Day 136: Unexpected company

I was awakened before dawn. An unwanted interruption that brought me from a peaceful dream of sharing this island with Ahnassi; living in peace. I was sleeping in a hollow, not far from the gravel beach on the south shore. I don't know if it was the voices that woke me, or the crunch of the boat grinding ashore. My first thought was that some members of the Dunmer clan had come to visit their tomb. I cast my night eye spell and peered through the bushes. I was wrong.

Their great height revealed two of the three figures who strode up the path to be Altmeri, the third had the stocky frame of a man, probably a Cyrodiil. He was clearly a prisoner. They were barely in earshot, but I heard one of the Altmer say "I wish she didn't want this one. It would have been easier to just kill him." Then they turned a curve in the path and the bushes muffled anything else that was said. I followed up the path; too far back to catch anything further they might have said but close enough to confirm that they entered the tomb in the center of the island. I settled at a safe distance to watch the door. The eastern sky was just beginning to glow with the dawn.

I have met a few of the high elves but the Altmeri are not common in Vvardenfell. I could not think of any reason why they would be on this desolate isle hiding in an ancient tomb. I may have let my thoughts travel too much to this as 'my island', or perhaps I just sensed such a wrongness about it that I could not let it go. I resolved myself to investigate.

The tomb is a typical example of Dunmer tomb construction, though far larger than most. Large enough to house no less than ten Altmeri, including a smithy and a large alchemy lab, and slave pens. The Altmer are powerful in the ways of magica, and I recovered an array of enchanted weapons from the smithy as well as the occupants. Their alchemical supplies were not extensive, but I did gather a large quantity of valuable vampire dust. Not from their lab, from the Altmeri themselves. The tomb held a nest of blood vampires! I recognized the loathsome creatures immediately when I encountered the first one.

The vampires hid in their tomb; as much from the living as from the daylight because they are an abomination hated by all life. The unspeakable horror of feeding upon the very blood of your fellow man had my heart frozen in my chest. I dispatched them without remorse. I tried to free their slaves, but the poor wretches were beyond escape. Like a blood red dawn the terrible truth rose within me. The slaves, who identified themselves as 'cattle', not only performed menial labors for their masters; they provided food for them as well, freely offering up their throats. They are listless, dispirited creatures. Ending their misery could have been the best thing for them, but I refrained.

Deep beneath the ground I encountered the throne room of Dhaunayne Aundae. According to Ticemius Conciatius she was the queen and matriarch of her clan, Clan Aundae. Ticemius, the Cyrodiil who I had seen being dragged into the lair, is a witch hunter. He has dedicated his life to eradicating such foul monsters, wherever they appear. I freed him from his prison beneath the throne before the vampires began their grisly work on him. Dhaunayne had told him that one day soon he would be offering himself on hands and knees as the footstool to her throne, rising only to allow her to slake her thirst at his throat.

He and some others have herded those who have lost their wills into the cell. They will remain in the tomb for a time attempting to recover their less fortunate fellows, and holding the nest against any additional vampires who should return. I could not stay in those foul depths, and have returned to my campsite. I will leave this island tomorrow. I hope that I can bring my thoughts back here to the idyll that it was, rather than the horror it has become for me. I know that either way it will not be forgettable.