The two nords exited the fort. They were human once again. Majin asked Rakel what Hircine meant by the unknown force.
Rakel guessed the dark one that hircine speaks of must be connected to the silver hand in some way. Soon after, the pack received
a vision from Hircine.
"Hounds, I have received word that this unkown force is now known. His name is Miraak, a deathmage of the
Bloodthorn Cult and he has with him an army of werebears. Go to the snowy isle of your birth a take care of this
threat. If you do this, your lord will be pleased."
Majni and his packed turned in the direction of Windhelm and started walking. After two hours, they reached the cold city and gave
Gjalund two hundred gold each and then the northern maiden set sail for Solstheim.After an hour, they arrived at Solstheim,
thanked Gjalund and disembarked. Majni and the pack walked up the brown wooden dock to a magnificent stone city known as
Raven Rock. The pack looked at the city in awe, never beforre had they seen a city this beautiful or packed with poeple.
The pack passed by a temple housed inside a mudcrab shell will a staircase leading up to it. On each side of the staircase were
ancestral tombs for the dunmers' honored dead. Rakel and the ganag approached a forge, with a muscular nord pounded a steel
sword with a hammer. The smith, that goes by the name of Glover Mallory looked up. As he did he saw three nords standing there.
He warmly greeted them and asked why they were here.
"Hello, What do you need? Weapons? Armor...or something else?
Rakel said they were there of information
"Do you know anything of Miraak? Or if not, of the blood thorn cult's interest in a desolate place like this?"
Glover did know about Miraak and he told the gang that he was operating out of his temple which was south east of skaal village
and north east of thirsk meadhall. Rakel thanked his for his honesty and the group headed for Miraak's temple. Rakel thanked the
man and gave him ten gold of his relay of helpful information.
When they got there, a strange sight met their eyes. Men worked on the shrine oblivious to any goings on in the world around
them, almost as if they were under some spell. Majni took the lead, the others followed him into the temple. The inside of the
temple matched the outside with high rounded arches supporting the ceiling and the wall were covered in nordic markings.
Opening the massive stone door, they had no time to soak in the impressive nature of the temple as two nords wielding steel
longswords ran at them, their cries echoe in the air. Rakel pointed to an oncoming nord and told Majni to take that one and she
stabbed her nord through the stomach with her sword. Majni finished of his nord with a ferocity such as a wolf would have upon
pinning its prey to the floor.
With them dead, the nords moved towards the back of the temple. They had to fight their way through, Rakel fired her bow,
the arrows soared through the air and embedded themselves into their chests, their lifeless bodies fell to the floor. three more nords
rushed at them as Rakel and her companions rounded the corner. They met the same fate as the comrades. Rakel could see a
greenish light coming from the room beyond their current position.
She broke away from the group who were in thier wolf formis gorging themselves on the fallen bandits and she crept to the door,
pushed it open and saw a small room with a grated floor and in the central was a pedestal. On that pedestal was an old tome. Rakel
approached the tome and saw that it had a shimmering green octopus-like creature on the cover inlaid against a black sea.
When Rakel opened the book, she could see in her mind's eye a realm of books bathed in green light. She soon realized however
that she was not alone. A man robed in green and gold robes stood feet from her accompanied by two werebears. "Argof will soon
envelope all of nirn in his life giving blood thorn vines, away with you heathen, for you have not the brain power to comprehend
Angof's coming." He fire a spell repeatedly a Rakel, making the realm fade into nothing. She woke up, she wake back in the room
where she found the book, Majni and the orphan girl were there as well.
Rakel turned around and saw them staring at her. "What? I'm fine." She snapped at them. Majni voiced the concern he had for his
sister's wellbeing.
"Rakel, don't you know those books are dangerous? We have no idea what dark powers reside in these black books."
Majni and Rakel squabbled for half an hour, failing to see a nord woman with black hair walking towards them. Rakel turned abruptly
to face the woman, "What do you want?" She said abruptly. The woman introduced herself as Frea of the skaal and told Rakel and
the other nords that something terrible is happening at
skaal village and that they have to leave immediately.
And leave they did. After have an hour of walking, they reached skaal village where they noticed a magical barrier around the entire
village. in the center, Storn and his fellow nords sat in a circle, contemplating a way to dispel the barrier. "Father, I have brought the
one who will save the Skaal." Storn Crag-Striderlooked up and approached the group of nords as they came into view. Storn asked
who the leader was. Majni said he was the leader of the frostmoon pack. The alpha wolf.
"Majni, as you may have heard we are have problems with the bloodthorn cult in solstheim, you may have already seen the
force field around my village." He indicated the force field with his hand.
Majni looked concerned, "Can we do anything to help?"
Storn nodded quickly. "Yes, actually, we need your help to free the skaal free the skaal from Miraak's mind control spell. While you
are preparing, please take any supplies you may need. We have a smith for your armor or weapon needs, a shaman that will sell you
any spells you may need or if it is rest you require we have rooms in the great hall, Our village is yours to suit your needs." Majni,
Rakel and Hjordis went over to Boldor's forge to obtain new armor because their old armor had broken leather straps.
Baldor saw them and waved a welcoming hand in their direction,
"Greetings, what may I do for you? Need armor or weapons? There's nothing finer than skaal crafted equipment".
Majni went over to the forge open to the cold air of solstheim and crafted his set of stalhrim armor and a matching, bow, set of
arrows and two handed stalhrim sword, next was Rakel's and Hjordir's turn. When their armor and weapons were complete, they
took off their old armor and unstrapped their old weapons from their waists and sold the to Baldor, the skaal blacksmith. The got
outfitted in their new armor and strapped on their scabbard and put their newly bought weapons in their places. They thanked
thanked Baldor and started to leave, Rakel spotted a figure sitting on the bench near the forge. The figure stood up and started
walking towards them. Rakel cursed when she saw him.
"God dammit, Akar, how the hell did you get here?"
Akar said he got there five days ago from Frostmoon Crag with the help of the carriage from Raven Rock. The four Nords set out for
their first destination...the wind stone.
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