Fredas 14 Frostfall 201 4E 2:00 PM

"It's impressive. I'll give it that," Lydia whistled as she looked at the stone entrance to Silverdrift Lair. The old tomb had been marked on my map by Arngeir to help me learn the Way of the Voice in a manner more fitting for a Dragonborn than the way the Greybeards learned.

The peaceful monks studied by mediation and contemplation, a method that was incompatible with how quickly I could absorb their teaching. After only a demonstration or two, I would learn a three-word Shout, which normally took the Greybeards a decade to master completely.

Arngeir felt it would be better to temper my training with adversity, so he marked a map of Skyrim with some known word walls. No doubt, Lydia's and my youthful exuberance had nothing to do with the laconic monk's decision to send us off to explore Skyrim and her tombs.

Silverdrift Lair's entrance had a long stone porch that arched into a semicircle that was shrouded by a stone arch. Twin stairs ascended the front, divided by a stone pillar. We were about two hours southeast of Solitude.

"Want to hit Solitude after this? Maybe go shopping? I could use some new armor, and I wouldn't mind an enchanted blade. I think it could only help with stopping any dragons we might stumble upon," Lydia suggested.

"Yay, shopping!" I said, hopping from foot to foot in an impromptu dance. I clapped my hands in a goofy way which made Lydia laugh. Suddenly, I took a serious pose with one foot raised on the stairs while pointing towards the door. "Let's do this!"

"You're weird," Lydia commented as she bonked my newly-made dragon scale helm. It had earned quite a few glances when we stopped in villages for supplies.

The stone door didn't want to open at first, but after Lydia and I combined our efforts, we managed to push it open. The inside chamber was just as cold, if not colder, than outside. Lydia lit a torch while I drew my bow before we continued advancing. The air tasted stale and a thin layer of dust coated everything. Obviously, no one had been here for a long time.

"I don't know how I feel about this now that we're here," Lydia admitted as she drew a short sword. Although she normally favored two handed weapons, she had been forced to switch to a lighter weapon. I couldn't carry the torch, and we had to have some sort of light source. "Barrows are ancient tombs that belonged to someone of import at some point. They are usually filled with entire families tracing back a bloodline to some great hero. Often, servants would ask to be interred with their lord so they could serve in the afterlife as they did on Nirn."

"Don't tell me that you're scared of some long dead, mummified corpse," I scoffed.

"Hey! We Nords don't take reverence of our dead lightly," Lydia protested. "It is to honor the memory of those before us that we strive so hard to earn valor and glory before dying and going to Sovngarde. Besides, you're the one with her weapon drawn."

"I am ready for any skeevers or frostbite spiders we might run into," I said defensively. Vermin, no matter how big, always seemed to be able to get into places no one else could. Even if this place had been sealed for an Era, I wanted to be ready for something creepy and crawly that might want to bite my tender flesh. I definitely didn't want to come down with some sort of disease from a bite.

We continued past the large entry room into a descending stairwell which opened into another hallway. Outside the glow of the torch, I could barely see the silhouettes of multiple niches that held the preserved remains of the long dead. Most of them held a weapon or shield of some sort and many also had some sort of armor.

"The way I see it, a spider or skeever is much more dangerous," I said. "These guys are just dead. What harm can they cause?" I walked over to one of the niches, ignoring Lydia's gasp of indignation as I poked one of the interred bodies. The skin flaked under my touch. "See? Nothing to worry about."

That's when the body's hand shot up and grabbed my wrist.

I screamed like a little girl when the undead sat up, his iron-like grip holding my wrist tightly. He slowly reached for a long rusted sword that had been placed by his side. I tried to slap his chest with my free hand, but it had absolutely no affect.

"By Talos' balls!" Lydia yelled. She swung her sword and it bit into the corpse's shoulder. The only reaction was the creature slowly turned his head towards my housecarl and made a noise that sounded like air escaping a valve. Little flecks of dust erupted from his long unused throat and into the air.

"Gross!" I cried as I continued to slap the undead with my hand. "Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Why don't you Shout?" Lydia cried as she continued to hack at the creature. He had finally grabbed his sword and was slowly raising it to swing at me.

"YOL!" I Shouted. The zombie took the blast fully in the face and quickly crumbled to dust and ash.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" Lydia scolded.

"I forgot!" I cried, tears streaming down my face. I tried to scrub my face clean. "Why didn't you tell me that they literally meant they would serve in death as they did in life?

"I didn't know!" Lydia snapped.

We probably would have continued arguing, if not for the scrape of metal on stone. Lydia and I looked up and saw more of the undead slowly moving towards us. There were at least three more like the first with bits of flesh barely clinging to their bodies as they raised their axes and swords to fight us. In the back, there were two skeletons raising bows to fire at us.

"Oh shit!" Lydia and I screamed in unison before we turned around and retreated outside.


Fredas 14 Frostfall 201 4E 2:30 PM

The entrance to Silverdrift Lair flew open a lot easier and faster when Lydia and I burst out of the tomb. We scrambled down the stairs to where our mounts were waiting. Patchwork snorted nervously when we ran past her.

"Oh, gods," Lydia breathed heavily. She slumped down until her hands were resting on her knees. "Do you think they'll follow us outside?"

"I don't know!" I cried.

"How many are there?"

"I don't know!"

"Why would Arngeir send us here? He had to have known, that sadistic bastard," Lydia said as she glanced over her shoulder to the crypt's entrance.

"I DON'T KNOW!"

I had to admit, this last little encounter made me appreciate the mediations on Words of Power that the Greybeards used to learn the thu'um a little better. In my panic, I had completely forgotten that I could Shout to help myself. If I had practiced more, maybe I would have remembered and used it without Lydia's prompting.

Then again, I hadn't thought to grab my steel dagger either and I had used one of those for years.

Several minutes passed and no undead came shambling out to eat us. Lydia and I managed to calm down until I started feeling foolish for overreacting.

I should have known there would be defensive measures of some sort. It just made sense, right?

"Okay, I'm okay. Are you okay?" I asked Lydia. She nodded. "Okay. We're going back in."

"What? Are you insane? We cannot go back. There's undead in there!" Lydia protested while pointing towards Silverdrift.

"Yes, I know," I said calmly, "but we came here to learn some more draconic words, and I don't plan on leaving empty-handed."

"It's blasphemous to desecrate burial places," Lydia said.

"We're here by the direct command of the Greybeards, right?" I asked. Lydia nodded, albeit reluctantly. "They're wise old men who are highly revered and are seen as spiritual mentors. Surely, Arngeir wouldn't have sent us here on this mission if it was wrong. Maybe he didn't tell us about the undead because he forgot or maybe he wanted to test us. Regardless, we're here and it's the only way to learn." I paused. "Unless you want to spend the next eighty years up at High Hrothgar learning Shouts like the Greybeards do."

Lydia picked up her axe. "Let's do this," she said with a grim look on her face.

Fredas 14 Frostfall 201 4E 3:00 PM

"Tiber Septim," I swore softly as Lydia and I reentered the tomb. We were slowly walking back in while crouching to avoid the notice of the undead.

"What?" Lydia asked. She glanced over her shoulder to where I was standing behind her.

"I just realized that I dropped my bow back where we encountered the first zombie," I said sheepishly.

"Draugr," Lydia replied.

"Bless you?" I said confused.

"No, draugr is the proper term for undead," Lydia clarified. "At least for interred undead. Thrall is the more common term for recently dead bodies that necromancers raise for their own personal use, but draugr is what we Nords call spirits that protect tombs from vandals. It means 'ghost'."

"That doesn't make sense," I countered. "They're solid. Ghosts are ethereal."

"I didn't make it up," Lydia snapped.

"Stupid Nord dialect," I grumbled.

"Since you're going to be pretty useless anyway, why don't you hold the torch for me?" Lydia asked as she shoved the burning log into my hands. She released her steel shield that she had strapped to her back. "I feel a little better with some more protection."

"Oooh, I get to hold a torch for Lydia," I giggled. When Lydia failed to get my pun, I just rolled my eyes. "Never mind. If I have to explain it, it's not funny."

We continued to skulk down the stairwell, Lydia's armor clanging loudly with each step. "I don't even know why we're sneaking," I complained. "You're as loud as a Dwemer factory."

"Shut up," Lydia hissed. "I'm not the one who agitated the draugr to begin with."

I stuck my tongue out at her, but held my silence as we continued. At the bottom of the stairwell, we saw the draugr milling about randomly in the hallway. They didn't seem particularly on alert, but they had not returned to their eternal rest either. Maybe whatever magic that was used to animate them left them ready for intruders after a certain period of being roused.

My bow lay on the ground next to the ashes of the first draugr, but one of the other axe wielders was standing right next to it.

"Okay," I whispered, "here's the plan. You go in and attack the one who is next to my bow. After you take him down, rush into the crowd to push them back so I can get my weapon. I'll provide cover fire while you fight them."

"How are you going to do that with a torch in hand?" Lydia asked.

"Toss it down?" I replied.

"And if it goes out? That means we're stuck in the dark with angry undead," Lydia scowled.

"Do you have any suggestions then, smarty pants?" I asked, irritated.

"Why don't you use one of your Shouts on them?" Lydia suggested. "What was that one that pushed things back?"

"Fus ro dah?" I asked.

"For Mara's sake, don't say it while looking at me!" Lydia almost squealed. The draugr stopped roaming around and looked in our direction. We ducked back behind the corner before talking. "What if you Shouted me to pieces by doing that?"

"It only works with intent," I said haughtily. "I can say the words all I want, but if I don't visualize and focus, nothing happens."

"I'd rather not take the chance," Lydia said, clearly shaken.

Now that we were prepared for the draugr, it was easy to defeat them. The creatures were slow to move so when I Shouted at them and sent them flying, it took them too long to get back up to be a threat. Lydia dispatched the lone axe wielder near my bow which allowed me to grab it after putting the torch in a nearby sconce while she ran after the fallen enemies. It was much easier to destroy draugr than bandits, since the living were able to think and adapt faster and easier than the long dead.

"That wasn't so bad," I said after the fight ended, "although skeletons are going to be a pain in the ass. I never thought that they would be more resistant to arrows or my Shout. I guess that means they default to you for fighting."

"You're so generous," Lydia said. She noticed me glancing at a nearby burial urn. "You're not going to rifle through that, are you?" The disdain was clear on her face.

"No!" I said, although I had been curious as to what Nords gave their dead. "That would be crude. Let's go."


Fredas 14 Frostfall 201 4E 3:30 PM

"Okay, now what?" Lydia asked. We were staring at a barred doorway with no apparent chain to open it. Flanking us were several animal themed stone carvings, and behind us was a lever.

"Pull the lever?" I asked.

Lydia shrugged and pulled the device. Suddenly arrows shot out of the wall from all directions. The two of us managed to dodge most of them, Lydia using her shield and I by throwing myself on the ground. When I stood up, Lydia was wrestling with an arrow jutting out of her chest plate. I checked myself and found that I had several gashes and cuts all over my arms and legs. One arrow had left a painful cut along my cheek that bled profusely until Lydia gave me a healing potion that sealed the wound. Thankfully, none of the arrows had hit a vital spot.

"This is why you should wear heavy armor," Lydia remarked when she took the empty bottle back. "It provides much more protection."

"It's also heavy, loud, and impractical for archery," I shot back. "What is up with you Nords and traps?" We had stumbled onto several pressure plate traps that released swinging spears or axes along hallways which had taken a fair amount of patience to surpass. There even had been a battering ram at one point. By now, Lydia and I were pretty banged up. I don't think there wasn't any part of me that wasn't bruised or sore. Healing potions helped with surface wounds, but real healing took time.

"I told you that we don't take reverence of our dead lightly," Lydia responded. "I have to admit High Hrothgar is looking more and more appealing as time passes."

"Let's just figure out how to get past this," I said wearily. So far each trap had a counter, but one had to know where to look first. Most of them involved levers on the opposite side of the trap, which clearly wasn't the case here.

"Maybe it was back-a-ways," I said as I leaned against one of the carvings. Suddenly, the base moved and I could hear a distinct click. "Okay, that's convenient."

"Try the lever again?" Lydia asked.

I backed up until I was outside of the room. "Sure, go for it."

"Coward," Lydia scowled.

"You're the one with the amazing armor!"

Not convinced that we had solved the puzzle that easily, Lydia crouched next to the pedestal with her shield already in a blocking position. When she pulled the lever, more arrows shot out, but none of them pierced her armor.

A quick survey revealed that there were a total of six pedestals that rotated, each with three sides with a specific animal – whale, eagle, and snake. Even if we decided the arrows were no longer a threat, trying to guess the combination would take forever with that many options. Neither Lydia nor I were comfortable finding out how many arrows were hidden in the walls. There was always the chance a lucky shot could seriously hurt the housecarl.

"Set them all to one animal?" Lydia suggested.

"Which one?"

"That is the question, isn't it?"

We backtracked to previous rooms and found no clues. There was nothing about any of the animals connected to Silverdrift Lair. Turning the pedestals produced no unique clicks either.

"This is so aggravating," Lydia proclaimed as she flopped on the ground to lean against one of the carvings. "To come this far and to be stuck!" She leaned her head back and frowned. "Dammit."

"What?" I asked as I looked up from the carving I was examining for the fifth time.

"It was here the whole time," Lydia said as she pointed above her head. Behind the carvings, obscured by shadow and tattered hangings, were copies of the animals on the pedestals.

There weren't words enough to describe the curses that came out of my mouth, but at least we got past the puzzle.


Fredas 14 Frostfall 201 4E 4:30 PM

"Do you ever wonder how dragons made these word walls if they're buried so far down in a tomb?" I asked Lydia.

"Maybe they were here a long time ago and the tomb was built up around it," Lydia suggested. "Arngeir did imply that there used to be many Voice Masters since men were taught the thu'um in a much faster method than the Way of the Voice."

As we exited another narrow hallway, the room opened up into an enormous cavern. Both of us whistled in appreciation. "Or maybe they just had a huge cavern," I commented.

At the far end of the room was a smooth man made wall that contrasted sharply with the jagged, natural contours of the rest of the cavern. Even from this distance, in the dim glow of our torch, I would make out some gashes in the stone that looked like the draconic alphabet from the primer Arngeir had given me.

Before the concave wall was a flat platform that held a sarcophagus that looked to be made of ebony metal. Several other sarcophagi lined the far walls. Torch sconces lined the pillars around the room, which we took a moment to light to give some better illumination.

"Be careful," Lydia cautioned as she pointed to the ground. There were several pools of oil. Whether it was from some sort of spill or leak, I had no idea. "One spark from our torches could cause some major trouble."

"Let me just make a rubbing of the words and we'll get out of here," I said as I stepped up to the platform. "I can try to translate them later. We should be able to get to Solitude in time for a late dinner."

As I passed the coffin, the lid flew off, flying into the air. "Oh, for the sake of Mara!" I screamed as I scrambled back.

"Are you going to scream every time something like that happens?" Lydia yelled as she drew her axe and shield. Other draugr were bursting out of their resting places and drawing their weapons much faster than the previous ones.

"Yes!" I retorted, "I'm twitchy by nature. That's why I'm an archer." I turned my attention back to the draugr getting out of the casket and Shouted, "FUS RO DAH!"

Nothing happened.

"What in Oblivion?" I stammered.

The undead I was facing was wearing much better armor and weapons than any of his predecessors. It was made of rare ebony which still glistened as if new instead of having been interred for hundreds of years. The creature sneered at me, his glowing green eyes hateful. Long unused jaws creaked open and he Shouted, "FUS RO DAH!"

I flew backwards through the air, and all I could think was, "I'm dead, I am so dead!" I landed heavily, my head slamming into the stone floor, and for a moment all I could see was stars. But I was still breathing and could move, which was more than I could have hoped for.

"He knows the thu'um!" I cried.

"I noticed!" Lydia said. She slashed at one draugr while blocking another. Two more were moving to flank her. "A little help here!"

I managed to scramble to my feet and draw my bow, despite the dizziness that made my head ring. I managed to shoot one down before he could reach Lydia, but not before his companion slashed the back of her leg. The housecarl grunted in pain as she fell, her leg unable to support her.

"Lydia!" I yelled. "YOL TOOR SHUL!" Flames shot over the Nord's head and incinerated the draugr.

"Aav Dilon!" the master draugr growled as he charged me with his two handed ebony sword.

"What's he saying?" Lydia asked as she struggled back to her feet.

"I don't know!" I replied. It seemed that phrase was being used a lot today.

I stumbled back as the draugr slashed at me. The blade tore my leather as easily as bread and blood ran down my arm. It felt numb; I doubted I would be able to use my bow effectively. I couldn't Shout again so soon. I was too expended. This, unfortunately, wasn't true for the draugr and he Shouted again which caused me to fly back and slam into a pillar under one of the lit torches.

"Man, this is so obnoxious on the other end," I muttered.

No Shouts, no bow, no Lydia. Head was still ringing from the first fall. What the hell was I going to do now?

"Sovngarde Saraan!" the draugr threatened as he stepped forward. Some oil splashed under his feet.

Oil. The oil!

"Yol," I said as I grabbed the torch and threw it at my enemy.

The oil immediate caught aflame, igniting the long dead and dry flesh. The draugr screamed in rage as he was completely consumed. I hugged the pillar until long after the flames died down. When I felt like I could walk without collapsing, I walked over to the ebony blade on the ground and picked it up. "You keep what you kill," I said hefting the sword. "That's what you told me, right Lydia?"

"Sure, why not?" Lydia panted. "Now get that damn rubbing and let's get the Void out of here."


A/N: This chapter was so much fun to write. XD

I loved writing our heroines as first time dungeon crawlers and their reactions to unexpected obstacles. Don't know how many dungeons I'll write in detail, but I felt the first one should have some attention.