Discovery
Turdas, the 20 th of Last Seed, 4E 201
After a short back and forth with the trapped Dunmer, Asling now held the Golden Claw and his journal in her possession.
“I told you he would try to run,” she said smugly to Adair, leafing through the pages as they went deeper into the burrow. “He's not really Arvel the Swift anymore; more like Arvel the Dead.”
Much to her disappointment, Adair said nothing in response to her lame joke, his focus more on the growing stench of decay and the knowledge that they were getting closer to the crypts.
Asling was still curious as to why Adair seemed so distracted, but the information in the journal proved far more interesting. She stopped at the top of the staircase and nudged Adair, who started then looked at her with a glare.
“What?” he snapped, his tone sounding more harsh than usual. Asling was taken aback, then glared at him, shaking the journal in his face.
“I just wanted to show you what that stupid Dunmer put in his journal; see?” She jabbed her finger on the section that spoke about the Golden Claw being a key to the burrow.
“No wonder the bandits took it from the shopkeeper,” she said, flipping to the last page of the journal to see if there was anything else, then tucking it away in her bag.
“Yeah, makes sense,” Adair agreed with her without really listening to the words she was saying, and Asling watched as he went down the steps, bewildered by his behavior until she saw the way he was eying the walls of the crypt and the linen wrapped bodies.
Was he squeamish about dead bodies?
That couldn't be it since he didn't react like this to the bandits... maybe it was just these weird mummified corpses that bothered him; she had to admit that they were pretty creepy. Frowning, she followed him slowly down the steps then passed by him, here eyes lingering on his face.
Now that they were walking among the actual coffins, Adair had lost his luster, the sound of dirt cascading down the steps from the crumbling tunnel making the color drain from his face as he reached the bottom of the stairs, his eyes darting around wildly.
Why did he have to be here... this was horrible. Next thing you knew, the bodies would be getting up and walking around.
No sooner had he thought that, his worst fear came true; one of the bodies to his right started moving, shifting with a low groan and rising out of his little stone resting place.
Adair let out a high pitched shriek and scrambled back, hands fumbling to drew his blade. The sound had been striking enough that Asling turned to look at him in disbelief, unsure if the sound had came from him in the first place. Another groan sounded across the chamber and two more draugr shambled around the corner, brandishing an axe and a crude looking bow in their gnarled fingers.
Adair stood frozen, watching them come closer as the furthest draugr raised their bow. Asling had already moved clear of the shot and was astounded to find that he was not beside her.
“By the Nine Adair, quit trembling and pull yourself together!” Asling shouted, yanking him behind a pillar, an arrow striking the stone right where his head had been. Her voice must have been enough to snap him out of it, but that still didn't rid of their other problem.
Asling reached around, trying to draw her bow as she dodged back away from the nearest dragur's axe, the undead getting a little too close for Adair's liking. Acting on impulse, Adair recoiled, raising one arm and sent a wave of fire shooting out, incinerating the draugr in front of him in seconds.
Asling backed out of the way of the flames, her head whipping around to look at her companion, momentarily stunned. The charred remains of the dragur fell to the floor, and lay there, motionless once more.
One down, two to go, Asling thought, raising her bow and shooting down the undead archer while Adair finished off the other one with another onslaught of fire. She looked on with minor sympathy as Adair was still shivering, his face unusually pale and clammy.
“I hate undead...” he shuttered, sheathing his unused blade and glancing over at Asling, whom was broken out of her trance by his voice.
“What–”
“Don't,” Adair warned her firmly before she could go on and she raised her hands defensively.
“Um... alright... heh,” she snickered softly, shaking her head when he glowered at her. As agonizing as it was to not comment on Adair's fear – or his girly scream for that matter – Asling changed the subject as she felt that teasing him on this matter would cause him to draw his blade on her. At least that's what his expression was saying.
“This is me not saying anything about... well that. But on another note; you can use magic?” she asked, rooting around the decaying bodies while Adair looked on in disgust.
“Yes, of course I can use magic.”
“Why didn't you use it on the bandits or the wolves?”
“Because magic is to be respected, not used on a whim– will you stop that?” He snapped finally, and Asling raised her head, holding up a gold coin, it's surface smeared with soot.
“Sure, I'm finished with them anyways,” Asling said, tucking the coin away.
“You really are unbelievable...”
“Yeah yeah... likewise.” Asling shot back, straightening up.
“You know... there's probably more of these things in here...” she said slowly, nudging the nearest one with her foot and making Adair retreat a few steps away from her.
Unwillingly, he nodded his head in acknowledgment, silently admitting that she was probably right; there was probably an entire army's worth of bodies buried here, and some of them were still restless. His skin crawled at the thought.
“All the more reason to get out of here as quickly as possible,” he replied, taking hold of her arm and tugging at it insistently. Asling yanked her arm away, following him nonetheless.
“And you can just set them on fire so we don't have to deal with them, right?” She asked, nudging his shoulder lightly. Adair considered this; fire magic would certainly speed things up...
“Well... what about skeletons?” Asling asked, kicking a rock down off the small natural bridge they were walking on. She watched it bounce down, disappearing into the water below, then turned her attention back on her companion.
“That's... different. Unsettling yes, but they don't still have flesh on them,” Adair said, rolling his eyes; this was becoming a bit of a chore, but he supposed he should thank the Divines for small favors, namely that she wasn't tormenting him over his phobia. At the end of another corridor, he set another draugr ablaze and shuttered; would he ever be glad to be rid of this place.
The burrow proved to be far deeper than either of them expected; what looked to be the end of the ruins branched off into another natural cave-like chamber and continued on. They moved as quickly as possible, Adair nothing but a bundle of nerves by the time they reached a great stone door.
Asling regarded the door with a frown, running her fingers along the edge to see if there was any way to open it. As she traced over the center, she noticed the strange indention, her face lighting up. “So that's what the journal meant...”
Adair looked at her with a flat expression. “Do what you're going to do; I want to get out of here...” he grumbled as Asling retrieved the claw from her bag. He was getting pissed since this burrow was stretching on into forever, and they still hadn’t found the Dragonstone yet.
“It's just another puzzle... look.” She held up the claw and showed him the markings on the bottom, rotating the three bands on the door so the insignia lined up. After sending Adair another smug look, she placed the Golden Claw in the middle circle, pressing it into the matching markings on the door then rotated.
There was a low grinding sound that built into a rumble, and Asling withdrew the claw and stepped back, watching the stone wheels on the door spin then stop, the door sliding down to reveal more cave. They could feel the floor shaking as the door settled beneath them unseen, and the grinding disappeared into a series of dull clanks.
The pair exchanged uneasy looks and then moved slowly forward, unsure what else might greet them at this point.
“I think... this is the way out...” Asling murmured, fumbling to put the claw away as she took in their surroundings. The corridor opened up into a giant cavern, the main area branching off into two paths; a series of stairs that wound up the far left side and out of sight, while the other being a stone platform containing a curved dark stoned wall, a large chest and what looked to be yet another tomb.
Seeing the chest, Asling made a beeline for it, Adair hot on her heels.
“Wait a minute, we don't know what else might be in here,” he said, looking pointedly at the coffin that lay on a small rise only a few feet away. Asling ignored him, flinging open the chest and began to rummage around.
“Maybe so, but I thought you wanted to get out of here?” She looked over her shoulder at him, then continued to loot the chest; there was enough valuable material in here, she could feast for almost a month. She emptied the chest, sitting back on her hunches and looked to Adair.
“Remember that sketch the Jarl's mage gave us of the Dragonstone?” She spoke, her tone full of concern.
“Yes...” Adair said slowly, walking over to peer into the chest; he didn't like where this was going.
“It's not here. I thought it was supposed to be in the main chamber, and... well...” Asling gestured dramatically to their surroundings to prove her point. Letting out a frustrated growl, Adair began to pace.
“I suppose we'll just have to search the area... it has to be in here.” They spent almost a half hour combing the chamber, Asling finding more chests (and looting them without saying anything to her crabby companion) and Adair located the exit, but there was still no sign of the Dragonstone. They made made their way back to the main platform, and Asling watched as Adair threw a tantrum, his frustration boiling over.
“Damn it all to Oblivion!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the chamber before he skirted around the tomb and plopped down on the now empty chest to sulk.
“There's no other place to look, we might have to backtrack...” he grumbled, leaning his face on his hand while Asling scowled, then stopped and raised her head.
Now that Adair had finally shut up, she fancied that she heard something, something that sounded like voices whispering to her. She almost called out, but a quick glance back at Adair made her decide that wasn't such a good idea. She walked in slow circles, homing in on the sound so she could find its source.
Asling tilted her head to the side, her face scrunched up as she strained to hear the voices, stepping lightly across the platform to the dark curved wall, it's surface marred with carvings.
Was the wall talking to her?
Surely she had just been down here too long with Adair and had gone mad... but indeed, the closer she stepped to the wall and it's strange glowing carvings, the louder the voices got.
Maybe this was a bad idea...
The thought flashed through her mind, but she couldn't stop herself, entranced by the glow and the chanting she could hear coming off the wall, the sound almost a roar in her ears, until finally she got close enough and the wall lit up in white, the brightness catching Adair's attention.
Asling felt a similar sensation to when she killed the dragon as the light poured into her, stood there in shock even after the light had faded away, the new knowledge playing through her mind. Adair was on his feet, watching her with reservation.
“What just happened?” He asked, and Asling shook her head, awestruck.
“I... have no clue... but it was like, when I killed the dragon.”
“Wha–” Adair had started to ask what she meant when a loud, dry crack sounded from behind him, head whipping over to the source. He let out a shrill yelp and backed away from the coffin as its inhabitant shoved the lid aside and rose out, clutching a large two-handed battleaxe.
“You got to be kidding...” Adair growled, ducking out of the way before the draugr could land a blow. Asling had recovered enough to draw her bow, releasing an arrow as soon as Adair was out of the way. The arrow struck the draugr in the shoulder, but there wasn't much of an effect.
“I thought you said that tomb was sealed?!” Adair yelled as Asling as the draugr came closer, raising his sword to block, then thought better of it and ran off to the side as the axe came down. Asling skirted around to the back of the shambling corpse, giving Adair a nasty look.
“It WAS sealed when I was trying to open it. Maybe if you had helped me instead of whining, we could have moved the lid!” She snarled, shooting more arrows into the draugr, the shots making him stagger but did little to hamper his progress and Asling was running low on arrows when she spied something.
“Adair! Look!” She jabbed her finger towards the draugr's back where a stone tablet hung, secured to a line of rope. Adair let out an obnoxious sigh.
“Of course he's got the fucking Dragonstone... of course...” They found the stone, now all they had to do was get it.
“I have a plan, but you're gonna have to fight him. And no fire,” She said, putting away her bow and drawing her dagger from her boot.
“I already don’t like it!” Adair said, circling around on the platform, keeping a good distance away from his enemy.
“Just do it! Distract him, I'll get the stone and then you can set him on fire!” She shouted, sounding exasperated. Adair really didn't have to do much; the draugr already had his attention on him, baring his teeth at the Altmer, who shuddered at the sight. Asling crept up behind the draugr, loosening the knot with the tip of her blade, thankful that Adair was keeping the draugr busy; though it didn't last long.
Asling felt the rope slip out of her fingers and knew she was in trouble, the Dragonstone slipping free from its bindings and fell to the floor with a clatter. The draugr growled at them in some unknown language, knocking Adair off his feet with the axe and loomed over Asling. She cursed and scooted back, glancing over at Adair, who was way too far away now to help now.
He lay on his side the wind knocked out of him, waving his hand at her. “Don't look at me you idiot! Fight! Push that abomination off the side!”
Asling grit her teeth and shakily got to her feet, dodging the swing of the axe as she herded the draugr closer to the edge, her mind racing frantically in search of a plan.
She had to push him over... but how? He may move slow, but that battleaxe had a long reach. Finally the draugr was in position, now she just needed one good push...
On a whim, Asling decided to use the word the wall had given her; better than nothing at all.
{“FUS!”} She spoke a single word, the resulting shout sent a wave of energy out in front of her, missing Adair by inches and striking the draugr full force. He tumbled over the edge of the platform and crashed down onto the rocks below, his dried out husk of a body twisting at an awkward angle.
“Umm... bye then...” Asling muttered, leaning over to watch him writhe a bit, then go still. She stared at the body for a moment, then sat back and started laughing, twirling around in excitement.
“Haha! Did you see that?! I-I used that word that the wall taught me and BOOM!” She mimed the draugr going off the platform, making an explosion sound with her mouth. Adair watch her with a deadpan expression, praying to the gods despite not having any real faith to speak of.
If Asling was truly the Dragonborn as she just demonstrated, then Skyrim was going to need some divine intervention.