Chapter 9- Grave Robbing
"Bandits and Necromancers, how do you want to go about this?" Govegein turned to Raddin. They were sitting behind a fallen log in the swaps in front of the entrance to Ustengrav.
"Why do I have to find a way through these guys?" Raddin complained, he seemed to be getting used to Lydia doing everything for him. I'm surprised he doesn't have her changing him . . . yet.
"Because you're the thane, and the Dragonborn, and the guy the Greybeards sent for this. Any questions?" Govegein said.
"Just one: Should we help her?" Raddin said. It was only then that Govegein noticed that Lydia was gone. He looked over at the camp and saw her fighting the bandits, each one she slew was risen by a necromancer.
Govegein sighed, this was only proving his point. "Yes, you should be doing that and, she is about to be overwhelmed by undead," he explained. The two jumped over the log to find the necromancers dead and the bandits ashes. Looking at the carnage as the wind swept away the residue of undead, Govegein said, "Say what you want about her intelligence, or lack thereof," Lydia shot a death-glare at him, "but the woman can handle herself in a fight,"
"Yeah, how did you beat her again?" Raddin said remembering the outcome of Govegein's and Lydia's 'friendly' duel.
The three climbed up the dome of the barrow's entrance. Lydia shot another glare at Govegein, which was becoming a habit, and said, "He cheated." Raddin laughed and entered the barrow.
Govegein countered with, "No, I used the tools I had that you didn't, and still don't, have. Magic and better skill with a blade to name a few." Lydia punched him, hard, in the arm and followed Raddin into the barrow. Govegein followed to find Raddin and Lydia crouched behind some rubble spying on yet more necromancers. One was an Altmer female while the other was a Nordic male.
"I will attack first, my Thane," Lydia said.
Raddin took a more comfortable seat and nodded, but Govegein had to step in. "No I think that you should let your 'Thane' get some exercise. Anyway, don't you want to see the Dragonborn in action?" Lydia lit up at the chance to see her Thane wipe the floor with the necromancers she took for granted. "Looks like you're up, Dovahkiin," Govegein said pushing Raddin out of cover.
As Raddin crept up behind the Necromancers, he overheard them talking. "These bandits become much more efficient diggers after you kill them," the Altmer said to the Nord.
The other Necromancer looked at the first to reply and saw Raddin creeping up behind her. Raddin rose and Shouted, "Fus Ro!" A shockwave left his mouth and the two Necromancers fell back. As the undead Bandits rushed him, Raddin drew his new battle axe. As he swung he absorbed any remaining stamina in the undead. With another wide swing, he sliced them open and they fell to ashes. Then a shard of ice embedded itself in Raddin's back, followed by a bolt of lightning.
"We should help him, he needs someone to watch his back," Lydia said, trying to shake off Govegein's hand. He only pulled her down to the ground and held her there.
"No he will be fine. This is his ordeal, not ours. He is the one who needs to prove himself worthy of the dragon blood within him," Govegein said, "Let's stay hidden and let him take on his ordeal." He cast an invisibility spell over the two on them as Raddin finished off the Altmer Necromancer.
"You planned this," Lydia accused. Raddin hacked away at the Nord as he tried to revive his friend.
"I want to see him succeed as much as you do, but I want him to grow by himself," Govegein explained as Raddin was drawn to screams from the next room. "Follow but don't get too close." Lydia begrudgingly followed.
As Raddin rounded the corner, he saw three Necromancers desperately fight off several Draugr. Instincts taking over, he bashed one of the Draugr's heads in with the butt of his axe. Focusing on the next one he wedged his battle axe in its chest as ice and fire flew around him. A Draugr near the back looked at him with those empty, glowing eyes. It took a breath and shouted "Fus."
"Of course some of them can shout, I'm such an idiot," Raddin said as he was knocked back. He put his axe on his back, exchanging it for his shield, and drew his sword. He ran towards this Scourge, he decided on a name for this class of Draugr, with his shield blocking a gust of ice and snow. He sliced away at the Scourge, as he finished it off, though, a gout of flames hit his back. The necromancers had turned on their savior. The rush of heroic adrenaline wore off as Raddin was forced to kill the people he meant to save. He thought he heard a gasp as he walked deeper into the crypt.
"Wait," he said after he finished off a final Draugr in a room filled with Sarcophagi, "where are Govegein and Lydia? I thought that they would have followed me by now. I just hope Govegein doesn't accidentally try anything like he did with that companion." Somewhere behind him, a soft thud sounded, like someone punching someone else.
Climbing a set of stairs led the lone Dragonborn to a bridge that crossed the room. Following a hallway on the other side of the bridge lead to a set of doors. Raddin stepped through the doors only to find an even more ruined version of the ruins he had walked through. He sighed and glanced at a hole in the rocky wall, and instantly did a double take. From the hole, he could see a vast cavern, more ruins lined one of the sides that he could see and, down in a basin, Raddin thought he saw a wall similar to the one in Bleak Falls.
Excitedly, he ran deeper into the crypt, only to run face first into a Draugr. "Don't mind me, I'm just . . . passing through?" Raddin instantly cursed himself. The Draugr drew an old sword and pointed it at Raddin. "Yeah, that would not work here would it?" Dodging the slashes of the Draugr, Raddin drew his own sword. Bashing the Draugr with his shield, he cut at his off-balance opponent.
As the first Draugr fell, he noticed another one running across a bridge over the room. Raddin rushed towards a doorway on the opposite side of the room. As he approached it, the Draugr stood in the way and blasted him with ice. As Raddin fought of the Scourge he heard a sword being drawn from its sheath. Stabbing his sword through the Scourge's head, he whirled around with his battle axe at the ready. There were no Draugr sneaking up behind him, no left over bandits or necromancers who had followed him into the tomb. Suspicious, he put away his axe and retrieved his sword.
Raddin retraces the scourge's steps to find a room with two sarcophagi in it. As he moved through the room sloshing sounds drew his attention to the oil at his feet. Then the lids of the sarcophagi flew open. From them emerged two more Draugr, eager for their first fight in centuries. Drawing his battle axe, Raddin backed away from the two undead. One seemed to chuckle as he drew his bow. Looking up, Raddin cursed, there was a fire trap above his head. As the Draugr's arrow flew, Raddin dove away. The arrow broke the clay orb, releasing the fire across the oil. Raddin panted as the flames roared in front of him, then a flaming form emerged from the fires. The Draugr drew a battle axe and charged Raddin. Putting up his own defenses, Raddin grunted at the force of the undead warrior's charge. Pain split into his side, from the other side of the fire, the archer Draugr shot at Raddin. Throwing the warrior into the flames, Raddin hacked at the decaying flesh. Feeling rejuvenated, he walked through the now dying flames towards the Draugr that had tried to burn him. As it began to reach for its sword, Raddin split its skull. "This axe is great, I will have to thank Balgruuf next time I see him," Raddin said exiting the room.
Following the short tunnel, Raddin found himself in the Cavern he had seen from the hole in the wall. Jumping across fallen pillars he made his way to the floor. As he peered over the cliff he confirmed that the wall was the same as the one in Bleak Falls. Running down a path that was carved out of the side of the wall, he approached the secluded wall. Chanting filled his head, but he could not make out what they were saying, it seemed to be in Draconic though. Touching the stone, he felt the rush of knowledge as the chanting grew and the ethereal flames crawled into Raddin's head. The chanting stopped and suddenly Raddin knew a new word, Feim.
"Feim? What in Oblivion does that mean?" Raddin pondered the unfamiliar word as he left the basin. "So the Greybeards were right, just finding the words will not let me use the shout. If I kill another Dragon and absorb his soul, I will be able to learn more about the word. But what else will I learn from it?" he shuddered at the memory of his experience with Mirmulnir's soul. Crossing a bridge that rose over the basin, Raddin stood looking at three strange stones. As he approached one, it glowed red, and an arrow flew past him. In an alcove looking over the exit from the large cavern, stood three skeletons with bow and arrows. Raddin sighed at the annoyance and quickly dispatched them.
Jumping back down to the stones, Raddin discovered that approaching one activated it. While activated, some of the gates barring the exit opened, but the stones quickly deactivated. Raddin tried sprinting for the tenth time before coming to a conclusion, he was too slow. Then it hit him. Sprinting past the stones to activate them all, he ran towards the gates and took a deep breath. He shouted "Wund," and he was past the gates before he knew it. Striding confidently forward he climbed the steps leading onward. As he entered the next room he froze.
"Okay we should probably help him now," Govegein said dropping the invisibility and approaching the stunned Raddin.
"Why you proved that he could make it on his own, why not let him finish what he started?" Lydia said. She had begun to like tailing her thane, even if Govegein had to stop her from interfering sometimes.
"Because your 'heroic' thane is deathly afraid of spiders," Govegein explained gesturing to the webbing that covered the room they were in. "I'll kill the spiders, you drag him." Govegein walked off into the nest. As Lydia tried to get her thane to move, she saw bright red and blue flashes coming from past the rubble. Carefully traversing the fire traps that lined the floor, she walked into a scene out of Vaermina's proudest works.
Charred spider parts were scattered all over the floor, their guts covering the walls. An undamaged Govegein stood fighting a gigantic spider over the fire traps. The two were covered in flames as Govegein cut off one of the spider's arms. The quick frozen flesh crumbled as the flames tore it apart and Govegein did not let up. Hacking away at the beast as it roasted, Govegein barely even showed a sign of exhaustion. As the giant spider fell, the traps ran out of fuel and govegein walked towards Lydia. He grabbed Raddin and threw him through the web covered doorway.
"Why would you do that?" Lydia shouted at him. She ran towards her thane to check on him.
"Disgusting Raddin, did you wet yourself?" Govegein said, completely ignoring the outraged housecarl.
"Spiders are evil, your complaints are invalid," Raddin said from the next room.
"That does not justify you wetting yourself like a child," Govegein countered, following them into the next room.
"Where were you two anyway? Oh no! Lydia did he touch you? Did he force you to-" Govegein hit him in the head.
"Don't get carried away, we were testing you," he said.
"You dented my helmet," Govegein muttered as he walked towards the other side of the room. Most of the room was submerged, but a bridge still lead to the other side. On the opposite side of the room was a stone coffin with a sculpture of a hand rising from the top. Clutched in the hand was a note. "Hey, Govegein, Lydia, you might want to see this," Raddin said running across the bridge. As he ran, monuments rose out of the water creating an image of sea serpents guarding the grave of Jurgen Windcaller.
Following Raddin, Govegein and Lydia crossed the bridge. After reading the note, Raddin handed it to Govegein. It was addressed to Raddin, or rather the Dragonborn. The writer wanted to talk with him and told him to rent an attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn. The note was signed 'A friend'.
"I don't like this," Govegein said, handing the note to Lydia. "I don't think that the Sleeping Giant Inn even has an attic to put a room into."
"But this person must have the horn," Lydia said. "They seem to want to help, why don't we go to see them?"
"If they want to help us then let them seek us out. Besides, I don't trust that innkeeper," Govegein argued. He recalled that it was Delphine who had taken the dragon stone from Farengar.
"Whether we trust them or not, we will have to meet them to get the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller," Raddin said. "So, we will meet with this person. If they do anything suspicious, we hurt them. If they don't, we get new allies." The three used the old escape route to leave Ustengrav.
And so begins the tale of the Blades. If you've played the game, you know where this is going. If you haven't, then play it.
I'm starting a side story following everyone's favorite wimp of an orc so check it out after I post it
Sadly this means that I will also have to lengthen the time between posts, sorry.