Elder scrolls: Dead & Damned

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caligari

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It did not matter how many fires Ennoc lit within the halls of Lost Valkygg, the icy cold of the north still found its way into the ancient Nordic structure as though it was its home. It was inevitable, neither the location nor the acts committed by the Breton were very inviting for a warm, tropical climate. Not that he minded, the cold helped preserve the bodies he experimented on as well as the draugr he now used as both servants and guards.

He'd have to give it to the Nords of the Merethic Era, they knew how to make things last; both buildings and bodies. The ancient tombs that littered Skyrim were marvels of ingenuity and craftsmanship, proven simply by the fact that many still stood strong after thousands of years of neglect and disrepair. The draugr were no different, while the secrets of their preservation techniques were lost to the ages, many necromancers still stand in awe at the brilliance of the process, and Ennoc was no different.

When he first came here the amount of draugrs was startling and a bit frightening, but once he managed to take one or two down things went much easier in the clearing of the ancient halls. That's one of the benefits of studying the necromantic arts; for every enemy that falls you gain and extra ally. The draugr were helpful enough in both the creation of his workplace as well as the bringing of fresh, and preferably living, samples. Not a lot of people visit Labyrinthian, but the occasional brave adventurer, scholar searching for the secrets of Salidor's maze or bandits looking to settle satiated his need for experimentation. Even now a good five bodies were shackled in one of the back chambers. They were weak, but alive and that's all that mattered.

Ennoc moved over to a stone table on which a dark ritual was prepared: the body of a Nord laid dead beside a filled, black soul gem, a bloody dagger and a briar heart. The man's chest had been cut open and his heart removed to make place for the seed. This form of necromancy wasn't that foreign for the Breton necromancer, but it was hard to study without in depth knowhow. Still, he had to pursue all forms of necromancy in order to find a true way to bring a person back to life instead of creating a mindless puppet to command.

He place the briar seed in the chest cavity and began chanting "Heart of thorn, bones of the north", he stitched up the opening with leather straps and took the dagger "Rise from death, blood of my blood." He sliced open his hand and made the wound pour its blood onto the briar heart before taking the black soul gem and infusing the soul with the body. The Nord began to struggle and move before sitting up and staring blankly at Ennoc. It was clear right away that it was a failure. The cold eyes stared at him making no secret of the unfeeling being behind them. He had created another puppet, stronger perhaps due to the briar heart, but mindless all the same.

Discouraged the necromancer leaned against the table, one hand rubbing his eyes while sighed deeply. Another failed experiment, another wasted soul gem. If nothing else he had a new servant. "Join the draugr outside," Ennoc ordered the undead puppet "bring all intruders to me." The undead got up and moved out of the ritual area, picking up an ancient nordic sword as he went. Just when he was about to leave, Ennoc yelled "Alive!" at him as a continuation of his command. It wouldn't be the first time they brought him mutilated corpses.
 
It was freezing outside, and even the sun was rising which made it just out right horrible conditions for Elysi. She had just arrived at Labryinthian, in which she had been hoping to just pass through but now had no choice but to take cover within the ancient ruins. As Elysi made her way through Labryinthian looking for some place to enter she was able to spot a door that looked like it was being guarded. This peeked her interest. Never in the millions of times that Elysi had passed by Labryinthian had she seen a door being guarded, and this made her rather curious. The young looking woman, with a slender frame, waist length white hair, and a pair of greyish-white eyes moved towards the door quietly. Which didn't last long after she tripped over a set of skeleton rib cages making her tumble down towards the door.

Just her luck. Because she came to halt just before the draugr, and the recently resurrected man who had just joined the two undead creatures just outside the door. Elysi laid there staring up at the three of them, muttering under her breath. "Oh for the love that is.." Just didn't get any other words out before the two Draugr grabbed onto her and dragged her into the ruins. Elysi who was tired, and had not regained all her strength from getting out of the sun yet was not able to get out of the grip that the two draugr had on her.

Instead of trying to waste energy on fighting the draugr Elysi simply looked around at her surroundings, seeing what there was in the ruins, and what the draugr could have been possibly guarding. Of course at the current moment with the way they were acting the only thing that she could think about was that they were obviously working under a necromancer's control otherwise they would have attacked her on spot.
 
When the briarheart experiment failed, Ennoc decided to call it a day, writing down his findings in one of his many journals on his desk. In all honesty, "desk" was a polite term for an old, wooden table cluttered with books and empty inkwells. The amount of tomes and research literature bordered on the absurd; besides the many pillars of books on the table that reached rather high into the room, there were also unkept piles on either side of the desk, wasting away on the floor simply because they had been deemed useless.

The subjects the books ranged from the reinforcing of skeletons to the achieving of immortality through lichdom, they delved into the origins of Sload necromancy, hedge magic, gravesingers and many more dark arts. Oddly enough for a necromancer here and there among the books were tomes listing spells for restoration magic, they were incantations detailing offensive magic against the undead mostly such as; sun fire, turn undead, Stendarr's aura, and many more. The reason for this was because Ennoc tried and corrupted many ancient and dark rituals and sometimes this resulted in... unstable results needing to be dealt with effectively.

He sat down, grabbed a quill and began writing.

The briarheart experiment was a unique kind of failure: while the body took to both the soul and the briar heart effectively well, the formed creation proved to be yet another empty husk. I do not know whether this is the result of me corrupting the ritual, lack of information or perhaps any other factor. More research is required into this field, but I have my doubts if it will yield the desired results. Time will only tell.
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His ink didn't even have time to dry or several of his undead minions dragged a fresh body into his study. At first he thought his fresh servant was such a failure it didn't even understand the most basic of orders, so he was pleasantly surprised when he saw them bring in a being with a little more sentience.

"What's this now?" Ennoc asked as he rose from his chair. The question was mostly rhetoric, most people who entered Labyrinthian were predictable: bandits looking for a hideout, treasure hunters looking for trinkets, the occasional mage wanting to test Shalidor's maze and very rarely a stubborn merchant wishing to cut the travel time between Morthal and Whiterun. The Breton moved to the woman clutched in the semi-decayed hands of the draugr and examined her closely. At first Ennoc only noticed that she looked like none of the usual suspects that frequent the old Nordic capital, but only when he stared into her eyes did he realise why. "Vampire..." he hissed through his teeth as he backed away from the nightspawn. He had stared into more dead eyes than most and these were no different; cold and icy, like the Northern snows themselves they gazed through his being and into his very essence.
 
"Oh do kindly relax, it's not like I knew that you were here, or have any plans to drain you of your blood. I had something to sate my hunger before I arrived here." Elysi sighed and stood up fully removing her arms from the Draugr grip and removed a dagger from her cloak striking both Draugr down. "Really, I just came to get away from the sun, I was hoping to just pass through, but the daylight dashed those plans. Elysi looked around before sitting down on the stone work table, to watch Ennoc.

"Though having someone guard a door within Labryinthian is very unusual, and I have never in the millennia of passing through here seen it." Elysi turned her eyes upon Ennoc. "Mind if I ask what it is that you are up to here that requires guards at the door?" Elysi found that this place would do just fine for relaxing for the day, perhaps even getting in some sleep. But first to find out whether or not this Breton was going to do anything about her, of course having recently fed she was at full strength, despite the sun having affected her.

"You know that many would disagree with having a necromancer hanging around, if this got out to the public then surely someone would hire someone to come kill you. The Dark brotherhood, perhaps some of those vile mutts over in Jorrvaskr. A simple wandered looking for work. Just a few things to think about." Elysi crossed her legs and stared at Ennoc, giving him a smirk which she hoped unnerved him. She liked teasing the mortals.
 
This vampire, this monster of the night, her arrogance was insulting, her attitude degrading and her very presence brought Ennoc's blood to a boil and now she had the gall to threaten him. "You dare?" He bit her way with little more than a whisper "You dare?!" His voice bellowed and echoed through the ancient halls.

With naught but the flick of his wrists he summoned two portals, spiralling dark purple and calling forth two bound spirits from the depths of the soul cairn. One was clad in furs and wielded a rough, but cruel looking sword made of stone and sinew and bone. The other in Nordic steel brandishing a mighty warhammer that even in its spectral form looked intimidatingly heavy. A Reachman and a Nord warrior, two proud and powerful warriors, now mere spectral puppets to a lowly Breton, stood between Ennoc and Elysi. But he was far from finished.

"You come into my house," He raised his hand at her and the fresh, undead briarheart positioned between them. "Kill my minions," around his feet a magic circle of restoration made to repel undead lit up the room "Threaten me," from the back of the room two coffins lining the wall burst open and from them stepped out two draugr lord clad in ancient ebony decorated with Merethic runes and the dragon tongue "Threaten my work" the room seemed to swirl with instability as Ennoc's anger rose. The torches and candles clung to embers as the air itself seemed to get displaced by his words. "Your arrogance is useless and insulting, but your being will serve my experiments well."
 
Elysi simply sat and watched, she found the necromancer's anger.. cute. To say the least the magic was cute. Elysi closed her eyes. "One this is not your house, this not a house of any kind." Elysi stood up slowly and brushed off her cloak. "You think I'm the one threatening you? Oh if I was threatening you then you would know for sure that I was. Your magic... Cute."

Elysi removed her cloak to reveal a a bright red dress beneath it, Elysi raised her hands ready to attack, in her hands at the ready was magic of frost and ice. "Tell me, ever hear of an ancient old tale of a witch of ice? Born of Nord tried so hard to take over Tamriel. No of course not, no one knows that story." Elysi tossed out some ice spikes to kill the draugr that had awaken from their slumber. She then turned back to Ennoc. "But besides that."

Elysi put her hands down, and stepped closer to Ennoc, not too close of course close enough to be able to speak with him. "I only came to seek shelter from the sun so that at sun down I may leave. If you would be kind enough to allow me to stay then perhaps we can give each other some company, but if not that I shall leave and take refuge in another part of Labryinthian."
 
All his power, all his knowledge, all his anger and all his minions... worthless. He felt like a paper tiger before a storm as this freak of darkness wrecked his every line of defence. Draugr, practically immune to frost magic, torn asunder with an icicle. Was this the strength of a vampire? The strength of Molag Bal? Antagonising her further would be pointless. All his power would clash and break upon her like water breaks upon rocks.

In silent defeat he lowered his arms and the spectres by his side drifted aways in the fading breeze of the Nordic ruins. The briarheart fell still as he wandered off like a puppet cut loose of its strings and the air in the room fell to the deafeningly silent sound of the flames regaining their strength. It took everything he had not to shake with both fear and anger, but still he maintained his composure, even if it was but a paper-thin facade.

"There are many rooms for you to choose," he said, his voice noticeably more silent and soft "if you desire either bed or coffin, I'm sure I can accommodate." As though he still had authority to lean on. Still though, this was his home, he would not leave, he could not leave. Not yet, so despite this nightmare that found its way into his quarters from beyond his darkest dreams, he would not abandon his home.
 
Elysi gave a smile. "Thank you." She paused as she was about to go find a place to sleep. "Tell me. Why is a necromancer, staying here? In these ruins, doing... whatever it is you are doing in here." Elysi was rather curious on this part, she had met necromancers before, but never one like him who had made such a permanent residence in a place like this.

Elysi picked up her cloak folding it over her arms, as she turned to face Ennoc. "I'm curious, I have met many necromancers in my travels, but never one that has stayed in a place so long, and it looks like you have been here a long time." Elysi smoothed out the dress of her skirt and shifted her footing as she looked over Ennoc. "I mean doesn't it get lonely?"
 
"No," Ennoc moved over to his desk and ran his finger across the pages of his journal before closing it entirely. "Why I am here is none of your concern. My motives are none of your business. My actions are mine and mine alone. Find a room to your liking, wait out the light and leave." His voice was stern and impatient, in his mind he had suffered her long enough. Longer, at the least, than he ever would've cared for.

The dark mage had little interrest in this intruder, nor would he give her so much as an inch lest she take the whole mile. As long as she was there she would disturb his work, hamper his progress and delay his goals as such she had to go sooner rather than later. Her very presence was infuriating.

He did not turn to her as he collected tomes and books from his study and sheltered them in his cloak, but several draugr shuffled toward the room from the far edge of the hallway. "These are your escorts," he took two soul gems and stuffed them into a pocket near his chest "they're there to ensure you don't go wandering off into places you shouldn't." Finally he turned to her, his gaze almost as cold as that of the moving corpses behind her. "If you decide to abandon them, I'll know. If you decide to destroy them, I'll know. If you decide to attack me, I'll know... and break you."

With that he walked passed her and down the centuries old corridor of Valkygg.
 
Elysi simply watched Ennoc, and then looked to the Draugr that were going to escort her. "Let's go then." She said following them to a room that she could stay in. Of course once there she made sure they remained outside of the room, and then closed the door. Elysi looked around the room, before moving to make herself comfortable.

She was able to sleep for a good few hours before she woke with a horrifying screech. She sat up, her hair sticking to her skin, and her chest hefted with heavy breathing. She swallowed hard and looked around before putting her head in her hands. She hated having that nightmare, it came to her everytime she slept, just a constant reminder of what had happened to her.

Elysi looked around before pushing hair away from her face and stood up slowly. She wandered around the room before going to the doors, she paused just about to open them, and then shook her head. "No, it's still to early to leave, I can just go back to sleep." Elysi turned to look where she was sleeping and let out a sigh.
 
As soon as the sun had set Ennoc marched his small army of undead thralls to the door of Elysi's room and barged in without calm or courtesy. To him he had been more than reasonable in allowing her to reside there for the duration of the day, but the day had come and gone and now she had to as well.

"Nightfall has passed," he barked at her as his draugrs and spectres filled the room after him, surrounding them both. "Time has come for you to return to the darkness from whence you came and leave me in peace." Two of his draugr lords closed in on her, their ancient nordic ebony brandished by their side.

"Bo" One of the draugr grunted, his voice filled the air like moist grit as his rotting vocal cords gave his words sound.
"Neh Daal" the other said as he grabbed Elysi by the arm.
 
Elysi looked at the Draugr, and ripped her arm from the Draugr's grip. "I can see myself out. It's much a shame that you feel the need to have me escorted out of these ruins, I was planning of being reasonable and giving you something as a thanks for letting me stay. But I guess that you would rather not have any books that.. may help in whatever it is you are doing."

Elysi pulled her cloak on around her and walked out of the room, heading to the door she was first lead in through. Opening the door she stepped out into the night, and looked around brushing her fingers through her hair. It was still a long travel ahead of her and all she knew was that it wasn't exactly going to be an easy travel either. If it had been her choice she would have been long dead by now.

Elysi raised her face to the night air, and breathed out before starting to walk through the place, pausing when she spotted a couple of trolls, and started to go through her pockets hoping to find her dagger so she had it ready as a precaution incase they spotted her and tried to attack.
 
Ancient tomes? Ennoc's mind raced through the possibilities and weighed everything at the sound of potential knowledge. The number of unread books in his library had been growing thin and with his inability to enter the college combined with the difficulty of working with Fellglow had made the list of potential sources for new literature exceedingly short. It could be a trick, a lie to scorn me. Then again the more elder vampires are known to have access to some obscure, forgotten works. But what guarantee do I have she even is ancient?

Every thought that passed through the Breton's head made him more and more anxious, his gut had been doing cartwheels ever since that accursed nightspawn had said those words. He even had difficulty swallowing, feeling as though a stone was lodged in his throat forcing him to bite his thumb to occupy his mouth. "Bollocks!" he cursed at himself right after biting straight through the flesh on his thumb filing his mouth with a foul copper taste.

Ennoc made haste through the Nordic halls to reach the cold winds of Skyrim hoping to catch his unwanted visitor before she exited Bromjunaar. As he flung open the rusty steel doors of times long passed, he was met with blindingly white snow, a cold winter night and a lonesome figure standing at the edge of the overlook. "Stop!" He ordered to Elysi, his voice barely carrying over the wind. "I'm sure we can... come to some arrangement."
 
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Elysi looked back at Ennoc, and gave him a bit of a smile. "Is there anything you would suggest, or should I take you with my to Castle Volikhar, I can show you my private library there. I my have many books that you might in fact be interested in." Elysi said and then bowed her head at him. "The name is Elysi by the way, it would be nice if you can call me as such."

Elysi walked over to him, "And you don't have to worry much about me attacking you or anything." Producing from her satchel was a potion of blood. "I do have this to sate my hunger over the course of the journey if you do join me." She told him, and then put the bottle back in her satchel. "But if you do not wish to come with me, then I must know what it is that you are trying to do for me to find the right tomes and books for you to read through. Is there by any other chance anything that you might need that I may be able to fetch for you?"
 
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