The Ebony Renegades (Skyrim)

chapter twenty nine

Tully busted the cell door open then walked in and freed Serana from her shackles on the wall as she fell limply into his arms Tully took in her disheveled appearance, her royal vampire armor was worn and torn in some places. there were rips along the side of her corset that if she took a deep enough breath the fabric would tear and expose her well-endowed bare chest. She had dried blood on her chest and her right cheek was swollen as if she had been beaten and brutalized. He picked her up bridal-style and rushed her to the group entering before calling out, " Gentu get in here, Hurry!" Tully yelled as the group ran in and looked in surprise at the woman in Tully's arms. " Where in oblivion did you find her?" Gentu asked while Tully laid the woman on one of the spare beds as Gentu examined the unconscious woman. " Well first off, she's a vampire so normal healing magic won't work on her and I don't know necromantic healing. So I'll have to tend to her wounds by hand and have Sabrina give her a potion of healing." Gentu said as Tully placed a fancy red glass bottle next to the bed. " When she wakes up give that to her, it will help her recover her strength." Tully explained and sat nearby just in case his friend woke up. "Judging by these wounds on her body, I think they were trying to drain her blood, but why? Aren't all vampires the same?" Gentu asked as Tully shook her head "Normal vampire's blood is diluted, but she and her mother are pure bloods. a rare type of vampire called A daughter of Coldharbour, and essentially a direct blood descendents of Molag bal." Tully explained while he decided to stay with Serana in case she woke up a few members of the group consisting of Ebon-shi, Gila, Severin, Lianya, and Gentu headed into Morthal to investigate the surrounding area but to also pick up some bounty work. Once they entered the marshy town of Morthal they noticed the suspicious looks they were getting from the inhabitants. It quickly became immediately clear that these people were reclusive and were very wary of outsiders. The group exchanged sideways looks before nodding in unison and made their way to the Jarl's loghouse after Ignoring the gossip and other rumors spreading around. As they entered the rest stayed back as Ebon-shi approached the Jarl. She was an elderly nord woman who was rumored to be able to have visions of the future. " Ah, the leader of the ebony renegades, welcome to Morthal I am Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone to what do we owe the pleasure?" the elderly nord asked in a soft tired voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you Jarl Idgrod, I was wondering if you had any bounty or other Jobs that mere citizens can't handle." the dunmer asked as the Jarl thought for a moment then nodded to her steward a nord man who spoke. " Recently, a fisherman's wife went missing in the middle of the night. someone broke in and took her but didn't touch the three kids or the husband then they disappeared without a trace." The steward said as Ebon-shi nodded and took the job. " We will do our best to reunite that family." Ebon-shi said as the Jarl had a relieved smile stretch on her face. " If you need more information the woman's husband is usually fishing on the docks right about this time. and my name is Aslfur I'm Idgrod's husband and steward if there's anything else you need come see me." Aslfur said as Ebon-shi left with his crew as they walked through Morthal heading to the docks where the husband of the missing woman was supposed to be. As they approached they saw an imperial man in fishing attire with an Argonian fishing rod it was clear his mind was elsewhere as a large Slaughterfish was on the line. " Woah sir your line!" Gentu shouted as Gila twirled the Spear she got from Hircine in her hand and hurled it into the large Slaughterfish the fishermen snapped back to reality and pulled the Slaughterfish in as the shaft of Gila's spear came out of the water Gila gripped the shaft and put the caught Slaughterfish down before pulling it free from the creatures limp body. " T-thank you travelers, I'm sorry for troubling you. I'm still shaken after losing my wife the other night. I am worried sick about her." The man said in a shaky voice like he was tying not to cry while picking up the killer fish and standing up. "That's why we're here, we are going to try to find your wife." Ebon-shi said as the empty look in the man's eyes had the slightest glimmer of hope return to them. " Well then, come with me to my house maybe you'll find a clue that the hold guards missed." The man said before leading them to a house on the other side of town hidden by the fog in the marsh it was no wonder how there was hardly any trace because even a giant could sneak up on someone here. There was a makeshift swing tied to a pine tree branch as three kids were playing two girls and one boy the young boy looking to be the youngest of the three. " Those are my kids the two girl's names are June and May they are twins and the boy is named Aurgus." The fisherman said as he led the group to the home after giving the okay the group spread out looking for any sign of either the intruder or the wife. " Three people, went northwest of here, they must have been wearing either regular clothes or light armor because there is hardly any depth to these tracks meaning they were very light on their feet." Gila said following the tracks to a spot of parted tall grass as the group along with the fisherman followed close behind. " How does she do that?" The fisherman asked before Ebon-shi spoke. " Gila was raised in the woods as a hunter she was taught to hunt, process game, and track so if anyone can find your wife, it's her." He said before Gila walked up to the fisherman. " Okay this is going to sound like a very weird request, but I need you to cooperate with me understand?" Gila asked sternly as the fisherman nodded. "If it means I can see my wife again I'll do whatever you need." He said before Gila gave a gentle smile and a nod. " Do you have any personal belongings of your wife something that she touched, or worn recently? Anything that her scent would be on." Gila asked before the fisherman's eyes widened and nodded leading her into the house real quick and into his and his wife's bedroom before picking up his wife's favorite hat that she always wore before handing it to Gila. Gila carefully took it before bringing it up to her nose and smelling it for a few moments before her eyes held a predatory gaze before carefully handing it back to the fisherman and rushing out of the house crouching down on all fours and smelling the ground she let out an animalistic growl before charging into the brush with the group running close behind. The fisherman struggled to keep up as his three kids were following close behind them. " What's going on? Did she find something?!" The fisherman asked while running alongside the group. " If Gila suddenly took off running like that I think she has your wife's scent and she is following it." Gentu explained while having his dwarven crossbow out along with Severin having his daedric crossbow out soon they came to a cave across the river. With Gila crawling on all fours like an animal she crouched onto her knees before pointing inside. " Your wife's scent leads in there, but there's also a heavy smell of blood." Gila explained before the fisherman's eyes widened as he knew what this place was. " This was the lair of Movarth Piquine, a master vampire that was said to have been killed a century ago. I remember my wife used to read the book called 'Immortal Blood' and it spoke of him he was once a trainer for the Fighters Guild as well as an accomplished vampire hunter." The fishermen explained before the group nodded to each other with Severin bringing up the rear keeping the fisherman and his kids safe. Gentu and Lianya took point as those two had experience with killing vampires as they moved forward Gentu had an exploding fire crossbow bolt loaded up into his dwarven crossbow as he had spellbreaker and dawnbreaker out, Meanwhile, Lianya had a sun-hollowed arrow in her bow. As they entered the cave Gila immediately jumped down wielding her new war axe before driving it into the skull of a frostbite spider before quickly pulling out and throwing it like a tomahawk into the head of the other one on the ledge killing them before they knew they were there. After retrieving her war axe Gila moved down the hallway peeking around the corner before using a silent hand signal she put her hand up gesturing she spotted an enemy and to move quietly. Severin came around the corner quickly laying down in a prone position before lining up his shot with the back of the vampire's head before firing a steel crossbow bolt straight through the vampire thrall's temple as his body went limp. Moving their way through in a sweeping formation they came to another room with mining equipment along with a ditch just as another vampire thrall was coming out of the ditch Severin quickly rushed over driving the blade of woe through the bottom of his mouth and into his brain before slowly dropping the vampire down. They continued down the path where there was a fork one taking a higher path onto a wood walkway like those in mining shafts which overlooked the whole room. Gila pulled out her makeshift telescope before examining the room seeing a banquet table with three vampires sitting in the front the one at the end of the table was the master vampire himself. And the one locked in a cage immediately behind him was a nord woman in rags. " Hey does your wife have long black hair, a nord, kind of a flat chest but very thick legs, and a mara tattoo on her left hand?" Gila asked as the fisherman nodded confirming that was his wife. Deciding the clear tactic would be to take them by surprise the group split up Lianya and Gentu would give a signal to be ready resting on the wooden walkway as the rest of the group circled. The plan was simple. When the group got in position Liana would fire a sun-hollowed arrow at the head of the table to blind the three vampires then the group would go in for the kill dnd afterward, the fisherman could sweep in and save his wife. The rest of the group went around the corner to flank the vampire Trio. Severin slit the throats of the two thralls that were sleeping to deny any reinforcements once they had gotten in position Gila waved her spear out around the corner to give Lianya the signal. The moment she saw Gila's spear she fired the arcane arrow directly in front of the vampire trio the blinding light from the sun-hollowed arrow temporarily blinding them as the group rushed to finish them off. Severin with two precise steel bolts quickly dispatched the two henchmen before Movarth could get up a dwarven bolt went through his chest and pinned him against his seat as the dwarven armored breton drew dawnbreaker off of his hip picking up spellbreaker to deny Movarth's vampiric drain before driving the shining blade of dawnbreaker straight through his undead heart causing him to explode. " let's see him recover from that." Gentu said as Ebon-shi approached the cage where the nord woman was being held prisoner before drawing Shadowrend off of his back and slamming the shadowy battle axe directly into the lock causing it to snap from The brute force as the door opened the fisherman was quick to embrace his wife as the three children rushed to hug their mother meanwhile the group spread out to look for anything of value looting the bodies upon finding nothing of Interest they left the vampire's lair although still on guard in case there were hidden enemies lurking around somewhere. They proceeded to walk the family back home under heavy guard their presence alone was enough of a deterrent to draw off any would-be assailant nearby who found the traveling family a tempting target. After they had gotten them back into Morthal it just so happened the steward was in front of the log house and when he saw the group return with the fisherman and his wife a huge smile crept up on his face as he quickly ran in before coming back out with his wife who also had a pleased smile on her face. As Gila walked the family home the rest of the group stopped to hear what the Jarl had to say. " My vision had told me you would succeed, again fate has proven itself to be quite wise who was the culprit?." The Jarl asked, " It was the master vampire Movarth." Ebon-shi said as the elderly nord nodded before her steward gave them the bounty reward for the job parting the ways for now they headed back to Fort Snowhawk.