Divide and Conquer

(4E-199 4th of Hearthfire)

     Galeron and Morila the Enthralled made their way silently and invisibly around the upper outskirts of the tower, until they reached the side of the mountain that it rested against. Making sure not to draw the attention of the invading soldiers, they used levitation to descend to the ground, stuck to the mountain on their right, and watched for threats on their left.

     Levitation, in this world, was very simply the application of telekinesis on oneself as opposed to an object.

     Galeron had long ago noticed that the scale of this world was much larger than what the game had portrayed. Buildings and landmarks were taller and wider and the actual distances between landmarks were at least five times larger. Of course, the presence of real full friction walking made the traversing of these distances even more difficult. 'Those slippery little game avatars had it easy, going around hopping over mountains and shit.' Galeron complained inwardly, about his favorite perfectly balanced game with no glitches or exploits.

     It took them nearly four and half hours of careful and deliberate traversal to reach Crystaldrift Cave. 

     As the cave came into view, Galeron could see three wolves laying around the entrance. He and Morila both summoned a Flame Atronach and sent them out to do battle with the wolves. The two Atronachs moved side by side towards the wolves and sent a fireball a piece at the center most wolf. The wolf howled in agony only to die a second later. The other two wolves were now charging at the two Atronachs. 

     Galeron and Morila, however, had prepared Ice Spike spells that they immediately sent towards the two wolves. Having not only been pierced by the Ice Spikes but also having their movements slowed, the wolves instinctively attempted to retreat. 

     The Atronachs, however, had already sent out their second volley of fireballs and the two wolves quickly met the same end as the first wolf.

     Summoning a Frost Atronach, Galeron posted up at the entrance, while waiting for the Frost Atronach to scout the inside. Less than a minute later, the Frost Atronach was walking backwards, while attacking two other wolves.

     One of the wolves died at the pointy end of the Atronach's arm, just before a second fell to the combined and coordinated attack of the Flame Atronaches.

     The Atronaches were clogging up the cave entrance, at this point, and the three remaining wolves were quickly overwhelmed by the pure elemental power before them.

     Galeron could currently have up to three active summons at the same time. Morila could have two active, thus giving them access to five summons should they need them. For these lowly wolves, however, this was more than enough.

     Galeron sent his Frost Atronach inside once more and, upon its return, was certain that the cave was cleared. Walking down into the cave, Galeron discovered that Crystaldrift Cave was, as expected, more than twice the size of the one ingame.

     He walked around the entire cave and made sure that everything was there. The small pond of freshwater, the cooking pot, the storage containers, the Shrine of Kynareth, and, of course, the body and staff of Gadnor.

     Having confirmed that everything he hoped would be there was there, he went back outside. He conjured a Storm Atronach and had Morila conjure one more Frost Atronach. Once all five were summoned, he walked them up the mountain path directly beside the cave. He positioned them, in such a way that they could not be seen from the ground, and gave them the order, to attack anything nearby as soon as they witnessed a fireball being sent into the air.

     Darklight Tower, being a home to the Hagravens and their Coven, was not short on Black Soul Gems. As such, Galeron had packed as many as he could get his hands on, before leaving. He didn't count the Teardrop Gems among them and currently had only four Teardrop Gems and eight Black Soul Gems.

     Walking back inside the cave, he approached Gadnor's body and made a small incision on his abdomen. After configuring a Revenant Level false soul, he placed the Black Soul Gem inside the incision and implanted the false soul. He then cast the Revenant spell and watched as Gadnor, wrapped in an eerie purple energy, came into undeath, before his eyes.

     Galeron walked Gadnor outside and instructed him to kill any animals and send a fireball into the air if anyone approached within a hundred meters of Crystaldrift Cave.

     Commanding Atronaches was something that would naturally become easier as a conjurer's understanding of them and Oblivion increased. Although, they were still only Atronaches and, due to their limited intelligence, were limited in the complexity of the tasks they could be given.

     After returning inside, he instructed Morila to clean the place up and organize everything. "Once you're done with that, start collecting any and all alchemy ingredients you can find, within five hundred meters of this place. If you encounter anyone else, immediately use Invisibility and Muffle and retreat back to this cave."

      "As you say, child." Morila unexpectedly responded.

     "...what did you just say?" Galeron asked, as he stared at her disbelieving. "Did you just speak?"

     "Yes, I did child. This is quite the powerful spell you've developed. Until now when you subconsciously released a bit of your control over me, I was unable to speak, due to your desire to remain silent and undetected. Although, it would appear that you still do not fully understand this spell and its effects." Once Morila finished speaking, Galeron immediately utilized the spell Sensation Inducement, which took concepts from both the Illusion and Alteration schools, to send waves of pain through her body. 

     "You will never again address me as 'child!' Only ever address me as 'Master!' Do you understand?" Galeron shouted.

     Morila, who had gone down on her hands and knees due to the pain, trembled as she attempted to stand back up and responded, as her already creaky voice wavered even more. "Yes, Master. I understand, Master."

     "Good. Then get to work. As for the matter of the Crying Corpse Spell's full list of effects, this can wait. I have other things to attend to at the moment." Galeron commanded, as he once again exited the cave.

     Galeron turned to the east and kept close to the mountain, while looking for any other caves. He wasn't looking for just any cave but rather a very specific one that, if it happened to be where he remembered it was, would prove immensely helpful given his current predicament. 

     While he had obviously been outside on several occasions, he had still spent the majority of his time inside Darklight Tower. Given his near obsession with studying magic, he never really minded spending most of his time indoors. He was quite content to carry on with his meditations and experiments. Knowing that he would eventually have to face the outside world, he took full advantage of the respite and benefits that living within the Coven offered him.

     This cloistered existence, however, made it near impossible to determine the extent to which this new world resembled the games that he had played, especially when one considered the number of discrepancies between games like Skyrim and ESO. He had actually confirmed that Atronachs could be reshaped but it wasn't easy and would require a bit of practice, if he wanted to make Atronach mounts like in ESO. Considering this, it wasn't at all improbable that perhaps some of the modded content, that was available in his old life, was also here in this world.

     Galeron continued traveling alongside the mountain for a little over an hour, before finally reaching the cave like overhang he was searching for. 'There it is. The Crypt of the Old Guard. A small indentation could be seen in the right side wall of the cave. Inside that indentation, was a circular grate-like entrance leading underground. He crouched stealthily, behind a cluster of trees, not too far away, and could see two Saber Cats munching on an Elk carcass near the entrance.

     'Damn, I really don't want to have to deal with these guys right now. Hmmm...actually I could just leave them there and let them guard the place for me, instead of summoning more Atronaches.' Galeron thought, as he crept slowly towards the cave entrance. 

     He didn't bother using Invisibility, since he would have to open the grate, which would probably give away his position. He prepared a Behavioral Modification (BeMod) spell in each hand. As soon as the Saber Cats noticed him, he targeted both of them causing them to lie back down and resume their eating.

     Quickly casting Invisibility and Muffle on himself, Galeron opened the grate and descended into the crypt, via a ladder that had been affixed to the well-like opening. He immediately recognized his surroundings but also recognized the telltale signs of very recent habitation. There was a bed roll in the corner next to a fireplace as well as a few barrels and boxes that shouldn't be there.

     He hadn't expected that it would be empty and just waiting for him to take it but he had hoped this would be the case. He was a bit disappointed but, at the same time, if there were people here, then the likelihood that there would be plenty of resources stashed here is greatly increased.

     'I suspect that this little setup here is meant as a sort of guard post. I wonder why no one is manning it?' Galeron thought. 'Hmmm...before I go any further, I should probably use my Mage Eye (Magic Vision he discovered during gestation) to see if they have any dastardly traps waiting for me.' 

     He sat down and entered a meditative state, after which he moved his consciousness into his magicka core. As he did so, the patterns, movements, and natures of the surrounding magicka were made clear to him. 'Holy Shit! They have a whole slew of dastardly traps waiting for me! This room is covered in runes and illusions covering up their appearance! Damn, it's a good thing I've got my Mage Eye or else I would have been in for a rough ride.'

     Galeron examined all of the various traps in the room and determined that everything would be fine as long as he didn't step on any of the runes. Using levitation, he moved safely across the floor to the trap free area, directly in front of the opposite wall where the hidden door should be. Landing lightly on the floor, he grabbed the candlestick sconce on the wall to his right and pushed and pulled it in various directions, until it gave way. 

     A door sized section of the wall in front of him began to slowly swing away from him, revealing the hidden pathway. Maintaining his Invisibility, Galeron made his way inside and began scouting the rest of this underground hideout. 

     As expected, the size was much larger than what he was used to but this could only be a good thing. It took him nearly thirty minutes of creeping around, to obtain a full assessment of the place. 

     'Three Vampire subordinates and one Master Vampire and it looks like they had the same idea I did, concerning those Saber Cats. Given the size of the place, it shouldn't be too hard to get at least one of them alone. Then, of course, it only gets easier from there. Although, I think I'll wait a while to see if any of them decided to head outside. Somewhere near the entrance should be the easiest place to do the deed.'

     Galeron had already gone back outside to refill his magicka and then went back inside, to wait near the secret entrance. Nearly an hour after he first arrived, one of the Vampire subordinates began heading his way. 

     Using the same approach he did with Morila, he waited for the opportune moment, placed a paralysis spell on the back of her neck, and then ended her with a knife to the throat. With the Vampire's soul now trapped in his Black Soul Gem, he then proceeded to turn the Vampire's corpse into a Revenant.

     'One down three to go.' Galeron thought, as he went back outside to refill his magicka again. After returning inside, he once again began scouting the other Vampire's locations, within the hideout. The Master Vampire, he suspected, was in his coffin. He wasn't actually sure that there was a Master Vampire. He just assumed that because it was already light out, the coffin was closed, and the Vampires seemed to be winding down for the morning that the Master Vampire was already sleeping.

     After a few more minutes, one of the two Vampires, that had been sipping on some Blood Potions, got up and walked into the secret room housing the human cattle cages. The other Vampire however began inspecting the Alchemy ingredients and collecting the ones she wanted. 

     Galeron waited, until the Alchemy Vampire had approached the Alchemy table, before sneaking up with another stealth Revenant creation. He then reapplied his Invisibility and Muffle and made his way towards the last Vampire subordinate.

     Galeron waited, until the Vampire had finished refilling the two Blood Potion bottles and was locking up the cages, before claiming his soul as well. 'Now to see whether this place really has a Master Vampire or not.'

     Making his way back outside, after confirming that the coffin was still closed, he began to recharge his magicka once again. 

     Upon returning, he confirmed that his Revenants were still standing where he left them and then cast Detect Undead. 'I'm not sure why I didn't think of this earlier, instead of being all mysterious about it. Note to self: If you want to know if there are any undead around, cast Detect Undead. Because, apparently, I have to remind myself of these things. 

     'Now that I think about it, however, I really don't have a lot of experience with these new tools of mine. Although I've spent years studying and practicing magic, I really haven't had much experience at all with actually using these new tools to solve real world problems. I suppose it'll take some getting used to.'

     Once his spell is cast, the presence of the Master Vampire is confirmed. Galeron made his way carefully and quickly to the side of the coffin. He then assembled his Revenants in front of the coffin, with their hoods pulled down to hide their faces in shadows. One of his Vampire Revenants walks forward and bangs loudly on the coffin door, before stepping back to stand beside the other two.

     The coffin lid is violently thrown open as the Master Vampire storms out. "What's the meaning of this? Why are you disturbing my slumber? Have you lost all respect for…" The Master Vampire's tirade was cut short as he was paralyzed, soul trapped, and reanimated.

     'Hahaha, and now the Crypt of the Old Guard is mine. I may not have had the most glorious of beginnings but I suspect that things are going to start getting much better, now that I'm in full control of my destiny. I have less than two years left before the return of the dragons, so I need to make the most of the time I have. Also, note to self: always attack Vampire dens during the day.' Galeron thought, as he was wandering all throughout the secret hideout looking for useful items and making note of all the supplies available. 

     After conducting a thorough search and finding the control rod for all those traps in the crypt, he started making his way back to Crystaldrift Cave.

    Upon his return, Galeron facetiously questioned his Revenant. "Say, Gadnor, did we get any visitors, while I was away?" 

     "Uuuggghhh…" Gadnor replied the only way he could. 

     "Ahhh, I see. Thanks for the update, Gadnor."

     Galeron walked inside Crystaldrift Cave and saw Morila arranging some alchemical ingredients. "Ahh, Morila, how much ground have you covered so far? Almost, finished?"

     "I've covered a little over half, Master. I was almost finished here and was about to go back out."

     "Hmmm...don't bother. What you've got there is enough for now. I've found us a much better place not too far from here. I eventually want to seal off the primary entrance to that place but I'll have to connect this cave with the crypt. That, of course, is going to be your job. 

     "I want you to use all of the available Flame and Frost Atronaches to perform alternating attacks on the locations I show you. The fire will cause the rocks to expand and the cold will cause the rocks to contract, thereby weakening the rocks and making them easier to excavate. 

     "After you've applied a sufficient amount of heat and cold to the targeted location, you and Gadnor will be responsible for excavating the cave in the directions I will give you. The Storm Atronach will sit near the path leading out of here and attack anything that comes in. Anything it attacks, you, Gadnor, and the other Atronachs attack. Doesn't matter who it is, anybody or thing that enters this cave, myself excluded, has to die. Are you clear on what I expect, Morila?"

     "Perfectly, Master. I'll begin immediately."

     "Excellent! I have a crew of Revenants already working on it, from the other end. I'll be spending most of my time at the crypt, until the connection is finished, although I should come to check on things at least once a day. With all that said, you should be able to handle things for now and so I'll be leaving now. I'll be back tomorrow." Galeron said, as he turned and headed back to the Crypt of the Old Guard.