J'zargo immediately prepared his spell and asked, "Any Draugrs in here?"
"Probably," Onmund replied. "Just be on the lookout."
As they continued forward, they saw a horrific sight before them. There was blood all over the floor and a few dead bodies lying in the middle of it.
"How horrible!" Brelyna commented as she took a step forward.
Just then, Onmund noticed the pressure plate on the floor right as she stepped onto it. Danielle must've seen it just then, as well, because together, he and Danielle reached out and grabbed her by the arms.
"Ouch!" Brelyna cried out as her two friends yanked her back just as spears came shooting out of the statues on each side of the wall, right where she had been standing just seconds before. She then let out a gasp.
"Ancient traps," Danielle explained, as she and Onmund let go of her.
"That pressure plate you stepped on set it off," Onmund added.
"Oh…thank you," Brelyna said, appearing a little shaken up. "I'm sorry…I'll be more careful next time."
As the mages stepped carefully around the pressure plate, Danielle gasped at the sight of one of the dead bodies. "This man has died recently!" she exclaimed.
The other three mages gathered around her and the body, and Onmund could see that it was a young, Nord man dressed in Fur Armor. He indeed did not appear to have been dead for long.
"Could it have been one of the adventurers who wrote that journal?" Brelyna questioned.
"It could've been," Onmund answered. "But I don't think he wrote the journal. Whoever wrote it was a mage, judging from his references to practicing spells and such."
"Some adventurer," J'zargo quipped. "He didn't even make it past the first trap."
Onmund winced. His reservations against exploring ancient Nordic ruins were starting to come back to him again like they did in Saarthal. We really have no business poking around in here. Look where it got that fellow…
"Surely there must be other survivors," Danielle said, which reminded him that they were in here for a good cause.
"Then let's keep looking," Onmund said finally, and they all continued onwards.
They came into a very large, airy chamber, and before they could move through it, they saw the coffins along the walls begin to break open. Several Draugrs emerged and the four mages quickly sprang into action.
As two Draugrs ran straight towards Onmund, he warded to avoid the heavy-handed blows of their swords and attacked them with Chain Lightning. He then ducked under the swing of one of their swords and ran past them to distance himself from them, but he ended up stepping right onto a patch of thick oil and he felt his feet slide right from under him and he fell hard onto his back. "Oof!" he cried out and tried to get up quickly.
Just then, he heard Danielle shout, "Everyone get away from the oily patch!"
I'm working on it, he said to himself as he scrambled to his feet and away from the oil. He turned around and put his hands up as he saw the two Draugrs running towards him. As they stepped right over the oily patch, they both slipped, flying straight up into the air and back down onto the oil on their backs, just like Onmund had earlier. A small smile threatened to break out on his face at the humorous sight but just then, the oil burst into flames, sending him recoiling backwards from the intense heat. He watched in amazement as the Draugrs cried out in pain as their bodies were consumed by the flames. Danielle must have set that fire! he thought in amazement.
"Guys, this way!" he heard Danielle's voice shout, and he looked over to his left to see her standing at a doorway.
He ran over to her and Brelyna and J'zargo rejoined her, as well, and J'zargo cried out, "Arch-Mage almost set this one's tail on fire!"
"I'm sorry," Danielle apologized.
"That was a neat trick!" Brelyna remarked. "Setting the oil on fire! How did you know to do that?"
"Um, it was something else that my mentor had taught me," she answered.
"Who is this mentor?" Brelyna questioned. "They really taught you well."
"Oh, he was a Restoration and Destruction mage like I was," she replied. "He had been around Skyrim quite a bit."
As Danielle continued answering Brelyna's questions about her "mentor" (whom Onmund recognized as Marcurio without a doubt even though he was never mentioned by name), he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy rise up within him. Danielle must've spent quite a bit of time with this Marcurio fellow to have picked up on so many diverse skills, he thought ruefully. He got to have more time with her one-on-one than even I had, probably. How…unfair. But then again, he had to remind himself that she had refused Marcurio's advances, however frequent or infrequent they were.
There was a spiral staircase of wooden steps leading upward, so the four mages ascended the staircase to the top, where there was a rickety wooden bridge leading to a platform just above the large chamber they were in. As they crossed the bridge to the other side, they noticed blood stains on the platform.
"Oh, no!" Danielle gasped as they all ran towards it.
The body of a Dunmer mage lay dead on the platform, and he was covered in blood. Right next to him lay a bloodied dagger, a journal, and a large claw made out of ivory. Furthermore, they noticed a small pedestal with an engraving of some sort on it. It sort of resembled the shape of the claw.
"This must be the mage we were looking for," Onmund declared woefully, picking up the journal from the floor. He opened it up and started reading it.
"What does it say?" Brelyna asked after several seconds had passed.
Onmund finally closed the journal, feeling chills run up his spine. "It's true," he declared, looking at his friends grimly. "Gauldur's sons did kill him. They…they wanted Gauldur's amulet for themselves. So they split it into three pieces and each has possession of it."
"How did they die?" Danielle asked.
"They were overcome by the High King's battlemages, led by an Archmage named Geirmund," he explained. "The three sons were each sealed within tombs, never to be unearthed again."
"Until Jyrik was," Brelyna pointed out.
He nodded. "And now we have broken the seal of the other two sons' souls. No doubt they're going to come out looking for Jyrik's piece of the amulet. What is happening now cannot be undone…"
"You mean…Gauldur's other sons are going to wake up?" Danielle questioned. "And what are they going to do?"
"They're going to do whatever it takes to find each other and put the pieces of the amulet back together," he answered. "Even if it means turning the whole of Skyrim upside down."
"Then we've got to stop them!" J'zargo proclaimed.
Onmund looked nervously down at the ground. "Yes. We've got to…"
"Then we'd better get to them before they get out!" Danielle urged.
Onmund looked back at her and saw the determined fire burning in her eyes. It was like Labyrinthian all over again. He said to them, "Right. Let's see if we can get across to the other side here." He picked the ivory claw up from the floor. Just beyond the pedestal, there appeared to be a bridge that was raised up. It was attached to some ropes running from the platform to the ceiling. There had to be a way to trigger the bridge to come down and he figured that the ivory claw and the pedestal with the strange engraving on it was the key.
The others watched curiously as Onmund placed the claw onto the pedestal, inserting the three "toes" of it into the holes on the engraving. It clicked into place and he turned it to the right.
Suddenly, they heard a rumbling as the ropes began to move. Onmund jumped back in surprise as the bridge came crashing down towards him, barely missing him.
"Onmund, are you all right!?" Danielle asked as the other mages joined him at the edge of the platform.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, breathing a sigh of relief. That was close, he thought. But the bridge was now set before them and provided a path to the other side of the room. They each walked across it one at a time.
As they journeyed further through the ruin, Onmund started becoming nostalgic of all of the adventuring that he and Danielle had done together. They had fought Draugrs, Dwemer automatons, Falmer, dragons, giants, and countless other foe together, and had established a comfortable rhythm of attacking their foe, alternating between stunning them with Onmund's Lightning Bolts and burning them with Danielle's Firebolts. She was here with him now, but with Brelyna and J'zargo also around, it didn't feel the same. It also didn't help that he wasn't used to his other friends' spellcasting styles, so things quickly became chaotic at best in the heat of a battle. J'zargo was very aggressive with his shock spells, and at one point, Onmund was nearly hit by one of his Chain Lightning bolts but he warded just in time, chewing the Khajiit out afterwards. On the other hand, Brelyna was kind of timid when it came to attacking. Wielding a Staff of Sparks, she seemed to want to get very close to the enemy before unleashing it on them, and Onmund had a very hard time trying to strike the enemy with his lightning attacks without hitting her. But…these are my fellow Apprentices, and I have to get used to training with them, he knew. The days where Danielle and I can go out adventuring alone are long gone. There was no time to feel sad about it, though, as he constantly had to be on his toes in these ruins.
They finally came upon a door unlike any that Onmund had seen before. It had an engraving similar to the one on the pedestal that he had used the ivory claw on. Above it were three discs, each with an engraving of a different animal on it. Onmund proceeded to stick the ivory claw onto the bottom engraving to see if he could unlock the door with it. As he turned it, some green gas came spewing out of the door that burned his eyes.
"Aghhh!" the other mages cried out as the poisonous gas began to fill the room.
Coughing and hacking, Onmund ran away from the gas cloud and his friends followed, also coughing and hacking. His eyes were burning so bad that he squeezed them shut and he felt like he wanted to claw them out with his hands.
"J'zargo can't see!" J'zargo cried. "He can't see!"
Suddenly, he felt someone touch him and someone's hands were upon his eyes. He heard a whisper of an incantation and a strange feeling overtook him. He realized that it was Danielle's hands that were upon him and she was healing him. She took her hands away and Onmund opened his eyes. He could see again and his eyes no longer burned! He looked down at the Arch-Mage.
"Better?" she asked him.
"Better," he replied, smiling. "Thank you."
"Oh, thank you, Danielle!" Brelyna piped up as she and J'zargo were also healed.
"Anytime," Danielle responded.
"I'm extremely sorry," Onmund apologized. "I must've done something wrong to trigger that trap."
The four of them went back up to the door. "Strange," Danielle observed, examining the engravings closely. "It appears that you should use that claw in here, but that alone didn't open the door…It must have something to do with these animal engravings. There are three of them…" She then reached out towards one of the discs and spun it. The image on the engraving shifted to that of another animal. "Amazing!"
"That must be the key," Brelyna guessed. "We just have to move the discs to show the right combination of images before we can open this door."
"But what is the 'right' combination?" J'zargo questioned.
"Hmmm," Onmund pondered. He picked the claw up off the floor which he had dropped earlier when the poisonous gas overtook him. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Oh! I know!" Right on the claw itself were three images of animals going down in a line- two hawks and one dragon. "It's right here on the claw!" He showed it to his two friends and their faces lit up also. He stood right in front of the door and began moving the discs. The top one he shifted over to the hawk image as well as the second one, and then he shifted the bottom one to the dragon image. He then sighed and said, "Here goes nothing."
"This better work!" J'zargo quipped. "Gas in J'zargo's eyes was no good!"
Ignoring him, Onmund placed the claw into the engraving again and turned it. He took a step back, bracing himself for another booby trap, but instead the door began to open! It slowly descended into the ground and the way head was now open.
"You did it!" Brelyna cheered.
"Way to go, Onmund!" Danielle exclaimed.
Onmund smiled and they all moved on. They came upon another door- this one unlocked, and went through. They found themselves in a gigantic crypt. The room reminded him of the giant room in Saarthal where they had fought Jyrik Gauldurson, so he stopped and whispered to his friends, "I think this is it."
"This is what?" Brelyna asked.
"The room where one of Gauldur's sons is buried," he answered.
Just then, as if in response to Onmund's statement, they heard the sound of stones breaking.
Danielle gasped and pointed. "Look!" She was pointing to the stone coffin in the center of the room which was now beginning to break open.
The mages all jumped back as the lid broke off and a Draugr climbed out of it. It stood up on its feet and the two girls screamed. "Wo alok dilon?" it spoke in a slow, gravelly voice.
"Uhhh, what did he say?" Brelyna asked fearfully.
"'Who raises the dead?'" Onmund translated. He then cleared his throat and spoke in a loud voice, "Mu!" He pointed to himself and then the other mages. "Mu mindok vahzen!" He then pointed to the Draugr and said angrily, "Hin krii bormah!"
"Dii bormah?" the Draugr questioned.
"Geh! Gauldur!" he finished.
"Gauldur…" the Draugr repeated, as if trying to remember. The sides of his rotted cheeks then turned up slightly and he nodded. "Aam, dii bormah. Rok nil. Rok lostaan suleyk sirglov."
"Danielle," he whispered to the Arch-Mage. "Let me see that amulet fragment."
With fear in her eyes, Danielle handed Onmund the fragment of the Gauldur Amulet. He held it up in front of him so that the Draugr could see it and he shouted, "Daar sirglov?"
The Draugr's eyes widened. "Sirglov!" he cried and then warned, narrowing his eyes, "Zu'u ofan!"
With a smirk, Onmund quickly put the amulet around his neck and taunted, "Vey dii klov. Ruz gahrot sirglov."
The Draugr appeared confused at first by his poor grammar, but then understood what he meant. He snarled and yelled, "Fen dir!" He then raised up his sword and ran towards Onmund.
Danielle and Brelyna screamed again as the Draugr swung at Onmund and missed, as Onmund nimbly backed away from him and shot him with a Lightning Bolt. The other three mages started attacking him, as well.
Soon though, four other Draugrs broke out of the coffins along the walls and joined the fray. The mages were divided among them, with Onmund striking Gauldur's son with his shock spells and warding when he tried to hit him with his sword.
Soon, the mages defeated the Draugrs and they all focused their attacks on the son of Gauldur. He eventually went down and the four of them cheered.
"Victory!" Onmund shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
"We did it!" Danielle cheered. She then went over to the coffin that the first Draugr had broken out of and the other mages followed her. There were two objects in it- a scroll and an amulet fragment. She picked them both up and showed it to the other Apprentices.
Onmund took the scroll, unrolled it and read it out loud, "Be bound here, Mikrul, murderer, betrayer. Condemned by your crimes against realm and lord. May your name and your deeds be forgotten forever. And the charm which you bear be sealed by our ward."
"Well, so much for that," Brelyna remarked. "But at least we took care of him, right?"
"There's only one amulet fragment left, right?" J'zargo asked.
"Yes, one left," Onmund responded. "It is with Gauldur's third son. He then reached into his pocket and pulled the Dunmer mage's journal out. "According to this, Sigdis, who is the third son, is buried in the same tomb that was built for Arch-Mage Geirmund."
"Where is this tomb?" Danielle asked.
Looking back at the journal, Onmund replied, "It is on the 'lake which still bears his name.'" He then scratched his chin in thought and continued, "There is no lake in Skyrim called 'Geirmund' but…there is Lake Geir, which is near Ivarstead. I think that's it."
"Ivarstead!" Brelyna exclaimed. "That'll take a while to get to."
"J'zargo is ready for the long journey!" J'zargo chimed in.
"All right," Onmund said. "But it's up to the Arch-Mage to decide." He then looked at Danielle.
"We should go right away," Danielle said.
"Will we stop in Morthal again?" Brelyna questioned.
"We'll get there by late afternoon," Onmund said. "We should probably cover as much ground as possible. We'll probably have to camp somewhere in the mountains south of it. We can take Cold Rock Pass to the south and make camp in the foothills."
"I'm all right with that," Danielle said.
"J'zargo worries about the cold," J'zargo quipped.
"I don't see how you get cold," Onmund teased. "You've got fur!"
"This one is not used to this climate, though!" he complained.
Onmund chuckled. "Oh, you'll survive. We'll make a fire and everything."
With that, the mages left Folgunthur and headed south. After navigating through the marshlands, which was easier by daylight, they went through Morthal without stopping anywhere in town and further south into the mountains.
Here is the translation for the interchange between Mikrul and Onmund:
"Mu! Mu mindok vahzen! Hin krii bormah!" (We! We know the truth! You killed (your) father!)
"Dii bormah?" (My father?)
"Geh! Gauldur!" (Yes! Gauldur!)
"Gauldur…Aam, dii bormah. Rok nil. Rok lostaan suleyk sirglov." (Gauldur…ah, my father. He was worthless. But he had a powerful amulet.)
"Daar sirglov?" (This amulet?)
"Sirglov! Zu'u ofan!" (The amulet! Give it to me!)
"Vey dii klov. Ruz gahrot sirglov." (Cut my head. Then steal amulet.)
"Fen dir!" ((You) will die!)
NOTE: For those paying very close attention, I could not find the word for "amulet" so I literally just made it up.
I don't know how I could do half the things I enjoy doing in the game if it weren't for console commands and mods. Followers get left behind, stuck, and die all the time, it seems. I suppose I would just have to be more careful with my save files or something! J'zargo and Brelyna are not against the idea of seeing Onmund and Danielle get together, but they are definitely afraid of the favoritism aspect. Onmund is just going to have to man-up and take matters into his own hands at some point...but he'll have to endure some more abuse to get there (hehe, I feel sort of bad for abusing Onmund). Saarthal was a pretty tame ruin, wasn't it? I'm also wondering if the excavators had already cleaned out most of its dangers, too.