[b]Yelond Cave, Bravil Outskirts[/b]

"Gentle my child, gentle," Dar-zel pulled the elf off her captive, a vagabond she'd picked off the roads a fortnight prior, and closed shut the iron bars. The mer's fresh fangs glistened with the blood of his first true feeding. "This meat must last us until the time is right to move. I do not risk hunting before."

"I still don't understand why you wait, we should destroy them all."

"You are still flush with the power of your new blood. Think, my child. When better to move on the city? While they prepare for war and are at their strongest or after they have sustained a siege by the enemy and are at their weakest. The Ideal Masters have made this much of their thinking clear to me." The Argonian paced across the wet stone flaw, her claws tracing across the smooth skulls of her dark altar. "We are to wait until the battle is decided. Then whoever is the victor shall be our prey while they still recover from the trial."

"Forgive me sire, but... what do we do until then? Are we to wait here like... cowards."

"Do not mistake my civility for tolerance of insolence," the elder vampire hissed. "These virtues of your mortal days. Discard them. Virtues are nothing but the vices of the weak."

The elf took a knee and waited head bowed over the jagged stone, "forgive me, mistress I live only to serve you and the Ideal Masters."

The elder vampire laughed, "you use their name, but know nothing of them... like everyone else. You will in time." The reptile leaned over her alchemy table wishing she had the skill to open the gateway which would lead to absolute victory, which would raise her to the station of a dark lord, not some mere necromancer hiding amidst forgotten crags. "I have a job for you, something to test your newfound powers. While I am gone you will render yourself to the Dominion and give them whatever aid you can. Portray yourself as a racist, a hater of men and remember that the Aldmeri are pompous. Play the role of a hopeful subservient and they will never once suspect you. Lend them your knowledge of the city and gain their trust, but if you see the battle tipping to heavily to their side do not be afraid to sabotage their progress. We want the two forces to annihlate one another as absolutely as possible. If you are detected or if the battle is decided, do not return to this sanctum. Instead wait for my arrival in the nearby Aleid ruin. You will find it infested with trolls, easy enough for one of Molag Bal's children to slip past, but a formidable defense against mortals should you be pursued. Take whatever equipment, potions or baubles you need." She handed him a dimly lit crystal, jagged and alive with imprisoned lifeforce. "Use soul gems for bartering."

"And what of you Mistress Dar-zel?"

"I travel to the black spire of the new Imperium. I will return with more of our cult and kine as well as an alchemist to help open the way to Soul Cairn. When I return, this city falls, whichever mortal banner flies above it."