Desmond slams the tablet on the table in front of Farengar, feeling slightly better at the look of unadulterated panic that flashes through the wizard's eyes for a few seconds.
"Here's your fucking lizard rock."
Farengar somehow manages to look even more constipated and outraged than usual. "It's called the Dragonstone."
"Whatever." He flops into a chair just as Jarl Balgruuf enters the room. The hulking blond man is carrying two coin purses, which he hands to Desmond and Aela.
* 250 gold added
"For your services, friends," he booms jovially. "Was the Dragonstone in Bleak Falls Barrow, stranger?"
"Yep. We found the stupid rock."
"Dragonstone," Farengar hisses. Desmond ignores him.
Balgruuf grins. "Well then, I believe you were promised an extra reward, yes? Then, by my right as Jarl, I hereby declare that you have earned the right to purchase property in the city. Please speak to my steward if you have any questions."
Desmond gives him a weird look. The right to buy a house? That's the guys idea of a reward? Whatever. He won't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thanks, man. Where can I-"
He never gets the chance to finish his question, because Irileth practically throws herself into the room, as close to panicking as he has ever seen her.
"My Jarl, please come quickly! There is an emergency!" Balgruuf rushes out after her.
Desmond is content to sit in this chair and stare at Farengar uncomfortably, but then little white text appears in the upper field of his vision, and he sits up straight in surprise.
+ Follow Jarl Balgruuf
He wants to scream, because this is undoubtedly the beginning of an important quest(which is funny, because he hadn't gotten a text prompt about investigating the barrow. Why was that?), and he really doesn't want to be involved at all. He gets up and follows anyway, which must say something about how used he is to being controlled by higher powers.
Not an especially comforting thought.
He gets to the top of the stairs just in time to hear everything going to hell.
"…dragon attacking the western watchtower."
Fuck no. Abort mission. Abort abort abort.
He's about to turn around and walk straight out of the building, but his luck is really shitty and Balgruuf catches sight of him.
"Desmond!" He freezes. "You have already done much for us, and I have no right to ask more of you, but will you help us defeat this dragon? You undoubtedly have the most experience with them."
Balgruuf looks like a kicked puppy. Say no, Desmond. Say no, say no, say no. "Yeah, sure." Fuck.
The man visibly brightens up. "Thank you, friend. Go with Irileth, round up as many guards as you can. Return safely."
He follows Irileth down the stairs, and is almost out of the damned building when he's stopped by Aela.
"What's going on, Desmond?"
"Gonna go fight a dragon. It's gonna be a blast. You should totally come," he says, with a completely deadpan voice and expression.
She looks torn between laughing at his sarcasm and smacking him. Hard. "You are in absolutely no condition to be fighting a dragon, you idiot. I am coming with you."
"Like I said, it's going to be a blast." He doesn't say anything more, not until they're halfway to the watchtower, a contingency of yellow clad guards trailing behind them like a group of pointy violent ducklings.
"Fuck," he mutters, so low that only Aela hears him, "we're probably going to fucking die."
She punches him in the shoulder. "Don't say that. We're going to be fine."
"But-" She punches him again, harder this time. He grumbles, rubbing his poor abused arms.
"We. Are. Going. To. Be. Fine."
He never gets the chance to reply, because then a roar echoes through the air and three tons of flaming angry lizard swoops down out of the sky.
Desmond has his bow out before he even knows what he's doing, firing arrow after arrow as fast as he can at the dragon's tough hide. Thankfully, the others are not far behind, and before long, the dragon(his health bar proclaims his name to be Mirmulnir) is dropping to the ground, half of his health bar gone. He nearly cheers.
He lets Irileth and Aela take on the melee half of the battle(and the fire breath), choosing instead to hang back and continue to shoot. None of his ancestors were particularly skilled swordsmen, though they got by. Connor, however, was as good with a bow as you could get without actually ascending to some form of godhood, so he's going to play to his strengths.
When Mirmulnir's health bar finally blinks away, Desmond nearly collapses in relief. It's rather anticlimactic, actually. He thought this would be harder.
The beast's final breaths rumble in the air. "Noo… Dovahkiin." He stops moving, and aside from the harsh stench of soot and the gasps of the injured, everything is still.
Desmond slings his bow onto his back and stalks forward, stopping level with Aela. He stares at the hulking corpse, and hesitantly reaches out a hand, brushing the scales on its snout.
Then it bursts into flames.
Desmond yelps and flails backwards, almost smacking Aela in the face. They stare, speechless, as fire consumes the dead beast, bits of scales flaking off and rising into the air like ashes until there is nothing left but bones.
Light rises from the skeleton then, a bright mass of colorful energy, and writhes through the air at lightning speed until it strikes him in the chest and settles into his bones.
+ Dragon Soul Absorbed
Everyone is absolutely silent. Until one guard falls to the ground, kneeling awestruck at Desmond's feet.
"I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes…" he whispers.
"Dragonborn."