Ella and her company descended into the ruins. The way this Nordic ruin had been built definitely had served as a burial place since before it became a ruin. Inside they found a great battle had taken place. It seemed a group of mages had attempted to explore the ruins but had fallen to the draugr inside. Ella inspected the corpses of the mages and took small comfort in that fact that she recognized none of the faces. They pushed on and soon only found the corpses of draugr. Someone had obviously gotten through and dispatched them, effectively. Olfina couldn’t help but express her amazement, as she had never been in a ruin like this before, although she was quite repulsed at the sight of the draugr bodies. Sofia, taking a chance to insult Olfina, told her that she best get used to it or she should run back to her big strong daddy back in Whiterun. Olfina ignored her insults.

As they pushed deeper into the ruins, the amount of slain draugr as well as Sofia’s insults toward Olfina grew. Both began to bother Ella for different reasons. Olfina finally started to respond to Sofia, insulting her back by calling her a drunk harlot. Finally Ella had enough and summoned her flame blades, putting herself between Olfina and Sofia, demanding they stop their incessant bickering. They were here for the Horn, and the longer they wasted time arguing, the longer they remained together in this ruin. Both Olfina and Sofia huffed and did their best to ignore each other.

As they pressed deeper, they eventually encountered enemies. Simple skeletons, not much in the way of trouble. Ella took point, silently taking them out with her flaming bow, charring their dusty bones to ash. They passed through a large hall and found a peculiar sight. It was arranged to look like a dining hall, complete with bowls and tankards, mead inside the tankards was still fresh. There was a large amount of cheese as well, piled high in a table. Ella investigated it, asking Thogra if she had ever seen anything like this, to which Thogra replied that she was just as dumbfounded. Then they heard chewing and drinking. They turned to see Sofia drinking the mead and helping herself to the table of cheese. When Ella could muscle her way past her gagging, she asked Sofia what she thought she was doing. Sofia merely responded that it was a crime to waste good mead and cheese just cause it was found in an old ruin. Ella shook her head and walked away, dumbfounded. Olfina came up beside her and whispered a bit to eagerly that Sofia might just wind up dead from this. Ella somehow doubted that.

They pushed forward, and descended down into a large cavern. When they came across a strange set of stones. Each stone glowed when Ella was near and opened a gate that led forward. Ella attempted to walk forward, but when she did, the glowing stones darkened and the gates fell back down. Olfina suggested that they each stand at a stone, but that proved unsuccessful as the only stones that glowed were the ones near Ella. Sofia watched before her eyes lit up. She told Ella to try her Shout, the one that made her run fast. Ella tried it and was able to pass through the gates, which remained open after her passing. They moved deeper and found another challenge. Pressure plate lined the floor. Ella cast magelight and watched as the light orb bounced across the plates, some remaining unresponsive, others spouting forth a stream of flame. Ella led the way, following her orb forward. 

After navigating the plates, they finally reached the main chamber. As Ella entered, the chamber awoke, large bird like statues rose from the water, as if rising for this one occasion. Ella walked forward, confident striding…. Until her reached the alter. A dead draugr lay before the alter, but it wasn’t him she had her eye on. The alter was empty of the Horn, only a small note was left in its place. Ella snatched it up and read it. Apparently, someone had stolen it and left her a note, signing it as a friend. Ella singed the corners of the note, frustrated. She came all this way, and this is what she had to show for it? To only make matters worse, Sofia came from the next room and said that the treasure chamber had been looted. The note burst into flame in Ella’s hands. They left the ruins in silence. 

Outside and in the fresh air, Ella finally was able to calm the flame of her anger. She announced that they would make this trip worth it, as they were going to go West for the city of Solitude. Thogra agreed immediately, as her quarry was last sighed there. Olfina was also eager, as her brother was said to have passed through Solitude last her family had heard. Sofia was excited, simply because she had always wanted to visit the tavern called the Winking Skeever, a name she found most amusing as she giggled when she said it. So they set out across the marshes. After a while, the fog cleared to reveal the docks and the city rising high above. They found some shallows to ford the river and made their way through the front gate. 

Inside, a crowd had drawn by the main gates. Naturally, Ella and her company went to see what was happening. A man stood before a chopping block, an executioner with a wicked axe stood by. A man in the armor of the town guard announced his crimes. This prisoner had apparently opened the gate and allowed Ulfric Stormcloak to leave the city after the High King had been killed, and thus was paying for it with his life. Ella watched from the back of the crowd, indifferent as the prisoner was forced to his knees and laid upon the block. The axe came down and the prisoner’s head fell, looking out on the crowd with the same sad expression he wore before he had died. After the crowd cleared, Ella approached the head. Behind her, she heard Olfina start to cry, but she laid her no mind. Around the bloody stump of the neck of the dead man, was an amulet of Talos. Ella knew what this meant, that this execution was more than just for a gate opening, this was a message to all Talos worshippers. She grunted and turned away, Thogra and her had a bandit to find.

Sofia had wandered off to the tavern for her usual need of ale and mead, and Olfina went off on her own, needing time to process what she had witnessed. This left Ella and Thogra on their own for now. After some asking around, Ella was told that there was a shady man hanging around the ramparts above the gatehouse. Ella and Thogra found their way up and confronted the man. After much intimidation from both Ella and Thogra, the man revealed he did know the bandit named Paragon the Red-hand. Just as he was about to reveal the location, a Khajiit woman approached, dagger drawn. She had overheard the conversation and was here to silence the man. Thogra reacted first, her doer swung and cleaved the Khajiit woman’s head clean off. The man, covered in blood, back away and ran, whimpering of blood and crazy women. Ella didn’t give chase, and instead looted the corpse, finding a letter. She handed it to Thogra, who exclaimed that this was it, the location to where that bastard bandit was hiding. Thogra’s red eyes glinted with a mix of excitement and blood lust. Finally, her 10 year hunt was about to be at its end.

A Tale of Vengeance: Hunt for answers