Chapter 63: On the Road to Ruin VIII
I briefly explain it to be a colloquialism I remember and that a fan is like the windmills dotted around Skyrim.
After that awkward detour in conversation, we refocus and head into Jonestead. Silently slipping through the door and waiting at the entrance.
Kasia speaks up in a whisper, "Okay, this is entirely up to you: either save my father first or the rest of the citizens. One way or another, we are not letting them hurt anyone else, understand? Let's go!"
"We'll free the citizens first. That way they will have fewer hostages to negotiate with. Now, get into position." I say, ordering Kasia down the stairs, drawing the attention of the two Heroes of Nirn leading them back up the stairs.
I send a flash of lighting to their armor causing them to seize in shock before I jab my blad into the openings of their armor swiftly and silently ending their lives.
'I'm going to be so rich in ebony ingots after this!' I think to myself before we repeat the process with the next set of guards keeping Kristy, an Altmer in imperial armor, bound.
I cut her bindings and remove her gag, "Thank you! We must free the rest of the town!" Kristy exclaims quietly, careful not to alert any mercenaries.
"Don't worry, I have a plan. Take this. And follow me." I say tossing her an ebony blade I took from one of the mercenary's bodies.
We sneak over to the Dandas' House which has a lone heavily armored warrior standing guard outside the door, 'Perfect, just the right size.' I think to myself before sneaking up behind him and driving my dagger into the base of his neck through the opening in his helmet.
Before catching his limp body and dragging him to the bushes where I proceed to change into his armor, before going into the Dandas' house along with Kristy.
There are four heroes of Nirn guarding the house's interior. I say, "The boss asked to start consolidating the prisoners." While dragging a 'bound' Kristy inside.
"No problem, set her ove-" One of them starts to say before we quickly strike two of them down before getting locked into a melee with the other two.
It's a bit harder without the element of surprise but we manage to dispatch them and then free Vilan and Elone.
"Okay, you two stay in here. We're in the middle of freeing the town and we don't want anyone getting caught in the crossfire. Kristy, see if any of that ebony armor fits you." I say as Kristy finds a suit of armor that is only slightly too big on her while the Dandas huddle together in their bedroom.
Once Kristy is changed we walk up a small hill to Gidave's house which has a lone guard on the outside.
Since Kristy hasn't had time to adjust to the new armor she agrees to distract the guard while I dispatch him with a dagger to the neck before catching his body and dragging him into the bushes nearby.
Once inside we see Gidave, an old dark elf in tattered peasant's clothes, bound and gagged as the two guards inside turn to us, "What are you two doing here?" A slightly taller one asks.
"Shift change." I reply as we get closer.
"What shift change, that's not unti-" The shorter one says, though we leap into action before they have a chance to continue. And then freeing Gidave.
We continue this process house by house until the orc brothers are freed and I decide we have enough numbers to take the fight to those guarding the people tied up out in the open.
I focus on suppressing the mercenaries with my magic, shockwave ability, and shout while the rest slash down the mercenaries. We fight like this throughout the rest of the town until we come across the town hall.
We quickly dispatch the mercenaries inside before freeing Walsh who says, "Gods, couldn't you have come any sooner? We sure got ourselves into one hell of a mess. Please tell me it's over."
"We dealt with most of the mercenaries and freed everyone. But we still have to free Marcus." I say.
"That's a relief. Thankfully these monsters didn't kill everyone when they had the chance. And they should let you stroll right in. I overheard the guards talking. Apparently, Bosska is waiting either for you and Kasia or a Siren? Whatever that is." Walsh says.
"Huh, should have figured he was the one behind this when that fake courier said he died a hero." I reply.
"We should have seen it coming. If only we hadn't been so lenient after he tried smuggling in weapons. We were completely caught by surprise. We gave Kristy and the Orcs weapons to defend the town…" Walsh laments before continuing.
"But Bosska took them out silently before any of us realized what had happened. By then, his men had already stormed through the entrance. We were subdued in a matter of minutes. I can't speak for anyone else, but the men that captured me weren't as rough as you might imagine. I'm getting the impression that they're only here for Marcus." Walsh says rubbing his formerly bound wrists.
"You may be right." I say heading to leave.
"Well, let's allow Marcus to explain himself once he's free. If you're going to save him, then you might want to leave Kasia here." Walsh suggests.
I turn to leave and Kasia says defiantly, "Don't even think about telling me to stay here! I'm going with you whether you like it or not!"
"Calm down, I was just going to ask our friends here to go and guard the entrance while they wait for my reinforcements as Kristy comes with us." I say holding my hands up in innocence.
"Oh… Sorry for jumping to conclusions." Kasia apologizes as her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"No worries." I say, leading everyone out of the town hall before, Kasia, Kristy, and I head into Marcus' house.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lemon_Square
Lemon_Square Bonus chapter because the backlog grew and I had some comments that made me laugh. Thank you all!
Chapter 64: On the Road to Ruin IX
Once inside I see a large Khajiit mage, almost the same size as a werewolf, has erected a barrier cutting the main dining room/entryway in half as I see Bosska standing behind a kneeling and bound Marcus.
"Father!" Kasia cries out in terror.
"That's close enough!" Bosska warns, bringing his blade closer to Marcus' neck.
"Kasia! Thank the gods you're alive!" Marcus shouts in relief.
"And what do you know! The guardian lives as well! You did well seeing through my courier's facade." Bosska praises before sneering, "Yet you were still stupid enough to walk right into my trap."
"Kasia, you shouldn't have come. They were only keeping me alive so that they could get to you!" Marcus chastises Kasia.
"Exactly. Now that the family has been reunited, it's time to end this once and for all. My orders are to take the girl alive. As for you Marcus, you already know your fate." Bosska says drawing back his blade.
"No! How much gold will it take to buy your mercy? Whatever you do, do not hurt my daughter!" Marcus pleads.
"Gold? We may be mercenaries, but our allegiance with Project Purity goes beyond such pettiness. This is about saving the world. This is about killing the man responsible for Serenity's Sirens! Your unbridled expansion has not gone unnoticed. It was just a matter of 'when' we should eradicate your despicable band of whores! What better time than now? The chaos that blankets this province will drown out the screams of your dying legacy." Bosska monologues as the villain he is.
"You will never find them!" Marcus shouts in defiance.
"Do you recognize this sword? Elegant. Mystical. It's one of a kind." Bosska says, drawing my attention to the sword, which I instantly recognize to be a Katana.
"What?! That means-" Marcus exclaims in shock before Bosska cuts him off.
"Fort Pazarath has fallen. The walls have been painted red with the blood of your Sirens." The Khajiit says.
"Damn you! Damn all of you!" Marcus shouts in a rage.
"Bosska stop! Don't do this!" Kasia begs as she begins pounding on the barrier.
"Kasia, listen! I love you!" Marcus says as I see Bosska pull back his sword prompting me to try and blast through the barrier with my strongest torrent of flames as Kristy hits it with her sword, but it does nothing but causes a slight flicker as the mage easily holds us at bay.
"Your mother, she's alive! She's-" Marcus tries to explain, but is stopped abruptly as the sword cleanly slices through his neck and decapitates him.
"Rest in peace, old man. May you find redemption in Sovngarde." Bosska says before turning to the Khajiit, "Deal with them. Restrain the girl, kill the guardian. I will gather the rest of our brothers and prepare our retreat." Bosska says as he retreats.
"With pleasure, Commander." The large Khajiit says, pulling forth a giant war hammer that crackles with electricity.
"Damn you!" Kristy shouts recklessly charging toward the Khajiit only to be knocked aside with overwhelming power. As a large dent is formed in her ebony armor and she is thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious.
"Come now Orc! Let this one put you out of your misery!" The Khajiit shouts coming in with another large swing.
I slide on my knees to avoid the swing before popping back up behind him, throwing a kick powered by my shockwave ability straight into his back.
Unfortunately, it only pushes him a few feet away from me and he's able to regain his balance quickly before I have a chance to take advantage of the opening I had created.
"Not bad, but he will win the day!" The Khajiit shouts while charging forward and twirling their hammer as a wave of lightning shoots forward stunning me long enough for the second flourish of the hammer to make contact with my chest and sends me flying much like Kristy.
"Fuck!" I curse as I pull myself out of the bookshelf I had gotten embedded in.
"Now you die by this one's ham-" The large Khajiit shouts before I cut him off mid-swing with a shout.
"FUS!" I shout throwing off his aim and causing him to embed his hammer into the shelf I just pried myself out of.
I take the chance to drive my sword into an opening in the side of his armor before channeling frost magic through the blade to slow him down. But despite my best efforts he pulls his hammer free and launches another attack.
*Swish*
I shift to the out of the way causing the swing to miss before launching myself forward into his side after that swing before placing my free left hand on his head and letting loose a torrent of flame burning his fur and blinding him but that's still not enough to put the monster down.
"Aahhh! He will kill you!!!" The Khajiit shouts swinging wildly and without pattern making it almost impossible to get within range for another strong attack.
I grab a chair, throwing it at the Khajiit's feet causing them to stumble and giving me the opening I needed to bring my blade down on their exposed neck like what was done to Marcus just moments ago.
I walk over to Kristy to make sure that they're okay and discover aside from being knocked the fuck out, she'll be fine. I go over to a weeping Kasia who is cradling her father's dead body.
"No… This can't be happening. Not like this. Dad… I'm so sorry." Kasia cries out between tears.
"Kasia…" I say patting her shoulder, "This wasn't your fault… There wasn't anything anyone could have done." I try and reassure her.
"But it was! I should have stayed back! Maybe then you could have stopped them before they… Before they…" Kasia breaks into tears crying into my chest before continuing, "I wish I hadn't been so ungrateful. Now he's gone and I can't say that I forgive him!"
I struggle to come up with something that might soothe her fractured heart.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Lemon_Square
Lemon_Square
Another bonus, because I love y'all and I'm in a good writing mood.
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