The yelling didn’t stop for quite a while. Erikur and Jordis wanted to immediately kill the newly awoken vampire (a perfectly sane decision) while Thor was arguing against killing anyone just for what they were (eh, I saw the logic but was unsympathetic because it was a vampire) and because we might need her to get out of here. The vampire, Serana, was also joining in - as much as she was able since being sealed for Akatosh’s knows how many years doesn’t leave someone with a lot of spare energy - because she presumably didn’t want to die after just waking up and I…just kinda watched.

I’d learned long ago that trying to get Nords to calm down when they started yelling was pointless. They either yelled more or a fight broke out. It was much easier to just let them get it out of their systems first.

“We’re agreed then?” I asked once they finally stopped. “We work together until we are out of the crypt and then we can all go our separate ways?”

“And I have your word you will leave me unharmed at the end of our escape?” Serana asked back.

“We gave you our word leech.” Erikur spat.

“Don’t worry you’re safe here.” Thor reassured at the same time.

I sighed as the two Nords glared at each other. Jordis and Erikur’s hero-worship died pretty quickly during the first argument, something I was perfectly fine with, but that just meant the two had no reason to hold back their more aggressive opinions anymore.

It was pretty obvious that violence was going to break out sooner than later if we didn’t get focused so I turned my attention to the dark haired nordic vampire.

“Any chance you know how to get out of here?”

"Your guess is as good as mine. This place looks pretty different from when I was locked away." She replied.

I idly wondered what was different. Had the Vampires found an empty cavern to build in, or had the ancient Nords removed some of the structures to build their own tunnels? Or had something else caused the shift in scenery?

“Why were you? Locked away, I mean.” Thor asked, making all of us look at him with different expressions. Me, with annoyance because I just wanted to get out of here. Erikur and Jordis with approval that Thor was at least acting a bit suspicious about the undead. And Serana with caution.

"That's... complicated. And I'm not totally sure if I can trust you. But if you want to know the whole story, help me get back to my family's home."

“And where is that?”

"My family used to live on an island to the west of Solitude. I would guess they still do. By the way... my name is Serana. Good to meet you, I suppose."

-o-

Finding a way out of the cavern turned out to be easier than expected. There were quite a few enternances back into the crypts running along the walls. Finding the right entrance was proving to be much harder as most of them led to deadends or were blocked after a tunnel collapsed at some point. And the ones that weren’t were filled with Draugr and some kind of Daedric creature that I could only compare to a gargoyle.

I wanted to call it anything else because dealing with the vampire princess and her evil dad were checking enough cliches on the list that I was already at my limit, but there was no way around it. Ugly as sin, wings, and had a habit of mimicking a statue when no one was around? Gargoyle.

Thankfully, they weren’t that much harder to deal with than the Draugr since it seemed they had been locked up in here without anything significant to feed on in the meantime. Even Daedra needed sustenance even if a lack of it wouldn’t exactly kill them.

Thor, who was currently leading the group -we swapped roles several times to make sure we weren’t getting complacent- suddenly stopped and held up a hand. “Hold up, we might have more Draugr somewhere. Something was throwing around a lot of ice magic and looks like they caught some of the Thalmor.”

I sighed in relief once I saw the scene myself. “Thank the gods, we’re back on the path we took in. And don’t worry Thor, that wasn’t Draugr.”

“What was it then?”

I smiled and patted the Dragonborn on the shoulder as I walked past the frozen Altmer, expressions of shock still visible through the layers of magical frost.

“Me.”

-o-

I think everyone perked up once we finally made it back to the entrance. I know I certainly did even if that meant more blasted cold Skyrim air.

Well, at least we didn’t need to deal with the weather for more than a few minutes. Night had fallen during the hours we spent trapped inside the crypt so no one was leaving just yet.

I was anxious to get moving, but I wasn’t going to commit suicide by trying to go down a mountian in the dark. The Nords agreed with me, so we found ourselves making a temporary camp in the mouth of the crypt where we all pretended to not be watching eachother out of the corner of our eyes.

Sure we had all ‘agreed’ to not try anything until we left the crypt, but no one was going to trust a leech to not take a bite out of someone in the middle of the night and Serana didn’t trust us to not put a sword through her chest in return.

So all of us had a rather miserable night.

One that only got worse when we finally did make it down the mountain only to discover Silline had cut the horses loose on her way out, making us spend even more time tracking them down so we could actually make it back to civilization before we froze or starved to death. And even then we ended up being two horses short. So lunch was also an awkward affair as we tried to figure out how to split the beasts between us.

“And you’re sure you want to keep traveling with the vampire?” I tried one final time to convince Thor to ditch the leech but he wasn’t having it.

“I can’t just leave someone who just woke up to what might as well be a brand new world to her. And since no one wants to leave her her own horse I might as well travel with her.”

I scoffed because he very well could, but noooo. Had to be the hero.

“And why is everyone ganging up on her? I know, Vampire, but she hasn’t done anything to anyone here and for all we know she was in that coffin thing for hundreds of years!”

“Because,” I said slowly, like you would to someone far too dense for their own good. “She is a daedra worshiper devoted to the King of Rape and Strife. She literally has her soul marked by him! If she didn’t owe us all a debt for freeing her, she wouldn’t hesitate to enslave every one of us and feed us to her kin.”

“She can also hear you.” Serana said dryly.

“Am I wrong?”

“Yes! What kind of lunatic would do that?!”

“Your father, for one.”

Everyone stopped and looked at me, but I was too busy fiddling with my timepiece. Unless I mistimed it or got the ratios wrong there should only be a minute or so left.

“My/Her Father?” Everyone echoed.

“Yes, her father.” I replied, annoyed. “Island of Vampires up near Solitude? Must be Castle Volkihar, home of a clan by the same name and led by Harkon Volkihar; the insane vampire that tried to conquer the world before being defeated and retreating to his castle to lick his wounds for a few centuries. Oh, after a move like that historians made sure to include all kinds of things about him so the peoples of Tamriel wouldn’t forget about him. Little details like his family, such as his wife Valerica or his daughter…Serana.”

”Oh man, we are so off the rails here.” Thor muttered something but I was focused on the Vampire.

“My Father would NOT do something like that.” Serana hissed furiously, squaring up like she was getting ready to fight. But she was blinking furiously and swaying a little like she was having trouble balancing.

Good, didn’t mess up then.

Jordis collapsed behind me and Erikur wasn’t far behind her. Not surprising considering…

“What’s happening?” Thor slurred. “Why do I feel so tired?”

I shrugged. “Sleeping potions in the stew, watered down to take some time to kick in but completely unnoticeable. It was a bit tricky to add without anyone noticing but I managed.”

“Wh-y ‘rn’t you fallin’ over then?”

“Stamina potion.” I said simply. And I was going to pay for it later. Mixing potions like I did never ends well.

“So what, now that I’m helpless you’re going to kill me? Should have guessed an elf would go against their honor.” Serana spat bitterly.

I glared at her. “Don’t get sanctimonious with me, leech. I’m not the one running home to Daddy so he can get his hands on an Elder Scroll with instructions on how to ‘End the Tyranny of the Sun’.” I even did the air quotes. “And I won’t kill you - even if you deserve it, I gave you my word after all - but I will be taking the Scroll with me.”

Serana had fallen to her knees during my little speech and I proceeded to walk up to her and do just that, smacking her limp hand away when she tried to stop me from taking the Elder Scroll. She didn’t stop me and then she lost her battle with consciousness and fell to the ground dead asleep.

“So I’m gonna take this and the other two,” I said out loud to Thor who was somehow still awake and shook the scroll at him. “Probably going to tie up the leech so she can’t do anything if she wakes up first. But I’ll also change the agreement we made and leave you two horses so if you want to go separate ways you won’t feel guilty about it. Okay?”

Thor slurred something, but I couldn’t make it out. I was just going to assume he agreed.

“Great, glad we came to an understanding.” I got up and started back towards the camp to find some rope. “Oh, and please remember to deal with the Dragon problem soon? Though maybe go back to Whiterun and hire the Companions to give you some training. You’ll probably need it.”

“Hrggblrgl…”

“Sorry, I’d love to help. But I’m busy stopping some Vampires ruining Mundus for the rest of us.” I said as I waved goodbye.

I had no idea what he said, but I’d like to think he was wishing me luck as he also fell victim to the potion’s effects and passed out.