Draugr Aren't the Brightest
Aeros uttered a string of curses as he picked yet another dart out of his skin. He shot a glare at the now unmoving corpse of a draugr lying on the floor a few feet away. He had been exploring the Nordic ruins when the draugr had suddenly rushed at him from around the corner, catching him off guard. He had managed to dispatch the thing without too much trouble, but not before stumbling backwards onto the pressure plate for a concealed dart trap.
At least my armor protected me from most of them, he thought to himself, before wincing as he pulled another dart free. Still, why did the ancient Nords have to put so many damned traps in these ruins? As if the draugr weren't already bad enough…
Pulling the last dart free and tossing it aside, he continued onwards, making sure to keep a wary eye on his surroundings for any more ambushes or traps. As he rounded a corner, he happened to glance down and jerked to a halt just in time, as his foot hung in the air over a concealed pressure plate. Centuries of abandonment had all but completely obscured the plate's presence, and the only thing that could possibly give it away was the fact that the stone was a lighter color than the rest of the floor, and the barely distinguishable rune scratched onto the surface. Searching the space around him, he found the the trap connected to the false stone, a battering ram concealed in a hollowed out space in the ceiling.
Realizing how ridiculous he must look, frozen with his foot suspended in midair, Aeros slowly lowered his foot back to the ground, making sure to step back slightly from the pressure plate. Taking care not to step on the slightly raised piece of stone, he stepped over the pressure plate. He had just taken a step to continue onwards when…
"Dir volaan!" a guttural and harsh-sounding voice rasped from a corridor on his right, as a battleaxe descended towards his head. Biting back an oath, Aeros leaped backwards, away from the heavy axe blade, rolling to his feet several feet away from where he had originally stood. The axehead passed through the now empty space, striking the stone floor with a heavy, unpleasant sound as it sent up a shower of sparks. A draugr emerged from the side corridor, easily lifting the battleaxe as it turned to its malevolent gaze on Aeros.
"I don't suppose you just wanted to ask me how my day was?" Aeros asked as he reached for the hilts of his swords. Snarling something in that same indecipherable tongue that all of its kind seemed to use, the draugr began to advance towards him, hefting its battleaxe threateningly.
"I'll take that as a no," Aeros said as he drew his blades. However, both he and the draugr were stopped by the faint sound of moving stone, as well as the sound of something activating. They both glanced down to see that the draugr had just stepped on the hidden pressure plate, which Aeros had miraculously not landed on when he avoided the draugr's axe. Aeros grinned at the unfortunate draugr, before rolling out of the way, just as a heavy battering ram crashed into the draugr's back and sent it hurtling down the length of the hallway.
He cautiously watched the draugrs body as it lay on the floor, but when the draugr did not get back up, he shrugged to himself and continuing onwards. Following the twisting and crumbling hallways, he eventually found himself in a wide chamber. As he entered the room, he had to take care not to lose his footing and slip on the large amount of oil that seemed to cover the floor. He gazed around the room with interest, but found little of note. The room was plain and devoid of anything that might be of interest except for a number of stone sarcophaguses leaning against the far wall. And of course, the draugr blocking the door to the next chamber.
As the undead noticed his presence and pointed its sword at him threateningly, Aeros grinned at it from across the room. "I've dealt with plenty of your kind before," he said confidently. "One more isn't going to be any trouble." The words had just left his mouth when the draugr barked something in that strange language. A moment later, the air was filled with sound of multiple heavy crashes, as the heavy stone lids of the sarcophaguses fell to the floor, and a dozen more draugr stepped out.
Aeros felt his self-assured grin wilt. "Okay, that many might be a bit of a problem," he admitted. Me and my big mouth! he thought, mentally kicking himself for practically daring fate to make his situation worse.
Not liking his odds against so many enemies at once, as the draugr started to advance towards him, he searched the interior of the room for something he could use. His eyes alighted upon the oil coating the floor.
"YOL!" he shouted, a wave of fire emerging from his mouth and setting the oil alight. He nodded in satisfaction at the wall of flames now separating him from the draugr.
"Now all I need to do is pick them off one by o-" he stopped abruptly, as he watched one of the draugr attempt to charge at him through the flames. It did not even make it halfway across before it collapsed. However, that did not stop its companions from doing the same, as one after the other, they all attempted to cross the roomful of flames to get to him, their centuries old dried and preserved flesh going up in flames faster than aged parchment. Aeros watched in disbelief as, heedless of the failures of their comrades, each and every single draugr attempted the same tactic. By the time the flames had died down, not a single draugr was still alive.
Aeros shook himself out of his shock. "And I thought bandits were dumb," he muttered, as he stepped over the burnt corpse of a draugr, and continued onwards, deeper into the ruins.
Author's Notes: Just something inspired by the many encounters with the draugr in one of Skyrim's crypts. It really does seem like a toss-up sometimes as to which AI is smarter, the draugrs' or the bandits'. They've both fallen for things that no sane being ever would (although that just seems to make it even funnier)
Dragon Language:
Dir volaan! - Die, intruder!
Yol - Fire (First word of the Fire Breath Shout)
