I don't think I have ever not looked forward to getting up before, what with these weird, violent dreams I keep having. I finish strapping on the rest of my armour as we leave the inn, crossing the bridge over the river near the town and passing the lumber camp out into the wilderness of the swamp. I've never really enjoyed travelling cross-country. Hopefully, this Ustengrav isn't too far into this murk. Luckily, the denizens of the marsh are ignoring me, thanks to the effects of the emblems. I hope it doesn't wear off too soon.
The stony edges of what I assume to be Ustengrav emerge from the mud, so I draw my bow and sneak towards it. As expected, I am attacked by a pair of bandits and a necromancer, all of whom are soon dealt with. One of them disintegrates into a pile of ash – he must have died a couple of days before Lydia and I even got here and been raised by the necromancer in an attempt at protection. After looting the corpses, we descended into the gloom of Ustengrav.
The stairs into the first major area are strewn with the corpses of the bandits that must have been this part's former tenants. As I take the gold and valuables off of them, I hear a conversation being struck up on the other side of the room, where a couple of zombies are picking away at a pile of rubble, supervised by a couple of necromancers.
"These thralls of yours are slower than Argonians in a blizzard." One was grumbling.
"Feel free to grab a pick and help them out. I prefer not to sully myself with manual labour." Snarks his female companion. No sooner has she finished her sentence than one of the zombies drops its pick and slumps to the floor.
"There goes another one." The first necromancer points out.
"Bah – weak-willed rabble. Even dead they're almost useless." The female raises the fallen dead and it retrieves the pickaxe, swinging it against the stone.
"They seem less intelligent each time you raise them, if that's even possible."
"As long as they can swing a pickaxe where I tell them, they're as smart as we need them to be." They paused, both staring towards the passage leading deeper into the tomb.
"You hear that?" The male asked. "The others must have found something!"
"We'd better go see. These can tend to themselves for a few minutes." They both wander off down the corridor towards the commotion only they could hear.
I loot the nearby deceased Draugr before I head toward the unfortunate undead and put them out of their misery. They may have been bandits, but no-one deserves that. I clear the nearby table of food and the chest of valuable items, then follow the necromancers deeper into this forsaken place.
Down some steps graced with the stiffening body of a mage, there's a lot of noise coming from a nearby room, that of growling Draugr and panicked spell-casting. I wait for the noise to die down, depriving some corpses of their gold as I linger in the corner just before the doorway. Soon, the only sound coming from the echoing chamber is the odd growl. I peek around to find the room scattered with the bodies of necromancers, including the two from before, and Draugr. I finish off the remains, as it were, then clean the cadavers of their belongings and carry on down the corridor.
As I follow the passage, I notice a doorway leading to some stairs descending further into the ground, so I turn away from my intended goal and follow the stone steps into a small chamber, the only contents a stone table covered in gold, with a battleaxe beneath. While I am collecting the coins, I notice a chain in the wall. Curious, I pull it – and a section of the stone wall creeps back, which then drops into the floor, revealing a narrow passage. At the end of the tunnel, instead of a light, is a small room with a chest, which I quickly empty then return to the main corridor.
The corridor widens into a long room, lined on one side by alcoves, each with a sarcophagus standing on its end inside. The first is open; its inhabitant lying sprawled over the lid. The other two fall open as I loot the corpse, the former inhabitants growling as they approach.
The first falls as my arrow takes in right in the face, but the other closes the distance before I can draw a new arrow. I draw my sword, not even bothering to put my bow on my back. This makes things a little awkward, but it's nothing I cannot handle, and soon the foolish creature lies as dead as its erstwhile companions. They don't carry that much gold, but I take what little there is, along with the gem one had.
At the end of the room, a corridor follows up a twisting staircase, leading to a small area above the coffin-lined space, adorned with a broken shelf and some pots, hiding amongst which is a chest and some potions, which I loot. Across a bridge, the passage descends some stairs, at the base of which is a door, a skeleton and a small sack of gold. Picking up the purse, I push the door open and slip through.
I'm feeling a little peckish now, so I call a temporary halt. I offer some food to Lydia, but she refuses – I have never yet seen this woman eat – so I tuck into some grilled leeks and a couple of tomatoes on my own before following the rocky slope toward the open gap I see ahead of me.
The gap gives us an excellent view of the large, deep open space. The air is misty with dust, and distant shuffling warns me that we are not alone, but – just wow. Far below is a waterfall, cascading into the depths which the dust prevents me from seeing into.
"I've never seen anything quite like that." Mutters Lydia, and I silently agree as I turn toward the passage leading off to our left. Not far down, I shoot a Draugr before it even realises we are there, then stop as we come across some discoloured tiles in the floor. The two lining the narrow part of the passage are darker than the two on the left, but all four have suspicious holes.
I poke the darker tile with the end of my orcish bow, and flame gushes from the holes. I do the same with the lighter ones, but with no resulting fire, so I dash across these, Lydia dancing after.
The next room seems to be the remains of a banqueting hall, with a Draugr patrolling the floor and another on the bridge on the other side of the room. Both of these I kill easily, one arrow each, and I proceed to loot the corpses and the hall, along with the side room. When everything of value has been removed, I follow the next corridor to the next room.
This one only has a couple of coffins in it, a large puddle of oil on the floor and a couple of loosely hanging ceramic lanterns dangling from the ceiling. No sooner have I taken one step into the room than the coffins crash open, and the Draugr inside emerge.
Quickly, I shoot down the lantern closest to me, igniting the oil and the undead monsters. While the creatures burn, I glance around the room, noticing a small side room blocked off by two portcullis-like gates, one lever next to them and another above one of the coffins.
Soon, the flames burn out, and I cross the room towards the lever above the sarcophagus, looting the crispy undead as I pass. After tugging the lever, I round the wall and pull the other one, raising the gates and allowing myself access to the side-room. Inside, is an enchanting table, a chest with some minor loot inside and a shelf with nothing of value except an empty soul gem. I use the enchanting to my advantage, learning the enchantments of the various magical items I have picked up so far. I consider attempting to enchant something myself, but I currently lack the experience and the necessary filled gems, so I back out of the room and take the rocky tunnel out of the burnt room.
This leads to another opening into the cavern which we saw from the balcony earlier. I have a clearer view of the contents – and the occupants – than before, and I carefully snipe the skeletons that roam the upper level.
Looking around, I see an opening level with our current position in the wall opposite, with the remains of a bridge crossing the gap. I can use my new Shout to get there. Asking Lydia to wait, I jump over the small gaps and Shout my way across the larger gaps until I reach a narrow passage leading to a small area, blocked off from the rest of the room where the ceiling caved in. The Draugr corpse inside holds nothing but a soul gem in its shrivelled hand, and the chest has only a little more of value inside.
I hop back to where Lydia waits, and lead her down the broken ramp of the bridge down to the upper level of the massive cave, where the bones of the skeletons lie in scattered heaps. Some of the rolling ribcages have quivers full of arrows on their back, so I take these and explore the rest of the area, finding nothing much of great value except for a couple of gems in the rest of the rubble-divided room.
This is getting to be quite boring actually, roaming around dark, dank dungeons looking for some object. The exact whereabouts of the item I would love to know, but things are never that easy. I've already forgotten what time it is – for all I know, we've been down here a day already and will still be here next week. But this is no time for moping – so I follow a ramp down to the bottom of the cavern.
A Word Wall is waiting for me. Calling me.
Mesmerised, I wander closer, my hand outstretched toward the dark stone.
Warmth suffuses me. The Word burrows into my being.
Feim. This is how I can dodge damage, while paying the price of doing none of my own.
I shake my head, waking myself from my trance as the chanting of the wall fades into nothingness. Looking around, I see that the waterfall cascades into a small pool at the base of the wall, disappearing under the stony ground beyond. Another ramp leads up to a small raised area. The waterfall sounds hollow, so drawing my sword, I head towards and through it into a small cave behind the white water. Inside is a coffin and a chest, along with an orcish sword, which I swap for my steel blade, which is in not so good a condition. Which is surprising, seeing as who knows how long the orcish blade has been there?
No sooner have I switched weapons, than the stone container bursts open and the Draugr inside growls as it swings its axe towards my head. Blocking, I kick it back into its coffin before slicing it into ribbons. Every time, those things make me jump when that lid smashes away from the rest of the stonework. My nerves will be in tatters by the time I get out of here.
That's it. As soon as I get back to that inn, I'm getting drunk. I don't care if I'll regret it in the morning.
I climb the rock ramp up to the small raised area at the back of the cavern, shaking the water out of my boots as I go, and I mine the nearby corundum vein to calm myself. Soon, I am no longer hating what I have to do and have resigned myself to finishing the job. I straighten and head toward a chest near the back of the area and remove the contents, then continue on along the ledge, jumping down the cracks towards a silver vein, which I clear before heading back up the main ramp back up to where the skeletons were.
Crossing the rock bridge to the other side of the cavern, I shoot down a skeleton archer before it has a chance to aim, then I inspect the three stones standing in the middle of the room, two on one side, one halfway between on the other. The way ahead is blocked by three iron gates. I don't see any levers or chains to open these gates from where I stand, so I approach to get a closer look.
As I pass the nearest stone, a deep note sounds and the first gate slides open, but as I draw away from the now-glowing rock, the gate closes and the carved rock dims. I think I understand what I have to do.
Asking Lydia to again wait for me, I ready myself in front of the trio of stones, then sprint forward as fast as I can. The three stones light up in succession, but I can tell I'm not going to make it without Shouting.
"Wuld!" I cry, and I dash towards the gates. Halfway through, I repeat myself – there must be a sort of ambient charm making it easier to Shout in this particular part of the tomb – and I am through the gates.
I turn to find the first gate has closed itself again, but as I watch it opens up again, and this time, all three stay open. Warily, I return to the previous chamber, but all three portcullises stay open, so I motion to Lydia to resume following my armoured form and follow the narrow passage to a smaller room.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Lydia murmurs as we enter the space.
There is a small raised platform in the centre of the room, lined with fire trap-plates with a bright brazier in the centre. I know what to look for now, so I climb up the shallow steps and cross the platform, sticking to the lighter coloured plates. Beyond, I find the floor is a solid sheet of fire-plates, with an obvious path of lighter ones leading across fallen rubble.
The twisting path leads into a large room, with frostbite spiders scuttling across the large raised area in the middle. Looking up, I spot a larger one hiding in a hole in the ceiling, but the charm I am currently under means none of the horrible things take the blindest bit of notice of us. The doorway on the other side of the room is smothered in webbing, which I burn through with a simple spell to reveal the wooden door beyond.
I pause after Lydia and I file through the opening, remembering a spell book I picked up near the beginning of this damned crawl. I pull it out of my satchel and open the pages, watching the paper dissolve to ash as the arcane knowledge seeps into my mind. The ash disappears into thin air as I head towards the chain hanging from the wall which opens the large iron grill barring my progression into a great chamber, water making medium-sized pools on either side of the walkway towards an ornate coffin. In each corner is a simpler sarcophagus, the previous owners of which lie sprawled at the foot of each.
As I start into the dusty space, I gasp, pausing in wonder as, from each of the pools rise two tall pillars, carved in the basic likeness of a gaping maw. A similar exclamation comes from Lydia behind me as I head on down the stairs and along the walkway. Then my face falls in dismay.
The horn is not there.
In its place, a short note lies. Ignoring it for now, I take out my frustration by emptying the nearby urns of their wealth; only when I have finished and can find nothing else do I read the note.
Dragonborn. I need to speak to you – urgently. Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and I'll meet you. A friend. I can hardly trust someone who only signs off as 'a friend' but it seems I must. To Riverwood it is. If I ever get out of this place.
Beyond the ornate tomb is a door leading to a small room, gold scattered on the floor and in front of a chest sitting on a platform opposite the door. Gathering the gold, and clearing the chest and the urns also in the room of wealth, I lead Lydia up the narrow tunnel and through an iron door into a small room full of urns. These are soon emptied, as are the ones in the next room; then, emerging through an open doorway, I find myself in the corridor in which the necromancers had battled the Draugr.
Picking up the numerous bottles of mead as I pass, I hurry out of the tomb and into the fresh afternoon air. Obviously I was quicker in there than I thought I was – but then, I did start the day early. I head back towards Morthal and enter the large building in the centre of town, the sign outside naming it the 'Thaumaturgist's Hut'. The interior is filled with barrels and shelves of potions and ingredients, and an alchemy table sits under the stairs up to the higher floor.
"Oh do come in!" cries a voice. A lady emerges from behind the counter. "I hope I have what you need. If you need any alchemy supplies, I'll do my best to provide them, assuming I haven't used them all up!"
I take the chance to use the lab, creating a bunch of potions, but more often than not they turn out to be squibs. The ones that do work, however, I keep, turning to the counter where the pale-haired woman waits.
I buy some of what I have no identified to be healing potions, and sell my creations, the unwanted potions I have collected in my travels and the excess ingredients from my bag, including the two nirnroot, for which I get a good price – as I had anticipated.
"All right then." Says the store owner as I leave - she never even told me her name. Not that I mind; I can't be expected to remember the name of everyone I meet. I head into the inn and listen to the bard as I down the many bottles of alcohol that I found, partially in the hope that being drunk would make the bard sound like he had talent. Soon, I am out of my mind on drink, but the bard sounds no better.
Plonking the required gold on the counter in front of the innkeeper – Jonna, wasn't that her name? – I slump onto the bed and am out like a light.