Alain Slain

Alain Dufont hums cheerfully to himself as he observes his men feast and celebrate not far from where he was sitting. They'd come into a massive amount of wealth recently, so moods had been high for days now, nothing seeming to dampen it, even the unfortunate demise of one of their friends.

"Hmph, here's to you, Muiri. Couldn't have done any of this without you." he chuckles before taking a swig of the strong ale. The apprentice alchemist had been smitten with him as soon as she'd laid eyes on him, his tanned imperial skin, strong jawline, and sculpted beard immediately striking her fancy.

Alain, being a cutthroat bandit as well as a red-blooded male, took the woman's feelings as an opportunity for him and his friends. Muiri, despite only being an apprentice alchemist, had many connections with the families of Windhelm, where she was born and raised. This allowed him to use her and befriend the Shatter-Shield clan, one of the most ancient and powerful families in Windhelm who also controlled one of the only companies that could possibly rival the East Empire Company.

Using her, he mapped out their family manor and snuck in with his men, stealing many family heirlooms and even a Warhammer called Aegisbane, which had apparently been used by many famous warriors in Skyrim's history.

He'd already sold off most of the heirlooms, but he kept Aegisbane, half because of his sentimentality toward the job that'd helped his group start to gain a foothold, and half because of just how difficult it was to sell the weapon for what it's worth... While it was a powerful weapon that had lots of history behind it, most people in Windhelm could recognise it at a glance, making it incredibly risky to own without a substantial power backing you.

This was also the reason Alain and his bandit group had made their home in a Dwemer ruin called Raldbthar. Which was in the mountains West of Windhelm, giving them a good base to deploy ambushes against Windhelm merchants and even Stormcloak supply lines.

The ruins provided safety, powerful defences, and more traps than a ruffian could ever dream of. Along with Dwemer automatons that protect some parts of the structure while leaving others empty for him and his men to occupy.

"Life. Is. Goo~ood." he breathes as he leans backwards in his makeshift chair while tossing a strange blue gem his men had found in his hand.

*K-k-k-k...*

...

"What was that?" Alain mutters to himself, glancing around and towards the darker corners of the room for whatever had made the sound.

"You alright boss?" Alain's right-hand man, Ukon, asks as he steps over.

Alain chews his lip, wondering if the Dwemer had left something in the room that they hadn't yet discovered... He wasn't paranoid, merely aware of the threats that he and his men could face. "I think I heard something, would you and the boys go check it out?"

Ukon shrugs, "Sure, if you let me borrow that Warhammer while I'm at it." he asks, a sly grin on his face.

Alain tosses the Warhammer, "Whatever, just make sure something's not creeping upon us." he says, waving off his man.

*K-k-k-k-k...*

Alain squints in anger, it'd been seven minutes since he'd sent Ukon out yet this weird sound kept occurring... "If someone's there then just show yourself! Only cowards hide in the shadows! Face me like a man!" he growls, causing the few of his men that'd stayed behind to glance at him with unsure looks, thinking that their leader might be losing his mind.

"Probably just shouting at the wind or something..."

"The wind in these ruins!? You daft cunt, use your divine given brian and think before you talk for once!"

"Man, the boss should really take a break or someth-" the man's voice abruptly cuts out, not even giving a squeak as his buddies turn but find that he'd completely vanished...

"Oi, what the fuck!? BOBBY!? THE FUCK'VE YOU GONE!? BOBBY!?"

"BOSS! BOBBY HAS-" another voice end halfway, but Alain manages to catch a glimpse of whatever it was before it happens... A shadow had thrust a black dagger into the man's throat before disappearing along with the body.

"WHAT THE HELL!? WHAT IN OBLIVION WAS THAT!?" Alain exclaims, stuffing the gem in his pocket before running over to his men, grouping up to make themselves harder targets. "STICK TOGETHER! WHATEVER IT IS CAN'T TAKE ALL OF US AT ONCE!"

*CRAAAACKLE!*

A blade of lightning shoot from a dark corner of the room, temporarily blinding everyone while burning a hole through two men who drop dead with their corpses spasming.

"B-boss... I think it might..." one of the bandits mutters, scared shitless as glances to the smoking corpses of his buddies.

"DON'T LOSE YOUR NERVE! WE'RE FINE! WE'LL. BE. FINE!" Alain continues to shout, half because the thunder had slightly deafened him, and half to muster the dregs of his confidence up in order to show no weakness. Indeed, he was too busy shouting to realise that two more of his men had been snatched by the invisible intruder, bringing Alain and his three men left to the brink of simply sprinting away in fear.

*Slash!*

*Splatter!*

Another man goes down, his head separated from his body.

*Thwooom!*

Another one, enveloped in flames causing the man to scream in agony as his body disintegrates from the heat.

Alain goes back to back with his last remaining man, teeth chattering as he erratically looks around for whatever or whoever was doing this. "Y-you've made your point! W-we surrender! J-just stop this madness!"

"Y-yeah! We give up so just, spare us! Please!"

...

*Ching!*

*Thunk!*

An axe dropped by one of his men spins through the air and imbeds itself into the bandit's skull, leaving Alain standing above, shivering, his legs trembling as he weakly grips his blade.

Tears and snot drip down the man's face as he begins begging for salvation, "PLEASE! PLEEASE! I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE BUT PLEASE, SPARE ME! I PROMISE TO BE GOOD! I'LL WALK INTO ANY PRISON! DO ANYTHING YOU WANT! JUST-"

"Bro, just shut the fuck up. It's annoying enough to kill you, let alone listen to you talk, shout, and beg. Just be a good rat and die quietly." an irritated youthful voice remarks from somewhere in the room. Alain looks around for it, but isn't able to notice the boot speeding towards his face...

*SPLATTER!*