259 Chapter LXXX: Story Of The Vale

As the ancient snow elf is about to start explaining himself I stop him with a raised arm and turn to my people "At ease, we are under no threat here."

They waste no time in relaxing and slowly setting up a camp.

Turning back to the priest I snap my fingers and summon a bunch of chairs for us and the other Falmer, this conversation would be pertinent for them so I saw no reason to exclude them.

"My thanks." Gelebor says after a brief pause and takes his seat, visibly melting into the comfort of a good seat he had not felt in millennia.

As everyone is seated, Alor long since having brought out his tome sized journal, I speak "So, Knight Paladin, would you care to enlighten your distant kin as to why you gave up on them so completely?"

For all his pretense of politeness, he fails to suppress his frown at my phrasing "Must you vilify me so without listening first?"

"Fine, fine!" I raise my hands placatingly "I apologize, please do go on."

"Very well." He relaxes somewhat "It all started with the downfall of my people..."

He goes on to describe the events that led to the war between the Atmorans and the Falmer, how a group of elven supremacists attacked the humans' first settlement, and the terrible retaliation such a misguided action caused. How he and his fellow monks retreated to the Forgotten Vale which housed the grand Chantry of Auri-El, and how they hoped to revive their people under the leadership of his brother, the Arch-Curate Virthur.

The aged elf turned deeply melancholic when he got to that part.

The tale he told was one of faithful hope, of families being started, and of a new culture slowly developing within the valleys and caves... only for it all to be crushed as massive hordes of their disfigured brethren, many of whom carried the touch of the Lord of Domination, swarmed into the vale and slaughtered or enslaved all they could get their hands on.

Arch-Curate Virthur battled them with all of his might, leading a fighting retreat into the very Chantry itself and reaping hundreds of the goblinoid Falmer. By the time his people had reached the temple, it was already far too late for them, a force of vampiric invaders managed to storm the sacred site from the mountains above, slaughtering all the snow elves Virthur managed to save.

"Only a few survived that fateful day, we clung to life by locking ourselves into the deepest part of the temple, our supplies dwindling day by day." Gelebor laments "Even then we still had hope... But then we realized that Virthur had been bit, and he could no longer feel Auri-El's grace."

"Molag is an insidious cunt, who knew?" I quip.

"Insidious is very correct." Gelebor huffs sadly "Virthur tried and tried to cure himself, but it was as if the vile Daedra itself was preventing any available cure from working, and slowly hope gave way to despair."

"Please don't tell me he didn't suddenly decide to slaughter everyone." I deadpan.

"No." His eyes turn empty "He did far worse."

I palm my face "He turned them all, didn't he?"

"He did." Gelebor nods "Such was his rage at the apparent betrayal of Auri-El that he swore he would destroy the very sun, and decided to... persuade our remaining brothers and sisters into following his foolish quest." He grips the cup I offered him early into the tale so hard it dents slightly "I could not abide such heresy. I slew those I could and snuck out of the Chantry and by either luck or divine providence, I was permitted to reach each and every wayshrine within the vale and offered my prayers to the sun for aid in either saving my brother... or stopping him."

"And something tells me that dear old Akatosh did only one of those things." I drawl, absentmindedly summoning a couple of chairs for the newly arrived vampires.

"It is true that my selfish request was rejected, for Virthur had abandoned his faith consciously." Gelebor pointedly ignores my loud snort at his words and goes on "The Bringer of Light granted me insight into crafting a grand ward to contain my brother until he either gave up or was slain. I have been feeding this ward with prayer ever since, my life sustained by the grace of the sun."

"So that is it?" I blurt "All these years you've been praying and charging a damn ward?"

"I assure you that it was necessary." Gelebor defends patiently "Virthur may have lost the grace of Auri-El, but when he turned the immense potency of his faith was... twisted into the vile gifts of vampirism, making him far more powerful than he should have been."

"Fascinating." I hear Valerica whisper lightly and make a mental note to make sure not to let her go around corrupting priests to test out what was obviously the result of Molag's plot.

"But that was not all I did." Gelebor smiles "I had also used my time to record my people's history, or the parts of it I could draw from my memory."

The way Alor suddenly stiffens I hold no doubts that he went to full mast at those words.

But it is Nightshade that cuts in "I trust you will share this with us?"

For the first time since we met him, Gelebor offers a genuine smile "Nothing would please me more sister. To see our culture remembered by our descendants was a dream I considered mere foolishness for entire eras, your coming has reignited my hopes and affirmed my faith."

"Wait, how did you manage to get your hands on paper all the way down here?" Alor suddenly asks.

"I didn't." Gelebor smirks "I chiseled everything onto slabs of stone by hand."

'Finally, a reason to respect him' I praise internally and point to the young scholar "Alor will no doubt love to copy down everything you had written, but I feel we should return to the issue at hand."

"Indeed." The ancient elf straightens up "Your desire to attain the bow of Auri-El and occupy his temple as your own."

"I do not care for the temple itself." I wave him off flippantly "I have caught glimpses of the vale and find it a perfect spot to house my people away from the dangers of the warring chaos of Skyrim. Besides, we will be killing Virthur for you and someone will need to continue operating the Chantry."

"You would have me remain, even with your disdain for me?" Gelebor asks, seemingly confused by the sudden shift.

"It isn't me that you will need to convince." I shrug and point at the gathered Falmer "If you manage to have them agree on your stay by the time we are done, I will have no reason to refuse you or them. I for one believe that simply tossing you away due to your lack of action would be wasteful, but those who have suffered the consequences are obviously the ones who need more convincing."

A determined glint enters the ancient elf's eyes as he bows his head toward his kin "I will prove myself worthy of your forgiveness."

"Now that that is out of the way." I interject after an appropriate pause "How about you tell me what we need to do to enter the vale and temple in the first place?"

"Of course." Gelebor raises his head "The ward is a faith-based one so you will have to complete the pilgrimage, or at least the facsimile of one with me present. We will need to travel to each of the five wayshrines and fill the ewer with the holy water held within them, only then will we be able to unlock the gates of the Chantry and face Virthur."

"Great" I grin "Now if only the locals would let us pass peacefully."

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(Durrak's POV)

'Thank Malakath that the locals aren't peaceful!' I grin and swing my spear in a wide arc, cutting through the neck of one Falmer and breaking the skull of the one beside him. Their bodies fly to the side, striking one of their females holding a skull-tipped staff and bashing her against the wall.

I feel the many bruises caused by lucky strikes heal as my spear drains the life from my dying enemies and let out a roar of excitement as even more Falmer and chaurus emerge from their little huts. I do not even flinch as half of them are cut down by crimson lightning and join Vilkas and Farkas in cutting them all down.

They may not be strong, but as Reyvin would say quantity is a quality of its own!

(Reyvin's POV, a tad earlier)

The word around me shimmers as I pass through the wayshrine portal, the transportation was so smooth I felt like I just walked instead of teleported.

'Definitely going to study the shit out of this later.'

Though I leave those thoughts for later as I observe the sight that awaited beyond. Colorful plants, mostly mushrooms, covered the whole cave in front of me, a small beam of sunlight making it all visible with glowing rocks I could not recognize reflecting it in a beautiful purplish blue hue. Though that in and of itself was not enough to surprise me anymore, what did surprise me was just how... alien it all looked.

If I had to compare the impression I got, I would go as far as to mention the difference between Morrowind and the rest of the world, only not quite as pronounced.

The plants felt like they did not belong in Skyrim, the flora around me was so different than the usual I could swear with complete certainty that no books in Winterhold held any information on them.

'Hakan is going to go wild if I ever show him this place' I shudder at the thought.

'Look on the bright side, pops! Better wizard weed!' Scorch chirps merrily.

'When I show him this place.' I immediately correct myself.

I hear shuffling behind me as Durrak crosses the portal before he suddenly stops and points "Is that a purple sabre cat?!" He asks, bewildered.

Huh, would you look at that, it really was purple.

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As was this worlds usual wont, the beautiful scenery was swiftly overtaken by monstrous opposition. I stopped minding the appearance of the feral Falmer long ago but I was still completely and utterly disgusted by their 'Architecture'. Something about the visible primitivism just annoyed a deep seated part of me that loved civilization.

So naturally I proceeded to make it a competition with the Companions on how fast we could butcher the poor fuckers. Truly I was the evil of all evils.

As I counted fifteen minutes the last shaman was turned to dust and we approached a wide passage beyond the Falmer settlement, the beam of sunlight waiting beyond almost beckoning us forward.

If I did not see with more than my eyes I would have no doubt been shoved aside as Gelebor practically sprinted forward and out of the cave, only to stop in his tracks as he ascended to the top, his shoulders shaking at the sight beyond.

When I stood beside him I could honestly say that I could not blame him, the Forgotten Vale was... simply beautiful. The amazed gasps of my companions as they themselves beheld the sight only served to affirm my opinion.

I turned to the teary eyed snow elf and asked "You good?"

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his breath visible due to the cold "Seeing my home after being locked away from it for so long... I can not describe it."

"Well then." I place my hand on his armored shoulder "Let us go and liberate it."

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