As expected, even intelligent demons are difficult to catch.
——4E, 201, Hearth Moon, 3rd, 19:40——
Walking on the mountain road leading to the east from Falkreath, Arthur ignored the bickering between Barbas and Hattie and kept thinking about the next action plan. The good news was that the mission location given by the Harpy Witch was exactly where Barbas wanted to return.
The ax can be completed along the way, but the bad news is that a group of vampires are entrenched around the Demon God Altar. Who knows if they have any strange abilities.
Moreover, before that, we have to deal with a commission that we will inevitably encounter.
At noon, Arthur obviously underestimated the impact of "Lavisia is not dead" on Falkreath City. You must know that the temple of the god of death and funeral [Akai] is here, and his Lord
Priest Runier personally held a funeral for the little girl after the "Werewolf Murder Incident". Although no body was found and it was only a burial mound, it also meant that Akai acquiesced to the rationality of the funeral. As a result, a group of adventurers actually took that
The girl who was confirmed dead by the Holy Spirit was brought back. Not only the priests of Akai, but also the lords were alarmed.
The result was that the "Knights of the Round Table" who originally planned to have lunch at the Corpselight Farm and then leave had to attend a banquet hosted by the lord at the "Dead Man's Wine"... Well, it doesn't sound any different.
Because of Falkreath's special nature, no force will take action here. If you accidentally anger Akai, he might throw him into the annihilation realm of some strange demon after death. Falkreath has been there for hundreds of years.
In order to reassure the forces that actually occupy the city, various responses have been made. For example, in the face of the tug-of-war between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks, the method adopted is to change the lord.
The lord who hosted the banquet for Arthur and his party was named Sid Gale, and he was leaning toward the Imperial Regiment. Since this was still an area controlled by the Imperial Regiment, he was still managing the city, but if the Stormcloaks came back one day, they would replace him.
The person who ascended to the position of lord was Dangel who was sympathetic to the Stormcloaks - Sid Gale's biological uncle.
To sum up, the lord's banquet with the "Knights of the Round Table" was naturally not for the purpose of recruiting, nor was it necessary. He just wanted to entrust these adventurers to eliminate a group of bandits who were blocking the way on the Eastern Mountain Road in Falkreath.
That's all, and the full payment of 500 gold coins was paid in advance.
"Stop! Stranger! In front of you is the 'Pinewood Watchtower'. Each person must pay a toll of one hundred gold coins to pass!" A voice shouted condescendingly, interrupting Arthur's memories.
"Well, is this the bandit checkpoint that the lord asked us to dismantle?" Arthur stopped as he was told and began to observe the situation ahead.
There are two towering wooden sentry towers on both sides of the mountain road ahead. The tops of the towers are connected by overpasses. Both sides of the overpass are protected by wide wooden boards and iron sheets, making it impossible to see the caller and how many people are ambushing them. The path leading to the top of the sentry tower.
The simple staircase is very long and located inside the tower. To put it simply, if you can't fly, you can't easily break through this level.
"There is a rockfall trap under that overpass." Ella reminded in a low voice.
"I can block falling rocks and arrows and let you rush into the guard tower, Baron." Lydia also said.
"No, wait...how far is the 'Shame of Haima' cave from here?" Arthur turned back and asked Babas who was with Sophie and Ria.
"It's not far. After passing the guard tower, there is a fork in the road. Turn left to Helgen, and turn right to the cave." Babas said, wagging his tail.
"Hmm..." Arthur began to think based on his impression of the nearby area. It was natural to turn left to Helgen, but turning right was not a cave. The snow-covered mountain would pass by the foot of Hrothgar Peak after
Arrive in Ivarstede.
Although it is not clear who Haima is and why this person is ashamed of a cave, he can basically judge that the cave should be very close after passing the sentry tower.
So the question is, this sentry tower is half a day's journey from Falkreath. How did the bandits staying here avoid being assimilated by those vampires? Or, in other words, have they already been assimilated?
"Five people, one dog, we have to charge an additional 50 gold coins -" Because it was dark, the shouting robbers only discovered Babas after hearing his barking - obviously his language was intended to be understood by someone.
Optional.
"Sid Gale asked us to send a message -" After Arthur confirmed that the robber could not see his specific movements, he directly used the "Summoning Bow" magic, and at the same time tried to trick the other party to reveal his head: "Why did you betray him?"
"Ha! Betrayal?" The voice of the shouting robber was quite disdainful, but he stuck his head out as Arthur wished: "That stupid lord! We agreed that we would give him a share of the tolls we received, and he paid for
We provide supplies, and a few weeks ago he changed his mind and let us buy the supplies ourselves. All we have to do is deduct the money from his share. Bah! That guy wants to wait and collect the money? What else do we need if we have a way to buy the supplies ourselves?
!”
Although he had seen that the lord was a fool during the banquet, it was even more verified now. Arthur drew his bow and aimed at the robber who was cursing. He was sure that he was aiming at the head, which would kill with one hit, but there was nothing on the robber.
Any "breath of death" appears.
"Go back and tell that idiot Sid Gale! He can't get another penny from us! If you want to attack by force, just give it a try!" the robber was still cursing.
"Sure enough, he is already a vampire..." Arthur shook his head, and while releasing the arrow, he shouted loudly: "[Yol]!"
Poof! "Ouch--" Boom boom boom!
The summoned arrow hit the robber in the face, but the sound was like a defeat. The vampire was stunned for a moment, and then was ignited by the dragon flames attached to the arrow. He screamed and started running around, triggering the rock traps.
Nearly half.
"What?" "Enemy attack!" "Sid Gale sent people!" The two sentry towers began to become noisy. From the moving torches and silhouettes, it could be initially judged that there were at least twenty people stationed in the entire sentry tower.
.
"Follow me! Babas and Sophie protect Leah." Arthur picked up his two-handed sword and rushed towards the burning sentry tower. Ella and Lydia immediately followed closely.
"Dad, it's true, I want to play too." Although Sophie complained, she still hugged Leah obediently.
"Ah haha... it's 'defend', not 'enfold'." Ria, who had been feeling a little lackluster since leaving Falkreath, laughed.
"Ouch!" "Woof!" Hattie and Babas started to quarrel as usual.
——20:18——
"This is it! Woof!" Babas barked at a cave on the mountain wall that revealed a faint blue light.
It didn't take much time to clear the pine watchtower. When we knew that the other party was a vampire, sometimes just letting them light themselves up with the torch they held could end the battle, but even this made it impossible for Arthur's "two-handed sword" and
The "Bow and Arrow" constellations each light up one more star.
The only one who had not been transformed was the bandits' cook. He was completely stunned by the fact that all his companions were vampires. Before Arthur could ask questions, he shook off the details of their deal with "the magician who lived in a cave".
After being let go, he muttered "I told you how they like blood food recently" and walked towards Falkreath.
"Why do I think these vampires were created by your master?" Arthur said casually and stepped into the cave without waiting for an answer.
"That's right, woof!" Barbas followed in with a swish of tail: "'I want to get Hircine's blessing, but I don't want to become a werewolf.' This kind of request involves the devil and is relatively specific, and there is almost no room for maneuver. At most,
Let them turn into different kinds of lycanthropes, but the master himself is too disgusting to accept them."
Haima's Shame Cave is different from ordinary caves with a small entrance and a wide interior. There is a narrow passage inside, and a stream flows from the inside to the outside. People have to suspect that this cave was washed out by a stream.
"So - these guys' wishes are very broad and easy to manipulate?" Arthur suddenly swung his sword and killed a vampire that jumped out from the corner, but the strange thing was that it was obviously wearing a mage's robe, but
It seems to be planning to attack with teeth and claws.
"Too weak. Where is the mage we agreed on?" Ella walked in with Sophie and Riya.
"Lord Balgruuf said, don't believe any words from the devil's mouth, and don't accept anything they give." Since the shield was a bit in the way, Lydia followed after changing a few angles: "The devil is naturally the same.
"
"The original words of those idiots were 'they want to live forever and are willing to pay all their wealth for it.' Doesn't it sound thoughtful? Isn't it easy to earn money back after immortality? As a result, the master turned them all into
Once you become a vampire, you will never want to make money in the mortal world again." Babas barked, seeming to be laughing.
"Hmm... So if you want to make a request, you have to be careful not to be tricked by him?" Arthur turned a corner and the passage widened slightly. He raised his hand again and killed a vampire mage who came by surprise.
"Isn't that right? What about the promised immortality?" Ella pointed to the body lying on the ground.
"Maybe it's a new deal that was reached in the past few days. I wasn't here during this time," Babas replied: "But it's mostly related to those guys in the outpost tower."
"[They plan to use the souls of those dependents in exchange for returning to normal,]" a voice that Arthur once heard in events that no longer exists sounded: "[You helped me collect those souls, as a thank you, let these fools
The task of 'returning to normal' is also left to you.]"
Following the words of the devil, more than a dozen vampires wearing various wizard robes came forward, but without exception, they only used fangs and claws to attack. They were not at all like Arthur and Ella.
enemy.
"Wow! As expected of the master! How insidious!" Babas shouted.
"Hmph, it must have been an unknown number of years after they were transformed into vampires. 'Returning to normal' means death, doesn't it?" Arthur kept cutting down all the vampires who only had beast instincts with his hands.
"[If the people who trade with me only make demands, the price will be determined by me. If they make demands and prices on their own, I can only make fine adjustments. Obviously they have some research on me, but they are just being smart.]" Demon God
The voice continued: "[Come to me, I hope you are smart enough.]"
At the end of the winding stream is a small underground lake in a cave, surrounded by traces of the lives of vampire mages. On the altar beside the lake stands a sculpture of a man holding a dog in his right hand and an eagle in his left hand.
The Demon God of Contract [Calavicus Vile].
"Listen to me, woof!" Babas barked at the statue: "You only need to make your request without saying the price. If the price is unacceptable, you can refuse, but if you ask for the price yourself, it means that the contract is established.
, there’s no telling how the master will fulfill his request.”
Although he said that, the Harpy's commission had been completed, and the next step was just to return the axe. As for making a wish to the demon god, he was not crazy. Arthur looked at the statue and couldn't think of what to ask for a moment.
"[Ah, it seems that you brought back my axe. You must have discovered that this ax can very well eliminate the influence of the Demon God. In fact, it can kill the residents of Annihilation with one hit]," the Demon God paused.
: "[If you return both the ax and that nasty dog to me, I will provide you with a contract as fair as possible, but if you want to keep the ax, use it to chop Babas and let him go to other places.
Any demon can stay in the Annihilation Realm for hundreds of years. Of course, I will not give you a reward.】"
"Woof! Evil-hearted master!" Babas shouted.
"[You stupid dog who leaked all the details about your master!]" The demon with only voice sounded angry.
"Dad, don't kill the puppy——" Sophie suddenly hugged Babas like Leah hugged Hattie.
"Lord Weir," Arthur took off the [Axe of Regret] from Babas' back, took two steps forward and placed it in front of the statue: "I hope to use this ax in exchange for the temporary ownership of Babas."
"[What——]" The demon seemed to lose his voice due to shock.
"Woof woof!" Babas barked incomprehensibly, but it sounded like he was laughing.
"[This... am I the complete profiteer?]" Weir's voice was full of disbelief: "[Not only did I get my power back, but I also temporarily got rid of that stupid dog?]"
"That's right. I don't ask for anything from you, so naturally you can't dig a hole for me." Arthur said this again and winked proudly at his companions. Lydia said nothing, while Ella raised her eyebrows at him.
Thumbs up.
"[No, this won't work, I can't do this, um... Okay, I'll just give you a piece of news that you want to know. Yes, that's right, that's good.]" The demon's voice was a little incoherent.
Feel.
"[Listen up,]" The ax placed in front of the altar turned into bursts of blue light, converging towards the statue of the devil, and finally formed an ax carving on its waist that looked like it originally existed: "[Silver Hand Leader's
