to train with the Companions as they prepared for the coming war. He also maintained his friendship with the Harbinger. In one of their chats Randagulf mentioned someone that he had met recently that spoke in a similar strange manner to Lars, a warrior named Hans. The mage made note of that, interested in learning more about this Hans and to see if he was also another person that managed to survive from the Merethic Era like him.
Along the journey the kennelmaster Urlath asked about Reyla's personal relationship with Jof, but she dismissed his questions saying they were only professional acquaintances. The group tracked the thieves to a farmstead in the woods a few days journey from Yorgrimmr. Jofrodr used his magic to discover that there were half-dozen bandits in the area. Urlath remained in hiding as the two Companions sneaked towards the barn where Jof noticed only two bandits. Unfortunately a bandit was exiting the barn just as Jof was entering and a fight broke out. Jof killed the bandit and headed further into the barn, discovering a prisoner locked up there. He freed the man and headed outside. Bandits from the main house exited, but Reyla held them off with her new staff. Jof returned from the barn with the prisoner, whom they questioned and learned that he was the man that hired the bandits to steal his competitor's horse. The bandits had double-crossed him and were planning to sell the prized mare to someone in Hvítrrinn. They had recently left their hideout on a convoy with the horse. The three of them left the prisoner there and went after the remaining bandits.
They hurried after the bandits and managed to find their convoy. They both mounted on Sunchaser and left their cart with Urlath. Using their magic they took out the bandits from a distance, but as they killed them off the main carriage and its horses were going out of control and it was going to crash. Jofrodr jumped from Sunchaser to the carriage and managed to take control of it before an accident occured. With the horse in their possession they returned to Yorgrimmr and gave the mare back to the stablemaster, receiving their reward.
Karyor arrived at the Gondorin fortress. The archers would've shot him dead where he stood were it not for the fact that he appeared to look like a Falmer. Yslenor met him in the clearing and questioned him. Karyor revealed that he was indeed one of them. During the interrogation he claimed to speak only the truth. He warned the Falmer that the Atmorans were going to invade, having been under the impression that they had no idea. Karyor made clear that he was their ally. He revealed to them that he could use the thu'um and had used the skill to avenge their kin before. Yslenor was distrustful of him at first, seeing him as barely order than a child. Though his confidence and sincerity earned her trust, at least for now. He spoke of many battles and deeds that he had accomplished during his time with the humans, including the killing of a dragon. She introduced herself to him and invited him inside the fortress where she planned to continue their conversation.
Inside the fortress he was given room and board in exchange for his allegiance and further information on the Atmorans since he had lived among them for decades. He shared with Lady Yslenor the tale of his birth, revealing that he was in fact a Half-Breed and how he killed his human father for the rape of his elven mother. He told her of the Order that he created afterwards to protect those that couldn't protect themselves. He told her that he considered himself a Falmer and sought revenge for the atrocities committed by the Companions against their people. He wanted to stop the humans from genociding the last of the Falmer. This ingratiated himself to Lady Yslenor, but she still had him watched in the coming months which he remained at Gondorin. The Falmer garrison had grown to trust him and get used to him during that time.
Lars and Fjoll had another incident at the inn they were staying at, though this time Lars was unable to stop it from escalating and neither had he wished to. It was the same patron from before that was stirring up trouble and the mage was sick of him. He allowed Fjoll to knock the man out and didn't stop the undead warrior from fighting the patron's brother and humiliating him. Once that was done the rest of the patrons didn't bother the foul smelling warrior or his mage friend anymore. The fight even earned them plenty of respect from the onlookers.
Ever since returning to the city from their expedition to the south, Kane Styrson had resumed his regular duties as one of Harald's housecarls. As an experienced fighter, he was helping Marshal Pedr train the new volunteers at the Vindhjalmr Pit and saving up his payment to furnish his house in the Stone Quarter. It was still pretty empty as of yet as he focused on furnishing essential rooms like his bedroom and kitchen.
Agrunac Ilzeglan confirmed to his superiors that the Atmorans would be marching to war at the end of summer in a few months time. They didn't like the delay in their plans, but if it would allow the humans to muster enough men then it would be worth it in the end.
Skorm Snow-Strider moved to Morovunsker with his family. His wife and kids weren't too happy with leaving the city so soon after they had moved back there, but they had lived for years in Morovunsker when Harald was thane so it was a homecoming for them. Now with the added luxury of being the owners of the keep. Skorm, though, was not a man for luxuries. He spent his time at Morovunsker doing his duty, training soldiers for Harald's upcoming war.
Harald had received letters of support from every corner of Skyrim. The majority of the populace was in favor of the war. The Jarl had not expected so many people to pledge themselves to his cause when he first declared the war, that had been a heat of the moment thing after learning that the Snow Elves had attacked his citizens. Though now he had focused completely on it.
On the following months of his residence in Drakenfell, Lars made the effort to try and help both the Companions and the Jarl's peasant militia. The former dragon priest would wake up everyday and head to Jorvaskrr to practice with the Companions at the same time he brushed the rust off of his own skills and once that was done Lars would, then, gather the militiamen, which he had managed to befriend after the altercation between Fjoll and the drunken patrons, to train them in order to stay alive when the war begun. At first, the militiamen were few, but as soon as word spread amidst their ranks, Lars' trainees numbers began to grow and the mage himself rose up to a figure of importance amongst them as a sage.
Kal did other odd quests in the following months as the Companions prepared for the coming war with the Falmer. While Kal was busy with odd jobs, Elisiv was training alongside her fellow Companions.
Captain Bodvar Little-Bear had returned from Vindhjalmr and he informed the other Companions of the Jarl's plan to attack after summer and ordered his men to get ready. Since then the Ylgermet crew had been training and recovering their strength after the losses they took against the Orcs.
Andor Soul-Smasher and Elina Storm-Child joined Jarl Ivar's militia for the coming war. The two of them had been acting as mercenaries up until then and saw the war as an opportunity to get both glory and a better pay than their usual work.
Kane met with the Lawspeaker Haukon of Vindhjalmr, who shared with him the results of his search into Clan Silver-Tongue. He had investigated it at Jarl Harald's request. Kane's ancestor was not mentioned as a member of the crews of the Ylgermet, the Darumzu, the Kaal Kaaz, the Sadon Reyth and the Harakk. Only the Skalds had a full record of all the 500 Companions so he had contacted them. Kane thanked him for his efforts. He received the results from the inquiry some time later. A scroll from the Skalds claimed that Valdarr of the Silver Tongue was Shield-Brother of the Chrion. He was recorded in the ballads as having accompanied his captain during their voyage east after Ysgramor settled in Vindhjalmr. His fate was unknown as the Chrion disappeared after having attacked many elven lands in Dwemereth. This confirmed his father's claims about their ancestry. He was descendent from a Companion.
Lady Yslenor had left the half-breed in the dark when it came to the developments of the last few months. She had received continued reports from Admar and was relaying the information to the Arch-Curate back in Ilinhame. They learned and confirmed that the Atmorans planned to attack at the end of summer.
Torvus decided that it was time to let the other members of the Chantry and Paladin Order in on the news. During all that time he had not allowed the news to spread to more than a handful of people. Not even Queen Mairasse knew, he ordered his son Edrilor to keep her in the dark. He called a meeting in the Chantry's Cathedral and ordered Yslenor to bring Karyor, for he wished to speak to the Half-Breed. Yslenor called on Karyor and took him to the underground room in the fortress where the wayshrine was located. She activated it and led him through to the last Falmer city, Ilinhame. He was amazed by the portal and the city that he found on the other side of it. She took him through the Chantry of Auriel and to a large meeting chamber where they took part in a debriefing by the Arch-Paladin, the leader of Mereth's military forces. He reported everything to them, including the number of the enemy forces and when and where they were likely to launch their first attacks. It was to be in the next few weeks as soon as they reached the border near Gondorin. Many of the elves in the room had no idea of this, as only a handful of people - among them Yslenor, her father, Arch-Paladin Udhellor, her spies and Karyor - knew about the Atmoran threat.
Once the meeting was concluded, Yslenor brought Karyor to the top of the Chantry with a personal conversation with her father. He wanted to meet this Half-Breed face to face, though his demeanor was not a friendly one. As soon as he laid eyes on Karyor he felt revolted. Seeing the abomination that was a child of a Falmer with an Atmoran was too much for the old priest to handle and he couldn't keep his calm. Torvus questioned him and was immediately hostile towards the Half-Breed, insulting numerous times during the questioning. Karyor returned the old elf's hostile tone. The fact that such a young elf, barely older than an adolecent, was talking back to him only made things worse. When Torvus insulted Karyor's wife, calling her a degenerate for mating with him, the two almost came to blows. Though Yslenor was able to calm her father down. Realizing that what he was doing was counter-productive, Torvus excused himself and left Karyor for his daughter to deal with. Torvus retired to his chambers, ordering Yslenor to keep Karyor close since he still didn't trust him. Though he allowed her to make use of the Half-Breed and his powers during the war. Yslenor apologized for her father's behavior, explaining that he was old enough to have lived through the first Atmoran-Falmer War and suffered greatly when witnessing the fall of their race. He had an immense hatred for the Atmorans and he couldn't look past Karyor's heritage. He didn't forgive the Arch-Curate for his insults, particularly against his family.
Queen Mairasse was shocked to learn that it was about a threat to the nation of Mereth. Mairasse hid her emotions during the meeting, but she noticed that her bodyguard Edrilor Denloth had not been surprised by the news. After the meeting, Mairasse confronted Edrilor. He revealed that he had known about the threat for quite some time. She felt greatly betrayed that he kept this from her, but he tried to excuse his behaviour as simply following his father's orders as the Arch-Curate had ordered him to keep it from her. That didn't help and she remained angry with him for some time. He had betrayed her trust and their relationship. Edrilor knew that he had betrayed her trust and their relationship. He tried to justify things to himself, but he knew he was wrong. Healing the rift would be hard, but he wanted to do right by her.
Torvus relived the dark memories of the Falmer-Atmoran War, the scars on his body reminding him of the pain he felt seeing his loved ones butchered and his whole civilization crumbling around him. He had not forgotten any of it, the memories were still vivid in his mind. His hatred for the humans was something he could not let go of.
The Lady Prelate took him to the city's harbor, where they met with Arch-Paladin Udhellor once more. Yslenor wanted the Half-Breed to explain and demonstrate his powers to the Paladins. To demonstrate his powers to the Paladins they boarded two ships and sailed onto the lake around the island to a safe distance where Karyor could show them how his voice magic worked. Yslenor and Udhellor bordered the second ship so that they could watch the demonstration from a safe distance while Torwith accompanied Karyor on the first ship. Karyor's shout created a large storm around his ship, impressing them. Wanting to see the full extent of his abilties, Torwith Ranlen sparred with the Half-Elf. Karyor showed them a shout that weakened his opponents, which dealt a lot of damage to Torwith. Once the demonstration was done they returned to the city. Torwith remained in Ilinhame on standby, he led the reserve forces that were to head to any of the fortresses should they be attacked by the humans. Lady Yslenor and Karyor returned to Gondorin.
It was at the end of summer than the culmination of everything happened. Forces from all over Skyrim had gathered outside the city into an army the likes of which Skyrim had never seen before. From Jarls to village chiefs to Companion crews. Thousands had gathered in Vindhjalmr. This was the first time since the Dragon War that the Atmoran people had gathered in such numbers.
Before the Ylgermet crew were to head to Vindhjalmr, Reyla and Jofrodr met with Urlath and recovered Tannr. In the months since they had left him in training the sabercat had grown into a full adult and was almost as big as a horse. Even though he had spent more time apart from her than with her, the cat seemed to remember and still like her. With his training complete Tannr was a capable battle animal and even a mount. The Ylgermet crew took ships to Vindhjalmr and arrived less than a day later. They set up camp outside the city along with the other Atmorans.
The Jorrvaskr Companions and Jarl Ivar Jeekingr finally set off from Drekahóll to the city of Vindhjalmr. They loaded up onto boats and sailed down the White River. Lars Sun-Laud went on the Harbinger's boat. They loaded up into ships and sailed down the White River. They had to make a stop at the waterfall that marked the border of the two holds to unload the ships and helping to carrying them to the Ostmark Basin to continue the trip through the river. While Kal and Elisiv helped unload a ship at a waterfall during the journey, they talked and Kal explained her family situation to Elisiv. How she didn't really get along with her folks. Lars and Fjoll aided the Companions during the journey, helping to unload the ships when they neared the waterfall. Throughout their journey to Vindhjalmr, Lars made an extra effort to train the militia specially because the former peasants were more interested in the celebratory side of the war of feasts and gatherings than the real, gruesome fate that would soon be upon them. The mage eventually managed a compromise, teaching them early and allow them to feast when the moon rose up in the usually starry sky. Once the Jorrvaskr crew arrived in Vindhjalmr they set up camp on the opposite side of the river from the city, beside Jarl Ivar's forces.
The city couldn't feed all these people so Jarl Harald had to hurry and get the army moving before a famine broke out in the city. Wanting to settle the matter quickly he sent out a call to all of the army leaders to gather at his palace to discuss the details of the war plan. They met in the feast hall, where the long tables had been arranged into a U shape with the Jarl's high seat being in the middle of the curve. A constant stream of warriors entered the hall and took their seats until all the leaders were present. Among them were Harald's vassals, other nobles from other holds - including Jarl Ivar -, the captains of the various Companion crews, their Harbinger and the Arch-Mage of the College. It was the greatest collection of warriors gathered together in recent memory. Harald welcomed the great leaders to his city, personally greating all of them. Randagulf found it an honor to be inside the halls of Ysgramor and the young Jarl returned the greeting, saying it was a great honor to meet the Harbinger who was said to be Skyrim's greatest warrior. Ivar was put-off by the young Jarl, but did well to hide his displeasure when they first met. He offered bold words of honor and they were recipricated by Harald.
After the extensive introductions, they began to discuss the war plans for the imminent invasion. He shared the reports that his scouts had gathered about the Snow Elf defenses. There were two primary fortresses that guarded Mereth's borders and Harald planned to separate the forces gathered into two warbands to attack the elven nation from both the north and the west. They went over the timing and the routes of attack on the map. Everyone seemed to be in agreement, which was surprising. The Atmoran leaders went over the important details of their invasion: their priority targets, where they would set up forward camps and where their supply routes would continue. War was a complicated business and none of them were under the impression that this war would be over quickly. It took their ancestors years to conquer Skyrim from the elves and even then it was decades before more remote places like Sólsetrheimr were finally taken and during all the time they were never able to take the southern reaches of the Rift. It was when they got to the more minutiae details that the arguments began. Jarl Harald had tried to separate the forces, combining the smaller parts into larger warbands so that there wouldn't be any obvious weakpoints in their invasion. The captains, who were used to acting independently, and the nobles were against Harald's orders. Though after careful negotiations Harald was able to calm them down and succeeded in seperating the forces into the two warbands with himself leading the northern warband and Randagulf leading the western warband.
Skorm kept quiet for the most part of the meeting, only speaking when the troops from Morovunsker were relevant to the discussion. He felt way out of his depth at this meeting. He was not like these great warriors and nobles. He was from a humble clan who amounted to nothing more than servants of more prestigious clans. His only ancestor who every rose to a higher station was Dagi Snow-Strider, who had risen to the rank of Harbinger many years ago. Now Skorm was a thane. Due to the trust the Jarl had towards him, he named Skorm as the leader of the Ostmark forces designed to Randagulf's warband. This angered some of Harald's vassals, but they didn't contest his decision.
Lars became more interested in finding out more about the people in power and allowed the militia's training to be held entirely by the Thane of Drekahóll. Lars camped with the Companions, using his friendship with Randagulf Begalin to secure himself a tent in the Jorrvaskr camp. Though he was unable to worm his way into the meeting that the army leaders were having with Jarl Harald. Lars then had to deal with some trouble within the militia. His trainees had slipped away from the camp and were drinking and whoring in the city. He caught the men and returned them to Thane Egil, though without telling the Thane of what they were doing.
With the meeting concluded, Harald held a large feast to bring the men together and attempt to force them to bond over drinks. During the feast, Harald was approached by Arch-Mage Gauldur who asked to meet with him privately. The two met in the throne room, where Gauldur requested to have ownership of every magical artifact that they looted from the elves. It was a large request, exclusive ownership of the spoils of war was not something given lightly. Gauldur knew this and was prepared to offer up something equally as valuable. The Jarl saw an opportunity to capitalize on this offer and had Gauldur swear an oath to him, binding the Arch-Mage and his College to him in return for all the relics and knowledge of the elves.
Randagulf stayed and enjoyed the feast before returning to the Jorrvaskr camp. At the camp, Lars met with Randagulf to discuss the details of the war with him. The Harbinger answered the mage's questions as well as he could after having drunk a few mugs of mead. After their meeting, Lars decided to join Randagulf's warband, even though Jarl Ivar and his militia were to be placed in the other warband. The Harbinger also told him about the young Jarl Harald and how he had fought and killed a dragon. It reminded Randagulf of his youth and his own experience with a dragon, though his experience ended very differently. Such a feat surprised the former Dragon Priest.
Unfortunately for himself, Agrunac - being disguised as a housecarl - had not been allowed into the meeting. So he had to sneak his way close to the feast hall to be able to hear what was being said. This resulted in him only getting a part of the full picture of the Atmoran war plans. This was not enough. Before he reported to his superiors he'd need to uncover more about the Atmorans' plans. Luckily for him, the city was now full of drunken leaders stumbling their way back to their camps. He pretended to help them out as he tried to get them to talk about some of the details that were discussed in the meeting. He relayed these details to his superiors.
Kal showed Elisiv around and they purchased some equipment from Relan Vǫlundr; Kal replaced her elven sword with a glass dagger and Elisiv bought a quicksilver shield. While they were trading, Elina and Andor got in line behind them. They bought some new equipment from the smith as well. Afterwards, the two Companions headed to the house of Kal's clan and talked about their lineages.
While they waited for the army to set off for battle, Reyla and Jofrodr talked about their families. Jofrodr had left Sólsetrheimr against his clan's wishes, which left them in bad terms. Reyla as well had a poor relationship with her highly religious family, who were cultists of Dibella. She also felt inferior to her younger sister, who was the current Sybil of Dibella and the leader of the cult. She made Jofrodr promise to bring her body back home should she die in battle, but he promised to not allow her to die as long as he stood.
They set off for war a few days later, after the planning for the war concluded. Harald led his warband, which included forces from various holds, south towards Shorstein and the northern border of Mereth. He had split his own army in two, half was under his command while the other was under the command of Thane Skorm and was a part of Randagulf's warband. He had left some orders with Skorm for him to meet with the Jarl of Rífan when he headed to the southwest with the Harbinger and the Companions. During the meeting he was to deliver to her a letter with a proposal that Harald had elaborated concerning the future of the Rift and Skyrim as a whole.
Harbinger Randagulf Begalin had been put in charge of half of the Atmoran army. His warband was comprised of the Companion forces, half of Jarl Harald's army under command of Thane Skorm Snow-Strider and a few others smaller armies. Randagulf's warband set up camp on the shores of the Nimalteinn Lake beside city's tower fort, having arrived there after a three week journey. They built longboats from the nearby trees during the next week. Once enough ships for the army had been made they set off across the lake and into the River Treva towards the elven fortress of Vetudar.
Skorm split from the main force, taking a few of his men towards the hold's capital to meet with Jarl Hildr of Rífan. He was unsure what Harald's letter contained, but he did his duty and presented it to her in Nimalten. Jarl Hildr was intrigued by the letter, but wasn't able to get more information about the proposal from Skorm. Only Harald could answer her questions. Still, the letter was convincing enough that she joined Skorm as he headed back to meet up with the rest of his warband.
The Companion fleet encountered elven scouts along the shores of the river and became worried that the elves were planning something. Randagulf ordered them ashore and set up a scouting party to find out what the elves were up to. Reyla, Jofrodr and Tannr joined the party, which was led by Elisiv Begalin and contained Lars and Kal. They discovered barrels anchored upriver and figured that it was an elven trap, though before they could investigate further Tannr heard a battle taking place nearby.
After a short stay in Shorstein, Harald's warband marched on the elven fortress that protected the border and assaulted it. Yslenor left the command of the forces to Curates Enwe and Nesiro, while she watched the battle from afar and reported the situation back to Ilinhame. Harald led the vanguard, which was bolstered by the College mages and a force of Tongues, to the gatehouse. Jarl Ivar led the right flank. His forces stood their ground and watched the vanguard. The elves pelted them with arrows and spells all the way there, but the Atmorans were able to defend themselves fairly well against their onslaught. Karyor was sent to the battlements to await until the humans were within reach to use his shout. Once the vanguard was close enough, Karyor shouted and brought down a storm on their heads. Unfortunately, the humans had mages with them that helped to protect against the lightning bolts. During the confusion, an infiltrated Admar attacked the Jarl. Luckily Agrunac was able to kill the assassin and save the Jarl. As a part of his mission, he could not allow the Jarl to die in battle. The enemy endured and once Storm Call ended they made their move for the gates. Despite this setback and significant losses, the Tongues were able to blast the gates apart with their thu'um. That was when Jarl Ivar ordered his men to charge into the fray.
Part V[]
Jarl Harald Word-Bringer led the charge into the courtyard of the elven fortress, his housecarls fighting beside him. Agrunac Ilzeglan remained at the Jarl's side so that he could keep him alive throughout the battle. Before the vanguard was overwhelmed, Ivar's militia charged in and reinforced them. After charging in, Andor Soul-Smasher helped Jarl Ivar Jeekingr kill a high paladin and afterwards went to help Jarl Harald break the elves' defensive position with his thu'um. Elina Storm-Child tried to focus on taking down the archers, but was intercepted by the elven mage Enwe. After a short fight, Elina managed to kill her with a surprise attack when she cast lightning storm. Andor then charged in and killed one of the elves before a storm atronach tried to attack him. He was going to attack the mage that summoned it, but was intercepted by a paladin, who he then killed. Elina headed to the front of the assault to catch up to Andor, only to be stopped by an elven paladin and Atmoran warrior. She killed the paladin and healed the warrior before finally reaching him. Gauldur summoned an Atronach to aid in the battle and focused on taking out the elven mages.
Yslenor Denloth kept the Chantry informed of the battle, using the wayshrine to travel through to Ilinhame and report the status of the battle to Torvus Denloth and the other Prelates. Torvus ordered a contingent of Paladins prepared to go reinforce the fortress after the humans successfully breached the gates. After the humans breached the courtyard, Yslenor returned to Ilinhame to call reinforcements Torvus Denloth had ordered to remain on standby. Knight-Paladin Torwith Ranlen led the reinforcements through the wayshrine. They weren't sent to win the battle, only to delay the humans long enough so that the elves could retreat back to their island city. Curates were on standby in the Wayshrine Nexus to heal the wounded as they began to pour through the portal.
Karyor rushed down from the battlements with Nesiro to hold them back. They tried to push them back, but the superior numbers of the Atmorans allowed them to take more and more of the courtyard, beating back the elves until the entrance of the central keep. Karyor was cornered by the Hvítrrinn militia, but cut many of them down before their Thane attacked him. When it looked like the humans would break through to the keep, Torwith arrived with the reinforcements and stopped the humans. Torwith held firm despite the humans' greater numbers and ferocious attacks, even coming to blows against Jarl Harald himself. As the reinforcements held the line, the tried and spent soldiers began to retreat into the keep. Agrunac could understand the elven plans and learned that they meant to retreat from the battle, likely using one of their Wayshrine portals to escape. He didn't relay this information to the Jarl, as it would reveal that he spoke elvish. Karyor was holding his own against the experienced old Thane, but the militia was trying to surround him. Seeing that he was going to be overwhelmed, he decided to retreat into the keep.
When the majority of the elven troops evacuated into the keep, the reinforcements were recalled and the Atmorans swarmed into the keep. Karyor followed Nesiro and Torwith to the Wayshrine and they retreated back to Ilinhame through the portal, before shutting it off and leaving the empty fortress to the humans. Jarl Harald and his men began clearing the upper floors, but they found little to no resistance. Jarl Ivar's men cleared the bottom floor, finding quite a bit of elven resistance and discovering a weird shrine. Before long the keep was theirs and the battle was over. Not long after the battle, his superiors contacted Agrunac and he relayed the details to them. Everything was going according to their king's plans.
After the battle, Frida Dœdsetr and her surviving relatives were able to claim some of the dead elven bodies without alerting the army, particularly as they were discarded after being stripped clean of valuables. They had seized the opportunity of the war to practice their cannibalism. The battlefield left lots of the fresh corpses for use in their rituals. Her and six of her older brothers had marched with Jarl Harald's host when it attacked the elven fortress of Gondorin. As grunts, they fought on the front lines. Four of her brothers were in Harald's vanguard and died fighting alongside the Jarl. Frida cared little about their deaths.
Arch-Mage Gauldur, as per his agreement with Harald, claimed ownership of any magical artifact that was discovered in the fortress. Everything from magic scrolls to soul gems to books were all taken by the mages. This angered the soldiers that had looted the items initially, but they were still forced to give the items over. Gauldur discovered the strange shrine underneath the fortress and investigated it, learning that it was magical in nature and contained some sort of portal. Though he was unable to find a way to open it from his side.
Karyor rested up in the Chantry, where curates were healing the injured soldiers from the battle. Lady Yslenor met with him and ordered him to report to Torwith. With her fortress taken she was now no longer in charge of watching over the Half-breed volunteer. Yslenor met with Torvus and gave him a full report of the battle. The Arch-Curate was greatly upset by the loss, but with the enemy approaching from the west he could not commit too many forces to contain the humans at the border.
Queen Mairasse Velkeya wanted to go into the city and see how the population was dealing with all the emergency edicts that came in as the day of the invasion drew nearer. Drafting of the citizens had begun, though at a reduced pace so as not to cause a panic. The two dressed in common clothes and mingled with the citizens. It was in a tavern that they learned that the border fortress of Gondorin had fallen to the Atmorans. The news began to spread like wildfire among the people, who were just now learning of the true threat of the humans. Edrilor Denloth had no idea how the commonfolk learned about this. Maira suspected that he was lying to her, but he managed to convince her that he didn't know anything. In this case it was true, he was not aware that Gondorin was attacked.
People began to gather in the Chantry Plaza as the news brought about panic. The two of them followed and participated in the gathering. The people were demanding answers from the Chantry. Knight-Paladin Torwith Ranlen came out with his men and tried to quell the mob before it became a riot. He confirmed the attack and the fact that the humans had taken the fortress, but calmed the nerves of the people. He assured them that the Paladins would handle the threat and to trust in Auriel. As night came the citizens dispersed. Edrilor and Maira wishing to find out more about the attack, headed to the Paladin District of the city to see if they couldn't learn anything.
The Stormhawk found Torwith outside the Chantry, trying to quell a small mob that was demanding answers. Afterwards, Karyor reported to him. Torwith was concerned with how the citizens had learned of the battle within the day, suspecting a leak of information. Without answers, they returned to the Paladin Order's headquarters and reported to Arch-Paladin Udhellor Uremyn , who ordered them to remain on stand-by since they expected an attack on Vetudar, the western fortress, soon.
To unwind from the battle, Torwith brought Karyor to a nearby tavern and the two drank and chatted. Karyor revealed a bit of his story to Torwith, who took it much better than either Yslenor or her father. As they were talking, Karyor noticed that they were being eavesdropped on, so he refrained from answering any questions pertaining to the Order of the Stormhawk and its headquarters on Icereach. When they were done drinking, Torwith paid the tab and they headed back towards the Paladin headquarters.
Edrilor was able to get a few details of the attack from his fellow paladins, learning that his sister was still alive and that they had managed to evacuate a good deal of elves through the wayshrine before the keep fell. While investigating further, they ran into Torwith and another elf in one of the taverns close to the Order's fortress. They listened in on their conversation, learning that the elf he was with was a Half-Breed outsider and that both of them had been at the battle of Gondorin. When the two departed from the tavern, Edrilor and the queen followed them.
On the way Karyor and Torwith were intercepted by Knight-Paladin Edrilor, who distracted Torwith while Karyor was pulled to an nearby ally by the woman who had been eavesdropping on him earlier. She was in fact Queen Mairasse, and wanted to know more about the war since the Arch-Curate was not informing her of anything. Maira wanted to know more about the war and their enemy, as she still knew so little about the humans. She asked the Half-Breed if a peaceful solution was an option, but he quickly shut down her idea as impossible. Karyor answered her questions, knowing how the Atmorans think. He quickly shut down her dreams of a peaceful resolution. The humans would not be satisfied with anything less than the total destruction of the Falmer. Crushed by the news, Queen Maira let him go back to Torwith.
Things were relatively calm in the city as the threat of the Atmorans grew more pressing. Udhellor left with a group of Paladins for the eastern fortress in order to evacuate the citizens of the countryside that were now in danger of Atmoran raids. The city's defenses were left to Torwith, who was the Arch-Paladin's second-in-command. Karyor was only disturbed when Torwith put all paladins on alert. A Dwemer airship had come to the city. It didn't seem hostile so Torwith ordered his men to stand down and observe. It flew over the walls and landed in the central plaza. The Knight-Paladin quickly formed a squadron to go intercept it. By the time they arrived a crowd of people that had gathered at the airship's landing site. The Dwemer envoy relayed a message: they were offering protection for the Falmer people in their underground cities, as they had done during the last Falmer-Atmoran War. The envoy had brought with him a Falmer refugee that had been raised in one of the Dwemer cities to help convince the people. Despite the crowd looking favorably on the offer, Lady Yslenor arrived and quickly banished the Dwemer from the city.
Edrilor continued to gather more information for the queen, which allowed him to regain her trust. When a Dwemer airship came to the city, she sent him to see what was going on. Edrilor managed to slip into the crowd of people that had gathered at the airship's landing site and overheard the Dwemer's message. Edrilor wasn't sure why his sister banished the envoy, but he returned to the palace to inform Maira of the Dwemers' offer. Intrigued by it, the Queen asked Edrilor to look into it.
Once the Dwemer were gone, Torwith and Karyor questioned Yslenor's sudden refusal of the offer. She explained that it was Torvus' orders, as the Dwemer could not be trusted. Their offer during the Merethic Era had been a ruse and so was the new one. The Falmer that took refuge underground were forced into servitude and not allowed to return to Mereth even after the area had been secured by Torvus' efforts. The Falmer they brought with them on the airship was also likely an illusion.
Skorm and Jarl Hildr's group managed to regroup with the Harbinger's main force quicker than expected as the Companions had set up camp on the shores of the River Treva due to them having found an elven trap laid for them further ahead.
The Companions reached the battle in the forest. They saw Hans fighting against multiple elves. Lars Sun-Laud and Kal Curse-Bringer went after the mages while the others went after the warriors. After a short battle, the group attempted to question Hans but the man left without much of an explanation.
They returned to the clearing and decided to split up. Kal and Lars were to return to the camp and report to the Harbinger, while the rest would remain and attempt to undo the trap. Jofrodr labored for a while, but made little progress with disarming the elaborate river trap.
Kal and Lars returned to the Companion camp sometime later, informing them of the encountered an elven trap further up river. Captain Bodvar Little-Bear and his crew were assigned by the Harbinger to help them deal with the trap. They met up with the two and then followed them back to the trap. They were to set off the trap, as it was near impossible to undo it. Though when they figured that the elves would come to investigate when they set of the trap, they decided to set up a trap of their own. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower brought the oil barrels in the eastern forest with his magic. Lars requested that they leave one elf alive for him to interrogate. Once everything was set Bodvar's men set off the river trap and they waited for the elves to arrive.
Sure enough, an elven patrol came to investigate and Lars set off the forest trap, trapping them and allowing Bodvar's crew to trap them between the flames and the riverbed. A battle ensued in the forest with Bodvar engaging the elven High Paladin. He nearly lost his duel as the elf proved a capable warrior. If not for Reyla Silver-Moth healing him, he would have died. This confirmed Reyla's importance to his crew. Boosted by her Combat Prayer, Bodvar defeated the High Paladin and rallied his Companions. The elves were routed, with Lars going after to deal with the stragglers. After looting the corpses and tying up the elf that Lars' friend Fjoll captured, they returned to the Companion camp.
Bodvar and his crew rested up and patched up their wounds. Elisiv Begalin, Jof and Reyla were present for Lars' interrogation of the captured elf. He knew Aldmeris, so he was able to communicate with her. Even thought the prisoner was surprised by his speech, she remained uncooperative until threatened and beaten. Eventually Lars was able to learn that the elves had a secret portal under their fortress from which they could bring in reinforcements. Elisiv reported this to the Harbinger as he was making his battle plans. The news forced him to reconsider his approach.
The Companions set off the next day, sailing up river once more as they neared the fortress of Vetudar. The fleet stopped on the opposite side of the river from the fortress and remain out of sight of the fortress until the night came. At dusk the longboats sailed across the river and landed near the fortress, initiating their attack on the walls. Skorm's forces and those of the Jarl were to remain back.
Meanwhile, Elisiv was leading an infiltration force that went around the fortress to deal with the portal before the enemy could call their reinforcements. The main attack was in fact a distraction so that her group could accomplish their mission. Unfortunately, Tannr was left behind at camp as he wouldn't be able to help with the infiltration of the fortress and with Reyla being assigned to that group, he was not involved in the attack either. They reached the gatehouse and Jof levitated Kal up to the walls, where she set down a rope for the others to climb. They entered the main keep and investigated with the aid of Jof's Life Detection spell, allowing them to uncover the location of the secret passage that led to the underground portal. A fight ensued as the elves discovered them, but they were unable to stop the group from reaching the underground, where they found more elven resistance.
The Atmorans moved in slowly and cautiously as the elves pelted them with arrows and spells. Their shieldwall and College mages allowed them to ward off the enemy attack. Suddenly, Bodvar's shieldwall was smashed apart by an elven bolt thrower. The Snow Elves had brought out siege weapons since neither magic nor arrows were working well enough. Now becoming desperate as they had no means to defend themselves from the siege bolts, the Companions began to run towards the walls. Randagulf's shieldwall was pelted with enemy fire and similarly broken by the siege bolts, though they reached the walls first and put up their ladder. Gudmund was sent as the vanguard to clear a foothold for them on the battlements, with other Companions climbing up after him. Fighting began on the battlements as the humans tried to get a foothold in the fortress. By the time his crew reached the walls, Bodvar had become fairly injured. Splinters and debris from the bolt thrower had struck him and left in a bad shape. When his crew set up ladders on the walls, he handed over leadership to Helgi.
Hans was near the elven fortress of Vetudar. There was no way for him to get inside so he remained outside and bid his time. Eventually the Companions assaulted the fortress, at the same time sending a group to infiltrate the southern walls. Hans spotted the rope they left hanging and infiltrated the fortress himself. Unlike the group, he immediately began fighting the main elven force.
After taking Gondorin, the humans began to send raiding parties into the elven countryside to raze villages and cut elven supply lines to the island capital. Agrunac accompanied Jarl Harald as his raiding party neared a mining village south of Gondorin. Frida accompanied the Jarl's raiding party. Due to her size and skills she acted as a scout for the group, scouting out the village's defenses. The village was protected by a palisade, watchtowers and a central stone tower housing a bolt thrower. In her scouting, Frida spotted the raiding part of Jarl Ivar.
Jarl Ivar led a raiding party to a several small homesteads, but none of them had anything of note for him to claim as plunder. Frustrated by this, he led his men westward towards the lands that Jarl Harald was meant to raid. They arrived at a mining village protected by a palisade and watchtowers. He sent the captain of his Tongues to assault the main gates. Andor had been promoted to a militia captain serving under Jarl Ivar and Thane Egil for his performance at Fort Gondorin and joined an attack at a Falmer village with the other Tongues. Andor led the assault, it failed due to the bolt thrower and cost them one of the Tongues after they broke the gates. Andor himself barely wasn't hit by the javelin-sized projectile when it was fired, only missing him by centimeters.
The sudden arrival of Jarl Ivar changed Harald's plans as Ivar's group assaulted the main gates. Agrunac was ordered to take command of the archers and provide covering fire to the human advance. With the help of Harald's men, the Atmorans were able to create two breaches into the village, but the bolt thrower proved deadly enough to hold their advance. Agrunac joined the fighting alongside Harald while Kane Styrson led a group to deal with the bolt thrower. Jarl Ivar led his men through the main road towards the siege weapon.
Kane led them through the back alleys as they tried to approach the siege weapon without being seen. They reached the market plaza where the tower was located without incident and that was when two of Ivar's militiamen joined them. Kane came up with a plan of having Frida distract the elves with her swiftness while the rest of the party went around the plaza. Frida went along with it and distracted the elves, who fired on her with the bolt thrower and arrows. Though Kane's group was spotted and the other eastern soldier was killed. Frida ran for the base of the tower to regroup with the others. They fought their way up the tower on their way to the bolt thrower, encountering plenty of elven resistance.
Part VI[]
The infiltration group fought past the mages guarding the underground chambers and arrived at the portal, which was housed inside a large marble shrine. Fjoll remained behind to try to stop the paladins from pursuing them. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower attempted to figure out how to disable the shrine portal while the rest of the group headed to aid Fjoll when their pursuers caught up with them. Lars Sun-Laud fought their mage leader one-on-one as the others took out his warrior entourage. Jofrodr wasn't able to disable the portal so joined them in the fight. After the elf mage was dead they searched his body and discovered a black gem that they figured worked as a key to the portal, so Jof destroyed it.
With that matter settled they returned to the first floor of the keep and discovered that the last of the elves had retreated inside the fortification as the Atmorans overwhelmed their defenses outside. Lars suggested that they try to demoralize the elves by showing them the body of the mage Prelate and the broken gem, so that they could try to get the elves to surrender. Though careful negotiations with the last elf Curate, Lars was able to convince him to surrender so long as he gave himself over to the elves as a bargaining chip to use against Harbinger Randagulf Begalin. Elisiv Begalin thought the plan was foolish, but it did buy time for the Companion forces to arrive.
As the Companions began to scale the walls, the reserve crews were sent in to reinforce the Jorrvaskr and Ylgermet soldiers. Gudmund cleared an opening for them on the walls, allowing the rest of the Jorrvaskr men to scale the ladder and push back the elven defenders. They noticed that the elves were diverting forces to their rear, which was strange. With the fighting now happening inside the fortress, Bodvar Little-Bear was able to retreat back to the ships and get his injuries healed by the College mages. The Captain didn't participate in most of the fighting and only rejoined the battle much later when the Atmorans stormed the keep. That is where the elves held their final stand.
Hans held off a group of elves all on his own while the Companions were just climbing up the battlements. He was nearly defeated by the time the humans came to his aid. The Harbinger was leading them. He recognized Hans and helped him fight off the elves. Together they secured the battlements and pushed the knife-ears back to their inner keep. Hans' ferocious assault on the elven forces inspired many of the humans to follow his charge into the keep. Leading the vanguard he encountered the remains of the elven defenders. He lead a courageous charge that earned him great renown with the Companions. When the Companions reacher the inner keep the fighting resumed and Lars' plan went out the window. Hans seemingly died and returned from the dead. When the battle was over, Hans was hailed as a hero to the Companions. They called him Hans the Fox, champion of Shor. Some were even claiming he was Ysmir come again.
Elisiv and her group held them off in the underground passage so their numbers wouldn't be as overwhelming until the rear of the elven forces was crushed by the Companions. When the battle was over, Elisiv regrouped with her father and told him of the events of their mission. Jofrodr, on the other hand, began to loot the corpses.
When they were alone, Jof confronted Lars, revealing that he knew Fjoll's undead nature. Lars wasn't shocked and tried to downplay his crimes of necromancy. Jofrodr tried to blackmail him, but the mage wasn't worried. However as Jofrodr was leaving to inform the Harbinger, Lars made a proposal. If Jof kept his secret, he promised him treasures greater than any he'd loot from the Snow Elves. Intrigued, Jofrodr agreed.
The battle was not without losses and the Ylgermet and Jorrvaskr crews were among the most hard hit, with them having around half their remaining men. Because of this Harbinger Randagulf recalled them from the front lines and instead gave them a mission to escort Jarl Hildr across the lake to Harald Word-Bringer's army. Bodvar was against the mission at first, as he saw it as an insult to his crew and dead companions, but after the Jarl offered them a large reward he changed his tune. Gunnar wasn't too happy with the idea either, but trusted his friend with the decision. Elisiv was given command of one of the three longships that the Jorrvaskr Companions took with them. Randagulf asked Lars to go with them, as his magic would be better used there to protect the Jarl and Elisiv. Lars agreed, though he had wanted to stay with the main army. He was assigned to Elisiv's ship alongside Kal Curse-Bringer and Fjoll. The Jorrvaskr and Ylgermet crews set sail across Lake Honnith.
The bulk of the Companion forces remained at Vetudar to rest before marching south into further elven lands. Hans remained with the Companions, seeing that fighting alongside them allowed him to be more effective against the Snow Elves. He became a leading member in their army as they marched south across the elven countryside. Skorm Snow-Strider remained with the Harbinger's army.
Elina Storm-Child and Kane Styrson saved each other along the way up the bolt tower. Once at the top, they all targeted different elves; the housecarl and Frida Dœdsetr went after a paladin, Elina went after the engineers, and Andor Soul-Smasher went after the mage. Andor was only able to greatly injure the mage by the time Elina killed the engineers and accidentally blew up the bolt thrower. Afterwards she finished off the mage and they noticed Jarl Ivar Jeekingr coming up. He accused Andor of destroying the bolt thrower, but Elina admitted she did it. He yelled at her for it. Kane tried to defend her from his insults, but it wasn't really his place to question the Jarl. So he ended up leaving with Frida back to Harald's forces. Ivar had Andor bring down the destroyed bolt thrower with help, which Andor didn't mind since he didn't like looting and considered himself at Jarl Ivar's service as a soldier. Afterwards, he helped Elina collect some of the elven mage's stash. With Andor's help, she took everything in the stash.
Jarl Harald's men held off the Falmer forces, giving enough time for Kane to complete his mission and destroy the siege weapon. Once that was gone Harald was able to quickly finished off the last of the village's defenders. Some of the elves surprisingly surrendered when the battle was lost, those that looked not like soldiers but commonfolk. He was unsure of what to do with them, whether to just kill or take them as prisoners. Frida suggested that they be taken as thralls. Agrunac Ilzeglan wanted to suggest the same thing, but didn't want to be the one to do it so when Frida made the first mention he immediately supported it and was able to convince the Jarl to make them thralls. For her help in taking out the bolt thrower Frida was offered a reward. Not wanting to stand out too much due to her nature, she dismissed the offer from the Jarl. Harald decided to assign her to Kane permanently making her one of his soldiers. Jarl Ivar had claimed the bolt thrower for himself, but it was little more than rubble to Harald let him keep it without any complaints.
Harald assigned Agrunac to bring the elven thralls back to Vindhjalmr, which Agrunac reported to his Dwemer superiors. Together they made a plan to intercept the transport of the prisoners and steal them for the Dwemer. Agrunac was the only human survivor of the ambush.
With the village captured, Frida joined in the looting and pillaging and took her time and care to have a few meals of the dead elves away from the eyes of the other humans. Once the village was looted and set to the torch, Harald's army marched back to Gondorin. They remained there while Harald sent scouts to investigate the elven country. They discovered a port town on the shores of the lake that would be a good place to make a launching point for his invasion of the island capital. The town was more fortified than the villages they had raided so he had to come up with a plan to deal with its defenses.
In Gondorin, Elina was summoned by Jarl Ivar as he was drinking alcohol. He accused her of many things; going against orders, denying him loot, and being a spy. None of which were true. Nevertheless, he banished her from his army. Afterwards, Elina looked for Kane and asked him to talk to Jarl Harald about her joining him. He agreed and did just that. She was brought to Harald later by Kane after a short talk was accepted into his army.
Andor went to the housecarl and female soldier to get to know them to pass the time. He found them at a drinking contest and watched until Elina came back and explained why she was summoned. Afterwards the female soldier won, though her shirt got dirty so she had to clean it. Andor offered to help her, though she didn't hear him so he headed to his station and left with the rest of Jarl Ivar's forces soon after. Seeking another prize, Jarl Ivar soon went on another raiding expedition across the elven countyside.
After Hefndir Sturmhaukr left Wyrmstoooth, Reeth chased after him. He wanted to make sure his mentor didn't lose his life in defense of the Falmer homeland. He had no idea where in Mereth Hefndir had gone, so to have a way to make it through the countryside while the Atmoran invasion was happening, Reeth joined with the College mages as advisors to Jarl Harald Word-Bringer's army. He didn't take part in any of the battles, remaining in the captured Falmer fortress of Gondorin. There he studied the Falmer arquitecture and their runes to preserve what he could of their culture.
While in Gondorin he crossed paths with Arch-Mage Gauldur. Even thought Reeth was one of his students at the College, he rarely went to the facility and thus knew little about the Arch-Mage. Gauldur seemed pretty interested in the Falmer culture, particularly in their magical knowledge. Reeth helped him with his research, but withheld a lot of information from him. He didn't tell the Arch-Mage what he could speak Falmeris, having learned it from Hefndir, and kept secret the translations of the Falmeri runes he discovered. Gauldur didn't seem to realize that Reeth was keeping things from him and began to trust the young mage.
Frida remained in the fortress working as a scout and mingling with the other soldiers until she was assigned another mission. This time Jarl Harald gave Kane the mission of infiltrating an elven port town so that they could sabotage their defenses. As his subordinates Frida and Elina were to go with him. Gauldur was assigned to help the group. Gauldur wasn't too eager to do so, but was compelled into accepting due to the deal he had made with the ambitious Jarl. Gauldur left his apprentice Geirmund in charge of the College mages in the fortress and invited Reeth to come with him on the mission. Reeth accepted as it might allow him to learn where his mentor was located. The five of them had a day to infiltrate and open the gates before the human army attacked. They were given clothes taken from the captured elves while Gauldur worked on enchanted rings that would disguise them with illusion magic to make them look like Snow Elves. Frida strapped her weapons under her disguise so that she wouldn't go unarmed. After all their preparations they set off to the town.
The fortress of Vetudar fell to the humans. Their Wayshrine hadn't been activated during the attack, so it took some time before they learned about its fate. Lake Honnish was now open to raids from the Atmoran fleet. Arch-Curate Torvus decided to send out the Falmeri fleet to patrol the waters and keep the island capital safe. Yslenor Denloth was placed in charge of the fleet. She ordered Karyor to return to her service, as his shout magic would be useful on the open water. She had five galleys that were equipped with bolt thrower siege weapons. She placed the Half-Elf aboard her ship, the Sun Arrow.
Only Kane and Gauldur knew an elven language - Kane knew Ayleidoon while Gauldur knew Aldmeris - so they were the only ones that spoke so that their cover was not blown. They joined in a group of elven refugees to blend in. The guards at the gates stopped them, but Kane and the Arch-Mage were able to talk their way past them. The five headed to the local inn and rented a room, where they discussed their next steps. Kane and Frida left in the middle of the night to sneak to the gatehouse and see how they could sabotage it. Seeing as there were plenty of guards on the walls, the two split up to have a better chance to succeed. Kane was to head to the gatehouse while Frida went to one of the towers where they spotted a bolt thrower.
Gauldur had remained with Reeth and Elina in the rented room to enchant an invisibility cloak. He gave the cloak to Elina so that she could take it to Kane and Frida. Reeth tried to talk to the local Falmer to find out if Karyor had come this way, but they had not seen him pass through the town.
While patrolling the lake, the Falmer fleet received reports of a convoy of Atmoran longships leaving the now captured Vetudar fortress. Yslenor gathered the fleet and intercepted them in the night. A battle ensued as their bolt throwers engaged and made quick work of one of the human dragon ships, their largest vessel. To compensate the humans spread their ships out, the smaller longships being much faster and more maneuverable than the elven galleys. They surrounded the galleys and tried to board, but as soon as they got close Karyor shouted. His Storm Call enveloped the battlefield. Elisiv led her vessel close to the elven fleet and Lars used his mist shout against them, trapping the elven vessels inside.
Helgi's longship circled around, dodging the enemy barrage of bolt throwers. As they got closer, elven mages rained spells at them. Jofrodr used his defensive magic to protect his crew as they tried to ram into one of the rear galleys of the enemy fleet. Luckily Helgi's vessel was outside both shouts' range so they didn't suffer any of the consequences. They attacked the elven ship and began to board, but the elves had more warriors than they anticipated and they were pushed back.
With Lars' help and dedication from their rowers, Elisiv's longship escaped the storm. The two rear elven vessels had been attacked by other longships and Elisiv's crew joined the fighting on the one attacked by Helgi of the Ylgermet's crew.
Even Yslenor's healing magic did little against the mist's effects so they disengaged the longships and hurried out of the mist. Outside the mist, three longships were waiting in ambush and attacked the vessel. Yslenor' magic held off two of them while Karyor charged at the third - which was boarding the Sun Arrow. He fought the leader of the boarding party, a large Companion brute. Despite his strength, Karyor was able to defeat him through numerous blows. Eventually severing one of his arms before lopping off his head. With another Storm Call aided by Yslenor's blizzard, the Atmorans were routed. Karyor killed the two College mages that tried to cover the humans' escape from the deck. Afterwards, the Sun Arrow set course for the Snowspear galley, where Knight-Paladin Zarbys was having a hard time repelling boarding parties.
Part VII[]
The Dwemer's plan was put into motion. Agrunac Ilzeglan's convoy was attacked and the humans slaughtered. At first the Falmer rejoiced at the sudden rescue, but the Dwemer had no intention of setting them free. Instead they took the Falmer captives to their nearby city of Kagrenzel to be inducted as servants.
After Elina Storm-Child and Kane Styrson lowered the portcullis and broke the mechanism for it, they sneaked back into the alley and discovered Frida Dœdsetr had set fire to the tower she had went to. Frida had found the tower filled with too many guards for her to deal with, so instead she murdered a sleeping one and then set fire to the tower, causing enough damage to take out the bolt thrower. They regrouped and returned to the inn, choosing to head in through the window of their room instead of the front door. Kane lifted them up and afterwards Elina gave him the cloak to sneak in. They discussed the results and Kane and Reeth Gylden-hand stayed up during the night in case something happened.
Bodvar Little-Bear had to order a retreat back to the ship due to the elves' summoning of the blizzard and the storm. One of the Jorrvaskr ships was wiped out during the retreat. Bodvar's men recovered late in the battle and headed to where Helgi's longship was fighting off two galleys with another of the Jorrvaskr crews led by Elisiv Begalin.
When they reached the Snowspear and boarded it, Elisiv pointed out the mages near the paladins that were healing them and said they needed to be taken out first. Kal Curse-Bringer was right on it, and went on the Ylgermet's longship and released the sabercat Tannr as she went after them. She used her invisibility and took the furthest one on the right out. The other mages weren't too happy about it and quickly fired spells at her. She managed to evade their spells as she blocked their line of sight temporarily with her next target. Kal managed to take him out without too much trouble, though one of the two remaining summoned a fire atronach that targeted her when she went after the other mage. She evaded it and struck it before Lars Sun-Laud paralyzed its master and it went to protect him. She resumed her original target and managed to take him out, though the mage had managed to barely strike her with a lightning rune.
Lars spotted the enemy commander and helped Fjoll fight him off. Though the paladin leader was able to shrug off his spells with his enchanted armor and deal pretty serious blows to Fjoll. Kal joined in the fight and helped Fjoll outmaneuver the elf, letting Lars focus instead of the elven mages that arrived suddenly on another galley. She managed to greatly injure him in their long fight, though it took Elisiv and Fjoll's help to take out the capable warrior, and she eventually finished him with a stab to the neck with her dagger.
When the Sun Arrow reached the Snowspear, Lars used Soul Tear on them and killed some of the elvish crewsmen with his power. Those that died came back from the dead, forcing Karyor and the paladins to put them down once more. Yslenor Denloth raised the moral of the paladins after the necromancy lowered it, springing them into action against the undead. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower spotted Karyor on the new ship and attacked, using his telekinesis to launch weapons at him while Reyla Silver-Moth used her spells of light. He defended himself, but saw that staying on the Sun Arrow was hindering him. He jumped onto the Snowspear and leading a boarding of the vessel.
Kayor challenged Jofrodr to a duel in the Atmoran way. He attempted to argue with them in the Atmoran language. Jofrodr didn't put much weight in the elves' words, not carring about his arguments against the war. The two exchanged blows, but the Companion didn't fight fair. He used his telekinesis to try to hid Karyor with outside weapons. Karyor tried to shout at him at close range, but Jofrodr managed to reflect the shout back at him with a Reflect Spell. With them locked in what looked like a stalemate, Reyla intervene and boosted Jofrodr's strength with magic and healed him. Yslenor tried to help Karyor, keeping the human mage at bay with her ice spells. However she was suppressed by the Tongue's lightning spells so wasn't able to take out the female mage, allowing her to keep healing Karyor's opponents. Their duel was disrupted once more by another female Companion that tried to strike at Karyor while he wasn't looking. Outmaneuvering them, he was able to knock them down and Marked them for Death. With them weakened, he tried to go after Reyla and put an end to her meddling. However as he attacked her he was pounced on by Tannr, who had been standing by her protecting her.
Now having to contend with both Companions and the beast, Karyor had to act quick to dispact some of his opponents. He cut the sabercat in the face and avoided its attack then focused on Kal. Jofrodr used his telekinesis on the Stormhawk's own weapons, messing up his fighting stance. Kal kept stabbing him from behind and injured him greatly as Jofrodor kept the elf occupied. Yslenor aided him once more, creating a Wall of Ice so that Reyla could no longer interfere in the fight. With another shout he was able to greatly weaken the sabercat, taking it out of the fight. He went after Jofrodr when his magicka ran out, exchanging sword blows as he raged against the Atmoran. Kal and Jofrodr coordinated trying to flank him, with Jof letting his arm get injured so that he could keep the enemy's weapons busy, but he saw through their ploy. Despite this, he was slowly losing the fight. His wounds were mounting and those of his opponents had been healed multiple times. He couldn't waste any more time and after Marking them for Death a third time he went for a killing blow against Kal. Tannr intercepted the attack and tackled him to the ground. Before the beast could crush the elf's his head in its powerful jaws, the elf stabbed it in the neck and killed the sabercat.
Elisiv's Companions held off the enemy forces while Helgi attempted a boarding of the enemy ship. Unfortunately, the elven mage commanding the lead galley conjured up a powerful Frost Tornado which caught the Companions and sent them flying like ragdolls, killing Helgi and many of others. After dispatching the rest of the enemies on the first galley, Elisiv led a second attempted boarding of the lead galley. Kal headed to the galley quickly and fought a mage near Elisiv and managed to take him out easily. Lars exchanged spells with Yslenor, coordinating his assault with Reyla.
By now the battle had taken a turn for the worst. Knight-Paladin Zarbys was dead and the paladins had been defeated. Yslenor and her mages were all that was left of the Sun Arrow crew. After her tornado was dispersed, Yslenor focused her power on the Snowspear, breaking its hull with her ice to sink the ship as it was already lost. There was no way they could win. Choosing to live to fight another day, Karyor used Storm Call and then jumped into the water before the Atmorans could stop him. He swam until he couldn't anymore, passing out from exhaustion and bloodloss.
Yslenor tried to summon another tornado to stop the humans in one swoop, but was unable to due to the Lars and Reyla suppressing her with their spells, forcing her to stay on the defensive. When pushed like that, the mage cast Mass Paralysis and shot an Icy Spear through Elisiv's stomach. The Shield-Sister was out for the rest of the fight. Jofrodr was caught by the spell and then subsequently hit by a lightning bolt from the Storm. He passed out, cursing the elven Tongue and that shout. Only Reyla and Lars remained to fight her off. Lars tried to get her to surrender, but she fought to the bitter end. She nearly managed to finish off Lars, catching him with her ice spells, but not before Reyla dealt a fatal blow to her chest with her light magic. Before she died Yslenor grabbed a scroll from her robe and cast it, causing a large fiery explosion on the ship. Lars survived the explosion ironically because of the elf's Wall of Ice that she had trapped him behind. The explosion left a massive hole on the ship and caused it to start sinking. Luckily by then the paralysis had worn off so the humans were able to make it to safety. Reyla was not able to retrieve the sabercat's body and it sank along with the ship as it was destroyed.
By the time Bodvar's crew arrived the battle between them was over so they just helped in rescuing the Atmorans from the sinking galleys. The remaining longships regrouped and helped to rescue the human survivors from the battle. When Bodvar learned of the death of Helgi, Bodvar mourned his friend and brought his broken corpse aboard his longship. Due to bleeding for so long Elisiv was rather weak, but Lars was able to get to her and heal her. Receiving proper healing and managed to survive her wounds from the mage. Fjoll helped to carry the survivors of the battle to the ships. When Jofrodr awoke he was laying on a longship, having been rescued by Reyla once more, much like his fight with the dragon Jermulgraag. The humans had lost about half their forces, but they had defeated the elves and killed the enemy mage. They continued on their journey east and landed on the shores of the lake to rest up while they sent a scout to find out the location of Harald's warhost.
When Harald Word-Bringer's army arrived at the outskirts of the town, he hid it among the trees and sent out scouts to check out the town's defenses. They reported back that the portcullis was lifted and one of the towers was charred and still smoking. Seeing that Kane had been successful in his mission, Harald ordered the attack to commence.
The infiltration group woke up the next day and went to eat as Kane and Gauldur listened to gossip. The guards were aggressively questioning the refugees to find the culprits of the attack, suspecting infiltrators. Elina suggested they head back to the room in case they started questioning inside the inn, but it was too late; elven guards arrived shortly after. Kane told the others to leave while he distracted them, posing as a drunk. Gauldur stayed behind but the others left and exited through the window until it was clear. Once they were safely away, Gauldur stepped in and helped get Kane out of the situation claiming that he was his drunken brother. The ploy worked and allowed Kane to escape being arrested by the guards.
Reeth went off to confuse them while Frida and Elina waited outside the window. Reeth tried to continue his investigation of Karyor's whereabouts. However, the situation that the humans had caused made it impossible for him to learn much new information, just that the only known Half-Breed in town was a ship captain named Sidawe. Eventually he regrouped with the others at the inn. It took an hour, but it was eventually safe for them to sneak in. By then the attack on the town by Jarl Harald had started. Elina found Reeth getting escorted by a guard and headed to their room to toss Frida the cloak and found Kane bruised. After the trio made a plan they told Reeth and Gauldur it; they would set some fires to distract the guards. Gauldur went to regroup with the mages. Reeth didn't have any intention of helping the humans either and decided to head to the harbor to try to sneak into the ferry that was evacuating people from the town. With his disguise and young age, he was able to evacuate without too much issue and was brought to the elven capital in the middle of the lake.
The Atmoran army charged out towards the gates, seeking to quickly close the gap before the elves caught on, but they had not left the sabotaged gatehouse undefended. Harald's forces clashed with the defenders while they rained down arrows at them from the battlements. It was only when the Tongues were brought forth to the front were they able to break through the enemy's lines and enter the town. From there Harald led the main force down the central street to the docks, seeking to capture it quickly as it was his main objective, while he split off the rest of his men to encircle the enemy and capture the rest of the town.
The trio of the infiltration group first set off for the guard barracks where Frida and Kane got weapons and armor before Elina burned everything she could. After doing so, they then headed toward the market and Elina burned everything except the food. They then went to help the human forces and found Chief Jaenis fighting elves. They took them down quickly before getting pointed in Jarl Harald's direction after Kane gave the Chief a map of the town.
Within the hour the battle had been won, the majority of the town's defenders having been defeated in the initial assault. Kane and his subordinates regrouped with Harald on his way to the docks and reported their success. He was pleased and had them join him in the final advance. When the battle was over the town was captured by Harald and he made it his warhost's new base of operations for the war. In the aftermath of the battle, Frida was able to feed on some of the corpses unnoticed. In the aftermath of the battle, Gauldur and his mages claimed all the magical artifacts and tomes that they found. The biggest collection of them was the church at the town's center, which the College mages took as their new headquarters in the town. Elina gathered her equipment from the quartermaster that brought their stuff and then headed to the Arch-Mage to give him the book she found in the village they raided since she didn't speak an elven language.
In his investigation of the Dwemer, Edrilor Denloth was accosted by a Palace guard that he had never seen before. The palace guard was seemingly an agent of the Dwemer and had heard of Edrilor's queries on Queen Mairasse Velkeya's behalf. He offered the Queen the opportunity to meet with the Dwemer. Edrilor didn't agree to the meeting before he checked with the queen. Mairasse was surprised that the Dwemer had an agent inside the palace, as was Edrilor, but agreed that this was their best chance to have a dialogue with the Dwemer without the Chantry interfering. She told him to agree to the meeting and Edrilor sought out the guard to set it up.
News of the lake battle only reached the capital when other vessels of the navy found the wreckage of the ships floating out on the water. Half the ships were still intact, but Yslenor's flagship had sunk below the water. They only found one survivor, Karyor, unconscious and bleeding out. He was brought back to the city and given to the chantry. Arch-Curate Torvus Denloth ordered his priests to heal him and bring him to them when he recovered.
It was around the same time that Nennas had fallen to the humans as well. Nennas had been a major town where refugees from the countryside had gathered to head to the city, with the eastern fortress being the other. Luckily some of the civilians had managed to escape before the humans took the town, but the loss of Nennas was immense. Most of the countryside had been evacuated by Arch-Paladin Udhellor Uremyn's efforts and so he decided to strike against the humans.
In the following days Harald had started a big construction project, seeking to create a new invasion fleet to attack the elven island city. The College mages didn't help with the construction project. Instead they focused on studying the Falmeri tomes that they obtained from the church. Harald ordered the warhost to move their base of operations to the town, as he planned to use it to build an invasion fleet to attack the elven capital. However, Jarl Ivar Jeekingr refused. He remained at Gondorin and took it for himself. He sent his militia to the town of Nennas with Thane Egil to helped the shipwrights with labor. Kane helped to coordinate the defense of the town, taking charge of the guards that Harald assigned to it. The Jarls were building an invasion fleet to attack the elven island capital. Andor Soul-Smasher went with the Thane. There he then looked for Elina, who had joined up with Harald's forces, and found her at the church after being informed by Kane where he was. He made sure that she was okay, seeing that she wasn't injured or harmed from her time infiltrating the town he left satisfied.
Once the Companion scout returned they discovered that the warhost had captured an elven port town and had made it their current base. The fleet headed there and found the warhost in the middle of the shipbuilding effort. Bodvar's men completed their mission to escort Jarl Hildr, but she didn't pay them just yet. She promised them payment from her coffers in Nimalten, which Bodvar reluctantly accepted but promised that if she didn't pay them willing he'd force her. Bodvar's crew rested at the elven port town, helping with the construction effort as well as raiding expeditions into the elven countryside. The Jorrvaskr crew took up residence in the town and helped with the effort, offering up the expertise of their Gray-Mane smiths to help with the construction. Elisiv took the time to rest up after having participated in two major battles.
Jarl Hildr Spear-Shaker meet with Jarl Harald. She had read the letter that he had sent to her through Skorm and was interested in his proposal. He confirmed that he would be willing to give her all of the conquered lands if she swore allegiance to him. He promised that little would change with her power over her hold, so long as she paid him tribute and remained loyal, seeking to take over the position of viceroy of Skyrim from Saarthal. She agreed and swore her oaths of fealty to Harald.
Agrunac returned to the Atmoran warhost, finding it at the Falmer town of Nennas on the coast of Lake Honnith. He reported the tragic ambush he suffered by the Falmer. Trusting his Housecarl, Harald was convinced that it was indeed the Falmer that attacked the prisoner convoy and decided against sending another prisoner convoy north with the captives from Nennas. Agrunac convinced him not to slaughter the Falmer prisoners just yet and they were kept locked up in the town with some of them being forced to help with the manual labor of building a new fleet of ships.
Frida didn't help with the construction, instead she assumed the roll of a lookout at the battlements and occasionally a scout. The town had been sacked by the humans, but even days later there was still some treasures that they couldn't obtain, one of them was a golden statue atop the church that Kane had refused to burn during the battle. The Atmorans wanted to take down, but Gauldur refused to let them harm the structure while his mages were occupying it. Frida agreed to help a soldier named Jeskr Curse-Bringer petition the Jarl to get the statue, going to meet Housecarl Stinralg to vouch for them.
Kal went to eat and drink with the other Companions as they toasted to their fallen comrades. Elisiv asked if Kal had seen any of her kin, which Kal had not and Lars came over to ask Elisiv some questions as they spoke. She then left. Kal headed to the harbor to find Durin and her kin. She found Durin and asked if he would keep teaching her about smithing. He agreed to as long as she brought him lots of alcohol. She then headed off in search of her kin and found out from an Austrmǫrk soldier that her brother was in the town. She was directed to him and she found him with his friends trying to petition to get a gold statue and she told him she joined the Companions and wanted to introduce him to Elisiv.
Lars searched around for news on the Harbinger's army and seeing that he wasn't going to be able to help Randagulf much he reached out to Thane Egil Gray-Mane to utilize his connections to Ivar' militia to gain access to Jarl Harald's plans.
At Ilinhame, Reeth questioned the locals and learned that Karyor had volunteered to join the Paladins of Auriel. He headed to the Paladin Order's headquarters and asked about him, but he learned that Karyor was currently assigned to the navy and hadn't been heard from in a while. A paladin guard that Reeth befriended told him that the navy had been attacked and wiped out and that Karyor was likely dead, but Reeth still held out hope that his master was still alive.
When Karyor awoke he was back in Ilinhame. He was brought to Torvus, who demanded answers to what happened to his daughter and the ships. Karyor had not seen Yslenor die, but he had no doubt that she did. While he disliked the Arch-Curate, he saw that now was not the time to test him. Torvus had already figured as much, but hearing the news spoken aloud struck him hard. He cursed Auriel and harmed himself on his own amulet, cutting his hand with how hard he was gripping it. He was extremely distraught with the news of his daughter's death and seemed poised to snap at any moment. So Karyor answered his questions and informed him of the Companions' strengths. Torvus was pleased with the Half-Breed's cooperation. He was more ameable than before, his rage seemingly targeting the humans rather than him this time. The Arch-Curate ordered Karyor to help his curates train to defend against the human Tongues, which Karyor agreed to.
Reeth's hopes proved to be well placed as some time later he witnessed what could only be Karyor's Storm Call shout within the city. He headed to the source at the Paladins' Keep and asked to be let in to see Karyor. The guards reluctantly accepted, but not before checking with their superior Torwith Ranlen.
The Atmorans were raiding and looting the abandoned villages. Udhellor had his army lure out the raiding parties and ambush them, taking out many of them in a ploy to draw out the humans from Nennas and meet them in the field as retaking the town would be too costly.
Randagulf Begalin's warhost encountered little resistance as they circled around the lake towards the southern lands of the Snow Elves. The Harbinger sent off the Companion crews to raid the countryside to gather supplies to keep the army going until they reached their target, the southern fortress. Hans acted as one of the advanced scouts, spearheading the march towards the fortress and discovering its location first. Though like before he couldn't assault the place on his own so he had to wait and rely on the Companions for aid.
Part VIII[]
Despite the death of Helgi, Captain Bodvar Little-Bear refused to name a new Battlemaster for his crew. He was not taking the death of his friend well and had fallen to a drunken state while in the town. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower was under the impression that he might be able to secure the position if as he had distinguished himself plenty during the war. Reyla Silver-Moth wasn't too interested in it herself and supported Jof's claim to it.
With the fall of Nennas all major settlements outside of Erindar to the south had been taken by the humans and the lake was almost entirely under their control. The island was more vulnerable than ever so Arch-Curate Torvus Denloth ordered Udhellor Uremyn to return with his troops, however the Arch-Paladin had other plans. Udhellor had begun a counter-attack, capturing and killing many Atmoran raiding parties and threatening their supply lines from Skyrim.
News of Atmoran raiding parties not returning to the town reached Jarl Harald Word-Bringer. Agrunac Ilzeglan had also heard the same from his Dwemer comrades. The Falmer were starting their counter-attack to the east. For his king's plan to work, the Dwemer needed to the Falmer to be utterly defeated so Agrunac was tasked with stopping the elven counter-attack. As Stinralg he volunteered to lead a scouting expedition into the east to track down the missing raiding parties and find out if the elves had captured or killing them.
Frida Dœdsetr met with Agrunac in the manor house that Harald had taken up residence. She asked him to petition the Jarl to allow them to remove the golden statuette atop the elven church, which the College mages weren't letting the soldiers do. The Dwemer didn't care at all about the matter, but saw it as an opportunity to gather up some soldiers for his mission. He promised to deliver the petition if she and the other soldiers joined his expedition. Looking for some stronger members, Agrunac was able to get Harald to allow him to bring a Tongue. He met with the Cult of Kyne and recruited Hjorik Voice-Killer to the mission.
Kal Curse-Bringer met with her brother Jeskr, he was waiting for Frida to return with news of her meeting with Housecarl Stinralg. She soon arrived, interrupting Kal's meeting, and inform them of the success but with the caveat that they had to join an expedition. Jeskr agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to demonstrate his skills to the Housecarl and advance his position in the army. Kal returned to the inn the Companions had set up in and spoke to Elisiv Begalin, telling her of how her meeting with Jeskr went. Elisiv suggested Kal could join the expedition, to keep an eye on her brother, and offered to join as well. They gathered at the gates with the Housecarl's group the next day and set off with them.
While he was observing the construction of the ships Lars Sun-Laud came up with an idea that could help them, having reflected on the events of the Battle of the Lake that the Companions and he had fought in. With his vast magical knowledge he devised a plan of using metal rods on the masts of the ships with a soul gem attached to absorb the lightning bolts from the elf Tongue's shout and render it useless. He didn't know to whom he could share the idea, but decided on trying to secure an audience with Arch-Mage Gauldur. He headed for the church, with Fjoll as his escort, where the College mages had set up since the capture of the town.
Gauldur was aided in his research primarily by Elina Storm-Child, as Reeth Gylden-hand had disappeared after the battle. Though because she did not understand Falmeri runes like Reeth, how much she could contribute was limited. While he was busy with his research, Lars was brought in by Geirmund. He apologized for interrupting the Arch-Mage's research and introduced himself as a hedge mage. Lars was a bit worried that the mages would see through Fjoll's identity as a thrall, but none of them made any remarks on it, which put him at ease. Gauldur was no fool, he had noticed the undead thrall, but chose not to reveal that he knew the hedge mage to be a necromancer. Lars shared his idea with the Arch-Mage, which fascinated the old wizard. Wanting to test this theory, Gauldur proposed they set up an experiment at the docks. On their way there Gauldur revealed that he knew that Fjoll was an undead that Lars was a necromancer, but that it did not matter to him. He promised to keep their secrets.
Jofrodr had been in dock guarding duty when he was met by Gauldur and Lars. They wanted to borrow one of the longships for an experiment. Jof lent them his crew's ship as they were not using it and Bodvar would not be bothered by it. Lars sailed it with his thrall while Gauldur, and later Gauldur and his subordinates, shot lightning at it. The experiments worked, much to the mages' excitement. They decided to petition Jarl Harald to use Lars' idea on every drakkar that they were building. The Arch-Mage arranged the meeting with Harald and together they convinced the Jarl to watch an experiment first-hand. Harald rode in the ship with Lars and saw how the metal rod and gem worked. He approved of the idea and allowed the mages to install them on his ships.
While disguised as commoners, Edrilor Denloth and Mairasse Velkeya went into the far side of the city to meet with the Dwemer. The guard that Edrilor had negotiated with welcomed them into a home. Inside it was sparsely decorated. On a couch sat the Dwemer that had come to the city as an envoy. It was surprising that he had made it back into the city after being forced out by the Chantry. The Dwemer claimed to have smuggled himself back into the city for this meeting. He beckoned Maira to sit on the couch opposite to him and had some snacks brought in to enjoy while they negotiated. The Knight-Paladin stood behind her, keeping an eye on the Dwemer. They talked for quite a while. Edrilor was beginning to get fed up with the envoy. The Dwemer explained the deal that his people were offering the Falmer, to come to their underground cities to escape the Atmoran Invasion. Edrilor tried to argue about the safety that the underground provided when compared to Ilinhame, but Maira asked him to not be confrontational. The Dwemer assured them of the safety of the underground, as their cities had never been conquered. Maira asked about the specifics of the deal, which the envoy explained included the Falmer working off their life-debt to the Dwemer before being allowed to live as regular citizens. They were also concerned about how the Dwemer could evacuate the city. The Dwemer said that they would use their airships to bring the people out of Ilinhame. Maira agreed to the deal, but they would first need to manage to get allies within the city as the Arch-Curate would not allow them to side with the Dwemer. After her negotiations with the Dwemer Edrilor brought the Queen back to the palace before anyone discovered that they had slipped out.
While he was training with the Curates, Karyor received news from Torwith Ranlen that an apprentice of his was there. He was shocked, as it was one of the Falmer refugees that from Icereach. He asked Torwith to let them through and discovered that it was in fact Reeth in disguise using the name of that other Falmer. Karyor did not reveal to the Falmer that Reeth was an Atmoran, fearing that it might cause a scene. Instead he played along with the disguise. Reeth tried to convince Karyor to return to Icereach, but he refused. He was intent on staying in Ilinhame and helping the Falmer fight off the Atmoran invasion. Reeth promised to take care of Karyor's family should he die and to bring the news to Icereach. The Stormhawk didn't send his student back and allowed him to remain in the city. He was kind of glad to have him there, as he could spend some more time with people he knew as they waited for the Atmorans to attack the island. Torwith overheard their talk and asked about Icereach and the Order of the Stormhawk. Karyor explained how it had humans and elves working together for mutual benefit, which seemed alien to the Paladin. He couldn't understand how humans and elves could live together. Torwith allowed Reeth to remain at the Paladins' Keep with Karyor and the two talked in more detail about the situation of their Order when they were alone.
Agrunac's group reached a Falmer village that had been the last place one of the recent raiding parties had attcked. It was abandoned. Agrunac placed Elisiv, daughter of the Harbinger, in charge of a group while Hjorik was placed in charge of another with The Companion Kal and Frida. Kal was very annoyed when the housecarl placed the Tongue in charge based on his strength. Elisiv's group and Agrunac's group circled around from two directions as the village seemed abandoned and a perfect spot for an ambush while Hjorik's group headed from the front. Agrunac knew that the village was no abandoned, for the Dwemer had already scouted the place out beforehand prepared a trap. They were going to trick the Atmorans with a fake ambush and then lead them towards the real Falmer force, which was camped out to the south in a quarry. The plan worked as intended as soon enough Agrunac received the signal telepathically from his brethren and later heard the sounds of battle from Hjorik's group. Elisiv's group found the village indeed abandoned, until they heard some noise from the center. Agrunac took his time leading his own group to the center of the village where the melee was taking place.
Hjorik's group reached the center of the village and investigated the abandoned inn. Kal investigated the corpses and checked the inn for valuables before heading out and finding her group being ambushed. Kal rushed the enemies and lured them back to the inn, where her group could manage them easier. Kal attacked vulnerable enemies when her allies were keeping them busy, but after an attack she dodged and instead got hit even worse by a different elf. She kept him busy as she tried to heal herself and was eventually able to do so with the help of Frida and Hjorik. They fought them off at the inn before Elisiv's group came to reinforce and then the Housecarl's group came and completely turned the tide of the fight. Kal heard Elisiv nearby and rushed to help her. Elisiv was being attacked by a couple elves, but Jeskr was more surrounded so she went to help him first. The disguised Dwemer allowed their Falmer slaves to be killed, before retreating towards the south. Agrunac and his men pursued. Kal made sure Elisiv was okay first and healed her before doing so. They followed the elves and lost them, though entered the forest with caution as they feared another ambush - which would not come. As the Dwemer had planned, the group later discovered the Falmer encampment and then headed back to Nennas to inform Harald of their discovery.
Kal and Elisiv headed to the Companions' inn and talked about Jeskr being stubborn. When they reached the hall, they were greeted by Captain Gunnar, who asked them how it went. The two explained the situation, ending on the note that the elves they fought along the way were much more aggressive than all the other elves had been in previous fights.
When they arrived at the fortress of Erindar. Randagulf's warhost made a camp west of the fortress and the Harbinger gathered together all the captains to come up with a strategy to take the fortress now that they did not have the infiltration team that had been crucial to the taking of the previous fort. Randagulf had invited Hans to the meeting, but he refused. Skorm Snow-Strider was invited to the meeting, though he was rather quiet as he was no strategist. The captains bickered, as expected, but they all respected the Harbinger's opinion so he was able to get them to stop butting heads and work together. He came up with a way to disable the portal underneath the fortress by sending Hans there, as he had proved himself capable during the last battle. But because Lars and Jofrodr were not there they would need to give Hans' infiltration team a distraction to allow them enough time to make it to the walls and climb up. They decided to use the bolt throwers that they had taken from Vetudar to bombard the western wall of Erindar to provide the cover they needed. Once the gate was destroyed and the portal disabled, the vanguard would charge in and then the rest of the army would take the fortress. He gave the position of the vanguard to Captain Haki and his crew, the Ratatoskr.
Harald gathered together a large force to deal with the Falmer, as leaving them to their devices would mean losing their supply lines into Skyrim. The Atmorans could not afford that, as they would also starve. Agrunac was, of course, a part of the army as the Jarl's housecarl. Once the army set off from the town, Agrunac was placed in charge of one of the two groups of scouts, the other led by Kane Styrson, that headed out ahead of the vanguard, which was led by Jarl Ivar Jeekingr. The Companions remained in the town with Thane Egil and Jarl Ivar's militia to protect it. Some College mages went with the army, but Gauldur remained in the town. Lars, on the other hand, went with the army.
Sometime later, Edrilor learned about the death of his sister Yslenor Denloth. Edrilor was shocked, but had not gone to see his father since the news came as the Arch-Curate had grown more reclusive and difficult after Yslenor's death. Mairasse comforted him, the event helped to heal a bit of their former relationship. Edrilor and Mairasee began to search for allies in order to circumvent the Arch-Curate's authority on the city. They gathered them in the Chantry and the Paladins, the two main powers within the city, so that they could work together with the Dwemer to evacuate Ilinhame.
Agrunac's group was the first to discover the Falmer, whom had moved out of their encampment and were waiting for the humans on a large open field. He sent Hjorik to inform the other scout group of this, after which some advanced elven scouts attacked. They held them off long enough for Kane's group to come and reinforce. After defeating the elven scouts, Kane sent Elina to inform the vanguard of the elves' position. Jarl Ivar was stirred into action, not wanting to wait for Harald's force to catch up to them as he wished to claim some glory for himself. With no other choice, the scouts followed with Ivar and headed for the field.
During their march east, Harald received word that Jarl Ivar had gone ahead and engaged the enemy by himself. This greatly angered the young Jarl, but he had no time to lose. He ordered his men to march forth at once to catch up to their allies and join the battle against the Snow Elves.
The battle began with the elves raining down arrows against the humans, which were enhanced with fire magic and quickly set ablaze the dry leaves that covered the autumn field. Ivar ordered his mercenaries to charge through the flames and attack the elven force, then led his own force after them. Andor and Thalg Soul-Smasher led the mercenary force. They tried to attack the archers, but the paladins came in to try to pincer attack them so Thalg and Andor headed after the northern warriors before they could do so. Ivar had his men follow after the mercenaries to reinforce them and stop the pincer move, but they were too late. The mercenaries suffered heavy losses before Ivar's soldiers could relieve them. The leader of the warriors, a Knight-Paladin, had identified Andor as a Tongue when he shouted at the archers earlier and tried to engage him. He tried to strike Andor and Andor tried to block it, but was stunned and the leader got stunned by a strike from Thalg. Coordinating their attacks, the brothers managed to kill the Knight-Paladin. Ivar was successful in pushing back the elven warriors and allowing some of the remaining mercenaries through to attack the mages alongside the housecarls' group. However, they were soon attacked by the elite elven paladins. Ivar clashed with many paladins, cutting a few of them down before finally engaging the Arch-Paladin Udhellor Uremyn. However, the elf proved to be much tougher than he had anticipated and he was by then already weakened.
Kane and Agrunac took the smarter approach and circled around the flames. They flanked the elven mages. Kane had Elina stay back and suppress the mages as he, Agrunac, Frida, and Hjorik charged towards them. Agrunac fought off the elven mages, helping Frida and Kane fight pyromancers, cryomancers and conjurers while Hjorik headed to fight the mage leader. Using his thu'um, Hjorik made quick work of the elves and closed the distance between himself and the mage leader. However, he was not able to defeat her alone. The Soul-Smashers fought their way to the mages and noticed the leader of the mages summon an atronach so they went to attack her, but the atronach went after Andor so Andor stalled for time while Thalg fought the leader with Hjorik. Andor was starting to get heavily injured and sought out Elina so she could heal him. If not for her, he would've died. Together The mage leader tried to fight them both off together, but with the Reachman's strength and Hjorik's Voice, they overpowered her and Hjorik landed the final blow. With her dead the mages were thrown into disarray.
Hjörvard Sea-King was leading the right flank, with Jarl Hildr leading the left. The center was made up of the Ostmark forces of Jarl Harald. Harald's army quickly marched through the fiery autumn field to reach the skirmishes taking place. They attacked the main force of elves that had been fighting against Ivar's men. Enemy archers tried to rain arrows on them. Harald had Jarl Hildr's forces move towards the battlemages to aid them, while sending Saarthal's forces towards the archers, which had been hindered by the College mages. Lars initially joined the attack against the archers and helped Hjörvard and his Saarthal warriors defeat the elven archers. The young Jarl's main force headed towards the center to reinforce Ivar's battered vanguard. Harald saw that Ivar was dueling a powerful elf and was losing.
The elf had knocked him down and was about to kill him, so the young Jarl intervened. He threw Skakinn at the Arch-Paladin, knocking him back as he nearly pierced him if not for the shield that had blocked it. Harald then drew his sword and shouted, cutting through the lesser elves on his way to the Paladin leader. Harald clashed with him and the Arch-Paladin made his sword glow with energy. Harald jumped back, avoiding the spell. Ivar had been getting back up when the swing hit him, knocking him back and knocking him out. He was too injured to continue. Harald called the soldiers to bring Ivar to safety as he once more clashed with Udhellor. The elf went on the offensive, his sword still glowing with Aedric energies. The heat from the energy hurt Harald even when he blocked or parried the attacks. Using his thu'um, Harald forced the elf back. Udhellor's sun shield protected him from Harald's shout. Continued strikes from the Jarl broke the magic shield, but Udhellor was the one that landed a critical hit on Harald. Lars intervened in their duel, throwing lightning bolts at Udhellor to keep him busy and on the defensive as Fjoll charged ahead to join in the melee. Fjoll and Lars were successfully pushing the elf back. While the elf was distracted, Harald ran for his spear and retrieved it. However, the Arch-Paladin discovered that Fjoll was an undead and used his Aedric magic to deal devastating damage against the thrall. Lars used Wall of Storms to split them up, saving Fjoll's unlife for the moment. However, the Wall did not stop the Arch-Paladin from using his Aedric magic in a powerful strike that shot out from his sword and nearly cut Fjoll in two and even hit Lars, knocking him back. Before the elf could finish them off, though, Harald threw his spear and pierced right through the elf's torso. The attack would've killed the Udhellor had he not used a magic circle to heal himself completely. Fully recovered, the elf clashed against Harald - who was pretty injured at this point - and pushed him back. Harald was nearly defeated, but Hjörvard joined the duel in time and protected his cousin. Udhellor killed Hjörvard, but his sacrifice was enough to give Harald the opportunity for another fatal attack against the Arch-Paladin and finally ended his life.
The battle continued for a little longer, but without their leader the paladins were greatly demoralized. One by one they fell to the humans and by the end of the day the autumn field was a field of corpses. The setting sun turned the sky orange and red, matching the blood-stained leaves of the battlefield. The battle had been bloody, but the humans had emerged victorious. They mourned their dead and after looting the bodies set pyres to send off their warriors to the Hall of Valor.
Agrunac did not participate in the after-battle looting and celebration, keeping to himself as he healed and recovered. He had been injured in the fight, but not seriously. Kane was in bad shape at the end of the battle, but luckily Elina was nearby to heal him. Frida participated in the after-battle events, though had to suppress her cannibalistic urges. Lars managed to keep Fjoll in one piece, though the thrall had certainly seen better days. Once the dead were tended to and the valuables looted, the army headed back towards Nennas.
Hans infiltrated the fortress with the best scouts of the various crews a couple days after the bombardment started. They approached it slowly and climbed up the walls. They killed the patrolling night guards and then headed into the keep. They made their way towards the Wayshrine, cutting elves down in rampage. Randagulf waited for the signal from the Fox, but it did not come. When the gates were destroyed he ordered the vanguard to charge or else the elves might get suspicious. The Ratatoskr crew charged in, but was caught in a trap that the elves had set up and most of them were annihilated. Not wanting to make their sacrifice in vein he had the rest of the army charge in. Randagulf took charge of the remains of the Ratatoskr crew and helped them get revenge for their captain, as Haki had been among the dead. The scouts as well suffered heavy losses, but Hans could not be stopped for long. Many elves retreated through the wayshrine before Hans chased them to it and they were forced to destroy it themselves out of fear for the undying pale warrior. He led the Companions to the keep and discovered that Hans had been successful. With no way to escape they slaughtered the elves in the fortress.
After recovering from the battle, Randagulf's warhost continued to meet up with Harald. The Jarl had taken control of an elven town in the east of Lake Honnith and was using it as his staging ground for the invasion of the Falmer island capital and was building a fleet of drakkar, dragon longships. On the way there their scouts reported that some unknown fortress was located in the mountains to the south. Skorm volunteered to investigate so he took his troops, which were still fresh as they had taken up the rear in both battles, to the unknown fortress while the Companions continued to the town of Nennas.
While Harald and the main Atmoran army was away, the elves did launch an attack on the town. Thane Egil and the militia held the walls while the Companions sullied out on longships and circled around the enemy to attack them from the rear. However, before they could reach the enemy's flank the elves destroyed the gatehouse and flooded into the town. Arch-Mage Gauldur held the elves at bay long enough for Bodvar and his men to flank and take the enemy' rear. Pinned down inside the town and surrounded, they were able to destroy the enemy force, but at great cost. Many Companions died and the structures in the town were heavily damaged. The most notable death was Thane Egil Gray-Mane. He had died in the watch tower at the gatehouse. Bodvar lost some of his crew, including Hugaldr and Ráðbarðr. The College suffered a few losses, but not as many as their allies.
When the Atmoran army arrived near Nennas they spotted smoking columns coming from the town, so Jarl Harald sent a group to investigate before the rest of the army. The army was still recovering from the battle so he did not want to walk into another fight unprepared. They learned of the elves' attacked the town. Agrunac had been aware of the battle, as his Dwemer comrades had seen it happen. They were poised to intervene should the battle turn against the humans, as they could not let them lose Nennas, but the humans had managed to win it on their own. Agrunac informed Harald of the situation. Satisfied, Harald had the army head back to the town.
When they were burning their dead, sending the souls of their fallen comrades to Sovngarde, Haralds' army returned. Elisiv was the first to meet their scouts, as she was protecting the destroyed gates and keeping watch for any new elven attacks. The Atmorans remained in the town, licking their wounds and preparing for the final battle with the Falmer.
Word reached Torvus that the humans were building an invasion fleet in Nennas, so he ordered Ilinhame to be put under martial law and the citizenry to be drafted into a militia. The loss of Udhellor and his army cost them dearly, so he needed to quickly boost their strength with the masses. It was not a popular move, but with the city already in a panic it was necessary to make them focus on the enemy to keep them from revolting. With Udhellor dead, Torvus also appointed a new Arch-Paladin. He chose Torwith to fill the role, as he was already in charge of the city's defenses. Torwith was happy to receive the promotion to Arch-Paladin, but he wished it was under better circumstances. The death of Udhellor was hard for him, as he had been good friends with the late Arch-Paladin.
Part IX[]
Harbinger Randagulf Begalin's warhost arrived in Nennas in Evening Star. The reunification of the invading army brought renewed morale and vigor to the Atmorans. However, for Randagulf he only received sad news, learning of the death of Egil Gray-Mane. Shortly afterwards they celebrated the Winter Solstice. A massive banquet was held, with plenty of drink and food to celebrate their successful campaign and to toast to the coming battle for the elven island. Agrunac Ilzeglan kept to himself, but did participate a little just to avoid suspicion. He used the excuse of being a Sólsetrheimrer to claim different traditions from the mainlanders so that he didn't need to drink and party as much as the others. This was Kane Styrson's first real Winter Solstice feast. While he had been in Skyrim for a few years he had mostly kept to himself. Now he was among friends and comrades and he was enjoying the festival. Elisiv Begalin participated in the revelry with her crew, her father and Kal Curse-Bringer. Randagulf was also participated in the revelry. He sat with Gunnar and other older members of the Companions. They told tales of their youth, of the great quests and adventures that they had completed throughout their lives and reminisced about their lost friends like Egil. Frida Dœdsetr enjoyed the event, but it was nothing compared to what she was used to. Her kin enjoyed the feast with cannibalism. This was quite different. Gauldur didn't attend. He remained in the church, acting as if it was a regular day conducting his research. He had deciphered the book Elina Storm-Child had given him, learning much of old elven enchanting methods. Harald Word-Bringer spent the feast with some of the Saarthal men. Their mood was considerably grim. He toasted his fallen cousin Hjorvard, whom had saved him during the battle against the Arch-Paladin, and promised them vengeance in the coming battle. Hans did not partake in the festivities, he kept to his lonesome, waiting patiently for the fleet of ships to be completed so that they could bring the fight to the elves.
Upon reaching the fortress, Skorm Snow-Strider learned that it was a hidden Dragon Cult Remnant monastery. Shocked by the revelation, he began to besiege the place. After months of besieging it, they made little progress. Skorm wrote to Harald and asked for him to send a Tongue south to help breach the walls. At the Tongue's arrival, they were able to breach the outer walls and spread into the courtyard. Once inside however, they discovered that the cultists had committed ritual suicide. Their sacrifice created a magical barrier, sealing the upper courtyard and preventing Skorm's advance. Skorm abandoned the siege after some of his men died to poison after drinking from the monastery's well.
It was a mid-Morning Star that Skorm's army finally reached Nennas and regrouped with the main Atmoran force. Now the whole warhost that had set off from Vindhjalmr was back together and ready for the final battle. The drakkar fleet was long completed, having been built during the last couple months since the Battle of the Autumn Field. They had implementing in their design Lars Sun-Laud's idea of lighting rods to counteract the elven Tongue's storms. As it was the middle of winter, the Atmorans had to wait until the ice thinned a little before they could set sail.
The change in the year came around, but Ilinhame saw no celebration. Torvus Denloth ordered martial law to finally be enforced. Any and all pretense of normally was gone from Ilinhame. Men and women were drafted into the army, but they were little more than a peasant militia. Torwith Ranlen was promoted to Arch-Paladin following the death of Udhellor Uremyn. Torwith was happy to receive the promotion to Arch-Paladin, but he wished it was under better circumstances. The death of Udhellor was hard for him, as he had been good friends with the late Arch-Paladin. He was tasked with training the militia as best as they could given the short timespan, but while this did bolster the army's numbers well past the original the soldiers were of much lower quality. Edrilor Denloth met with Torwith and tried to convince him to join the Queen's ploy. Torwith was completely against it, not trusting the Dwemer. Edrilor was disappointed, but saw that Torwith would not change his mind. At least not anytime soon. So he and his supporters left the Keep and returned to the palace. He suspected that Torwith might inform Arch-Curate Torvus about this plot, but Torvus still seemed to be oblivious to it. The Queen's men continued their efforts in the city, even without Torwith's approval.
Reeth Gylden-hand tried to convince Karyor to leave Ilinhame, but the Stormhawk refused to abandon his people. He planned on remaining with the Falmer and to fight to the bitter end. He told Reeth to teleport back to Icereach, but the mage wasn't going to abandon his mentor either. He remained in the city with him, both of them anxiously waiting for the Atmorans to finally attack. The thought of his mortality, as the war seemed impossible to win at this rate, led Karyor to begin thinking about his soul. He mused whether his soul would make it to Sovngarde, poised to live out eternity with the people who killed his race. He brought this up to Torwith, who suggested that Karyor pledge his service to Auriel to save his soul. He accepted the offer and joined the Paladins of Auriel. He and several others conducted an initiation ceremony at the chantry of the Paladin's Keep. He swore his service to the elven God, hoping that this would allow him to spend the afterlife with his family. Reeth bore witness to the ceremony.
On the 12th of Sun's Dawn, the eve of the famous Feast of the Dead that celebrated the 500 Companions and Ysgramor, the Atmoran army sailed to invade the Snow Elf island. Harald's ships were leading the vanguard, with the ships of Jarl Ivar Jeekingr and Jarl Hildr taking up each flank. Right behind Harald were the Companions, with the other holds' ships taking up the center and rear of the fleet. Lars and Fjoll rode on the Harbinger's vessel. It took a few hours before they finally saw the elven city in front of them, looming tall over the lake. Kane and Agrunac were both on Harald's personal drakkar as his Housecarls. Andor Soul-Smasher was with Thalg Soul-Smasher and the other mercenaries serving under Jarl Ivar. Gauldur was reminded of the Direnni cities of the west when he saw Ilinhame peaking out over the horizon. The Falmer's architecture was significantly different from the Aldmer's, but its elegance was of equal measure. It made the Arch-Mage feel a bit of regret taking part in the battle to come, but he assured himself that if he hadn't joined the war all that would've changed would be that precious magical knowledge would've been lost forever.
The vanguard of the Atmoran fleet was spotted by the Falmer's lookouts on the walls of Ilinhame. They raised the alarm at the Keep and the Falmer quickly began to mobilize their defenses. The fleet headed straight for the ice that had formed outside the walls. The Atmorans raised their shields as the arrows came flying. A few of the humans were hit, some of their sails torn, and some fires were started by the flame arrows, but the volley did not stop them. The humans withstood a couple more volleys before they reached the ice sheet, where their drakkar ran aground. As the humans began disembarking onto the ice, they then lifted their ships and upturned them, planning to use the longships as defenses against the elves. Bodvar Little-Bear's crew made it onto the ice. Jofrodr Sword-Thrower and Reyla Silver-Moth were near the front of the ship, right behind their captain. Elisiv and Kal nearly fell into the ice, as the cracking ice opened up near them and caused some of the people in the back of their crew to fall in. Gunnar had his men abandon the ship and run for it, as they were too close to the cracks to avoid getting caught up in the breakage. Elisiv followed the Captain, taking out her new shield from Durin to protect herself.
Elven arrows and spells hit against the hulls of the ships as they were making their way towards the frozen harbor of the city. Reeth stood atop the walls and aided in defending the city with his magic. Jofrodr protected their ship with his magic. As they were running through the ice runes were triggered. The elves had trapped the ice with magic, making the trek much more dangerous. The humans began coming up with ways to avoid the runes. Gauldur had his mages help defend against the enemy spells and dispelling the magic runes on the ice. The numerous explosions had caused parts of the ice to crack and break, making it harder for the entire fleet to make it to the harbor. The first few ships that crossed had an easier time, so most of the vanguard was able to cross the ice without being blocked off by the cracks and gaps. A few of the ships caught fire from continued elven firebolts striking against their hull, which forced their crews to abandon them and just charge ahead without cover. Karyor watched the battle unfold, waiting for his chance to use the Thu'um against the invaders.
That chance came as the humans neared the city's harbor. He used the Storm Call, raining lightning down on the humans. The ships were protected from it via a contraption thought up by Lars that was installed on the ships. It caught the lightning bolts and allowed Hjorik Voice-Killer to cancel it out with his own shout. The Falmer tried to kill Hjorik, but Agrunac ordered a shieldwall to protect him as they followed the Jarl towards the city gates. Harald and his men charged up the pier of the main harbor to where the elven city guard had formed barricades and were attempting to hold back the humans. They fought their way past them and reached the gates. Andor and Thalg were among the fastest to reach the harbor due to Thalg's immense strength helping him move the ship-turned-shield closer to the city until being forced to let go as their ship got on fire. With Reyla and Jofrodr offering support, Bodvar's ship was able to make quick progress too and catch up with the vanguard who was making their way into the elven harbor. As they reached the pier, they spotted barrels that looked identical to those that the elves had used in the river trap to the west. They warned their comrades of the trap and they were able to avoid it. Hans was on one of the ships that was caught in the explosions and he was thrown into the icy water. He sank from his armor, but survived and slowly made his way to the docks. The experience left him fuming with anger. As he pulled himself out of the water he joining the fighting in the harbor.
Edrilor informed the Queen of the human's attack. She changed into armor and they headed together to the city streets with their supporters, seeking to gather as many civilians as possible for the evacuation. The humans broke through Paladin's Keep and began swarming into the city. They had no word from the Dwemer and Edrilor feared they may have abandoned them.
After the initial breach into the harbor square, the Atmorans discovered the elves had set up bolt-throwers nearby and had to wait until the elves were vulnerable to begin the next breach. The gates were heavily defended and the humans was led into a kill-box by the elves. Agrunac protected Harald from a siege bolt that nearly pierced right through him. As the elven tongue shouted once more, Harald's forces retreated to the nearby warehouses. The gates were far too open to assault. Gauldur and the College mages created distractions with their magic, keeping the bolt throwers busy so that the humans could make it to the gates. Lars shouted, creating a fog that started from the battlements and covered the harbor, giving cover to the humans, though it was also slowly sapping their strength. He told them to hurry. With this Harald and the Tongues were able to attack the gates with their voice and shouted it open, allowing Skorm and his men to charge in and push the elves back. Fighting ensued as the humans slowly pushed the elves back from the gates and fought them up the street through the courtyard of the Paladins' Keep. Elina stayed near Kane, keeping him and everyone near him in fighting shape. After breaching further in, Andor got into a fight with a paladin and they were evenly matched, close to death, until Elina once again saved him by healing him.
The Paladins tried to hold off the humans, but Randagulf rallied the Companions and managed to go around the main elven defenses to flank them from the north. As they were flanking them, however, elven mages summoned a stampede of Frost Atronachs that charged into the human lines. Captain Bodvar was knocked down by a charging Atronach. He fell on his back and the Atronach was subsequently trying to stomp on his chest. Jofrodr ran to the aid of the captain. Bodvar used his shield with both hands. He managed to initially hold on, but the weight of the icy limb was overtaking him. After breaching further in, Thalg joined the Companions in rushing the enemy, grabbing a shield from a fallen one along the way and helping them deal with the frost atronach with his sword. Thalg swung into the Atronach's leg and cracked it, with Jofrodr staggering the Daedra with a spear throw to the head. Bodvar was able to break free and was helped up by Jof. Reyla healed him, letting Bodvar rejoin the fight. Elisiv fought against the largest Atronach alongside Captain Gunnar. Jofrodr came to assist them, with his help they managed to put it down. Kal used her invisibility to get behind the the elves and sabotage them by activating their gates, but not before taking out the elves guarding the mechanism. Karyor joined the fighting in the keep, though even as he killed several humans, the Paladins were split and outflanked. Jarl Ivar's forces joined the melee in the courtyard, backing up Harald's reduced men against the paladins. This helped create move momentum and drive the paladins back. Torwith ordered them to retreat. The humans won the fight and captured the keep.
With the keep captured, the priests moved in to heal the injured in the keep while the rest of the army swarmed into the city. Some of the College healers remained behind at the keep to heal the injured humans. Gauldur had ordered his subordinates away from the front lines, as now they had their own goal to focus on. They ventured to the south of the city, seeking to secure the knowledge of the Snow Elves before it was all in flames. Jarl Ivar's forces had also gone south, but the College mages did not cooperate with them and instead focused on their mission. They raided libraries, churches and any other places that looked in any way magical or a repository of knowledge.
As the army spread out across the city, Jarl Ivar heading south with his soldiers. Ivar's forces were making slow progress. With Thane Egil dead, Ivar had assumed direct control of what remained of his militia and was using it mostly as a vanguard to wear down the enemy before he and his elite warriors attacked. This meant that the peasants of Drekahóll were receiving quite a bit of casualties. They were a little above the Falmer militia in terms of skill and so were at least trading 3 elves for every 2 humans that fell. Lars went to the south, following after Ivar's forces to aid his militia. As most of his mercenaries had died at the Battle of the Autumn Field, Andor and Thalg were leading a much smaller group. Ivar had ordered them around a residential area of the city to try to attack the barricaded street from the rear and force the elves out of their defenses. The Soul-Smasher brothers ran into a small group of elves and a veteran guard leading them. Andor destroyed the doors the elves were hiding behind with his voice and Thalg dealt with their leader while Andor dealt with two of the elven militia. Thalg managed to break the veteran's arm, but had to delay killing the elf as his subordinates began to fire arrows at Thalg so he switched to his sword and a shield, taking just one arrow to the chest. Thalg was able to finish him off relative quickly and the elves scattered. Andor used unrelenting force and they killed most of the elves before reporting back to Jarl Ivar. Andor left to get a healer from the College and Thalg led the remaining mercenaries on an offence, but had to call a retreat as most of the mercenaries had been seriously injured. He saw Andor return with a mage, Geirmund, and the mage began to heal the mercenaries while Andor and Thalg caught up with the Jarl.
Hans joined the build of the army that tried to breach straight west into the center of the city. He felt a pull towards the area, something other than just his wish to slaughter elves. The fighting was intense, with elven mages, paladin and plenty of militiamen barricaded in every street block. Hans rallied the humans, his tenacity boosted their own vigor in battle and they continued their assault no matter how hard the elves tried to hold them back. Hans led a force comprised of warriors from various holds directly to the rear of the Grand Chantry, where he felt the pull originating from. Something familiar that was calling out to him. He did not understand what it was, but it felt like a piece of himself was inside that place and he needed to retrieve it.
Agrunac had fought intensely in the battle, but during it he was contacted by his Dwemer superiors through the Calling. His time aiding the humans was over, so he faked a serious injury and remained in the keep for the priests to heal him as the rest of the human army continued invading the city. A fleet of Dwemer airships arrived over the city and landed on the western district away from the human invaders. Agrunac headed there to meet up with his kin, discarding his human disguise. He met King Tzovnak, whom was leading the airship fleet. He bowed before him and reported his success. Tzovnak was pleased with his spy and rewarded him for his service. Agrunac's superior approached and beckoned the spy to change out of the armor he was wearing and into proper Dwemer equipment so that he could join the detail of soldiers protecting the airships.
The citizens of Ilinhame were gathering at the central plaza, to seek aid from the Chantry. Torvus had his priests go out to meet the people, to pray with them and offer them emotional support. There was not much else that they could do as the humans were now scouring their way through the eastern districts of the city. A fleet of Dwemer airships made their way into the city. Torvus was angered by the sight of those vultures, but there was not much he could do with the humans already attacking the city. He had his priests ignore the Dwemer for now. The Paladins regrouped at the center of the city. Torwith came up with the plan of using the canals to get behind the enemy forces and strike at their most vulnerable points. Karyor agreed with the plan and joined him in the ploy. Reeth went along with them, wanting to aid his mentor. They headed north and attacked the rear lines of the Companions.
The Companions headed up the northern section of the city. They were making quick work through the Middle-Ring of the city as the elven militia was no match for the hardened warriors. Unbeknownst to Randagulf, their rear crews were ambushed by a force of elven paladins, with the Jorrvaskr crew being the first one attacked. Torwith launched a Nova fireball to scatter and weaken the human warriors. Torwith fought against Captain Gunnar. Elisiv intercepted a Paladin that tried to charge at Kal. Karyor killed a few of the weakened humans. While Elisiv was scattered by the Nova, she was struck with a magic spear. Elisiv was cornered and would've likely been killed, where it not for Captain Rolf's sudden intervention. He knocked him off-balance as he was preparing to throw another spear at the Shield-Sister. The Hildisvin crew had come to Jorrvaskr's aid. With Rolf's assistance, Elisiv was able to recover and they pushed back the Paladin. Even while fighting two Atmorans, the paladin was keeping up with them. Kal killed one of the knight paladins, only getting minor injuries from doing so, and sneaked towards Elisiv, who seemed to be in trouble. She stabbed the paladin attacking her in the back, which was enough to distract the paladin long enough for him to be finished.
Bodvar ordered his crew to go and reinforce them after they discovered the ambush. When they reached the street where the fighting was taking place, several of the Jorrvaskr crewsmen were already injured. They protected Reyla and she began to heal them. She came to Elisiv's aid, healing her injuries from her fight. Captain Gunnar had been fighting the Paladin leader and despite putting up a good fight, he was eventually slain by being burned to death with a close range blast of sun-fire. The Jorrvaskr crew was thrown into a rage at the sight of this. Feeling rather vengeful, Kal tried to sneak up to the Arch-Paladin, but he noticed her and cast a fireball at her that prompted her to charge with another Companion, Captain Rolf. She healed her injuries and that of the captain's as he attacked. She attacked the leader with her sword, managing to injure him, but he greatly injured the captain and the captain died slowly to the burns he received from the elf's spells. Elisiv was fighting alongside Captain Bodvar and Durin against other Paladins when she saw that Kal was bleeding and fighting alone, with Captain Rolf consumed in flames on the ground. Bodvar held off some Paladins, allowing Elisiv and Durin to reinforce Kal who was being attacked by the Paladin leader. Kal kept trying to kill the Paladin, but he held his own and nearly killed her before Elisiv and Durin came to help her.
Jofrodr spotted Karyor. He attacked the Half-elf with his magic, using telekinesis to throw weapons at him. Karyor resisted, the first attacks, but was caught by an Aetherial spear that tore a chunk out of his flesh. Jofrodr engaged him in melee, resuming their duel from the previous battle. The two exchanged blows and insults. Reyla was boosting Jofrodr's strength, but Karyor's Marked for Death evened the battle once more. Reeth decided to intervene, he ran past the skirmish until he was positioned near Reyla using his magic to stop her from being able to use her magic. With her not being able to heal Jofrodr, Karyor was able to do significant damage. The fight slowly turned in Karyor's favor. Eventually, Karyor was able to land a blow to the head of the Shield-Brother, killing him. This threw Reyla into a rage and she charge in to attack him. In his weakened state, Karyor barely managed to hold her off.
Bodvar had been fighting nearby and saw Jofrodr fall. The captain went to Jof and Reyla's side, intending to join Reyla in the fight against the elven tongue. Torwith called a retreat, so Karyor shouted to create a Storm to cover their escape. They retreated back to the central plaza, where the Curates healed Karyor back to full strength. Reyla tried to follow, but they were forced to disengage. Before he retreated, Bodvar grabbed Jof's body. He dragged Jof's body out of the street into a nearby shop for cover from the storm. He grieved over Jof's death, while Reyla was too angry to feel sad. Several Companions had died to the paladins during the fighting. Jorrvaskr's crew had been hit the hardest. It was barely keeping together at this point, with only about a fourth of their original numbers at the start of the war. The Ylgermet crew wasn't much better, but its Captain was still alive at least. The Jorrvaskr crew had lost its Captain, Gunnar Battle-Born. By the time the Harbinger arrived to help, the fighting was already over. What remained of the Jorrvaskr crew regrouped with the Harbinger and told him of Captain Gunnar's death. He grieved for his fallen friend, but had his determination steeled.
Harald's forces advanced through the outer ring of the city, heading north through the streets. The fighting was pushing fast with Harald using his retinue of Tongues to their fullest potential. The city militia was little match against them. The guards proved a little more resistant, but they were lesser numbered. Still, the streets were barricaded and the alleys were booby trapped. Harald sent Kane with a group to find a safe path around the enemy barricades. Kane picked Elina, Hjorik and Frida to accompany him. At a theater they ran into a Prelate and a small squad of elven mages. The Prelate summoned a large Frost Atronach, the same one that had attacked the Companions in the battle of the Keep. It stampeded towards Kane's group while the mages charged their spells. Hjorik banished the Daedra back to Oblivion. The elven mages launched a volley of fireballs at the rest of the humans. Frida ran past the bushes outside the theater as the fireballs exploded in the white stone street behind her. She coordinated with Kane to flank the mages. They took out a few, but were driven back by another Dread Atronach. Hjorik banished it once more before it could do great damage to Kane. Frida jumped the elf leader and killed him, causing the rest of the mages to flee. With the elves gone, the path was clear. Kane ordered Frida to head back to inform the Jarl of their discovery. As they advanced further, they came across a fort that Harald left to Skorm and his men to capture, Kane remained with the Thane as Harald led the main forces into the inner ring of the city.
Queen Maira and her supporters arrived in the western park with hundreds of people that they had managed to escort to safety thus far. She met with the Dwemer King and he assured her that they were here to help. Edrilor and his Paladins had protected Maira and the refugees as they crossed the city. Maira was much less pleasant than usual, given the current circumstances, but the Dwemer did not mind. King Tzovnak apologized for their delay and ordered his men to start rounding up the people into the airships. Edrilor saw that they had brought a small army with them and tried to get them to aid in defending the city, but they refused. The Falmer refugees were hesitant to go into the airships because of mistrust of the Dwemer. Mairasse address her people and assured them that this was their only chance to make it out of the city alive. That helped to ease some of the tension and the civilians began to board the airships. She asked Edrilor to keep bringing more people to the ships. He agreed, so long as she remained in the safety of the park. She tried to go with, but eventually relented. She kissed him for luck and they parted. Agrunac stayed with the ships as they began to load up Falmer refugees. He aided the Dwemer automatons and soldiers in protecting the airships as the humans spread across the city, slowly razing it to the ground.
The humans attacked the central plaza from three fronts, one heading north, another heading south and the biggest force heading towards the Chantry. The militia and the priests held off the main force well, but as the northern and southern armies managed to make their way through to the central plaza they were forced to split their defenses and the humans managed to slip through into the Chantry. Torvus organized a final defense in the plaza, with the Paladins holding off the northern army, and the priests holding off the eastern and southern armies.
Hans fought through the Chantry, cutting down the robed elves that tried to stall his advance. The humans that followed him fought ferociously as they tore through the pristine building, filling its halls with blood and guts while setting fires to works of art that had endured for centuries. The pale warrior felt the pull getting stronger the more he went through the building, heading deeper and deeper to follow that strange yet familiar urge. Try as they might, the elves could not stop him from getting to one of the inner vaults of the Grand Chantry, where Hans finally reached what had been calling to him. It was a cuirass of divine quality. The armor had clearly not been made by the Snow Elves, but had been kept by them for some reason. He killed the guards protecting the relic. Stepping over their corpses, he touched the armor and felt a tingle through his body and a familiar warmth to his being, the relic belonged to Akatosh he could feel his power inside it.
After the ambush, the Companions regrouped with Harald's forces, with Skorm regrouping as well after taking the fort. Their combined forces attacked the plaza from the north. The elves had placed archers on the rooftops and fired down on the humans. They formed shieldwalls to defend themselves as they pushed through. Skorm led the soldiers against the archers, keeping their rear and flanks secure while the Companions and Harald led the push through the Paladins. Elisiv fought in the shieldwall. The Paladins tried to hold them off. Bodvar spotted the elven Tongue among the Paladins. He and Reyla set after the elf to get revenge for Jofrodr. Reyla's magic invigorated the Captain as he charged. However, the elf's Thu'um weakened him once more. The elf tried to get the advantage by moving in close, but Bodvar did not back down and wrestled against him. The elf stabbed him through the gut, but the War-Bear endured and disarmed the elf of one of his weapons. Even while bleeding out, Bodvar fought on exchanging blows with the elf. However, his injuries got the better of him and he fell to his knees. Before the elf could finish him off, though, Reyla joined in with Prince-Slayer, Jofrodr's sword. Fueled by her rage at her friend's death, she fought ferociously against the half-elf. She pushed him back and allowed the Captain to retreat. Karyor retrieved his weapon, which he had been disarmed from. Hjorik joined in the duel and aided Reyla, nullifying his thu'um and giving Reyla the advantage in the fight. Eventually she landed a fatal blow through his torso and decapitating the elf with another strike. Hjorik watched with disgust as Reyla desecrated the corpse. Bodvar retreated to get healed before he passed out from blood-loss. Reeth saw Karyor's final moments, making note that Karyor died standing up and refusing to yield.
Kal engaged the Arch-Paladin, but he was too much for her to handle. Before he could defeat her, however, the Harbinger came to her defense. He fought against the Paladin, clashing steel against steel. The elf managed to disarm Randagulf and thought the duel to be over, but he was proven wrong. Randagulf was more dangerous unarmed than with his weapon and he made the elf pay for his mistake, beating him into submission with a flurry to punches. The elf fell, but the Harbinger did not relent and beat him to death.
With the paladin forces shattered, the humans advanced into the plaza. The Arch-Curate conjured up a blizzard to cover the area and hinder the organization of the humans. Harald pushed through the blizzard, but was separated from his men and had to fight off a group of elves by himself. He fought bravely, but they were nearly able to defeat him after they had injured his knee. As Elisiv fought through the blizzard, she encountered Jarl Harald being attacked by a group of paladins. She came to his aid, hitting one elf on the side of the head with her axe. Elisiv created an opening and Harald was able to reposition. They fought side-by-side for a moment. In the heat of battle, they felt a close bond with each other. Hjorik used his thu'um to undo the blizzard, leaving the elves exposed.
After getting all they could from the buildings in the south, the College mages headed through to the center of the city where the fighting was heaviest. That was where the largest church was located and Gauldur figured it would hold the most impressive magical artifacts. This led to them fighting beside Ivar's men, whom were trying to push through the central plaza.
Torvus led the defense of the plaza against the southern army. As a force of humans charged into the plaza, he and his priests cast harmony spells on them stopping them from attacking and rendering them useless. As the humans stood lethargic, the elves sent forth several Atronachs to charge into the enemy and kill them while they were weakened. This caused mass panic among the humans and routed the force. Jarl Ivar refused to retreated and tried to rally his forces, to no success.
The Soul-Smasher brothers retreated and found the College mages. The College mages helped to gather the scattered militiamen, dispelling the illusion on those that were still effective and getting them to come back to the front lines. They then joined the fight against the mages, using their wards and defensive spells to counter the offensive magic of the elves. Still, the elves were exceptional mages. The humans were at an impasse, even with the College mages aiding against the barrage of enemy spells. The most they could do was slowly inch their way towards the enemy. This angered the Jarl, but Gauldur talked him down. Gauldur dueled with the elf Arch-Curate, exchanging spells and trying to get past each other's wards. The Arch-Curate was more powerful would have overwhelmed Gauldur were it not for Geirmund who helped keep the battle even. Gauldur couldn't help but feel a bit excited as he warded off another of Torvus' lightning bolts. It had been ages since he had had his magic tested so, not since his time training under Shalidor. Andor caught the Arch-Curate with a shout, sending him flying back and giving the mages some much needed respite. Harald took the opportunity and threw Skakinn, nearly killing the old elf, but catching the mage that tried to heal him instead.
The Arch-Curate cast paralysis, which engulfed the human forces in the plaza and equalized the battlefield. However, the Hawk Priests and the College Mages had resisted the spell. Hjorik's disciple, Garmr, led the effort to free the humans. The Arch-Curate was unable to make use of the opportunity to finish off the humans as Hans the Fox arrived and charged in. He was wearing the Cuirass of Auriel, Ilinhame's most sacred treasures, that Torvus was caught off-guard. Angered by the defilement of the cuirass, Torvus blasted him with Lightning Storm. Hans' weapons were knocked back and all but the cuirass were gravely damaged, nevertheless he withstood the attack. Hans took several direct hits by the elf's spells, but kept going. Hans charged in, cutting his way past several elves with weapons that he retrieved form nearby corpses. After getting dispelled by a Hawk Priest, Andor, Thalg and Harald ran up to attack the old elf, but got intercepted by one of the last Knight-Paladins. Channeling much of his magic, Torvus was finally able to put down the defiler, but not before nearly being gutted by his sword. Andor let Thalg deal with the paladin and shouted unrelenting force at the elf again, but this time the elf absorbed the magicka from the shout and cast an icy spear at Andor, creating a large hole in his torso and killing him. Harald stabbed the elf leader with his spear, stopping him from recovering, and allowing Thalg to finish him off for good. Not too long after, his death was avenged by his brother, who knocked the elf's head clean off with his warhammer in rage. After the brutal confrontation, the humans slaughtered the remaining elves in the plaza.
Edrilor continued to round up refugees and escorting them to the park as more and more of the city fell to the humans. He clashed with the humans on a few occasions, but avoided getting bogged down by big fights. Eventually the humans overwhelmed the central plaza between the Grand Chantry and the Palace. Edrilor and his compatriots had risked much to rescue as many people as possible, but had been unable to save those in the plaza. They watched from a distance in horror as the last of the Falmer there were slaughtered to the last. Neither the elderly, nor the women, nor the children were spared. Edrilor didn't see his father die, but knew that Torvus had not survived the battle. He led the last group that he managed to save west towards the park where the fleet of Dwemer airships was. Unfortunately for him, he was followed by a group of humans led by Jarl Ivar. The elves tried to fight them off, but were unable to stop them from getting to the park. At the park the Dwemer came to the aid the Falmer and helped fight off the humans as their airships began to take off. Edrilor was caught in the face with an attack from Ivar, which seriously injured him, but the Dwemer were able to force the humans to retreat. Mairasse came to Edrilor's aid and helped him aboard one of the last ships before they departed from the lost city.
Epilogues[]
As the slaughter in the plaza died down, Harald Word-Bringer moved to the fountain and triumphantly declared victory. He spoke in front of the crowd of soldiers, telling them that Ysgramor's quest was finally completed. The cries of the soldiers around him echoed throughout the razed city. He used the opportunity that the euphoria of battle brought to make a declaration in front of the men. He declared himself High King of Skyrim, pledging to unite the land for the first time since the Dragon Cult was defeated. The soldiers cheered for him loudly.
After Karyor's death Reeth teleported out of the city as the battle reached its climax. He returned to Icereach and informed the rest of the Order of the Stormhawk of Karyor's fate. Tiskr Rjaakasig was devastated by the news, but accepted the burden of leadership of the Order. Reeth told Karyor's family of the news and and took it upon himself to help raise Karyor's newborn daughter Enpireth Norvarys. He also pledged to help the few Falmer that the Order had relocated to Icereach, keeping them safe with the magic that he had learned from Gauldur. He studied to try to reverse the enchantment on the ring the Arch-Mage had given him to be able to disguise the Falmer as humans.
When the Atmoran priests began to gather the corpses of the fallen humans for the funeral pyre, they were stumped to find that the body of Hans the Fox was nowhere to be found. He had died so prominently in the Battle of Ilinhame that this news spread like wildfire. Hans had already been praised by the Companions during their advance through the elven lands, but his feats during the last battle had sent him into the status of legends. With his body missing, he was revered by the warriors as an avatar of Ysmir. The Hero-God that aided the humans in their battle against the elves then disappeared, only to appear again in their next time of need.
In the next week, the army remained on Ilinhame, looting and raiding all they could from the city and bringing it back to Nennas. After recovering from the battle, they headed back home.
The Knight-Paladin survived his injuries and was brought to the Dwemer city of Kagrenzel to the northeast. There the Dwemer brought them underground to refugee camps, where they cared for them and fed them. Unbeknownst to Edrilor Denloth and Mairasse Velkeya, the food that they had been given was poisoned and they were slowly blinded from the mushroom concoctions. The life that awaited them was one of slavery with their betrayers. Agrunac Ilzeglan, for his part in helping King Tzonvak with his plot of starting the Second Atmoran-Falmer War, was rewarded handsomely and was able to live the rest of his days in luxury in the city.
Bodvar Little-Bear recovered after the battle. He had new scars from his fight with the elf Tongue Karyor, but the priests were able to get to him in time to heal the Captain back to full strength. He and his crew participated in the looting for the city of Ilinhame and returned to Yorgrimmr as conquering heroes. Following Jofrodr Sword-Thrower funeral, however, Reyla Silver-Moth chose to depart from the Companions and go her own way. Her departure hurt Bodvar almost as much as losing his crewmen in battle. In Yorgrimmr he set about the task of rebuilding his crew, which was not difficult due to their reputation. Nevertheless, plenty of young men and women wanted to become one of the mighty Companions, slayers of elves.
With her dreams of a life with Jofrodr shattered, Reyla was left with almost nothing at the war's conclusion. She swore revenge against the Stormhawk's entire Order for the loss of Jofrodr and Tannr. She kept Prince-Slayer as a keepsake of Jof. She first proceeded to head home to the Cult of Dibella's headquarters in western Ostmark, to request assistance in hunting down the Stormhawks and putting them to the sword. However, the Cult of Dibella itself were uninterested in pursuing the path that Reyla had chosen to take. Even her own sister, whom was the new Sybil, refused to speak with her after their relationship deteriorated further. Ultimately, Reyla was branded an outcast by the Cult of Dibella after repeated attempts to persuade them into supporting her path of vengeance. Now an outsider, the Atmoran went to place her faith on a different god. Having witnessed the mercilessness of Hans the Fox, the alleged avatar of Ysmir, against the Snow Elves she decided to seek their aid in her quest. She explain her case, from everything she knew about the Stormhawks to how the Thu'um was used by a halfbreed with elven blood, in hopes of getting them to take action. The cult saw an elf using Kyne's gift to be blasphemy and agreed to aid her in bringing vengeance upon the Stormhawks.
The Jorrvaskr crew participated in the looting for the city of Ilinhame. They held funerals for their fallen compatriots in Nennas, which was now being called Reftun. Harbinger Randagulf Begalin had taken control of their crew, essentially becoming its new captain in all but name. He had been leading the survivors of the Ratatoskr crew since it had nearly been decimated in the Battle of Erindar, so he brought them with him into the Jorrvaskr crew. After a short stay in Reftun, they returned to Drekahóll alongside Jarl Ivar's forces as conquering heroes. In Drekahóll, Randagulf made Ithi Gray-Mane the new Battlemaster of the crew. Ithi retired from the Skyforge and had Durin assume his position as Smith-Master of the Skyforge. Kal Curse-Bringer was promoted to Shield-Sister for her service in the war. She wrote to her family and learned her cousin, Geld, had just recently returned to Vindhjalmr. The Jorrvaskr crew set about the task of rebuilding, which was not difficult due to their reputation. Plenty of young men and women wanted to become one of the mighty Companions, slayers of elves.
Gauldur and his College Mages spent days in Ilinhame, scouring the city for any books, tomes, scrolls, and magical artifacts that they could find. Elina Storm-Child helped with the search. The battle had damaged many buildings and much of the knowledge and magical treasures of the Falmer were lost in the process, but they were able to claim more than their fair share. Once this process was complete they quickly returned to the College in the hold of Saarthal and secluded themselves from the rest of the world while they were busy deciphering the knowledge that they had been able to save. With what he learned from the Falmeri magicks, Gauldur was able to finally complete his research and crafted his amulet, an incredible powerful magical relic that would one day spark a major crisis.
After the army returned north, Elina headed to Vindhjalmr. When she arrived in the city, she got a permit to open a stall in the marketplace and work as a trader and enchanter. Harald's returned to Vindhjalmr was a triumphant march. The conquering hero had returned with his goal accomplished and his people greeted him with open arms. Not only had he completed his ancestor's centuries old quest, but he had done so not a year into his reign as Jarl. His name became legend to the locals, even more so when his army brought him into the city with cheers.
Frida Dœdsetr enjoyed the raiding and looting, the chaos of the aftermath of the battle left her with plenty of opportunities to indulge in her cannibalistic tendencies. She rejoined with her remaining kin, whom had also taken part in the battle and were enjoying the spoils. With the war over, they returned to their old life, away from normal Atmoran society.
Thalg Soul-Smasher began creating a cult of Hircine, more specifically worshipping the aspect called Storihbeg, recruiting Vei first and turning her into a werebear.
Hjorik Voice-Killer and his fellow Tongues went to accompany Harald until he made it back to Ostmark. The priests returned to Kyneslundr, their sacred grove. Although they have suffered losses which some of the Hawk Priests considered unacceptable, they took comfort in the fact that the fallen had ended up in their seats at the Hall of Valor in Sovngarde, and when their own time came, so they will too join their comrades to await the End Times. Hjorik himself had remained quiet after witnessing Reyla's apparent descent to a dark path, which he refused to take any part in. Regardless, he felt that his path may cross hers in due time. Although already an accomplished Warrior-Tongue in his own right, Hjorik continued to train himself in the arts of war, and would eventually pass on his knowledge to his most trusted disciple, Garmr. In preparation for the premonition that refused to leave his mind.
Ysmir did reappear on Tamriel again, shortly after the battle, continuing his endless quest. However, this time when he appeared he did so with the cuirass that he had claimed from the elves. He felt a connection to it, and through it felt the presence of other divine artifacts scattered about across the continent. He began to search for them, driven by the winds of destiny.
Jarl Ivar Jeekingr returned to Drekahóll shortly after the looting of the elven ruins stopped. He brought with him many treasures that he had claimed during the war, including several Bolt Throwers that he had taken from the Snow Elves fortresses. However, his militia had suffered numerous casualties during the war and so a bitter taste had been left in many people's mouths. Those that had returned alive did so euphorically and triumphantly, but many more were left wanting as their fathers, brothers or sons never returned from the war. The Jarl himself was not particularly happy with the outcome of the war. Harald did not try to enforce this new title, at least not in Ilinhame and Ivar had not met with the young would-be king after the battle had concluded. Thus he returned to his hold feeling overshadowed by the descendant of Ysgramor and tried to overcompensate by overplaying his loot and victories, which did lift the mood of his people to some degree.
Kane remained at Harald's side after the war, being a loyal Housecarl. The unconfirmed death of Stinralg had caused Harald to lean much more on support from the Nede. To Kane, Skyrim was feeling like his true home and he had built a strong foundation for a life there. Skorm was happy to see his family again on his return, heading there as soon as Harald had dismissed him following their march to the Palace of Ysgramor. He kissed his wife, spun his kids around and showered them with love after many hard months of war. However, he knew that he would not be able to stay with them for long.
Harald called on the most skilled smiths to meet with him in Vindhjalmr to create for him a worthy crown. Relan Vǫlundr was able to secure the position with his fame and skill. When he met with Harald to discuss this crown and the smith had asked of what material did he want it to be, Harald merely pointed to the dragon skull above his throne. Several days later, the smith presented Harald with his finished crown. Made of the teeth and bone of the lower jaw of the dragon that he had slain in the year prior. The skull of the beast was still above his throne. He took the Jagged Crown on his hands. He saw in the crown, the dream of a united Skyrim.