Rastislav
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Arc 8 Chapter CI: The Deadly Duet's Jaunt
🕑 Added 2025-03-20 00:36:53 +0000 UTC"So you have some general idea as to where it is but not really?" I deadpan at the old man so terribly cursed with baldness "Not terribly helpful, is it now?"
Tharstan, the Nord scholar who had spent the previous year researching the Skaal, merely chuckles at my admittedly rude response "I am afraid such is rather usual to finding lost tombs and works, Flame-Tongue." He raises a hand to forestall me "But no, I managed to do more than that. I know the tomb is located to the east of the island somewhere atop the north of the cliffside beneath a small hill of stone, there should be markers and other signs that would lead us to it."
"But?" I probe.
"But" He nods "Those lands are currently in reikling hands, or are being actively fought over by either the Skaal descendants within Thirsk or these vile cultists that seem to be sprouting in each and every corner of the island."
Humming in understanding I raise an eyebrow "Not so spry anymore, eh old one?"
His lips twitch upwards "Quite, I've been in a few scraps during my time but searching an area like this at my age would be asking for death. Divines" He huffs "I may even keel over because I trip too bad."
"Fair enough" I snort "Seeing as all you need is time and security, you will be happy to know the island will be getting brought into order soon enough so all you need to do is wait and prepare yourself for a long search."
Tharstan's eyes widen "As decisive as you were rumored to be" He bows his head "I will wait eagerly, even if I am dread to part with the Skaal's hospitality."
"They are quite welcoming" I hum in agreement, and then notice Minthara stepping out of the longhouse "And this is where I will be leaving you, keep safe old man."
"Winds keep you, my lord." He bows.
'A Kyne enjoyer, eh?' I offer the man a small smile and walk away.
Straight into the grumpy dragoness, her eyes still half-lidded from waking up "Mornin'" She mumbles and yawns "Wha" She pauses and yawns again, stretching awake and blinking a few times before continuing "What did the old man want?"
"We were discussing legends of the island, mostly about the ice giant Karstaag and Vahlok the Jalier and his tomb" I explain "He has some idea of where the latter is located."
Her eyes instantly brighten with interest "Oh, are we going to go looking?"
"Later" I deadpan, much to her immediate dismay "We have more important things to do and the tomb isn't going anywhere."
She tries not to pout and fails miserably "Fine, I was hoping we could recruit him."
"My thoughts exactly" I smirk and offer my arm, directing the both of us to the rest of our companions "As someone who has faced Miraak once already he'd be of great help, even diminished as he no doubt is."
She nods along "Yeah, seeing the Dragon Priests almost makes me sad for the legends they once were."
"Cunts more like" I snort and she laughs "I get that dragons are scary and all but worshipping them enough to go for a shitty form of lichdom and just sleep for thousands of years seems much even for a bunch of fanatics."
"Well they were technically heroes worthy of Sovengarde." Minthara points out leadingly.
'Ah' That made more sense then "And a certain cunt was gorging himself in said realm." I do not speak for a few long moments before coming to the simplest conclusion "What a shit system."
"A shit system by a shit god." She agrees with a cruel grin "A shame I did not get to devour him."
"Come now my dear" I drawl "You'd have gotten indigestion."
She doesn't even finish processing my words before letting out a rather unladylike snort and immediately covering her face "Oh gods that is disgusting."
"Not wrong though." I point out cheekily.
Our banter slows as we near our retinue, all of them wide awake and ready for the day's challenges already.
Savos, Neloth, and Marwyn were in their own little group, discussing the books and a potential ritual to locate the rest of them, while Serana was happily regaling a curious Nerevar on how to butcher a dragon with the most efficiency.
Akulakhan just stood there menacingly, as he always did.
"Oi, tinman." I call out to my predecessor.
Serana stops talking and they both turn to me, even helmeted as he was I could feel Nerevar's raised, and slightly annoyed, eyebrow.
"Didn't you murder a giant going by Karstaag at one point?" I ask.
"Karstaag?" He parrots quietly before slowly nodding "Yes, a surprisingly intelligent giant from what I remember, had a group of reiklings serving him and even built a castle for himself up north."
"Word is his spirit still lingers" I relay what Tharstan told me "Think he could turn into a problem?"
He thinks about it for a moment and shrugs "He was powerful yes, but not enough to truly threaten us. If you can track down this 'spirit' best be rid of it just in case."
"One can never be paranoid enough." I nod sagely.
"Exactly." He states with utmost seriousness.
The rest of the group had joined us mid-conversation and after quickly going through everyone's task again, and ensuring no one did anything rash or stupid, we said our goodbyes to the Skaal and went on our way.
For whatever reason, Storn looked all too happy to see me leave.
I only optimized your ward so your people didn't have to charge it eternally you old fart, no need to get uppity with me! Not my fault he couldn't tell a firewall from a proper ward if it slapped him in the face.
Philistines and tree huggers the lot of them.
-----
(General POV)
The people settled around Tel Mithryn had finally begun calming down after their near-brush with sudden and absolute death, some of them even went as far as to start relaxing now that Master Neloth's watchful gaze had gone with his visitor, a figure the Apprentice was surprisingly tight-lipped about to those who had the influence to ask him directly.
So confused were they by their current state that when the headless dragon corpse in front of their settlement was overtaken by an ominous glow, every single one of them began cursing the world in increasingly creative and disturbing ways for it certainly had something against them in particular.
Naturally that is when things abruptly calmed down once more and the corpse simply disappeared, revealing a pair of figures behind it, the very same visitor of Master Neloth and a red-haired human woman clad in impressive armor.
"Reyvin" Minthara mutters even as her soul sings in joy at getting another meal "I feel like we should leave."
"Whatever for?" Her spouse asks 'cluelessly'
"We should go" She repeats while tugging at his robe "Now."
He goes to respond, but in the corner of his eye he catches an apoplectic looking Dunmer woman with a pan in her hand and death in her eyes.
"Ah" He blinks "Indeed, the locals appear to be quite miffed for whatever reason."
Minthara deadpans as he snaps his fingers and they disappear.
Living the furious crowd without a clear target.
Neloth's apprentice, who had seen all of this go down, wisely decides to raise the wards and not show his face... just in case.
---------
A large snow troll strolled languidly down one of the many hill paths of northern Solstheim, the corpse of a boar strung up by the tusk dragging behind him as he headed to his cave after a long day of hunting.
His primitive mind half-dreamed of gorging himself and then sleeping the spring away in safety and comfort.
The distraction would cost him, as he failed to pay heed to the noise coming from above.
The noise did not stop, and the excited "Wohooo!" Began closing in at fearful speeds.
Finally the troll turned to see what was going on... just in time for a near-flat metal boat to leap from a nearby snow-covered rise and slam into his head, decapitating him with a loud wet crunch.
The boat did not stop and instead struck an outcropping of rocks a few meters behind the now headless beast, sending its two occupants flying into the air which only served to make their excitement grow as the pair heedlessly flapped down the hill, rolling in the snow without a care.
Their descent stopped a few dozen meters down from the road, both of them laughing their asses off as neither was even slightly disheveled by the bumpy ride, much less harmed.
Minthara sighs in contentment, refusing to move from her new snowy cushion "You were right, that was fun."
"Snowboating, a truly noble sport" Reyvin snorts, himself stuck in a similar position.
"I do have to ask though" His wife speaks up as they start getting up "Why do you have a boat in your storage?"
Reyvin pauses before ever so slowly turning to face her "Minthara, as someone who is reasonable and tends to invest into each situation the proper amount of preparation, of course I don't have a boat sitting in my inventory at all times" He leans in and says with the utmost seriousness "I have two."
The hunter previously pursuing the troll, and now observing the pair, wisely chose to turn around and return to his tribe emptyhanded, he may be blessed with might but this was something belonging to Sheogorath's realm and not Hircine's, and he was not about to risk it by drawing the attention of these lunatics.
-----
(Reyvin's POV)
"I blame you for this" I grumble as I drag the far too unwieldy horned giant skull "I usually have help for these sorts of things."
"Wasn't it you who insisted we fetch the skull?" Minthara smirks at me "Why complain now?"
"Because I didn't consider the fact placing it in another plane may have consequences for the soul and I don't want to ruin it yet" I respond dryly "Which I usually don't have to, as I have help for that sort of thing. Which means you are to blame" I wisely conclude and raise the skull "Now carry it."
"Nope" She pops the word "I had to trudge through a cave filled with those goblin things because you got curious, and that is all the effort you are getting out of me!"
"Come on" I totally do not whine "I even gave you a snack."
"No snacks are worth seeing goblins"
And that was that.
Truly, finding Karstaag's skull was not even barely an inconvenience. The giant's presence was surprisingly noticeable and once I had a general idea of what to look for he was incredibly easy to pick out from the eclectic mix of Mora's mindfuckery, the Good Daedra's influence, and the odd aura of the All-Maker that felt suspiciously like a mix of Akatosh and Kyne.
It was obviously no intentional product of the two but the energies were quite reminiscent of them, even if more primal. Likely an offshoot of loose power or whatever it is that gods do with their many iterations.
An ice giant, no matter how supposedly powerful, stood out like a sore thumb, lonely on the island as he was, and tracking him took us only a few hours of detour to the north.
-
Our path southwest came to a rather rapid close as we clambered up a series of ancient granite stairs, revealing a small temple carved into the side of the mountain carrying the usual Dragon Cult iconography.
But... "No dragon" My eyes narrow as I toss Karstaag's skull onto the snow "Someone knew we were coming."
The telltale grunts of the Nordic undead forestalled any further conversation as dozens of Draugr, all of them quite strong by the usual standards, stepped out of the temple in battle ready formation, their fellows charging onto the ramparts above us with bows in hand.
The Draugr didn't hesitate, and the entire first line immediately rounded on us and as one shouted """FUUUS RO DAH!"""
But they were too slow, and Minthara and I appeared above them accompanied by the sound of cracking glass, and without any need to communicate we fell upon them like a storm, she with her dragon aspect invoked and myself with spells targeting those I could not reach with my arms.
Needless to say, they lasted for less then a minute once we turned serious.
And yet our victory soon came to feel like a defeat, for once we stepped out onto the clearing holding the word wall we found it to be utterly destroyed, even the supports were near-ruined and only rubble remained.
"That little shit" Minthara hisses.
Feeling quite miffed myself I add "I have to respect the spite at least."
"He knew we would come here" She ignores my bout of wisdom "And he knew his forces wouldn't even slow us."
"So he chose to deny us our rewards" I nod "The right choice strategically."
"A right fucking annoying choice is what it is" Minthara fires back and glares at the crumbled stone.
Feeling slightly suspicious I went to ask what she was planning but before I could even open my mouth she acted.
I did throw up an anti-scrying ward just in case.
She took a deep breath and spoke "GOLZ TIID VO."
And just like that, without any fanfare, the stone suddenly decided it wasn't broken and the word wall stood before us, whole.
"Truly" I drawl after quickly hiding how impressed I was "Your ability to serenade sediment brings a tear to the eye."
She turns to me with a smirk "No need to be jealous."
I naturally flip her off.
She grins and walks to the wall, soon followed by myself.
A mere second passed before she spoke "Gol" Her voice emitting a threatening wave of orange-gold that sent the slightest shudder of concern down my spine.
She just shunted the dragon soul she got into it, didn't she?
No doubt feeling my stare she turns to me with a teasing grin "Want to test your theory that you can resist it?"
"I'd rather not" I deadpan.
"Uh huh" She nods smugly, practically radiating the words 'I win.'
But I wasn't about to fall into that trap and instead turned to the greatest part of any adventure. Ransacking the absolute shit out of the place for anything of value!
Though I will admit a small amount of surprise and a tinge of disappointment I was left to do it alone.
"Hopefully Raven Rock didn't burn down while we were gone." I mutter as I return to the clearing, finding my wife still staring at the wall with focused eyes and whispering in fluent dovahzul.
My words snapped her out of it and she turned to me with a withering glare "Really?"
"Had to distract you somehow" I shrug with a cheeky grin before frowning "Now let's get going before it actually burns down, shouldn't have tempted Murphy like that."
She lets out a sigh of fond exasperation "One day you will tell me who that is."
"But it is not this day!" I declare and with a snap of my fingers and a wave of space magic, we are gone.
Comments
Hakkira
Thank you kindly for the chapter 😁
Speide Hardy
Thanks for the chapter
