Chapter 43: Calm before the Storm

Isran stood in his room, leaned over a map of Skyrim. Next to it was a map of the east of Solitude. A particular little Island had been marked with a small, red flag. "And you're sure that it will work?"

"Yeah, the bow should be able to defeat Harkon," Dipper replied.

"Fine. We only have to get you in there..."

"I just want to point out that there are dozens of vampires in there," Wendy said. "And their thralls. And those weird dog things."

"Good point," Isran replied. "You won't make it through there."

"May I suggest something?" Dipper asked. "What if we strike with full force? A huge assault on the castle. I'm sure we can ask one of the boats in Solitude to get us there."

"That could work. Can you tell me the exact layout of the castle?" Isran asked, looking at Serana.

"I can only tell what I remember, and even that might've changed, in case my father renovated."

"Great. You stay here. You two?" He looked at Dipper and Wendy. "You go down and sleep. We need you at full strength tomorrow."

"No problem." Thus, Dipper and Wendy left the two alone and walked through the Dawnguard.

It looked nothing like it did in the beginning. All the cobwebs were gone, and the whole complex was busy. The other members were eating, training or making armor and weapons.

Especially Gunmar and Sorine were working, as Dipper and Wendy found out. Sorine was still trying to improve the crossbows, while Gunmar was taking care of his armored Trolls.

"Hey, you two! Can you come over here for a moment?" Sorine asked.

Both shrugged and walked up to her. "What is it?"

"Here, can you test this out for me?" She gave Wendy a somewhat bigger crossbow. She took it and noticed that it felt light, considering it's size. "I made this one to be used in one hand. After I saw you drawing your shield that one time, I got the idea for an auto-loader."

Wendy and Dipper walked down a set of stairs, arriving at a small shooting range. Wendy took the new crossbow and shot it. The heavy bolt dug deep into the bullseye. However, her entire arm also lunged backward, and a loud crack was heard.

"Wendy?" Dipper asked. Wendy was holding her shoulder, and tears stood in her eyes.

"It... It got a little bit too much recoil."

"Oh, uhm. Sorry."

"Can- Can you get a medic or something here?"

"Sure." Sorine ran off, and Dipper ran to Wendy's side.

"How's your shoulder?"

"Someone needs to snap it back into place," Wendy explained. "I'm not gonna test out a new crossbow ever again."

"I'm back," Sorine yelled. It looked like the next healer wasn't far off. The man's hands started to glow, and he held them over the broken arm.

Wendy cringed as the bones and muscles snapped back into place. "Done." The healer said and left.

"I think I have to work on that..." Sorine noted.

"Stop the presses," Wendy replied. "You know what you could do? Add, like, a little scope. Would be helpful."

"What's a scope?" Sorine asked in confusion.

"A small object that zooms in on targets," Dipper explained. "You know what, maybe I can actually help you with that."

"Okay. Let's go." Thus, Wendy and Dipper helped her out with the new invention.

They realized just how behind this world was, and how much they could actually change with the knowledge they brought from home. And, most importantly, how much money that could make.

"You think this is it?" Mabel asked, standing on the small Island in front of the supposed entrance to their destination.

Onmund pulled out a map and nodded. "Yeah, this should be it."

"Okay, let's try to be careful," Brelyna said. "We don't want to cause an avalanche."

"Yes, Yes," Mabel replied, and shot Fireballs at the ice, while J'zargo used a normal flames spell.

The Ice slowly turned into water, revealing a dark cave entrance. Onmund set a torch on fire, and went in ahead, followed by the others.

The inside looked like a normal Nordic ruin, minus the plants. Instead, water dripped down from the ceiling, coming in from little cracks that connected to the Sea of Ghosts.

"Uhm, is this really the right Island?" Brelyna asked. "This looks way too old."

"Well, when did Winterhold collapse again?" Mabel asked.

"Eighty years ago. Roughly. It shouldn't be this broken. Especially in this freezing cold." Onmund replied.

"Do you think we might have found an undiscovered Nord Tomb instead?" J'zargo wondered.

The long hallway eventually ended in a circular room, with no was further. Three pedestals stood in the middle of the room, while the walls were full of coffins.

"This is a graveyard..." Brelyna muttered.

"All tombs are glorified graveyards," Mabel said and walked up to one of the pedestals. It looked like there was a little hatch on it. "Huh..." She opened it, and some sort of stone object fell out.

Mabel picked it up and looked at it. The object looked like some sort of mask. "What the..."

"Everything okay?" Onmund asked.

"Yeah. It's just... this mask... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before..."

"Was it inside the pedestal?"

Mabel nodded, put the mask on the ground, and walked over to another pedestal. This one had a hatch too. She pulled it open and found some sort of stone tablet. A huge symbol was carved into it.

"I found something too!" J'zargo yelled. He stood next to the last pedestal and held up a tooth. Judging by the size, it looked like it originally belonged to a dragon.

"Is this everything?" Brelyna asked. She took the mask and put it on her face.

"Do you feel anything?" Onmund asked. "Is it enchanted."

Brelyna took it off and put it back on the pedestal. "No, it's just uncomfortable. Seems like a cheap knock-off you could buy from a caravan."

"Maybe this is some sort of puzzle." Mabel guessed and started to put all the objects into their respective pedestals. However, nothing happened. "Huh."

"Maybe it has something to do with this?" J'zargo asked, and pushed away a bit of debris. It revealed small carvings on the ground, barely possible to see.

"But what would-" Mabel started to walk over to him, only to scratch her foot on a sharp piece of metal on the ground. "Dammit, that hurts!" Blood came out of the wound and poured into the carvings.

"It needs blood?" Brelyna asked.

"This... This probably isn't good." Mabel added. She used a spell to heal her wound.

They watched how the blood made its way through the carvings, and eventually crawled up the pedestals. The three items started to levitate, and the coffins exploded.

Corpses fell out, their bodies full of weird runes.

"What the-?" J'zargo asked in shock.

Mabel walked up to one of the corpses and felt his pulse. "Dead. What in the world happened here?" She looked back at the other students and noticed that the blood had stopped to flow. "Huh?"

It connected the three pillars, forming some sort of triangle. The one line that led to the pedestal with the mask started to glow.

She quickly looked back at the corpses and saw one carving on the back of what looked like a middle-aged Dunmer. It looked too familiar.

"This is some sort of ritual..." Onmund muttered. "Maybe to summons something. A Daedra?"

"I've never heard of a Summoning Ritual that looks like this," Brelyna said. "This is something else."

"We have to get out of here," Mabel muttered.

"What?"

"Come on!" Mabel ran out, and grabbed one of the students, dragging him out with her. The other two followed.

Once outside, Mabel caught her breath. "This isn't good."

"What was that? Why did you panic like this?" J'zargo asked, rubbing his arm.

"It definitely was a summoning circle. I just hope that we didn't activate it." Mabel pulled out her phone and tried to call her uncle. "Right, no connection," Mabel said frustrated and put it back into her pocket. "We have to get back to the school and tell my uncle."

"Do you know what that summoning circle was for?" Brelyna asked.

"Yeah, and my uncle is the only one who can try to stop it," Mabel replied. He was inside the Journal, so Ford had to know something.

"Well then. You two, go back to the school." Brelyna said, pointing at Mabel and Onmund. "J'zargo, you'll stay here with me. We have to make sure that nothing gets out of here."

"Sure."

Mabel nodded, and left with the Nord, trying to get back to the school. Thankfully, the frozen bridge they created to the school enabled them to get there fast.

Ford was, like always, sitting in the middle of the Arcaneum studying. "Grunkle Ford!"

"Mabel? Is something wrong?"

"Listen, we found a weird circle in an ancient ruin."

She could tell by his expression that Ford had his problems with keeping up. "Okay, calm down. What's going on?"

"Okay. Mabel, calm down." She took a deep breath. "We were in this old Nord Ruin, and I 'accidentally' activated a circle. Then there were those three objects. And pedestals for each of them."

"So a magic circle?"

"Well, not really. They formed, like, a triangle."

"WHAT?" Ford yelled out and jumped up. "You don't mean-"

"Yeah. Bill. Looks like he some people here knew about him at one point."

"That's... unsettling." Ford looked at the bookshelves. "However, I haven't found any records of him in here, so it might just have been a small cult."

"Still, can you maybe take a look at it?"

"Sure thing. By the way, I've got something for you." Ford started to look through the pockets of his coat and pulled out a piece of paper. "That arrived here a couple of hours ago. It's addressed to you."

"Uhm, 'kay?" She opened the paper and read through it.

"Dear Dragonborn.

I'm happy to confirm that Delphine is back in Riverwood. Please come here as soon as possible.

Esbern."

"Oh, looks like the main quest is continuing."

"What?"

"Nothing." She put the note into her pocket. "Seems like I have to leave. Delphine's back, so we can finally find a way to defeat Alduin."

"Alduin? The World-Eater?" Onmund asked in shock. "So it is true that he's back?"

"Oh, forgot about you. But yeah, that Alduin. Apparently, it's my fate to defeat him or something."

"Man, that means you're leaving?" Onmund sighed. "I'm going to gather the others. I'm sure everyone wants to wish you farewell."

"Do that," Mabel replied.

"Also... It might make you happy that I finished my analysis of the mask." Ford explained and picked up the object. "It can accelerate your regeneration of Magicka if I'm not mistaken."

"Okay, that sounds useful." Mabel took the mask. "Wait, I realized something."

"What?"

"Well, one of the objects in the ruin was a mask, one that looked just like that. Even though it was definitely a cheap knock-off."

"Interesting. Maybe the Dragon cult was involved with that place. Anyways, does it fit?"

"Let's see." Mabel put on the mask, and her body bend backward as she let out a gasp. A second later, she collapsed.

"Mabel!" Ford yelled and kneeled down. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes... Yes, it is." Mabel said with a deep voice, though it was obvious that she just tried to sound like some sort of malevolent spirit. "I simply rejected my humanity!"

"What?"

Mabel sighed and stood up. "Man, it's no fun if no one understands my reference. This world kinda sucks in that regard."

"Uhm..."

"Anyways, it fits perfectly, almost as if it changes itself to fit the one who puts it on. Though, the fact that I can only see through these two slits is annoying. But I guess I can just not wear it outside of combat."

"I'm glad you like it. Now then, let's pack your stuff."

"...Yeah." Mabel sighed, a bit sad. She became attached to this place and made good friends with the teachers and students. But Alduin was more important, and it was not like she could never return.

And here's finally Chapter 43.

I apologize for the long wait. Holidays and some exams came in the way, but I should have more time now. It's also a bit shorter, but putting in the finale to the Dawnguard would've made it way too long. So that'll come next Chapter, and then it's back to the main quest.

Now to replies:

joshuaobryan549: I can definitely understand quitting Skyrim for a bit after that, holy crap. For healing, I'd say food is actually quite a good way to restore it. While one piece of food doesn't do much, it can be found in such a high number that it isn't really a problem.
As for Pacifica, that will be revealed next Chapter. I could've put it in here, but then it would take a lot longer to be released, so I thought that'd be a good way to do it.

OMAC001: Well, Alduin first. Then the first Dragonborn and the interdimensional killer Dorito.

Bayoboo: I think that's her in a nutshell. Especially in the Show.

coronadomontes: Thanks.

potato: I think that would be the way Nirn discovers the idea of bombarding an area.

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