"What do you have to say for yourself, thief, before I kill you for the dishonor you have granted us?"
"Uh... *ahem* I am the Last Dragonborn, destined defeater of Miraak the Betrayer, and was given no knowledge of the trials I must face to obtain my mask, only that it was mine to obtain."
The wizened Draugr's eyes seem to gleam brightly in the darkness of the room. The sun must be starting to set. "Oh? How intriguing. Well 'Konahrik', I find your answer to be more than satisfying. However, was it not obvious just looking at our beloved shrine what the goal was? Must you really have asked your accursed patriarch to manipulate time itself so that you may steal your own mask?"
"In the time that's passed? Eras have come and gone, draugr. There is no evidence to be found that the other Priests could be around, nevermind with their masks. Do you ask that I disturb the rest of all of their corpses?"
The Draugr smiled, which was an ungodly sight. There may have been maggots or rot in his mouth and teeth, for all that I tried to avoid looking too closely. "An excellent answer, Dovahkiin. I will call them here, one by one, and you will face them to their death, or yours. Until this trial is done, you are nameless, and that mask upon your face shall offer you no salvation."
"Krosis. No time like the present. Call them as soon as you can." I replied, eager to earn my mask. Perhaps I was a little rash to grab the thing, but I had been a little disappointed in not being able to see what the full adventure was like. This was better by far.
"First, the closest." The Draugr said in his hissing voice. "Morokei!" he shouted, his Thu'um rumbling the earth slightly.
Like floodgates, the Labyrinthian opened with a massive tidal wave of magickal energy and clambering frost.
The Dragon Priest, Morokei, complete with his mask and the Staff of Magnus, uncaring of whatever barrier may have once contained him, soared out, floating amongst a nucleus of magicka. He lowered his staff as he floated nearby, andlooked at the old Draugr.
"What business do you require, Tender? I must thank you, though, my freedom is newly acquired after having been trapped by a Dunmer with sacrificial magicks. Savos Aren will pay..."
"One who wishes to claim the name of Konahrik has approached, at long last. A Dovakiin of the current Era."
The Dragon Priest turned to look at me. "How curious. Is your wish for me to challenge him?"
"Yes." The draugr replied. "You may begin whenever you are ready."
Morokei flew backwards a few feet, clearing out of melee range, before stopping. "You are lucky, Dragonborn. I have been weakened by years of undeath, and of sealing by the Dunmer mage, Savos Aren. Do you know the name?"
"The current Archmage of Winterhold College." I replied, unsheathing my sword and readying my familiar spell.
"Good. I would loathe for him to have escaped his fate with an easy death. Know this, Dragonborn. If you are to be Konahrik, I would ask you to make him suffer, to torment him as I would have, and if you are not, then that will be my goal."
The Priest seemed to be promising, on some level, that he wouldn't use his freedom to cause undue problems to the current time beyond his role in killing Savos. A nice thought, but ultimately not one that would withstand if they were to learn of Alduin's return.
"I have no more need for words." I replied, and the undead Priest nodded.
Lightning flashed by my ear as I ducked and lunged, unleashing a Bear familiar as I went in deep with my sword. The Priest, similar to the games, was tricky. Fast and with some sort of quick teleportation ability, along with Atronachs, the Staff of Magnus, and seemingly endless levels of energy to fuel his magick, I spent tens of minutes struggling to lay a fatal blow.
Sword slashes did fairly nothing, as his skin did not bleed. Joint injuries were ignored in favor of his ceaseless hovering. Restoration spells buffed his flagging vitality anytime I seemed to start putting a dent in things.
The time for subtlety was soon over.
I cast another Bear, and followed up with the most passionate shouts I had available, venting all of my frustration and desperation into it.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!!!" I bellowed, concentrating on ever aspect of each word. Fire, as it was created, fueled, existed, burned, destroyed, changed. Fire as it was meant mythically, what it meant to me, what people wanted from it, what it represented spiritually. Then Inferno, as it represented an amount of devastation, and every meaning I could find in it. Finally, The Sun, both is everything it meant on it's own, but also how it represented the Aedra and how the gods had sacrificed for this world, and how Magnus left us this font that gave people strength.
The Shout worked exactly as it always should have. Not how it did in the game, where it was a practically meaningless spell that burned the enemy a bit, not like how the Dragon's did it. It came out how I expected a Dragon's Fire Breath to. A massive Fireball, blasted at such force that Morokei, besides the artifacts he had worn and wielded, was left a black mark of soot against the melted snow and glowing rock.
Skill Added
Fire Breath LV. ???
Using three Words of Power, you have understood and used the power of Fire to scorch your enemies. This skill changes greatly on your imagination and your ability to focus on the meaning of the Thu'um.
The Draugr off to the side clapped. "Excellent job there with Morokei, Nameless Dovahkiin. It was such a surprise to see you wait so long to use your voice that I had wondered if you'd lied to me, but it seems you have proved yourself both in combat and in the strength of your Thu'um."
I turned back to him to come up with something to say, only for my wounds to heal greatly in an instant as the mask on my face glowed in runic script.
The Draugr smiled widely and laughed. "So, Konahrik has decided that you have a powerful enough Voice to be worthy of him. You will still need to fight the rest of the Priests, but I will allow you to go with my blessing to find and face them on your own. Here is their names, and I'll mark their general locations on your map. Once they see your mask, they will know what you are there for, and once they hear your voice, they will come outside to meet you."
The old Draugr marked my map as promised, an old paper thing that I'd looted off of one of the bandits, and wrote down the names of the Priests in the dragon language on the side of the paper before retreating into the Shrine sanctuary.
Quest Complete