“Yes, which is why I'm not stopping,” said Elisif grimly, flexing her arms, testing her strength against Erandur's healing job. “I don't know what they're doing down here, but it can't be anything good. We need to press on while we still have the element of surprise – they'll soon know their friends are dead.” She still wasn't used to the idea of killing people or being around dead bodies, but it was starting to bother her less. Especially necromancers. They made her skin crawl. Re-animating the dead, harvesting their souls – it was monstrous, absolutely unnatural. Elisif didn't object to collecting animal souls, they wouldn't have much of an afterlife anyway. But humans? Sentient beings? Absolutely not. There weren't many people Elisif could honestly say deserved to die but necromancers were probably among them.
They pressed on until they found the pit. It looked just about safe to jump down, and there were more lights and noises coming from it.
“This is it,” Elisif whispered. “No going back. You ready?”
Erandur was. They jumped.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the bottom of the pit was a tunnel, leading to a cave, containing more ruins, the remains of a fort and yet more necromancers and their Draugr. Right up on top of the tower, glowing purple light and chanting indicated a ritual was afoot.
“I knew it,” Elisif whispered. “Look at this! What do you think they're doing?”
Erandur placed a finger to his lips and motioned for her to listen.
“Wolf Queen! Hear our call and awaken! We summon Potema!” the ritual leader called out, voice ringing around the cave.
“We summon Potema!” the chanting acolytes echoed. Elisif only just stopped herself crying out.
“This is worse than I ever imagined,” Erandur murmured, horrified, and Elisif guessed he'd heard of Potema too – well, who hadn't? She was one of the most evil necromancers of all time, and powerful too. And these idiots were trying to summon her from the dead?
“Should we go back, get help?” Elisif whispered, remembering her promise to Falk to come and get reinforcements if there was something worse than bandits there. Well, this was definitely worse.
“I don't think we can,” Erandur murmured. “It'd take hours to climb out of that pit. And the ritual's already under way. We don't have time to go back. We need to deal with this or Potema will be coming back to life.”
When he put it like that...
“Well, she's not having her throne back,” Elisif snapped. “I'll fight her for it first. There's only room for one Queen of Solitude in Skyrim and it's not her!”
“Well said,” said Erandur, readying his mace. “Let's go bring Mara's light to some necromancer filth, shall we?”
Elisif wasn't entirely sure Mara's teachings were meant to encompass quite as much bludgeoning as Erandur seemed to enjoy, but all the same, help was much appreciated.
“Let's,” she whispered, unshouldering her greatsword and preparing to charge. This Queen of Solitude had a pretender to put down.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It didn't take long for someone to realise they were there, and soon all the Draugr were on alert, along with the more junior mages accompanying them. Erandur's magic arced through the air while Elisif gritted her teeth and dodged the magic coming back at her, Shouting her opponents down and finishing them before they could fight back. Not honourable, no, but Arngeir's words never left her – using the Thu'um against a weaker opponent to save your own skin was bad but evening the odds against a stronger one was fine. And she had to live, she had to, Skyrim needed her to fight dragons and she was damned if she was going to die before she'd had a chance at Ulfric. So the Draugr died and the necromancers died, even if some of the necromancers did look awfully young.
Elisif rounded the final leg of the spiral staircase leading up to the ritual itself. The ritual leader ignored her, still focusing on the strange orb that seemed to be the focus of the ritual, but she clearly knew Elisif was there because she wasted no time ordering her two companions, a man and a woman, after her. All three Nords, and that was a true disappointment, didn't her fellow Nords have more sense? Apparently not.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 7.4
Date: 2013-10-07 06:53 pm (UTC)They pressed on until they found the pit. It looked just about safe to jump down, and there were more lights and noises coming from it.
“This is it,” Elisif whispered. “No going back. You ready?”
Erandur was. They jumped.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the bottom of the pit was a tunnel, leading to a cave, containing more ruins, the remains of a fort and yet more necromancers and their Draugr. Right up on top of the tower, glowing purple light and chanting indicated a ritual was afoot.
“I knew it,” Elisif whispered. “Look at this! What do you think they're doing?”
Erandur placed a finger to his lips and motioned for her to listen.
“Wolf Queen! Hear our call and awaken! We summon Potema!” the ritual leader called out, voice ringing around the cave.
“We summon Potema!” the chanting acolytes echoed. Elisif only just stopped herself crying out.
“This is worse than I ever imagined,” Erandur murmured, horrified, and Elisif guessed he'd heard of Potema too – well, who hadn't? She was one of the most evil necromancers of all time, and powerful too. And these idiots were trying to summon her from the dead?
“Should we go back, get help?” Elisif whispered, remembering her promise to Falk to come and get reinforcements if there was something worse than bandits there. Well, this was definitely worse.
“I don't think we can,” Erandur murmured. “It'd take hours to climb out of that pit. And the ritual's already under way. We don't have time to go back. We need to deal with this or Potema will be coming back to life.”
When he put it like that...
“Well, she's not having her throne back,” Elisif snapped. “I'll fight her for it first. There's only room for one Queen of Solitude in Skyrim and it's not her!”
“Well said,” said Erandur, readying his mace. “Let's go bring Mara's light to some necromancer filth, shall we?”
Elisif wasn't entirely sure Mara's teachings were meant to encompass quite as much bludgeoning as Erandur seemed to enjoy, but all the same, help was much appreciated.
“Let's,” she whispered, unshouldering her greatsword and preparing to charge. This Queen of Solitude had a pretender to put down.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It didn't take long for someone to realise they were there, and soon all the Draugr were on alert, along with the more junior mages accompanying them. Erandur's magic arced through the air while Elisif gritted her teeth and dodged the magic coming back at her, Shouting her opponents down and finishing them before they could fight back. Not honourable, no, but Arngeir's words never left her – using the Thu'um against a weaker opponent to save your own skin was bad but evening the odds against a stronger one was fine. And she had to live, she had to, Skyrim needed her to fight dragons and she was damned if she was going to die before she'd had a chance at Ulfric. So the Draugr died and the necromancers died, even if some of the necromancers did look awfully young.
Elisif rounded the final leg of the spiral staircase leading up to the ritual itself. The ritual leader ignored her, still focusing on the strange orb that seemed to be the focus of the ritual, but she clearly knew Elisif was there because she wasted no time ordering her two companions, a man and a woman, after her. All three Nords, and that was a true disappointment, didn't her fellow Nords have more sense? Apparently not.