Kynesgrove

"It feels different." Surtr confirms, "Like an extra arm I never knew I had." he states, not completing the thought of his new arm having a mind of its own.

Galmar nods and looks to Delphine, "And who are you? I thought some 'Farengar' was supposed to turn up?"

Delphine coughs into her fist, "Ahem, he's busy with... Something. How about we concentrate on the impending dragon attack?"

Galmar folds his arms and leans his chair backwards, "Alright, let's." he says, looking intently at Delphine, who quickly unfurls an annotated map of Skyrim which had circles around every known dragon burial, each was numbered and a line followed one to the next in a clockwise pattern.

"These three burial mounds have already been unearthed." she points to the Western ones nearby Solitude, Morthal, and Dawnstar. The next one should be here in Kynesgrove, unless there's another that we haven't discovered yet." she explains.

"Wait. You're telling me the dragons are being raised from the dead? I thought Necro-magic and Conjurers were extinct thanks to that Tahlin tower?" Galmar asks in disbelief, "You expect me to believe this shovel?"

Delphine nods, "Look, dragons aren't like you, me, or any other creature in Tamriel. They don't die when killed, they simply rest until one of their kin can revive them. Alduin, the World-Eater, has been doing just that... How else do you think the dragons were returning?"

Galmar shrugs his shoulders, "They're dragons! They can fuck to get their population up for all I care! I'd rather believe that than immortal undead dragons going around burning cities!"

"I... I think she's right on this... In this instance. Dragon souls are different to mortal souls..." Surtr mutters, "More powerful, more resilient... When I absorbed the dragon's soul in Whiterun, it resisted despite being dead."

...

"That's what you think, Dragonborn?... Right..." Galmar strokes his beard, "How long are we going to have to wait here then? I don't know if you noticed, but we've still got a war to win."

Delphine smiles, "The war is almost finished... The Thalmor fleet is destroyed, the Imperial army crippled, Markarth has declared themselves neutral, and Falkreath is on the edge of returning to their Stormcloak loyalties... You can spare a couple days to help deal with the dragon crises." she states.

...

"Fine. But if those beasts don't turn up in two weeks, we'll be gone." Galmar states.

Delphine nods, "That will be enough. Thank you."

Galmar waves her off and begins trying to tempt Surtr with some of the local alcohol. And he succeeds despite Surtr trying to keep a level head for the attack that was supposedly coming.

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"SOUND THE ALARMS! SOUND THE ALARMS! DRAGON APPROACHING!"

The yells of many men echo in the night, awakening everyone as a large, loud bell is rung to force everyone into action.

Surtr, despite his small hangover, leaps off of his bed still in armour and sprints towards the door after collecting his weapon.

Outside, he spots multiple groups of Stormcloaks manning ballistae and firing almost blindly into the sky... The only indication that there was anything above them was the two red eyes flying in the distance, peering from the darkness.

Surtr remembered this well. Those eyes. It was the same dragon that destroyed Helgen, and from what Delphine tells him, Alduin the World-Eater.

"STOP STANDING THERE LAD! WE'VE GOT A DRAGON TO KILL!" Galmar shouts from behind Surtr, dragging him to the nearest Ballistae.

"These won't do anything to it!" Surtr objects, knowing full well how thick dragon scales were.

"These are enchanted ebony bolts bought from that Sky-Rend merchant company! I'll kick the shit out of the fuckers who sold us this if it doesn't work!" Galmar exclaims, just as the dragon glides down in a blind spot of their formation.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Searingly hot fire spews from the maw as it passes, instantly burning two ballistae and two dozen Stormcloaks alive.

"TOR SHUL FUCK YOU LIZARD!" Galmar angrily shouts as the dragon gets some distance, all of their bolts barely missing it.

"That was a Fire Breath shout, Galmar! We need to do something before it comes back and gives us something worse!" Surtr hurriedly says, feeling his instincts pushing him to have a direct confrontation with the dragon. Regardless of the fact that he'd die almost instantly. God what he would do for Saeko to be here right now!

Galmar glances to Surtr, "WORSE!? IT JUST KILLED A DOZEN OF MY MEN!"

"DO YOU WANT TO SEE IT RAIN METEORS FROM THE SKY!? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT DID IN HELGEN!" Surtr shouts, "We need to bring it to the ground or we're all fucked!"

"WHAT DO WE DO THEN!?"

"We need to bait it into an attack!" Surtr says, glancing around the area for a moment before locking eyes on the nearby treeline. "There! Hide a ballista there and have it positioned in another's blind spot in its path!"

Galmar wets his lips, "Aight! If you think that'll work! MEN YOU HEARD HIM! QUICKLY NOW!"

The dragon continues burning people, which the Stormcloaks barely mitigate by having suicide squads draw its attention... All attempts to hit it with ballistae fail, as if the dragon could tell exactly where the attack would come from... Fortunately, they manage to follow Surtr's plan, the ambush ballistae ready to attack the dragon when it glides down.

A single Stormcloak stands with the bait ballistae, knowing full well he was going to die... And he takes it with a warcry as he's incinerated, just as Surtr and Galmar shoot the ambush ballistae.

*SHOOK!*

*CLAAAANG!*

The bolt flies out... Hits its wing... And bounces off...

...

"FUUUUUUCK!" Galmar roars as he slams his fist into the ballistae, leaving an indentation in the hardwood. Indeed, everyone shared similar sentiments as they now had Alduin's attention... The dragon flew in close and began incinerating the forest around them...

Surtr blacks out as a burning tree falls atop him, the last thing he sees being a fellow Stormcloak's burning corpse... Is this how it ends? That fucking whore Delphine!