Chapter 486 - Legends (2) : Finding Laaneth
Big flipping thanks to the new Patrons:
@Vitan (C rank)
@David Pokora (D rank)
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"The Dremora's words unnerved the hero. They journeyed north to meet Laaneth, a sorceress friend of Tyr's well versed in Daedric matters. But the road ahead was far from clear" (Kellen)
***
Tyr and Glemet kicked off their journey from south passing forests and rivers avoiding the roads that were being monitored by the Aldmeri Dominion. Ever since the start of the Great War four years ago, the County of Leyawiin was the first to fall, thus it was the one with the most established Aldmeri order.
"So, that Laaneth. Where do we find here?" Glemet asked.
"South to Blackwood, near the Topal Bay." Tyr replied.
"So she is a rich person."
"All mages are rich."
"Indeed."
The two were having such a conversation after they were stopped by a group of bandits a while ago. The bandits seemed to have killed a merchant and looted his goods then saw a Tyr and Glemet as easy targets to pick on, little did they know they know the fate of their actions was leading to their demise.
As the Glemet and Tyr prevailed over the bandits, the last bandit begged them to spare his life in exchange for leading them to the stolen goods. Glemet agreed to finally get to have some proper supplies and goods but as they were about to let the bandit loose, Tyr waved his sword and killed the bandit.
Glemet was upset as he had given a word to free the man but Tyr had a sound argument that killing the Bandit would secure them a better chance to cut loose ends. If the Thalmor caught that man and he talked, things would get messy for them.
Now that they got some weapons and horses to ride, the journey became smoother and the two managed to get out of the forest to the open fields but who received them was a band of Dominion Guards.
A fight occurred and thankfully, the Dominion Guards didn't have a mage with them making them an easy opponent to the highly skilled Tyr and the rapidly developing Glemet.
"The way I see things, you are developing your Aura very well, Glem?" Tyr complemented.
"Thanks. The tips you gave me really helped." Glemet said.
The two may have started on the wrong foot and argued about a lot but they developed a good relationship with time so much that Tyr started instructing Glemet about the Aura.
Glemet's Aura was unique carrying a strange power to it. It also took a strange color resembling the violet which seemed to have been influenced by Tyr's Beast Aura.
"I've never asked you, you are called Glemet, odd for an Imperial to be given a Nord name." Tyr remarked.
"My Father is an Imperial, my mother is a Breton… well, they were." Glemet replied.
"Oh! Well, you are not a Nord from either side."
"I was raised in Bruma."
"Aha! I see."
Bruma is the northernmost county in Cyrodiil making it very close to Skyrim. Not just that, by the unique landscape of Bruma being mostly on the Jerall Mountains, it gained the same atmosphere and looks of Skyrim more than Falkreath itself. Also, Bruma has a very large Nordic population.
"So, you are an Imperial, a Breton and, a Nord at the same time. That makes you the most human person I've ever seen." Tyr said with a loud laugh.
"… It sounds weird, but thanks. Shouldn't Nords like you be the proudest humans about being humans?" Glemet asked.
"Maybe your average Nord but a Firemane? Nah. We have Giants' blood."
"Well, that explains…" Glemet pointed out Tyr's height.
"I'm the shortest in the family."
"Shut up!"
"Giants' Blood, brother. Giants' Blood."
The road was peaceful for some time after bypassing the Dominion patrols and checkpoints until the two reached the Topal Bay. There were fishing villages scattered around that area as well as some rich people's estates that were abandoned during the war, one of which is Laaneth's house who preferred to stay at her home despite the occupation of the Dominion. As a respectful mage who has no connection to the Imperials, the Dominion didn't bother her that much and left her without crossing paths.
"We've made it. That's Laaneth's house…"
As the pair arrived, Tyr saw the house from a distance, he wanted to hurry and reach it but soon he stopped.
"… And it's crawling with cultists. Laaneth must be in trouble. Come on."
The two snuck under the cover of night and covered the ins and outs of the house counting over a dozen Cultists. These ones were similar to the cultists of Boethiah from the fort Glemet was held in.
"Look for any clues. The Sorceress must know more than what she spoke." A Senior Cultist commanded his subordinates and the house was being taken apart piece by piece.
"What should we do?" Glemet asked.
"They took here. We need to find out where." Tyr stood up unsheathing his sword.
From the looks of it, this number of cultists wouldn't even pose a threat to Tyr or Glemet, the two covered the house from two sides and started crippling every cultist they come across. In a matter of minutes, they got the Senior Cultist cornered.
Tyr had the man at sword's point intimidating him to speak everything he knows about Laaneth.
"Haha! You're too late! By now the sorceress is leagues from here." The cultist screamed.
Tyr was unamused by the cultist's attitude so he tortured him by beating the life out of him. What got to the man, however, was tying him up in a barrel with a large skeever. The man howled from pain and begged them to get him out as his body was being torn apart inside the barrel by the skeever and they got a location on Laaneth.
***
"The cultists kidnapped the sorceress Laaneth and had taken her north. They would use her to help them bring about a dreadful prophecy known as The Culling." (Kellen)
***
Bravil.
The cultists seemed to have taken her towards their temple in Bravil. It seemed like a suicide going into a very secured city under the control of the dominion with no much backup but seeing the lengths taken by the cult to know what Laaneth knows, it seemed the wisest thing to do is to interrupt the enemies plans at the moment.
And thus, Tyr and Galam headed to a nearby smugglers' dock that should be abandoned, if they could get a small ship, they could commandeer sailing it through the Topal Bal into the Niben River, Tyr after all was from a family of experienced sailors.
Once the two reached the docks, they found a small ship that seemed to be in good condition. It would take some time to prepare it for a long sail but once they are in the open water, it would be easy to navigate.
"We are straying too much." Glemet complained.
"I don't like it any more than you do. But we need a ship to chase the cultists and we don't have any coin. Besides, this ship belongs to smugglers, and I have it on good authority that…" Tyr was climbing the ship while checking it.
"Intruders!" An Argonian sailor shouted.
"... That they're not here tonight."
"... Seriously?" Glemet was fed up with Tyr's nonsense but the only thing that could be done was to draw swords and charge at the ship's crew.
"Stop them, stop those scoundrels. Use the special blades." The Argonian shouted.
In a matter of seconds, the situation turned noisy and all the sailors were being punched and kicked by the two warriors.
"These people are tough!"
"Careful! The poison on some of their blades looks deadly. Let's try to avoid them." Tyr pulled Glemet from harm's way.
As they faced the Argonian captain together. It was a hard fight especially against the skilled Argonian who utilized his tail to crash Tyr at the mast but soon Glemet managed to knock him down.
Once the Argonian was on the ground, he could do nothing other than surrender.
"Who sent you? You don't look like those Dominion Gu…" The Argonian asked but soon he heard a voice calling.
"Hey! What's going on up there?"
It was someone that seemed to have been drawn to the noises over the ship.
"Dominion Guards!"
"Shit! We're found." Tyr cursed.
Glemet checked the situation from far then pressed his blade against the Argonian Captain's throat.
"Sail the ship!"
"But."
"Now!"
Realizing that they had a common enemy, the smuggler, who was called Swims-at-Night, agreed to sail north in search of the sorceress.
Two days passed in the sea and a storm hit the Topal bay, it was hard to stabilize the ship but Swims-at Night was in a good mood.
"Hurry up, boys. Hold on to anything, these few waves will be rough. Hahaha!" Swims spoke in ecstasy.
"Is that Lizard on Skooma or something?" Glemet was having a hard time on the ship.
"You want some?" Swims offered skooma.
"Perfect."
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Swims." Tyr laughed it off.
"Ah, I love a good storm! Makes the seafaring life interesting!"
"How about Pirates?" Tyr turned around looking at the ship on their tail.
Swims and Glemet looked back with annoyed eyes.
"They're right bastards. Treat an honest smuggler like a common merchant! Sigh! There's no honor among scoundrels." Swims complained.
"What use would it be?" Glemet snorted.
"Of course it has a use. I stole this cargo fair and square. Let's just send these dishonorable thieves into the brine."
It was indeed a very chaotic fight. Many of the crew members of both sides started falling off the ships ones they crashed together side by side. Swims was busy sailing his ship while Tyr and Glemet took care of the defense.
The fight was as long as the storm and the two ended together costing Swims-at-Night a few good crew members and some cargo. Promising to repay the smuggler once they rescue Laaneth, Swims-at-Night agreed to help looking for the sorceress who is supposedly very rich as all mages are.
After entering the Niben River, the sailing was smooth and the ship wasn't interrupted by anyone after posing as a merchant ship coming from Black March but as they advanced further towards Bravel, they spotted the wreckage of a ship at the bank of the river near a forest. Tyr was certain that this is the ship that was taking Laaneth.
"There's no sign of Laaneth. You think the crash killed them all?" Tyr asked Swims whose crew extracted corpses of many cultists from the wreckage.
Swims sniffed the air and frowned.
"Maybe. Or maybe it was the locals."
The locals he mentioned were a pack of feral spriggans running towards them. These Spriggans seems to have been corrupted by Magic.
From a fight to another; Tyr and Glemet fought off the Spriggans until the walking trees were nothing other than a bunch of crisped wood. Naturally, they would suspect the Feral Spriggans were corrupted by the Cultists so they followed the tracks of the spriggans back to their grotto, there, they were received by a great Spriggan Matron.
Other than Tyr, everyone else was hyped for a fight but Tyr stopped his group and talked to the Spriggan in a tongue a few of the Firemanes learned.
He confirmed something from her.
"The Spriggan knows where Laaneth was taken." Tyr said.
"But?" Glemet asked.
"Spriggan Matrons are cunning and they may have an agenda." Tyr said.
"Those trees?" Swims didn't buy it.
"What do you guys think?"
***
"Nagh would have followed, but mother always said this one was too curious." (Nagh)
"Curiosity served the travelers well. Whatever its reasons, the creature led them straight to their quarry." (Kellen)
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