(( Whoa. I updated. I know I was unfathomably slow with this, but college does that. I'll try to be a bit faster with the next one. ))

Of Facades and High Fantasy

Chapter Three: Enter Ustengrav

"Yu, wake up. The carriage stopped."

I open my eyes, and see Yosuke tugging me by the collar. "C'mooooonnnnn. Dunjar bought the rest of his supplies a long time ago. You can seriously sleep. It's kinda' freaky."

Chie laughs, crossing her arms. "Just watch, tonight. Yu won't be able to sleep at all."

Dunjar pulls me off of the carriage, and stuffs a bag of supplies onto me. "Here. Potions and poisons. Don't need anyone dying in there. C'mon! We'll be heading towards Ustengrav, for the horn."

We start walking away from the town, and notice that the landscape has definitely changed since we left Whiterun. No longer are we in clear plains of grass and rock, now we seem to be in a marsh. Still fairly cold, probably colder. I can even see bits of snow and ice scattered on the town's buildings and scarcely on the ground. The ground gives only slightly as I step on it, creating a bizarre effect where I feel like I'm sinking, but it looks like I haven't moved an inch, vertically. Nor has anyone else. I see bits of water scattered around what land I see, but ahead was some sort of lake. But it's clear the route we're taking will take us around it, rather than through.

Curiously, Dunjar seems to have his two swords out, as we walk. He's rarely focused on more than one spot at a time, looking around on a constant basis. But then again, I'd be cautious if everything not in a town tried to kill me, in this world.

Yosuke takes out one of his daggers and starts applying one of the poisons to it, rubbing the weapon down with a cloth. Afterwards, he sheathes it and takes out the next. He repeats the process and looks into his bag. He takes out a pastry, covered in a sugary glaze. "Man, these sweet rolls are delicious." He says, muffled by a mouthful.

I roll my eyes. "Shouldn't you wash your hands? I don't think eating something with them is a good thing to do right after you handle poisons. Just saying."

Yosuke widens his eyes and spits out the mouthful he had. "…Shut up, Yu."

I give a short laugh. "Just saving your life. Or your stomach, at least." I shrug.

Dunjar quirks a heavy brow at us. "…I swear. You kids seem to goof around too much. Half the time I've heard you talk, it's something at the other's expense. I hope you will at least get serious when we get inside Ustengrav."

Chie crosses her arms. "I'm sure we'll be fine. We've been up against worse things."

The nord snorts. "That's what you say, but I'd still appreciate a bit of a concentrated effort. Small mistakes become big if you trip over the wrong thing."

I nod. "Yeah. This may not be the TV world, but I'd still rather not falter around the walking dead."

Yukiko speaks up, as she walks, using her new staff as a walking stick. "Do the undead have a particular weakness we could exploit? I'm sure we could all appreciate a advantage."

Dunjar shrugs. "I've only been slicking through them. But I suppose fire could be particularly effective. I don't think the corpses could stay together all too well when they're being burned."

Chie stuck her tongue out. "Yeah. And between that new staff, and Konohana Sakuya, we'll have all the fire spells we need."

The bearish nord stops, suddenly, and looks down at the bowl shaped hole, lined with stone below. "We're at the entrance." He says softly. "There will most likely be bandits here. Keep your voices down, they always inhabit the first part of these kinds of ruins." He starts to carefully go down the stairs, a wide spiral lined up with the bowl shaped indent.

I slowly sheathe my new sword and hold it in my hands, getting a feel for the weight and balance of the blade. Yosuke takes out his daggers, as Yukiko readies her staff. The nord finds the spiral stairs downward, and indeed finds two men dressed in leather with their weapons drawn. They were obviously guarding it, and as soon as they saw us, the bandits charged.

The burly man grins, and runs with swords high towards the charging men. He clashes blades with one of the antagonizers, and easily overpowers them with his strength. Chie and I take the second bandit, the green sweater-wearing woman kicking the second bandit's hand axe, sending it flying into the air.

Meanwhile, Yosuke took his chance to slip behind the first bandit, sinking his two daggers into the man's back with a sickening 'thunk!'. Meanwhile, I took advantage of the second bandit's disarmed state, running up to the stunned thug and slashing his chest with my sword. It was a shallow cut, not doing very much to hinder him in his newfound rage. He pushes me away and seeks to take me to the ground, indicated by his low stance and weaving pattern.

"Yu! Move!" I hear from Yukiko, and I move to the left, dodging the man's charge and raising my sword. I see why Yukiko yelled for me to move when a firebolt strikes his wounded chest dead center. The second bandit falls on his back, joining the first. Both unresponsive, we all look to the nord.

Dunjar smirks at us. "Heh. Looks like you kids can hold weapons. Well. That's good. Those were just the guards. I'm sure we'll be getting a warm welcome from their friends." He simply opens the door in front of us and walks in right in, swords held in front of him.

Yosuke shrugs. "It seems we're throwing subtlety to the wind. Oh well." He says.

We look inside the dark cavern looking room. Everything is structured from dull brown stone, the crude candle lighting hitting the stone. The result is a small, normal fire with the rock's illumination being a sickly dull color with green tones creeping in.

I hear rustling, before faint echoes of 'Did you hear that', and 'You shouldn't have come here'. One female, one male. I raise my sword, as Dunjar wastes no time on another one of those shouting attacks.

"WULD!" He yells, speeding forth like the fury of the wind, one of his blades driving through the male bandit's neck with efficiency that almost borders on overkill.

But from that, several people in robes show up. The three people look to the one bandit, already dead. They throw their hands forward, loosing elemental fury in our direction. Ice, fire, and lightning fly towards us as we all leap out of the way. Dunjar, however, charges through the ice to hack one of the sorcerer's guts. The thaumaturge collapses shortly after, as the female bandit heads for me, mace ready. I parry the strike by raising my blade with both hands. I have no choice but to slowly back away as I try not to get overpowered by what I assume to be nord woman.

Of course there had to be a Viking parallel.

I quickly remove the blade, slinking away from the wrath of her hammer. I run back up with my blade held high, taking advantage of her recovery time. But before I could attempt to swing, an explosion I nearly suffered the full wrath of blows me back, only barely landing on one knee after my slide. The pyromancer had set his sights on me, his face obscured by his hood. The sorcerer conjures some guy made out of pure fire, the monstrosity elegantly sliding in a dance-like fashion towards me.

Chie laughs. "I know how to deal with fire guys!" She summons her tarot card out of willpower, and shatters it with a kick. "Tomoe Gozen!" She shouts. Her Persona appears, fading in behind her. Tomoe Gozen dons her yellow jumpsuit looking skin, her… 'skirt' of plate looking plank shaped object swaying just slightly. The Persona spins her double bladed halberd as Chie commands. "Mabufu!" And from it, shards of ice fly towards both the monster and the pyromancer. Both clutch at their torsos, but it's the fire creature that explodes, finally ending the summoner's life.

I get up, as Yosuke has been dodging electrical bolts this whole time, screaming, "A little help, guys?!", as Dunjar battles a creature of storm. Yukiko finally breaks through the crowd to get a clear shot at the last sorcerer. She concentrates again and fires off a bolt of fire at the electromancer. It strikes him in the head, the man clutching his face before he finally stops moving.

The female bandit that was knocked around by the explosion comes back for me. I raise my blade and dive under, I use her momentum against her and trip her by tackling her legs. The nord woman tumbles over and ends up on her stomach. Chie's Persona wastes no time and slices the woman's head of with a spinning halberd. The yellow woman disappears, as Dunjar finally smashes the storm conjuration with his swords.

Dunjar lets out a hearty laugh that echoes through the stone hall. "That was a great battle! You four impress me with each passing action. Let's go. We've not even seen the crypt part of the crypt, as of yet." He motions with his arm to the entrance to the next room.

But behind me, I hear, "Score!" From Yosuke. Dunjar and I turn back, as the other three are digging in a chest they found. "Yu! I found an amethyst! Along with some potions, and a robe."

Chie shakes a smaller pouch she found. "Quite a bit of coin, here."

Yukiko holds some strange flowers and mushrooms. "These must be alchemical ingredients. I'll save these. We could always use more potions."

Dunjar taps his foot. "Pocket the stuff, and let's get going. We don't have all day for treasure hunting."

The three take the stuff they found, and stuff it in their pockets. I pick up a satchel from one of the dead sorcerers, slinging it over my back, and start walking along. "If you guys have any heavy findings, put them in here. Keep an eye out for bags."

We go through the curved hallway, the shrill, voiceless call assaults our ears and catches us off guard. I see two emaciated, pale figures with axes raised at us running in our direction. The Dragonborn has no problem sending both swords into the gut of the first one, as I charge up to the other and hack at its midsection. I hit its side and keep going, almost a clean horizontal cut through the belly. I remove my sword, and look to Dunjar. "So, these are the undead in question?"

He smirks. "Yup. But don't you rest easy, these are the easy ones. Just wait until they start popping up with armor and shouting at you." He winks. "But you we'll see how tough they are."

We keep walking through, as Yosuke picks up from behind to get to me, fistbumping. "Nice cut, Yu. That was almost half." He says.

I shrug. "Let's just keep our eyes open. I'm sure we'll all get our chance." I say, as we proceed through the next hallway. I see empty spaces carved into the wall, probably mean to store individual bodies. We take a left, around the next corner and proceed into a corridor. A sudden slamming sound echoes through. We look around as another of the walking dead shambles out of a standing coffin.

Chie starts running through and in front of the group, yelling. "I got this!" She hurtles towards the lumbering, axe wielding undead creature. She sends her foot flying at the creature, kicking the head off of the draugr. "These freaking shoes!" She yells. "This is awesome!"

Yosuke pales. "Remember that rule about not kicking us anymore? That's doubled now! Geez, Chie. We created a monster."

Yukiko shrugs. "I'm sure she'll remember what she's capable of."

Yosuke shudders. "That's what I'm afraid of, Yukiko." He shook his head as we kept walking.

But soon enough, we reached stairs and started walking up. To our left, we see another chest in a dark corner. I kneel down and unlatch the box and open it up. Inside, are a set of iron bracers, a bag of coins, and a dagger made of some golden looking metal.

"Hey, Yu. Pass me that dagger." Yosuke says, looking over my shoulder. I give him the dagger, placing the rest of the things inside my satchel.

We continue treading through the corridor, heading to a hallway that consists of downward stairs. The lighting only got darker as we got closer to the end, at which stood a black door. Dunjar pushes open the door and walks through, the rest of us following. The only thing I could hear as we descend from another set of stairs is our footsteps and the distinct clacking sound of Yukiko's staff on the stone floor. We look around the corner, and see instead of a wall, a giant opening leading to a vast cavern. I looks below and see a system of narrow, natural looking stone bridges that serve as the safe way down. The only catch is that I see more walking dead patrolling them. And the only way to get to them is from the next set of corridors and hallways to our left.

Yukiko readies her staff. "I think I can hit them from here." She says.

Dunjar tugs on her shoulder. "We don't want the entire place coming after us. I'll handle them from here." He reaches over his back and takes out a bow from the straps attatched from his armor. "As brutish as you kids I think I am, I am capable of some finesse." He takes an arrow from a quiver, and starts aiming for the one on the highest bridge. He pulls back the arrow and knocks it. He closes an eye and soon enough, he lets an arrow loose to silently pierce the draugr's neck. It falls over and fails to get the attention of the others.

I look to the left, and see the entrance to another corridor, I start to walk towards it before I feel a large hand clamped to my shoulder. "Hey. Let's take the simple route." He says. I look down to the narrow rock bride below us. A good twenty feet down. That is, if we don't miss.

Chie throws her hands up into the air. "Are you crazy?! That's how you break a leg-"

Dunjar cut her off. "If you don't have rope. Be smarter than the terrain. Less bodies you have to fight." He nods. He digs in his bag, and takes out a length of rope. He wraps it around one of the rocks held firmly onto the ground. He pulls on the rope to check the strength of the tether. "We're good to go." He says.

Yosuke shrugs, and is the first one to grab onto the rope. He carefully slides down, using his legs to support himself on the wall. "This isn't too hard!" He says. He lets go of the rope, and waves. "C'mon! It's safe!" He yells.

Yukiko simply stares at the rope. "I don't think I'd do too well-." And before she even finishes her sentence, the nord picks her up and hoists her onto his shoulder. "Hold on." He simply said. He reaches to pick Chie up, but she smacks his hand away.

"Leg strength is my thing." She mutters.

The nord shrugs, and grabs onto the rope. He slides down, his feet touching the wall every now and then before he lands. He sets the black haired girl down, and waves to us.

Chie gives me a look. A quirked brow and scrunched nose tells me all I need about her thoughts on what just happened. He takes the rope and slides down. Finally, I take the rope and start rappelling towards the bridge. I land, while the rest of the group starts walking. Yosuke pulls me aside and whisper frantically. "Did you see what he did?! I think he's trying to put the moves on Yukiko!"

I shook my head, and whisper back. "Yosuke, think for a second. We're in a world based on Viking-ish culture. I'm sure he was just being nice. Besides, I'm sure the nord men would want a woman who could keep up in a fist fight. Use your head."

Yosuke stares, his tense, panicked face slowly relaxes as the words sink in. "I guess, yeah. But he better be just being nice. He has to be like… thirty!"

The nord barks from the front. "Twenty-five."

Yosuke squeaks, and widens his eyes.

Chie shook her head. "Twenty-five? You look almost fourty."

Yukiko shrugs. "It's the beard."

Dunjar laughs. "Well. My family does have a proud tradition of growing the best beards in Skyrim. I will take this as a compliment."

We reach a gate. It has three stones, lined up one in front of the other. The nord reaches the first stone, as it starts to glow. The gate opens, revealing a second gate.

I cross my arms. "So. I'm guessing each stone opens up a gate when you get close to it."

Chie frowns. "But if three of us stand at the stone, only two of us gets to go on."

But as we were contemplating, a skeleton comes from stairs beside us. Yosuke throws one of his daggers, the head lopping off of the skeleton as the body comes crashing down. He fistpumps and smirks. "Yeah! Showin' it how it's done!"

I nod. "Nice shot, Yosuke."

The nord looks to the gates. "It's supposed to be a test for the Dragonborn. My whirlwind sprint shout is supposed to send me through these gates fast enough. But that'd leave you four here."

Yukiko blinks. "Would our Personas be able to activate them?"

I blink. Oh yeah, I suppose our Personas would just fade off and return to us after we got to the other side. I concentrate my thoughts and summon my blue tarot card. I crush it with my hand. "Persona!" He shout, as Izanagi appears in front of me.

Yosuke nods. "Yukiko! You're a genius." He summons his persona, along with Chie. Each Persona stands near the stones as all three gates open, revealing the other side.

The nord rolls his eyes. "It seems the teenagers know how to cheat through nordic tests."

Chie laughs to herself and sticks her tongue out. "Hey. We're just taking the simple route."

We walk through each gate, and as soon as the last person makes it to the other side, the gates shut from the personas disappearing. We come across a burning pyre, and move on the web-strewn room next. In there, two giant spiders awaken and start crawling towards us.

Yukiko takes out her staff and starts launching fireballs like there's no tomorrow. "NOPE. NOPE. THIS ISN'T A THING." She squeals.

Yosuke summons his Persona, crushing his tarot card and sending Jiraya to deal with the other spider. The Persona starts wailing on the creature. "SCREW THIS, MAN. ANYTHING BUT THIS."

And explosion or two later, both creatures lay charred and lifeless. Dunjar shakes his head and keeps walking. "They're frostbite spiders. Not even the big ones."

We cross the next hallway and see one last gate, opened by a pull chain. Dunjar pulls the device as the iron bars rise up. In our presence, statues resembling dragons rise up from the water on both sides of the path. The room shakes, as it seems to be welcoming us itself. The entire room has a cool blue lighting to it, much different from the dingy browns and greys. We walk across the pathway, and reach a pedestal. Dunjar takes a piece of paper from it and starts reading.

"Dragonborn. I need to speak to you. Urgently. Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in River wood. I'll meet you. A friend."

No horn in sight. "Someone took it!" He yells, throwing his hands down and grunting.

A chorus of groans escape the four of us, punctuated by Yosuke. "This is a load of crap!" He yells.

Dunjar sighs. "Well. We'll have to meet up with this son of a bitch in order to get it. Until then, I need some damn mead."

I look past the pedestal. "There's a door over there. Looks like we have an exit."

"Hell yeah, no backtracking." Yosuke mutters. We walk towards the door and open it. I look to the chest that's in front of us. I kneel down and open the top of the chest. I take out a few gems, some gold piece, scale boots and an axe. I stuff them in my bags before getting up and following my group. We proceed through the rock tunnels, twisting and turning before we come across a dead end. Dunjar pulls a lever, as a section of the dead end rumbles. The rock pulls up to reveal a room, with a smaller chest and several large jars. I open it up and find a silver ring with a red gem, and several potions. I stuff them in my bag and move on.

We exit the room, and see the rocky cave-like entrance we came from. We tread to the exit, opening the door. I look to the sky and see that a few hours had passed, and it was no longer morning. It was still cold, but less biting as I feel the constant bearing of the midday sun on me. It's more of a blessing, at this point. We walk up the stairs of the bowl-shaped hole, and set foot on the salt marsh once more.

As we walk back towards Morthal, the nord speaks up. "Yu. When we get back to town, go to the general store and sell the things we won't need. After you're done, buy some rations."

Yosuke snickers. "And that mead?" He asks, with a smirk.

Dunjar rolls his eyes. "I said rations, yes?"

Chie rolls her eyes. "Anyway. That wasn't so hard. It was pretty fun."

The burly man strokes his beard. "It was made for one person to go through. Hence the challenge made for one person. I'm sure other ruins and caves will have us on our toes."

I shrug. "All that considered, we only used our Personas a few times. I'm sure we'll be able to step up to whatever challenge we come up against."

Yukiko nods. "Besides, this isn't the first time we've had to fight."

The nord shrugs, as we finally get back into town. "Just make sure it isn't your last." He shrugs, and heads towards one of the buildings. He looks to me, and points to one of the other buildings. "That's the general shop. Have fun- and don't try to barter with that one. He is very firm with his prices."

I nod, as I start walking towards the general store, the rest of my group following me. My mind drifts off, during the walk there. I stuff a hand into my pocket, letting my thoughts wander.

This place is tough, but I think we can survive. I know we can.