3

At the the break of dawn Leon on his carriage moved forward through the dark and dreary roads of hjaalmarch, He was clad in roughly made iron armor while underneath he wore clothing that covered every inch of his skin.

As the sun risen higher and higher Leon can only let out a sigh as he felt a portion of his strength leave his body 'after so many day's i thought i would get used to it by now but the sensation of such power leaving your body leaves much to be desired' but looking toward his thralls who marched in a organized manner lifted his mind of such an apparent weakness 'i can only count my blessings to get such a spell that can control others to such a degree but then again to get them to such a point of control over the mind it has own side affects, for example right now i have about lets say 30 to 35 bandits fully enthralled but if i were to add more to that number let's say the captives in the mine i will immedietly feel a strain and lose whatever control i have placed on the captives leading to an inefficient waste on my magicka reserves and damage to my mental state, but with time and experimentation i was able to work around such limits and that is to break their will and mind and have those in my control direct them to the mines where they will tirelessly work until a set amount of time and repeat such actions the next day'

A voice at my side shifted my focus away from such thoughts, looking at the thrall who onces wore bandit apparel now clad in iron like the rest them "My lord Morthal is up ahead"

Looking forward was the town of morthal it sat upon the southern edge of the Drajkmyr marsh, it's surroundings were shrouded by a thick and foreboding fog while ominous twisting trees grew from the surrounding marshes.

Leon whistled as he spoke "its reputation among travelers is really not unwarranted, if i was a normal person i would steer away from such a place" giving his orders his thralls marched forward towards the main entrance of town.

As they approached some guards meet them right infront of the gate's of Morthal and inquired of there business here with a wary tone.

Uncovering the tarp that covered carriage "Well me and my guards came here for trade oppurtunities within the town and hopefully a long lasting one"

The Guards nodded as they scribbled on a piece of parchment their tone lightened "Go on in, and a word of warning we have our eye on you" Nodding my head and entered the town.

Entering the town and going deeper towards the town as we found ourselves approching the jarls High moon hall, A group of people shouted, argued and complained, signaling my thralls i let them take the carriage to the tavern and rent some rooms while keeping one thrall by my side as a bodyguard befitting of my current status as a merchant.

From the cluster of mortal citizens that surrounded the entrance 3 Nords grabbed my attention 'Is that Benor and if it is the other two should be Jorgen and Thonnir'

Jorgen spoke with frustration "And what's the Jarl going to do about it?"

Thonnir spoke at the side "Ask our oh so great Jarl How are we supposed to feel safe in our own homes!??"

The Jarls steward Aslfur Glancing at the side and seeing a new face he quickly made up his mind "Please, enough already! I have told Igrod of your concerns. She'll look after you. So please, just go back to your business." And quickly entered the Jarl's hall without uttering another word.

Seeing the man leave and no place to vent their frustrations the crowd dispersed "Bah, it's no use. Let's go back" Jorgen continued on to rant to thonnir as they walked back to his mill "The world's going mad i tell you!!, and our Jarl does what? She hides inside with her so called 'visions'. Waving his fist in frustration "We need a leader, not some damn mystic!" Thonnir nodded his head in agreeing wholeheartedly.

From what Leon was able to piece together 'Well that was very much anti climactic but at least im sure of at least the time line and i can assume that Helgen should be a smoldering ruin by now, either the dragonborn is on their way to whiterun or they have already arrived and searching for the dragon stone in bleakfalls, either way the main plot is now underway and time presses down on me to grow stronger at least a ray of light shines upon me and that is the dragonborn will shoulder most of the burden called alduin' Seeing nothing more of interest he went to the tavern.

Arriving at the Moorside inn at the side of the inn were two of my thralls guarding the carriage and at the front of the inn, There were two separate flight of stairs leading up to the porch, Entering through entrance at the far end of the hall was a counter Where a redguard woman standing behind it she spoke with obvious happiness "Welcome to the moorside inn. The name is Jonna, Kick off your boots, stay awhile. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with" One of the thralls sitting upon the long wooden tables and benches called upon her "Jonna!"

Jonna spoke with great vigor "On the way!" as she practically ran towards the table as she told them the food and drinks she serves.

Leon walked to the long table as one of his thralls spoke while pointing at the rooms at the left "Boss those are the rooms we rented for a few day's" nodding my head as i sat upon the bench.

The savory smell of food flouted in the air grabbing the attention of the thralls, Jonna moved to the table and placing down tankards of mead and ale "The food will only take a minute" While getting a rowdy cheer from the thralls.

"Bam!!" One of the door rooms opened an Orc exited the room with his mouth wide open rubbing his eye's as he looked at the filled inn, Speaking with great cheer "new faces! Such a welcome sight in dreary old Morthal. Welcome friends, welcome!" With a wide smile on his face that prominently showed his protruding tusk grabbing his lute from his room "Such special occasion calls for a Song! From I, Lurbuk the Great" As he was about to strum his lute and open his mouth a tankard bounced off his face.

Jonna's voice echoed out from her kitchen "Lurbuk!! you better not chase away my costumers"

"What do you mean, I Lurbuk the Great, will serenade and win the hearths of these fine warriors and soon, The people of morthal will warm to me and embrace my overflowing talent"

Jonna exiting her kitchen with a variety of food rolling her eye's as she set the food down on the table as the thralls dig in, Rolling her eye's at Lurbuk "No. They ain't. And they aren't gonna. If you weren't payin' for your room, I'd have thrown you out a long time ago."

Lurbuk with his hands on his chest with his eye's closed he yelled out with great exaggeration "Ahh You're words pierce my fragile hearth, oh how can i ever live!! with such negative words bringing me down" stopping for a second as he peaked one of his eye's open seeing an indifferent and somewhat angry face of jonna he quickly straightened up coughing as he spoke "It seems i'm lacking a bit of rest, you know how it is a bard must treasure their body how else will they win over the masses" backing up towards his room and while closing the door behind him he made sure to shout out loud" Try as she may to stop my hymn worthy of palace king's, Lurbuk is here to stay and mark my words, I, Lurbuk the Great will win the hearths of the people one day!" then shut the door.

Jonna looked at laughing thralls behind her with an apolegetic expression before heading back towards the counter and grabbing more tankards of mead causing the thralls to cheer as they found themselves with much needed respite.

the day ended and soon everyone found themselves in their rooms drunk and in deep slumber all but one.

Leon lit the candle by his bedside table as he plan out his movements 'As tommorow hits i need to send out my thralls to inquire about the state of the town, get the local prices which should be high as from what i have seen so far Morthal is not thriving in any sense of the word and that could be used to my advantage.'

'Next would be like in my past world building up relations, get a good standing within the town but of course i can't just send everyone off to help everyone all off a sudden it will cause a bit too much suspicion that i would rather avoid, maybe get some of the thralls to work on the mill let them talk it out and eventually something will rise from that or i could also go that alchemy shop in front of the jarls hall and lend my hand that way'

But of course there will either be a hard or soft roadblock and that is the Jarl herself, like what the people of morthal say she has "visions" will those visions out me as a vampire maybe just dangerous in general or maybe i'm thinking way too deeply as there is another vampire within these town and to my knowledge which is not much at all, it should still be a well kept secret until the dragonborn gets her or until i do.'

Rubbing his forehead 'Either choice i pick will still take time to come out with some kind of positive results and as i said in the past only time can tell' Laying down on his bed bringing him towards the warm embrace of his dreams....