Author's Note: Chapter 3, yup, its that time! This chapter is longer than those that came previously, and for good reason, there is a lot going on in this one. I'm sure some of you have noticed that I'm picking and choosing what battles I'm writing. May main reason is I believe I'm still going through the prologue, which will end in Whiterun. A lot of this is obviously things you can't deviate from until you fight the first dragon in game, then the game really opens up and so will this story. Expect a great deal of deviation from the norm mostly because its Harry.
My problem with choosing a second task is pretty easy. There are certain things I need to parallel between games. Skyrim has Nirn and its counterpart Oblivion, an Earth and a Hell. Warcraft has Azeroth/Draenor and the Twisting Nether. Why these are important will come about in Part 4, which takes place after year 4 for Harry. A lot of people have asked about Dragon Age, and as I said, I would love to, but I can't. Plus I think Dragon Age would be a step down from Skyrim, don't get mad its just my belief. As such, Blizzard has been gracious enough to help me. I can think of only one game with magic, soul gems, a mortal plane and a Hell, that would sit comfortably between Skyrim and Warcraft while upping the stakes. Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the tasks.
First Task: Dovahkiin (Skyrim)
Second Task: Sanctuary (Diablo III)
Third Task: Warcraft (World of Warcraft: WotLK/Cataclysm)
Also, I'll be updating on the weekends. Its why I'm pushing this chapter out so fast. I want to see how people react so I know the direction of the next chapter.
Now, onto the story!
The raven haired wizard was rather uncomfortable as he walked down the road leading out of Riverwood with Camilla on his right and Tamaria on his left. While the dark haired human woman didn't seem the least bit fazed by the elf's anger filled glared, Harry was rather nervous that the well endowed elf would suddenly lash out at the other woman. He sighed as he saw a bridge up ahead and hoped that escaping the town would calm down his new companion. "So, where do we go once we cross the bridge?"
Camilla smiled at the young adventurer as she came to a stop just short of the bridge. "First you'll take the left fork in the path just across the bridge, and you'll stay on that path until you reach Bleak Falls Barrow," she said calmly motioning off with her hand. "Now remember, you are going after the Golden Claw. Lucian likes to pretend he found it and show it off but it is actually mine. I was the one who found it in our attic space while we were converting it into our sleeping room."
Harry couldn't help but smirk at that thought. Lucian had sort of come off as overbearing and the thought of doing this quest for Camilla and not for her brother made it all the easier to undertake. His green eyes shifted toward his elf companion who was standing with her arms crossed and tapping her foot in annoyance as she stared up at the mountain they would soon be climbing. "Thank you very much, Miss Valerius," he said kindly before he started to make his way across the bridge, Tamaria following swiftly behind him.
"You didn't have to be so nice to her," the auburn haired woman said with a hiss that Harry almost mistook for parseltongue as they turned left to head up the mountain. "It would have been easier to bring her out to the bridge and stab her, toss her in the river and watch her body drop over the falls than have to deal with all this," she complained as she kicked up dust along the road.
Harry almost laughed as he stuck his hands in his pocket. "As terrible as that was it reminds me of something a friend said to me. I have a 'saving people thing'," he said with a smirk. "I think it has something to do with the way I was raised, to be honest," he said quietly. "I grew up knowing I was nothing, that I am nothing, my relatives made sure I knew that well enough. I'll help anyone because someday, I hope, that they'll find the happiness I wont," he said with a shrug. "I have a genocidal maniac after me at home, my one chance at finding a real home was ruined by my potions teacher and his own issues and want of revenge, and every other year the entire community turns on me because of someone's plot to kill me and I almost die. I'm going to die, so why not make other people's lives a little better before that time?"
The woman's scowl shifted into a frown as she eyed the teen she was following. "That is a rather fatalistic way of looking at the world," she summed up before turning her gaze back onto their surroundings, looking for any sign of an ambush. She knew the world could be cold and harsh, Skyrim was filled with orphans and beggars, but none seemed to get as down trodden as the boy next to her. Maybe she'd have to do something to turn his thoughts around before they parted ways. "What do you know about Barrows then, Harry?"
The boy shook his head as they turned a corner in the path. "Not a thing," he admitted. "Hadvar said something about being afraid of Draugrs coming down off the mountain as a child and taking him, but he didn't really explain what he meant by that." The boy wizard took his right hand out of his pocket and turned toward a snarling sound coming just off the path. Raising his palm he unleashed a storm of lightning into the shadows and heard the yip of an animal before a soft thud filled the air as it fell to the ground. He was about to keep walking when Tamaria grabbed his arm stopping him.
"You can't just leave it like that," she said with a frown before walking over to the bushes and pulling a rather good sized black wolf out onto the path. "It is wrong to simply slay something and not use what you can of it," she explained to the wizard before she pulled a small dagger from somewhere Harry couldn't see, and began to slice into the creature. Blood shot out across the dirt in the path as she pulled her dagger across its body, cutting slices her and there. When she was done, she pulled the wolf's skin clean off and put it to the side. "While I'm doing this get a fire started Harry," she said calmly. "We didn't eat breakfast and its nearly noon. Soon we'll reach the ice cap and we'll need all the energy we can get."
Harry began gathering nearby dead brush and sticks to start his fire, even pulling some of the nearby logs off the side of the road to stack up. The entire time he wondered just how he was supposed to start the fire without his wand, when his mind suddenly gave him a clear picture of his hand wreathed in flames. Standing from depositing the last log, he concentrated on the fire and felt a warmth fill his right hand. He gazed down at the fire burning in his palm before throwing it at the makeshift pile of twigs and leaves he had created. He couldn't fight the smile as he saw the fire start burning, and began placing larger sticks on the pile to burn.
"Very good," Tamaria stated as she walked toward the boy and pushed several sticks into the ground, the tops skewering various pieces of the animal he had electrocuted. "Wolf isn't really the best food, but it beats skeever," she admitted as she eyed the quickly growing fire and tossed a log on top of the stick pile and watching the magical flames begin to eat at it. "That should be good for a while, we'll want to burn the meat, to get rid of parasites and disease. Until its done, draw your sword, I wish to see how good you can use it," she said as she drew her own weapon.
Harry nodded and stood drawing his sword as he did so. "I've only used a sword once before yesterday honestly," he said giving the imperial blade a few swings to test its weight. "I was twelve and fighting for my life. My method was sort of praying to stay alive and hack away hoping I hit something vital," he admitted as he turned toward the beautiful woman and her shapely figure. "This isn't the Sword of Gryffindor but hopefully it will do."
"Gryffindor," the elf muttered as she lowered herself into a battle stance, "it sounds almost Nordic. Here I thought you were a Breton," she admitted before rushing toward the teen and swinging her blade toward him. She smirked as he barely swung the heavy blade around in time to meet her blow. However, she was older and stronger, her weapon easily batting his aside as the flat of her ebony sword caught his side.
"Close," Harry said shaking off his failure at protecting himself. Hopefully Tamaria would help him grow stronger before she decided to leave him. He swung his sword in an overhand strike, only for her to side step it and catch him again. Closing his mouth and deciding to concentrate, he swung the blade horizontally, only for her to casually step back around his sword's tip and rush him after he missed, grabbing his shoulder and putting the tip up against his unprotected stomach.
The next hour passed with the two swinging at each other. Harry started off not able to block a single swing or land a hit, but then the chanting started. He quickly found himself flying away from his body, below he could see himself and Tamaria still swinging at each other until he passed through the clouds and escaped the world itself. He was floating high in the night sky and could see several constellations surrounding him. The knowledge of what they meant filled his mind, and he smiled at seeing his magic constellations had been filled to certain points, showing that his experience before coming to this world was paying off. Turning though, he inspected the other constellations and found one for his mind labeled 'One Handed'. Reaching out on instinct, he saw the button star blaze from white to blue, and was slammed back down into his body.
He heaved a breath as he stumbled from the sudden out of body experience and fell to his hands and knees. Distantly he could hear the elf complaining about humans having poor stamina but ignored it. His body felt strangely different than it had mere moments before. Standing he felt a tension in his arms and legs he hadn't before. The life of a wizard was one of laziness, he knew that. If you had spells you didn't have to do it yourself, and his relatives made sure he didn't eat enough over the summer to grow any muscles from the heaps of work they put on him. Looking down though, he could see his arms filling out his hide armor sleeves a little better, his chest seemed broader and his legs more sturdy. Had he just gained a slew of new muscles? Did... did he level up?
Holding his sword aloft, he spun it in his hand with ease, something he couldn't have done before. Looking at Tamaria he could see her watching him with interest as he showed off his new skill.
"Interesting," the elf said as she observed the teen's increase in muscle and skill with a raised eyebrow. "There are stories of figures in history who had something similar happen to them," she admitted as she stepped closer to inspect him. "Their was the Nerevarine in Marrowind and then the Champion of Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis," she said in wonder as she began to poke at the teen. "I think we can expect great things from you, Harry. Those two did great things, some terrible, but always great," she said, unknowingly echoing the words spoken to him when he had bought his first wand.
"Well, lets eat," she said suddenly moving away from the teen and taking her place beside the fire. The two had occasionally heard the pop and crackle of fat falling into the fire, and probably a few other things that Harry didn't want to consider. Moving beside the amber eyed beauty he took one of the legs off the stick where it had been cooking and, thanks to his gloves, was able to pull a piece of sizzling meat from it and put it in his mouth. It was certainly a new flavor, he would give it that. He would probably be trying to stick to the flavors he knew in the future to avoid something that tasted quite so wild.
'Merlin its freezing,' the wizard thought as he stumbled through the snow following his companion who didn't seem bothered at all. His armor did nothing to protect him from the biting wind at this altitude and how Tamaria was able to keep moving in that damn bikini armor was a mystery to him. He supposed he would eventually get used to weather like this, but it Hogwarts hadn't had its first snow fall yet when he had left, and he hadn't thought to pack a winter robe since all he was supposed to bring was his wand.
'Naal faal Nen,' Durnehiviir's voice echoed through his mind. 'Must you complain so much human? We aren't even that high yet,' the dragon continued. 'Look to your left, do you see that mountain,' he asked. Getting an affirmative from Harry as he stared up and up at the mountain that rose from behind Riverwood he continued. 'That is the Ruus do faal Lein, the Throat of the World, where you'll need to go to learn to master your shouting. Imagine the weather at the top,' the dragon finished with a chuckle.
Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. "So no fair," he grunted as he continued to slide across the ice hidden beneath the snow. He stopped though as Tamaria suddenly slid behind a rock formation, bidding him to do the same. Poking his head out from behind the rock, he spotted a tower standing rigidly against the howling winds and falling snow, a single torch burning in one of the windows. "What is the matter, Tamaria?"
"I've been staying in Riverwood for a while," she answered as she too peeked out at the tower. "There have been a number of break ins around town, and Faendal," she spit the name, "and I tracked some of them up this path. I wouldn't put it past them to have stolen that claw and fled to the Barrow. That tower is their first line of defense, with a second group standing watch at the Barrow. We need to take out the bandits or they'll alert the others. You have a bow, think you can take out the two standing outside the tower?"
Harry turned to look at her like she was crazy. He couldn't see anybody with the snow caking onto his classes. Sighing though, he pulled his bow off his back and notched an arrow before he slid around the side of his rock hiding place and began to sneak forward. His legs twitched as he tried to stay close to the ground, moving from outcropping to outcropping in order to move closer unseen. Finally the two came into view, a long way closer than where the elf's eyes had been able to spot them. Drawing his string back, he aimed against the wind at the figure leaning against a tree and let his arrow fly.
The snow quickly swallowed the thin arrow shaft from his view, but moments later he saw the figures arms drop a his side, before he collapsed to the ground. Harry swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise at the thought of taking a life and drew another arrow. The second figure, who had been pacing a bridge between the tower and the road ran to his friend's age, and seconds later another arrow disappeared from the bow string. The figure was just rising when he suddenly lurched and fell on top of his fellow bandit.
Harry dropped to his hands and knees and began to wretch into the snow. His wolf lunch quickly spilling out on to the white snow as he tried to think of anything else other than taking two lives. The crunch of snow on the ground brought Tamaria's gleaming boots into his line of vision before she knelt beside him and began to rub his back. "I hate killing," he said miserably.
"They were bandits, Harry," the elf said quietly. "They take everything they can get; food, money, clothes, women and lives," she said with a hint of steel in her voice. "You had no problem killing the wolf," she reminded him. "That is all they are now, animals."
After he was done vomiting and dry heaving, the two made their way toward the tower where Harry could see the lives he had taken. The body on top was a woman dressed in barbaric iron armor, the shaft of the wizard's arrow sticking out of the back of her helm. Beneath her was what he guessed was an orc of some kind. He couldn't see the arrow, but could see the pool of blood had grown from somewhere around his neck. "Excellent shots," the elf said with a nod as she leaned down and began to loot the bodies.
Gold and jewels quickly disappeared before she turned her attention to the tower. High above them they could see a man glaring down at them from atop the tower. "He's your last man here," she said with a look toward the wizard. "This is a harsher land than you are used to, it is kill or be killed," she said before motioning toward his sword. "You'll need to get used to taking lives, Harry Potter, because if you don't, they'll take yours."
Swallowing thickly, Harry put his bow away and unsheathed his sword before walking into the tower. A bag of coins sat on a near by table and he easily scooped them into his pocket before he made his way up the stairs. A hole had been knocked out of the wall on his left and a rough walkway led to an upper chamber. Peaking around the corner, he could see a man with a thicker iron armor pacing across a landing, an axe in one hand and a shield in the other. Spinning around the corner and hoping to take the bandit by surprise, Harry threw himself up the stairs toward the man, only to meet him half way.
Harry swung his sword at the man's chest, only for him to knock it away with his shield and swing at the teen's head. Ducking low, Harry's sword met flesh as it swiped across the man's knees and slicing away the flesh from bone. The wound sent the man toppling head over heels down the steps, sadly that put him right on top of Harry who couldn't get out of the way fast enough. The two fell in a heap at the bottom of the stairs but only one continued to move.
With is new found muscles, Harry pushed the bandit off of him and saw the imperial sword lodged between the mans' collarbone and his banded iron armor. He had killed again. Pulling his sword free he turned and wasn't surprised to see the elf standing outside the tower watching him carefully.
"Take his armor," she said motioning toward the dead man as she began to make her way up the stairs. "Bleak Falls Barrow will be more than some furs can handle, and we don't want you dying on us," she said as she climbed. Harry stripped the man and using his hide armor to clean away the blood he slipped it on, feeling the heaviness of it immediately and nearly fell over at the increased weight. Upstairs he could hear Tamaria opening a chest and pursuing its contents. "The armor will help you build up muscle quicker while it protects your squishy parts," she said casually as she came back down, tossing a large bag of gold at him. "You hold on to that. We'll be able to afford you better armor and weapons soon enough," she said with a wink.
The wizard watched as his companion put the bodies of a naked man and woman into each others embrace next to the fire. They were dead, just like the three men outside, and he was having a difficult time putting together the fact that women were bandits as well. Still they had heard the two talking about killing another person after he came up out of the Barrow, and he admitted he felt less guilt as he picked the lock on a nearby chest. Some days he loved having known the Weasley twins.
After finding a few more arrows and a garnet stone plus a few lockpicks, the two began to make their way down into the mountain and the Barrow properly.
"Barrows are old Nordic burial chambers," Tamaria said as the two made their way underground. "However, there are curses on them. If the enchantments on the Barrow sense you are trying to plunder the dead, they will rise as draugr and attack," she said in a way of warning. "The dead are kept a few floors down, locked behind gates but other animals sometimes get in. Frost spiders are one of the usual creatures you'll face crawling through the wreckage," she explained.
The two picked through urns and vases as they passed them, finding gold hidden away as they traveled deeper. Potions, some thousands of years old, were found laying around as they continued down deeper. Finally they found the man the two bandits had been discussing up above, dead with a whole quiver worth of arrows sticking out of his body, laying next to a lever. "A trap," the teen wondered aloud as he looked around. A stone slab lay on the ground, a snake inside a giant mouth, and the wizard shuddered, remembering the Dark Mark that had sat in the sky after the Quidditch World Cup. Two more faces were hung high above, one on the left had another snake while the right had a dolphin. Turning his head, he could see three more symbols to his left, only they were an eagle, snake, and dolphin and appeared able to be turned.
He ignored Tamaria watching him and moved the symbols to match the symbols of the other three faces. When he was done, he turned toward Tamaria who was already starting to pull the lever. A crash echoed throughout the chamber as a steel gate that the lever faced flew upward. "Check the bookshelf for anything useful," the elf said to him pointing up to the higher level. "I'll go ahead and make sure the next room is clear."
A red potion later, and Harry walked into the next room where three dead skeever lay in a heap next to a spiral staircase that lead downward. The auburn haired woman passed him a book about a thief and a large pink crystal as soon as he entered. "Something is different," the wizard said as he stepped over the skeevers and began to make his way down. "I can feel the magic in the air here and its only getting stronger as we head down," he said clearly. "I've felt this before," he grunted with narrowed eyes.
"You'll have to tell me more about your life before coming to Skyrim," the woman said with a frown on her lips as she watched the boy walk ahead of her. When they reached the bottom of the stairs she shuddered seeing spiderwebs hanging from the walls. She had no problem killing Frost Spiders, but that didn't mean she had to like looking at the large eight legged freaks.
"Hello, is someone there," a voice suddenly called out from a nearby room. The two ignored it for the moment, finding another chest hidden behind a wall of webs and a skeleton. Finally they cut through a doorway that had grown so thick with spider webs they couldn't walk through. To their left they could see a man bound in spider webs and beneath him a group of humanoid shaped husks. "Thank the divines, quickly cut me down," the man pleaded.
The teen and elf moved forward, only to halt as a shadow passed over the whole in the ceiling that was giving them light. Harry had seen giant spiders before, but the Frost Spider that lowered itself now was easily the size of Aragog in the Forbidden Forest back home. Rage filled the dragonborn as he thought of the spider trying to feed him and his friend to its children. Inside, he could feel Durnehiviir feeding on his anger, and fueling his power. Raising his hand, he spoke one word, one he didn't even know would work. "BOMBARDA!"
He could feel the dragon's rage and his own fueling his magic core even as it drew on the ambient magic of the world. The spider exploded in green gore as the exploding charm took effect, splattering the floor beneath it in green ichor and venom as its legs slammed against the side of the room. Ignoring the green rain falling from the ceiling, Harry eyed the bandit. This was the first one they had found already tied up, just ready for interrogation, and he strolled forward with a purpose, noting the man was sweating as he got near.
"What do you know about the golden claw that was stolen from the Riverwood Trader," he demanded.
"I know everything, everything you need to know," the bandit said thickly as he eyed the boy. "The claw, the puzzle, I have it all worked out," he said greedily. "Cut me down and I can show you."
Before the teen could speak movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention as an ebony blade sank into the heart of the bandit. "I've seen his kind before," the elf said as she withdrew her blade and sheathed it. "We'd cut him down and he'd run away. This way, we get the claw and don't have to chase him through the levels."
Harry groaned as he reached up and pulled the man down before checking his pockets. He found the claw and a journal explaining that the answer to a puzzle deeper was answered by the symbols on the bottom of the claw. Nodding to his partner, he stood and began to make his way down to tunnels.
Elf and wizard both stumbled through the heavy doors that sealed them off from the creatures behind them. Draugr were not something that Harry particularly wanted to face again. Who knew the dead could be so hard to put down? Sighing heavily he began to make his way through a huge underground cavern. His footsteps disturbing the bats that clung to ceiling as they began to fly around in agitation. He didn't even jump at their screeching, he was tired, worn out and covered in cuts and bruises from fighting the dead and their traps.
Kneeling at a small underground creek he splashed some water into his face to try and wake himself up. That was when he heard chanting. Leaping up and expecting an attack, he saw Tamaria look at him funny as though she couldn't hear anything. 'What is that,' he wondered to himself. Maybe he had leveled up again?
'The wall,' Durnehiviir said clearly in his mind.
Confused, Harry looked around before spotting a large curved black wall standing behind a sarcophagus nearby. It was covered in scratches, a particular set glowing dimly in the light. Intrigued, but cautious, the wizard drew his sword and an ancient nord shield and began to make his way toward the wall. As he got closer the chanting grew louder and his vision began to dim. He pushed on, refusing to back down until he stood just in front of the odd wall. The glow flew from the wall to surround him, filling him with something he couldn't identify.
'Fus,' Durnehiviir whispered with a grin in his voice. 'The word means Force in your tongue,' he explained. 'I'll tell you about our language soon enough, right now, you have bigger problems.'
A cracking sound filled the air, and Harry spun around to see the lid on the sarcophagus go flying into the air and a draugr's hand clasp the outside rim of the stone coffin to pull itself up. His emerald eyes flickered toward Tamaria, still kneeling across the lake with a look of horror on her face as she also noticed how far she was from the fight.
With a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, Harry glared at the abomination climbing from its grave before rushing forward hoping to get the first strike.