The interior of Dragonsreach was as great and lavish as the outside, with the majority of the building being dedicated towards a vast hall, with a hearth in the centre, surrounded by tables and chairs. On the side of the hearth closest to the entrance, there was a set of stairs, lined with wooden columns leading up to them, on the opposite side, there was a platform which had a throne pressed against the cobbled walls, which had the skull of a long dead dragon mounted atop it.

Sitting on the throne, sat a man who bore an expression of stern determination, yet his muffled, distant voice showed concern for his people. I assumed he was Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, a man who's moral and political strength obviously coexisted with his physical and militaristic, his large frame and sculpted physique almost out of place in his noble robes, as if he naturally would have preferred to sit in armour.

By Balgruuf's side, two people stood. One, a Imperial man, who from their conversation, I learned was called Proventus Avenicci, the Stewart to the Jarl. The other, a Dunmer (or as the Nords preferred to call their race, the Dark Elves) woman, who wore a set of well made leather armour, with a sword and shield close at hand. She, I would soon learn, was called Irileth, the housecarl to the Jarl, and a force to be reckoned with, especially when Jarl Balgruuf or the people of Whiterun were concerned.

As I walked up the stairs, towards the hearth and the throne beyond it, I noticed by either side of the hall were two rooms, one a large kitchen, and the other seeming to be a research area, with a man in blue robes pacing frantically between his desk, an arcane enchanter and an alchemy lab.

While gazing over the man, who had taken to muttering to himself while flapping his hands about, screaming the word dragon gleefully every now and again, Irileth marched over to me, her sword raised,"What's the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors."

What to say to that? Mention my original intent for the Jarls help, state the obvious fact of being witness to the dragon attack, or keep my promise to the people of Riverwood. Despite my quest for my people, I had to make sure these people, and more specifically the Jarl, were trust worthy, and the best way to gauge that was to see how he treated his people.

"The people of Riverwood sent me," I stated, looking across the entire room, noticing Balgruuf silencing Avenicci as he heard me speak,"Riverwood is in danger, I and some of my comrades who have just arrived to the city, saw the dragon that attacked Helgen flying in their direction. Some people in the village even saw it tear across the sky."

For a moment, Irileth looked at me sceptically, her red eyes burning into my very soul, as if the fire within them would burn away all deceit. I matched her gaze, until she nodded and ordered,"The Jarl would be more than willing to speak to you on this matter."

We then approached the Jarls throne, his chin resting on his fist as his eyes scanned me on my approach. Once we were before him, Balgruuf the Greater's powerful yet gentle voice queried,"What's this about Riverwood being in danger? Who are you?"

The truth. But only a portion, for now.

"My name is Nesilvinear, more commonly known as Vin by the people of your hold, my Jarl," I answered with a bow, before continuing,"I am an adventurer of sorts, skilled in the arts of combat and magicka. During my travels, I was unjustly imprisoned and put to death by the Empire because I walked past the ambush on Ulfric Stormcloak. When I was about to be executed, the dragon attacked, and all hell broke loose. I and a mix of Stormcloaks and Imperials worked together to escape Helgen, having to avoid the dangers of the dragon and those who viewed our allegiance to be treachery, then we travelled to Riverwood, where two of my friends, Ralof and Hadvar, live. We took refuge there for the evening, then some of us travelled here. I was personally asked by two of the townsfolk, Alvor and Gerder to ensure they got the appropriate protection from the dragon."

Following my statement, they briefly had a debate over what they should do next. Avenicci seemed fearful of causing a military dispute by moving soldiers to Riverwood, while Irileth was stating adamantly that she could have a small, well trained group of soldiers to the town by the days end. Balgruuf, for his part, listened to both of their input, before stating,"I will not stand idly by while a dragon burns down my hold and slaughters my people! Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once," the Jarl proclaimed, nodding towards his housecarl, who seemed to understand some deeper meaning to the gesture as she sprinted upstairs, before Balgruuf turned back to me,"Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, as well as Alvor and Gerdur - Irileth, make sure the detachment has some gold for those two! - and I won't forget it.

"Here, take this as a small token of my esteem," Balgruuf added with a warm, grateful smile, as Irileth got to the bottom of the stairs with two bags of gold and a pair of steel plate gauntlets, far better quality than any of my current armour. I quickly accepted them, bowing my head respectfully as he sighed at my action,"That's some of Eorlund Gray-Manes finest pieces made solely of steel. I hope you treat it well."

"Of course, my Jarl," I nodded my agreement, quickly replacing my old gauntlets to my new ones,"I have other business I wish to eventually discuss with you, but these dealings with dragons and the Civil War seem they might distract you from such discussions, is there anything I can do to help you and your hold?"

"In fact, there is another thing you can do for me," Balgruuf solemnly responded, before a brave face took hold of him, and he rose from his throne,"Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumours of dragons."

Leaving Avenicci and Irileth to go about their business, both the Jarl and I walked across the large hall, past his three playing children, and into the room where the man in blue robes was pacing back and forth. What can I say about Farengar Secret-Fire that doesn't make the man sound like a raving lunatic? He's incredibly bright for one, probably one of the most intelligent men in all of Skyrim, but his drive for knowledge leads to him doing some questionable, vague things. He was also blunt to the point of cruelty, but in a way I respected and rather liked him for.

As we entered his research room, Balgruuf stopped on the opposite side of Farengar's desk from him and crossed his arms, waiting a moment for the other man to notice him, before realising that the other man was caught up in his own thoughts and calling out,"Farengar, I think I've found someone who can help you with your... dragon project." The other man nodded half attentively, as he turned his gaze to me for a moment and quickly sent it back to the Jarl, as if he sized me up in only that short moment. Balgruuf continued,"Fill him in on what you've found out."

With that, Balgruuf left, the room only holding Farengar, his random assortment of items and me now. The court wizard looked at me once more, seemingly testing if I'd break his gaze, when I didn't, he grinned,"So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me. Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not be there."

"Okay," I squeaked, confused on how this quest had anything to do with dragons, adding a question of,"I'm sorry, Farengar. But what does this have to do with dragons?"

"Ah, no mere brute mercenary, but a thinker - perhaps even a scholar?" Farengar asked, raising his eyebrow as I did a half nod, before continuing,"You see, when the stories of dragons began to circulate, many dismissed them as mere fantasies, rumours. Impossibilities. One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible. But I began to search for information about dragons - where had they gone all these years ago? And where were they coming from?"

"So what is it you need me to do?" I pressed, growing a bit antsy to get moving on this quest.

"Well, I ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a "Dragonstone," said to contain a map of dragon burial sites," Farengar explained, waving his hands at his notes which were spread across his desk in a mess I assumed only he and Sheogorath himself could navigate,"Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

"Lovely!" I sighed, nodding my farewell, turning to leave before realising that I could have use for his arcane enchanter and alchemy lab. Looking back to face him, I sheepishly queried,"Is okay if I use your facilities? I've got some items that need disenchanting and a couple of potions that could be brewed."

"Make it quick, we both have important work to get to," he replied, scouring through some of his notes as I got to work, brewing myself a couple more basic potions, and disenchanting the robes I got from Helgen. As we worked, Farengar looked over at me before asking,"Where did you learning to work quite so well at disenchantment? You seem to have a great grasp of arcane knowledge."

Smirking over at the wizard, I wiped my hands as I watched the items burning away into golden dust as I wrote down in my journal the equations to mimic the enchantments on them, remarking,"My mother was quite a talented mage, but after she died some associates of hers trained me. At home they say I'm one of the most promising young mages in centuries."

"Really?" Farengar asked picking up a soul gem and budging me away from the arcane enchanter,"What do you specialise in?"

"As you have seen, to help with my and my sisters smithing, I've learned a great deal of enchanting," I answered, gaining a scoff from the man as he placed a ring on the enchanter and began to focus on enchanting it. I started to cross the room to the exit again before calling back to him,"I've also got a knack for destruction, conjuration and alteration spells. Before I'd left home I'd been gifted a spell tome of "Summon Frost Atronach" that I never got a chance to read. It's a shame, but I have many other spells to sustain myself in the mean time."

Leaving Farengar to gape like a fish was extremely fun for me after the last few terrible days I'd had, filling me with laughter as I walked through the halls of Dragonsreach, out the door, down the many stone steps, past the Halls of Jorvaskyr and into the main square.

Not feeling completely rested, I decided to look around town for a bit, call in for the night, and set off for Riverwood in the morning. That gave me time to help out about town until it got to a time I felt was appropriate to enter a tavern.

In the few hours before I entered the Bannered Mare for a drink and eventual rest, I had helped Andurs, the Priest of Arkay in the Hall of the Dead of Whiterun retrieve his amulet, finding a few lose coins and an unusual gem on the way as I killed the skeletons that had animated in his temple. I had also discussed assisting a Priestess of Kynareth named Danica Pure-Spring with rejuvenating a sick tree called the Gildergreen by defeating a Hagraven at Orphan Rock and retrieving a weapon that will help me get sap from another tree called the Eldergleam - that was for another day. Then I had promised my assistance getting a family sword back for a man named Armen.

Now, as I entered the tavern, I was also helping another person I had crossed paths with, a beautiful woman called Carlotta, who was having problems with a bard named Mikael, who didn't know how to take a lady saying no to him. When I entered the establishment, I saw many people that I had met earlier, Jon happily waving at me upon my entrance to the tavern, a few of my allies from Helgen cheering around the hearth too. I nodded back, but turned my gaze to the bard I had to deal with.

Cracking my neck as I approached him, I heard the man squeak for a second, clutching his lute as if it was his souls tether to this world, he coughed nervously,"Do you not like the song?"

I didn't respond at first, only glare at the blond as I leaned closer to him, making him back up once I invaded his personal space before murmuring,"Leave Carlotta alone."

"But-"

"Alone," I whispered, threats not even having to be mentioned as I saw the fear in the mans eyes, his head almost falling off from how much he nodded in agreement to my statement. Satisfied, I stood up properly, smirked at the man, and strolled over to Jon, my smile turning genuine as I called,"How are you, friend? Sorry I didn't come straight over, I had business to attend to."

"I don't mind," Jon grinned, side eyeing Mikael as we spoke,"It was lovely to watch him be scared so easily."

"Quite," I murmured, placing septim down for Ysolda the tavern keep, quickly being given a tankard of ale.

For the rest of the night, I hang about the Bannered Mare, renting a room for the night, but being so happily distracted with conversation with the people of Whiterun that I didn't get to use it as early in the evening as I had intended. Jon seemed to be having some troubles with his family that he needed to talk about, as he loved a Grey-Man, namely Olfina, and his family didn't approve because of the rivalry the two clans had over the war. I was more than willing to listen to him and attempt to give love advice, which boiled down to, "Do what makes you happy, and if your family doesn't like it, they don't love you."

To say my head hurt the next morning would be an understatement, but I pushed on through the stabbing pain within my skull, waddling down the stairs of the Bannered Mare, to the gates of Whiterun, where Irileth was talking to a small group of soldiers. Approaching the gates, I overheard a fraction of their conversation.

"The first group has arrived, you're to go there for added support and work to maintain some form of lodging for you all and protect the citizens. Are we understood?" Irileth barked at the group.

"Yes, housecarl!" the soldiers cried in unison.

Walking by, I caught Irileth's eye, before she smirked and turned back to the soldiers,"And since Vin over there is working on something in the area for the Jarl, you'll be travelling with him too." Stopping in my tracks, my hand wrapped around the large ring door handle as I held the door open, I looked back at the group of soldiers and nodded a faint greeting to them, before gesturing for them to follow me. As we marched down the path, the Dunmer called down to me,"Don't take to long! We need that stone!"

"Aye, you do," I called over my shoulder, trudging along the cobbled path ahead of the group of four soldiers, who were joining the previous days three, to help protect against a dragon attack. Yeah, they definitely needed me to find that stone.

So off we went, past the khajit caravan, past the stables, and onto the road. On our way, I made note of the many land marks before us on my map, such as the watchtower down the opposite path to the one we were taking, and a large fort just upon the horizon past it. Our small group trekked on up the hills, and past the rivers for an hour or so before we were outside of Riverwood, and were surprised to see a lot more than three guards walking around the village.

"Hey, Vin!" A familiar voice cut through the hustle and bustle of the many guards and townsfolk all weaving through the street, carrying logs and quarried stone over to a freshly cleared patch of trees, that had Alvor sitting by the edge next to a work bench. They were working together to make some barracks for the guards. It also seemed, that the few members of my surviving group from Helgen that had stayed in the riverside hamlet, had banded together and decided to help the guards in defending the town, with two men leading the lot.

Hadvar was chasing after Ralof, who himself spotted me, and was jogging over to me, both wearing some mildly adapted Whiterun Guard's armour, as were all the guards running about the hamlet. My travelling companions ran past them to Gerder, who sent me a greeting smile as she handed them out some of the similar armour. By that time my friends were before me, grinning broadly as they each gave me a hug.

"So I see you got some extra defences?" Ralof quipped, giving the troops a once over as they went off to help with the foundations of the construction.

"And I see you took the defence of this place into your own hands?" I countered, looking over their improved armour as I spoke, as neither of them currently wore their mandated helmets, but their torsos had some steel and leather added to the armour to make it more durable. I added,"Who's idea was the upgrade?"

"My uncles," Hadvar answered, turning all of our gaze to the man as he hunched over the desk and pointed out the places that the logs had to me,"The night we arrived, he stayed up all night to plan a further defence of this place, with larger improved walls, and a barracks for the guards and some good quality armour for them."

I nodded my approval,"Good man, although, I imagine his wife isn't too happy," they both nodded,"Well, I do wish I could stay and help out, but I'm doing some work for Balgruuf."

"I take it your meeting went well?" Ralof queried, leaning against a crumbling cobbled wall.

"It certainly did. You have these new troops and I have the Jarls trust," I confirmed, gazing up at the Barrow,"I just need to deal with some things up there, get his wizard a rock that can tell us about dragons, and then I can go back to Whiterun and discuss him helping my people."

Hadvar joined me in looking up at the Barrow, shivering for a moment at the sight of it, before saying,"I'm sure he would have helped you anyway. He's a good man."

"Perhaps before the rise of dragons he'd have been more able, but Balgruuf has his own people to take care of now," I grumbled, scratching behind my ear as I looked back at my friends,"I don't doubt the quality of his character, I believe if I prove myself a worthy ally, and make a good trade deal for the ores my people have access to, there's no doubt he'll help us. I just can't help but feel nervous, I've obviously never encountered one of your peoples ruins. What should I expect?"

"Oh, the usual, traps, some spiders and skeevers, might be some bandits, and-" Ralof was cut off by Hadvar.

"Draugr, which can be easy to deal with, or have some incredible powers of the Voice and magicka," Hadvar continued for his friend, cracking his neck,"I'm going up there with you to help. I don't want you being alone."

"If he's going, so am I," Ralof added, thumbing Hadvar, claiming,"Can't let him have all the glory."

For a moment, I smiled in appreciation. These two were proving to be loyal and brave friends, but then, my mind flashed back to Lokir, who was now dead because I couldn't pay attention to everything going on. "No thanks, I'll be fine, you help out with the construction," I couldn't risk Ralof and Hadvar's lives, not again. I couldn't let another person die on my watch,"You two would probably make it too easy, it'll be more fun on my own."

"Oh, really?" Hadvar crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, his suspicious gaze bringing a sweat of panic to me. Nodding along as I began to march over the bridge, he called over to me,"If you die up there, I'll learn necromancy just to scold you!"

"Not much of a threat since your shit at magic," Ralof mumbled, scurrying away to the mill before Hadvar could yell at him too.

The journey up the mountain to Bleak Falls Barrow was rather quick all things considered, and rather safe.

Sure there was the attack from a stray wolf, which quickly became a spare hide in my growing collection, and then there was a tower full of bandits that seemed adamant that I die for passing them, who all got picked off, looted for septims and other valuables swiftly, their towers chest also being lock picked and looted too.

When I got to the base of the steps leading to the grey, dilapidated corpse of the main body of the infamous Barrow, that I grew truly wary.

The snow atop this mountain was my only comfort as I crouched along the steps, sneaking up as best I could, nocking an arrow as I reached the top, only to be met by a charging bandit. Needless to say, he quickly got a shot to the knee, and then another to the chest, before his three other friends became aware of my presence. One had their own bow, while the other two charged for me. Pulling back my bowstring, I fired straight at ones chest, before rolling out of the way of the others attack, as an arrow flew by where my head once was.

Dropping my bow for only a moment, I drew my sword and allowed my hands to be shrouded with a frozen swirl of ice and snow as my attacker met back up with me to continue their mission to murder me. I parried all of their strikes, before spotting the archer begin to release an arrow and kicked my opponent in the way of the shot, watching as they were hit in the shoulder and stumbled to the ground, screaming in pain. I put him out of his misery quickly, stabbing him in the chest as their ally prepared another arrow.

Now, I charged, zigzagging as I ran towards my bow, dodging each of my enemies arrows, until I grabbed it and quickly fired one of my own, narrowly missing as my enemy hid behind one of the crumbling pillars by the entrance way. Side stepping into a better position, I watched as they poked their head out, and fired, hitting them between the eyes as they tumbled back.

Once more picking them for loot, I moved on, entering the overgrown and sundered interior of the hall within. On the opposite end from me, a gentle fire burned, and two more bandits sat by it, a corpse of a bandit splayed out over an alter surrounded by dead skeevers between us. They hadn't noticed me yet, and I used that to my advantage, firing an arrow straight through the heart of one, before blasting an ice spike through the other.

For most of my travels in the Barrow, I simply cut through cobwebs as I slowly sneaked through the passage ways, picking up anything of interest until I got to a set of stair which lead to a room with a puzzle and a lever in the centre of a room, a bandit approaching the lever a flipping, before being shot at by dozens of seemingly poison darts, falling dead.

Inching into the room, I looked at the pillars with multiple images of animals on, then the two faces on the wall and one on the floor with the same animals in a pattern, then finally the lever with the corpse beside,"Seriously, mate?" I spun the pillars until the right animals were in place, pulled the lever, and a gate opened, grabbing some potions I saw on my way out I walked through, and a book named Thief that I decided to skim later.

In the next room there was a spiral staircase, that lead to three skeevers, which I slayed quickly. Then I travelled through more of the ruined tunnels, seeing long dead skeletons and a chest in rubble, as well as the only viable path having a blanket of cobwebs around it. In the room beyond, I heard a man calling for help, one phrase in particular catching my attention.

"Is... Is someone coming? Is that you, Harknir? Bjorn? Soling?" the man pleaded,"I know I ran ahead with the claw, but I need help!"

The claw - the one from Lucan's shop - he stole it, I had almost forgotten that. Knowing now I was going to kill two birds with one stone, I sprang into action.

Carving through the cobwebs, I entered the new chamber, where a Dunmer man, in rather basic light armour, was suspended in cobwebs. As I sneaked across the room, looking around for danger, the man spotted me, crying out stupidly,"What? Who are you?" he glared down at me as if I had offended him, before glancing at the ceiling nervously,"Oh, never mind. Cut me down before that thing gets us!"

"Keep your voice down," I growled, drawing my sword, and preparing to cut him free, until I heard a scuttling above us,"Oh no, not a-" turning around, I watched as a large Frostbite Spider descended from the ceiling, its eight hairy legs touching the ground just as a high pitched squeak left the man behind me.

Promptly drawing my sword, I marched over to the spider, quickly casting "Stoneflesh" on myself in preparation. The spider, scuttled around the room, before spitting a wad of venomous saliva from its mouth, that I narrowly dodged. Running forwards, I slashed at the spider, cutting off one of it's legs as it attempted to hit me with it, one of it's many others striking my chest, but doing minimal damage thanks to my spell.

Trading blows with the creature for a while longer, I eventually grew tired of its persistence and shoved it back for a moment, then jumped high up in the air, holding my sword in both hands as I drove it down into the creatures head, watching it's body twitch for a moment, before it died with a squeal. I then turned back to the trapped bandit.

"You did it. You killed it," the man sighed in relief, his head tiredly slumping forward in his cobweb cocoon, before he began to try and pry himself free, his completely covered hands shaking beneath their silk shackles. Seemingly realising that he was helpless, the Dunmer added,"Now cut me down before anything else shows up."

"Where's the Golden Claw? You know, the one you stole from Lucan's shop? The Riverwood Trader." I queried, glaring up at the man as I lazily swung my blade around, as if I was deciding whether or not to free him.

"Yes, the claw. I know how it works. The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together! Help me down, and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nord's have hidden there," the man desperately pleaded, once more vainly trying to pry himself free.

"Fine. Let me see if I can cut you down," I grumbled, bringing my blade to the cobweb and slowly cutting him free,"Who are you anyway?"

The man looked at me quizzically, until he mumbled,"Arvel the Swift. I masterminded the whole, grand theft claw fiasco."

"That didn't turn out well for you then," I chuckled, noticing that he was starting to come loose,"Well, until now."

A sinister smirk then crossed Arvel's face, as he fell free from the cobwebs, he seemed to have been trapped with a dagger close at hand, which he used to stab me in the shoulder, forcing a scream of pain from my throat as I fell to my knees, the dagger still in me as he stood over me, crying,"You fool, why should I share the treasure with anyone?"

With that, he turned to run off, but I wasn't one to lose to a man like him, and swung my blade at his legs as he went, slicing the tendons of his left ankle, making him limp away as he fled. Groaning in pain, I clutched the dagger in my shoulder, and tugged it out, biting my cheeks as a throb of pain wracked my right arm, my sword arm. Despite that, I stood up, chasing after Arvel down the halls of the catacombs.

Turning round a corner, I spotted Arvel, limping away as he looked over his shoulder, not noticing as a corpse in one of the burial nooks began to rise with a hand axe ready to swing at him. To far away to chase after him to save his sorry arse, I instead threw the dagger I still had in my hand, hitting the draugr right in the temple, sending it crumbling to the floor.

Smirking at that, I began to run after Arvel, but he didn't slow down, or pay attention to the extra-dead draugr at his feet. Which ultimately cost him his life, as two other draugr had risen like the other, one with a greatsword, and the other with a battleaxe. Arvel still had his head turned over to me, as I called out to him to duck, or stop, but all to soon, as the two undead creature's swung at once, the one with a greatsword cleaving Arvel's legs from his torso, and the other severing his shocked head as he fell.

My fault... Just like Lokir...

A primal roar erupted from my lungs, piecing the dusty air, as I charged down towards the draugr, ice spikes shooting from my good hand, and hitting both the creature square in the chest, but not killing them, before I swung over my head ignoring the pain in my shoulder as I brought my blade down on one's head, splitting it's head in two, slicing down to its sternum. I watched as its head lazily fell in two directions, before kicking it's body away, while swinging my sword in a wide arc to stop the greatsword wielding draugr from cutting my legs off too.

Clashing blades with the creature, I growled in frustration as my injured arm began to give out from the pressure. So, as swiftly as I could, I shot another ice spike into the creatures torso, knocking it off its feet before stabbing it in the chest, watching as it too went limp.

For a moment, I stood in silence. That fight, while fast, should have been far far easier for me, but I had been ill prepared for Arvel being an idiot. Never the less, I failed to save him, and knew that would weigh on my conscious for many moons. Cracking my neck, a twinge of pain coursing through my shoulder at the action, I began to pick apart what I could from the draugr corpses and Arvel.

The draugr only had weapons and a few septims in their possession, nothing fancy. The same could be said about Arvel. After searching the three parts of his corpse and his satchel, all I found was his terrible armour, his pouch of gold, his journal, and the Golden Claw.

Placing the claw in my bag, I looked over the rest of the room, spotting an easily avoidable spike trap, and a chest besides. I cast a quick spell to heal my shoulder wound, and spent the next few minutes attempting to pick the lock of the chest, which was far to difficult in comparison to the rest of this experience. I broke nine of my lockpicks before in my frustration I shoved another set in and punched the lid, making it creak open, revealing some potions, gems, and gold.

With that, I continued through the passages slaying more draugr as I went, sneaking up to them while they rested in their burial nooks or shooting the hanging lamps to light them on fire when I could. At some points I had to also fun through swinging axe traps, which I admit I timed poorly at first, causing me to need to heal my arm again. I eventually made it to the end of the tunnel though, where I had to slay yet another draugr, loot a chest, and pull a chain that allowed me to open a gate that led me down a cave with a stream of water flowing down it.

Once in the main chamber of the cave, I saw familiar Glowing Mushrooms which I collected, and at the opposite side of the cave, there where two openings, one that overlooked a pit, and another that forged a path down into it. A chest lay by the wall between the two opening, and upon further inspections, I found some gold, gems and a scroll of Fireballs in it.

As I admired the spell scroll, a roar pierced the cave walls, as from the natural formed bridge in the pit, I spotted a Frost Troll, looming over the corpse of a man in bandits gear. The monster hadn't spotted me yet, and I used that to my advantage, as I spread my arms wide as I let the magical knowledge of the scroll temporarily fill my mind. Fire rolled between my fingers, the scroll dissolving into dust, as I pushed my palms together, a ball of fire forming, before I blasted it down to the unsuspecting troll.

For a moment, the flames consumed the troll, and I expected it to have died from the blast alone.

But that would imply that I was lucky, and I hope that it has been noticed that I'm not lucky. The troll, while significantly injured by the flames, roared in fury at me as it's eyes landed on me. It charged up the tunnel towards me, and I readied my sword, as the still burning troll barrelled towards me.

At the exact moment it appeared before me, it struck me across the chest, sending me falling off the edge, but not before I stabbed it clean through the neck, into its skull, killing it instantly. As I fell, I revelled in that. As I hit the hard ground of the snowed over bridge, I regretted not being fast enough to dodge. I definitely broke a couple of ribs, and my relatively basic healing spells and potions would do little to heal that, only numb the pain and keep me fighting.

The corpse on the bridge, judging by the letter they had on the bridge, was once a man named Thomas, who fell in here through the hole that flooded the pit with light when tracking down the beast I just slayed. Looking down the pit, I spotted another chest, and climbed down a natural pathway to the bottom. In the chest was a petty soul gem, some spare septims and another potion of healing, which I drank down to lessen the pain in my torso.

Continuing down the main tunnels of the caves, I was lead to another portion of the Nordic ruins, which held a stronger draugr, which I nonetheless dealt with swiftly. I was then met with a set of doors which lead to the Sanctum of Bleak Falls Barrow. Continuing past more swinging axe traps and hordes upon hordes of draugr, I finally made it to the Hall of Stories with the door that Arvel had spoke of.

Archways split the hall into four sections, with the walls carved to show dragons and men and battles of old, ending with an intricate doorway, with three spinning sections, each patterned after a specific animal, and in the centre of the three rings, a place holder for the claw. The key for the door, as it seemed.

Looking around the door and the room for a moment, I wondered what specific combination was needed to open it, before I pulled out the claw and noticed that on the bottom of it there was three animals, a bear, a butterfly and an owl. "No way," I groaned, sliding the rings to match the pattern on the claw, before placing the claw in it's slot, and watching in horror as the door spun for a moment until all the rings were owls and slid down to open,"How did we lose to people who made puzzles like these?"

Ignoring my own horror at the cruelty of fate, I walked up the stairs beyond the door, which opened up to another large cavern, which held a large dais on one side, which had an ancient carved wall on it, another burial site and a grand chest. Continuing through the cavern, bats flew overhead in clusters, screaming their way through the tunnels as they went.

Eventually, beaten, broken and bruised, a level of frustration and tiredness I had not previously imagined, I made it to the top of the dais... where I found no Dragonstone.

Losing hope, I screamed for the whole empty ruins to hear, my anger filling me to an overflowing amount. If I didn't find that stone, I'd lose a chance at a good ally. I doubted I'd find a Jarl, nay, any leader half as great as Jarl Balgruuf anywhere in Skyrim. I had not just failed him, or Whiterun, or Skyrim. I had failed my people.

Sitting with my back to the sarcophagus, I slumped back, hoping to think of any other option. There was another door, a way forward, but this was obviously the place that the stone would be held.

Just as I sat up, and began to shovel through the chest, I felt this primal urge to look over at the fading carved wall besides me. Turning to face it, I felt this power beyond anything I had previously encountered reaching out to my very soul. The words on the wall, they meant something. I could understand them, despite never having seen them in my life.

"Het nok fal vahlok,

Deinmaar do dovahgolz,

Ahrk aan FUS do unslaad,

Rahgol ahrk vulom."

Which read.

"Here lies the guardian,

Keeper of Dragonstone,

And a Force of unending,

Rage and Darkness."

As I let those words settle in, the words "Fus", meaning "force", clung to my mind, like a puzzle. My thoughts, however, were interrupted, by what I assumed was the guardian I had just read of, rising from his sarcophagus to deal with me.

The lid was shoved off quite unceremoniously, as a large, imposing draugr, a once powerful scourge to this world, overlord of his once grand domain, stood before me. He wielded a handaxe which seemed to have some kind of frost enchantment on it, and his other hand had a frost spell at the ready. Nothing I couldn't handle.

"FUS RO DAH!" the draugr Shouted, his voice blasting me against the Word Wall, knocking the wind out of me.

Scrambling to my feet as he advanced, I barely had time to react as he attempted to freeze me with a "Frostbite" spell, which I resisted naturally. I grumbled as I stood blasting him with a "Sparks" spell before striking him across the chest with my sword, sending him back peddling for a moment, before I saw him open his mouth again. Just as he began to speak, I rolled behind the wall, spotting a hidden chest, as I felt the shout rock the wall which protected me. I quickly drank another healing potion, and pulled out my shield, before charging out from behind the wall, into the draugr, knocking it off of it's feet and stunning it long enough to carve it's casting arm clean off.

Not long after that blow, the draugr drug it's axe into my shield and shouted the same words at me again, this time only sending me a few feet away, since I was prepared this time. Using his last opportunity to kill me, the draugr charged, swinging his axe to my open chest, but being stopped by me carving off his wrist and then promptly after his head, sending his corpse to the ground.

Stepping over the draugr, I searched through the sarcophagus to find the Dragonstone, and placed it in my bag, before grabbing its axe and the loot from the chests behind the Word Wall, climbing up the steps to the exit, and being met with the cold air of Skyrim, and the edge of a mountain.

"For the love of Auri-El!" I cried, beginning my climb down the side of the mountain. The sun setting as I began my trek back to Riverwood.

"Seriously?" Ralof barked, a tankard of ale held close to his lips as he raised his brow at me, after hearing my tale,"You believe this stuff Hadvar?"

"Yes," the other man grumbled, Hadvar still being occupied with helping me treat my wounds during my recounting of the last few hours,"I doubt that he'd get these wound's from anything else."

"It's not that he doesn't believe," I grumbled as I maintained my healing spell while Hadvar bandaged my shoulder. Glaring at Ralof playfully, I coughed through my discomfort,"The bastard doesn't believe the Word Wall happened."

"Or the bit with the Frost Troll," he added, obviously trying to pull my leg.

We sat in the middle of the Sleeping Giant, by the hearth so that Hadvar had good light. There were people all around, listening to me as I spoke, children smiling wistfully at my feet. Lucan and Camilla raising their tankards in appreciation at having their precious claw back.

I had, over the course of the last hour or two, drank a considerable amount of alcohol, and now had a healthy joyous flush to my cheeks as I slurred my words, rambling about nonsense, until I asked,"How was your day then, Ralof? Hadvar?"

"Fine," Hadvar grumbled, sitting down,"We built the ground works of a house, while you got beat up."

"Did I not say, that I found most of it easy?" I countered, drunkenly waving my finger in front of his face.

"I hate you," Hadvar added.

"But-" Ralof started.

"And you too," Hadvar interrupted.

Author's Note: That's part one done. I was originally going to do this chapter, with the dragon fight and some other stuff, but after seeing the length, I thought against it. Nevertheless, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I'm quite proud of this story, and hope those of you that do read it like it too.

Anyway, if you have any questions about this chapter, or the story as a whole, feel free to post a review, or send me a PM.

Have fun reading more of my stories, stay safe, keep writing.

Peace.