Bandits and Burrows
Turned out Bleak falls barrow was much closer than Quintessence had originally thought.
Faendal had lead her through the east gate of Riverwood and up a winding mountain path, they came across a wolf with was easily dispatched with a burst of flames and an arrow to the face.
They continued further along the path discovering it got cold quickly in the mountains. If the air down below was chilly, the air up here was freezing. Quintessence cursed herself for not putting any furs under her loose novice robes which offered no protection against the cold winds and no respite from the falling snow.
A short while after traveling along the snowy path they came across a tower where a bandit in iron armor stood demanding payment to continue on their way towards the ruins.
Quintessence frowned and answered his demand with a thunderbolt which sent him falling from the cliff. Two more bandits rushed forward from the tower but upon noticing their leader gone prepared to charge the Breton and her comrade but found themselves frozen in place by their own fear.
"Come on Faendal." Quintessence called walking past the two and not sparing them a second glance.
Faendal looked at the frozen bandits wearily and followed behind her waiting till they were a short distance away and saw the ruins in the distance to ask her what was that.
"Nothing really, just a useful little charm I can use to paralyze those who are of weak mind or spirit with their own fear."
"How come you didn't use it on the guy in iron armor?" He asked curiously.
"Because for it to work the person I'm using it on has to have a certain amount of fear towards me in their heart and they have to be making eye contact. The bandit I blasted off the mountain had no fear, his comrades upon noticing the strongest of their group was gone felt enough fear for me to use."
Faendal nodded feeling more grateful for the woman's help now than he'd been when they left Riverwood.
Quintessence would have killed the bandits and seen if they had anything worth taking but she didn't know how much magicka she would need inside the barrow and thought it better to be safe than sorry.
Luckily her vampiric charms didn't need magicka for her to use, they only required a bit of will power and eye contact which she could usually always manage.
Quintessence looked at the gaint stone ruins stretching into the sky above them and couldn't help but be impressed by the ancient Nords architectural feats. The air around the ruin was solemn and seemed slightly depressing for some reason but that was something she felt rather than actually smelled, she smelled humans on the wind and told Faendal to crouch and walk silently when they got closer to the ruins.
She marveled at the ruins again before reaching the stair case leading upwards, there were two smaller sets of stairs seemingly carved into the ground. The ruins themselves were shaped out of some kind of dark grey granite rock she wondered about.
Did the ancient Nords carve the ruins out of the side of the mountain or did they move parts of the mountain into the clearing and carve them to serve as whatever this burrow had served as originally.
She summoned a bound bow and creeped up the steps with Faendal on her heels. He kicked a rock and Quintessence cursed knowing what was to come next.
"Huh?" A voice intoned as a sword was drawn and she heard the foot steps of a bandit making their way towards them.
She pulled an arrow from the quiver of ether and slide it into the string of the bow pulling it back and waiting for her target to hit the corner. A man with skin that might have been that of a Redguards or a dark skinned Imperial came around the corner and let out of cry of angiush as an etheral arrow planted itself in his eye.
Faendal shot an arrow inside the man's chest silencing him as his lungs filled with blood and he fell sliding down the steps. Quintessence already had another arrow in place and ready to fire before she stepped over the man's body as it descended down the steps.
She heard Faendal make a sound behind her and almost laughed as she realized he was throwing up.
She ignored it and shot a Nordic woman weilding a greatsword in the leg causing her to fall and crash into the stairs hard unable to stop herself from falling all the way down thanks to the snow.
She ran to the top of the steps charging a lightning bolt in her hand and blasting an Archer who'd taken aim at Faendal. The man stumbled and glared at her hatefully before lifting his bow up again before receiving an arrow in the side of his face for all his troubles and dropping to the ground dead.
Quintessence grinned turning towards the ground below to see Faendal dropping his bow and losing his lunch for the second time that day.
"Nice shot Faendal!" She shouted hoping he heard her over the roar of the wind that battered them with snow.
He paid her no mind as he continued to hold his stomach and stain the beautiful snow covered ground with it's contents. The Nord woman lay in the snow screaming obscenities at them both and Quintessence took a moment to admire the woman's strength before firing an arrow at her throat and silencing her forever.
She thought to search her and the dark skinned man at the bottom of the steps but she'd already made her way up the stairs and walking back down would be counter productive.
Faendal looked like he might be a while, the wood elf definitely had the accuracy befitting of a Bosmer Hunter but he'd obviously never seen a freshly dead human before let alone killed one.
"Kynereath's blessing upon you Faendal, it gets easier with practice! If you don't mind, before you come up check and see if those two are carrying coin purses with anything but dust and empty dreams inside! I'm gonna go ahead and see what's waiting for us inside the barrow, don't spend too much time out here you'll catch your death!" She yelled over the wind proceeding to check the dead archer when Faendal nodded weakly.
The man didn't even have a coin purse but he had a bottle of med. He certainly had the priorities of a bandit in her opinion.
She continued forward to the barrow pushing open one of the large stone doors and closing it behind her, for what reason she didn't know.
She heard voices coming from deeper inside of the large chamber she stood inside and crouched walking forward silently coming upon the body of a man who appeared to have lost his life to a group of skeevers.
"Definitely not on my top fives list of ways to go." She thought searching the man and smiling when she found six gold coins on his person.
She moved further into the room stepping over all of the dead skeevers and stopping when she sighted two bandits standing in front of a fire talking about things she really didn't care to listen to.
She pulled another arrow from her quiver and took aim at the man catching him right in the neck and ending him instantly, before the woman even had the chance to react another arrow was already flying towards her hitting her in the center of the chest.
She turned her head gazing into the shadows of the chamber where the arrow had come from and saw a figure in what looked like robs walking towards, seconds later her vision fully faded and death had claimed her.
"May Arkay bless your souls."
Quintessence had watched the woman's eyes flare with panic when the arrow landed inside the throat of her companion. She'd seen the woman's eyes fill with fear and disbelief the moment the next arrow peirced the weak hide armor she wore and tore into her heart. She'd seen the woman turn her head to gaze in her direction attempting to gain a look at the person responsible for her death, she'd seen the life that bound her soul to this world fade from her eyes and she felt nothing.
Unlike Faendal she was very well acquainted with the act of killing. She hardly felt anything these days if she didn't know the person on the other end of her spells.
She did feel something though as she pooled a small amount of Magicka into both her hands and casted two weak reanimation spells on both freshly dead corpse's.
She felt remorse for spitting in the face of Arkay, but then again she was a vampire. Her very existence was a spit in the face of the God who regulated the cycle of life and death. It wasn't like she could blame herself though, she'd been born a vampire, she'd been taught to give the utmost respect to all things living and all things dead.
Which basically meant she was to respect everything and she did to a certain extent, as far as she was concerned though necromancy was the most powerful form of magic there was. There was no way she'd limit herself by refusing to use it as a way to please a God she never had any chance of meeting.
If she died her soul would belong to Molag Bahl. Dying should be out of the question for that reason alone but she found she had no fear at the thought of death. If it just so happened to be her fate than she'd accept it for what it was, she wouldn't run from it. Fear didn't suit one who'd lived as long as she had.
She pulled out a lockpick and went to work on the chest sitting around the campfire and moved back to the other side of the fire, she found ten orcish arrows a conundrum ingot fourty four septums and a potion of healing.
Pulling out the iron dagger she'd crafted earlier she moved back towards the the center of the chamber and started cutting off the tails of the dead skeevers in the room.
Just as she finished cutting the last tail, the door to the ruin opened and Faendal came inside looking rather sick.
"Are you gonna be okay?" She asked stuffing the tail inside a specific pouch inside her satchel with the others.
Faendal nodded weakly and paled upon noticing the two standing corpse's at the end of the room. He began looking as if he might throw up again, but much to the Bretons satisfaction he merly shot her a questioning look.
"You're a necromancer?"
"I'm a lot of things." She replied pulling out the hide helmet she crafted earlier and giving it to the wood elf.
"You'd might as well grab a sword from the dead body near the beginning of this chamber, I can smell life ahead so there's a good chance you'll need it."
Faendal didn't question her comment instead he just moved to comply, she picked up a iron shield and some studded armor that'd been sitting beside the fire and gave that to him as well. The more armor he had the better his chances of survival.
Satisfied that she'd taken anything that could be of value inside this chamber she began walking down the steps, holding her hand out to block the spider webs in the passage way at the bottom.
She saw a buriel urun on a table that looked as if it was used for embalming corpse's and opened it finding three gold and a silver garnet ring.
There was another set of steps further down the passage way and further down from that another dead skeever.
After a walking for a short while longer she came across a tool self sitting next to a brazer that had a potion of stamina on the center self. She put the potion inside of her stachel and continued further inside the ruin smelling the scent of human getting closer.
She came across yet another set of steps and marveled at how the ancient Nords carved everything out of stone. After walking some more and coming around a corner she saw a man with a torch standing in a chamber below.
She thanked Akatosh her bow hadn't disappered yet and drew and arrow launching it at the man's back causing him to stumble forward and utter a curse. He turned around, eyes alit with fury which quickly made way for fear as he saw the corpse's of his dead friends charging towards him.
He gave a battle cry and raised his mace meeting the sword of the man's corpse's head on. The woman pulled a dagger and slashed at him wildly while he tried his best to kill the males corpse, struggling all the while because dead bodies didn't recoil or flinch from pain.
They fought with reckless abandon, and even if it was a weak spell she'd used to reanimate the two, as a master necromancer all the Bretons reanimations were strong. Soon the man lay dead on the floor along with the corpse of the man Quintessence had reanimated. She had to give the man credit, he'd beaten the unlife out of the corpse before finally succumbing the the dagger of the other corpse who'd been continuously stabbing him in the back.
Faendal had watched the whole thing with his bow at the ready and didn't know if he should be appreciative of the woman or wary of her. While her minions of death fought the man she'd just casually strolled past them into the room not bothering to pay them a second thought.
He saw her walk up the steps and take something from the tool self at the end of the ledge and by the time she came back down the stairs the man lay dead on the floor next to the corpse of the man she'd made to fight for her moments ago.
She stepped over one of the corpse's and beant down in front of the other looking pleased when she discovered a little bit of gold on his person, around 20-30 septums at glance but Faendal wasn't sure.
She then searched the second corpse apparently finding nothing of interest and picking up the mace of the first. She walked behind the still standing corpse of the woman and lifted the mace high, slamming it into the top of the woman's head.
She then proceeded to beat down her reanimation stopping when the body finally collapsed onto the floor in much worse condition than it'd been in originally. Faendal became aware of the fact that he was trembling slightly but he couldn't stop himself, this woman was insane.
He began to wonder if he'd make it out of here alive, it was possible she would always just kill him too for whatever reason. Didn't necromancers prefer experimenting with the dead just as much as the did with the living?
She turned to look at him curiously licking away a bit if the blood that'd gotten on her face and shot him a toothy grin dropping the mace and walking over to a set of ruins.
"Relax Faendal I'm not going to harm you in anyway, your fear smells almost delicious, do try to get it in check."
"Y-Yes ma'am.." He stammered unsure of how in oblivion he was supposed to do that.
The woman obviously had a blatant disregard for both life and death, she seemed to have enjoyed beating that poor woman's corpse back down and Faendal found himself wondering why she'd done such a thing anyway.
He dared not to ask though, he just watched as she turned the three pillars in the room into a specific order, snake snake whale. She moved to the center of the room and pulled the lever on the floor and the gate in front of her opened.
Faendal was still frozen where he was till she turned to him with a raised eyebrow causing him to jump involuntarily.
"Relax Faendal, I'm not going to kill you. I came here to help you remember? That'd be counter productive to my reason for being here, I may be a killer but I'm not murderer. Pull your big boy pants up and remember, you're here for Camilla and I'm here to help you while helping myself to the gold and whatever else it is I can find worth any value in this crypt."
Faendal nodded weakly before swallowing his fear and reminding himself of those facts. If the woman really wanted to kill him he doubted he'd of made it this far, he shook his head getting himself together and quickly jogged across the chamber to stand in front of her and nod his head saying he was ready to proceed.
She smirked and appeared pleased at his change in demeanor and moved forward heading through the gate.
Quintessence had been slightly amused by Faendals misplaced fear of her but she didn't need the man to be scared right now, she needed him ready to follow her into combat. There was a chest on the other side of the gate along with a book on a table she'd read before called thief.
She picked the book up and placed it inside her satchel and opened the chest finding a draught of the light feet, seventeen gold, two lock picks, a potion of stamina, and a scroll of dread zombie.
"Coming here with Faendal was a good idea. I've went from sixty seven to two hundred and fourty six gold and we haven't even finished exploring or found that claw yet." She remarked to herself with a smirk.
She turned away from the chest and her eyes lit up coming face to face with a lesser soul gem sitting on a soul gem stand she'd somehow missed before. She let loose a low chuckle and grabbed it uncaring that it was empty, she'd fill it later.
She heard small little scratchy foot steps and turned seeing a number of skeevers running up the wooden flight of stairs to her right.
She summoned a chain of sparks within both her hands and shocked two of the little creatures to death. Faendals arrow found purchase in the third and the fourth ran away apparently losing it's courage without it's comrades or just being in possession of more intelligence than she could say the others were.
She quickly cut the tails from the three of them and carefully made her way down the spiraling wooden stair case wary of what kind of condition it might be in after years of no maintenance. To her surprise though it'd held up well as the wooden boards still felt pretty strong beneath her feet as her and Faendal descended into the chamber below.
Inside the chamber was a number of spider webs lining every corner and every wall, and on the table was a potion of paralysis and a scroll of fireball. Quintessence made a mental note that exploring the ancient Nordic crypts around Skyrim might just be a profitable venture, but she hoped for an easier way to secure septums because the heavy smell of death in the air was burning her nose.
They proceeded through the hall outside the room they were just inside and made a left seeing a room with an entrance that'd been blocked off by spider webs.
A quick torrent of flame solved that problem and she and Faendal stepped inside the room seeing a Dunmer tied up in a thick bed of web on the other end. A large frostbite spider dropped from the ceiling and the man began to scream for his life.
"Help, kill it kill it! Get it away from me, get it awaaay!!!"
Quintessence was actually interested to see what a frostbite spider of that size feeding on a human would look like but Faendal had already launched and arrow at the creature.
Not one to be shown up or bitten by a frostbite spider Quintessence began launching firebolts at the creature as soon as it turned around. It lay dead on the ground soon enough and Quintessence grabbed and empty wine bottle she'd been keeping inside of her satchel and began applying pressure to the none barbed part of it's mandibles milking it for it's frostbite venom.
Faendal watched with half a look of curiosity and half a look of distgust. Quintessence stood after she was finished and smirked at him.
"You could learn a lot adventuring with me my friend."
"I'm not sure if I'd actually care to learn most of the things you're talking about." Faendal said developing a small smirk of his own.
"Well at least it isn't harvesting troll fat, those things stink nearly as much on the outside as they do on the inside."
Faendal opened his mouth to reply but found himself cut off by an indignant cry from the still trapped Dunmer.
"Well you aren't going to just leave me here are you?!"
Quintessence frowned at the man and told Faendal to pay him no mind for right now. She began searching the burial urns finding thirteen gold and grabbing two spider egg sacks from around the room and then walked to the dark elf with Faendal behind her.
"Thank goodness you found me, quick cut me down before anything else show's up."
"Where's the golden claw?" Quintessence asked ignoring his request.
His eyes widened but his face quickly morphed into a casual frown which he seemed to be trying to hide.
"Yes the claw I know how it works! The claw the markings the door, I know about it all. Let me down from here and I'll show you, you wouldn't believe the power the Nords have hidden there."
"I'm not stupid grey skin, I'll be taking the claw first or I'll reanimate that frostbite spider and satisfy my curiosity of seeing a grown man get sucked clean by one of those things."
"Y-You wouldn't do such a thing!?" The dunmer said writhing around in the webs attempting to break free as his eyes filled with panic.
"Try me." Quintessence said smiling evilly at the man as she summoned an orb of magic into her right hand.
"I-I can't even move! Cut me down and you can have the claw!"
Quintessence didn't believe for one minute that after she left the man wouldn't attempt to make a run for it so she used the fear in his heart to charm him into paralysis, and then proceeded to cut the web.
The man feel and she helped him to his feet going inside of his satchel and retrieving the golden claw.
"I used magicka when I placed that charm on you friend, do you know what that means?"
The dunmer just stood still as he was unable to move or speak as a fear the likes of which he'd never felt before kept him rooted to the spot.
"It means you'll be stuck like that for around two to three days, standing in that very position until your legs grow so tired you collapse, but then you'll still be unable to move." She said smiling at him wickedly.
"Here's a little present from me, your warm body will help promote their growth." She said placing one of the egg sacks she'd taken inside of the man's armor.
"Those little guys are sure to be hungry when they hatch, it's likely what their moma was saving you for so expect them soon. I'd say that egg sack will be ready to burst open in about...two to three days. Pray Akatosh gives you enough time for that charm to wear of before those hundred or so frostbite spiders break free of that egg sack and slowly milk you for all your worth." Quintessence said still smiling evilly at the man.
"Come on Faendal." She said moving past the man walking into the next room.
Faendal was once again shocked, what she was doing to this man was unbelievably cruel. He took a moment to spare a glance at the frozen man and saw tears falling from the corners of his eyes.
Faendal shook his head trying not to think too much about his fate and followed the woman least she get mad at him. He was no longer frightened at the thought of her killing him for some reason but more so at what she'd do before or instead of doing it.
Quintessence could smell the man's fear but paid it no mind as there was something else in the air that was currently drawing her attention. It felt like some kind of ancient and powerful magic hanging over the lower area of the crypt not too far from where they were.
She'd read about draugr before and assumed it had something to do with that but it still felt a little unsettling. She couldn't understand the magics composition or it's source and she was a master conjurer and Illusionist. Whatever it was it was very powerful that much was for certain.
She quickly searched the room she was in finding an empty common soul gem on top of a holder, eleven gold inside an urn and a garnet inside of another one.
She proceeded through the walk way outside of the room with Faendal behind her and together they entered what appeared to be a large ancient Nordic burial chamber.
"The strange magic hangs heavy over this area. I should be very watchful of the dead."
"I don't like the looks of this." A nervous Faendal remarked from behind her. Quintessence couldn't blame him much because she honestly could say she didn't like the feel.
They continued further inside the chamber with Quintessence paying attention to the remains of every Nord they passed till she came across the body of one which laid in the same position as the others but looked as if it'd been moved lately. She felt the ancient magic in the air inside of the corpse and silently cast a bound bow spell fitting and arrow into the string as quickly as she could and pulling it back.
She let the arrow fly and it smacked into the side of the corpse and much to her surprise it's eyes snapped open and it began to stand up.
She heard Faendal utter a curse behind her a draw his bow too and three arrows later the draugr lay as dead as it should've been originally. The ancient magic that'd been inhabiting it's body now dispersed inside of the air.
"What the hell was that!?" Faendal shouted earning him a shhh from Quintessence who looked around knowing if there was one there had to be more.
"It's called a draugr and before you ask no, I don't know exactly what they are besides long dead ancient warriors who continue to fight after death. It's likely some kind of ancient spell the old Nords put on their tombs to deter people from robbing their graves but in the book I read about them it says no one knows. We've got to be silent from this point on, better we catch them by surprise than to be caught by surprise."
Faendal nodded and the two continued further inside the chamber after Quintessence took the gold off of the fallen draugr they'd just slain. Stealing from the dead would be considered by most to be wrong but as far as she was concerned the dead had no need of their coin but she did.
Faendal either seemed not to care or he just didn't voice his thoughts. It didn't take heightened vampire sense's to know the bosmer was now just wishing to get out of this place more than anything, but he wouldn't leave Quintessence considering he might not make it past those bandits back at the tower on his own and an honorable man repaid the debts he owed.
They killed two more draugr with Faendal receiving a gash on his arm but thankfully no other injures and Quintessence quickly mended that with a healing hands spell.
He looked at her questionly after the wound closed.
"I thought healing magic didn't leave scars?" He said curiously wondering if what his brother had told him years ago was a myth.
"Well it doesn't but I figure it isn't really an ugly scare and it'll make a good souvenir that you can use to tell the story of what happened here today. I doubt many people could say they dwelved into an ancient Nordic crypt and fought bandits and walking corpse's. It'd probably impress most people even if some of them didn't believe you."
Faendal's eyes widened and he grinned as he realized she was right, no doubt he'd have a story for the ages when he got back to Riverwood. He could even show Camilla, no doubt she'd think the scar was manly and she'd appreciate the danger he threw himself into for her sake all the more.
"Okay now lover boy, quit day dreaming. We still haven't come out of this with our lives yet."
Uhh..y-yea right." Faendal said with a sheepish smile.
The two continued walking again and Quintessence pointed at the ground telling him to avoid a circular plate on the ground that would no doubt trigger a trap of some kind. They walked a past metal gate with spikes and Faendal winced glade she'd seen the trap, both of them would be dead right now or dying slowly and painfully otherwise.
Quintessence continued taking gold off of the dead that lay around them which made Faendal slightly uncomfortable but he chose not to comment, the woman had only come to help him out in this first place. It's not like she'd woken up and said what a lovely day to go grave robbing. She was just doing what she had to do to survive and Faendal couldn't hate her for that.
They reached the next chamber and quickly began dispatching the draugr there with Quintessence earning herself an arrow to the side as her bow dispelled before she cound finish the last of them.
Faendal quickly finished the last of the four and rushed to her side hoping she'd be okay. She ripped the arrow out and began healing herself and Faendal sighed in relief as her wound quickly closed itself.
Quintessence sighed at the hole and the blood stain now on her robs. At least she'd been gaining a pretty decent amount of coin from the dead here though, maybe she'd be able to buy another pair of novice robs just like these when they were finished here.
"I've been wondering, how come we're going deeper into the ruin instead of just leaving the way we came? We've already gotten the golden claw." Faendal said asking a question he'd been too scared to ask a while ago.
Quintessence shrugged. "Have you no sense of adventure my Bosmer friend? Curiousity of course, perhaps there's some sort of grand treasure or ancient tome waiting for us at the end of this crypt, the Dunmer didn't steal the golden claw for just anything and he made a mention of some kind of treasure. We might as well find out what it is he was talking about while we're here."
Faendal nodded figuring that answer made sense, he repressed a shiver remembering the poor man's fate and wondered why the mage could be so friendly towards him yet so cruel towards a man she didn't even know.
They continued on deeper into the ruins easily slaying the sleeping draugr standing up inside little enclosers in the wall encountering a draugr that was surprisingly much stronger than the rest and knew magic. With a barrage of arrows the creature feel easily enough but not before blasting Faendal with a torrent of ice.
The wood elf shook it off remarking that he was fine when Quintessence asked and waited for her to finish searching the fallen corpse's before they continued onwards.
Eventually they came across another chamber where the burial mound fell open revealing a draugr that hadn't even appeared to have been sleep. Quintessence hit the draugr with two arrows as it started running towards them and Faendal stepped forward with his sword and shield in hand bashing the creature and causing it to stumble backwards slightly.
Quintessence planted another arrow in it's chest and Faendal took a powerful swing with his sword causing it to stumble again, raising his shield just in time to block a swing of it's two handed battle axe. Another arrow hit it and it feel to it's knee apparently too damaged to continue fighting. Faendal moved forward and brung his sword down in a powerful swing finishing off the strong sleepless corpse.
He flexed his arms afterwards turning to Quintessence with a proud smirk.
"I don't know why but that felt good for some reason."
She returned the look and complemented him on his fighting ability remarking that for a hunter he could make for a decent warrior when he needed to be. Faendal just continued to smirk sheathing his weapon and waiting for Quintessence to loot the draugr and search a chest that was in the room.
She looked around after she finished and pulled a wall lever which raised a gate they proceeded to walk through. After walking through a watery tunnel for about a minute they came out into a rather wide cave with glowing mushrooms on the wall the Breton collected and placed inside the reagents pocket of her satchel.
She found a chest towards the end of the cave and pulled out some gold and a ruby which she placed in her bag after putting the gold inside her coin purse. Faendal wondered just how much gold she'd found in the cave considering she found at least a little bit in every room they'd come across so far, they continued deeper inside the cave and she continued plucking glowing mushrooms off the wall till they came to an open area covered in snow where another sleepless draugr walked across the path.
Quintessence quickly fired some firebolts and Faendal let two arrows fly and the draugr was but a memory.
"I think the one's that don't sleep are stronger than the others." Faendal said noting his observation.
Quintessence nodded her head in agreement having just taken noticed of that too. They walked into the open area seeing a pathway that headed down and Quintessence being ever curious as she was said she'd be right back.
Faendal just waited for her on the snow covered path. Although he was enjoying slaying draugr with his mage friend more than he would've ever thought possible, he still just wanted to get out of the ruins and head back to the safety of his home in Riverwood.
"Found anything?" He asked when she made her way back to where he was.
"A dead skeever, a chest with a few gold and a healing potion, a fury poison, and some bones."
Faendal nodded and the two continued up the path out of the area back into the cave the ruins had been seemingly built around or on top of. The two exited the cave area a short while later being back inside the ruins they'd really never left and Faendal sighed wondering when the hell they'd get out of here.
Quintessence smirked at the Bosmers growing impatients and held a hand out before he entered the chamber pointing to a draugr that paced back and forth inside of the room.
"It's another restless one." She whispered.
"So we'll call the stronger one's restless draugr then?" Faendal asked thinking the name sounded rather fitting.
"I don't care what we call them, the only good draugr in my book is a dead one, and I mean really dead. Let's help this guy get some sleep." She smirked pulling the Nordic bow from her back she'd taken from one of the draugr a while back.
Faendal smirked agreeing with her statement and pulling out his bow as well, they took aim and let their arrows fly, both of them slamming into the restlees corpse and causing it to let out something like a growl as it turned it's cold glowing pools of blue towards them.
Turned out this draugr wasn't your average restless variety, he was very strong and the two only begun to realize as much when the seventh arrow crashed into it and it continued to approach them. Faendal attempted to pull his sword and shield from his waste but the creature brought it's axe up tearing into Faendals shoulder and forcing a loud cry of pain to leap from the mouth of the Bosmer.
It raised it's axe clearly intending to finish the man off and Quintessence quickly grabbed the sword from his hip raised it over her head to block the draugrs strong blow which pushed her back a bit. She struggled to hold the guard up against the draugr as it continued to push down against the blade and she felt her arms and legs weakening threating to give out at any second.
She momentarily cursed herself for dedicating years of her time to perfecting her skills with the arcane arts but never sparing any time to work on her strength and perfect her skills as a swords woman.
"Listen to me Faendal, I can't hold this guy off much longer, you've gotta move!"
Faendal grit his teeth and decided to do her one better. Letting go of his injured shoulder he used his left hand to grab the dagger at his waste and rushed forward stabbing it into the draggers chest with all the strength he could muster, causing the creature to stumble backwards slightly and let loose an intelligible growl that might have been words or a curse of some sort.
Quintessence quickly dropped his sword and duel caste a thunder bolt which hit the creature dead center in it's chest and sent it flying backwards to slam against the wall inside the other room. Much to her surprise the creature started picking itself up slowly from the floor, she cast two fireballs and launched them at the creature causing the room to shake from the impact of the fiery explosions
When the flames cleared the draugr lay burning on the floor and she could no longer feel the ancient magic inside it's now empty shell. She turned to Faendal and began healing his wound, the wood elf sighed in relief as the warm magic flooded his being erasing the pain he felt from his wounded shoulder.
When she finished she slapped him lightly across the face causing him to open his eyes and frown.
"What was that for!?" He yelled unfond of being slapped for nothing, or just being slapped at all.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked surprising him.
"Two." He said tilting his head and looking at her like she might be losing her head or something.
She repeated the process three more times sighing in relief and asking him was he light headed to which he remarked no. She pulled out a minor healing potion and gave it to him telling him to drink.
He looked at her oddly wondering why when the wound had already been healed till he realized she thought he might have lost a dangerous amount of blood. He chuckled softly offering her the potion back and she frown repeating herself and telling him to drink. He sighed relenting to her demand and drowned the potion admittedly feeling better and more clear headed after he'd done so. She smiled and patted him on the back remarking that that wasn't so hard to which he just smirked and looked at the big scar on his shoulder curiously.
"Another souviner I take it?"
"Oh yea, Camilla's going to love that one whenever she gets you out of your shirt." She said grinning at him playfully.
Faendal just blushed and averted his eyes hoping that she wouldn't see his cheeks light up.
"Good job though Faendal, for someone who claims not to be a warrior you damn sure have the heart of one."
He grew a little self conscious as he played the events of that fight back in his head and realized he'd just acted without thinking. His family would've been proud of him no doubt but he just hoped his story would impress Camilla and she'd be as attracted to his scars as his companion seemed to think.
They walked into the room where the draugrs corpse lay against the wall in a charred heap and he asked her why she seemed to think as much as she began working at a chest on the right side of the room with a lockpick.
"Because you gained the scars for her sake and everytime she see's them she'll be reminded that you were willing to risk your life for her. It'll just make you seem all the more attractive to her and plus some women are attracted to scars."
"They'll let her know that while you're the sweet sensitive and caring individual she see's you as, you still know your way around a blade and aren't afraid to use one when necessary. Trust me Faend, she'll love them." She said finally getting the lock open and smiling at whatever it was she saw.
Faendal had to admit that made a lot of sense and the thought of it made him smile. Quintessence was smiling for another reason though, inside the chest was a pair of dwarven boots of muffling which she could no doubt sell for a fair price, sixteen gold, a lesser soul gem and a weak magicka poison, in other words jackpot. Not a bad haul at all for just one chest.
"I don't wanna force you to continue on with me and further if you don't want. So here's the golden claw and a potion of fury I found, you can coat one of your arrows with that and run past the bandits at the tower while they're busy fighting each other.
Faendal smiled at her kindness and took the golden claw waving it in the air before putting it inside his satchel.
"Thanks but this is all I need now come on, we've still got a treasure to find don't we? I've already got what I came for it's only right I stick this out with you and besides, I wouldn't want you starting rumors that I lack a sense of adventure now would I?" Faendal said smirking at Quintessence.
She couldn't help but laugh at the man as she nodded and thanked him for his courage before they walked through the door and continued further inside the ruins. After walking for a short while they turned a corner where four axe's were coming out of the wall in a constant swinging motion.
Faendal knew what to do since they'd encountered a similar obstacle earlier inside the ruin and he waited for Quintessence to walk forward knowing she'd get through and disable the trap for him to follow.
"I can sense draugr in that room Faend, we'll need to be careful." She whispered and he nodded croaching and placing and arrow inside his bow.
Quintessence nodded and croached as well, approaching the axe's and rolling once and just like that she was pass them flipping some sort of switch Faendal couldn't see.
The axe's stop and Faendal walked forward, by the time he entered the room she'd already killed and looted one draugr at her feet. She walked into a small room to the right grabbing a draught of the cold from the table and putting it inside her bag.
They walked deeper inside the chamber and heard foot steps coming from the platform above, Quintessence shot an arrow into the wood beside the steps and they heard the grow of a draugr before they saw it showing up to investigate. Two arrows later it was sliding down the steps right before the two of them began making their way up.
Upon reaching the top of the steps they were greeted by another draugr but Faendal quickly unsheathed his sword and shoved it through the chest of the draugr before it'd had any time to react. Quintessence smiled and shot the man a look of approval, he had every right to call himself a warrior after today or at least a slayer of undead.
She quickly looted the corpse and they continued over a bridge through a hallway into a small chamber that held a set of iron doors.
Quintessence pushed the door open and the entered an impressive chamber with two brazers and a set of candles on the left and another iron door at the end with what looked like symbols for creatures on the door inside three separate rings. She turned the ring at the bottom and realized the door was a puzzle of some sort, there were three holes of varying size inside a circle at the center that looked like keyholes of some sort.
"The golden claw! It must be the key to this door, see what the symbols are on it's underside Faendal."
Faendal pulled out the claw and handed it to her and she arranged the symbols in the correct order before sticking the claws into the holes and twisting. She heard something within the door click and removed the claw passing it back to Faendal.
The circles all turned landing upon the same symbol and the door unlatched from the wall began falling as years and years of dust fell with it forcing Quintessence and Faendal to cover their noses and squint their eyes.
The door finally lowered fully and the two stepped inside walking to the top of the stairs case on the other side and continuing onward until they entered a large rather impressive chamber with a large ancient wall in the back that drew the Bretons interest more than the chest beside the sarcophagus did for some reason.
Upon approaching the platform at the center of the room where the wall the sarcophagus and the chest sat Quintessence felt the same ancient magic that'd powered the draugr inside of the chest and told Faendal as much asking that he stay out of the fight whenever the draugr emerged which he was hesitant to agree to but did after much convincing.
She didn't know why but she felt like this fight was personal for some reason and she wanted to be the one to slay the draugr with her own hands, she wouldn't even call on any dremora for assistance. She felt like she needed to prove herself but to who or what she honestly had no idea.
She moved to the wall in the back of the room which seemed to be whispering to her, the whisper got louder and louder as she approached till it began to drown out everything and she began to lose all awareness of her surroundings till there was nothing else.
Her mind went foggy and her vision went black until there was nothing else, just her and the word which seemed to speak to her.
She reached out a hand to touch the wall and the word seemingly slammed into her causing her head to spin for a moment till her vision cleared and she became aware of the word repeating itself inside her head.
She could hear it's whisper clearly now it repeated the same word over and over again with perfect clarity...Fus.
She heard it but she couldn't understand...it pulled at something within her. Trying to awaken something deep in her being that was seemingly asleep. Oddly enough it's whisper seemed calming soothing even as if it'd been with her all her life.
The word belonged to her, it was hers but for the love of Talos she could not understand what meant.
The lid to the sarcophagus behind her was pushed to the ground and she turned seeing a powerful looking draugr that almost scared her standing to exit it's resting place.
"Faendal!" She yelled holding her hand out and he threw her his sword.
She rushed towards the draugr just as it stood and brought it's sword forward, she ducked out of the way taking a swipe at it's unprotected side which served to do little more than scratch it's armor. Her eyes widened as she quickly rolled out of the way of another attack amazed that her strike had barely done any damage at all.
Quintessence was no swordswoman but she had formal training and she knew she wasn't weak. In a one on one battle she'd likely be able to take down most bandits with a one handed weapon, this draugr before her was just ridiculously strong in all likely hood.
"Zun Haal!" The creature shouted and Quintessence felt Faendals sword pulled from her hand by some invisible force.
The creature was upon her a moment later with it's weapon raised above her head and coming forward in a downward swing, thinking fast she quickly caste a conjuration spell of her own creation.
A staff of ether formed in her hands raised over her head blocking the draugrs strong swing and nearly throwing her off balance. She pushed against the creatures sword and twisted, slamming one of the ends into it's chest and causing it to stumble a bit.
She quickly rushed forward attempting to catch it off balance but it raised it's hand sending a blast of frozen air in her direction as she approached forcing her to quickly back away.
The creature righted itself and rushed forward and she spun the staff twisting her body with it, knocking the draugrs legs out from underneath it. She raised the staff and brought it down hard on it's abdomen channeling sparks through it, damaging the creature and draining it's magicka.
She pushed down with all her strength hoping to tear a hole right through the draugrs stomach but to her surprise it placed it's hands on the staff and began lifting against her. Quintessence grit her teeth as she pushed down with all her strength and most of her weight but the draugr just continued to force the staff upwards.
Thinking quickly she changed the element to fire and the draugr let out a growl of anger at the change in element as the flames weakened it's fingers and the staff was slammed back down hard.
The creature took a deep breath and Quintessence braced herself knowing it had something in store for her.
"Fro Krah!" A blast of freezing cold air errupted from the draugrs mouth surprising Quintessence and pushing her back.
She felt herself tire as she felt a pain all over her body after being slammed with the chilling breath of frost but she wouldn't allow it to get the better of her. She held her hand up shooting a barrage of flames at the creature holding her bound staff in the other backing away from the approaching draugr.
It let out a challenging growl and rushed her faster and she quickly turned to the side calling on the last remaining vestiges of stamina that she possessed as she ran to gain some distance. She turned around allowing her staff to fade and pooled her magicka into her hands wishing she'd have learned the expert level fire spell instead of just learning thunderbolt and wall of storm.
She unleashed the fireball and the draugr unleashed another breath of frost and the two collided in the air creating an explosion of fire and ice and a fine amount of steam.
Putting her hands together again Quintessence felt a gratitude towards the divines pooling the last of her magicka into another thunderbolt she barely had the magicka left to duel caste.
She let the thunderbolt fly and it crashed into the draugr sending it flying against the word wall behind her and falling to it's knee's. She began walking towards it and used the last of her magicka to pull Faendal's sword towards her hand with telekenesis. She stood over top of the kneeling draugr and smirked lightly as it looked up at his with a sort of acceptance or resignation in it's cold glowing orbs.
She raised the blade and brought it down with a cry cleaving clean through the creatures neck and watching as it's body fell to the ground and it's head rolled onto the floor, the errie glow of it's eyes now gone.
She blink once then twice and nearly fell over feeling more tired that she thought she should be, she pulled a stamina potion from her satchel and downed it's contents as Faendal quickly made his way over towards her.
"That was amazing! Had I not seen it with my eyes I'd have never known you were such a fighter! Where'd you learn to wield a staff like that?" Faendal asked never seeing something quite like the way she'd fought with a staff before.
"My father taught me after I finally convinced him swords and axe's weren't really for me." She said too tired to return Faendal's enthusiasm.
"He must have been some warrior then, I was puzzled for a moment when you summoned a staff but when you started using it I could immediately tell that it was your weapon of choice."
Quintessence shrugged. "He really was quite the fighter, I doubt there was anyone who lived during that time that could match him in combat. Be it with a weapon or a spell, naturally he made sure his only daughter be proficient in the art of a blade and at least decent in other things."
Faendal nodded, her comment giving rise to a question within his mind.
"You said during that time, you make it sound as if it was another era?"
Quintessence developed a wide smirk and didn't bother to respond to or answer his inquirey. She reached towards him giving him back his sword and stooped down over the draugr and began searching it.
Faendal figured he wouldn't be getting an answer so he just choose to remain silent and wait to she'd finished looting the draugr and the chest beside it sarcophagus.
She pulled a small amount of gold from it's armor, a weak stamina poison, a honed finely crafted ancient Nord greatsword of cold and a stone tablet with what looked to be a map with weird markings.
"What's that?" Faendal asked curious about the stone tablet.
"I don't know but it might be worth something if I can find someone who does know what it is, I'm sure this draugr kept it with him for a reason." She said putting the tablet inside her satchel and offering Faendal the draugrs sword.
He raised an eyebrow wondering why she didn't keep it when she smirked at him again and he understood.
"Another souvenir huh?" He said returning the look and grabbing the blade figuring he'd might as well keep it if she was offering. It'd serve as real proof besides his scars to anyone who doubted the story he'd have to tell after today.
She moved toward the chest after Faendal took the blade and relieved the draugr of it's strap so he could fasten it to his back. Inside the trunk she found an elven shield, two hundred and thirty five gold, and best of all a necklace of minor health. There was also a pair of leather gauntlets and iron boots and she took the boots but left the guantlets.
They made their way up a set of steps into a small cave like passage at the top curious to see where it lead. She pulled a handle sitting inside of a pedestal and the stone wall moved and shifted out of the way revealing a passage way they proceeded to walk through.
Quintessence jumped down from the small ledge and saw a chest to the right she was pleased to find fifty six gold, magicka potion and a ruby inside of, there was also an altar with a skull surrounded by flowers with a flower wreath at the bottom but she left that alone and the two proceeded to exit the cave.
The two both smiled and exhaled deeply, happy to be reunited with the cool cripse air of Skyrim. Faendal nearly paled upon noticing they were on the edge of a low cliff.
"How are we going to get down from here?"
Quintessence looked at him questioningly.
"We're gonna jump and climb of course, follow my lead." She said walking towards the right and doing just that.
Faendal followed her watching his step as she instructed but likely being more careful to do so than she was. The two then began walking through the woods together on their way back to Riverwood before Quintessence said they should cross the white river at a specific point before the tides got too rapid.
Faendal followed her lead and crossed beside her and she held her hand out towards him.
"Huh, you're leaving from here?" He asked not quite understanding where she was going.
"Yup, I set up camp in the woods not too far from here and it'd be counter productive of me to head back towards Riverwood with you knowing that I'd just have to walk back down the road."
"Surely you found enough gold to have earned yourself a stay at the local inn?" Faendal said not understanding why she'd choose to sleep in the woods if she didn't have to.
"I did, but I actually prefer my current lodging. I appreciate the concern though."
Faendal nodding after a moment wishing he could convince her to stay at the inn where she'd be more safe but relenting that the choice was hers. He felt as if he owed the woman a lot and it seemed like they were both good friends even though they'd only known each other for a short time.
"Well I hope you'll stop by Riverwood tomorrow so you can be there with me when I give Camilla back her claw."
Quintessence raised an eyebrow that he probably couldn't see in the dark.
"Weren't you going to take the credit for it's retrieval?" She asked curiously.
"Only as much as I deserve." Faendal remarked with a smirk she could see just as clearly in the dark as she'd have been able to see in the light of day, perhaps even better.
"Well then I'll be there, meet me at the mill and we can head on over to the Riverwood trader together."
"Sounds great." Faendal said grinning and shaking her hand before telling her to look out for herself in these woods.
"And you do the same on the road." She remarked stiffling a laugh at his comment considering she was the most dangerous thing inside these woods.
The two parted ways and Quintessence walked up the hill path a short distance away opening the door to the mine and began walking towards the back.
The captain was laying down staring at the ceiling and feeling somewhat uneasy when she heard a voice she'd come to despise entering the room.
"Miss me much Imperial?" The Breton questioned sitting down on the sleeping mat she never planned on using since she didn't require sleep.
The captain looked up and scowled at her but said nothing, she just continued to look at the ceiling.
"So you aren't going to ask me about my day?" Quintessence asked unable to help the grin that made it's way to her face.
The captain wanted to say bite me but considering what happened earlier she thought better of it and decided to say nothing which really didn't bother the Breton as much as she would have thought.
"You know if you refuse to eat I'm going to force you to eat eventually." She said gazing at the bowl which sat on the wooden bench still as full as it'd been before.
"Awww, what's the matter captain? You look tired and sad, do you want to talk about it?" She teased in a sickly sweet voice that made the Imperial hate her all the more.
Quintessence sighed seeing the captain was done playing her game and she moved towards her.
The captains heart leapt as the woman stooped down over top of her and looked at her curiously.
"So the silent treatment is it? Oh my dear Imperial, you do know how to punish a girl don't you? I've had a long day and I come back home hoping you'll be willing to have a nice conversation with me, but no, I can't even get a snarl or a glare. Have I not been a kind hostess towards you my dear?"
The captain couldn't help the glare she shot the woman at her comment, she knew if she stopped giving her what she wanted she'd just kill her soon but she couldn't help projecting the hate she felt towards the woman outside of her body somehow.
Quintessence only smirked seeing she'd managed to get through to her somehow.
"If it weren't for you you know I'd be sitting in a nice cozy little inn right now sipping on some watered down med a toasting to myself over my long life with a bottle of wine."
She really couldn't help it this time as her glare grew twice as cold and three times as hot.
"And if it wasn't for you I'd be sitting inside of an Imperial fort somewhere having a mug of ale with the other captains! I wouldn't be laying on my back constantly like some worthless whore or a helpess child!"
"Or you'd have died in some Stormcloak raid by now or died at the hand of that dragon. Was your old life really so satisfying or was it just the one you settled for?"
The captains eyes flashed with a bit of surprise at her words and Quintessence could tell she'd struck a nerve there and she pressed onwards.
"Someone who's happy with the way their lives turned out would have no reason to sentence people to their deaths for no reason. Nor would they have reason to be a cruel and sadistic bitch who just looks down on other people for no reason. I don't believe that you're just that cruel by nature, I can smell psychopaths a mile away. So tell me captain..what's your story, I don't mind listening?"
"Quit talking to me as if you know me wench! I've no reason nor obligation to explain myself to you! If you wanna hear a damn story go find a book or something Elder Scroll, just leave me the hell alone! I'm tired of seeing your trash bin of a face!" The captain yelled mad she couldn't even turn her head away from the woman.
Quintessence crouched directly above her as well so there was no avoiding looking at her, she just glared praying Stendar have mercy and get this sadistic little bitch out of her face.
Quintessence smirked and leant down giving the woman a peck on the cheek and stroking her hair gently as if she were a child.
"Is my little Imperial having a bad day?" She said adopting that sickly sweet teasing voice.
The captain just closed her eyes and breathed deeply attempting to calm herself. The woman was playing her right into her hand yet again, and the bitch had the nerve to call her sadistic, she could hardly believe it.
"It's okay... you'll tell me about it when you want to. For what it's worth there's no healing magic in the world strong enough to heal your spine or I would have done so already. I could always just leave you here with Ramond and Chopper and end the charm, but those two wouldn't treat a fragile lil thing such as yourself as kindly as I do would they?"
The captain said nothing, deep down she really hoped the woman wouldn't be so cruel as to do something like that but, what would she do after having her fill of fun anyway?
She said after she no longer provided her with entertainment she would kill her, but would the woman who was causing her so much grief really be so merciful? She honestly doubted it, she'd likely do exactly what she'd just said and the captain would find herself wishing she'd killed her or left her to die back at Helgen.
"Just kill me." She said weakly wishing she could hide the tears touching the corner of her eyes when she thought about her future, or her lack of future for better words.
Quintessence pulled the woman's head under her neck and hugged her whispering that'd it would all be okay.
"No need to worry captain... I'll never leave you with bandits who possess their own free will and I really will claim your life eventually. As long as you live I'm confined to this mine just as you are, and I didn't come to Skyrim to live a life no better than that of a common bandit."
The captain didn't know why but she felt strangely comforted by the woman's words even if she knew she couldn't trust them. She allowed herself to fall asleep in the woman's arms knowing while she was there there was at least no chance of her waking up to the charmed bandits slipping out of the spell that held them and raping her.
Quintessence laid the woman down gently when she was sure she'd fallen asleep. Tomorrow she'd be leaving the small town of Riverwood to head to the city of whiterun in search of work that could earn her coin.
What that meant for the captain yet she didn't truly know, she wasn't quite done with the woman yet but she knew she couldn't travel with her as she was. She refused to leave her here with Ramond and Chopper, even if the bandits were forever charmed now the captain was always on edge when Quintessence wasn't around.
She simply wanted to teach the woman a lesson not constantly scare her to death. The captain had already learned and attempted to apologise but Quintessence couldn't help but think there was more she could do with the captain.
She smirked and sat on the wooden bench crossing her arms and legs. She didn't require sleep so she had all night to think about that.
I wrote all of the draugr involved fight scences in this chapter how they really happened in the game besides the last one of course. I only wish my newly created level seventeen character had unique and adept level spells. Usually Faendal doesn't help me much in fights, I think he was showing off for you guys lol he made me proud, but besides the charms and the spells I'm writing the fights as they happen. In place of a bound bow I have a long bow and in place of expert and adept level destruction spells I'm just using flames and sparks lolHope you guys enjoyed the chapter!