Beyond the door to Bleak Falls Sanctum, the room was well lit by a brazier in the center. The air seemed thicker here.
My party passed by the brazier and warmed ourselves for a moment, then continued through the hall beyond it. As we progressed, I heard a familiar whine of metal - another axe trap. As we walked, I started handing Ralof my equipment.
Once again, I found myself beneath those accursed axes, and my face pressed in hundreds-year-old dust. My anxiety was significantly less than before…until I heard the sound of a Draugr coffin opening ahead of me.
"Hurry!" Ralof called.
"Really Ralof? I don't know, I was thinking of just sitting here!" I grunted as I slithered against the ground.
I watched as the Draugr sat up in its coffin as I passed under another axe. Surveying the rest of the room, I saw a second one descending wooden stairs Ancient Nord Greatsword on its shoulder.
I picked up the pace. Faendal's bow gave a twang, but the cry of metal and sight of the arrow spinning past me far off target told me the axes had refused its passage. My anxiety grew further as I watched another Draugr follow the other down the stairs, bow in hand. There's not enough time.
I pushed against the slits in the doorway to give me extra leverage. I looked up and saw ahead of me on the left, a Draugr standing from its coffin, Ancient Nord War Axe and dented Iron Shield in hand. Straight forward, the Draugr with the Ancient Nord Greatsword was approaching fast, and the one with the bow began drawing it back with a creak. I turned to the right and saw the chain in reach. I lunged for it and hung onto it as it activated. The gears ratcheted, and the axes came to a stop. Ralof flew past me as the Draugr's arrow ricocheted off the wall above me.
Faendal's bow twanged, and metal rang out through the room while I scrambled to my feet, activating Flames. Assessing the situation, I saw the Draugr with the Greatsword lay on the ground, Ralof's axe in its head. The archer had an arrow embedded in its forehead, and Ralof was fending off an assault from the final Draugr. Wanting to put in some level of participation, I ran forward, engulfing it in Flames.
"Thank the Divines you made it," Faendal retrieved his arrows. "That was too close."
"Agreed," Ralof pulled out his Iron Axe from the Draugr's head with a crunch. "Unfortunate they had an archer. I would have told you to stay down there otherwise."
"That would have been nice, I bet they would have been dumb enough to get close enough for Flames," I let the spell burn bright in my hand with a smile, then looked around. "Where's my shit?"
Ralof pointed with the axe he just pulled out, "I left it back there. By the way, well done getting through, brother." He patted my shoulder, smiling wide while returning his axe to his belt.
I winked and jogged through the now open doorway to retrieve my gear, re-equipping on the way back. Tightening the last strap, I gave the nod to my companions, and we continued our journey up the wooden steps the Draugr had come down. We passed through the darkness there lit by the Flames in my hand, then crossed a bridge above the room we had just defeated the Draugr.
After a few bends in the dilapidated corridors, we came upon a set of well-maintained double doors. We opened them, and I sighed with relief. The Hall of Stories! We were almost out!
"Gods!" Ralof stepped past me agape, admiring the carvings in the walls. "I've heard about the Halls, but to see them for myself…." He continued down the hall with a smile; Faendal and I followed behind.
"It's too bad we can't read these carvings." Faendal said, walking close to the walls. "Who knows what secrets and history we could uncover."
I chortled at my companion's glee and turned my eyes to the door ahead. I pulled the Golden Claw out of my pouch and turned it over for the order of the animal symbols. I pressed in one of the rings on the door, and it began to turn until landing on the next animal.
Ralof came beside me as I finished the code. "The Bear, Tsun. The Moth, Dibella. The Owl: Jhunal." he whispered in awe.
I turned to him, "What?"
"The Gods," Ralof turned to me, "Well, the True Nord Gods. Before we caved to Imperial rule. Those, and the ones before, these are totems of our ancestors."
"Huh," flipped the Golden Claw and placed them in the holes of the center. I didn't know that. I turned the Claw, and the two outside rings turned, landing on the Owl with a clang and clicking gears. I removed the Claw, and another gear activated, causing the door to sink into the floor.
As it sunk, the air got even heavier, and I felt uneasy looking up the steps ahead. I placed the Claw back in my pouch and stepped over the door.
I led my companions up the steps into a dark cave with a faint light coming from ahead of us. Flames in hand, I led, ducking when bats flew over us. The cave opened to a beautiful but foreboding sight as we approached the light. Waterfalls and streams passed in front of us, and, across a landbridge, steps led to an intricately carved Word Wall and an altar that flickered in the light of braziers. The air around us seemed to get heavier with each step.
My companions and I admired the scene as we crossed the landbridge. As we ascended the steps, I ruffled through my pouch for the Fireball scroll. Hopefully, this will make quick work of this coming battle.
At the top, the air was the heaviest, the flames danced, seemingly not using any fuel, and a coffin sat near the altar. I turned and approached the Word Wall. Most of the words were eroded, but one was clean as if it was freshly carved. There was no glow like in-game, which worried me. I ran my fingers over it and heard a feminine voice from behind me say clearly, "Fus." I whipped my head around, but no one was there. My companions were still admiring the artistry, seemingly not having heard it. I turned back to the wall, but the once clear word under my hand was now eroded like the others.
"Fus. Force," I felt compelled to say to myself. I removed my hand from the wall and looked at it, then tried placing it on other areas of the wall, but there was no reaction.
"GUY!" I heard Ralof call to me and immediately whipped around. The coffin's lid at the altar landed on the stone behind it as I did, and a female Draugr in Ancient Nord Armor sat up inside and breathed in a loud gasp of air, then breathed it out. Faendal pulled out his bow, and Ralof readied his axes. I unrolled the scroll in my other hand and read out the incantation. The Draugr turned its head toward us. As the ball of light seated itself in the glyph glowing of orange light forming in my hand, the Draugr stood and observed us, its Ancient Nord War Axe radiating light blue frost magic. I sent the Fireball, hitting it straight in the face. My allies braced for the explosion, and the pure force bent the Draugr backward, feet still on the ground. I shook my arm as the dust settled. Faendal readied his arrow and Ralof his axes.
The silence in the cavern was broken by the cracking of bone as the Draugr twitched and its back straightened itself, returning to a standing position. Its face and front were burnt, and its eyes were closed. The magical fire that should have been burning its whole body was absorbed into its flaking, disintegrating warpaint. Faendal fired, but it seemingly unintentionally dodged with a crack of its neck. The Draugr then rolled its weapon shoulder with the clicking of bone and reopened its eyes towards me, with a guttural laugh, saying, "Dir, mal lir." The Daugr placed a foot back and got low. "FUS…ROH DAH!"
My eyes went wide. ALL THREE WORDS? A wave of force came right for me, making my allies stagger as it passed between them. The Draugr's Voice met me and picked me off my feet with the force of a truck, slamming my body against the Word Wall behind me. My back crunched against my backpack, and any air still in my lungs was quickly removed as my head and arms came back and connected with the wall. I slid down, my vision swirling and blurred, as my health bar dropped like a rock. At the bottom, I collapsed in pain that my body could not comprehend, giving out only croaks and coughs. My mind was empty and in shock. I heard someone, maybe Ralof, call my name from what sounded like miles away before my eyes slowly fell as I fell over, the battle getting further and further away.
I blinked my eyes open, still blurry to bright light. Did I die? The loading screen isn't this bright.
The light was blocked by a blurry man with blonde hair leaning over me. He was saying something, but I couldn't quite make it out. A red bottle was pressed to my lips, and I instinctively swallowed the liquid in my throat. My vision began to clear, and my feeling returned. I breathed in rapidly as the process took place and looked up at Ralof's sweat-covered brow and over to Faendal's bruised face.
"What -" I tried to sit up too quickly but winced. "What happened?"
"Easy. You tasted the power of The Voice," Ralof supported my torso. "And lived to tell the tale. That seemed a more powerful blast than Ulfric's… I'm impressed."
I sat up the rest of the way and looked around; I sat on the altar. Not exactly the place I would have put myself, but okay. The Draugr's body was laid out on the stone floor below with a few arrows, head sitting elsewhere with an Iron War Axe planted in it. Nearby I noticed a snapped Hunting Bow. I turned to Faendal, "How the hell did that happen?"
"That bastard was strong," he gritted his teeth, "Sent me sliding on the stone with a single strike after chopping my bow in half."
I turned to Ralof and put a hand on his shoulder, "Nice job taking that thing down, man, shit." I sighed and started Healing. I noticed the Draugr's Ancient Nord War Axe sitting in Ralof's belt where the other axe should have been.
I chuckled, "I see you caved on the 'not taking anything' thing." I looked up at him as my health bar slowly filled.
"Ah, this," he patted his new, yet old, axe. "Well, I didn't want to upset the spirits, but I'd say it's a bit late for that. Besides, I won it fairly. A relic of my ancestors to push back the Empire." He smirked.
Faendal sighed, "Anyway…can we get going now? The sun has been coming through that hole there for some time now. Who knows how long we've been down here? We best be getting back to Camila and Lucan."
"Yeah." I sighed and slid off the altar, still sore. I picked up my bags and took a few steps, then remembered why we were even here in the first place. I opened the giant nearby chest to find a large pile of the copper coins from before, which I gleefully scooped up in the loot bag, along with a necklace and a circlet, both glowing with enchantment. I put on the necklace and felt less tired and out of breath, but I couldn't feel a difference with the circlet. I shrugged, causing me to wince from the back pain, and put it in the bag.
"Have either of you seen the Dragonstone?" I stood slowly, looking around.
"The what?" Faendal scoffed. Ralof looked from Faendal to me.
"Uh…pentagon…I think. Solid stone, has some carvings and shit on it… it's a map kinda," I motioned with my hands a rough shape.
"Ah!" Ralof walked up the steps, going behind the altar. "It was on the altar. I moved it out of the way when I set you up there." He reached behind the altar, and I took off and placed my backpack on the altar but heard a strange crunch. I peeked into the bag to find several of my potion bottles broken, and the interior was soaked. I sighed and started carefully removing what pieces I could as Ralof approached. Beside my bag, he placed a pentagon of chipped and cracked stone inscribed with symbols and a rough map of Skyrim with locations marked. I nodded to him, lifted the heavy stone tablet with a grunt, and placed it inside the bag. I returned the bag to my back and rolled my sore shoulders. I cast Healing again, but the recovery rate was severely slow. What the hell is taking it so long?
"Ready?" I sighed to my companions. Faendal rose from where he was sitting, and he and Ralof followed me up some steps to a hidden door in the stone. I pulled the nearby handle; it slid up with a click, dirt and moss falling. As we walked through the stone passage, sunlight beamed from ahead, and we went to it, exiting Bleak Falls Sanctum to the long-awaited mountainside.
