Chapter V: Dimhollow (Part 2)

"Want some?" I offhandedly ask a very twitchy Nightshade as we observe a literal wave of spiders crash into about a dozen powerful vampires and their many death hounds.

She shudders at the wave of blue smoke that passes near her and shakes her head "No thank you, I need my mind clear even if we aren't fighting right now."

"Your loss" I shrug and take another drag, an appreciative whistle leaving me not long after as I observe a Nord vampire bisect an utterly massive specimen of frostbite spider.

"I do not remember the giant spiders being this aggressive or strong." Alor comments with a mix of awe and dread "They are usually far more skittish than this."

I wave his concerns off "They are simple beasts and I am using Daedric powers to compel them to listen to me, anything I command them to do is basically their instinctual behavior so they do not really feel fear or the need to survive right now."

"Fascinating." He mutters "I can already imagine dozens of military and logistical applications to such a power."

"Eh." I shrug "It is generally good practice to use Daedric powers only for doing something within the domain of your patron, they will not usually mind you doing otherwise but they are Daedra, and giving them any excuse to demand something is never a good idea."

He scribbles something and pointedly voices "Daedra bad."

"I see you are volunteering to join me on my next visit to Mephala?" I turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

He bows immediately "Please forgive my cheeky behavior, my lord."

"Classy" I snort and turn back to the battle "Let us keep our eyes peeled, no sense in dying to arrogance."

And we both do but I do not miss the subdued "Hmph!" that Nightshade directs our way.

Speaking of the battle the spiders were, as we expected, losing completely and utterly. The speed at which the vampires whittled their numbers down easily surpassed my own little killing spree under the walls of Haraldstead but that did not matter, not for my plan.

Due to living for so long and being able to regenerate from pretty much anything not immediately mortal, vampires tended to favor very aggressive and speed focused fighting styles combined with lighter armor. This allowed them to swiftly outmaneuver their prey and defeat them as quickly as possible thus reducing the risk of silver weapons and magic by a large margin.

That also meant that they allowed minor wounds to happen without much care... and all twelve of the fuckers were currently sporting surface puncture wounds all over their bodies, their dogs long since de-animated by the spider swarm.

And so the entire unit of vampires was forced to expend large amounts of their stored up life force to slowly heal themselves as they fought the spider swarm, leaving them more and more exhausted without them even noticing.

I noticed that most of the spiders were very dead by this point so I signaled my two companions to hide while I approached the group of vampires with relaxed light steps.

The final spider falls, its head completely crushed by the disdainful axe kick of the female Dunmer vampire who looked to be the leader of this group. She looks around, her eyes almost stopping on my shadow-cloaked form, and immediately starts barking orders.

"You two get moving and see if the idiots at the entrance are still breathing." She snaps out and turns to another group "You, get some thralls here quickly, we all need to heal before whoever sent the spiders comes."

One of the less powerful vampires, seemingly crazed from blood loss snarls at her "And who are you to command me?"

The woman gives him an unimpressed look and before he can even blink smashes a bottle of what I presume is blood potion into his face and forces him to swallow the entire thing, glass included. The young vampire practically wilts in place as his wits return to him and suddenly tries to look as small as possible.

The commander smiles at him coldly "You will be reporting to me for additional training when we return to the castle." He nods rapidly while shivering and the woman turns to the rest "You have your orders, get moving already!"

The two vampires ordered to check on the entrance guards start jogging in my direction and just as they close in on my position I whisper "Tiid" and faster than they can react I lash out with my blade, decapitating one of them and impaling the other, both die instantly. Before the rest can react I flick the Staff of Magnus and slam the gate behind them shut, cutting off any potential reinforcements.

The Dunmer woman glares at me but stays still "It seems that mortal prey has chosen to deliver itself to us. How kind of you to save us the time it would take to dig you out."

"And how surprising it is to find that there is actually someone mildly competent within your little cabal of bloodsuckers." I quip back and point my sword at them, every single one of them flinches back slightly "Truly, Harkon really needs to step up his recruitment efforts if this is his best."

"You dare speak our lord's name!?" One of the vampires hisses at me but his commander signals for him to wait, she is still attempting to analyze me it would seem.

"Thefuck is he, Yahwe?" I snap back but all I get is confused glances "Never mind, I forgot how uncultured you cave dwellers were." I shake my head with pity in my eyes "So arrogant for the servants of a mere Jarl."

This manages to set off even the commander as she snarls "Lord Harkon is King!"

I try not to judge the poor things, their very bloodline commands them to respect their progenitor, but I fail utterly "A mere Jarl." I state pointedly and start ramping up my aura "Someone like him should have been happy to remain within his little hidey hole while the rest of us allowed him to continue his pathetic vulture-like existence." I smirk threateningly and my sword hums in excitement "I am afraid that he has now lost such a privilege and will be promptly exterminated like the parasite that he is."

They all take combat stances and the very air between us grows tense. The commander narrows her eyes and prepares to pounce "And who are you to dare talk of our lord in such a manner?"

My Magicka surges around me in full force, my aura turning visible to the naked eye showing all of them just how fucked they were "You see, little farm tool, there is no longer any need to wonder where your god is." The smile behind my mask is all teeth "Because he is right here... and he is fresh out of mercy."

And then all hell breaks loose.

Eight of the vampires rush me with all their supernatural speed while the commander and another one remain behind and start slinging spells my way.

Using Magnus' staff I lazily redirect the magic coming my way back at their melee fighters, disrupting their formation. Soon they reach close enough to start casting life drain on me but they are too weak to penetrate my magical defenses and quickly find another, more important issue to deal with as both of my Falmer vassals start casting solar explosions at the floor below me from their hidey holes. 

Many are singed by the sun magic and they all retreat, keeping their distance while I engage in a magical duel with the ranged duo. The melee fighters try and circle me but my vassals, well hidden from their sight behind either a corner or outcropping of stone stop them in their tracks.

Unfortunately for the seasoned leader of these bloodsuckers, I wasn't just wasting my time talking to them for no reason, so when I noticed that the whole plan went from just killing us with numbers and power to exhausting us using harassment tactics I chose to snap my fingers and all the sun and fire runes imbued with dovahzul I carved in secret detonated around me in a display of arcane majesty.

A wave of golden fire slams into the vampires surrounding me and rampages all the way to the other end of the room. The flames slam into the walls of the chamber, leaving only ashes behind... or at least that is what I thought at first...

I suddenly duck as a flurry of claw strikes pass where my head previously was, a quick shadow walk and I repel a barely visible figure from impaling a fear-stunned Nightshade.

Alor overchannels a solar cloak just in time to save himself from another bouncing attack by our enemy.

Seeing as this was going nowhere I decide to simply brute force the entire thing and do pretty much the same thing I did in Fort Dawnguard. I slam my sword hand downwards and channel an utterly absurd amount of Magicka, immediately filling every single crevice within the room and then some with searing sunlight.

A pained hiss comes from the other end and I see what vaguely resembles the lead vampire slump against the wall while convulsing in pain. She glares at me as her skin literally sizzles in a mess of boils "You think that a mortal like yourself will ever be able to face Lord Harkon?" She grits out "I am but a pawn on his board, all your efforts he will merely find the cute attempts of a skeever."

"Cute?" I mutter and with a forceful twist of my arm I launch my sword at her, immediately impaling her to the wall, her mouth opens in a silent cream as my sword scalds her very soul, but I have more important things to worry about as I glare at her "Bitch, I am adorable."

The only answer I get is awkward silence.

"Right then" I turn back to my vassals, completely losing any interest in the now doubly dead vampires "Check yourselves for cuts or curses, and let us get moving."

And get moving we do.

The following chambers and caves are practically empty, only a death hound or two patrolling the place and those were dealt with rather easily by just consuming them with shadow summons. The rest held skeletons or some draugr that the vampires didn't clean out, these I left for my followers so they could train a bit while I explored the ancient architecture of the place.

Yet all things interesting must come to an end and soon we stepped out onto an ornate platform decorated with gargoyles, a single vampire angrily slashing the throat of a dead Vigilant of Stendarr while his trio of thralls watched with dead eyes.

This time I didn't even bother with introducing myself and merely launched a spear of sunfire at the back of his head while forcing him into place with a disproportionate wave of telekinesis. The way he simply disappeared when the fire touched him was more satisfying than it had any right to be.

I do not even pay the thralls any mind as all of them soon find themselves with bolts of ice in their throat or heart... or both in the case of Nightshade's target.

"What a magnificent edifice!" Alor exclaims after we make sure there are no more enemies present "This place differs even from the rest of the tomb!"

I truly look at the chamber for a moment and get the general idea of what was going on "It seems that the whole thing was constructed as a means of keeping everything in pristine condition. The whole building is an active ritual."

"Alor." I voice sternly and he straightens up "I want a precise sketch as swiftly as you can draw one."

"At once my lord." He immediately gets to work.

"Nightshade, you will follow me." I state and start walking, the still fresh corpse of a vampire thrall lazily floating behind me.

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The time of revalation hath come

and for it I demand a stone!

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