User:Reignfource/Lord of Exiles

Part One: In Her Time of Need 4th Era 201

It is sometimes difficult to find anything good in the few Daedric Princes that can be considered not inherently evil. However there is one Daedric Prince who is truly a good Daedric Prince. Most have never heard of this prince because long ago he was exiled by almost all of the Daedric Princes. This prince took to hiding and waiting in a plain of existence that only he and the daedra he ruled over lived in, building his power. He rules unopposed over a School of Magic known today as Chaos Magic as it use the power darkness and light. This Daedric Prince could have caused The Oblivion Crisis that ended the Third Era but this Prince remembered what being cast out and exiled by most of the Daedric Princes felt like. The loneliness, sadness, and the feeling of inferiority he experienced. He was not blind to the plight of many mortals, mortals who had so little and often went unnoticed when they needed help the most which often lead to their deaths. It was if they were exiled from society because nobody noticed or cared about these people. Seeing this did something to this Daedric Prince. It taught him empathy and compassion and because he had the power to do something, this Prince acted when possible where others wouldn't even bat an eye. His name is Mallufaax (Mail-lu-fax) and he is the Prince that stands up for the weak, putting his foot down and fighting against injustice and neglect. Most recently during The Oblivion Crisis, Mallufaax adorned his black armor and picked up his sword to fight against the Dremora Legions and protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

Not many of his exploits during the crisis are known, those he helped kept the event private. His exploits are also split up between the three appearances he used during the Oblivion Crisis which were that of a Redguard, Imperial, and Nord. Nobody knows that what these three supposedly different men did was all his doing and he simply changed appearance like people change clothes. Personally, Mallufaax likes it this way, he isn't in this for praise and frankly he doesn't enjoy it. Simple thanks and sometimes a payment are all he asks for in return for his help both before and after the Oblivion Crisis. Especially since most of those he helps have nothing to pay him with as it is. Most of his time is spent traveling the continent looking for those who need his help but don't know of him, assisting those who have learned of him and called him for help, and killing the minions of his enemies. If Mallufaax runs into random people who need to die such as bandits or other criminals, he'll happily dispose of them. It is the 20th of Last Seed, disguised as a Nord warrior as per normal when he is in Skyrim, Mallufaax is walking through White Run looking for someone. The guards and city residents don't pay him any mind. All they see is a man in normal clothes and a coat for if the rain from this morning returns. He passes two Alik'r warriors as a guard tells them that they are not welcome in the city and that he should arrest them but he won't this time.

It would seem that I arrived just in time, the Alik'r are here and seem to believe that my person of interest is here as well, Mallufaax thinks to himself as he walks. I hope that they haven't talked with anyone else, I don't need unnecessary interference because time is not something I have a lot of right now to pull this off. Knowing that he is looking for a Redguard woman, Mallufaax checks the Bannered Mare, guessing that will be a good place to start looking and to possibly find more hints. Inside the inn, Mallufaax looks around and spots a Redguard woman and carefully approaches her and asks, "apologizes mam, but you wouldn't know why the Alik'r are here in the city of White Run would you?"

She responds, "oh no, they're here? Listen, can we take this conversation somewhere that is a little more private?" Mallufaax gestures to the Redguard woman to lead the way and she leads him up to her bedroom where she pulls a dagger on him. He isn't surprised by this at all nor does he find her threatening. "So did you tell them where I am? If you think you can so much lay a hand on me, you're going to lose fingers!"

Mallufaax smiles and responds, "you can relax Iman because I'm on your side, I know you are innocent."

"You...you know who I am?" Iman asks in shocked surprise. "How do you know my name?"

"Let's just say that my eyes and ears caught on to your plight and told me about it and leave it at that. What is important is that we track down the Alik'r and make sure they leave Skyrim. The trick is finding their leader," Mallufaax explains. He asks her if she knows where they may be hiding out and Iman tells Mallufaax that she heard that an Alik'r warrior was arrested trying to sneak into the city. He would know. "You stayed in the city even though one of them is here?"

"I cannot just up and leave, besides I didn't know until now that there were more in the city," Iman responds in a scared hushed voice. "I suspected it was just the lone scout and that the other Alik'r wouldn't come looking for their captured scout since they are not welcome here in the city."

"I see what you were thinking. I'll talk to this Alik'r and then go from there, you just keep up this ruse you have going," Mallufaax states as his plan. "I'll make sure that nobody else tries to come after you Saadia," Mallufaax winks.

"What do you want in return for helping me," Iman asks. "I assume you want something in return for helping me else you wouldn't be here."

"You have nothing that I need or want Iman, even if you did, you need it more than me. I see no problem with doing work for the reward of doing something that is good." Thus Mallufaax leaves her bedroom and exits the inn but not through the front door. Outside the inn Mallufaax encounters one of his agents, his eyes and ears dubbed Watchdogs. When Mallufaax cannot help someone, it is the Watchdogs that step in to fill in for their Daedric Prince. This one is a young man. "You know what to do if anyone tries to tip off the Alik'r before I'm done. A couple hundred septims should keep their mouths shut." Mallufaax's agent nods yes and then Mallufaax makes for the Dragonsreach Dungeon to speak with this prisoner. After paying the fine of the Alik'r prisoner and getting the location of the leader of the Alik'r, Mallufaax leaves the dungeon and then the city of White Run. In his thoughts, Mallufaax considers what he knows and what he has to do, So Kematu is holding up in the cave known as Swindler's Den. That is some distance away and will take time to reach it if I go by foot. But I cannot just summon a horse this close to the city, the guards will be spooked and surely come to investigate. I'll have to put some distance between myself and the guards before I summon a horse and then start riding to Swindler's Den.

Nobody but his agent knows that Mallufaax is a Daedric Prince and the residents and guards of White Run would likely assume he was a conjurer of some sort but he isn't sure that the guards or locals will like this action. It may scare them into unnecessary action which will take up time that Mallufaax doesn't want to spend on them. He is forced to walk a considerable distance west of the city of White Run before he can summon his horse. Once saddled up, Mallufaax is able to cover a considerable distance allowing him to arrive at Swindler's Den an hour and a half after talking to Iman. He stands off from the entrance, out of sight of the lone guard standing watch beside the cave entrance. The sky above him is mostly clear, the clouds that are in view are small and not going to bring rain. The green grass around Mallufaax is glittering in the sunlight as it dries following the rain shower that covered the entire Hold this morning.

"If bandits are standing guard, chances are that they have been paid off to keep watch," Mallufaax says to himself while analyzing what he can see. "I'll likely have more bandits to contend with inside. Not to mention the Alik'r themselves are going to be on high alert and they are most certainly armed. It won't be easy getting through this task with minimal casualties," Mallufaax states while he uses his magic to change into his suit of black armor. With his left hand, Mallufaax prepares a spell that will shoot a bolt of light at his target, and then takes aim at the bandit standing watch. His magic, the School of Chaos Magic, is named after how its magic reflects the light of good and darkness of Evil and the chaotic turmoil that is trying to choose and maintain a side. Spells drawing on the light of good are known as Light Spells while those that draw on the darkness of evil are known as Dark Spells. "I guess then that there is no time like the present," and Mallufaax casts his spell at the lone guard. The bolt of white light that shoots from his left hand strikes the guard directly and kills them in a single blow. Once the guard is dead, Mallufaax rushes over to the cave entrance and then goes down into the cave known as Swindler's Den. Inside the cave, he can hear two bandits talking to each other. One mentions that they are not sure about the Alik'r, and the other says that it is okay because the longer they stay, the longer the bandits get paid.

To get past these two men, Mallufaax prepares the same spell he used on the guard outside but in both hands. Once he is ready and sure of his aim, Mallufaax steps into the first area of the cave and shoots two bolts of light before the two bandits can react. He kills both bandits in this single volley, and then moves on further into the cave as the bandits further inside react to the sound of their fellow bandits dying to Mallufaax's spells. As the Daedric Prince of Chaos Magic, Mallufaax is perfectly at home with using spells in combat and has a whole range of combat spells to pick from. He can use Darkness spells to take out groups at close to medium range or Light spells to engage single targets at short, medium, or long range. Room by room, he kills the bandits in Swindler's Den, slowly making his way deeper into the cave in search of the Alik'r. Mallufaax comes up to a pool of water and having no other place to go, he steps into it and presses on.

He says quietly, "I'll need to approach this carefully. There is a very good chance that this leads to the Alik'r and that they will be waiting to spring a trap on me." As he walks through several feet of water, Mallufaax hears a voice. Based on how this person gives an order for the Alik'r to stand down, he is sure it is Kematu as he walks through a waterfall. He comes to find that he is right, it was Kematu and Kematu allows Mallufaax to approach and talk to him.

"Kematu, through my intrigue into the matter, I have been lead to believe that you are after a woman by the name of Iman," Mallufaax says to break the ice.

Kematu responds "you are correct on that matter."

"Well then, we need to talk about something important to both of us," Mallufaax explains. "You won't like what I have to say, but the truth about Iman is that she is innocent. From this point on; the story of Iman is that anyone here is to tell to another soul is that she was captured by bandits and kept for a fortnight until she was killed while trying to escape."

"Oh really, and why should we believe this statement? Do you even know who she is?" Kematu asks. "She sold out Taneth, if not for her the city could've held its own during the Great War."

"I understand your anger but it is true and I can prove it. Exactly how Iman came to be seen as the one responsible is unclear to me, however this dossier proves her innocence but also exposes the traitor you seek. I've marked the pages you need to read to understand this," Mallufaax then hands over the dossier and lets Kematu and his men read over the marked pages.

When he believes that he has read enough of the dossier, Kematu asks with a stunned expression, "Where did you get this from? This is a genuine dossier from the Thalmor."

"I'm afraid that I cannot tell you that but it is as genuine as it gets," Mallufaax says as Kematu's men continue to read over the marked pages. "The Thalmor kept in touch with the real traitor and used your false accusation to hide her. The real traitor is not far from here. You give me your word on pain of death that all of you will leave Iman alone in regard to this matter, and I'll show you to your traitor." Kematu agrees to these terms after talking the subject over with his fellow Alik'r and they follow Mallufaax out of Swindler's Den and into the hills of The Reach. As the sky grows dim under overcast clouds with rain soon to be upon the group of warriors some time later, Mallufaax and the Alik'r are looking down at a mixed group of beings and just as Mallufaax said, the real woman who betrayed Taneth is here. She is the only Redguard present, and in the dossier it said that at this meeting she would be the only Redguard present. A welcome sign that makes them feel better about their decision. The only problem is that there are many armed Thalmor, and the Alik'r cannot be seen or it will threaten their peace with the Aldimeri Dominion.

Having read the dossier himself long before arriving in White Run, Mallufaax was aware of this and planned ahead for it. He knows that he needs to keep the Alik'r out of the picture, nobody must know that they are even in Skyrim let alone here trying to capture this traitor. Being in The Reach has it's advantages however because Mallufaax has goods to barter with.

Mallufaax looks around and Kematu asks, "what are you doing?"

"Looking for something important," Mallufaax says response. He spots what he is searching for and then mimics a bird call. "Just wait patiently Kematu, your traitor is just minutes away from your hands."

"Minutes?" Kematu asks.

"There is a complication to this that we need to work around. You cannot touch the scene in order to prevent a war between Hammerfell and the Dominion, and so we have to wait for the traitor to be brought to us," Mallufaax explains with a smile. "Trust me Kematu, this is not the first time that I've done something like this. I know how to stay hidden and how to keep people hidden." Without warning, the group of Thalmor and the traitor comes under attack by Forsworn and the Forsworn quickly capture the traitor and eliminate the Thalmor. It is the result of a simple deal that was helped along by a secret agent of Mallufaax within the Foresworn. "I'm sure that the Thalmor will blame the Foresworn for this but they have no authority to retaliate and now you will get that traitor."

"How did you get these savages to help you?" Kematu asks with an impressed smile. "I have heard that these Forsworn cannot be reasoned with."

"When you need something really badly, you will do whatever you must to get it, even if it means making a deal with someone that you don't want to," Mallufaax responds. "I offered them what they needed, medicine specifically, and they agreed to help me." The Forsworn bound, gag, and blind the Redguard Woman who betrayed her own before carrying her away from the scene and around the natural obstacles to Kematu and Mallufaax. At least that was how the plan was supposed to go. Half way to Kematu and Mallufaax, the Forsworn come under attack by a hidden Thalmor security force consisting of bandits they paid off to protect the area. The Forsworn are assets to Mallufaax in this case, he needs them alive so he stands up and looks up to the sky! He shouts out several words and the shouting is loud enough that it stops the fighting between the Forsworn and the bandits. Seconds later there is a roar in the distance in reply. Before the fighting can resume, several dragons arrive and they join the fight announcing that they are on the side of the Forsworn.

"What did you just do," Kematu asks in shock as his men freeze in fear? Mallufaax turns around to face Kematu. Behind the Daedric Prince, the dragons begin shooting their fire and frost breaths at the bandits and do take great care to not hit the Forsworn by mistake.

"Apologizes for the delay, but I think it is now that I should properly introduce myself," Mallufaax states in response. "My name is Mallufaax, Daedric Prince of Chaos Magic and the Daedric Prince of Exiles. Mind you the meaning of the word exiles is different from how you may normally us it." This spooks Kematu and his Alik'r but they don't overreact to this, a testament to their mental control. With a smile Mallufaax says, "as for what I have done, I summoned a few dragons to help the Forsworn. Now I wasn't aware that the Thalmor paid off bandits but I am no fool and know that having a backup plan is always a good idea. Admittedly now that I think about it, dragons vs bandits is a very unfair match up but better to have more than you need than less."

"Why are you telling us this?" Kematu asks.

Mallufaax smiles, "I figured that it wouldn't hurt for you to know my name at this point. Besides, what harm will cause? Nobody will believe you if you told them this story. They'd think your crazy and with that idea in mind you will likely never tell anyone the truth of how you found this traitor to preserve your image as a sane and capable person." Mallufaax chuckles, "a man convinces the Forsworn to help him capture a traitor then shouts in an ancient language and summons six dragons to protect the Forsworn. Kematu, you and your entire group of warriors know just how crazy that sounds to others and it is better for your own image to create a lie to explain what happened." Kematu and his Alki'r realize very quickly that Mallufaax is right, there is no way they can prove this and if they tried to tell this story they'd be seen as crazy. Once the paid off bandits are dealt with, the Forsworn resume the task of bringing the traitor to Kematu and the Alik'r. They hand her over and then Mallufaax gives them the location of a promised reward that he stashed in a dead drop. The three parties go their separate ways as the rain begins to fall and Mallufaax summons a cloak that will fit over his armor while he is out of sight of any mortal eyes.

As he travels east through The Reach to return to Saadia, Mallufaax comes across a strange sight. There is a wagon that has been destroyed by something powerful and sudden, Mallufaax just missed what happened. There are still some small fires burning and slowly dying under the rain. The people who were driving this wagon and their horses are lucky to be alive and Mallufaax can see that they need aid. Though the School of Magic he is most known for is the School of Chaos, Mallufaax knows Restoration Magic very well so he mends the wounds of the horses and their masters. They are currently unconscious but will be fine, so he turns his attention to something that is clearly the cause of this mess. There is a beautiful young woman lying face down in the wet grass that has been turned black by fire but it is not just any fire that did this.

There was an explosion here, centered around her, and based on the residual magic in the air, it had to be some sort of teleportation magic, Mallufaax thinks as he studies the scene. He can see that this young woman is conscious and she is audibly crying. He approaches her, taking his cloak off so he can cover her naked body. She notices his presence, turns her head to the left, and looks Mallufaax dead in the eye, in her eyes Mallufaax can see what has happened to her and gets a pretty good idea as to what happened to cause the scene around him.

"Don't worry, you're okay, I'm going to help you," Mallufaax says to the young lady as he helps her stand up. In his thoughts Mallufaax says, If you think that I'm going to let you get away with this without paying for it Molag Bal, oh you have a real blindsiding hit coming your way! Mallufaax takes the young woman to a place where she can hide and wait. He calls upon the daedra that serve him for help so he can acquire fresh clothes for this young woman. The daedra arrives in haste, bringing something for this young woman to wear as well as a coat for her. After the young woman gets dressed, Mallufaax asks her if she is okay, "can you remember anything, like your name?" The young woman is slow at first to respond but she does eventually tell Mallufaax her name. She is Zella Greyvail (Zel-la Grey-vail), a Nord entertainer who would perform dances of all levels of skill and from varying cultures for a paying audience. "Ah, I've heard of you, but why would Molag Bal want anything to do with you?"

"I spoke out in support of the Vigil of Stendarr, stating that the daedra are nothing but monsters with no place in this world. I guess Molag Bal wasn't happy about that," Zella starts to cry. "So he kidnapped me and tortured me in what must have been the most painful ways he could think of. Please, don't make me tell you what he did to me. I cannot stand to think of those memories yet if I ever one day can," Zella pleads with Mallufaax who places his left hand on her right shoulder.

"I know what he did, I've seen him do it before," Mallufaax responds knowing what happened as if he was there himself. "You don't need to tell me about this but you must not let those memories hold you back. That will cause much more pain than letting them out will." Once Zella has calmed down and is ready to travel, the two leave their hiding place and Mallufaax passes her off to his daedra to look after her. He returns to White Run on the twenty second of Last Seed and there Mallufaax informs Saadia that that her identity is safe and the Alik'r won't be a problem for her any more. In the year 206, Mallufaax would stand in the background of a crowd and watch as Saadia walks away with her husband from their wedding after being married by a Vigilant of Stendarr. In the meantime, Mallufaax has plenty more people to help and first and foremost is Zella who has been presumed dead for over a month now and has nowhere to go. Since he isn't an expert in treating mental trauma Mallufaax has done all he can, hand her off to draedra who are. Sitting before the fire of the Bannered Mare and waiting for his meal, Mallufaax looks up from the fire and at the bard singing and behind the bard stands someone leaning against the wall. Mallufaax turns his gaze back to the fire and rubs his eyes while saying in his thoughts, "if I could rip you from my soul and throw you into this fire to destroy you, I would and be done with this. If only this problem was so simple."

"Here is the meal you ordered sir," Saadia says to Mallufaax as she sets down the meal he ordered. She leans to him and whispers, "thanks again for helping me with the Alik'r. Now I don't have to worry about them and the Thalmor have no idea that I'm even alive so they won't be a problem for a long time if ever."

"Thank you for bringing it so quickly," Mallufaax says to Saadia and she leaves him to continue delivering meals to the inn patrons. In his thoughts Mallufaax says about Saadia Thankfully I don't have to worry about you causing me problems and being quiet unlike a certain someone! The person that Mallufaax saw isn't actually here as a patron of the inn. But he is here through Mallufaax, the Daedric Prince of Exiles would love nothing more than to be rid of this dark and evil being. The hardest part of the work that Mallufaax does is dealing with this person when they show up. The rest of what he does whether that is fighting criminals, stealing money from the rich to give to the poor, or solving problems is nothing compared to this. Nor is any of his work as hindering to his goal of helping someone as dealing with this person is.

Part Two: The Not So Lusty Argonian Maid 4th Era 201

One of the many things that Mallufaax knows he has to do to get Zella back to full health is treat the mental trauma she suffered at the hands of Molag Bal. Though treatments via Restoration Magic are finally mature enough for use on the general public, Mallufaax is not taking any chances by relying on this alone. He has her placed under the care of trusted healers with experience in treating severe cases of mental trauma. His daedric minions take her to a location in Falkreath Hold where she can stay for now and the process of healing can begin in earnest. Though Mallufaax has his Pratorean Guards establish a perimeter around the area. Both for Zella's safety and the couple who once again lend him their guest home to help. He will return for Zella after she recieves treatment, right now Mallufaax is needed in The Rift, specifically in the city of Riften. He'll deal with Molag Bal, at this moment he needs to tend to another matter first. Mallufaax has been in Riften many times in the last few years. Dark elf refuges regularly need his assistance in the city and around it. Mallufaax arrives at the north gate wearing fine clothes and a fine cloak to hide as a wealthy Nord, the guards are easily convinced to let him through without paying the tax. They were foolish to think that he wouldn't see through their attempts to take money from him. Inside the city Mallufaax finds no shortage of problems he can spend his time on sorting out.

Looking around, he thinks to himself,Riften is as ever a terrible city to live in. It would take a great infusion of money and a cleansing of the corruption in Jarl Laila Love-Giver's court to get this city back on its' feet. However that is going to happen some other day, and I doubt that I'll be the one to do it with my availability though I'm still liable to set everything into motion so that is something. Now where does a Daedric Prince find an Argonian Maid in the place, Mallufaax asks himself as he approaches the market? It is rare that someone actually summons Mallufaax, out of a hundred people that he helps five actually summon him. The rest are either found by Mallufaax as he travels the world or are found by the Watchdogs. The fact that this Argonian maid summoned him has Mallufaax worried about what he will encounter, those that summon him often have the worst problems for him to deal with. Hopefully I won't need to use my magic from the School of Destruction, but it will do if I need to fight and keep my identity hidden. As he scans the market while a crowd gathers, Mallufaax notices a thief either pick-pocketing or planting something on a Dark Elf.

Mallufaax reports his sightings to a guard, expecting that they will help this elf but instead they arrest him. Though he makes mistakes, Mallufaax knows that he told the guard that this Dark Elf was a victim not a thief! Not willing to let his actions convict an innocent person, Mallufaax comes forward and speaks directly to the Jarl about this situation and she clears it up. The Dark Elf is named Brand-She and Mallufaax will later recruit him as an agent to keep an eye on Riften where his eyes and ears are very limited. As part of the deal between them, Mallufaax will often give things to Brand-She to sell such as Bonemold Armor, Chiten Armor, and various trinkets. He has no use for them and it gives Brand-She unique things to sell and make money off of. After dealing with the situation with Brand-She and his false arrest, Mallufaax gets back to work and finds an Argonian jewelry dealer named Madesi.

When asked about an Argonian maid, Madesi responds, "there is only one Argonian in the city that is a maid. Her name is Mijeeta (My-Jee-ta), she is hired by the wealthier people in this city to clean their homes. Can't say I know why but the word around the city is she cleans a house better than anyone else. I don't know where you can find her right now but if you look around, I'm sure that someone will be able to tell you." With this information in hand, Mallufaax continues to search for the Argonian that summoned him. After asking some of the patrolling guards and being directed to damp and unpleseant homes for the poor along the canal, Mallufaax manages to run down Mijeeta as she is returning to the city from work outside Riften. Mallufaax introduces himself, faking that he is responding to her application for a job to clean his home and she pulls him aside into a secluded alley.

Mijeeta is breathless at the fact that Mallufaax has come to help her and so quickly, "please great Lord of Exiles, I need to get out of this city before it destroys me. If I'm caught, I'm surely doomed to be executed so they can hide their actions! Provided that I can mentally withstand what I do much longer."

"Slow down Mijeeta," Mallufaax says as he uses his magic to make the two of them invisible and hide their voices from anyone who may try to spy on their conversation. "This will keep our conversation private. Now tell me, what exactly are you trying to run from? I can help but first I need to know what kind of problem I am dealing with. Thus I can apply the appropriate solution."

"Have you ever heard of the book The Lusty Argonian Maid?" Mijeeta asks Mallufaax.

"Yes but I haven't read it," Mallufaax responds to Mijeeta, "I doubt that matters because the title alone gives me a pretty good idea what is going on. It's nothing new to me, I encounter the mature issues on a very regular basis and I'm bothered by very few things."

Mijeeta lets out a very depressed sigh, disappointed with herself, "I've had to be that maid in order to get by. Most of my work is cleaning houses but not all of it. My best client is cheating on his wife with me while she is away. He hires me to clean his house and most of that time is spent in his chambers either "polishing his spear", "kneading" and "baking" his "loaf", or other things of that nature." Mijeeta's cheeks turn red with guilty embarrassment. "I'm not stupid, I know his wife will find out sooner or later if she hasn't already. This needs to end for my safety and I need to leave the city. There are clients I genuinely like and who like me, so I don't mind servicing them but they are a few, the ones I'm scared of are many and powerful. Tell my what the price for your aid is. I don't care about selling my soul, at this point if I can get out of Riften alive and live a decent life where I don't have to sell my body it is worth it. I cannot imagine being soulless or having to end up in your plain of Oblivion when I die is that bad by comparison to others."

Mallufaax smiles because Mijeeta may not have anything to give him but she can give something to someone he knows, "There's an Argonian who runs a vacation estate a good distance to the west of Riften, just within the borders of The Rift. He needs full-time maids and keeps them housed on the property in fine apartments. Importantly, he is a friend of mine," by saying this Mallufaax has Mijeeta's full attention. She again asks him to name his price. However Mallufaax says, "since you have experience doing what he needs done, I think he'll hire you very quickly after I talk to him. Also, just because you mentioned it and I feel like this needs to be said, I don't take souls. If you want your spirit home to be my realm of Oblivion, you're welcome to it. However I don't take souls. They don't do me any good and you're more valuable to me in a different way."

"What do you want in return then?" Mijeeta asks while certain that Mallufaax wants something in return like all other Daedric Princes who can offer her a deal for help. Indeed Mallufaax does want something, but not what Mijeeta expects.

"Take care of my friend for me, he has a long history of bad luck with family," Mallufaax says to Mijeeta. "His name is Zerira (Ze-ri-ra), when he was five, he nearly lost his sister in the house fire that killed his little brother. He had a love interest but she tried to rob him and nearly ruined his life. I know that you may not be interested in having a close relationship but he really wants someone to spend his life with. He could use a woman like you to get past the rough times he's had to deal with in life. He doesn't treat people badly because of his experiences, instead Zerira does what he can to help people in bad situations like you. He won't lay a hand on you to harm you." Mijeeta agrees to this request with no hesitation, Mallufaax would have prefered that she thought about it, but can understand why she didn't. If Zerira will employ her, Mijeeta states that she'll start working for him as soon as possible. There is only one problem. As of late the road west is troubled by bandits. It isn't safe to travel without escort and Rift Guards are spread to their limit right now, no thanks to dragons and a sudden spike in werewolf activity. Mijeeta knows her way around using paired daggers since they are the best weapons for concealing but armor isn't cheap nor is it helpful since she is a maid, not a warrior.

Mallufaax has a solution to this problem but he needs some information from Mijeeta, "I wish that I didn't have to ask this but I need to know what size clothing you wear. Zerira's maids wear a specific outfit that helps with their work and the only tailor who can make it quickly is very picky about having information," Mijeeta quickly tells Mallufaax what size clothing she wears and then the two part ways. She doesn't care that Mallufaax wants to know what she's wearing since it sounds like he needs it. As he leaves the docks around the canal, Mallufaax comes across one the two agents he has in Riften. The agent tips him off that there is more going on with Mijeeta than she knows and it is imperative she leaves Riften before nightfall. Without evidence, the agent can only give his suspicions which is that the top client of Mijeeta and his wife are secretly followers of Sanguine and are going to try and abduct her for unknown purposes. No mater what the intention is, Sanguine is apparently planning something bad for Mijeeta. Her situation is already bad enough because if she is found out at best she will be insulted and called The Lusty Argonian Maid even though she isn't lusty at all and is simply doing what she can to get by. If this is true then I can only guess what the worst case scenario is. With this new piece of information, Mallufaax decides to have his agents in the city keep watch on Mijeeta. "Stay close to her and keep an eye out for trouble and if anything does happen you know what to do. Try to use bribery but if that doesn't work, you two have permission to get your hands dirty."

"Yes sir, we'll handle this 'privately'," and with this the agent leaves and finds his fellow agent and then they watch over Mijeeta while Mallufaax goes to work on a new outfit for Mijeeta. As soon as Mallufaax is out of sight, he suits up in his black armor and equips his sword before setting out to see Zerira. Both of these pieces of equipment are Daedric Artifacts of Mallufaax. Mallufaax's suit of ebony armor is named Moon Light's Armor and is lighter than normal ebony armor (40lbs total) but is just as strong as dragonplate armor. It provides the wearer with magic resistance (25 percent) and increases stamina and magicka regeneration speed (60 percent each). The sword Mallufaax carries with him is named Skyborne, it packs a punch to say the least. Not only does it have the cutting edge of a dragonbone sword but the weight of an Orcish sword, its enchantment includes curse damage (32), night damage (32), and the enchantment vestige trap. Mallufaax is no stranger to producing great Daedric artifacts and powerful ones as well so his idea for protecting Mijeeta is well within his ability from an enchantment standpoint. After speaking with Zerira, who is happy to employ Mijeeta, Mallufaax has to return to his realm to talk to a tailor in order to get the outfit Mijeeta will need. His realm, known as the Dream Isles, is a plane of Oblivion that creates an alternate form of Nirn with multiple land masses surrounded by smaller islse and islands. Each one is tailored to create an ideal home to one specific race though no main land mass is exclusive to one race. Though it is not a work free paradise, it is a land of good lives and happiness most often visited by mages seeking to learn Mallufaax's Schools of Magic.

"A maid's dress, specifically for Zerira's business," the tailor says to Mallufaax. "I see then, thank you for bringing me the information I like to have when I make something. This way I know exactly what I'm doing, almost as if I'm putting the dress on this Argonian as I make it. I'll get to work and let you know when I'm done with the dress." It is not easy to make this maid's dress on this deadline but because the tailor has years of experience and what size clothes Mijeeta wears to guide her, she has it done and ready for Mijeeta by half past four in the afternoon. Once the dress is ready, Mallufaax and his tailor bring Mijeeta her new dress and to tell Mijeeta that the job of a full-time maid is hers if she wants it. In private, beneath the streets of Riften, Mijeeta tries on the new dress with the tailor who helps her get settled into it. "Well we're at the moment of truth, how does it feel?" Mijeeta moves around a bit in the confines of the private space she is using to try on her new dress to see how it feels.

"I don't know how you did it but this outfit is everything I could have wanted and more," Mijeeta says to the tailor about her work. Zerira gave a similar statement when he hired this tailor to design the dress. "After what I've done to get by, I'm glad that my whole torso is covered. I also love how the skirt goes down past my knees for that reason as well. The sleeves aren't heavy on my arms, but don't feel too thin, and they come down to my wrists. Perhaps it is just a phase but right now I don't want to show any skin that I don't have to, which this dress does nicely. I like these white thigh high socks that extend up past the edge of the skirt, they feel nice to wear and help keep my legs covered." The tailor asks why she wants to cover her legs, Mijeeta states with some embarrasment, "many of my clients thought my legs were my best feature. Back to your fine work, the built in bra in a nice touch as well and is very comfortable. Though I'm just happy to have one that is not so old and worn that it isn't worth using yet is also my only option."

Unfortunately Mallufaax is still able to hear a bit of what the two women say while standing watch and he thinks, damn it why did she have to say that last sentence and remind me of that. Well, it is probably better than being one of the healers I have taking care of Zella. They must have their work cut out for them. Concurrently, Zella is meditating among Falkreath's trees like she does to relax before and after performances but with the addition of mental trauma healing Restoration Magic. Zella is used to high stakes environments and handling stress, which has been proven to make this kind of Restoration Magic work faster. However she is not fully recovered and worse is that her healers have their hands full with Zella's quickly emerging powers that she needs to learn how to use. At the moment as they keep an eye on the meditating dancer, they are waiting for additional professional help to arrive that can better handle this matter. Not a single person knows how Zella's time in captivity has affected her or what we'll see happen to her as time goes on.

"I'm glad that you like it," the tailor responds to Mijeeta. "I like to make my products quick and easy to put on and to make one piece of clothing do the work of two in the case of your dress. When Zirira asked me to design a dress, I took into account you may need to get dressed in a very unfavorable situation such as you're waking up in the middle of the night and have to get dressed quickly from very little. Thus I designed it to do the work of two pieces of clothing to cut down the time it takes to get dressed. Once you tighten the dress on each side to your liking, you can slip on the shoes that go with your dress and be ready to work. I will make a few more full outfits for you as Zerira requested. I'm sure that Mallufaax will enchant those dresses too. However you should be on your way out of this city before it is too late." The tailor helps Mijeeta pack up what few belongings she has and then takes her leave as Mallufaax escorts Mijeeta out of Riften to her new job.

Along the way the the sun sets in the west, turning the sky orange where there is sunlight and purple where there is progressively less sunlight. Mallufaax and Mijeeta get most of the way to Zerira's vacation estate without having the slightest sense of being in danger. However as they reach the final stretch between them and their destination, Mallufaax grows worried about the silence. His agent could have been wrong but that is not something that happens very often especially for an experienced agent such as the one that warned him. His sense of worry is then proved right when an arrow shoots past him and embeds in a tree! Mallufaax draws his sword and Mijeeta pulls out her two daggers from their sheathes as a number of men come from the trees and they aren't bandits.

The leader of the men speaks, "well aren't you a tricky and slippery little lizard to find. Come with us peacefully Mijeeta and tell your friend to stand down and we won't have to get rough. Nobody wants a bruised bed partner, especially one with such talent. We can all walk away profiting from this encounter, Lord Sanguine has another fine beauty working for him, you will never have to worry about anything again, and your friend can earn a large sum of money."

"I see that Sanguine is involved in this," Mallufaax says aloud to himself. "There doesn't need to be violence and a situation you'll regret gentlemen. You can all walk away right now and we all come away from this happy. Mijeeta doesn't want to continue this life she leads, she wants to change to something better and I'm going to see that through. If you die in the process because you got in the way, so be it."

"Who the hell do you think you are," the leader of these men says to Mallufaax? "We outnumber you five to one and there can be more of us here in an instant. I'd like to see the two of you land a single hit on us before we kick your asses let alone threaten our lives."

"Who said we were only two," Mallufaax asks the leader of these ten men and eight Daedric Knights arrive via teleportation beside Mallufaax and Mijeeta ready for a fight. He made sure that a number of the daedra that serve him were ready to teleport to him in case of trouble. All he needed to do was signal them with a simple and discrete spell cast with his mind. "This is your last chance you disgusting pig of a man, leave and walk away happy that your alive or stay and die!"

"I see that you need to be persuaded with force to leave, so be it," the leader of the ten men says and they draw their weapons triggering a fight. More men appear from the trees strangely, perhaps they were there all along or Sanguine made them appear here. It matters not because men in leather armor equipped with steel weapons are not going to match up to Mallufaax, Mijeeta, and Mallufaaxs' soldiers. Mallufaax's sword, a simple double-edged sword, quickly dispatches the leader of the original group and traps his soul. The Daedric Prince then kills another man with a powerful Darkness spell. Though Mallufaax has more than enough magical firepower to fight with nothing but magic, Darkness spells which are meant for multiple targets can hurt those around him. So he has to rely on his sword as his main weapon in this fight. Little needs to be said about Mallufaax's soldiers. They make quick work of the men that have come for Mijeeta and the soldiers that use magic are able to trap the souls of their foes. Mijeeta hangs back from the worst of the fighting at first but when she is in the middle of running her blades through a man she realizes just how serious Mallufaax was about keeping her safe. The dress he had made for her was enchanted and he told her it would keep her safe but he didn't fully elaborate on it. The enchantment on the dress Mijeeta wears, as long as she isn't wearing actual armor which isn't a problem for her, protects her from the weapons of her enemies (300 hundred armor). It also provides Mijeeta with increased stamina (60) and stamina regeneration (62 percent).

A man swings a steel sword at her butt in an effort to cripple her but the sword snaps when it hits the dress since it was poorly made but even if it wasn't the sword wouldn't have scratched Mijeeta. With her twin daggers Mijeeta starts slicing and dicing this man while Mallufaax uses a power called Swallowing Darkness. This power traps and paralyzes a target with litteral darknes, covering and immoblizing the body as Mallufaax raises his hand as if to raise a cage around this target. Then several second later, he closes his hand into a fist and inflicts Dark Damage on this paralyzed target (300 Dark damage) and kills this threat. Swallowing Darkness is empowered by the Dark School perk Pure Darkness which grants a 25 and then 50 percent damage boost (450 Dark Damage). Though this power is better for one on one fights than a group, Swallowing Darkness can be used to eliminate key members of the group. Several more Daedric Knights teleport to the scene to help with the numbers situation and to serve as extra protection for Mijeeta. After freeing his sword from a man that he ran through, Mallufaax slashes at an opponent and though his sword is deflected and only scratches his opponent's arm the effect of the Curse Damage still triggers (Half of the damage done is applied as any random stat debuff that can be done with alchemy for ten seconds). It weakens his opponent and with another strike that gets deflected the man is even weaker (applies another affect, max 3) which makes the third blow easy to land on this man and it is the one that will kill him. The more men that Mallufaax and his soldiers slay, the safer Mijeeta and others who may become targets of Sanguines' followers become. A thought that Mallufaax enjoys greatly.

When the combined kill count of the Daedra and Mijeeta surpasses thirty the men that have come for her stop appearing from the trees. The ones that are already here are eventually killed off for the wolves to clean up. The Daedric Knights stay to provide extra security until they see Mijeeta to the vaccion estate of Zerira. Mallufaax introduces the two Argonians and they quickly come to like each other. Zerira has Mallufaax stay for the night as a gift for bringing him a much needed experienced maid. His young and largely inexperienced maids need an experienced leader. The next day, Mallufaax wakes up and leaves to speak with a smith that he knows produces top quality weapons after receiving word that Zella wishes to join his cause. He arrives at a nice home and finds this smith at his forge. The smith's name is Rovgrad (Rov-grod) and Mallufaax has a request for him.

"Good to see you again Rovgrad, I need some new weapons forged a friend of mine, I'm imagining weapons that are good for fast movements and slashing attacks," Mallufaax says to Rovgrad. "However it would be a good idea to have a sharp point as well for thrusting just in case. I'm thinking something made of glass hence why I came to you."

"Well you're out of luck because I don't have the materials to make glass weapons right now Mallufaax but I have something else that could be worth looking at," Rovgrad says to the Daedric Prince. He steps away to retrieve a material he has been saving for something special like this. Rovgrad returns and shows the Daedric Prince a different material that. "Rovgrad what kind of mad science have you been up to?" In his hands, Mallufaax holds an ingot that is a color between a light shade of grey and silver. It is about the weight of malachite but there is some sort of magical property to this material. "I've never encountered a material like this?"

"I'm not sure what to call it yet but it is a natural material that I've invented," Rovgrad says to Mallufaax who hands Rovgrad the ingot. "While inside a Falmer cave I found the bones of a person they fed to their Chaurus pets. I took some of those bones, cleaned them thoroughly, and turned them into bone meal which I combined with glow dust and this is what I've gotten out of the concoction."

"Does this material hold up to any testing you've done with ," Mallufaax asks Rovgrad? To answer this question, Rovgrad tells Mallufaax about a small and quick test he did after forging a dagger out of this material. He found out that the dagger made from this natural material beats a Nordic dagger in handling stress. It matches a Nordic dagger in weight however its cutting power strangely varies from user to user. "So it is a naturally sourced quick silver that is slightly better at handling stress but for some reason its cutting power varies despite a masterfully made cutting edge. Okay then, the one thing that I'm wondering about is why this material has some sort of magical property or properties to it."

"I suspect it has something to do with the glow dust, I had the dagger taken to an enchanter to see how it reacts to being enchanted," Rovgrad says to Mallufaax as a means to explain the magic property of this material. "This property doesn't have any effect on enchantments like Stalhrim does on Frost Enchantments however a second look may reveal something," Rovgrad fetches the dagger for Mallufaax and then hands it to the Daedric Prince. Holding it, Mallufaax and Rovgrad try it for themselvse and they realize why the cutting power varies. In the hands of someone with a large pool of magicka, the dagger's ability to cut gets better. The physical cutting power of the dagger matches that of nordic daggers but it gains magic damage based on the wielder's magicka pool. After testing the dagger, Rovgrad concludes, "weapons of this material can be handy for a warrior with a substantial pool of magicka or mages." With the appropriate magicka pool size this weapon would be deadly in the right hands and Zella has just those hands.

"Well now this is quite the interesting little material you have here Rovgrad," Mallufaax says to the smith. "It seems that in the right hands it does a great deal of damage. I want you to make the following pieces of gear out of this material. I'll need a sword, paired dagger, and a gauntlet with armored fingers capable of being used as claws. All of it geared towards being lightweight and for fast movements. Do you think you can pull an order like this off?"

"Given time to work on that gauntlet, yes I can," Rovgrad says to Mallufaax. "Perhaps something with the fingers styled like that of a daedric gauntlet would do. I already know this order cannot be for you," Rovgrad says refering to the grey sword Mallufaax carries with him on his belt. "Who is this for?"

"A new prospect of mine who, after being wronged by Molag Bal, has recently decided to fight back against him and other Daedra alongside me and my soldiers," Mallufaax responds to Rovgrad while keeping Zella's identity a secret. He informs Rovgrad of the style of fighting she uses and Rovgrad starts work on the requested weapons. He won't have them ready for a time but Mallufaax can have them picked up by a Watchdog. Mallufaax pays him in advance and then leaves, as the sun sets Mallufaax goes to Riften and personally spies on the top client of Mijeeta to see if he is a follower of Sanguine. As he watches the client talk with his wife, Mallufaax stays silent and listens to their conversation. As suspected by his agent, the couple are followers of Sanguine and they live their luxurious life with the money they make from selling people for reasons they don't state.

This money goes unnoticed since they own a pepper plantation which makes them rich. Once they go to bed for the night and fall asleep, Mallufaax quietly breaks into the couple's house and starts searching for names of the couple's associates. This couple is too high profile for Mallufaax to eliminate so he will eliminate their associates. The records they secretly keep reveal the names and locations of their associates and with this information, Mallufaax can send his Watchdogs to hunt down these associates. The records also reveal that the husband was not cheating on his wife but rather testing Mijeeta to see how good she was at her 'job'. One of their associates resides near Markarth and this gives Mallufaax an idea so he will be the one to take care of this associate. There is a shrine to Molag Bal in the city so perhaps by monitoring this shrine Mallufaax can find and eliminate some of the Daedric Prince of Dominations' followers. Or perhaps another method of getting justice for Zella will reveal itself, either way Mallufaaxs' interest has been peaked and he makes for Markarth.

Part Three: House of Malice 4th Era 184

Looking out over The Reach, from a high point, a lone and beautiful Forsworn woman sits on the grass faced with a difficult choice between two fates and neither of them are good. The Forsworn need fighters and she isn't a fighter, this woman is a hunter and forager with a knack for crafting items who was chased out of Markarth by Nords. The Forsworn who took her in, as she is of pure native decent, want to make her into a fighter and gave her options to choose from. They don't need a hunter as much as they need fighters because with fighters they can raid for their food and supplies. Her options are to become a Briarheart or learn to fight with melee weapons or magic. She isn't sure why her skills with a bow aren't enough for the Forsworn but it doesn't matter right now. The Forsworn woman has little desire for either option but there isn't a third option that she knows yet. After taking in the view in order to calm her mind, the Forsworn Woman decides that she has spent enough time looking out over the land and stands up to go hunt. As she walks towards the way down from the high point, she hears a voice.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name," Mallufaax asks the Forsworn woman from behind her. She spins around, shocked that he snuck up on her but it was because Mallufaax used several spells to approach her and remain undetected. The woman is slow to respond at first and asks why the Daedric Prince wants to know her name. "I figured I'd break the ice in a civilized fashion before going into the reason why I'm here."

"I'm...Madena (Ma-den-a)," she says timidly. "Now that you know my name, I would like to know yours."

Mallufaax smiles responds, "I am Mallufaax and now that we have introductions out of the way, let's get down to business. You need to become the kind of fighter that the Forsworn want but you don't have any training with melee weapons or the magical talent. However your options to deal with these problems so far are not ones you are going to like."

"Are you saying," Madena pauses as she is surprised by the fact that Mallufaax is helping her, "that you have another option that I don't know about?"

"I am," Mallufaax responds with a smile to Madena. "There is in fact a way to become a Briarheart without becoming a Briarheart." Following this sentence, Madena looks at Mallufaax and is visibly confused by his statement. He follows up with, "if you are interested in my offer, just follow me. I know what I said is confusing, and I don't think that we have time for me to explain, but it will make sense in the end if you choose to accept my offer."

"What do you want in return? You surely would not take the risk of being seen with me if you didn't want something," Madena guesses right that Mallufaax wants something, but not what she expects. Mallufaax responds that he wants her to distance herself from the main groups of Forsworn by becoming a Forsworn Ranger. It will fit her talents as a huntress, keep her safe from the worst of the fighting that he expects to come, and allow Mallufaax to contact her discreetly. He suspects he will have to act against the Forsworn in the future and Mallufaax doesn't want Madena being used against him as a hostage. "That is not what I expected, but well within my abilities to give. I will follow you if you can answer one question, will this option put my life at risk like becoming a Forsworn Briarheart will?"

"Not at all Madena, not at all," Mallufaax responds and with this the two get underway. Mallufaax leads Madena from her high point here to another part of the Reach where they find a wooden house. This house is in the Jerall Moutains and has quite the view of the surrounding land. Waiting outside the front door when the two of them arrive is a woman, "okay Madena, this is where I pass you off to that woman standing before the house. Rest assured that you are safe with my friend over there, she will complete the deal we have." Madena nods and walks away from him and towards the woman. They talk for several minutes before the woman takes Madena into a tent she has set up over a section of house as a temporary roof. For her health and safety, Madena has to bathe but it is the first chance she has had to bathe in a while so she doesn't complain. Following this, Madena dresses to the instructions this woman gives her. After this is done, the woman lays Madena down with her back against a table. In the interest of safety the woman straps Madena down to the table. The stiller Madena is for what comes next, the better. The woman places a spell on Madena to reduce pain and then takes a special knife and begins the procedure! Cutting an opening below her ribcage so she can get acess to Madena's heart.

Despite her fears, Madena is almost pain free as this woman cuts her open with great care and precision. She knows where to cut and how deep so she doesn't damage anything she doesn't intend to. The lack of pain eases Madena's mind but she still is terrified of the idea that someone is intentionally cutting her open! The woman reaches inside Madena to place a carefully prepared briar heart around Madena's beating heart! Madena tries to stay calm as she feels the inside of the briar heart get carefully placed over her beating heart, but has limited success. Sweat starts to run down her armpits and the side of her forehead with each passing second that seems to have lengthened. After carefully fusing the briar heart to Madena's heart with magic, the woman seals the wound she made using powerful Restoration magic that will leave Madena scar free. After the wound is sealed, the woman unties Madena but has her lay still and wait to ensure everything is okay and so Madena can relax. After this woman is sure that all is well, the deal is done. Madena gains increased physical strength along with a powerful link to the natural world which grants her magic and an understanding of said magic. Importantly for Madena, she can still achiever her long time dream of becoming a mother. After saying thanks and goodbye for now to the woman and Mallufaax, Madena returns to the group of Forsworn that has taken her in later that day. Though they are suspicious at first about what happened to her, they decide to accept a mutually good event and not question it. Madena becomes a Forsworn Ranger shortly afterwards and now has a way to fight if her enemies get too close. As a Watchdog, Madena finds keeping an eye on the Thalmor in The Reach to be an easy task for her to do thanks to her knowledge of the land and hunting skills. The occasional elimination of a Thalmor agent and the disposing of their body is just about as easy. Shortly after being officially welcomed into the Forsworn and being declared one of their rangers, Madena falls in love with a fine man among the Forsworn.

In the following year, 185, in the now completed wing of the house where she received the briar heart, Madena brings five healthy daughters into the world. Her love didn't live to see this day, but he would be happy nonetheless. The teary eyes and smile on Madena's face upon seeing all five of their daughters beside her would make him feel weightless with positive energy. Covered by a sheet, Madena looks to her left at her quintuplet daughters which have been swaddled with care and placed in small cribs that are within Madena's reach. Now able to relax, the new mother begins picking names for her children. Her dream is realized and it is because Mallufaax helped her. The woman who lives here and delivered the babies leaves to give the new mother some time alone with her children and walks out to speak with Mallufaax who fiercely defended the house. Corpses of Molag Bal worshipers litter the area around him. Some were slain with Chaos Magic while others lie on the ground in pieces, cut up by his sword.

The woman asks Mallufaax, "Are you feeling alright Lord of Exiles? You don't seem like your normal post-fight self"

Mallufaax responds after leaving a breath, "I will be okay. I just need to stand still and breath for a minute or two." The woman says to Mallufaax that he should be happy because he protected Madena and her from bandits by himself. "I am happy for both of you, isn't that enough?" She responds that this is fine but Mallufaax should also be happy with himself. "I wish that I could be happy like that my friend but I simply cannot after that day. It is too dangerous for me to get close to anyone and I hate this fact more than you can possibly imagine." This statement is something that Mallufaax believes wholly to the present day. It is the seventh of Rain's Hand, 201, and Mallufaax is once again in The Reach, following not a follower of Molag Bal but something better. He has found the Mace of Molag Bal and it is being carried by a Nord he can easily trade with to get his hands on it! The only inconvenience is that this Nord, the supposed Dragonborn who goes by the name of Ralgrif (Rall-griff), is tearing into Forsworn under orders from Ulfric Stormcloak. It is part of a plan to win support for the Stormcloak Rebellion, Mallufaax doesn't approve of most Forsworn for the same reasons he despises Ulfric and Ralgrif. They use violence to achieve their goals and are filled with racist hate. Neither side plays by appropriate rules or at least not enough in the case of the Stormcloaks.

I hate having to deal with people like this, Mallufaax thinks while approaching Ralgrif after Ralgrif dispatches the last Forsworn warrior. "However he has what I want and thankfully by happy accident I have something to trade with for that mace." Mallufaax greats Ralgrif to break the ice and he politely compliments him on how well he fought. He asks where he learned to fight like that and Ralgrif says he learned his skills in the Legion he now hates. "Well, thank you for your service sir. I couldn't help but notice the mace you're carrying and yet not using over your warhammer." The Daedric Prince of Exiles shows Ralgrif a Daedric Warhammer with two powerful enchantments placed on it. One is called Warriors Respite which absorbs stamina and health (15 each per hit) from anyone who is struck by this warhammer and the other enchantment is Shocking Soul Trap which can trap a soul and inflict shock damage (15). "I want to trade this high quality warhammer that I have no use fore for that mace of yours. You look like a man who prefers two-handed weapons over one-handed weapons and could use it more than me."

"Indeed I am," Ralgrif smiles. "You have a deal, I never wanted this mace anyway. I hoped to simply do some work and get paid in septims and you can guess how well that worked out. The astetics of this mace are impressive but I don't like the balance. It makes this mace very hard to wield unless you really know what your doing and when it comes to one handed weapons, I don't." He thusly hands over the Mace of Molag Bal to Mallufaax. In return Mallufaax gives Ralgrif the warhammer which he will inturn end up using for years to come. "This is a nice piece of work, I don't know who you are or what kind of magic you have but I know enough about weapons to know a real one and a good one when I see it. If I need more weapons or armor, I hope I run into you again." Mallufaax tells Ralgrif that if anyone has any complaints about this trade that they can come talk to him. He will 'sort the problem out' and Ralgrif smiles knowing that Mallufaax has his back. With the mace in hand, Mallufaax parts ways with the Dragonborn and using his magical arts destroys the Mace of Molag Bal once in a safe place to work. As extra insurance, Mallufaax takes the remains of the mace and sends them off via his Daedric Knights to Rovgrad who will reforge the ebony into a new item. Once this is done, Mallufaax returns to tracking the follower of Molag Bal which brought him here. Despite the information he took from the couple, Mallufaax has not been able to track down their associate. He tracked the associate from Markarth which lead to him finding Ralgrif but he lost the trail shortly before meeting the Dragonborn. It is ten in the morning and Mallufaax decides to visit Madena to see if she has information that could help him in this pursuit.

"It has been awhile since I saw her so perhaps quickly stopping by would be a good thing," Mallufaax comments as he walks. Mallufaax finds Madena outside the home she has made for herself and her five daughters, she is just as beautiful as the day they first met. If anything has changed she is stronger and healthier than ever. "Madena, I'm sorry to drop in like this but I needed to check in with you to see if you may know anything about a quarry I'm pursing."

Madena smiles, "sure, what kind of quarry are you pursing? Is it perhaps the cult of evil daedra worshipers who have made themselves at home up here in the Jerrals?"

"Possibly, I'm looking for the associate of a couple who worshipe Sanguine. Recently, I was helping an Argonian and that couple wanted to kidnap said argonian. A number of male followers of Sanguine tried to take her but between myself and my soldiers with help from this argonian we dispatched them. I cannot cut the head from the snake by eliminating the couple so my plan is to cut the body from the snake," with what Mallufaax has said to her, Madena starts thinking. She knows of a secret Sanguine follower who recently came out of Markarth for a meeting with other presumably followers of Sanguine. The chances of this being the person that Mallufaax is after is rather high. She also knows that this cult has at least several Molg Bal worshipers and could be a cult of dual daedric worship. She tells Mallufaax what little she knows about this cult. She explains that this group is supposed to meet for something big tonight according to her investigating and Madena recommends that Mallufaax makes an unannounced visit.

Madena states, "I cannot guarantee that the Sanguine Follower will be there but there is a chance that he will be. Either way, this cult needs to go. So far they have been sacrificing Falmer, but it is only a matter of time before they graduate to sacrificing everyday citizens of Skyrim.

Mallufaax nods, "Can you point me in the direction of this meeting?"

"Indeed I can, but if you can stick around, do you mind spending some time with my girls? They miss you because you're the most father-like figure they have in their life since their dad died before they were born," Madena reminds Mallufaax. "Not to mention, you will have a lot of time to pass because none of the cult's members will be together at the location I direct you to until later tonight. Time flies faster when you have fun."

"As much as I'd like to entertain them it isn't safe for them or you," Mallufaax responds and Madena asks if 'he' has decided to reveal his face again. "Yes he has which is annoying since he was keeping his mouth shut and staying out of my business. I know your daughters like seeing me but it is for the better that I stay away from them." Madena smiles to Mallufaax and he knows that this isn't a smile meant to say that she understands him, even though Madena understands why Mallufaax keeps his distance from her family, "all five of them are right behind me aren't they."

"Mally (Mail-ly)," the quintuplet daughters say with smiles on their face and in unison!

Mallufaax smiles and accepts reality, "it is good to see the five of you as well." As Mallufaax is spending the day on an unexpected play date, Zella is getting ready to leave the private propery where she has been staying.

She thinks, I have rested long enough, it is time to get revenge for what Molag Bal did to me. Zella is still a sweet and caring woman but now she is also a fighter ready and willing to inflict great pain or kill at the drop of a hat if she needs to. After what I went through, I refuse to do anything less than fight the daedra myself and fight them in the most direct way possible. That is either killing the followers of the daedra or striking down the daedra themselves. With her new sword and gauntlet made by Rovgrad, she is ready to step out into the world again with the new name Zurilda (Zur-ill-da) Shade-Dancer. To hide her idenity, she has dyed her black and her emerging power has come with bodily changes that slightly aid her in this goal. How kind of Molag Bal to help me with my endeavor to make him suffer by not only turning me into a daedra but according to what I'm being told, an incrediably powerful one. I'm sure that he didnt mean to do that...which makes it that much better. I would have prefered to not been forcibily made into a Daedra but at least it could be so much worse and not much better. Zurilda wasn't ever a small woman, but prior to this she was a rather lean woman. Though now that has changed, her shoulders have widened out to match her hips and throughout her body she could see in the mirror before her how much more muscle she has now. Yet she retains the beautiful curves of her former leaner body as well as her incredably flexability and balance. Before this Zurilda couldn't use any magic, now she has a large pool of magicka at her disposial to go along with her increased physical strength. Zurilda is wearing a custom made outfit that may look like clothing and it is but is also light armor. Zurilda chose her outfit carefully, I'm glad that I chose these inky black pants that are flexable and conform to my legs. They are not painted on tight but tight and conforming so that when I move, they cannot hinder my performance or safety. I can say the same about the rest of my clothes. Though I like the color red and think that it is the best color on me both before and after my ordeal, this white top was the right choice.

Like Zurilda's pants, it conforms to her body to not get in the way. Underneath my form fitting white top is a custom made and tailored sports bra and I have to say that Mallufaax's tailor makes some very comfortable clothes. As well these will be great for my intended active new lifestyle. Her light armor has stamina regeneration boosting enchantments (62 percent X 4) along with health regeneration boosting enchantments (62 percent X 4). To add a little more protection, Zurilda's armor is also enchanted with magic resistance (25 percent). Once she is dresssed, Zurilda places her sword on her coat's belt and takes one last look in the mirror, "one life ends, another begins. I hope this one goes better." She thus walks into the outdoors of Skyrim with a guide and they start walking.

"Finally, after being trapped in the grasps of Molag Bal and having to rest and learn to use enough of my new powers, I can get out into the world again and strike back at the monster who did this to me. I never knew those self defense lessons father had me take would pay off like this," Zurilda says quietly to herself as she and her guide walk through the trees of Falkreath Hold. The sunlight is peaceful and fitting for a quiet walk in the forest. "I want to speak with Mallufaax first to properly thank him for what he has done for me. Can you take me to him?" The guide asks her why she wants to thank Mallufaax, "because he has given me something to do with my life. After what I went through, I need to do something because nobody should have to go through what I did. I cannot save everyone but I want to at least save someone. Additionally," Zurilda says with obvious anger and hate, "I have a score to settle with Molag Bal and I intend to return the favor in full which is something that I think that he can help me with!" After spending the day with Madena's sixteen year old daughters, Mallufaax leaves to find this group of daedra worshipers. As he walks higher up into the mountains, the Daedric Prince of Choas Magic can feel magical energies swirling as if he is walking through mini whirlpools that come up to his ancles, and the sourece of these energes is not far from him. Tonight's sky is beautiful and walking under it is calming, yet the smell which lingers in the air is of a horrible demise. As he walks higher into the mountains towards his destination, Mallufaax sees warning signs of this group, burned corpses on wooden stakes. A nearby fire is burning around a sacrificed group of people who have been tied to central post before ignition. From the orange flame a figure in daedric armor steps forth and approaches Mallufaax. This person isn't actually there however.

"Why do you lie like this and use a fake name Malice," the being says to the Daedric Prince? The daedric armor they wear is pitch black with a purple glow instead of a red glow like normal daedric armor. "When is the last time you were true to yourself and showed the world the real Daedric Prince who rules over the Darkened Isles?" Prior to his change of heart, Mallufaax had originally named the Dream Isles the Darkened Isles

"Shut up demon," Mallufaax says aloud but calmly and he continues walking and a two story building comes into view. Before the building are old stone steps. As Mallufaax is about to start climbing these stairs, the being appears again.

"Are you really that blinded by your own present occupations to your opponents," the being asks? "Like this, holding back and pretending to be a pathetic mortal Nord, you don't stand a chance and you know this!" Mallufaax walks past the being and reaches the building, an old temple built of stone but the front wooden door is likely locked by those inside the temple. With limited options, Mallufaax casts his magic to give him a sure grip and sure footing and then he starts climbing. As he climbs up the wall of the temple, with her guide beside her, Zurilda comes into view of the temple and Mallufaax after spending much of the daytime hours catching up to him and learning from her guide. Mallufaax reaches an empty windowsill and climbs into the space and gets a view of what is happening inside. Though the building is two stories high, it only has a ground floor. He spots a horrific ritual as he looks down at the old wooden interior of what he suspects is a temple and one of those taking part in the ritual is the associate that Mallufaax is after. "We have seen many different horrible daedric rituals but this one is one of if not the worst we've seen in decades. The Thalmor agent in the center of the ritual seeks to gain incredable magical power and intends to do so by consuming the souls of his foes."

"Not to mention, this looks like it is intended to double as a sacrifice to Molag Bal," Mallufaax whispers. "A show of strength and domination. Hopefully their victims are only unconcious and not already dead."

"Are you going to keep lying to yourself and hold back which will doom them," the being asks? "Let the actions of others first exile these poor souls and now get them killed. Or are you going to show the Thalmor and his minions a power that mortals will kill for? This Thalmor agent will use the power which he intends to gain to help them in their next war and we both know that cannot be allowed to happen. You can stop them. You know better than anyone Malice that with enough anger and hate, anything is possible!"

As Zurilda and her guide climb up the temple wall to join Mallufaax, the Lord of Exiles introduces himself to this cult of daedra worshipers by dropping down from the windowsill. He has limited time to stop this ritual which if completed will kill a number of innocent people that have been tide to sacrificial posts placed in a circle around the group members. From the window, Zurilda and her guide look down as Mallufaax speaks to the worshipers.

"So this is what the Thalmor have come to," Mallufaax says to the group, and not to his surprise they don't believe this based on their facial reactions. Mallufaax knew from the the dossier he showed Kematu. "Damning the races of men to be fuel for such a horrible ritual. The worst that I have seen in a long time. This is pathetic to say the least."

"Who are you to challenge us?" one of the cultists asks. "Soon we shall have incredable power and be the champions of our lords, the Daedric Princes Molag Bal and Sanguine. We will be strong because we choose to dominate and sacrifice the weak for our gain, and those who are not killed will be bent to our will. They will serve our pleasures when and where we desire them to."

"Anyone can dominate, and you are weak because you choose to dominate when you don't have to. However, I'll let you see what that kind of strength looks like, let it be the thing that kills you," Mallufaax says and he detaches his sheathed sword from the belt around his armor and it disappears in a cloud of dark purple smoke. In total view of Zurilda and her guide, Mallufaax goes through a quick transformation where Chaos Magic swirls around him in a vortex and what emerges is a humanoid being but much more darker. "Come on, show the Dark Lord what you can do mortals!" This is Mallufaax in this old form and what he was like when he used his original name, Malice! His red eyes pierce through the flesh of his opponents and his voice is dark and unnerving to all but the guide and Zurilda. A suit of daedric armor with a purple glow instead of a red glow replaces his black ebony armor and he trades his sword Skyborn for the daedric sword Darkquell (Dark-quell). As the fight begins, drawing the cultists into the brawl, other members who were alerted to Mallufaax by some unknown but likely magical means teleport into the temple. Zurilda and her guide realize that Mallufaax can but shouldn't fight all of them on his own.

The guide drops down to the floor and after hitting the ground he shouts, "wuld nah kest," and flies forward at incredable speed! The guide passes Mallufaax in a blur and with the momentum he has jumps and does a flying side kick aimed at the Thalmor in the center of the ritual. The force propels the guide and the Thalmor through the back wall of the temple and out onto is balcony. The Thalmor survived this blow unscathed thanks to an armor spell he managed to cast before being hit and several more cultists teleport to the balcony to assist. Zurilda, knowing that this cult worships Molag Bal, engages anyone and everyone who Mallufaax doesn't. Her speed with her weapons is more than a match for the cultists and Zurilda easily blocks their strikes before retaliating! Her sword is in her right hand chops off limbs. Disarming her foes in the process, and her gauntlet which covers her left forearm and hand is tearing her foes to ribbins. Using the claws of her gauntlet, Zurilda finishes off her foes shortly after disarming them. One cultist says to Zurilda as the two of them fight that she won't let Zurilda take away this opportunity to get even with those who have caused her so much pain in life.

Zurilda responds with anger and hate, "pain? I'll give you real pain!" Zurilda thus uses a power (Dance of Death) and summons ribbons made of magic around her and then she performs a series of dance moves meant for ribben dancing. Though they seem strange, the whirling ribbons slash and tear at the cultist and quickly cut her to pieces. Another cultist, after seeing what Zurilda has done to the last one, stands before the temple door and begs her for mercy. "Mercy? To a Molag Bal worshiping monster? Rest assured fiend," and Zurilda engages this cultist using another power (Scorned Dance). Throwing her sword at him with another ribben attached to its handle, Zurilda's sword pierces into the chest of foe and ribbons sprout from the flat side of the sword and anchor the sword firmly by grabbing onto his bones and organs. Some ribbins also wrap around where their limbs connect with their torso. "You shall have mercy in death!" With her right hand on the ribben attached to her sword's handle, Zurilda pulls on the ribbon and brings this man to her at speed. When the man is about to collide with her, Zurilda spins out of the way and pulls her sword free and into her hand. Causing the ribbons inside the cultist to cut the limbs and head of the culist clean off of their torso and fall freely against the ground around it. With a few more cult members for her to take on, Zurilda smiles and lays into them without mercy. Their lives are hers to take and smartly, Mallufaax left the identifible Molag Bal worshipers of the group for her to slay. In front of Zurilda, Mallufaax uses Swallowing Darkness to take out a mage that was shielded by his fellow cult members.

The Daedric Prince of Dark Arts engages and eliminates several more group members before he uses another power called Erupting Chaos on the last four foes before him. He combines the power of normal and Chaos magic in a single orb of magical power and the chaotic orb explodes, damaging anyone (100-200 Dark and Light Damage) in its range (10ft radius) except Mallufaax. Though the radius where it will deal maximum damage provided the victim doesn't have Magic and Dark Damage resistances is 3ft, Erupting Darkness is empowered by the Dark School perks Pure Darkness and Pure Light. Boosting both forms of damage at once (150-300 Dark and Light damage). Erupting Chaos is a great anti-group power but isn't worth using against a single foe in many cases and it will hurt those who are friendly to him so Mallufaax rarely uses this power instead of Swallowing Darkness. With this last foe slain the temple is secured but Mallufaax's power and his anger is not ready to disperse on its own. However Zurilda knows how to counter anger, she carefully approaches Mallufaax and asks if he is okay with a soft voice and this centers the Daedric Prince of Exiles and he transforms back into a Nord. Mallufaax's Daedric armor is replaced by his Sky Rider Armor and his daedric sword is replaced by Skyborn. The ritual is stop and with a snap of his fingers Mallufaax summons a team of his knights to inspect the health of the would-be sacrifices. The knights quickly confirm people who were to be sacrificed will be fine in a matter of minutes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Zella," Mallufaax says referring to his transformation and true form. He likes to see himself as better than that but he knew that he needed to unleash his true form and power."I figured that if there was ever a time to be Malice again, this was it. You don't need to worry I would calm down pretty quickly once I realized that there was nobody around left to hit."

"You don't need to apologize because I saw that, and I'm using the name Zurilda now. I see that information was never passed on to you." Zurilda then asks Mallufaax, "What about the guide who is still out there on the balcony fighting? Should we help him?"

"That is not just any man, that is Aldurin (All-dur-in)," Mallufaax responds to Zurilda. "He is a Nord from the time of Ysgramor that slaughtered many snow elves. The Goddess of War Aresia (Air-E-sia) controls him now for the sins of his past and sends him out on quests of various kinds or on errands like being a guide. Until his debt is repaid, this is his fate. Though despite his past and even back then I hear, Aldurin is nice guy and a capable fighter," Mallufaax explains. "I wish he didn't deal with the depression he has, but it isn't bad and I am certain that Aresia is having his depression treated. He'll get over this once he experiences something powerful like finding the love of his life. One day, he'll be a free man once again and can hopefully put down his weapons and armor for a more peaceful life"

Outside on the balcony with two cultists left to deal with, Aldurin knocks one away from him with a strong sidekick before he uses a power Skyward and with a vertical swing of black double-edged sword launches the other cultist into the air and follows up with a beam of dragon fire to finish his foe off. If he is in a one on one Skyward is perfect for quickly taking out one foe. The dead cultist lands fifteen feet away from Aldurin. The other group member stands back up and Aldurin decides to finish this fight for goo. He uses another power (Dancing Swords) and at speeds not otherwise possible Aldurin slashes his opponent repeatedly and moves all over the place to get around his foes defenses. His skill with this power and experience allows him to land every strike in the combination. Aldurin is skilled enough to take out multiple opponents with this power but it is intended to overwhelm foes in a one on one duel.

"I think that is the end of this," Zurilda says as she and Mallufaax look at Aldurin. "Thanks for the guidance Aldurin, I can take it from here with Mallufaax."

"Okay then, good luck in your endeavors miss," Aldurin responds to Zurilda. "If you ever need my help, Mallufaax can help you get in touch with me. Just remember that there are rules to combat and they are there for a reason. You don't want to follow my example and break them," Aldurin says with a grim and sad voice. Aldurin then teleports away and the two daedra check in with the knights. As the victims wake up, Mallufaax and Zurilda learn that the victims are unharmed and can find their way home. Thus the two Daedra leave, though the knights are directed to escort the victims, and Zurilda has questions that she wishes to ask.

Not far from Madena's home, Zurilda asks, "where does Malice come from exactly?" Mallufaax proceeds to explain to her about how he was cast into exile by most of the Daedric Princes from long ago. From there, he explains how he sought revenge which was fueled by hatred until he saw the mortal world and how many mortals suffered in the face of society as if the were exiled themselves. That was when Mallufaax changed his goals, his usual apperance, but his desire for vengeance still persists and that is what is keeping Malice 'alive'. "While resting, I was told that you don't take souls as payment and have no desire for fame. Is what you saw those people go through why you don't want souls or fame?"

"Yes, as well as that neither of those things are of any use to me," Mallufaax responds. "If I need to get paid, I want something that is useful to me."

"I see. Regarding Malice, to me it sounds like you need help moving on from your own demons Mallufaax. Specifically, you need to let go of your past desire for revenge for good if you ever want Malice to go away," Zurilda points out as they sit in the moonlight. Their feet hang over the edge of a ledge a few feet above a small pool. "With all the time you've had and the resouces I'm told you have at your disposial, I'm surprised that you haven't already done this. Don't you know how you could bring an end to your desire for revenge?"

"I do not know how to put an end to my desire for revenge, and I'm afraid to find out because I have been doing this for so long and nothing changed anything because Malice, every once in a while, shows up. At times he goes away for a mortal life time, and sometimes even longer than that. However every now and then something seems to always come around to make him come back to the forefront and not shut up for a while. I've tried things in the past," Mallufaax explains and he begins to list off all of the failed options he's tried thus far. "Only until recently did something make Malice feel further away than normal," Mallufaax explains. Zurilda asks him what happened, "I got my hands on the Mace of Molag Bal, destroyed it, and had it reforged into a new weapon to be used for a better purpose. That deed felt like the revenge I wanted long ago because Molag Bal seeks to corrupt the purest of hearts and to take away such a well known artifact of his is such a great satisfaction. I am sure he was raging as a result of it and for my part, it made Malice feel like he wasn't as present though that was never the plan."

"Then we do know what we need to do. If we can spit in the eyes of the Daedric Princes by destroying their artifacts or messing with them in some equally significant way," Zurilda hypothises, "you should sate your desire for revenge. Molag Bal is dealt with so that is one prince down already and possibly one of the hardest that we needed to deal with."

"You realize how much easier that is said than done right? Deal that kind of a blow to the other Daedric Princes." Zurilda acknowledges this stated fact and responds that she believes that if anyone can do this, Mallufaax can. "Well I mess with them on a regular basis so I should be able to settle the score with the other Daedric Princes. Maybe I just need to think bigger, grander, and go after them more directly."

With a vengeanful smile, Zurilda says, "and I'll be here beside you to help as I can. Taking the work of being a pain in Molag Bal's backside off your hands in order to give you all the time you need to make your revenge sting."

"Are you sure though you want to fight alongside the Watchdogs and myself Zurilda?" Mallufaax asks. "You still have your skills in dancing and could easily find work in that field. Who would know other than me and those who cared for you that you're a daedra? You still have your Nord flesh and blood, the only thing that changed was your looks and your soul."

"Of course I do," Zurilda responds. "You need the manpower, the Daedric Princes need to be kept in check, and people need help. If you can keep a secret, I've always wanted to be a heroine my whole life. I thought that bringing a smile to people's faces through entertainment would be satisfactory enough especially when I did charity events but it never was enough. No amount of money I ever raised for charity ever was enough. At least it felt and seemed like it was never enough. This will be different, no more hoping for people to be generious, I'll help people myself and directly. I'll still dance from time to time, but I feel that this is what I need to do for myself and for others who have been harmed by the daedra. In addition to all that, looking at you Mallufaax. I think it's high time you had a woman close to you in your life for a bit." Zurilda smiles, "and I have no problem filling that role since I wasn't abused by a man but Molag Ball. I have no plans to let that ruin my dreams or what I can do for others." Zurilda's vengeful smile returns, "and I have a score to settle with Molag Bal. If he thinks that I'm going to let him off the hook then he has another thing coming. I almost feel bad for his followers and whatever else of his that comes into my posession. Almost is the key word in that sentence."

"I can already tell that you're not stopping. If you wish to fight, then I'll let you fight alongside us," Mallufaax says to Zurilda and she leans on him and rests her head on his right shoulder. Mallufaax places his right hand on her smooth and soft black hair. "You're going to do great things Zurilda, I'm happy to be a part of them in any way that I can be."

"Your welcome, and you can always count on me as a friend whenever you need help," Zurilda responds with a non-vengenful smile. "Don't take this the wrong way but you seem to help a lot of people but don't have a lot of friends yourself to help you. All you have are your daedric knights and I don't think that they help you because of friendship."

"No they don't," Mallufaax responds, "and thank you. I don't have many friends and it is a welcome end to this day to add one more to the number of friends that I have."

Part Four: Ralgrif's Calling. 4th Era 201

It is late in the year and the civil war has properly kicked off with the Stormcloaks capturing Whiterun. On the first of Evening Star, A Dark Elf named Taron Dreth is walking with his mercenary bodyguards towards Markarth. He is currently in The Rift when he is stopped by a beautiful woman.

"Are you Taron Dreth?" Zurilda asks in a polite and happy tone. Taron Dreth asks her why she is asking and she lies saying that she has a few Dwemer items to sell and wants to know if he is interested. Taron Dreth bites and confirms his identity and asks to see these items to see if they are of any worth to him. "But of course sir, allow me to show them to you," Zurilda says smiling behind her cowl. Using her gauntlet Zurilda tears Teron Dreth to pieces and with her sword she decapitates his mercenary guards. Though she no longer deals with trauma becuase of what she went through at the hands of Molag Bal, Zurilda has developed a rather violent side to her personality. She doesn't take prisoners when it comes to Daedra and their worshipers, only corpses. Liars like Taron Dreath who steal their professional reputation from another have a chance to survive. She takes his soul with a plan to use it for another matter. Now that this is done, Zurilda returns to her plan to help two adventurers. One of them being dead and the other being a living one seeking knowledge. At the same time, Mallufaax is in Windhelm attending to a secret matter which must stay hidden from the public. The winter storm that has come off of the Sea of Ghosts is in full swing and begins to cover the land with white snow and drops temperatures to as low as -12 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill. In a secure room with the Dragonborn Ralgrif, Ulfric Stormcloak, and a woman named Mellidia (Mel-lydia) Mallufaax is taking part in a meeting.

"Each of you has a role that needs to be done, some more secretive than others," Ulfric says to the three. "All of which however are important to both Skyrim and me. Ralgrif, I need you to eliminate a dragon terrorizing the Hold of Winterhold. If you head west you should run into the are where it has been spotted. There is no report of it attacking the people of Skyrim but I'm not waiting for that to happen. You are to slay this dragon and then return to me," Ulfric says and then he says that Ralgrif can leave.

"It will be done sir," Ralgrif says to Ulfric and on his way out he talks to Mallufaax about a task Mallufaax asked him to see to earlier. "I'll deal with Boethiah after this dragon is dealt with. I don't know what part of her the Dunmer find to be good but I don't care, I'll slaughter her followers and get her attention like you instructed."

"The Dunmer see her as good because she teaches them to be strong in the face of adversity," Mallufaax responds to Ralgrif. "She evil however because she teaches mortals this by rewarding feats of violence and combat which is why her artifacts benefit warrior so much. She doesn't teach them restraint or reward finding ways to beat adversity through non-violence. She doesn't help those who are not the strongest of the pack and are not willing to do anything to survive. Instead she strikes them down without mercy. That evil behavior and her casting me out is why I have grudges with her. Her lack of mercy has killed many people who needed help and turned to her. She doesn't realize that part of being willing to do whatever it takes to survive is to know when to put the sword down and be an honest person." Mallufaax looks at Ralgrif, "there is a saying among mortals that I believe is applicable to this situation, what goes around comes around. Deliver to her followers the kind of death she promotes and set an example for those who seek strength from such a monster. If it were me I'd burn everything with dragon fire but what you'll do is sufficient to get her attention for my plan. Just don't let your hate get the better of you. It isn't healthy and it could 'land you in a spot of trouble' if you're not careful."

"Of course," Ralgrif says to Mallufaax, "I'll make sure these dark elves know who is in charge around here. Talos will smite them and their blasphemous Daedra worshiping ways through me!" Ralgrif leaves the meeting and Mallufaax is okay now that he is gone. Publicly Ralgrif is a great person, he donates money to the poor and works to keep the land safe from many different threats. However when out of the view of the public he is the exact opposite of a good person. He hates a lot of groups such as the Forsworn and many different races like the high elves. Ralgrif hates the Forsworn for not being grateful to live under the boots of Nords and for all the damage they have done. He hates the Thalmor for trying to stamp out one of his gods of worship and for their attempts to control the races of men. For their submission to the Thalmor and outlawing of Talos, Imperials are also on Ralgrifs' hate list. That part of the White-Gold Concordat was especially infuriating because he fought for the Empire only to have one of his gods taken away and his homeland filled with strangers that commit horrible crimes. However the meeting must continue so Ralgrif leaves without speaking of such things and Ulfric turns to Mellidia.

"Mellidia," Ulfric says, "reports of a man matching the discrption of Astrid's husband have reached us. He is in Eastmarch, I want him dead and like Astrid you will trap his soul in a black soul gem. Let him suffer in the Soul Carin," Ulfric says to Mellidia knowing what sort of dangerous game he is playing with her. "Rest assured that I have no intention of betraying my word, the Ravens will be safe under this deal. I cannot guarantee the actions of the Legion, but I can guarantee mine!" Ulfric passes a black soul gem to Mellidia, pushing it across the table from him to her. She takes and nods to Ulfric, "oh and thank you for helping Ralgrif track down The Butcher. It is a relief that this monster is no longer a problem and the murders have stopped. His deserves to be in the Soul Carin."

"I am sure that I've saved a few lives in the process," Mellidia says to Ulfric with a smile on her face. "Do not threat, I'll have Astrid's husband in this soul gem in a matter of time. Then I'll bring it to you as promised so we can both know his soul is in the Soul Carin once we watch an item be enchanted." Mellidia turns to leave but before she does Mallufaax stops here.

"Why are you spending so much time with Ralgrif," Mallufaax asks? "He doesn't seem like the guy for you in a number of different ways."

"Ralgrif isn't so bad Malllufaax if you know which parts of him to look at," Mellidia counters. "He has a troubled past and can you blame him for being distrustful of everyone but Nords? He didn't have a father that knew what honor was but he can still learn what real honor is. I care about him because if nobody does then he's doomed and he's the Dragonborn so he has pressure on him like no other. Honestly, I think it is a sadistic joke by the gods to do this to him. However there is nothing that can change this now. A being like you could be a great teacher to him Mallufaax. If anyone knows what Ralgrif needs to learn, you will." Mellidia leaves and then Ulfric turns to Mallufaax.

"You seemed worried about my soldier," Ulfric comments with curiousity. "If there is a problem I will hear it but know that I will not consider your own personal opinions as a problem."

"I've met my fair share of racist and hateful characters Ulfric but Ralgrif, as the Dragonborn, is one that is concerning to me," Mallufaax states. "If that hate is allowed to guide him on his path as the Dragonborn then you can be sure something bad will happen. Innocents will die in such a situation and that will cause more suffering which leads to more hate. Thus the cycle continues so long as he lives."

"I will not force him to change unless it becomes a problem," Ulfric says without any obvious worry. "However I am thankful for your concern for my soldier. He will be monitored rest assured and if you feel inclined you're welcome to work with him on this directly. Onto the business at hand. I require you to eliminate the Thalmor presence in Eastmarch. I cannot have the fact I've worked with the Thalmor in the past get out. It would ruin my claim to the throne of Skyrim and if my people feel safe from the Thalmor under my leadership, it strengthens my claim. You know what I need done, just like the Thalmor and their agents in The Rift, kill them and dispose of the bodies." Ulfric and Ralgrif are very much alike, in public they are respectable men though of the two, Mallufaax thinks Ralgrif is better. However behind closed doors they have the same hate and evil in their hearts. "Let's make the world a better place without them in it, it isn't like anyone is going to miss a few of those elves when they 'disapear'. Good luck out there friend, the true sons and daughters of Skyrim thank you for your contribution, and I thank you for your part in 'placing' one on the throne of the High King." Mallufaax won't ever call Ulfric a friend for many reasons including how Ulfric is having him help his own political ventures. The only reason he helps in the first place is because he sees Ulthric as the lesser evil and one he intends to control in the near future.

"I'll take care of this, Eastmarch will be Thalmor free," Mallufaax says to Ulfric and he leaves. He is happy that he can get away from Ulfric, and make sure that every word you just said comes in handy in putting a leash around your neck so you behave in the very near future. You're not the only one who plays political games Ulfric, Galmar Stone-Fist and Brunwulf Free-Winter are true sons of Skyrim and as such they hate imposters posing as true sons of Skyrim. Soon you'll be cleaning up your act whether you want it or not and ruling how I tell you to, or I'll just 'arange' an accident and have them take your place.. Using the cover of the winter weather, Mallufaax tracks down the agents of the Thalmor and captures their souls. There weren't many in this Hold, only five in total and Mallufaax knew that they would be meeting with their handlers. The meeting takes place at Refugees' Rest, revealed to Mallufaax by information retrieved off of a dead Thalmor agent in The Rift. This agent was also the source of the dossier he showed Kematu. Using the meeting to find all five in one place, Mallufaax utilizes a Dark Spell to eliminate the agents. They lacked any protection to help blend in which meant that Mallufaax's dual cast spell had little trouble taking them down. Two survive the first hit, but the blast from the second time that Mallufaax casts the spell finishes these two off.

Upon inspection of the dead agents, the Lord of Exiles finds some additional informaiton that doesn't reveal much. However it is helpful for building a bigger picture of the Thalmor agents and the threat they pose. Mallufaax hides the bodies well out of sight of Refugees' Rest where wild animals will devor the bodies and whatever they don't eat will be hidden by the weather. All before the handlers can arrive at the meeting.

Mallufaax pounders an idea,I could kill the handlers as well, but that would raise too much suspicion. Assuming they haven't caught on to my actions yet, I'll let these handlers live and knock them out. Seeking more information on the Thalmor, Mallufaax uses a non-lethal Light spell to knock out the handlers long enough to steal information from their motionless body. Among the things that he takes is new information which he can use to track more Thalmor agents elsewhere in Skryim. With a minute to spare, Mallufaax leaves the handlers who wake up to find that they have been moved inside Refugees' Rest but nothing is missing. Unaware that Mallufaax copied the stolen information to a book via magic. Well now, these handlers information on matters pertaining to Ulfric. I'll be keeping my hands on this.On the fourth of Evening Star, Mallufaax is sitting before a fire in the wilderness near the border of Eastmarch and Winterhold when Ralgrif comes into view. He was successful at getting Boethiah's attention and she will make him her champion if he completes a task. Ralgrif also eliminated everyone at the shrine in the process of getting her attention.

Ralgrif sits down to the side of Mallufaax, "How did matters go for you?" Mallufaax explains that everything went well, and states to Ralgrif that he could use the spare time to him to not hate others in the way he does. "Mallufaax why do you care so much about the fact that I hate? Don't you hate yourself?"

"There isn't anyone that can live without hating Ralgrif, it is the fact that you have a racist hatred and you channel it when you kill," Mallufaax responds while staring at the fire. "Additionally it drives you more than anything else on some days and I've seen it. It isn't healthy or honorable to hate someone for the fact they are a certain race, something they cannot control. Nor is it good for someone to be around."

"And you would have me just forgive the Thalmor for their own racist hatred or the races that side with them?" Ralgrif asks. "They are far worse than anything I've done."

"No I would have you hate their crimes and evil in general," Mallufaax responds. "However not for the fact that they are not Nords like you! You do know that Mellidia likes you more than just a friend right?"

"I didn't until now," Ralgrif's voice tells Mallufaax that the Nord is surprised. "What, do you have something against this too," Mallufaax explains to Ralgrif that she wants the best for him and has sympathy for his less than ideal upbringing. This is a tough spot for Ralgrif to talk about but he is willing to speak on it.

"She's a good woman, and a good woman deserves a good man especially for believing in you. I can help you be a better man and thus become the man she deserves.

Mallufaax speaks sharply in response, "and what says that I need to be a better man?"

"Because why not be the best man you can be?" Mallufaax asks Ralgrif partially anoyed. "Don't you want your family to be proud of you? Aren't you happy that the public opinion of you is that you're this great honorable person and don't you want it to stay like that? You cannot wash away the blood that is in your past Ralgrif by just hiding behind a curtain. I know about the crimes you've committed. The elves murdered after they surrendered in the war, the 'missing' argonian merchants who were accused of a crime that nobody knows for certain if they committed, and the Thalmor agents your butchered after they supposedly kidnapped and tortured a Nord. Not to mention the other ten crimes I could name."

"You shut up about that," Ralgrif says and he stands up and in response Mallufaax stands up. "That all is in the past and it was justified!"

"By what?" Mallufaax asks. "You know that your actions were that of a violent monster Ralgrif and being the Dragonborn doesn't pardon you or make it so they didn't happen. If you didn't have any guilt for what you did Ralgrif, then you wouldn't hate the fact that I know all about them. Becoming an honorable man is more than just making something out of yourself that was different than your past, it is your only chance to be the Dragonborn the people think you are and that you need to be."

"I told you to shut up Mallufaax," Ralgrif says with growing aggressive because he knows that the Daedric Prince is right. He has some guilt for his actions and he knows that if his actions were known publicly they'd lead to his death! "I'm not a monster like the Thalmor are, I don't need redemption because I have nothing to be guilty for. Being an honorable man will only be to my detriment, I don't need it to be the Dragonborn!"

"The Thalmor are not what we are talking about Ralgrif we are talking about you," Mallufaax says not backing down. "You cannot hide the fact that you are, deep inside, feeling guilt for your actions and that you are sorry. The turmoil is there regardless if you know your fate as the Dragonborn or not and it will be your undoing," Mallufaax states. "You know that this is your only change to save yourself from your past that is dripping red with guilty blood. You know that if you don't do something soon, your past will catch up with you because nobody is going to protect you from it." Ralgrif swings at Mallufaax but Mallfaax catches Ralgrif's punch with his hand, using his magic to project the image of his Daedric form and alter his voice to its true form without actually transforming. "I think you know that this fate as the Dragonborn is not a boon, but a curse that is slowly poising itself to bring about the event of your dark deeds coming to light!" Ralgrif backs up and looking at the Daedric Armor of Mallufaax and the Daedric Prince's face scares him because he cannot hide from his actions and that this is what he truly is. The grey skin, silver hair, and red eyes of Mallufaax is what he truly is on the inside. "This, my true form is also your true reflection! You have but one chance to change it and failure means your death Ralgrif." Mallufaax ceases using his magic to project his true form and alter his voice. Ralgrif takes a few moments and thinks to himself without saying anything.

Ralgrif eventually looks away from Mallufaax, "I've been doing this for longer than you have Rallgrif and if anyone knows what it is like going from the villain to the hero it's me. There are things that I've done that I don't talk about and wish to keep unspoken. Accepting help isn't easy even for me at times and there are days where I hate that I have to be a good man. However the rewards are worth it. I can help you because I've been where you stand but only if you will let someone help you. The Thalmor need to be stopped and they still have agents in Winterhold at the very least. I don't know what they are doing but they need to go regardless of what they are up to. Help me deal with them, and along the way I'll do everything that I can to make you into a better man before this is over. I take you as far as I can, and tell you how to complete what you have to do on your own."

"Then lets not delay," Ralgrif states with focus and Mallufaax hands Ralgrif a potion and tells him to drink. It will protect him from the cold and Ralgrif takes it and drinks the potion without hesitation. "You know the saying, no time like the present and I've nothing planned for many days." Once Ralgrif drinks the potion, Mallufaax snuffs out his fire with a motion of his hand and magic before he summons his horse and a spare. Then the two ride over the border that separates the two Holds. By admitting that Mallufaax was right, Ralgrif has taken the first step towards changing. Along the way to their destination, the two spy a camp that belongs to Dark Elf refuges from Morrowind. It seems to be alert and then it comes under attack by werewolves. Werewolf activity has spiked and this camp cannot hold out on its own so Ralgrif diverts the two to help. He doesn't ask, he just pulls out his warhammer and charges in. Mallufaax couldn't care less about the diversion, because someone finally forced Ralgrif to face the fact that he needs to change he's already a much better person. Perhaps somewhere deep down he wanted to but Ralgrif just couldn't bring himself to make the change on his own.

Ralgrif has compassion for others and now he is no longer reserving it for one race over another. The two join the defense of the refuge camp and with their strength added into the fight, these werewolves don't a chance. In the more open ground, Mallufaax can fight solely with Dark Magic and it's ability to strike multiple opponents with it's spells. He separates the werewolves, using the explosive nature of his spells to force them apart and kill some and then Ralgrif finishes them off while he can face them in a one on one fight. With each swing of his hammer, Ralgrif strikes a werewolf and brings this fight closer to its conclusion. In one blow, he caves in the head of the lead werewolf, the strongest in the pack! Then he turns his attention to the next strongest and goes straight for it and with a single swing of his hammer, takes out its knee first and then crushes its head when the werewolf falls face down into the snow. As trio dark elves shoot arrows into another werewolf behind him, Ralgrif goes for another werewolf, his sixth foe in this fight. The werewolf swings its claws at him, and Ralgrif hops back first once then twice and then three times to avoid its attacks. After the third time, Ralgrif uses his ability to Shout to knock the werewolf back and then he charges in on the attack and again he goes for the knees. Bringing this werewolf down to the snow and then with a single blow slays it.

Seeing their pack so quickly ripped of its strength, the remaining werewolves retreat into the dark of night but here they find no shelter. As the remaining four members of the pack which escape Mallufaax's magic and the dark elves' arrows regroup in their werewolf form, an arrow flies from the darknes without warnning and burries itself in the head of a female werewolf. The three look around and try to figure out where the arrow came from. Sniffing the air and looking to find their attacker but in the darkness they see nothing! Without warning, another arrow made of darkness comes out of nowhere and takes out a male werewolf. The werewolves look around but still cannot find their attacker and then another arrow comes from the darkness and takes out another male werewolf. The remaining member of the pack, a female werewolf, turns to run but as she tries to leave, an arrow hits her in the head as well though it doesn't kill her instantly. She falls to the ground, dying and she looks at the other three members of her pack, all dead instantly and she tries to look around in her crippled state to see who shot her but to no avail.

The pack is thus destroyed, however this werewolf attack is the first of many that Mallufaax and Ralgrif encounter on this journey. As they hunt down the Thalmor in the Hold of Winterhold, they encounter werewolf attack after werewolf attack. Some attacks they find after the fact and some they arrive in time to stop. Along the way, Ralgrif shows more of the good in him as he helps the various peoples the two encounter as they fight these werewolves. Each step turns the publics' beliefs about Ralgrif into a reality and will make him into a better Dragonborn. Though the Thalmor presence in Winterhold is on Mallufaax's list of things to deal with, he has no problem setting this aside to watch Ralgrif hand over a large sum of money to a dark elf family, telling them to go buy themselves some better winter clothes. Items which they desperately need. On the 19th of Evening Star, they find the scene of a werewolf attack and Ralgrif stops to investigate. "How could our conflict with the Silver Hand be leading to this? So many werewolves are coming from seemingly nowhere and they're launching attacks all over Skyrim." Ralgrif has been a member of the Companions for some time now and joined the Circle a few months before being wrongfully arrested by the Imperial Legion. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time by complete accident and he is glad to have killed the captain that knowingly sent him to be executed against the law just to make him someone else's problem.

"There is more going on here than you know Ralgrif," Mallufaax explains. "Yes the weakening of the Silver Hand made it easier on werewolves to move but trigger such surge in activity? That is a pretty far fetch," Mallufaax says to Ralgrif. "Sure there have been drops in security like this before but nothing the likes of what we are seeing happened then." Ralgrif analyses the tracks and he starts to put together a picture of what happened. From the torn up remains around the two, Ralgrif can say certainly that this was a small campsite. There are no bodies of those who camped out here and limited blood, so he deduces that nobody was killed in the area. Ralgrif eventually finds werewolf tracks that lead to one area where there is a lot of blood spilled on the snow. Which indicates to Ralgrif that the werewolves ran down and killed the camp dwellers, and proceeded to devore the dead camp followers as only bloodly cloths and red snow remains of them. He spots drops of blood going away from the areas where these camp dwellers were devoured going towards the east, paralleled by werewolf tracks. "Well, we can't save this camp but maybe we can save others if we follow the tracks." The two warriors follow these tracks, weapons at the ready as Ralgrif points out the increasing freshness of the tracks while the walk. Eventually come across a werewolf camp where they find the werewolves responsible but also find captured children. In the camp are a bunch of high elves and this is strange to say the least. Ralgrif and Mallufaax quickly realize that they need to intervene and stop whatever this is so they throw together a quick plan and then attack. Using a Dark spell, Mallufaax takes out three of the four present elves and the fourth runs away, leaving the werewolves to take care of Mallufaax and Ralgrif.

The two warriors are fast enough to outplay the werewolves and land their attacks on the werewolves. Because of the height of the werewolves their kidneys and other organs are easy to hit with their weapons. From a distance, Mallufaax uses Light Spells to shoot bolts of light into these vital organs and kill the werewolves who have no defense against this. Ralgrif in turn strikes these organs with his hammer to cripple the werewolves and then finish them off. As they get in close with their melee weapons, Ralgrif and Mallufaax take a few hits themselves but nothing that will stop them. Due to the presence of children, Mallufaax sticks to Light Magic to not harm them. After eliminating the werewolves the two take a quick stock of the children in the camp and they are relieved to found that these children are alright. They're trapped in cages but the locks are cheap and easily picked. However before Raligrif and Mallufaax can pick said locks more werewolves arrive and the two have to change the focus of their attention to these monsters. The werewolves come in twos or threes, each wave proves challenging and the power of Shouts and magic is what allows them to keep these werewolves at bay. Breaking up the wave so the full force of it doesn't hit them at once.

Their heavy armor proves critical as it allows the two warriors to take hits from the werewolves and land killing blows on their enemies. In one instance, as a werewolf's paw runs over his armor, Ralgrif drives the head of his harmmer into the chest of that werewolf to criple them. Then, he strikes the head of the werewolf, and dodges the attack of another werewolf so that his armor only has to take a fraction of the hit. Mallufaax in turn lets his armor take multiple scratches and bite marks, doing so allows him to get close and he runs his sword into the vital organs of his foes such as the heart and into the underside of the brain. When the third wave is defeated, twelve werewolves lie dead on the ground. They expect more werewolves and more show up but they don't attack and instead suddenly stop. Then a magical buck appears before them and it starts speaking to Ralgrif and Mallufaax.

"Gentlemen, I do apologize for this unfortunate scene you have have come across," Hircine says to Mallufaax and Ralgrif. "Children should not be locked up like this. I have no doubt that you both want answers to the questions surrounding the werewolf activity that spiked in this past Midyear. I can assure you that I had no involvement in causing this uptick and activity."

"Then who did Hircine because this didn't just happen I would have known if that was the case by now," Mallufaax says while angry at Hircine because werewolf attacks have increased his workload in the recent months. "Werewolves are coming out of thin air it seems as of late and Skyrim doesn't have the skilled manpower available to combat this. If it spreads then the Thalmor will be in a great position to invade mainland Tamriel due to the trouble this problem will cause."

"I am well aware of your hatred for the Thalmor Mallufaax and that is where we can help each other," Hircine says to the Daedric Prince of Exiles. "First off though, I owe you an apology for disregarding you in the way that I did long ago. You're a hunter if there ever was one and my word stands to validate this. Sadly the complete reason for the spike of werewolf activity eludes me but I know the Thalmor have some sort of link to it," Hirince reveals to the two men. Hircine then says, "I have put my servants to work trying everything they can to prevent as many attacks as possible. I wish I could keep the Dark Hunter away from them as well but I'll take what I can get. Nobody can say those who do as their told are looking for trouble."

"Well that is at least some good news amidst this problem," Mallufaax says to the Daedric Prince of the Hunt. "Can you give me some way to contact your servants? I could perhaps work with them to weed out the non-loyal werewolves before they bring the wrong attention down upon the loyal werewolves. It may keep your packs a bit safer and hopefully encourage them to not join in the attacks. Thus meaning there are less people who need help from me or my Watchdogs."

"That will require deticated discussion and work that we cannot do here but if that is what it takes to get this problem under control I'll do it," Hircine says to Mallufaax. "We'll be in touch and if you have the spare manpower I could use help in Markarth. Werewolves under the command of a Werewolf Lich appear to be heading in that direction and I need to stop them when they arrive so loyal werewolves don't get caught in the crossfire. The Poachers Guild is as active as ever and if not for the war they'd be recruiting new members. I don't want them going after the werewolves who listen to me and keep out of trouble so stopping this Lich is paramount to keeping them away from Markarth."

"I'll do what I can for you Hircine but don't expect much, I have my hands full as it is," Mallufaax tells Hircine and with that Hircine bids them farewell and leaves. Taking these werewolves and the children who are in fact werewolves as well to safety. Thus the two return to Windhelm and report to Ulric. With one less dragon to worry about, Ulfric feels much calmer about the condition of Eastmarch. Ulfric shows not one sign of caring about the Dark Elf refuge camp that the two men saved. He is entirely focused on the werewolves the two warriors killed during this attack. With fire in his eyes, Ulfric says that he has no patience for showing mercy to these creatures. He proceeds to tell Mallufaax and Ralgrif to slay any werewolf on sight, no matter what form they take. The only requirement is that they can prove that their victims are werewolves and once they meet this requirement, they can kill their foe at their behest. Ulfric also makes a bold claim, blaming the werewolves on the Thalmor and saying that efforts to fight Thalmor activity in Skyrim must increase to counter this and stop the werewolf attacks. In a similar vein, Ulfric tells the two warriors that once they can prove someone to be a Thalmor agent, they are permitted to slay them in public if need be. Stading that no means of killing is off limits except the use of fire in a public space to avoid harming the civilian population! Mallufaax doesn't get phased by such brutality and such free use of violence and killing but he notices that Ralgrif, despite his own actions, is surprised in a bad way about this

After leaving Ulfric and sitting down for a drink at a private table in Candlehearth Hall, Ralgrif says to Mallufaax quietly, "I mean, I don't like the Thalmor and I have my gripes with their allies but still even I don't think that some of the methods we were told that we could use to take care of them are right. Not to mention, openly taking Thalmor agents down in public is not appropriate for a host of reasons."

"I don't like working with men like him for a reason Ralgrif," Mallufaax says with quiet anger. "Not only is he crossing lines but he's making sure that he has plausible deniablity by making someone else do the work for him. Do everything you can to not turn out like he has, trust me in that you won't regret it."

"Considering what he said in front of us without a second through, I agree with you completely. You really don't know someone until they start talking about their private side. I think Ulfric has the right idea, fighting the Empire and looking to restore free Talos worship," Ralgrif says before drinking some of his milk. "However I think he needs to rethink his views on others. We could gain a lot from the Dark Elves and Argonians if we learn to work together. Besides, when we treat others poorly and give them a reason to not like us, they're that much more likely to turn into spies for our enemies. If you don't mind me asking, that other side to you, does it ever get in the way of your work Mallufaax?"

"Every once in a while it either annoys me or does get the better of me to a point," Mallufaax explains. "However just making itself known can be a real problem. It is annoying and sometimes it comes before or after a mission to mess with my focus. However nobody has been wrongfully harmed by this problem and I'm working on how to put a stop to this at long last."

"Well I hope you have a good time with that and if you need my help, just ask and I'll do what I can for you. Espeically if it keeps Ulfric in line. I wanted to believe in him, but now I don't know if it is safe for him to lead the Stormcloaks." Ralgrif in a hushed whisper. With a bit more help from Mallufaax, Ralgrif would make a full turnaround and become the very man the public thinks he is. He eventually becomes Harbinger of the Companions and as Harbinger Ralgrif puts a stop to Companions pushing other people around for money. Instead they become bodyguards for those who need personal protection. Shortly after the Stormcloak capture of Whiterun, with his thane status preserved by the new jarl, Ralgrif would patrol the city streets to make sure it was safe along with the guards but he did it for free. After the war Ralgrif became a Thane of Eastmarch and would move into Hjerim. There he would construct a memorial to the previous owner mounted on a wall in a hidden room used for alchemy and enchanting so she cannot be forgotten and her spirit rests in peace. If she wants to be in Hjerim as a spirit, Ralgrif doesn't care so long as she doesn't cause trouble.

Ralgrif finds his calling in life being the Dragonborn and a hero of the people. He keeps them safe to the best of his ability and trains others to do the same through the Companions. His past will remain a secret for the rest of his life but for the rest of his life Ralgrif will more than make up for his dark deeds. Because of Ralgrif, Mallufaax is able to hunt down Boethiah's Ebony Mail and force her to bend to his demands to get it back. Boethiah apologizes to Mallufaax and agrees to bring out the best in several people who turn to her for help and no matter what Boethiah cannot lay a finger on any of them to harm them. It would take her seven months to finally get her Ebony Mail back.

For his help in the plot, Mallufaax gives Ralgrif a suit of ebony armor that is better suited to Ralgrif than the Ebony Mail. It isn't a Daedric Artifact but this suit of armor has better enchantments to help Ralgrif in his battles. On the twentieth of Evening Star, Mallufaax is on his way to meet up with Zurilda when something gets his attention. Werewolves have a little girl trapped against a tree and she is good as dead if he doesn't intervene. A rage more akin to Malice washes over him like a wave and he rushes in and takes on the werewolves, giving the little girl time to run away. Each spell he casts lights up the area as the sky darkens with the setting sun. Flashes of light fly forth at his targets when he casts his bolts and the trees around him glow when Mallufaax uses the Wall of Light spell to create barriers for the wereworlves. While his magic rips off fur and flesh, Mallufaax's sword cuts clean into his foes while his armor absorbs the blows of their claws. In the end, Mallufaax is the last one standing, leaving the werewolves in bloody pieces scattered across the sight of the clash. Bark is missing on trees where claws slashed across the trunks in an effort to hit Mallufaax and blood covers many different spots of the snow around Mallufaax. Yet even when they are dead and the little girl is long gone, his fury does not recede. It is at this moment that, after catching the little girl and getting her home safely, Zurilda approaches Mallufaax to calm him down.

"Easy there friend, they're dead and rightly so for threatening that girl," Zurilda says in a calm voice. "Let us go and enjoy a fine dinner this night, we have both earned it." Mallufaax nods in agreement but deep down he isn't sure he likes this

He thinks, Two Daedric Princes, soon to be three, may be off the list of revenge however Malice is still a problem. Zurilda may be able to sooth me but how long she can keep this up? The last thing that I want to happen is for her to get hurt in one of these outbursts. It is bad enough that the random people I helps are at risk for this as it is but Zurilda specifically, the first person to care about me like this in some time, that would be too much.

Part Five: A Reunion to Remember 4th Era 203

After meeting up with Zurilda on the twentieth of Evening Star, Mallufaax gets to work helping Hircine deal with the werewolf problem when possible. His main occupation outside of helping people is dealing with the Thalmor presence in Skyrim for Ulfric, each time the Stormcloaks advance and take a Hold he has to move in and drive out the Thalmor. In 202 the Stormcloaks drive out the Empire and the Kingdom of Skyrim is founded however some details released to the public are not true. General Tullius and Legate Rikke are reported dead but the truth is that Mallufaax helped fake their deaths and relocate them to a different part of Skryim under false identities. They become military advisors and ambassadors to Skryim and through them Ulfric and Emperor Tiber Meade work on secret deals in order to fight the Thalmor. The Legion camps eventually disappear from Skyrim to maintain the story that its' soldiers gave up and left. Shortly after the civil war in Skyrim ends, Ralgrif slays Alduin and the threat posed by dragons is eliminated.

A few dragons are spotted around Skryim but they show that they don't want to be noticed or bothered. Because Skryim is now free of the White-Gold Concordate, the Thalmor realize that they need to be very careful with their diplomatic relations because despite what some think, they are not in fighting shape for another war! Elenwen is replaced as First Emissary by a high elf named Ocarin (O-car-in) who is a very skilled diplomat and whose methods are more subtle. Things that should help ensure peace between the two nations. The werewolf problem eventually subsides but the true cause behind it and the strange appearance of werewolves is still a mystery. Many werewolves that were in Skyrim before the rise in activity willingly chose to go on the attack and thus they paid the price. Many of them died and they brought death to many more innocent werewolves as well.

To start off the new year, Zurilda helped the adventurer Katria find the Aetherium Forge alongside a young female adventure. Katria was so restless in death that her body didn't decay despite being dead for several years. This young woman, upon learning the truth when she crossed paths with Zurilda about Taron Dreth, asked if she could help make this right. Zurilda decided to ressurect Katria to make up for what happened to her and upon parting ways with Katria, Katria stated to Zurilda that she would teach this young woman what she knew about adventuring. Come the present day, the thirteenth of Rain's Hand, Mallufaax and Zurilda are now dealing with a new problem. The werewolf situation has been replaced by a vampire problem. The Vigil of Stendarr is fighting to say alive and the newly reformed Dawnguard is stretched to the limit. Even with Ralgrif and Mellidia helping as members of the Dawnguard and the reinstated Blades joining the fight, this problem isn't going to end soon. This new vampire problem and this adventure have thus brought the two daedra to Falkreath to help a Dark Elf that found out about Mallufaax and summoned him. Mallufaax and Zurilda find the Dark Elf in the Falkreath woods, her name is Selveni Nethri, and has called on Mallufaax for help finding her daughter.

"You must be Mallufaax," Selveni says with a relieved exhale, "I am Selveni Nethri. Thank you for coming on a short notice so quickly. If you don't mind that I ask, who is your friend?"

"Selveni, this is Zurilda, I brought her along expecting that I'd need some extra help," Mallufaax says to introduce Zurilda. "Now I understand you need help finding your daughter correct?"

"Yes, I found her shortly after calling for your help. She has been captured by vampires and I am not capable of taking on an entire nest of vampires and their thralls. That is why I need your help," Selveni explains though clearly fighting back emotional pain. "I know that Daedric Princes have a price for calling upon them, so I wish to know your price."

"It is a simple price," Zurilda explains. "We have agents which function as eyes and ears as well as filling in as needed. If we help you, all we ask is that you keep an eye on things in Falkreath for us. We'll make sure you know how to relay information to us. You don't have to perform dangerous investigating. We have skilled agents who will handle those situations." Zurilda and Mallufaax can see how desperate Selveni is to get her daughter back. They already know that she has been looking for her daughter for years as it is required that you state your reason for calling Mallufaax during the ritual to summon him. However the look in her eyes tells them that Selveni is ready to cry because she cannot stop thinking about her daughter and she cannot stand being so close but still so far from her child. In her thoughts Zurilda says, she'd let us rip her soul out of her right now to get her daughter back, yikes.

"If you want me to keep an eye out for trouble, then my eyes and ears are yours, all I want is to be with my daughter Savela. I've already had to miss precious years of her childhood, I cannot bear the thought of missing more." With the deal struck, the three get to work planning how to rescue Selveni's daughter tonight! Selveni takes them to an abandoned cabin where they can work out a plan with the information Selveni has already uncovered. While Selveni is away from them working at a cooking pot, Mallufaax and Zurilda talk.

"There is reason to believe that these vampires are followers of Sanguine," Zurilda comments as they discuss what little information Selveni found while trying to finding her daughter. "This isn't confirmation but what Selveni has found points to such. Maybe if we deal with these followers we can settle the score between the two of you. That would mean Molag Bal, Sanguine, Boethiah, Hircine, and Peryite are off the list of revenge." In late 202 Peryite came forward and apologized to Mallufaax, stating that the Daedric Prince of Exiles was a part of the Natural Order and an ally to him for Mallufaax helps keep the peoples of Tamriel set on their tasks. Malacath, Azura, and Meridia either sided with Mallufaax or weren't Daedra at the time of him being exiled and thus have no quarrel with him. Mallufaax considers him and Sheogorath even as a result of Sheogorath becoming Sheogorath. "Though I'm still not through with Molag Bal!" For the last month Zurilda has been hunting down those who worship Molag Bal and has killed many of his followers when she is not seeing to someone who needs help from her or Mallufaax. Earning her the nickname of "Molag Bal's Bane" among his followers.

"I want do something more interesting, more unique if I can," Mallufaax states as he thinks. His right hand on his chin as he is in thought.

"Well if this isn't enough in your mind to settle the score it is at the very least another jab at Sanguine. What I don't understand is why these vampires are working for Sanguine. It doesn't seem right."

"Back in 201 as you were recovering from your ordeal, I dealt a blow to two followers of Sanguine who were responsible for kidnapping people to fuel their monetized adult fun enterprize. I'm willing to bet that Sanguine took the first group that came to him willing to make a deal to replace his losses. Plus vampires have a way with getting people to do what they want making them good kidnappers," Mallufaax states in an effort to help Zurilda understand what is going on. "There is one thing that bothers me, how are these vampires using their thralls? Are they serving the purpose of protection or something befitting of Sanguine?"

"With that in mind I think one of us should go to this nest and determine what we are up against," Zurilda suggests. "There are too many holes in our information and too many "what ifs" facing us. We shouldn't go in unprepared or uninformed when we do raid this vampire nest and we need to find out what condition Selveni's daughter is in. If the situation is ideal we can grab her now but if Sanguine is involved, this nest may have more captives in it than just her daughter. I can look after Selveni if you want to go in alone," Zurilda offers. Mallufaax says that he wants Zurilda to come with him just in case. He doesn't suspect that anyone else knows that Selveni is here so she will be fine on her own. "Okay then, I doubt we will be gone for long but I'm going to tell her anyway." Zurilda leaves to tell Selveni of what they are doing and Selveni is okay with them doing a bit of investigating. However they give her a magical link via an amulet so she can communicate with them and vice versa.

On their way to the vampire nest, Mallufaax uses magic to contact a number of Daedric Knights and have them start preparing for combat in case he needs them. He comments to Zurilda how he wishes he could have Aldurin watch over Selveni but states the Nord is busy handling vampires elsewhere. As they walk past a large rock, Zurilda responds that she agrees that it is for the best to keep Aldurin busy with the vampires. Feeling curious as they walk, Zurilda asks Mallufaax what happened in 201 to lead up to Mallufaax going after Sanguine's followers so Mallufaax tells her about Mijeeta.

"Sounds like she had it rough in life until you showed up," Zurilda says commenting on Mijeeta's past. "I've worn out cloths myself but I get the sense she's worn cloths out to a far greater extent than anythign I've done. It is a good thing you were able to have someone else take care of me because otherwise she would have never escaped that life. How is she doing now?"

"Mijeeta is doing well. She is a good maid and a good teacher for new maids. She even helped Zerira find a wife," Mallufaax states. "Thanks to a letter I received from Mijeeta just before this situation came up, I found out that she helped Zerira's wife lay her eggs. It wasn't easy for her to help but she managed." Confused by this detail, Zurilda asks Mallufaax why Mijeeta struggled to help her boss' wife. "Not only is Mijeeta a married woman herself but she was carrying eggs of her own at the time which limited her mobility. She says that she had a belly full of them. Later that night after everyone went to sleep following the excitement, Mijeeta wrote that she retired to her room and quietly laid her eggs in peace without assistance while kneeling before a warm and cozy fire, all the while smiling."

"I see, if you can please wish Mijeeta and her husband the best of luck with their children for me," Zurilda says feeling happy for Mijeeta and her turn in fortunes. Shortly after, they reach the entrance to the nest. Using Illusion Magic Mallufaax and Velevet infiltrate the vampire nest, a cave, via turning invisible. Deep inside the cave they find kidnapping victims and the fact that they are almost all women further indicates to them both that Sanguine could be involved. As Zurilda and Mallufaax are observing the vampires while afternoon sun shines, company arrives. It is the very couple whose associates Mallufaax and his Watchdogs hunted down two years ago after saving Mijeeta. The two daedra quickly learn that the couple has come to see what the vampires have done and it quickly becomes apparent that they are in charge of these vampires, acting as the communication link between the vampires and Sanguine. Mallufaax quickly explains who this couple is to Zurilda.

"Well now that they have appeared, there isn't any doubt now that Sanguine is involved," Zurilda whispers as they stay crouched safely out of the way and remain invisible. "I believe that this couple brought these vampires into their operation to replace the associates they lost. These vampires then kidnap people to sell as slaves to be used to satisfy the cravings of Sanguine's followers or anyone who is willing to pay for some 'quality time'. Perverted basterds!" Zurilda's anger is visible but knowing that the two need to stay undetected, she keeps her voice down. "I wish that I could cut down every foe I see right this moment."

"We will, just not yet. They are here to see what the vampires have captured, it is an inspection of their work and its results," Mallufaax says and he too wants to stop hiding. The sooner Savela is out of this toxic environment the better. However I haven't seen Savela and there isn't much more of the cave to search . If she is in Sanguine's Realm then I have to know and this could be a good chance to find out. This is also a window into the operation that is going on before our eyes.

The wife of the couple says while hunched over in order to closely inspect the captives, "I am happy to see that you took what we taught you and made good use of it. These are some fine men." She states that there are just enough men to go around for the women that her operation services. These few men will serve as replacements just in case something happens. The wife then goes over to the women. "The ladies are nice and with the competition they originally posed now taken out since they now work for us, this will prove most profitable. They just need a little...bodily improvements," Zurilda quickly realizes that she means alterations to their physical body.

"Does she have any idea how painful that is?" Mallufaax whispers mostly to himself.

"Having magic forcibly transform your body is not a pretty sight," Zurilda says knowing this firsthand. "I was lucky that it was just my chest and hair color, so it wasn't too bad. However I don't think she has just that in mind for these ladies!" Zurilda goes quiet to listen to something the wife is saying, "I was right. She's planning to change them more than I was. Are any of these poor souls people that you have helped before by chance?"

"No," Mallufaax answers. "However it has happened before so it can happen again." The two continue listening and then realize that the wife intends to apply her desired changes now. Before the wife begins casting her magic, Zurilda hugs Mallufaax and closes her eyes. She cannot watch this and needs emotional support to stay here in this cave. Mallufaax puts his arms around her and holds Zurilda as they listen to the painful cries of the poor women that the wife casts her magic on. Holding Zurilda brings back an unpleasant memory in Mallufaax's mind but to help Zurilda in this situation, it is a small price to pay. As a result of staying to hear these painfull moments, their perseverance allows them to learn Savela's location from the husband. She is in a different part of the cave where she cannot see these women have their bodies forcibily altered. Since they are here for Savela, Mallufaax and Zurilda decide that they need to sneak her out of the cave now. They have been here for some time, using magic to relay information back to Selveni, and if they wait much longer the wife may get ideas about using her magic on Savela. It is almost dark out so they will remove her from the cave then come back for the rest of the captives. Towards the very back of the cave in a small room, Mallufaax stands watch as Zurilda picks the lock to the cage which the vampires are keeping Savela in. She is just seven so for her sake, Zurilda has Mallufaax put Savela to sleep and wipe her memory of this experience.

Zurilda carries Savela as Mallufaax sees them out, using invisibility magic to keep them hidden from the vampires. They closed and locked the cage to confuse the monsters and keep them from coming out of the cave to search for Savela for a short time. Thus allowing Mallufaax and Zurilda time to get away. Outside the cave, the two rush to get Savela back to Selveni, intent to complete their deal with her and then go back for the rest of the captives. But when they return to the abandoned cabin, they realize that someone has kidnapped Selveni. The door is busted open, whatever hit it did so with enough strength to break the hinges free of the door frame. With no way to know for sure, Mallufaax has to guess that it was vampires working with Sanguine who took Selveni. A troubling memory resurfaces and it makes Mallufaax's blood boil in anger!

"Let it never be said that Daedra don't make mistakes," Mallufaax states angry at himself for this. "Leave Savela here Zurilda, we're going back to get Selveni and put an end to this." Mallufaax whistles and fifteen Daedric Knights teleport to the location from the Dream Isles. "Ladies, gentlemen, keep this young girl safe until we get back. If anyone tries to take her, you know what to do!" Zurilda sets Savela down as she is waking up and tells her that they are going to get her mother. Mallufaax and Zurilda then turn around and rush back to the cave as the knights surround the cabin with their swords, shields, and magic ready for battle! At the cave, Mallufaax and Zurilda charge in head first with weapons and magic at the ready! Vampire after vampire, the two carve their way through to the captives hoping to find Selveni there. As Mallufaax tosses an orb of fiery Dark Magic at several vampires, Zurilda stabs a vampire and pushes her sword through their body! The tip of her sword sticks out far enough that when Zurilda forces the first vampire into a second vampire, she fatally damages the second vampire's heart. Between the two warriors, they make enough of a distraction that Selveni is able to break free from the vampires holding her and kill them with Conjuration magic. She casts bound arrow spells to engage the remaining vampires at range where she is at her strongest while Mallufaax uses Swallowing Darkness to slay a vampire thrall. After the cave is cleared of vampires, the other captives are set free and then sent off with an escort of Mallufaax's knights. Then Selveni talks with Mallufaax and Zurilda. Though the couple left, they had enough time for the wife to cast her magic on Selveni. Despite feeling tired as a result of enduring the pain of having her body forcibly changed and her body having to adjust to these changes rapidly, Selveni is standing strong nevertheless.

"I'm sorry about this, I didn't mean to get captured. Those vampires came out of nowhere but I managed to hide the information you two gave me," Selveni says with a worried facial expression. Her biggest worry right now is her daughter. "After the vampires broke in, they put me under some sort of spell to make me obedient to their commands, that is how they brought me here. Then a human woman cast magic on me and forcibly changed my body to make me more attractive to the men she wanted to sell me to. It hurt alright, but the pain is gone now and I won't complain about my new smoking hot body which that woman said is immune to scaring. I didn't see Savela in here however, is she safe?"

"She is just fine and this time we left the cabin with some protection. All that matters right now is getting you out of here," Mallufaax says in response as he listens to the sound of magic. "Just great, it sounds like Sanguine isn't through with us yet." A number of men in leather armor enter the cave and they have daedra with them. These daedra have a feminine body-type and dress very freely to show off their bodies which for some men is enough to let down their guard. They also have magic that can mess with the weak minded. Either way when their prey is is disadvantaged they can either capture them or kill them with their unique whips. However Mallufaax is immune to their lure and Zurilda and Selveni are women so they are not affected. "I'd say we have Sanguine's attention, time to settle this score!" Thirteen of Mallufaax's soldiers teleport into the cave behind him and the two women. A fight ensues and this one is harder than the last one Mallufaax had with the followers of Sanguine. The cave isn't big enough for more Chaos Magic since that risks friendly fire and though the Light School which he has come to preside over as well wouldn't be troubled by this, he's too close to his targets to use it. Mallufaax thus relies on his sword in this fight just like the last one. Shortly after the fight begins, more vampires and daedra show up on the side of the men from Sanguine however Mallufaaxs' daedric knights in their silver armor can handle them.

Mallufaax manages to casts a Light spell that seeks out a man as its target! When the spell hits its target, the man suffers a lethal wound to his chest. One of the daedra sent by Sanguine swings her whip at Mallufaax who blocks the worst of the blow by using the blade of his sword to catch the whip. This cuts the whip in two and takes away the only effective way that this daedra has to fight Mallufaax. He gets right up in her face and cuts her head off, trapping her soul in a special soul gem exclusively for daedra! He does this because kidnapping children pisses Mallufaax off and he is upset that he didn't leave Selveni under some protection to begin with. With visible anger Mallufaax tears into his foes like Malice would. While Mallufaax is slaying the daedra, Zurilda shoves her left hand under the rib cage of one of the men. With the claws on her gauntlet she grabs this man's heart and rips it out of his chest. She kicks this man away and he gets caught by the swing of a deadric knight's battle axe after it cuts another man in two! Several men and two daedra manage to surround Zurilda when she goes for another kill using her sword. She doesn't have many ways out of this situation but she keeps her cool and when her opponents try to close in on her Zurilda uses Dance of Death and spawns magic ribbons and spins around at speed! The ribbons surround Zurilda in an impenaterable vortex of red and slice up anyone around her that gets too close. As she is spinning, she moves to go for the foes that are behind/between her and her allies. The spinning ribbons envelop these men and daedra, cutting through their armor and even their weapons, leaving nothing but shreds of flesh and chuncks of bodies and weapons on the ground.

When Zurilda escapes her situation, Mallufaax kills a man before him and then turns his attention to the men and daedra that surrounded Zurilda. As Mallufaax engages them he wishes that he could use Erupting Chaos but there are too many friendly beings around and in its range for that. A shame since it would be perfect for this fight. As Mallufaax is focused on his foes, Selveni uses Dread Zombie to raise the man he just killed to protect her. Selveni is not suited for fighting up close like Mallufaax and Zurilda so she has to rely on the dead she raises to keep her enemies away from her. Selveni also knows a few fire spells and is aware that vampires don't like fire so she casts fireball to keep the vampires in check while the daedric knights of Mallufaax engage them. Without warning, more men and vampires enter the cave but they look as if they were running from something and that something follows them. A small band of Vigilants of Stendarr enter the cave and have their way with these men and vampires. Before long the Vigilants dispatch every man and vampire that fled into the cave and then they turn their attention to those that Mallufaax and company are fighting. With the help of the Vigilants they are able to finish this fight and after everything that has happened on this adventure now, Mallufaax feels comfortable saying that the score between Sanguine and him is settled.

"Stand down Vigilants," the leader of this band says to his companions. "These are our friends," he says knowing who Mallufaax is. "Mallufaax, Daedric Prince of Exiles, I am Grimbor (Grim-bore) of the Poachers Guild and Vigilants of Stendarr. It is an honor meet you." Grimbor is not a fan of the Daedra but he respects Mallufaax and what he does so Grimbor considers Mallufaax an exception to his views.

"The feeling is mutual," Mallufaax extends his hand and Grimbor shakes it. "I've worked with your father on a few occasions and I can see he raised you well and you inherited a lot of good things from him. I'm glad to see that you're still kicking and in case you're not aware, your father is keeping up the good fight in Haafingar."

"Thank you, I received a letter from him today saying that but it is good to have extra validation of his survival," Grimbor says to Mallufaax. "I don't know what is going on here with these vampires but I am glad it was taken care of. There were a lot of disapearences happening as of late, it is strange if you ask me as I'd expect the vampires to kill their prey and take all of their blood then leave the bodies. However we encountered many of those reported missing with what I now assume are your minions. Hopefully this means that the disapearences in this area will come to an end. Until we meet again my friend," Grimbor says to Mallufaax.

"Until then, oh and Rornak (Roar-nack) and his apprentice are working hard to combat this problem along The Rift/Eastmarch border," Mallufaax says to Grimbor. "I told him I'd say hello if I ran into you or your friend Harbin (Har-bin). They don't call him the Dark Hunter for nothing to say the least."

"No they do not," Grimbor says and the two parties leave. Along the way back to Savela Mallufaax explains to Zurilda what the Poachers Guild is. They are a group started by a number of hunters long ago who lived off the land and came together to fight werewolves and other beasts spawned by Lycanthropy following several werewolf attacks. They would not let the deaths of loved ones go unanswered. The name hides their true purpose and if you can get into the Poachers Guild, you can get into just about anything. He describes the process of joining the Poachers Guild as joining both the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild at once! Grimbor and his friends Rornak and Harbin are all Poachers and Stormcloak Rangers, they are not to be underestimated whether at a distance or in a melee fight.

"The one named the Dark Hunter is one of the most feared Poachers of them all," Mallufaax says to Zurilda as the trio walks back to the abandoned cabin. "He gets his name from how he often hunts at night, is very stealthy, and isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to keep Skyrim safe. When you can silently sneak into a werewolf camp and quietly kill nine werewolves, steal five thousand septims, save the daughters of a noble, and set fire to the werewolves supplies before making a successful escape then you will be feared by your enemies." Zurilda asks Mallufaax about what he did with Rornak. "While helping out some people that I was made aware of via an agent in The Rift, I ran into him and his apprentice, he needed help with vampires that were making it hard for the people I was helping to sleep at night so I joined them. We took care of the vampires and a poor farming family could sleep easy again. Though his methods were brutal, his methods of killing are efficient and killed the vampire thralls quite quickly. The Dark Hunter felt that it would be a waste of his time to inflict wounds that would kill them slowly. He asked me to say hello to his friends for him if I had the chance." Mallufaax and Zurilda bring Selveni back to the abandoned cabin where they left Savela and find that his daedric knights, after a tough fight with vampires and gargoyals, have kept her safe.

Investigating Savela's condition reveals that the wife of the couple changed her body too so she'll look like her mother does now in a matter of years. Since Zurilda wiped her memory, she won't remember the experience and can enjoy her good looks in the future. The reunion of mother and daughter is heart warming, Selveni picks up her daughter as the first thing she does and rests her daughter against her chest so Savela can hear and feel the beating of her mother's loving heart. Selveni says with tears in her eyes that they'll never be torn from each other again, and that she cannot wait to make up for lost time. She begins listing off ideas of things that they can do togehter and how much she wants to know what her daughter is like so she can be the best mother she can for her. Savela simply smiles as she tears up and eventaully falls asleep in her mother's grasp. Selveni finds work in Falkreath at Grave Concoctions a few days after she is reunited with her seven year old daughter. She also finds a house in Falkreath fit for the two of them with room for more if Selveni would like more company than her daughter. In her new house Selveni, sets up a basement room where she can store what she needs as a Watchdog to send the information she gathers to other Watchdogs or Mallufaax and Zurilda. She also makes sure that this room is well hidden to ensure that company doesn't know that it is there. Mallufaax and Zurilda stick around to make sure that Selveni is settled in and can get started on her new duties as soon as possible. They also learn a bit more about Selveni's past as a mother. When Zurilda asks her why she isn't with the father of Savela while they are standing in Selveni's basement, Selveni reveals that Savela isn't supposed to exist based on social law.

"What do you mean that she isn't supposed to exist based on social law?" Zurilda asks.

"Eight years ago now, I was just a young woman who had come to Skyrim from Morrowind and had nearly nothing. When I came to Riften, I found work cleaning up the city's trash and disposing of it. I made enough money to put a roof over my head but it was barely enough so I had to resort to selling myself to put more septims in my pocket," Selveni explains to Zurilda as background information. "There was one client of mine who frequently paid for my services and eventually he was the only client I had and needed. Somehow, we made our daughter." Selveni looks at Zurilda with suspicion. "You can see right through me can't you. The truth is we do know how, we were drunk and threw caution to the wind in the name of what we thought would be fun. Since she was not made within the bounds of wedlock and it was when I was selling myself, the people of Riften would have been furious since they do not take kindly to the existence of such a child. Savela's father couldn't have anything to do with her to avoid social ramifications and to marry the woman he loved. I didn't want to do this alone," Selveni places her hands on her belly as she thinks about this tim in her life. "Yet I wasn't going to steal his dream from him after what I had gone through up to that point." Zurilda is not surprised. She has seen a lot of 'booze babies' as she calls them conceived outside of wedlock since she started working with Mallufaax. She also has seen several places where being born out of wedlock is socially unaccepted. "Thus I decided to care for Savela on my own as a single mother. It was scary, especialy at the end of my pregnancy when I had a large belly in order to carry her and feared that I couldn't bring her into the world due to her size. If not for a woman I count as a friend, that may have turned out to be the case. Her father is living a good life with his family now. Life for me could have been better, but at least I have my daughter once more."

"Well before I go I want to say that I hope you two don't get separated again," Zurilda concludes with a smile. "Thanks for answering my question." Selveni says goodbye to Zurilda who leaves with Mallufaax to continue on to their next task. As the two walk away from Falkreath, Zurilda asks Mallufaax about how he is feeling because he was the background while Selveni told her story and something about that has Mallufaax off centered. "I understand if this is hard to talk about Mallufaax," Zurilda says to the Lord of Exiles as they pass an old tower once used by a necromancer while traveling to The Reach. "However I'm not blind, something about women is bothering you and if you need to talk about it I'm here to listen. I don't know if it has something to do with Malice but it wouldn't surprise me if it did."

Mallufaax sighs knowing that he cannot keep Zurilda from this, he tells her what he is comfortable with her knowing right now, "long ago something happened involving me and another woman. I was trying to help her like I help others who are cast out by society and I failed. Now I had failed many times before it was nothing new to me but this time there was something different. She was different from every other woman I helped before and after her. Ever since, it seems that certain things about women like you hugging me and seeing that Selveni had been kidnapped remind me of that failure and I hate that. As a result, it can sometimes cause Malice to pipe up. I've been dealing with this problem for several hundred years and it isn't all that bad aside from Malice being annoying. Until recently I didn't have to deal with it since Medena gave birth to her daughters and I had to defend her during the delivery."

"That 'recently' was when I came along wasn't it," Zurilda says and Mallufaax nods yes. "Well if you need someone to talk to about this, just tell me. Don't let this eat you up inside. You cannot save everyone and you make mistakes, over the last few years I've learned to deal with that and stopped letting how Molag Bal changed my body bring me down so I know you can too." Somehow I feel like I know what Mallufaax is talking about. I don't know why I feel like this but I do. In the coming weeks they find more vampires who work for Sanguine. However there is a fatal flaw in their approach aside from attracting the attention of Mallufaax and Zurilda. "The people these vampires intend to enthrall prefer to be at a men's club in Markarth. They're single and want to look at some beautiful laides and it just so happens that the men's club is looking for something that can draw a crowd. Since my former performing group can keep the truth of my identity a secret and is in the area, they could help us mess with Sanguine's plans long enough for you and your knights to eliminate the vampires." Mallufaax gives Zurilda a surprised look, "trust me it is far from my first time performing in a place like that, though it is my least favorite especially when I have to wear any swimwear be it one or two piece swimwear. That is how my group started out, simple gigs like that so we had money." Surprised but understanding, Mallufaax aproves of Zurilda's plan and helps her set int motion. On the night which this plan is to be put into action, Zurilda puts on a show with her old performing gorup and Sanguine ends up being furious that Mallufaax has beat him at his own game of indulging the private desires of Markarth's men.

Yet Sanguine is even more furious at Molag Bal for making Zurilda into a daedra and a pretty one. Zurilda has the soul of a Daedra but retained her beautiful Nord flesh and blood. Her show combined with past experience and powers, and her stealing of the spotlight from Sanguine forces every Daedric Prince to accept a startling new reality. ZurildaShade-Danger has taken the title of the Daedric Princess of Entertainment and is to be respected as one. Worse for Sanguine is that Zurilda knows how to train others to entertain both the normal audiences and those who want something more adult rated. Shortly after the show, just a matter of weeks, Zurilda brings in her former performing group as her first agents. Since the members of her former performing group are not warriors, Zurilda then recruits proper warriors to her cause with Mallufaax's help so she has the means to defend her agents. Come the end of 203, with help from Mallufaax, Zurilda has a small network of followers and agents who are dubbed Warrior Bards. Given that there is no known way for Zurilda to carve out her own realm in Oblivion and that there is more than enough space, Mallufaax allows her to use his Dream Isles as a base of operations. She never thought that she would achieve this but Mallufaax knows that Zurilda is worthy of being a Daedric Princess and that she is a princess who is good and not evil. Mallufaax decides that Zurilda should be free to do more of what she wants especially now that she has a following to take care of but Zurilda tells him that she will remain his agent and will help him and his Watchdogs when possible.

"I may be striking out on my own but I will remember what you have done for me," she says to Mallufaax on the last day of the year. "Please don't be a stranger and don't feel ackward about attending a more adult rated show that I put on or that my agents put on, there is no shame in having desires and I have no problems entertaining good friends after they have a long day of work to relax away." With this, the two part ways and hours later, the new year begins. With Zurilda now some distance away from him, Mallufaax feels a little more comfortable because he doesn't have to worry about Malice hurting her whether intentionally or not. As the new year beings and Zurilda isn't seeing Mallufaax on a regular basis, Mallufaax notices that Malice is keeping his mouth shut and leaving him alone. Still he cannot stop thinking about that woman he failed to save and that Zurilda reminds him of.

As Mallufaax and Zurilda walk out the door of their home, Selveni and her daughter begin properly enjoying life together along with all its precious moments. These moments include Selveni getting married two months after being reunited with her daughter to a longtime friend she hadn't seen since he left Riften and having three more children in 204. Savela takes some time to get used to not having her mother's exclusive attention but eventually she settles into life as an older sister. For the birth of her triplets, Selveni goes to the one person she trust her life with in this situation. Under the care of Idela (I-Dee-la), Selveni feels safe because when she needed a safe place to give birth to Savela on a tight budget, Idela took her in. Idela made such a scary moment in Seleveni's life almost fearless and saw her through the birth without a hitch. No one else would deliver Savela for the price Selveni could afford, and Selveni was terrified of something going wrong if she tried to give birth on her own because of how big she expected Savela to be when she was born. An expectation that was accurate and Idela later told her that Savela was as big as she could get to be born without the use of a C-Section. When her triplets are born without a hitch, Selveni names the only girl among them Idela to thank the kind Nord for all that she has done for her and her family.

Part Six: The Teacher of Men 4th Era 204

Coming back behind the stage after another performance for the men of Skyrim, Zurilda and her performing group are happy to have another success under their belt. Each successful performance in a men's club is another jab at Sanguine who isn't yet over the lose of the spheres that he once presided over. The threat of vampires is over now thanks to the Dawnguard who have killed Lord Harkon and shortly after the only two other known Daughters of Coldharbour cured their vamperisim. It was too much of a risk for the world to have them remain vampires and the cure meant they could have a smooth departure from the surrounding events. Zurilda has settled the score between her and Molag Bal, leaving plenty of his followers dead since she first set out on her own as a Daedric Princess. Back stage in her bikini, Zurilda and her fellow performers are happy about their success and are ready to call it a night. Swimwear like this and in general is considered to be something of a luxury as not everyone has the income to buy extra clothing that they would use only for if they can go swimming. Especially depending on the quality and complexity of the swimwear, however this does make it easier for Zurilda and her group to attract an audience to these kinds of shows.

"Another successful show, another night of fun," Zurilda says to her agents and good friends. "I love it when I get to perform with you lot, it is just like old times even when it is at my least favorite venue, men's clubs. I'm happy to see that you found a new dancer to take my place in the normal day-to-day shows." The dancer that has taken Zurilda's place among the group is a new graduate of the Theater College in Solitude. She is a young beautiful High Elf and is shy and bit timid because she is new to the job, fresh out of the college, and has become a member of an experienced professional group of performers. She doesn't want to cause them trouble or cost them money which is quite funny to Zurilda. "Relax Raldeth, I think that you are a great addition to the group and are quite brave considering your the only one of us who isn't a Nord and you're performing Skyrim. You did great out there, and if you ask me you're one of the best dancers to come out of the Theater College in years. The crowd certainly liked how you moved and they certainly liked your body, which they can only dream of getting since you have a really good boyfriend who I wouldn't be surprised if you settled down with. I prefer my red thick strap bikini over your white one with blue trim and thin straps but that is just preference." As Zurilda and her friends are talking back stage, Mallufaax is in Quagmire, specifically the home of Vaermina.

He is finishing a deal between him and Vaermina. Mallufaax is bringing Vaermina a new person to do her work, a powerful Breton Mage named Amaria (a-mar-ia) who suffers from terrible nightmares. After Vaermina apologized to him, Mallufaax found her a new agent and Amaria is the one for the job. She has good reason to work with Vaermina, it could mean being rid of the nightmares she has as a result of her past actions. Actions that she refuses to tell him about other than that she refuses to pick up real weapons and if she uses a weapon, she only uses a bound weapon and only in emergencies. As Vaermina shakes hands with Amaria, Mallufaax watches them and how Vaermina seems like she's trying to comfort her new agent. He leaves shortly thereafter and returns to Skyrim but upon his return, Mallufaax learns of Hermaus Mora's behavior on the island of Solstheim through Ralgrif. They meet on the Windhelm docks and then start a conversation as they walk into the city. Ralgfrif explains that Mirrak brought his death upon himself but still the way he died isn't something that Mallufaax approves of. Worse is how Hermaeus Mora killed the Shaman of the Skaal. Hermaeus Mora can claim all the lordship he wants over Ralgrif but by doing that in front of the Dragonborn, he has lost alll but a tiny bit of power over him. Mallufaax listens and completely believes Ralgrif when Ralgrif says that Mallufaax has more influence over Ralgrif than Hermaeus Mora. Seeing the oportunity to get back at Hermaeus Mora, Ralgrif has an idea about how to avenge the shaman.

"Hermaeus Mora loves knowledge but people only go to Apocrypha because there is are very few places they can go to get even a basic education," Ralgrif says to Mallufaax and they walk to Hjerim to talk in private within its' walls. "Sure the lure of forbidden knowledge is also at play but lets be honest here how many people actually go to Apocrypha for that? I have seen the realm and I can bet comfortable that several Seekers were just men or women trying to get smarter in order to improve their life. If that changes, as in we provide means of education here in Skyrim, very few people will have a reason to go to Apocrypha. In the mean time we can take out the monsters' minions and loyal daedra." Ralgrif is very much looking for every way that he can sabotage the influence of Hermaeus Mora but if he could he'd just kill the Daedric Prince. No shenanigans, no over the top plans, just straight to the point with the head of a warhammer hitting the prince fatally.

"We can also cut off access to his realm by destroying the Black Books and you have them all," Mallufaax says to Ralgrif. They quickly start devising a plan, first is to get rid of the Black Books after taking the powers they offer and storing them in a safer book. Using his dark arts Mallufaax then severs their connection to Apocrypha so they can destroy these evil books. These two things take the two about two days and then the hard part begins. How do you bring knowledge to Skyrim? They don't have much time to spend thinking on this with fall in full swing and bandits looking to take as much food from the farmers as they can. The two are forced out into Skyrim to deal with the bandit problem, but along the way Mallufaax gets a break. He runs into the Poacher's Guild member Rornak who directs him to his now former apperntice and fellow guild member Kalek (Kay-Leek)and she is very wise and aware of the problem he faces. Despite her strange split personality which Kalek strangely controls, Kalek is exactly the person Mallufaax needs to talk to. For such a young woman, Kalek is well on her way to her masters degrees in mathematics and science. She is also close to becoming a master in the School of Destruction.

"It isn't that there isn't a way we cannot start educating the public properly," Kalek says to Mallufaax as they sit in The Bannered Mare and Saadia sets their order before them. "It is that nobody is willing to try it because they don't see it as necessary. Believe me Mallufaax you're not alone in taking notice of this problem. Myself and other scholars are all too aware of it. We've decided to start collecting information to see just where the education level of Skyrim's people stands at. It will take time to get enough information to figure out where the level of education is at and to convince anyone in power to support a proper education system." At this point, the Poacher's Guild member Rornak and Kalek's mother Valek (Vay-leek) sit down in the two available chairs at the table. Saadia asks what they would like and they place an order for the two of them. "Not to mention we need people wise enough to be teachers. There has to be regulations on so many things...in short we have to start from scratch and face a lot of work that will be ahead of us if we want to create public education systems."

"There has to be someone in power who would support this if we are to achieve anything," Rornak's voice is cold with hate. "Jarl Laila Law-Giver would be the perfect one to talk to if Riften had the money and less corruption in the right places. Considering all I've done for The Rift, the lives and the septims that I've saved it purging werewolves and then vampires, she'd be inclined to support the idea in recompense for all I've done for the Hold." Aside from the few werewolves that together have formed the now only pack in The Rift and the orphaned children they've taken in, the hold is werewolf free. Though he isn't the most feared Poacher, Rornak's constant stalking of werewolves and ambushing them from the dark of night without warning has made him a closely feared contender. The Poacher's Guild has an ample supply of human flesh from Rornak's kills and more than enough werewolf pelts for its needs as a result of his work.

"One step at a time Rornak," Valek says with a calm voice. Her time as a mother has molded her mind into a very calm and controlled one over the years following the hardship she has had to survive to get to this point. After putting so much work into nurturing her daughter's talents and knowledge, Valek personally wants to see this idea through to completion as much as anyone else here. "Let's start by building up our understand of the level of education inSkyrim. It means getting out there and analyzing people and what they know. With enough field study we can get to the answer and then go from there."

"There is one more thing that I need to state," Rornak says to the group. "Even while purging the werewolves and the vampires in this last year, I've noticed an uptick in daedric activity possibly related to Hermaeus Mora. Whether he is responsible or not for it, this needs to be taken care of before it gets any worse. After all Hermaeus Mora will certainly get involved in our affair for it deals with knowledge, his area of dominance. If it threatens his chances of people coming to his realm seeking knowledge, he will surely intervene to stop us." Rornak elaborates that he has either seen or heard of reported sightings of seekers and lurkers in Skyrim. He isn't sure why these creatures are here but he doesn't care. "Werewolves, vampires, and Daedra are all the same, they are nothing more than invaders to be slain. The only thing that matters is that they are taken care of with efficent attacks and killing blows that leave no chance for them to strike back!" As Rornak and Valek wait for their food, the four beings continue to talk over this matter. The team of four proceeds to spend days planning how to get started on their plan while taking note of these daedra. On the 1st of Frostfall they get started with the execution of their plan. Rornak and Kalek will start studying Whiterun Hold's knowledge level while Mallufaax and Valek deal with the daedra in the Hold. Valek is a spear wielding lightning and Ice mage who dabbles a bit in fire magic. She can hold her own in the fighting they both expect to come. Her light armor also provides her with a good amount of protection. As Mallufaax and Valek travel the hold looking for the daedra, they talk and catch up.

"I'm happy to see that you've raised a healthy daughter Valek," Mallufaax says with a smile behind his helmet. "When you summoned me at the age of of sixteen, you looked terrible and had so little to your name. On top of that you were pregnant with the child of a monster. Now you're living a good life in Skyrim and Kalek has turned into a fine woman. Kalek is just turning 17 this year and she's already mastering the School of Destruction. Following in your footsteps I see," Mallufaax says to the mother as a compliment.

Valek smiles, "Well I have my wits and my will to thank for getting me this far but I have you to thank for getting me started. You helped me get here and get a job even if I was a maid to a wealthy couple. I admit I was scared but Kalek has turned out to be a blessing despite the fact I had no say in her. She also didn't fall back into the poverty you helped me escape. Since then, I'm proud to say that I have become a spellspear with your help to get the hang of my magic. Additionally I've turned some unfortunate results of becoming a mother into advantages and sources of income."

"Oh really?" Mallufaax asks. "Perhaps I should inquire about this one day." Mallufaax never asked Valek to become one of his agents, in fact he never asked anything of her. She had nothing to give him that was of any use to him and what she did have she needed. Valek decided nonetheless to do the work of his agents and has connections so she can get information about bounties and more from Mallufaax's Watchdogs. Now she also gets informaiton from the Warrior Bards as well. Valek explains as they walk along the stone road in the outdoors that she has uses her infertility which developed after having her daughter to earn some extra septims. "Creative, tell me have you ran into Kalek's father since I helped you?"

Valek sighs and then says with a sad facial expression, "no but I've ran into my fair share of sad men who could have turned into him. Over the years I've met other Kahjiit men who were good men but couldn't get the woman they wanted. They could sell those heartless women their soul and those women would take the soul and sell it. Some men I saw in that position gave up and moved on, others killed themselves, and a few were in the middle of the two." Curious about the last group, Mallufaax decides to go against his desires of changing the subject to something less unsettling and asks about them. "The last group, the ones in the middle, has only four men in it. They wouldn't kill themselves but they couldn't move on. They each loved a lady but the ladies wouldn't have them for their stupid reasons or treated these men terribly. As a result...these four men suffered from serious depression and loneliness. I can only guess what would have happened if I didn't step in." Valek thus tells Mallufaax that she decided to sate the appetites of these men herself. Because she had nothing to lose and could walk away knowing that she was doing a good thing for these men, Valek was happy with her decision. They knew that she was only a temporary lover, but her genuine love was enough to save them and turn their lives around for the better.

"Well that is one way to turn an unfortunate side effect into a blessing," Mallufaax says with a smile. "What happened to those four?" With a smile Valek says that the first three kahjiit men found good wives after she parted ways with them and are living well as far as she knows. "That is good news but what about the fourth?"

"My husband has fully recovered from what that wench put him through and nobody treats me as well as he does," Valek responds. She smiles, "I never thought I'd say this but I wish we could start a family together." They walk to the mountains that separate Falkreath and Whiterun Hold and then turn west. Catching up along the way. It doesn't take them long to find a person who is out of place. A beggar who is for some reason alone out in the middle of nowhere. He seems in a state of madness and upon closer inspection has black spots in the whites of his eyes. Two known signs of Hermaeus Mora's influence.

Mallufaax comments, "Well this poor soul has seen better days."

"What I don't get is why Hermaeus Mora would even bother with these kinds of people," Valek says as she studies this individual. "This is a beggar, what value could their possibly be in having influence over a person like this?"

"Well it is valuable enough that Hermaeus Mora just sent some of his minions to stop us," Mallufaax states and then Valek turns her back to the beggar and sees two lurkers getting closer to them. "I don't think this beggar was always or even is a beggar, he's just meant to look like one. However we'll have find out what the truth really is once we deal with these lurkers."

"One on one, this shouldn't take us very long to deal with," Valek prepares her magic in her left hand. "I just hope Hermaeus Mora doesn't steal our beggar from us while our backs are turned." It doesn't take Valek and Mallufaax very long to finish off two simple Lurkers. Valek quickly froze them in place and Mallufaax cut them down,striking first at the legs to bring them to the ground and then finishing blows to the upper body and neck. In this short time nothing happens to their beggar and they are able to investigate him further. Mallufaax decides to try to break the hold Hermaeus Mora has on this beggar and is successful in this. Doing so allows them to question this beggar and find out who he is and it turns out that this beggar is a scholar that has gone missing. "Well I am glad that you're okay and that Hermaeus Mora decided to not steal you out from under us. Do you have any memory of the time from when you went missing to now?" Valek asks the scholar who is an expert in mathematics. He responds that he doesn't. "Okay then, we'll be talking again soon and you'll love the idea we have but for now we need to safeguard you. With that said, you'll where we're going to have you stay. " Mallufaax thusly sends this scholar to the Dream Isles for safe keeping and so he can get cleaned up after being out in the wild for some time. His Daedric Knights and other minions will keep watch on the scholar. "Why is Hermaeus Mora kidnapping a scholar?"

"I think I know why," Mallufaax responds now all but assured that Ralgrif was right. "He is trying to actively prevent people from getting an education without going through him. He draws people to him seeking knowledge and they get trapped in his realm or forced into serving him. Ralgrif suggested that most people who go to Apocrypha are going there to find basic knowledge because not many people care about the forbidden knowledge housed in that realm. Though I cannot say for certain if this the truth as I've not had to deal with anything involving Hermaeus Mora for life times, I think this is the most likely explanation." Mallufaax and Valek turn west and follow the mountains periodically encountering Lurkers and Seekers as they expected. They take careful note to mark down where they find these daedra and no pattern emerges but it is troubling that a number of daedra who serve Hermaeus Mora are in White Run Hold. More than Rornak knew about from the reports he mentioned. More concerning is that shortly after the sixth encounter with daedra following the scholar, a group of armed men attack them. By using magic Mallufaax and Valek hold their own and finish off this group but upon searching them they find a letter written in Daedric Script stating that they are supposed to abduct a Kahjiit woman whose description matches Valek perfectly.

"I'm not liking where this is going," Mallufaax says to Valek as they get back on their way. "Daedra in the wild for some strange reason and semi-mad men coming to abduct you for quote 'academic reasons'. I think we can safely confirm that Hermaeus Mora is actively trying to stop us from education the public and leave them with no need to go to him." Valek asks if there is anything to suggest that these men may go after her daughter who is very smart herself. "Nothing that is in this letter and it is the only one we found on these bodies. Plus Rornak and Kalek are capable fighters; they should be able to take care of themselves."

"True," Valek says and she thinks for a moment, "however we don't know for certain." They continue walking west, "lets find the reported daedra and wipe them out so they at least don't get in our way. If there are more missing scholars lets hope we find them too before it is possibly too late." Across the Hold along the route to Eastmarch, Rornak and Kalek have just wrapped up a fight with a group of men who came out of nowhere and seemed to be mad. As Poachers, Kalek and Rornak have access to powers called Spirits. The one that mattered most is Kalek's Spirit Kindling, when she casts a spell she develops a temporary charge in her body that, as it gets more powerful, amplifies the spells she casts (5-15 percent stronger, stacks with other spell boosting effects) and depending on the spell, gives it a longer duration (2-5 sections longer duration, stacks with other spell duration boosting effects). If she builds up this charge to a point it will however block her from casting more spells until the charge is released so careful management of this charge is needed. She broke up the attackers with her magic, and Rornak finished them off with a series of attacks that flew through the air as fluid as water moving across an unobstructed river.

"These men weren't here prior to our arrival based on your knowledge Rornak, were they?" Kalek asks. Around them is Rornak's brutal handy work, coldly calculated blows meant to waste no time on anyone have resulted in over a dozen men dead by his hand. Many were killed instantly by his blows aimed primarily at the head and didn't have a chance to realize that they were dying because the blows resulted in instant death. Rornak used the sword in his right hand to decapitate many heads, his arm maintaining a near perfectly horizontal plain as it brought his sword to and then through the neck of his foe. The mace in his left hand, by contrast, came down either at a diagonal angle into the side of skulls or straight down and smashed the top of skulls down into his victims. All the while Kalek incinerated many other foes around Rornak to make sure they didn't regain any momentum or strength in numbers. I don't yet know what scares me more about him, his hatred and desire to wipe out werewolves in Skyrim or how coldly efficent he kills. I've seen him take so many heads off and cave in many more during our time together, so often he slays his foe instantly with but a single blow to such a vital spot. Sure he takes off limbs and sometimes attacks other parts of the body, but even then it is all geared towards one thing, landing that simple but brutally effective and quickly killing blow.

"No, also concerning to me is why they are here," Rornak hasn't yet searched the bodies but he will and will find out that they were sent to kidnap Kalek. "These men seemed mad and considering that madness is a known sign of Hermaeus Mora having influence or control over a being, we should be careful. Lets keep going and hope we don't run into more of these people and your mother is having better luck with the daedra." Rornak and Kalek turn out to be lucky and don't get bothered again while they are out studying the education level of Whiterun Hold. Mallufaax and Valek are lucky in that they find they daedra they are after but as they go west along the mountains they continue to run into more daedra than were reported and more madmen come for Valek. Along the way west they encounter two more supposed beggars who are really missing scholars. They manage to secure these scholars and safeguard them in the Dream Isles which makes Mallufaax think that Hermaeus Mora isn't actively monitoring them himself, but they find themselves asking how many more are there in Skyrim? As Mallufaax and Valek come up on Bloated Man's Grotto they find a high elf mage who is fending off a strong Lurker Vindicator. Mallufaax recognizes her magic as spells from the School of Illusion Magic, the combat spells of this school are not bad but only if this mage is very skilled in the School of Illusion Magic. Since she is clearly winning the fight to defend herself and her horse and wagon, Mallufaax believes that mage will be fine on her own but he decides that it is better to be safe than sorry. Using the Light Spell Light Ballista he fires a giant bolt of white magic at his target and when his spell hits the Lurker it loses an arm and then dies shortly there after!

"Thank you for your help," the mage says to Mallufaax under the afternoon sun once the two parties are together and she is clearly unnerved and worried by her body language. She doesn't seem shy, just softer voiced than your average high elf. "I didn't expect to see anyone else on the road here while I was traveling." She looks at Mallufaax and this mage's eyes can see past his appearance. "You're not a Nord are you sir not deep within. You appear to have Nord flesh and blood but you still have the soul of a Daedra." Now the mage is shy because she has bad experiences with Daedra. "Is there something you want from me like he does?"

Slighlty confused, Mallufaax asks, "Who wants what from you?"

"Hermaeus Mora wants the knowledge I have regarding a rare form of Nirnroot and how it alters the body's natural growth behavior during the maturing process so he can add it to his collection. I don't know why I fight because he always wins in the end," the high elf mage states with some sadness. Mallufaax steps forward and introduces himself to the high elf and asks her to confirm that Hermaeus Mora has not taken any knowledge from her at any time. "No, he has taken nothing that I know of but the things I know will keep him or his minions coming after me until he knows them too. When I was a young girl I wanted to be a scholar and a good one but now my dream has me slowly slipping into the grasp of a Daedric Prince. The money it cost to get this far is already a burden even with the help of a good teacher but this is just too much." Looking at this mage and how she looks away from him and at the ground, Mallufaax can see that she needs his help. With almost no effort Mallufaax gets her to reveal that she came from a family with nearly nothing. "I worked tirelessly and was lucky to get the teacher that I did when I didn't get the scholarship I deserved. That is how I made it this far." Sensing opportunity the Lord of Exiles offers his help to the mage who is quick to show interest but something interrupts her and scares the high elf mage. Mallufaax turns around and he spots a powerful lurker walking towards him and the two women.

Then this bad situation gets even worse when Hermaeus Mora himself appears just behind the Daedra, "well well well, it appears that you have finally found this high elf Mallufaax. It is as I have seen it and we both know that you will fight soon to protect her but it will be in vain. Even if Valek kills one lurker I have many more and you have to choose to save her or the mage. We both know you value Valek more because of her daughter and that you don't have the power to save them both. Not power that you're willing to use that is. The knowledge the high elf possess has eluded me for a long time but like all knowledge it will always come into my possession," Hermaeus Mora states and he is right. Most of the knowledge that Mallufaax knows of has eventually ended up in the hands of Hermaeus Mora. However there are things that Hermaeus Mora doesn't know and that plays to Mallufaax's advantage. Not to mention he's had enough of Hermeaus Mora pulling as many strings as he can so the things he speaks of end up happen and he cannot be wrong.

"Why go after her and Valek combined?" Mallufaax asks Hermaeus Mora trying to get the Daedric Prince to focus on him. "I know plenty of things that you in turn do not. Why not come for me?" Those two should be able to handle themselves against a lurker or two, and if I play this right, I can get even with Hermaeus Mora with a few seals.

"The things you know will come into my possession in a matter of time Mallufaax. It is the destiny of your knowledge just as it is the destiny of other knowledge," Hermaeus Mora states with his focus on Mallufaax. As Hermaeus Mora focuses on him, Mallufaax takes Skyborn in its sheathe off of his belt and tosses it to the side and the sword disappears in a cloud of smoke. "Do you wish to however trade them now for their safety? If you do then you surely know that such a trade is always in the end going to be a futile effort. I will have their knowledge sooner or later whether they give it to me or not and regardless of what deals we make between us. Do you know about the Fate of a Skaal Shaman?"

"I do know of what happened on Solsteim and yes I know it is a futile effort to trade with you," Mallufaax says and then he is enveloped in a vortrex of darkness. When the vortex is gone Malice stands before Hermeaus Mora. "That is why I'm not only challenging you but intending to put a lowly string pulling prince back in his place!" In rage and also in a frightened response at the sight of Malice, Hermaeus Mora conjures a powerful spell and shoots a beam of magic at Mallufaax. The Daedric Prince of Chaos Magic returns the favor and shoots his own beam of magic to meet Hermeaus Mora's while Valek takes on the first of several lurkers with the mage. Valek places magic runes as a surprise for the lurkers. The mage in turn shoots magic projectiles at the Lurkers to intice them to come towards them both which in turn lures them into the runes. For ten seconds the duel between the daedra is even but then it goes into Mallufaax's favor. Smiling he says, "you may be smarter than me Hermeaus Mora but you cannot escape the fact that you don't have the brawn to make your brains worth anything against an opponent that hasn't already been defeated or tricked!" Mallufaax then overpowers Hermaeus Mora's spell with his own and deals a powerful blow to his rival. Next, Mallufaax rushes up to Hermaeus Mora and shoves his hand into his central eye and then, casting a specific powerful sealing spell, steals back the knowledge of the Skaal Shaman and puts a seal on Hermeaus Mora to make sure he can never possess this knowledge again or know anything about Chaos Magic. Mallufaax then puts a second seal on Hermaeus Mora to make sure he cannot touch the high elf mage in order to take her knowledge. This causes immense pain for Hermaeus Mora, though only Mallufaax can focus on the sounds he makes at the time. The overal time it takes to place these seals is not long, but long enough to leave a lasting impression on Hermaeus Mora.

"Now get lost welp, and next time think twice about asking nicely to add knowledge to your library," with this Mallufaax lets go of Hermaeus Mora and the Daedric Prince quickly leaves. The burning pain of the seals proving to be enough convincing to leave while Mallufaax seems to be playing nice. Mallufaax then looks to his right and sees Valek use a vortex of snow to propel the last lurker into the air and she gets underneath the monster and from her spear she fires a endless beam of lighting straight up from the tip of her spear into the sky. Thus vaporizing the lurker with the help of a perk from the School of Destruction, "with this Hermeaus Mora and I are even," he says quietly to himself. Nevertheless, after he transforms back into a Nord and sees the mage to White Run and stands watch as she sells her wares, Mallufaax still feels Malice's presence.

"Will you for once just leave me alone?" Mallufaax quietly asks Malice as he looks at the illusion of Malice over his shoudler.

"Come now you know that when we work together we can achieve great things," Malice responds with a smile. "Just think of all the things you could be if you stopped pretending to be something other than you are. You could have the whole of Tamriel under your reign. You just have to have the courage to take that step."

"Well don't get your hopes up Malice," Mallufaax responds, "I know that I'd recieve good things and bad things if I followed your lead. I have the courage to not seek out those things which is easily twice if not thrice as hard as the courage needed for what you propose. That is why I'm in command, not you."

Part Seven: Darkness Stolen 4th Era 206

On the twenty first of Rain's Hand at a pool high in the Jerral Mountains, Nocturnal has decided to go swimming. Every once in a while Nocturnal likes to get out of Evergloam and see something different and this crystal clear pool with a natural slide through which water flows down into the pool was too good to pass up. Thanks to the surrounding landscape and that few know of this pool, Nocturnal can have fun without having to worry about being seen. The darkness which she is believed to influence is not the darkness associated with a lack of light, which she controls as the Daedric Prince of the Night, but is in fact mystery. She can't be mysterious if she's seen and people peel back the veil of mystery. Though she does transform into a normal mortal woman, just in case and so she can properly enjoy the poolwhich would otherwise be too small for her. Nocturnal is also joined by her good friend, Zurilda Shade-Dancer.

"What a fine day," Zurilda states as she leaves her towel and dry clothes by a tree, standing in her bikini. "It is has been too long since I was able to go swimming and this pool is one of the best places to do so. We also haven't spent time together in a while so this is doublely good."

"Agreed," Nocturnal says as she sets her robes down beside her towel and spare mortal clothes while wearing a dark purple thick strap bikini of her own. They've become best female friends and Nocturnal is a high ranking friend of Zurilda. The two of them wade into the water slowly and before they start swimming in the pool, they sit and relax along the edges first and let the current massage them. "I see you're adjusting to life as a Daedric Princess rather well. You have your followers and are gaining some notoriety among some groups like the Men-at-Arms and Poachers Guild."

"It takes some time to get used to but yes, I'm getting the hang of everything," Zurilda responds. "I'm glad that the Men-at-Arms and Poachers Guild recognize me as a Daedric Princess and Stendarr even recognizes me as an ally. Though it isn't all roses," Zurilda doesn't want to appear like she is asking for sympathy but Nocturnal has been around for a long time and knows what to look for. She asks Zurilda if she needs a hug and Zurilda responds that she could use that. Nocturnal embraces Zurilda and holds the young Daedric Princess tight against her. Nocturnal can still remember how hard it was to get started as a Daedric Princess herself, the stress that Zurilda is experiencing was incredably tiring on her both physically and mentally. It doesn't help that Zurilda cannot go to her parents for comfort because they cannot help her with this and it would give her enemies a target. To keep her family safe, Zurilda had to cut ties and let them keep thinking she died in 201. Mallufaax helps where he can but he still keeps his distance from Zurilda, fearing for her safety. Zurilda also hasn't had any time to pursue her own dreams from when she was mortal, including starting her own family. Right now Nocturnal is the best form of family that Zurilda has. "What I'd give to see my family again or have one of my own like I planned to by now before Molag Bal ruined my mortal life."

"There now Zurilda, everything will be fine, it is hard for everyone for the first few years and you have all the other Daedric Princes to look at and learn from. You're doing better than most of us did when we first started out," Nocturnal says trying to be comforting. As she holds Zurilda in the hug, Nocturnal relives a memory of freezing cold destroying flesh and darkness that swallowed the flesh whole. Yet even without flesh, life survived and found sanctuary even if at first it was a pitch black one. Once Zurilda doesn't need a hug any more, they start to have a great deal of fun as the two ladies decide to use the magic to improve the experience. They use magic to make the water of the pool and slide warm. As the warm water run over her body, Zurilda feels her worries leave her and a wave of relaxation washes over her. She can forget for now that she is a Daedric Princess. They splay and play, enjoying the view and the slide for over an hour before Nocturnal realizes something. Thus bringing their fun to an unwanted early end. "You have to be kidding me, look, someone made off my robe!"

"It is a good thing then that you had a spare change of clothes with you," Zurilda comments as the two ladies step out of the pool and look for clues. Nocturnal almost immediately finds magical tracks, which she explains are a part of a security meaasure on her robes, and quickly start drying off. "I don't think that whoever this was has been gone for long, we may just be able to catch up."

"Good thing that I'm no stranger to being robbed myself," Nocturnal comments as she dries off. As fast as they can, the two women dry off and change into proper clothes. The two ladies send their towels back to their homes via magic when they are done, and then set off following the tracks the theif left. To make this easier, Nocturnal helps Zurilda to see the tracks so they both know where they are going. They turn west and head towards Markarth going down the mountains as they travel as quickly as they can. As they pass a known Falmer cave, Zurilda and Nocturnal run into Mallufaax who is finishing off a group of Falmer with his Chaos Magic. The power of the Moonlight spells takes down the Falmer as they try to get into melee range of Mallufaax. When he finishes off the last Falmer with Swallowing Darknes, Mallufaax spots the two women.

"Well I didn't expect to run into the two of you on this day," Mallufaax says as he stands in the sunlight. "How are you two doing today? It is quite the pleasant day especially with the sunlight reflecting off the remaining morning dew."

"We were both doing great until my robes were stolen," Nocturnal explains. "Feel free to enjoy the humor of that. From what I can tell thanks to the security feature I put on my robes since the last time they were stolen, the theif is heading towards what looks like Markarth. I cannot say why they would go there or if that is their destination but I'm sure I will find out soon enough." Thinking about it, Nocturnal decides that Mallufaax could be a good form help in this venture. "Tell me Daedric Prince of Chaos Magic and Lord of Exiles, what do I need to do to get you to help us?"

"An apology would be nice," Mallufaax responds feeling sure that Nocturnal must by now know that he would want that based on his other interactions with the Daedric Princes. His involvement in what has happened to them in the last few years is not exactly secret.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you long ago, it was wrong of me to think so little of you when I hardly even knew you, " Nocturnal says, genuinely apologizing for how she treated him long ago. It is a short and simple apology but it is the meaning behind it that counts and the Lord of Exiles knows this and can sense the heartfelt desire in Nocturnal's words. "Is that all you need or is there more which you require?"

"It will do, I'm not greedy like that. Now that this is out of the way, let's hunt," Mallufaax states, "I don't have anything to see to right now and this sounds like it is going to be fun. Nevertheless be warned that there is something else in the area. These Falmer were drawn out of the cave by something and that something appears to have sucked the muscles out of some of these dead Falmer." The Falmer that Mallufaax is referring to look worse than some drauger. The muscles are gone and the skin looks burnt in places, the bones are so weak that they can shatter if you hold them with too much pressure and when these Falmer fell to the ground dead, the fall shattered their bones. "I've dabbled with some dangerous and darker magics but this is not something that I have seen before. By chance have either of you two seen something like this before?"

"This is something I have seen before and I have a good idea as to who is responsible," Nocturnal says regarding specific dead Falmer. "There is a good chance the sypthoning of muscles and to some degree the bones as well was done by a very young agent-in-training of mine. Every once in a while she decides to come to Tamriel and the easiest way for her to feed and hydrate herself is with a spell she learned from me to suck the life and nutrition out of her target. I didn't teach her this spell she...learned it on her own," Nocturnal explains and her face shows that she wishes that this agent-in-training didn't know this spell. "She is perfectly capable of getting normal food for herself, given her skills in thievery she can buy enough for a feast, but she chooses to feed herself via this method instead." Nocturnal sighs, "I hate that I have to say that and don't ask why. It is a mystery to everyone else that I wish to remain unsolved, how she learned this spell. Now if she finds out my robes were stolen we're bound to run into her, my agent-in-training. I just hope she has sated her hunger with this feeding. Granted if three Falmer, not counting any that may be inside this cave, don't sate her hunger I'm going to be worried."

"She sounds like a handful," Zurilda says as she and Nocturnal join Malufaax and they start walking together.

"Since when you have a Nightingale-in-training Nocturnal?" Mallufaax asks. "Or at least I assume it is a Nightingale."

"I don't want to talk about it right now it is very personal and I find it awkward to speak about," Nocturnal answers and her cheeks turn red. "Again I want to keep most of it a mystery or possibly all of it. Since you asked yes it is a Nightingale." So the trio sets off letting Nocturnal guide them and they go through the wilderness without any disturbances heading straight for Markarth as directed by the tracks Nocturnal's security measure leaves. Along the way Mallufaax notices that Nocturnal is periodically looking for something as they go, perhaps she is checking for signs of her Nightingale-in-training. He'd ask but it is clear that Nocturnal wants to keep the situation around this Nightingale-in-training private. Along the way as the trio follows the tracks, Nocturnal remembers another memory. A memory of pain and suffering for to survive in it's sanctuary, life had to change and it was a painful transformation. Nothing could ease the pain, all that could be done was provide nurishment, companionship in the making of a new form out of darkness as well as providing company, and light. The memory also has tears of pain, guilt, and a determination to do what is right so what is wrong can be undone. The trio reaches Markarth after a few hours of walking without so much as a sign of the Nightingale-in-training. The tracks left by the security feature eventually lead them past the stables and into the city itself. From the gate the tracks lead through the market and that is when Nocturnal notices something.

In a whisper Mallufaaax asks, "Do you see something," Mallufaax cannot see anything out of the ordinary in the market. The group moves out of the way of the gate and Nocturnal is still watching the market. There are too many people standing in the market or moving so he cannot spot whatever it is Nocturnal sees. "Or is this something that you and you alone can sense?"

"You wouldn't know what to look for or have the tricks needed to see what I am seeing, either of you," Nocturnal whispers back with her eyes on the market. "My Nightingale-in-training found out about the theif and followed it here. She knows how to find the tracks my security feature left. You won't see her because she has the ability to become invisible and phase through people without anyone knowing. However I made sure that in case they need my assistance I can see them regardless if they are invisible or not. The crowd does make this harder on me however so I'm struggling to keep track of her. It seems that my Nightingale-in-training is leaving the crowd and appears to be following the tracks my robes left for us. She has her tricks for getting around quickly and as you can see between her head start on us and those tricks, she made it here first. However we don't need to pay attention to her as she can easily take care of herself, let's go get my robes." After navigating through the crowd the group of three follows the trail of the Nightingale-in-training up to a newly built upper level of the city but the Nightingale-in-training looses the trail there and goes off in the wrong direction. Engineers worked hard to expand the city of Markarth without damaging the Dwemer structures in the city. In this upper level that looks out over the original part of the city, the trio finds the house that the thief is using as a hideout for the time being. Having well refined skills in lockpicking, Nocturnal helps Mallufaax and Zurilda break into the house undetected so they can retrieve her robes by picking the lock on the house's back door.

As he waited for Nocturnal to pick the lock, Mallufaax used his magic to check if anyone was inside and he couldn't detect anyone so it is likely that this theif is off stealing something else. On the first floor they don't find Nocturnal's robes but there is plenty of evidence that someone lives here regularly. They spot an entire shelf of bread in a kitchen area and a stove with a recently cleaned fire place. The trio keeps searching while they know there is nobody home and after thoroughly searching the first floor, they go up to the second. On the second floor, they uncover a trove of stolen items, ranging from clothes to weapons! There is also a strong box that is locked up tight and full of septims. They find Nocturnal's robes in a chest on the second floor which Nocturnal has to pick in order to open, and Nocturnal is happy for a moment but then there is a disturbance. Spinning around to see the disturbance Nocturnal, Mallufaax, and Zurilda look down at the six year old Nightingale-in-training who is furious that she was so close to finding the robes herself but didn't.

"Damn it damn it damn it," she says very angrily. Her fingers are tightened up into fists, "the one chance I get to be the one to steal back the robes and shove it in your face and I screw it up!" Mallufaax quickly asks Nocturnal why she has a six year old girl as a Nightingale-in-training.

"It is a long story that I don't want to talk about but if it makes you two feel better I do everything I can to be the best mommy for her and her sister," Nocturnal responds and she is clearly in a tough spot.

"Sister?" Zurilda asks. "Is she at least older than this one?"

The sister arrives as if on que for she was also tracking Nocturnal's robes, "no we're twins. My name is Erika and this is my twin sister Vissel." Vissel looks at her sister with the same angry eyes she gave the trio of older Daedra. "What is wrong Vissel? It is polite to introduce ourselves."

"Well you have fun with that and with gloating that you once again win Nocturnal," Vissel says and she turns around and leaves. Nocturnal would try to stop her but this time she feels that maybe it is better to let Vissel calm down on her own. Though Nocturnal makes sure that Erika goes with her so the two have each other for support, together she knows that they can already achieve amazing feats of survival and thievery. Mallufaax at first is completley against this along with Zurilda, but Nocturnal is able to convince them to trust her that htey will be just fine on their own. Leaving the home of the thief and finding a private place to talk, Nocturnal explains what Vissel meant about her winning again. Vissel and Nocturnal had an encounter that resulted in Nocturnal seriously hurting Vissel. Because of her injuries, Vissel needed care that Nocturnal could provide and so she took the young child in as her own. She regrets her actions against Vissel and wishes that she, instead of harming Vissel who was the distraction, harmed the real thief that stole her robes some time ago. The trio of daedra goes to the Silver-Blood Inn to get a meal and drink and they enjoy several hours of good entertainment from the inn's bard until Erika comes running in. Because she is invisible and able to phase through the door, only Nocturnal realizes that she is there. Erika has to whisper to Nocturnal in order to remain undetected.

"I'm sorry but Erika and I need to go," Nocturnal quietly says to Mallufaax and Zurilda. "Though if you wouldn't mind helping me I think it would be a worthwhile safety net." Mallufaax looks at Nocturnal and he sees on her face the worry of a mother who is missing a child. He decides to help because of this and Zurilda agrees to come to help as a friend. "Vissel is in trouble in the dwemer ruins below ground level as the result of uncovering something down there that she wanted. She is okay but she'll need help to get out of this sticky situation." With no time to lose Mallufaax and Zurilda follow Nocturnal who in turn follows Erika into The Warrens that are being given a considerable amount of attention in the form of restoration. Erika takes the trio down into a part of The Warrens known as The Depths by the residences and then into a passage way that leads to an underground city. Specifically it is a part of Nchuand-Zel. With Falmer and Chaurus crawling throughout this part of the city, it is a wonder to Mallufaax that there hasn't been trouble with the work that is being done on The Warrens. The Automatons are deactivated and so they won't stop the Falmer, they could easily come into The Depths and then the rest of the city. Despite the darkness of the ruins, Mallufaax follows Nocturnal and Erika who he can now see as she has disabled her invisibility capabilities for now. They have far better vision in this darkness than he and Zurilda do even with magic assistance. As he follows however, he thinks on how Erika looks a lot like Nocturnal. It could be coincidence but Mallufaax has a gut feeling that it isn't.

To his left he can see in the dark the body of a dead Falmer but this Falmer was killed with a weapon, he saw no weapon on Vissel so Mallufaax assumes that they are not alone in this underground city. Another person is down here because this kill and the next two a short ways ahead are fresh. Using invisibility magic, Mallufaax hides himself and Zurilda to better prevent their detection by the Falmer. Erika takes them to the last place that she saw her twin sister but Erika has moved. Mallufaax is troubled by this because they have no idea where Vissel could have gone now but Nocturnal is not worried. She has her ways of finding either of her Nightingales-in-training. One way involves a spell that will reveal Vissel's tracks, similar to the security feature on her robes. The other one is magical as well and invisible as it runs in her veins but it is less desireable for personal reasons. From where Erika last saw Vissel, Nocturnal follows the bodies of Falmer and Chaurus using her less desireable method. Most of them were killed with magic and this is okay for Nocturnal. However when the trail of bodies killed by magic ends, Nocturnal finds Falmer and Chaurus killed by the same spell that sucked the muscles out of the Falmer earlier today. At the end of this short trail is Vissel standing triumphant over the corpse of a man that like the Falmer, has been sucked dry of muscles and his bones are so thin that they will easily shatter!

Nocturnal approaches the little girl and speaks to Vissel, disappointed in her, "Vissel, what did I say about using Shadow Leach? You are not to use it unless absolutely necessary and you are not supposed to purposefully get yourself into situations where you can use it. Not to mention you did just kill a man." Though Nocturnal isn't visibly angry nor sounds angry, Mallufaax can tell that she is unhappy with Vissel but for some reason seamingly herself as well. Mallufaax can guess that she is unhappy with herself because Vissel knows how to use Shadow Leach but she didn't give it to her agent. Which begs the question of how Vissel learned it in the first place. "I know you have the money to buy the best food in the Silver-Blood Inn so why didn't you do that? You know that your sister hates seeing this, she wants us to be happy together and all you do is create conflict between us."

"He had a bounty on his head and was not only a theif but murderer and wanted dead or alive so it doesn't matter. I'm surprised that you even came, Erika is your favorite, the only one of us you give a single damn about," Vissel quietly responds in a bitter tone. "She knows that I have gotten myself into and out of these situations by myself without a scratch on me before and yet she still comes running to you for help. Why don't you two just go on without me, leave me be so I don't have to look at either of you." Zurilda comments to Vissel how that isn't a very nice thing to say, "I don't care. I never wanted this. I only wanted to be an apprentice and this man here stabs me in the back and leaves me with her," Vissel points to Nocturnal. Vissel starts crying, "after that I wanted someone who gave a damn about me because they actually loved me. Not someone who cares only because they feel bad for something they did years ago. I wish Nocturnal would have just finished me off, in death I could be with my parents. Erika is the one she wanted and the only one she wanted." Erika herself now starts crying because she doesn't like seeing this. She just wants all three of them to be a happy family. Looking at Erika first and then Vissil, Mallufaax notices several things. Erika looks almost exactly like Nocturnal does now but is six years old. Vissil also looks almost exactly like Nocturnal but has blonde hair. Then he gets an idea and when everything in his mind comes together, Mallufaax understands what is going on.

"You're right Vissil, at first I did what did because I did feel a terrible guilt and responsibility for my actions. However it soon became guilt and something else and then it was just that something else. I know that you want to feel loved and that is why I'm here now and why I'm always upset when you use Shadow Leach. I know you're better than this Vissil and that you're a very sweet girl." Nocturnal sits down on the cold stone walkway, "I don't have a favorite between the two of you and even if Erika didn't tell me and I found out about your little adventure on my own, I'd still come for you. I come because I care about you and to remind you in these instances where you feel unloved that you are. Also, it is completely wrong for a girl your age to kill someone, even Falmer. I don't want this for you because I know you're better than this." Vissil looks at Nocturnal and frowns knowing that she is telling the truth. She walks up to Nocturnal and hugs her. "Come on both of you, you're going to need a bath after being in this filthy ruin. In that regard, I have a surprise for you two." With Vissil in her arms, Nocturnal stands up on her own like she has many time before and carries her. Mallufaax leads the way for the entire group until they are out of The Warrens and then he and Zurilda part ways with Nocturnal. They leave the city and as soon as they do, Zurilda has a question for him.

"What is bothering you Mallufaax?" Zurilda asks as they walk away from Markarth. "Something is on your mind and I get the distinct feeling it involves more than just Malice. You know that you can talk to me if you need to say something, I'm your friend."

"I don't want to talk about it Zurilda," Mallufaax responds but she doesn't let up. She wants to know, "Vissil and Erika reminded me of her...she wanted to be the mother of a beautiful daughter and never had that chance."

"Who didn't have that chance Mallufaax, you need to tell me the whole truth and stop letting this bother you. The only wayt his will stop bothering you is if you come clean about everything." Zurilda knows that she is pushing her luck but she also knows that the longer this eats Mallufaax up, whatever it is, the longer it will take for him to silence Malice. Somehow she just knows that it is the main reason that Malice doesn't shut up. Though Mallufaax doesn't answer her question, Zurilda knows that he will tell her soon. She thinks, I know who he is talking about but cannot quite put my finger on it. Either way tonight clearly isn't the night to ask Mallufaax about it. Concurrently Vissil and Erika expected to return to the Evergloam but to their surprise, Nocturnal takes them via portal to a nice house near Solitude. The view is beautiful and the property is equally beautiful with all the room the two of them need to grow and play year round.

Nocturnal smiles, "I told you that I had a surprise for you." The twin sisters had noticed that Nocturnal had been putting on this form, her mortal human form, a lot recently and now they know why. "I wanted to give you a better home than the Evergloam so you both can be much happier as neither of you particularily lked Evergloam. Thus I acquired this property and build a new home for us to live in wiht all the things you two like and plenty of space for me to continue my work out of sight and out of mind." As she intended, Nocturnal gives her two Nightingales-in-training a bath and sits down with one on each side.

As she has Nocturnal's right arm holding her close, Vissil relaxes and puts her arms around the Daedric Princess, "thank you for not giving up on me Nocturnal. I'm sorry I haven't been the best girl I can be for you like I should have since you kindly gave me so much at your own expense. It just...I just..."

"It's okay Vissil, you'll grow out of it eventually and I know how hard everything was on you," Nocturnal says with a smile and she kicks her feet up on the foot rest in the center of the bathtub. "Nobody is perfect and I'd never give up on you while your still so young and need me in your life. I'll find a way to help you let go of your anger and murderous tendancies one day and I'll always love you." She relives another memory. Joyful tears that accompany a great happiness now that a great deal of exhausion and hours of patience have paid off. Countless ideas and wonders arose about the future while love is certain. Nocturnal also remembers a promise to do right and to never give up hope. Vissil looks at Nocturnal and asks her if she prefers this form or her true form and Nocturnal responds, "though I'll need to use my original form around my followers, the way you see me now is how I like to appear now. I always believed that it was better for you to see me most of or all of the time in this form and I've come to like the feeling of looking more mortal. It's hard to explain why but it is the truth." When she goes to bed tonight, Nocturnal lets the twin sisters sleep beside her and goes to sleep happy that Vissil is finally putting the past where it belongs, in the past.

Part Eight: Taste of Life 4th 204

Because there are daedra in the Hold that need to be eliminated, Mallufaax and Valek follow the high elf mage into Falkreath where she intends to stop next to sell more of her wears. Valek is sitting before the fire with the mage as Mallufaax sits off to the side to stand watch.

Valek looks at the mage and she can tell that the high elf is troubled, "What is wrong Eirlewen (Ear-le-wen) you had a good day today and earned a good amount of money? We haven't even hit Falkreeth yet."

Eirlewen responds with a sad facial expression, "as you can see I'm just as well-endowed as you are Valek and though I know I shouldn't let it bother me it does. I hate it," Eirlewen responds and she is struggling to not cry. "I don't blame my mother because she didn't know what being exposed to that plant to the degree she was at the age of 10 would do to her and thus me." Though their endowment is not completely natural for either of them, it is not an unrealistic or unnatural amount. "Yet I still wish that she wasn't and that I didn't inherit the mutation from her. I hate knowing that men see me and lust over me because of my body instead of the person I am. I know I'm not supposed to let this one part of me define who I am to me. That my wisdom and the things that I make are what I should judge myself by but sometimes I see my chest and I just cannot help myself but," Eirlewen stops and several tears run down her beautiful face.

"What mutation, what plant?" Valek asks feeling like she is somehow going to learn something about herself from this.

"There is a rare form of Nirnroot called Ghost Nirnroot due to its ghostly white color and that it doesn't make any noise like normal Nirnroot," Eirlewen resumes. "It mostly grows underground however Ghost Nirnroot can very rarely grow in some precise condition above ground at the cost of a shortened lifespan. This is so rare that I'm perhaps the only being in Skyrim who has actually seen it above ground firsthand." Eirlewen stops for a moment to think, "I don't know why," she says struggling to speak due to this subject's personal nature, "but my research on the matter has revealed that women who are exposed to the plant to or above a certain degree while 10 or 11 years old turn out like us." She jesters to her chest and then Valek's, "along with increased height and muscle mass women develop larger breasts due to something making our bodies think that they need to grow more than they would naturally. The same goes for men, they just don't have breasts. After such women have their first child or children if they have multiple at once, they become infertile. I do not know what happens to men in this regard as they are not the subject of my study. Though the fertility lose only effects the woman who actually was exposed to Ghost Nirnroot, any daughter she has will inherit her bodily changes and the increased risk of breast cancer that comes with having a larger chest due of this plant. Again, same goes for her sons just without breasts. Though future female descendant from the original mother are at no risk to experience infertility as a result of exposure to Ghost Nirnroot at any point in their life." Hearing this Valek asks how likely are they to get breast cancer, "it isn't a big increase of your risk to get breast cancer. The farm life that my family lead possed greater risks and more risks to our health." This gives Valek some sense of relief because she knows nobody in her family that has had cancer of any kind. "If you are a healthy woman who exercises properly and eats well then the increased risk of cancer is probably not worth worrying about."

"I know how you feel Eirlewen because it was my physical beauty that lead to the creation of my daughter without me having a say in the matter. However I'll tell you this, one day you'll find the man who will look at you and not see your body but your heart. He'll love you for that and that alone. Don't let those who look down on you for your mother's unintended action drag you down. There are going to be mean men no matter what so don't take what they say as true. You are a beautiful and smart young woman and they can never take that away from you. Despite what you may think, those kind of mean men and the lusty ones are not so common." She puts her arm on Eirlewen's back and pats her gently to calm the high elf down so she can sleep tonight. Mallufaax doesn't pay much attention to this conversation, doing his best to drown any thoughts about it. It reminds him of her, not just Zurilda but of her. In the year 207 on the sixth day of the new year, Mallufaax and Zurilda meet Eirlewen again in Hjaalmarch and Mallufaxx is impressed by the home she made for herself in the place of an old shack that once stood here. He intended to introduce Eirlewen to a high elf that he works with and who studies Ghost Nirnroot as well. However his plan doesn't work as intended.

"You mean to tell me that everything I've been researching for years now has been uncovered already?" Eirlewen asks Mallufaax as she stands before her door. "That all these years of hard work and living off limited septims have been for nothing?"

The high elf responds, taking the reigns into his own hands, "surely not. I only beat you by a year and who knows, surely you found something that I didn't since I only study how Ghost Nirnroot affects men including me. At worst you'll provide me with valuable independent work to compare mine against in order to ensure accuracy and quality. A 'worse' that in my humble opinion could end up being worth a large fortune."

"You mean you'll steal what little I may have for your own," Eirlewen response is filled with bitter anger. "Don't try to fool me about your attentions Esinthu (Eh-sin-thu)and why do you think that I need a partner Mallufaax?" Before Mallufaax can answer, he recieves a magical call for help from Valek who is to the west. She has found a woman who is trying to escape Namira before her baby is born. However Namira is making this difficult and Valek thinks it would be wise to get this woman out of the cold. Overhearing this Eirlewen makes a decision, "she can warm up here. If you need to leave Esinthu here you can but if he causes me trouble you'll hear about it!"

Esinthu speaks calmly and confidently, "Well then Mallufaax can rest easy for I shall do nothing like that." Thus the two daedra set off to rondevu with Valek while Esinthu stays with Eirlewen. Inside her home he says, "you have a nice home here. Did you build it yourself?" Eirlewen responds that she found some Nords who were willing to help her for a price. She helped by using Telekinesis to move objects and to excavate the foundation. "Well I say you hired the right Nords for the job. If the house is as well built as it is painted and organized then it must be quite resilient. The painting isn't extravegent, but I think the simplicity is what makes it feel right...feel homely." Meanwhile, Mallufaax and Zurilda are talking as they walk towards Valek who is also coming to them.

"It is good to be back in Skyrim, I'm certain that Aldurin is happy to not have to deal with werewolves and Falmer on his own again. These last few years have not let him get any rest. Still paying Morrowind a visit was worth it to settle your score with Mephala. The Morang Tong won't be performing many assassinations for a while and now the great houses know who is allied with who." Mallufaax smiles but he says nothing, Zurilda looks at him and she can tell from his face that something is not right. A thought strikes her, "I get the feeling that this unborn baby is not a coincidence," Zurilda states. "Do you think that it is somehow Namira's handiwork that this woman is pregnant?"

"Very much so, she will do whatever she can to keep her followers poor and bound to her. Tricking her followers into making a child, which is going to be a big financial burden, in order to keep them under her thumb is something she will do if that is what it takes. I've seen...I've seen it before," Mallufaax explains as they walk and Zurilda can tell from how he talks that there is something bad connected to that memory. "I've been wanting to get back at her for a long time now, I really like that we're kicking the year off on a high note by possibly sticking it to her with this and settling a score." Zurilda doesn't say anything more and the two keep walking until they find Valek and the woman she is escorting. "Valek, good to see you again. We have acquired shelter and together the three of us should be enough to keep Namira's efforts from producing any results."

Zurilda smiles, "It isn't a far walk. Even at a walking pace we should be safely indoors in a matter of minutes. Between us all I think that Namira will keep her distance."

"That is good because we have a new problem," Valek says and from her eyes the two daedra can tell that she isn't thrilled. "I only just found out after contacting you that this here young woman is in labor!" The woman asks Valek if she is sure about her statement, her voice is hopeful despite the circumstances. "I am because I've experienced everything that goes with labor and childbirth myself. If this wasn't your first child, then you would know that too. We need to move fast, Namira surely isn't going to give up just because I killed a few of her spiders." The group turns around and travels as fast as they can in the snow back towards Eirlewen's home. They take the most direct route by following Mallufaax's and Zurilda's tracks in the snow through the trees. Meanwhile, Esinthu is waiting patiently for Mallufaax to return. He notices while standing in the front living room in the south west corner of the first floor that Eirlewen is taking notice of a journal and watches as she quickly grabs it and hides it away.

When she returns Esinthu decides to speak, "If you're embarrassed that your home may not be in perfect shape for a visitor, you don't need to be. You weren't expecting visitors so I cannot fault you for not being prepared for this." Eirlewen shoots him a look of annoyance which tells Esinthu that it wasn't about being a good hostess. "Okay I'll bite, what is wrong Eirlewen I can tell that something is bothering you and it is not just the fact that I too research Ghost Nirnroot and how it effects the body. I don't mind taking a bad comment and if I don't know about a problem then I cannot fix it."

"You don't know the first thing about what I've been through," Eirlewen says to Esinthu with clear anger and a deep emotional pain that Esinthu's people skills allow him to see. He decides to take a chance and asks her to enlighten him. "I suppose it won't hurt. I'm a quadruplet, the only daughter in a family of six who had to survive on whatever we could grow and sell. You have no idea what it is like to grow up poor and having to make every single bit of everything you have count for something good. I studied hard in school, hoping that I could escape the life I left behind on the Summerset Isles. I thought that the Thalmor were the right ones to follow, to draw hope from and that Talos was only a hieratic's god. I made myself the best candidate for the Thalmor's scholarships for higher education. I spent countless hours learning alchemy and magic from my town's mage and alchemist, showing off my talent and that not a single septim would be wasted on me if I was given that scholarship money. Only I never received it because a young boy who was bright, I'll give him credit where it is due, received it and he didn't need it. Not even close to the way I did. I had to strike out on my own and travel the world to learn, forced to continue to make every septim I had count." As he looks at her, Esinthu thinks that Eirlewen is getting close to starting to cry based on her facial expression and vocal tone.

"Then along the way I found a mentor who took me from following the kahjiit caravans trying to make a septim to being his apprentice and he taught me not only master level alchemy but the science of the body. He was a Skyrim born, Talos worshiping Nord war veteran who had just retired from the legion, and should have hated my very existence and instead he loved me like a daughter. You, the Thalmor, told me that Talos was the gods of hieratics who needed to be destroyed yet hieratics gave me so much. It was then Talos, now Areisa worshiping, Nords who helped me turn a shack my guard dog Meeko owned into this lovely home. I believed in the Thalmor," Eirlewen says with teary eyes, "and you stabbed me in the back. I will not lose the one thing I have that could secure me a legacy as well as a good life to you or the Thalmor. I'll burn my work and take it to my grave before I let that happen." There is a noise at the front door and Eirlewen walks past Esinthu to let Mallufaax and company inside. Mallufaax looks at Eirlewen and though he can tell that she is upset, he leaves the subject be for now. However only the woman they went to retrieve makes it through the door before trouble arrives.

A large spider is spotted by Zurilda and though it runs away, she knows what is to come, "we're going to need to deal with more trouble from Namira before she backs off. That means that we will need more hands to defend the whole house." Zurilda looks at Valek but she quickly realizes that Valek is needed to tend to the woman, Valek may need help so that takes Eirlewen out of the fight too. As the noises of approaching spiders starts coming from the trees, Zurilda turns to Mallufaax who is already summoning reinforcements but he summons not his Daedric Knights and instead summons his elite praetorian guards who not only have top notch maces but shields fixed to their lower arms. Those shields not only provide protection and allow for their wearer to cast magic with their free hand, but their spiked end is a weapon as well. Mallufaax doesn't call them in unless he really wants something dead or protected! What is going on here? At Mallufaax's order they spread to surround and defend Eirlewen's house as the spiders arrive. They engage Namira's Giant Rotblood Spiders without hesitation or mercy as their master and Zurilda also join the fight, the first thing that Mallufaax does is shoot a large bolt of light into the face of a Giant Rotblood Spider that comes straight at him. Oblitering the head of the brain of the beast in a single strike! Eirlewen shuts the door and locks it, hoping that Namira's minions won't make inside her home! She turns around and is moving so fast that she bumps into Esinthu.

"The Kahjiit says that she needs your directions to find a safe room to keep that woman in," Esinthu explains to Eirlewen. "Don't worry about what is going on out there, if any of Namira's minions make it inside, I'll deal with them."

"You'd defend me and my home?" Eirlewen asks with little trust in his ability to do anything other than try to steal her work.

"Of course, my life depends on it as much as yours," Esinthu responds. "Additionally it is clear that the Thalmor failed you, it is only fitting then that I see off the unwanted guests as repayment in my humble opinion. I'll do what I can to keep damage to a minimum." He rubs his hands together and bends his fingers to loosen them up as he prepares his magic for battle.

"Just do what you have to do, a house can be repaired," Eirlewen responds and then she shows Valek and the soon to be mother to the guest room while Esinthu stays close at all times to make sure they are safe. Inside the guest room, Valek is hurriedly taking off her armor and starts giving Eirlewen instructions to get very specific items that she needs to deliver the baby. "Are you sure that its coming now and not in say a few hours?" Using the spell Precision Telekenisis, Eirlewen takes Valek's armor off for her all at once in just a few seconds.

"Thanks for helping with my armor and yes, I know it its coming now because everything this woman is going through right now is everything that I went through nineteen years ago come the end of this autum at the age of sixteen," Valek responds. "The only difference between us is that I used Restoration Magic to speed everything up and make it less painful, everything else is as natural as it gets." Eirlewen goes to retrieve what Valek needs and as she waits, Valek can see her past flashing before her eyes. She was a maid at the time working for a wealthy merchant couple who lived in Falkreath, the owners of the property that Zurilda stayed. She had woken up, got dressed in her uniform, and was ready to start the day by dusting around the mansion. It was early in the morning and the sun hadn't yet started to rise but Valek was used to that as she often woke up early throughout her life up to this point. Just as she she was about to start dusting, the wife of the couple approached her as she was then six months pregnant and had trouble sleeping and so they started a conversation. Valek tried to start dusting while talking when she was crippled by a sudden spike of pain! She leaned forward and had to use the wall to stay standing and steady herself. Valek's body like her mother's never needed to change to acomidate having a baby inside her and she liked that as she tried to deny the fact she was at first pregnant and then soon to give birth. She tried to deny what was happening, saying to her master and friend in an effort convince her master and herself that she was just sore from sleeping in the wrong position. Yet the wife told Valek the truth and made her admit the reality of the sitaution as she put Valek's arm over her shoulder to support her and started walking Valek back to her bedroom. She was in labor and soon would give birth to her child!

Outside, Mallufaax pulls his sword from the head of a Rotblood Spider and looks south as now five Rotblood Spiders lay dead around him with other minions of Namira. Doing so, he spots none other than Namira herself in a humam-like form coming closer. She is dressed in a light armor made of spiderwebs and has an estoc in her right hand and her left hand is ready to cast magic. She spots him and realizes that she has his attention. One of her minions tries to attack Mallufaax while he's distracted but the Lord of Exiles hears them coming, dodges their attack, and then takes off their head before refocusing on Namira. The two say nothing to each other knowing that they are about to duel each other. Sheathing his sword, Mallufaax takes it off of his belt and Skyborn disappearsa in a cloud of darkness and Mallufaax tranforms into Malice. Only instead of just bringing out Darkquell in the place of Skyborne, Mallufaax brings out his second Daedric Artifact. A shield named Spellstinger which like the those of his praetorian guards it is strapped to his arm and can double as a weapon and shield while still letting him cast magic. Mallufaax and Namira enter into a duel, her poisonous sword ever looking for a place to pierce through Mallufaax's armor as his sword's edge tries to cut through the light but strong spider web armor she wears. Each time he digs deep into the spider web armor with his sword, it repairs itself shortly there after. After landing three different slashes on different pieces of armor, Mallufaax realizes that he cannot win by slashing at Namira's armor. He thus starts going for thrusting attacks to possibly pierce all the way through it and this is where his shield comes into play.

As she cuts down a Rotblood Spider, Zurilda notices this duel and then is startled by a new voice, "keep an eye on Mallufaax. He may need help and you can calm him back down with ease." Sword in hand, Aldurin takes Zurilda's place in the fight, "I'll handle the spiders." Sure that Alduring isn't here by accident, Zurilda nods and heads towards Mallufaax as he blocks an attack with his shield, then after a slight adjustment thrusts its sharpened point at Namira while she is unable to attack him with her sword. She steps back, and Mallufaax thrusts the tip of Darkquell at her stomach but with her left forearm, Namira deflects the blow and casts a spell at Mallufaax using her left hand. At such close range Mallufaax avoids the spell because of Namira's inability to aim the spell at him properly and the spell misses him completely. With his free left hand, Mallufaax casts a Light spell at Namira in return, though it does hit her shoulder, the spell is no more than a glancing blow that her armor negated. With her sword, Namira thrusts at Mallufaax with its poisoned tip aimed at a narrow gap between his paldraun and the armor around his neck. Likewise she casts a spell at Mallufaax with her left hand to go along with this attack and force Mallufaax into either taking the hit from her spell or from her sword. With little chance of dodging both attacks, Mallufaax uses his shield to block Namira's sword instead of dodging it, and drops onto one knee. As a result Namira is unable to correct her spell's point of aim so it goes harmlessly over him but she also loses her balance in the snow. Causing her to stumble forward just enough that Mallufaax spots an opening in her defense where he could do some actual damage to Namira instead of her armor. As Namira comes forward,her sword sliding over his shield, Mallufaax lunges forward and thrusts Darkquell into her abdomen with all the force he can put behind it! The tip of his sword pierces her armor, inflicting a serious wound but Mallufaax doesn't stop there.

With his left hand, he casts a powerful Light spell and thrusts his hand into Namira's lower rib cage before using the spell to blast her back away from him and knock her off of her feet. Because his hand is up against Namira, Mallufaax's hand is injured a little bit by the power of the spell but it is nothing that he cannot heal with Restoration Magic. Laying flat on her back, Namira is vulnerable but not defeated and Mallufaax knows this so with his right foot he pins her left hand to the ground and points his sword at her. Using his left hand, he has another Light spell ready for use if Namira atempts to pull off anything on him.

"You lost Namira," Mallufaax says in his dark and malicious voice. "That woman is free to serve whoever she chooses, now take your spiders and get out of my sight!" Having little means to respond in her current situation, Namira decides to withdraw from the situation. She disapears before Mallufaax and so do her spiders. She decides that if Malufaax wants this woman this badly, he can have her, one loss today is nothing to worry about. However the situation isn't over for Mallufaax, Zurilda is quick to pull him aside where they can talk alone. She asks him who the woman that he is so upset about failing is, demanding her name. She has realized that this woman is on his mind again. "You aren't going to give up aren't you." Zurilda nods, "her name is Feralide (Fair-a-li-dee). A high elf that reached out to me 100 years before the Oblivion crisis for help." Zurilda asks if she was under the thumb of Namira, "she was and wanted out from under it. I came to her aid and tried to see her to safety out of Haafingar to The Reach first and from there, I didn't know where at the time. As we were just entering The Reach, we came under attack from Rotblood Siders, more than I could handle on my own so I called out my knights. We fought hard and well, never giving an inch of ground for free. Yet...one of them reached Feralide and poisoned her with a single cut. I killed the spider and gave her an antidote but it wasn't enough. She didn't make it and all the dreams that she told me along the way were lost such as knowing her clothes weren't worn beyond anything that Mijeeta ever knew for example. Designing clothes, helping others be they adult or children, and looking at her beautiful properly nourished body again. She may not have had a smoking hot body that was sculpted by magic like Selveni's but she loved what she had and was happy with it. Most important to her was becoming a mother, like my agent Madena did."

"What set her apart from everyone up to that point," Mallufaax continues, "was that she considered me a friend. No mortal had ever done that before or at least told me to my face that they did. I don't know where she ended up being buried after I handed her body over to the Hold Guards. I've struggled with Malice ever since and every time a mortal woman sees me as a friend or one of the things I mentioned as one of her dreams is involved with my work, I cannot help but think of her."

Zurilda sighs in relief now that she finally has her answer, "that explains why I felt like I knew who you were talking about all these years though I never would have guessed why based on what she said to me," Zurilda leaves Mallufaax both surprised and confused. "She uses the name Elefwen (El-ef-when) now and it is no coincidence that you don't know this. I only know because I accidentally uncovered the truth while at the Theater College during my final paper before graduation and Elefwen told me in return for keeping this secret. She went to great lengths to make sure the world thought the poison killed her. She had any records related to her show that she was dead and has a fake birthdate to cover her tracks. She never told even her four children about her past. Whatever it took to fool Namira and even you it seems, she did it to be sure that Namira would never trouble her again. She told me that she wanted to see you again, though at the time she only refered to you as an old friend. Though I don't see her living much longer, she is over three hundred years old after all, she hasn't lost her spark or her step so I think you should go see her and reconnect. Right now, I suggest that we go inside and get out of the cold but for what is is worth Mallufaax, I couldn't have asked for a better friend than you after what happened to me." The two turn and head back to the house. Looking at Mallufaax as they return to Eirlewen's house, Zurilda notices that he seems relaxed in a way that she has never seen before. "Is he at long last finally gone?"

"For once, I think so," Mallufaax responds. "Malice definitely shut up that is for damn sure. I imagine helping the people exiled from society is going to not only get easier but a lot more fun." Inside, Mallufaax finds Eirlewen and Esinthu standing watch and talking. Eirlwen spots Mallufaax and asks him why he brought Esinthu to her, he responds, "Esinthu is leaving the Thalmor now while he still can and since the two of you are researching the same thing I thought you'd make a good team. At least long enough for him to move into his own place."

"You're leaving the Thalmor?" Eirlewen asks Esinthu who nods. Eirlewen proceeds to spend thirty seconds thinking, considering what he has done for her today and how he has acted in consideration with this fact. She decides to take a risk and asks Esinthu to follow her. "Mallufaax can you keep an eye on things here?" The Lord of Exiles nods so Eirlewen takes Esinthu away, grabbing the book she didn't want him to see, and leads to an obscure door that she opens with a key. Once they are through the door she closes it behind them and then they descend into a private lab. "To be honest, I don't know if I can trust you but part of me wants to find out and you likely also appreciate the details that I do so...this is what I was trying to hide." She steps past Esinthu and shows him to a large compilation of notes beside various lab equipment she uses for studying Ghost Nirnroot.

Esinthu smiles, "and I shall protect it as I protect my own work until your ready to reveal it."

Eirlewen takes a deep breath, then begins, "It took me years to crack, using Illusion Magic to study my entire body and mothers and daughters from every race. I found out why the female body changes in the way it does. A chemical in Ghost Nirnroot gets into our bodies if we are exposed to Ghost Nirnroot at the right time in our lives. This chemical interacts with the bodily maturing process, making our bodies think that they need to grow more than they need to in various areas not limited to but including larger breasts and more muscle mass throughout our bodies than normal. What I've discovered recently is that the bodily change and cancer risk increase only effects the mother and any daughters she has, granddaughters will only have he same bodily change and increased risk of breast cancer as their ancestors if they expose themselves to Ghost Nirnroot at the appropriate time. I am glad that I had my friends Kalek and Valek to study and compare against myself, I'd have never learned that theses things weren't genetic like I thought. They are tied to the chemical from Ghost Nirnroot being in our bodies in suficent amounts that there is an excess not absorbed by the body that is passed on during pregnancy. I also learned that the effect varies, women who naturally are going to be more muscular will be resistant to or even immune the increased amount of muscle. Tall women will hardly gain any extra height if at all, and women that are naturally predisposed to be more endowed will hardly notice the difference. Farm girls like my mother and I had to be big and strong, and no matter what we were going to be on the upper end of endowment. By contrast, a woman who normally would be short, lean, and have smaller breasts will have the most noticable impact. A petite women I studied experienced this as she was much taller than her mother, had much more muscle mass, and was many times more endowed than her mother who had very small breasts."

"Amazing and yes I love details," Esinthu looks at the notes with a smile. "I've studied the same effect in men who were exposed to Ghost Nirnroot at the age of ten or eleven but I never knew it was also the cause for such a peculiar phenomenon in women. I thought it was the chemical interacting with the actual physical parts of the female body. Men don't have the obvious bodily changes that a woman does. Hence why I thought that it was the Ghost Nirnroot interacting the body itself in women and not chemically like me. This won't surprise you but I've seen an increase in cancer in men as well though it seems to be cancer in general rather than, I assume, specifically breast cancer like in a woman. Not to mention there is a theory of increased aggression among exposed men but my current evidence is not fully reliable." Esinthu looks at Eirlewen and notices that she appears as if she wishes to speak. He asks, "sorry am I rambling on too much about this subject? I don't get to talk about this, my passion, very much among the Thalmor."

When she responds, Eirlewen's voice exposes her shiness and fear but also a hint of curiosity, "Esinthu, why don't you stay for a while. I've been cautiously interested in finding a scientific partner and you are probably the best I can ever ask for. Who knows what we can do for each other's work...and what we can do for each other." Esinthu gladly accepts this offer, neither of them aware that this is the start of partnership that would not only result in much academic discovery but a loving marriage and successful family. Upstairs, Mallufaax and Zurilda are checking in on Valek who is proudly standing back from the new mother as she hold her baby. Valek's mind goes back to the past, it was a painful experience, lying in her bed and having to wait for the right time to push as she didn't have the Restoration Magic she does now to speed everything up and reduce the pain. Her only comfort was the wife who stayed with her and did everything in her power to help. At first, Valek was filled with dread but as time passed; she managed to calm herself. During which, she finally accepted the reality that not only was she pregnant, but about to be a mother. When she first held Kalek in her grasp, Valek was at first shocked into silence, but soon cried tears of joy because she had become a mother and had the daughter that she dreamed of as a young adult. The wife told her to take the day off and rest while enjoying her new daughter and Valek did. After the wife left her room, Valek brought her daughter up close to her head and kissed Kalek on her forehead and then proceeded to feed her for the first time. As the new mother before her holds her son and cries tears of joy, Valek decides that they should give the new mother some time alone with her son and takes the trio out of the room.

At the first chance she gets, Valek asks Eirlewen about a potion, "it is ready and it should work but are you sure that you want this? I mean, I don't know for sure if it will work and if there will be side effects. Nor do I want to create divide between you and your daughter."

"I've thought it over myself extensively, talked it over with Kalek on the 3rd of this month, and made sure to fully analyze and double check everything in my current standing and the answer is yes," Valek answers. "You and I worked hard together to achieve this, we should be the ones to use it first and reap the rewards of our work." Eirlewen understands and so she retrieves the potion for Valek and then Valek sees that is safely set aside with her armor and weapons. Spotting the potion, Mallufaax asks if she is doing what he thinks she is, "I am and I have you to thank for getting me this far. Once again, thank you Mallufaax for helping me all those years ago." Mallufaax wishes her good fortune as Valek's mind drifts into the past. She says to her daughter Kalek, "speaking of children I actually have a question to ask you. Don't worry you'll like it, I want to ask if you would be okay if I had another child?"

Kalek smiles at her mother, "if you think that you have found a way to then you can be assured that I'm all for having a younger sibling. Agni (Ag-knee)is a good friend to this day and I'm glad that we could grow up together but she isn't a sibling. I hope that this comes from your hard work with Eirlewen. You two have been working for years to crack why women like you couldn't have more children and if there was a way to change that. Ka'Drehm (Ka-dre-him) will like this news. I like him and though I'm not his child, he treats me like I'm his own flesh and blood. He really does deserve this, and it is tragic that it took so long for him to find you." Valek explains that her husband Ka'Drehm is happy about the news but he wanted Kalek's opinion before they made a choice. He never forgets that it was her mother that saved him, and that she put more effort into him than any of the three previous Kahjiit men she helped. He thinks that it is the least he can do to be polite to them both. Here Valek's memories end and soon after, she leaves and goes south to her home. Many months later, with a warm fire burning before her in the chimney, Valek is proudly sitting in her chair before it and holding her new son as he sleeps in her arms. In many ways carrying him was like carrying Kalek, only this time she was happy to be carrying a child and couldn't wait to welcome her son into the world. The moonlight shines through a window to her right, Ka'Drehm walks Kalek and another Kahjiit named Gresha (Grey-sha) over to her. Kalek carefully leans over the side of her mother's chair and smiles. "I have to admit, that orange and white color pattern is beautiful." Kalek gently rubs her half-brother's forehead.

Valek smiles and says, "he's just like you when you were just three days old, a very quite baby. I'm not sure what it is about you two, you're both just...quiet both before and after you were born." Valek looks up at her daughter, "that is a fine necklace you're wearing. I can tell that it is new but what is that for?"

Kalek stands up straight and smiles as Ka'Drehm stands to her right, "Gresha gave me this as a symbol of our engagement. If you feel that you can attend, the wedding is next month. I invited Mallufaax but he said that he was unavailable because he was taking time off for a much needed vacation. One that I think is long overdue. There is also another thing I need to say." Kalek smiles, though by looking at her daughter, Valek can see that she is a little nervous. "If only my more playful side could make this easier while still taking it seriously, sadly I don't think it would so I'm sticking with my normal self. Though this wasn't our intention this early on...I'm three months pregnant with our first child. Gresha's hoping for a son, I'm hoping for a daughter, but we aren't that concerned which we get this time around." Hearing this, Ka'Drehm smiles and gently rubs Kalek's shoulder in congratulations. With one hand holding her son, Valek reaches out and gently holds her daughter's right hand in congratulations.

"You will be a great mother Kalek. You have plenty of friends and family to look to for help should you need it," Valek states to her daughter. "I couldn't have wished for a better fate for you than this."

Part Nine: A Lord's Best Friend 4th Era 207

When he first sees Elefwen as they meet in her private office in Solitude's Theater College, Mallufaax is stunned by how little she's actually aged, and he is shocked by how she smiles immediately upon seeing him again. He himself is speachless, struggling to process how despite what he thought all these centuries, Elefwen is standing right before him in good health and a successful mother of four. They each want to spend hours catching up on what has happened since they last saw each other but right now, this must wait.

"As much as I wish to tell you all about what has happened since we last saw each other my old friend Mallufaax and how happy I am that you saved such a great student of mine, there is a much more pressing matter," Elefwen explains. "In fact, I was going to summon you for help. You see, there is a poor farmer's daughter not far from Solitude with great talent for theater, with some teaching she could turn it into something great. Of our current scholarship applicants, she is the one most qualified for this college and most deserving of the scholarship we are offering to her and others. However her family's ill fortune may have attracted Clavicus Vile to them. If not them, someone has and I have enough connections to know this for sure. What is worse is that according to rumors, the recent poor state of affairs that local farmers and lower class peoples in and around Solitude are facing has attracted the attention of Mehrunes Dagon. I have no idea as to what he is planning but in my experience with evil daedra, it is never good. With or without Dagon," Elefwen cautions, "there is civil unrest brewing as it is and it will reach a breaking point."

"That is bad for some," Mallufaax responds as he starts thinking, placing his hand underneath his chin, "but an opportunity for me. This sounds like it could be a two for one special," Mallufaax smiles and then he explains how he has been getting back at the Daedric Princes' one by one. "I know just how to deal with Clavicus Vile. I can offer this daughter's family, and others for that matter along with them, a better deal than anything Clavicus will give them which will certainly get under his skin that I walk away as the one to have closed a deal. If it is true that Mehrunes Dagon is pulling strings, this will help that situation too. My guess is that he may be looking to start some sort of revolution or protest that he hopes will turn violent. However those who I make deals with will possibly circulate the word of what I give them and that should quell any such desires below the point of possible violent action. However this needs a longer term solution to prevent it from happening again in a few months time as well as a considerable amount of investigation."

Zurilda comments, "this certainly did not happen over night and there were likely warning signs. Someone clearly decided to push something off until the last minute and now look what we have to deal with." A new but undesirable idea, comes to the front of Zurilda's mind, "What if Dagon simply is looking to cause destruction?" Zurilda asks. "That is all the motivation he needs based on what I know about him."

"It could be, either way we're going to find out what his motivations in all this are so we need to be prepared," Mallufaax responds to Zurilda. "I can handle Clavicus Vile pretty easily. However the second that Mehrunes Dagon detects our involvement, we could be facing off against his dremora so we need to have a force of warriors on hand to fight back. Fortunately for us, we came dressed to impress and this has given me an idea that we can. I can appear as a wealthy and important figure and to help sell that fact, I'm going to appear to those that I help with an escort. My knights can serve that role, however I think that it would be smart of us to have additional support hanging back and out of sight in case trouble arises." To this, Zurilda responds that she can have a team of Warrior Bards ready to shadow Mallufaax alongside her in minutes. "Good, you should get started putting a team together then. I'll have what I need ready by the time you finish gathering the Warrior Bards you need and then meet you by our horses. We'll go our separate ways initially so you can vanish from sight temporarily and gear up for battle. Fighting Mehrunes Dagon will be easier if doesn't know to send a force that accounts for your numbers so do what you can to disapear. I'll find this farmer's daughter and her family on a map and see where else I can go that is nearby and possibly help others."

"You are taking Mehrunes Dagon pretty seriously," Zurilda says while looking at Mallufaax and trying to understand how he is thinking, "just how dangerous is this plot?"

"That is the problem," Mallufaax responds, "I really have not the faintest idea as to the full potential danger that this plot of his proposes. Even worse is that he has perhaps the best daedra to go up against my knights with in the form of the dremora. We're going to to need the best warriors that we have to throw at him and then extra warriors just to be safe. I'm thinking that we should use hammer and anvil tactics, our best warriors lock his dremora in place while the others who are not so skilled come at the dremora from behind while they are distracted and take them out."

"Agreed, that would give our soldiers the best fighting chance they can get against Mehrunes Dagon's minions," Zurilda states and then she and Mallufaax split up, she leaves through an emergency exit instead of the front door of the college. Inside the alley that it leads to, Zurilda uses her magic to call upon her Warrior Bards and she prepares a group of her best. Hand picking one Warrior Bard at a time to ensure that the dremora face the strongest defense possible. Once she has picked out her defenders, Zurilda starts hand picking warriors that she thinks will be able to take advantage of the distraction that her best will create and land the finishing blow on the distracted dremora. She picks these warriors based on their ability to move quickly and their precision with their weapons in melee. Intending on having her lesser warriors kill the dremora as quickly as they can and before the dremora can respond. Meanwhile Mallufaax first orders a small escort of his knights to prepare for this task, hand picking the knights who have the most experience blending in with mortals to ensure the ruse is as genuine seeming as it can be. He then finds the location of this farmer's daughter and her family's home on a map with help from Elefwen. Using this same map and Elefwen's knowledge of the surrounding area, Mallufaax picks out several other farms that he wants to at least check on. After finding these locations on the map, Mallufaax prepares a great deal of money to hand out as well as a few treats, thousands in septims so he doesn't easily run out and furthers the guise he is attempting to pull off.. Shortly after he has these supplies all set and ready to go, Mallufaax first confirms that his knights are ready for action and then makes sure that Zurilda is ready. When he knows that she is ready, they leave Solitude, retrieve their horses, and pass by the harbor as they go directly south. Once out of sight, Mallufaax summons an escort of of his knights though they wear lower quality gear and have lower quality weapons.

"We're in no rush soldiers, we're going to head to the given location at a leisurely pace and look as if we don't expect there to be a single trouble in the world. That way," Mallufaax explains, "we can make this look as authentic as possible." Following Mallufaax's directions, his knights lead the way and surround Mallufaax and his horse as they go. Though Mallauffax cannot see her, he knows that Zurilda and her Warrior Bards are close by. The first stop is the farmer's daughter that Elefwen mentioned, Mallufaax has a few scenarios in mind as to how he can approach this situation, none of them are for what he finds! Mallufaax and his knights walk up upon a tense conversation and he sees the farmer's daughter and her parents are arguing with a wealthy man. Listening to the conversation, Mallufaax puts together pieces of what he is seeing and hearing Okay so that man in the fine clothes that this farming family is talking to is involved with finances and from the sound of his tone, he is expecting money. Only it seems that he is asking a lot from this family and being real should have known that they wouldn't pay him back quickly. The conversation gets worse as Mallufaax and his knights get closer, even from a distance the two arguing parties are loud enough that he can hear them clearly.

As he gets closer, Mallufaax hears the man in fine clothes say to the family while raising a fist in their face with the back of his hand pointed towards them, "If you don't shut your mouths and pay me right now, I'll have this entire farm confiscated and throw you all, including the children, into jail for failing to pay your debts." Hearing this, Mallufaax stops and dismounts from his horse but before introducing himself, looks at his knights and they nod to him. They all heard this, but for a moment they are in disbelief that this just happened. After this moment of disbelief passes, Mallufaax walks forward with his knights and introduces them to the situation.

Thus he gives them an order, "men, take him prisoner for unlawful threats of leveraging financial debts against this family. See him to the nearest patrol or Solitude so he can be procecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I had heard that there were rumors of civil unrest or something to that effect brewing but didn't believe it. It seems I may have been wrong." At first, the man in fine clothes tries to argue his way out of it, Mallufaax responds "don't play me or my escort for a group of fools. We all know the law in Skyrim sir, and don't try to bribe us, we're not foolish enough to make ourselves accessories to your crimes." Though it takes some effort, two of Mallufaax's disguised knights manage to restrain the main and start walking him away from the scene with a third in tow just in case something happens. Turning to the family, Mallufaax says, "I apologize that a man of similar status to my own and who should have known and acted better than that exhibited such behavior. Tell me, how much did you owe him or his organization?" The family tells Mallufaax that they still owed him 200 Septims after paying over 3000 thousand in just three years. "That is quite steep, what did you need that much money for?"

"It was to for equipment for our farm that we could not live without, he was the only one who would sell us that equipment on the agreement that we would pay him back the amount owed plus interest over time," the husband of the family responds. "To tell you the truth, what he sold us wasn't even that good but it was all we could get and we needed it so we were left with no choice." Mallufaax asks how much they still owed and the husband responds, "we still owed 200 septims but we don't have that kind of money to spare during this part of the year. It wouldn't have hurt that man to be patient with the payments, we cannot pay him if we starve to death." With this information in hand, Mallufaax turns and walks over to his horse and retrieves 200 septims for the family and personally puts them in the hands of the husband. Stating that it will settle the debt and ensure that their debt holder doesn't bother them any more. "You're...you're giving all this money to us? Why?"

"In my line of work, I'm no stranger to having to manage money carefully even if I have plenty to spare," Mallufaax responds. "Since I'm in a period of prosperity, I don't see there being any reason why I cannot help those who need it. Besides, the last thing that I want for anyone is the Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile seeing unfortunate people like you and screwing you over with an even worse deal. Trust me, the stories that I have heard are incredably sobering and will make you be thankful for what you have, regardless of how much or little what you have actually is." The husband thanks Mallufaax repeatedly and asks if there is something that he can do to repay the kindness. Mallufaax responds, "let others know that not all of the wealthy and politically powerful don't care about the plight of the everyday man for me. I don't know if the rumors about civil unrest are true but Skyrim has seen a fair amount of violence in the last few years. Civil war, vampires, and werewolves all so close together to one another. This land has earned, and is in need of a spell of peace to rebuild and stablize for the future ahead and even something as seemingly small as this could explode into something that will have widespread impacts." Mallufaax remounts his horse and is about to leave when the young daughter asks him who he is, "who am I? Just a man who is doing the right thing and helping those who need his help." Mallufaax sets off with his knights and as he leaves, he thinks, that was the family of the daughter that Elefwen pointed out to me but they didn't seem to have the attention of Clavicus Vile. Now I don't know what happened before I showed up and I cannot break disguise to find out what happened, so maybe I missed when he appeared to this family. However Elefwen did say she didn't know for sure and if I did mess with him even a bit, Clavicus would certainly have made a statement. Mallufaax and his kngihts head on to their next destination and to his dismay as he travels from place to place, the same scene that he encountered at the first farm is repeated three more times before he comes to his final intended stop which will have taken him on a loop through the bulk of Haafingar.

At Each place that he stops, the only thing that chances are those he meets but it is repeatedly a scene of poor people that are finding themselves on the receiving end of threats from those they owe money two. Between each of his stops, Mallufaax carefully brings in replacement knights to replace those he sent off. Yet these knights do not remain with him long as they get sent away with another being who has come to beleive that they are untouchable no matter what threats they make. Like the first family of farmers, the following families of farmers also had to take out a loan to buy the desperately needed new tools required for them to make a living. Looking at them, these tools are not worth the price they paid.

He thinks as he leaves the third farm, someone will have to look into these tools. I don't know if I'll do it myself or have someone else do it yet but this seems too coincidental to me. The same sub-quality tools for the same high price, the only difference is the money lender that the family takes money from. This seems...by design! Though never his intention with this venture, Mallufaax ends up sending multiple people to jail as a result. They won't be in jail for long, but he still sends a message to these people. He also gives out hundreds of Septims to clear the debts of the those he meets, asking each of them to spread the word of this kindness in an effort to prevent civil unrest and to prevent this situation from evolving into a more serious problem. He hopes, as does everyone else with him, that by clearing these debts these families will no longer be the subjects of such threats but also that they have caught this situation in time to stop it. As he travels north along the edge of the Hold, Mallufaax arrives at his final intended stop, a farm at the northeast most corner of Haafingar. Before he can get close, Mallufaax spots a far worse problem than a debt holder who is taking the matter too far. Mallufaax dismounts as he looks at the magical projected image of Clavicus vile that matches a statue which he knows can be found at his shrine in Skyrim. Mallufaax approaches the situation quickly but calmly, his hands ready to start shooting spells at any threats he may be about to face.

"Why of course, I can make your problems go away," Clavicus Vile says to the farming family before him. "Just name the issue and I'll see that is is removed from your life." This one statement is all that Mallufaax needs to hear and he knows what he needs to do.

He introduces himself into the conversation by saying, "and I can do better than what you offer them for a better price Clavicus. You will give them only what they wish for which is in reality not going to be what they actually want and need in this situation. I on the other hand will give this family what they actually need and really want." Stunned at first, the husband of the family asks who Mallufaax is. Mallufaax responds, "Mallufaax, Lord of Exiles and Daedric Prince of Chaos Magic. I had hoped that I could go this entire venture under the guise of a wealthy Nord who was generously handing out money to those in need. Never giving my name but since Clavicus has shown himself, I find that it is worth revealing myself to you. Now tell me what is it that you need? Money to pay off a debt, materials to improve your home and your farm? Tell me and I'll see that you get it."

"Don't listen to him," Clavicus Vile says to the family, "he's just another one of those who will force you into a debt and use that debt to extort you. Any man can say anything that they want, that doesn't make it true."

"That is correct but I will be the judge of what he is saying to me," the husband responds to Clavicus Vile, calm but clearly nervous as he is now caught between two offers and has no idea who is telling the truth. "Well," the husband in the family explains to Mallufaax as he did to Clavicus Vile mniutes ago, "we love our cows but as of late with having to pay off a loan, it is hard to make sure that they are cared for but we simply cannot stop now. You say that you can help us, what can you do for us that Clavicus Vile cannot? He's already offered to make the problem go away for us."

"As Clavicus said about me, I caution you to be careful with him because his words are not what you think they are. I however give people what they need and what they want," Mallufaax responds, "Clavicus Vile gives you what you wish for and if you wish that you didn't have to care for your cows anymore, he'd likely just turn them to ash. It gives you want you wished for but not what you actually wanted!" The husband looks back at Clavicus, "and sadly that is not a story that I've made up. He's done that before and I had to clean up the mess that he made as a result. I could go into more instances of undoing the damage that he did but I think you're smart enough to already know that they all end the same way." With this in mind, the family quickly chooses Mallufaax and whatever help he can offer and walk away from Clavicus and towards him. "I think that ends your chances at scoring a deal Clavicus, now scurry off and leave us alone, I have a deal to work on and don't have time or patience for you." Clavicus opens his mouth for a moment to speak but then doesn't say anything and leaves, defeated and with this Clavicus Vile and mallufaax are even. "Now, what would be easier for you to do, pay off the loan or support your cows. There is no point doing the hardest thing which may not even have the best result."

"You wouldn't happen to have 100 spare septims to spare do you?" the wife asks. "That would pay off the loan and end this whole problem, though we could use some new tools because ours are so old and worn that they are hardly of any use to us. We will probably need another 50 septims to make sure that we can cover the replacement tools."

"To be honest, I expected worse since Clavicus Vile showed up. This however is an easy problem to fix," Mallufaax says and he motions his horse to come to him and then retrives the money needed to pay the loan and replace the tools. In total he gives them 200 septims, figuring that extra money is better than not enough. "See what you can get for the old tools by trading them in for salvage material, and keep the extra money if you don't need it. Just make sure that you keep those cows in good health. Also if someone tries to start some sort of class related confict, in return I ask that you stay out of it. Skyrim has had enough of trouble for a long time and having inter-class conflict is the last thing that it needs right now." Before the family can respond, trouble emerges in the form of Dremora from all around the group but Zurilda and her warrior bards also emerge from hiding. Sticking to the plan, they charge the dremora directly and pull their attention away from Mallufaax and the family. Allowing him time to change into his armor, teleport his horse to safety, and get the family inside their house. "I'd say that we have Mehrunes Dagon's attention alright," Mallufaax states to himself as he draws his sword. "Let's give him and his minions a good fight and show him that his efforts are in vain.

Spotting an incredably strong dremora, Mallufaax calls upon his power Divine Light and in his left hand he creates a swirling ball of light and holds it as this power's attack charges up and prepares to fire. Then he points at the dremora after six seconds with his pointer finger and a beam of light shoots down from the sky and turns the dremora to ash! Divine Light is Mallufaax's power that is solely meant for taking out single and very durable threats, it has the longest cooldown of his powers but if used properly can take down a great many opponents of immense strength with but a single shot! Mallufaax has seldom had a reason to use this power, partially because of how few foes need this much firepower to take down and that he wasn't sure if he should use it with Malice hanging on. However now that Malice is not a problem and faced with Mehrunes Dagon's attention, Mallufaax intends to put on a show of strength. As Zurilda engages a dremora and kills it in a quick flash of movements via Scorned Dance, Mallufaax and his knights join the melee and with his left hand, Mallufaax casts a spell to create a small shield that catches the sword of a dremora. He then chops the forearm holding this weapon off. He then smacks the shield of this dremora to the side and then blasts the dremora in the face with a Light Spell to finish it off. He then casts Swallowing Darkness to stop a dremora that tries to get past him and his knights and go for the family's house. Once this dremora is taken down, Mallufaax turns to determine which foe he must slay next. He spots Zurilda taking on two foes at once though holding her own. A third dremora appears to go for her so Mallufaax charges it and gets this dremora's attention. He ducks under the mace of this dremora and takes out its right leg by slashing across the back of its knee.

Standing back up, Mallufaax obliterates its head with another spell then spins around to face his intended direction again and goes after one of the dremora facing Zurilda. He drives his sword's tip through a split between two pieces of armor and cripples the dremora from behind. Pulling his sword free, Mallufaax then decapitates this dremora and then spins around 180 degrees and fires a Dark Spell at a dremora coming for him to stun it and then lands two successive strikes on this dremora.

After she decapitates her remaining foe, Zurilda says with a smile, "if all these years have taught me anything, it is that we make one heck of a pair in a fight. Should I assume that with this, you've settled the score with Mehrunes Dagon and thus with all the Daedric Princes who have wronged you?"

"Oh it feels so good to finally be even with everyone at long last," Mallufaax responds as he blocks the mace of a dremora then forces them into the path of a fireball from a dremora spell caster. "I can only imagine what Mehrunes Dagon is doing at this moment now that I've taken the fire out of his plot and I love every idea that I come up with." New dremora show up in the form of two large groups. One group takes on the role of distracting Mallufaax and company while the other goes for the house. In a quick response, Mallufaax summons more knights in their standard gear to protect the house, "I cannot say that I'm surprisedh how Mehrunes Dagon raised the stakes by putting that farming family at risk. It is a damn good thing I had a plan for that."

"Did you know he would do that?" Zurilda asks afte running her sword through a dremora wizard that she caught out of position.

"More like I felt like it would be better to plan for it and hope that it ended up being unessesary," Mallufaax responds. "I really didn't know what would happen when we set out on this other than that I knew Mehrunes Dagon would respond with force to stop us. If we cut down this wave of dremora then I think that he will leave this family alone and accept that he has been shown up." Mallufaax engages the closest dremora to him, taking out one that is engaged with one of his orignal knights that escorted him. He then spots one of the new dremora and takes it on, usins his sword to stop the attack of his foe and then his left hand to shoot a beam of light into the chest of this dremora. This cripples the dremora he is facing and then the knigt he helped comes past him and decapitates the dremora for Mallufaax. As three dremora approach her, Zurilda uses Dance of Death, spawning her magical ribbons and then she spins to engage and destroy these dremora. The first two of the three manage to stop, the third stops but slips and falls onto their back and before they have a chance to escape, Zurilda approaches them. Her spinning ribbons tear into the armor first, slicing through it one slash at a time until it reaches the flesh of the dremora. Then it starts shreding the flesh of the dremora and then it starts tearing the dremora themselves to shreds. As Zurilda engages these three dremora, Mallufaax kicks another into the path of her ribbons and it's arm is the first thing to get hit by the ribbons and then another ribbon slashes into the neck of the dremora and kills it. Around Mallufaax and Zurilda, his knights and her warrior bards are taking down the dremora one by one but most importantly they keep the family and their house safe and stall for time. Each second they stall for allows Mallufaax and Zurilda to engage and eliminate the dremora as the main killing force. They eliminate dremora at a rate much faster than their warrior bards and knights, and each one they slay is yet a bit more payback for Mallufaax against Mehrunes Dagon. The second wave of dremora begins to thin out, with the tip of his sword, Mallufaax piereces the heart of the dremora leading this wave and then shoots a bolt of light into the chest of the second in command of this wave of dremora. As a warrior bard burries their weapon in the skull of a dremora warrior, one of Mallufaax's knights cuts off the weapon armor of a dremora at the elbow and then its shield arm. With a swift horizontal slash, this knight cuts the head of his foe clean from their shoulders.

Zurilda in turn cuts the shield arm from another dremora warrior as one of her Warrior Bards manages to close the distance with a dremor mage. The Bard knocks the dagger from the mage's hand as they try to block the sword of this Warrior Bard, and then the Bard slashes up and to their right across the mage's chest and opens it. The heart of this dremora suffers a fatal slash and thus it quickly stops beating. Inside the house, the family watches ominously as the Daedric Prince who came to help them and his allies fight to keep them safe. The son in the family clenches his young hands around his wooden sword, trying to take comfort in the idea that it will protect him as he looks away from the window. The daughter, who also looks away from the window and closes her eyes, holds her doll as tight against her chest as she can. Yet with each passing second, the situation gets better outside their house even as more dremora arrive though fewer than before. Zurilda cuts down a dremora, slicing their torso in two at a diagonal angle as Mallufaax first shoots a bolt of light through the skull of a dremora and then uses Swallowing darkness to kill another before he dodges the two-handed axe of another dremora. He proceeds to cut the arms of this dremora off at the elbow and then he takes its head as Zurilda pushes the tip of her sword through the side of a dremora's torso and then pulls her sword free and takes off its head. A knight takes off the arm of a dremora mage and then a Bard cuts it down in a single blow. Striking the knee of a dremora warrior, a Bard brings a dremora to its knees before one of the daedric knights and then that knight takes off the head of that dremora. The number of Dremora after this third wave continues to drop, one by one the dremora falll until finally at last, they are all gone. When the last Dremora dies, everything goes quiet and Mallufaax and Zurilda wait and listen to their surroundings. They listen for any sign of there being more Dremora coming towards them, waiting to see if Mehrune's Dagon wishes to keep the fighting going. However as they listen, all they hear are birds chirping and signaling to each other as they return that the fighting and the and the dager has past.

"I think that he gets the message," Mallufaax says with a smile on his face and he is the first to sheath his sword after two minutes of silence. He turns to the house, "I believe that Mehrunes Dagon and his minions won't be showing up here any time soon. However I will see that a watch is kept on this entire region for a time to make sure that he doesn't get any ideas. Until then, may a good harvest this coming season be yours. I hope that we cross paths again in the future." The children appear in the doorway when it opens and Mallufaax watches them wave at him, now those are some cute smiles and their waving is so adorable. If there is ever a reward to this life, it is seeing things like that. To himself, Mallufaax says quietly, "With this, the last Daedric Prince that I needed to get even with is off the list. It is over," Mallufaax looks at the family's house first and then at Zurilda as they walk away. "All this time I've lived like this, I never would have imagined that you would be the one Zurilda to set me down the path to finally be free of Malice."

"There are sometimes that you cannot do on your own and we all need friends in life," Zurilda says with a smile. "We should make sure that we've not missed any Dremora that may remain in the area. We've come this far and worked this hard, it would be wasteful of us to stop now before we push our work through to completion." Mallufaax nods and so their large group travels towards Solitude as they check for more Dremora. As they close in on the city, out of sight and with no sign of more Dremora, Mallufaax and Zurilda send the knights and Warrior Bards off to lick their wounds and enjoy a job well done. They return to the city and then to Elefwen who is happy to see them and hear of their success.

"I see, well then it is good that the two of you have qwelled the situation and sent off both Daedric Princes," Elefwen states. "I cannot wait to see what the farmer's daughter turns into once she starts her education here at this college. It is a shame that those who lent them money and who should have known better acted the way that they did, it is disrespectful at best and it is likely what fueled the civil unrest that I heard about. Though there is no telling if what you did today will be enough to put an end to this situation, it will certainly help and buy some time for more to be done about it. Now that we have some time Mallufaax, it would be great if we can catch up on all that has happened and I would like to offer something to you for your help today and for saving one of my best students of all time. There is a show tonight in a few hours that I think you'll like and I have a few reserved tickets that are not going to sell in time for it. If you're interested, I can set you up in one of the best seats in the theater which includes catering."

"It has been a while since I kicked my feet up and relaxed to a good show and tonight's show is comedy," Mallufaax says, "I accept your offer. I will deal with the suspicious farm tools that my travels today uncovered at a later date. Though I have one question, is there room for me to bring Zurilda along to the show?"

Elefwen smiles, "yes there is. Should I book the two of you in then on what to me seems to be more than just two friends going to see a show together?"

"That would be lovely because this is a show that has very important sentimental value to me," Zurilda responds to Elefwen. "I saw it as a little girl and it is what made me want to get into performing on the stage. Being able to see it with a good friend of mine, the Lord of Exiles himself, would make seeing this show for the first time since I was a little girl that much better. Whether this is just two friends having fun together or if this is a proper date that your asking me out to though," Zurilda looks at Mallufaax with intrigued eyes, "I'm interested in finding that out tonight."

"It certainly will be one interesting night tonight," Mallufaax says with a smile on his face. "To be honest, I'm not sure myself if this is a date or or just having fun together. However as you said, it will be interesting to find out tonight. With everything settled then, lets find a place to be out of they way until show time," Mallufaax says to Zurilda. "Maybe I can catch up with Elefwen in the meantime once she takes care of booking us into our seats. I have some stories to tell and I'm sure that she has some to tell as well. If there is time, we may be able to squeeze some of yours in too Zurilda." In a matter of minutes, Elefwen has Mallufaax and Zurilda booked into their seats for the show tonight and then the three of them sit down and start trading stories before showtime. Mallufaax takes great interest in Elefwen's stores about her various efforts to hide her survival such as how she managed to find work first in a mine and then later how she joined the Theater College. Elefwen's stories about when she became a mother are also interesting as her children were very much into being on stage and she had to work very hard to keep them from sneaking onto it at the wrong time. THough this came in very handy when she needed children actors or there was a children's theater play that was being put on by the Theater College. Come showtime, Mallufaax and Velvet are among the first of tonight's attendies to take their seats and they enjoy a pleseant and private balcony view where they can eat their dinner in peace while watching the show. As they wait for dinner, Mallufaax looks over at Zurilda and says to her, "would it be wrong for this to be our first date?"

She smiles, "no because I couldn't think of a better way to have a first date than this."

Epilogue 4th Era 212

As the sun shines down on the beach before her, Zurilda is happily relaxing in her red bikini in the shade of a tree. The gentle summer breeze of the Dream Isles blows off the ocean and through her hair as she relaxes and dries off in her chair. The "Skyrim Isle" isn't the warmest landmass and associated islands in the Dream Isles but its still plenty warm and sunny without being too much. The landscape around her and plantlife of this landmass are close enough to Skyrim that Zurilda feels at home but it is also different enough that she feels as if she is away from home. As she is relaxing, Zurilda notices that something is trying to get her attention from both her right and her left. Zurilda opens her eyesm lifts her head from her chair, and she finds that her 3 year old son and daughter are standing beside her and they are wrapped in towels to help dry off after swiming in the shallow areas around the beach.

"Mommy, can we nap beside you?" Zurilda's son asks.

Zurilda smiles, "I suppose you can but you need to be still okay?" Her children nod and then they crawl onto her chair and tuck themselves against her sides. She puts her arms around the backs of her twins as they lay their heads against her chair and close their eyes and rest. Though she wishes that she could let her parents see them more often, knowing that they'd be overjoyed to spend time with their grandchildren, Zurilda enjoys having her children and their company largely to herself. For the most part, raising her twins has been managable and though it wasn't easy, Zurilda is happy for the way that events have gone so far. Like I needed to tell these two to be still, I probably need both hands to count how many times I thought I had lost them during my pregnancy because of how still they were. Mallufaax walks over to her and kneels down on Zurilda's right then puts his right hand on the head of their 3 year old son. "I see they tired themselves out swiming in the shallow pools around the beach. It is a little hard to believe that they're already learning to swim, even if they are learning while under our supervision and with help from us every now and then. It feels like it wasn't all that long ago that I was carying them in my arms while they were all swaddled up and rested against my chest."

"They certainly are growing quickly," Mallufaax remarks with a smile as he rubs their son's head. "It is sometimes hard to believe how small they were just a short time ago. Tiny and fragile with no way to speak to us and tell us what they needed or wanted. Now here they are not only so much bigger but also able to speak at an advanced level for their age and learning to swim. They're already becoming independant enough where they could soon start playing with other children and won't likely want to be around us as much." Mallufaax takes his hand off of his son, "that will be a hard adjustment to make."

"True, however they'll always have some connection with us," Zurilda says as Mallufaax pulls up a chair and sits down beside her. "How did they do today? They've been practicing quite a lot recently so to me it would make sense that they're getting the hang of swiming by now."

Mallufaax smiles, "well they're no professional swimmers yet but they have the motions that I've been teaching them down and are able to swim around in the shallow pools on their own without my support. I wouldn't trust them to swim without out some assistance yet, and I'm not taking them out of the shallow pools to let them swim in deeper waters along the beach. However they are certainly impressing me with how fast they are learning and I think that soon they will no longer need our advise with regards as to how swim." Their daughter lets out a small yawn, "obviously though we still need to supervise them because they have a habbit of going until they tire themselves out so much that they need to sleep."

"Well at least that part isn't hard for them," Zurilda comments, "these two don't care if we talk right beside them in our normal voices. They just sleep right on through it. I don't get what it is about them that makes them behave like this, what combination of factors makes them such quiet beings. Even before they were born they were like this."

"It is certainly strange but is the quirks that make us all unique and I like this quirk of theirs," Mallufaax comments. "I don't think that there was ever a night that they didn't sleep through in its entirity even when they were newborns."

"Mallufaax," Zurilda says, "I've been wondering as of late. Why did you not take a wife for yourself long before Elefwen or I came into the picture? I mean look at us, you know what your doing as a husband and father so much so that I'm surprised that I'm your first wife."

"Well it won't surprise yout that for a time Malice was a problem," Mallufaax starts, "and before that well...I don't really know why I didn't. I guess that I was so caught up in my work that I didn't have time for one. Then again, I never had any desire for a partner, even if very little, until around when I first met Elefwen. The reason that I'm so good at being a father is that though these children of ours are my first children by blood, I have adopted and raised a few over the years. Addtionally, I've had to see many children into new homes for various reasons and that took time so I had to raise them myself. Surprisingly, while you and I were initially working together years ago, there weren't any that needed my attention."

"Interesting, but that is a good thing if you ask me and I can explain a few of those years for you," Zurilda says, "I took in several children over the course of a few years and babysat regularily so parents could work. This is probably why I've found being a mother to be rather easy because I've been a mother to many children already for periods of time. That probably helped reduce the amount of children who needed your help and that doesn't take in what the Warrior Bards did. I know at least one of my female Warrior Bards found an abandoned baby and she took it in, nursing it in fact until she could find a family to take it in. I cannot speak for the men among the Warrior Bards, but I wouldn't put it past them to help a child in need." Zurilda looks at her children, "do you think that our little ones will want to join the Warrior Bards when they are older?"

Mallufaax shrugs, "I couldn't say, maybe they will because of our blood in their veins and how they'll grow up around us and those we work with. Then again, fighting is not the only talent we know. You still dance as good as you ever did and I have other talents such as smithing and teaching magic. They could have easily picked up any of these talents and wish to pursue them instead of fighting beside us. However it is not our choice to make for them, all we can do is make sure that we show them all the available choices that will be available to them. Whatever they choose is what they will choose and I'll do whatever I can to help them with that choice." Looking at his son, Mallufaax thinks about what he has heard from other fathers, "our son is already asking for me to take him hunting and trying to follow me around everywhere I go."

Zurilda giggles, "I cannot say I'm surprised, that was my brother for you. He wanted to be with our father all the time and when it comes to you and our son, you two are very alike. Obviously he's a Nord where you're not but you both have a lot of similarities like your physical strength and magical adeptness." A new question comes to the front of her mind, "Mallufaax, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I've ever asked you if you ever dreamed of having a family like this or if this is what you would have expected out of a family of your own."

"You haven't asked that that I can remember," Mallufaax responds, "in truth I never thought about having a family of my own no matter how much I interacted with mortals before you came along. Though is this what I would have wanted out of a family of my own? The answer to that question is simple, I wouldn't change a thing about our family because I couldn't ask for better. There are aspects of our happy family that I didn't even know that I wanted."