*Sorry for the wait everyone, I had my final exams in college this week, so I had to go on a temporary writer's block, fortunately I'm done with all that now, and so I've managed to have time to write Chapter Twelve, the next three chapters will co-exist altogether. Enjoy ;)
Chapter Twelve: Draugr Puzzles
*Play: Silence Unbroken (Skyrim OST)*
"Ugh…" Hornet groaned while recovering, "What in the name of the gods just occurred?"
"Well, it seems as though we fell though some sort of trapdoor and land inside some kind of cavern," Hornet heard Sofia's voice answer, "But I can't see a thing because of the darkness."
"Where's everyone else?" Hornet asked.
"I don't know," Sofia answered, "I tried calling for them, but I failed to get any response."
"Well, I can help rid of this darkness with my magic, but we'll need to find a way out of here in the meantime," Hornet replied.
Hornet raised his hands and casted two balls of light at once; one floated over his head, while the other drifted towards Sofia and adjusted its position above her head.
"Hey Hornet," the young princess said, catching the Dragonborn's attention, "There's a passage just behind you that leads out of this room."
"Excellent Sofia," Hornet commended her, "We'll take that passage and see if it will lead us to our friends."
Sofia smiled as a way to agree with his decision, and the two of them began to travel through the narrow tunnel, hoping that it would lead to their friends just like Hornet had stated.
The tunnel was very tight, and at times, Hornet had to duck in order to proceed through the passageway. After nearly five minutes of traveling though the tunnels however, they eventually reached a large, open room, with burial vaults lining the walls of each side. Sofia looked around the large burial chamber when suddenly…
"EYEAGH!" Sofia screamed from the top of her lungs, "It's… a corpse!"
"I know Sofia," Hornet explained, "But that is no ordinary corpse, that is the body of a draugr, they can be found in many places just like this, and some of which…reanimate."
The last bit of information shocked Sofia even further.
"We should stick together that way we won't get lost, and if we encounter any draugr that attack us, I'll do the fighting, you just stay close so that I'll prevent them from harming you."
Sofia nodded and gulped, afterwards, the two of them continued deeper in the catacombs they were in.
A moment later, the two of them heard a shuffling noise originating from one of the alcoves. Hornet turned in the direction of the noise and noticed a cadaver climbing out from a vault; the next thing that happened caused Sofia to shriek, the draugr raised a small, ancient war axe from its holster and charged at the Dragonborn and Sofia.
"Hornet, are this those reanimated draugr you told me about earlier?" she asked, obliviously terrified of what was going on.
*Play: Steel on Steel (Skyrim OST)*
"Indeed they are Sofia," Hornet answered, blocking the many lunge attacks the draugr was attacking him with, "And they seem far more sapient than the ones I'm use to back in Skyrim."
Just then, more shuffling noises arose from the adjacent wall in the far corner of the room. Sofia turned her head just in time to spotted more draugr awaking from their catacombs, sheathing their weapons from their holsters. A metallic, crashing noise rang through the tomb the very next second, a black sarcophagus standing in another corner of the burial chamber opened to reveal yet another draugr, but this one was different from the rest as it wore ebony armor and an ancient horned helm.
Meanwhile, Hornet managed to stun the draugr he was fighting and finished the undead entity by impaling him through his ribcage before turning back to Sofia.
"What's going on?" he asked the princess.
"More draugr awoke from their rest," Sofia answered him.
"Oh great," he replied, huffing a deep grunt, " Then it looks like we have an all-out battle going on right now."
The draugr in the helm laughed before ordering the rest of the draugr to attack Hornet and Sofia. Hornet managed to slash his way through the attacking draugr without any trouble as Sofia watched in awe.
Next, the Dragonborn approached the draugr in the heavy armor and prepared to attack him, but the draugr caught him off guard and brace itself before unleashing a powerful shout.
"FUS RO DAH!" the draugr shouted.
The shout itself forced Hornet back onto a nearby wall. This shout also caused Sofia to lose her footing and fall, as well as surprising her on what the draugr just did.
"Wait, they know the same powers as you do?" Sofia asked.
"Indeed Sofia," the Dragonborn replied while struggling against the draugr's blade with his.
Sofia was still scared of the battle that was still going on, but then she took up the courage and charged at the draugr while he was distracted in the battle with Hornet. The draugr managed to push Hornet aside, before turning in the direction it heard approaching footsteps, noticing Sofia about to ram into him. The draugr attempted to counter the attack, but was underestimated by Sofia's height that it caused him to stagger back towards Hornet upon impact.
Hornet took the opportunity and finished off the staggering draugr with stab in the gut and a slash across its upper torso. Causing the defeated draugr to fall motionless against the floor.
*Play: Silent Footsteps (Skyrim OST)*
"Wow Sofia, I don't know why you did that, but thank you for the assistance." Hornet thanked the princess.
"Your welcome Hornet," she giggled softly.
"Now that we've dealt with them, I think its best if we continue forward into the crypt," Hornet stated.
"I think so too," Sofia agreed, "I'm getting a bit worried about our friends encountering such creatures like this."
Hornet nodded and continued treading through the chamber they were in, with Sofia following just behind him.
As they continued walking through the burial chamber, Sofia looked around and noticed many other draugr corpses lining the walls of the room. She gulped once more, hoping these ones wouldn't wake up and attack like the ones she and Hornet just encountered.
The two of them soon came across a doorway leading out of the chamber and decided to proceed further. Upon entering the hallway that the doorway led to, Sofia accidently stepped on a switch, causing axes to start swinging back and forth from the walls; she had just activated a trap!
Sofia, what just happened?" Hornet asked her.
"I…I think I just stepped on a button that triggered a trap of some sort." She answered nervously.
Hornet sighed, "Don't feel bad about it Sofia, I sometimes trigger traps like these before, sometimes unexpectedly."
"Well what are we going to do about the axes?" she asked the Dragonborn.
"Just follow my lead," he answered.
Hornet then approached the first axe and then stopped.
"WULD NAH KEST!"
Suddenly, Hornet shifted quickly through all four swinging axes without suffering any wounds. He then approached a nearby wall and activated a lever lying against it. Suddenly, the Axes stopped swinging and Sofia sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness that's over with," Sofia stated to Hornet, "For a second there, I thought you were going to get yourself sliced by on of the axes, but then seeing you use one of those shouts, that's just amazing!"
"I know," Hornet smiled briefly, before going back to his serious expression, "But now's not the time to talk about that right now, we still need to go further in this tomb and find the rest of the group."
Hornet then continued forward down the passage with Sofia right behind him. A second later, they reached yet another small room, this one contained four levers against each corner of the wall and a closed gate blocking the exit Hornet and Sofia needed to travel through to find their friends.
"It seems like we have to solve some sort of puzzle in order to continue," Hornet told Sofia.
"Hey, there's some sort of map on that desk over there," Sofia said, pointing to an open scroll on top of a Nordic desk.
The two decided to take a gander at the parchment of paper and noticed three illustrations on it. The first depicted the lever on the far right pulled down, the second one showed the center left on down with the previous one. But where the final sketch was supposed to be on the scroll was torn out, leaving the order of the last two levers a mystery.
"Which one do we pull next after the first two?" Sofia asked the Dragonborn.
Hornet just shrugged in defeat, "I don't know, but we could try out the possibilities to reveal which order is correct."
"Hmm, good idea," Sofia replied.
Sofia ran over to the switches and pulled the first two she remembered from the illustrations.
"Let's see here," she said to herself, "The first picture showed the far right lever down."
Sofia grabbed the handle of the far right lever and pushed it down towards her.
"Then there was the one on the left, towards the middle," she continued.
She did the same thing with the middle-left lever and pulled it towards her.
"Now which one should pull next?" she wondered.
"Well, if I remember from a tower I explored once, there was a similar puzzle there similar to the one we're trying to solve now, a hagaven named Melka who lived at the tower said to pull the middle lever of three located there, as it was the least expected from adventurers exploring the tower," Hornet explained to the young princess, "So I suggest pulling the middle-right lever, it seems to fit Melka's theory best."
Sofia nodded and took a deep breath to await the outcome of what would happen if she pulled the lever Hornet suggested. She then grasp the lever and pulled it towards her body, suddenly the gate in front of them opened, revealing that Melka's theory was correct. However afterwards, something shot from the two walls from the sides.
"Aaah!" Sofia cried, dodging what appeared to be poison darts from piercing her arm.
"Ah, I forgot all about that," Hornet said, feeling dumbfounded, "Sometimes, if you open treasure chests or solve puzzles in a Nordic tomb, it will activate some traps. I apologize for not telling you that."
"That's alright," Sofia, replied, "At least I didn't get hurt from those things."
"Well what are we waiting for letting go on forward," Hornet then stated.
Suddenly, before Sofia was about to answer, an agitated scream rang through from the passageway Hornet and Sofia were about to exit through.
"Sounds like one of our friends is in trouble," said Sofia.
"Let's go before something bad happens to them," Hornet replied.
And with that settled, the two of them ran through the passageway…
Uh-oh cliffhanger, looks like someone's in danger, but who? You will find out within the next few chapters I'll release next. Sorry if the ideas on this chapter were a bit mediocre, College Finals really took a toll on my imagination. Be sure to leave a review, telling me what you thought about this chapter, as well as what you expect next. I wouldn't also mind if you tell me your idea of how I could make this chapter better. Until then, keep on the lookout for the next chapter, which I hope to upload sooner than lately :)