To my brother in nog

Marshall,

Bearskin speaks very highly of your skills.  I think you are ideal for a crucial job. 
My father has taunted me with his disapproval and shame long enough now he and his brothers pay the price.
You well find in third chest enough gold to cover any expenses and take care of your mother in comfort the rest of her life. 
Bearskin will help you get in to Ulfric. Kill him and my father will come.  Use the black venom to poison their meal or slots their throats one by one just make sure the stormcloak family is all dead before they leave.

Kind regards,

The leading man

Orders are Orders

Elaina waited.  She was accustomed to being summoned back to the Cathedral wherever it may be, but this time she invited himself.  Now the Cathedral lay on the western edge of the Mei Kong Valley.  A quite and humble province of the Empire that housed the ancient Shogun temples.  After concluding her visit with the remaining masters she learned a disturbing peace of news.  The Saint must be told what Zyr is planning. 

The stain glass windows filtered multi colored light across the hallway of this upper tower.  The doors opened ornate with stone carvings and reliefs of angles heralding trumpets and scales of justice being balanced in perfect wisdom. Behind the doors towered the chief angel -- Exodus. 

While many angels started summoned, captured and compelled into the Saints service this angel served by choice and a loyalty that magic could not compelled.  A thousand years locked in the tower with the Saint and now his second in command Elaina envied his perfect loyalty.  It was no surprise to see the Scion of Justice but the man he was escorting alarmed her.

The Elven man was clad in a black and red robe and cloak leaning slightly against a staff as he walked, friendly and deceitful smile upon his face.  His left hand had a ring of a black serpent eating its own tail.  He smiled at her pleasantly.  Just two days since she arrested him and he was walking out.

Elaina waited for the eel to pass and then stepped into the sacred chapel with both awe and reverence.  The music of chorus of the Gregorian Monastic Order filled the chamber as she looked upon the man who had given her purpose and resparked a passion for good she thought her father extinguished.

"My Saint and my Lord.  I kneel before you with egregious tidings, but first I must understand why that man is being released.  He is evil and wretched."  Elaina said with passionate humility. The Saint responded in calm but forceful tones, "The judgement of the Saint is beyond question Red Paladin.  I pardon or execute according to a higher understanding of justice than you now know.  You will see to his pardon of all crimes through imperial channels and reinstate him to his former positions."

"Of course my Lord.  But could you teach me why?"

"My perfect prison is lost to us. Robbed by Tyr, the Red Prison took hundreds of years to perfect and lost in the dark Cathedral we were so long trapped in.  I need a new prison for those who oppose us and those who deserve punishment beyond normal means."

"And you seek to use Ravenloft as your prison?"

"It is already there and nearly inescapable. At first we will use just portals to send the guilty there to suffer and be punished by the mist.  The next stage is to understand and manipulate the mist in such a way a more perfect prison can be forged from it."

It was then Elaina saw the serpent ring on the Saint's hand. "Yes My Lord." She took a breath his logic made sense but... beyond that faith was ultimately about trust and she had made the choice to trust this man.  He gave her purpose and passion his works and results in bringing about justice fairness and goodness surpassed any other in so little a time. The wretched deserved to be punished and Ravenloft would do that.  It would punish and hold those unfit for a more just world.  "My Lord I came to speak with you about Zyr's plan.  I've learned from one of the demons we captured the details of Skyfall and I think we can stop it if we move quickly."

"Stop it.  My Child why would we want to stop it?"

"Because thousands of people will die if we don't."

"Maybe millions, millions of people who chose Tyr over true justice and supported him after my offer of amnesty.  They were shown the greater light and rejected it.  I can not save them."

"You will not save them."

"Correct and neither will you.  I have different plans for you at this Skyfall.  Plans that will ensure Tyr's failure will be complete and it will usher in the new age.  As the Elder Gods age ended with rise of the Titans and the age of the Titans ended with the rise of the Gods so shall the age of the Gods end with the rise of the Red Saint and an Age of Justice for all begin."

"Yes My Lord, what do you command?"  

Blood Wars

The fiendish codex Hordes of the Abyss dictates that the Blood War is a simple offshoot of the primordial wars between law and chaos. The demons and devils (in keeping with their sadistic and violent natures) simply would not cease their fight, even after the rest of the multiverse had grown more tolerant.^[2][3]

However, the fiendish codex Tyrants of the Nine Hells claims a different perspective on the origins of the Blood war. The mythologies in the codex claim that the seeds of the Blood War lay in the cradle of the cosmos itself; "In the beginning- and even before- chaos was all that existed. Out of it came demons- the living manifestations of chaos...". It claims that the chaos was intolerable to the universe, and thus Law arose to fight it. Initially, the primordial lords of order battled the demons themselves, however after inventing numbers and time, they came to understand the demons were infinite in number. Knowing this, they grew weary of endless conflict, and yearned to build worlds and foster races.

One thing, however, is certain: were one side able to eliminate all opposition, and thus gain control over the entirety of the Lower Planes, the multiverse as a whole would be in great danger. With no enemies left in the Lower Planes, the fiendish rulers could then turn their attentions towards other worlds and planes, and it is likely that no force could hope to stop them. Even the celestial beings of the Upper Planes, formidable as they are, could face destruction at the hands of the tanar'ri or the baatezu, weighed down as their alignments demand by the needs of good and justice—the fiends, having no such compunctions or scruples, could easily use the celestials' morality against them. In the past, agents of the heavenly races have even planted powerful weapons or artifacts among the ranks of the demons or the devils. This appears to be a reliable indicator that even the beings of the Upper Planes do not want the war to end

There is a prophecy that says that the Blood War will end when the One Winged Demon but not by birth, directly enters the Blood War.^[5]

The Hellscape raged with battle and war as it had always done.  Countless millions had flocked to his banner of the white V.  He was the Demon lord of prophecy, and that gave them hope.  Not in the sense of faith hope or charity, but hope for something different than what they had done for ageless eternity.  Hope that they would be able to take their anger and rage to Olympus.  All that ever stood in the way of the destiny of the lower planes was themselves.  Zyr reviewed the battle field impressed that such innate hatred and rage could exist.  They had to fight and destroy something so they fought each other.  The angels knew this and kept even worked among the ranks of both parties keeping them fighting each other.  They knew as Zyr knew, if they could be united it would be the end of their age.  

Oceans of foul creatures collided with magic, tooth claw and horn shredding the demon flesh of their brothers.  Mephastopholis was one of the few demon lords who refused to bow to Vegeta whose pride and ambition lived up to the demonic stereotype and he would rather be destroyed than stop fighting for one moment.  With Skyfall this close he had to wrap this up quickly.  He released his breath weapon of fire, sand and death into the ranks of Abashi soldiers. 

It was then he saw something strange.  His own version of true seeing spotted Asmodean (Angel) bodies among the corpses. With the ranks broken Mephastopholis descended from his tower sword drawn and enlarged himself to 50 times that of his Balor norm.  Zyr embraced this, it is what he had been waiting for. Sword met claw.  Fang met Abyssal Armor.  Magic collided spell to spell and power in its rawest forms waved off of them in avalanches of chaos and power.  

With the final blow the Demon Lord fell but it wasn't a demon lord.  Zyr cast revealing the illusion for what it was. Holding the limp Asmodean in his claw he stood victorious upon the highest tower and roared into the hellscape sky.  The warring demons and devils slowed then stopped in awe.  It was then Zyr spoke.

"The demon lords who still oppose me, the ones who refuse your destiny and conquerers and destroyers of Olympus, are not demon at all.  They are Angels from Olympus so scared and desperate that our time is at hand they cling to their deception to propagate this war. 

What have you fought for?  This Ageless war.  You have fought in effort to eliminate the other, to conquer them and gain the privilege of taking the gods down -- Those who cast you to squallier who drink ambrosia and rest in luxury and scorn and scoff you. I am Vegeta and clothed in immense power, we can fulfill that goal together.  Our only enemy is each other.

This rag of an angel is proof the only ones that still oppose me are only Olympians still playing you as puppets.  It is time to claim the heritage all you have fought for, all your brothers have perished for and all the blood spilled by this war has earned you.  The One Winged is here, lets claim our destiny."

The mountains shook with screams of demons as they swore to follow Vegeta.

With in days all opposing lords and pockets of residence had been destroyed by the demons who followed them.  Convinced they were angels manipulating them from Olympus the horde ripped them all to shreds and Vegeta was finally ready for Skyfall.  

Friends in low places

"very good Tony." Castor said as he thumbed through the book.  He was trying to gather as much info as he could on the cult before they sent in new priests to reclaim their temple.

The book was worn but not old.  The parchment dirty but readable. The not quite black ink was somehow unsettling but he read on.

"the year of the snake shall be a glorious year.  Now with the venom born among us we no longer have to beg for scraps but instead embrace our destiny."

Castor figured that was the reason for the blatant courage of the assassin den.  He read through letters between the now dead high priestess and a man named Sven.  Sven referenced an old dwarves mine in the misty mountains.  Castor knew that was called Dragon reach just outside the city of Brendon Ford. 

"Tony, I want you to send someone to riverwood. It's a small logging outpost beyond an imperial city called Brendon Ford.  See what you can dig up about the venom cult there.  Also in case they do decide revenge is the better option to obedience, take this book to a squealing pig and make sure it makes it to the hands of the agency.  Keep the cult busy with the empire they won't have the time to fight us, they will need our help.  Go ahead say it."

Tony said simply, yes boss.

No, the other thing

You are a genius.

Yes I am.