They were running for their lives, The dragonborn and his lovely enchantress wife. Draugr were closing in, ten, twenty, at the least, all in control of the dragon priest Volsung. The dragonborn drew his greatsword as he was prepared to take down as many draugr as it would take to get to Volsung. He diced and sliced, and tore through draugr after draugr, each one replaced with another not long after. It was hopeless, and he knew it.
His wife busied herself trying to pick the lock on the tomb door, she was no thief, and had little experience with locks of any kind. Volsung simply watched as his near infinite army of followers closed in on their prey. The dragonborn was doing a fair number on the army, He was a strong nord warrior after all, even through all his spit, and blood, and tears, the draugr were winning. He resorted to shielding his wife with his body while she picked the lock. The draugr beat him with their bare hands, and although his armor was strong, their pounding was still agonizing.
Just as the dragonborn's last ounce of life seemed to drip away, he let out a maddening nordic war cry, and the draugr scattered. Through broken armor and bloodied lips. He let out a menacing thu'um to knock the wind out of Volsung himself. The dragonborn began staggering toward Volsung, greatsword dragging on the ground. The dragon priest raised one hand, and conjured white icy magic in his palm. The dragonborn reared up and was prepared to strike Volsung's head. But as the dragonborn brought his greatsword down. Volsung sent an icy spear straight into his abdomen. His sword fell the the ground with a metallic clang, and the draugr looked to re-engage their pursuit. The dragon priest gave a throaty growl as he pointed to the fallen hero. "Dir nu Dovahkiin!"
His wife just managed to get the door open, and the dragonborn crawled inside with respectable haste. Draugr coming from every angle, she quickly pulled him inside and slammed the heavy iron door behind them. As she lit a torch on the wall of their pitch black room with magic, the dragonborn, laying there, coughing blood. Attempted to pull the ice out of his stomach to no avail. He pulled off his helmet and threw it to the ground. Through gurgled breath, he looked to his wife. "H- Hedviga, my wife, listen to me." She looked at her fallen husband and knew what he was suggesting.
He held her hand in his bloody fingers and said "You have the black soul gem? and the enchanted dagger?" She held in one hand, a soul gem, black as night. In her other hand, a simple iron dagger, specially enchanted to harvest souls. The dragonborn looked down at his wounds, Then back at his wife. "Do it quickly my love. I don't know how long I'll last, and you don't want to miss the opportunity." The dragonborn shut his eyes and lowered his head. His wife looked down at his mangled carcass, and knew it had to be done.
She knelt down next to her brave husband, removed what little armor remained on his torso, and then, after a farewell kiss on the cheek, She thrust the dagger into his heart. Magical energy swarmed around her, as the black soul gem began to glow a purple light. The swirling purple vortex eventually focused and found its way into the soul gem, which began to heat up due to the power of the soul going into it. The new widow stood up and looked to a dark tunnel that failed to be illuminated by the dim torch on the wall sconce. She removed the torch, and began to silently venture into the dark tunnel.
The tunnel stretched on, for what felt like forever, occasionally changing direction, but eventually stairs gave way to ascension, as Hedviga was nearing the surface. Or at least a hole in the cave to let sunlight through. More draugr were present in the wide open cave, and Hedviga wouldn't have been traveling with her husband if she couldn't defend herself. even so, the draugr hadn't noticed her. She extinguished the torch and attempted to creep slowly around the draugr and avoid a confrontation. She wasn't so lucky as one of them noticed her and gave a growl of alarm for the others.
There were five draugr in total, four brandishing melee weapons, and one of them standing far back with a bow. Hedviga was prepared for melee attackers and had a fire wall spell for just such a purpose. She put her dagger away and sprayed the fire all over the floor in front of the draugr. Oblivious to the danger fire posed, they mindlessly walked through, as the flames licked at their dried skin. Hedviga was distracted enough by the fire, that she hadn't noticed the fifth draugr drawing an arrow. She was taking in her fine work, when an ancient nordic arrow landed squarely in her shoulder, with a grimace she flung a firebolt with her other arm. Her firebolt hit the fifth draugr in the face and he dropped without a sound.
Hedviga reached up to feel the puncture wound on her shoulder. and flinched at the stabbing pain. She knew only a basic healing spell, and would need a professional healer to remove the arrow and dress her wound. after her basic healing, she continued on through the dungeon. Hedviga passed by a few empty caves she finally saw a large opening in the wall of one. She exited the cave to be greeted by four men in black robes kneeling over a skeleton. They took a look at her, a woman holding her shoulder with an arrow sticking out of it, they needed a body, she was easy pickings.
The men began to walk toward her, and she noticed a green skull pattern on their robes, These were necromancers. One of them smiled and withdrew a dagger. He spoke an a common morrowind accent. "We don't want this to be messy, just don't fight." Hedviga raised her arm at one of the approaching necromancers and blasted him in the face with whatever spell she could muster. He recoiled and jerked violently as she shocked him with chaotic electricity. The other three were running now and the dunmer lunged for her and she, not so much dodged, as much as he missed her. The second one didn't and gave her a deep cut on her back.
Hedviga was recoiling in pain from the slice to her back and didn't notice the third necromancer blast her with icy air. She felt her joints go stiff, and her feet go numb, as she collapsed to the ground. One of the necromancers kicked her on the side and she flipped over onto her back. Staring into the white sky, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. and looked down to see the dunmer had stabbed her. Hedviga was fading and the sky was getting blurry.
The necromancer's spoke with one another."What should we do with her?" one said a nordic voice. "Leave her there, bodies don't go anywhere."
Weather it was divine intervention or what, Hedviga opened her eyes again to see the dunmer kneeling over her, she quickly reached up and grabbed his collar. He looked scared. She did not do anything violent, but rather removed the black soul gem the dragonborn's soul was stored in from her satchel. Hedviga spoke in a labored voice to the necromancer. "You, You are now the only one who can stop Alduin." The dunmer looked confused. "This soul gem contains the soul of the dragonborn. Please I beg of you, fulfill my final wish and I may die peacefully. Put this soul into a body, the dragonborn will live on in death." Hedviga's grip loosened on the necromancer's collar and she lay still in the snow, The black soul gem still in her loosened hand. The necrmancer held his neck and looked around as if he'd seen a ghost. before finally taking the soul gem out of the deceased woman's hand.