Chapter 49: Arcwind Point

[9th of Sun's Height 4E 202]

After staying at High Hrothgar for more than a week, Fiona and I with our housecarls and 'pets' had traveled south from Ivarstead, heading towards Arcwind Point, where we hoped to find another word wall for the Dragonborn to learn a shout from. We had met a detachment of Stormcloaks searching for the Rift Imperial Camp, and together we had found and raided the place. That had implied to kill some people, as many soldiers of the Imperial Legion refused to surrender. I still had a problem with the killing, but understood that there were some situations where this could not be avoided. Potentially, with a paralyze spell covering an entire area, one might be able to capture such a group without bloodshed, but according to my knowledge even the Thalmor were only capable to magically paralyze a single person at a time.


After the fight, we had all stayed there for the night, recovering from the effort. While traveling uphill on the next day, a dragon had found us, and our combined efforts had helped to defeat the creature. Once we had rested a little bit, we continued to follow the trail uphill, and there were a few mostly broken stone arches on the sides, too. In a time long ago the stone arches might have been intact to indicate a special path or even road leading to … I did not know; what had been the purpose of those stone arches? I asked the question loud, and most of the companions shrugged. Jordis suggested eventually:

"Stone arches, mostly broken, can be found in various locations all over the province. I do not know who constructed them, but I have heard scholars discussing the option that they might be of Dwemer origin."

"But Dwemer focused on building underground?"

"Yes, but I haven't heard a better idea."

"Ayleids?"

"They certainly had some stone arches around their cities, but not in the open, specifically not in the northern part of Skyrim."

"Maybe the early Skyrim Nords?"

"Maybe, but they should have been busy enough with fighting and conquering."

So, this was going to stay an unresolved question; from playing the game, I could also not remember anything about the origin of the arches. Slowly we followed the trail uphill until it eventually leveled out after a series of turns and bends. The first structure we encountered was a dragon mound, an empty one; maybe the dragon we had just defeated had been in here before Alduin had resurrected it. A number of skeletons, maybe a dozen or so, were on the ground in the area, and they had obviously been the ones fighting the dragon first; they had not had a chance, even with some of them able to cast magic; their bones were spread out over a larger area. In addition to that we found two half-decayed dead bears, but we could not tell if they had been killed by a horde of skeletons or the dragon or both.

From here, we saw a path leading down in easterly direction, via some occasional stairs, and another path heading northwest, also with a few stone stairs here and there. No, actually there were two trails heading almost in the same direction, but according to the map and to what Gonnar had mentioned, both should get us to Arcwind Point. In general, while the temperature up here was significantly lower than down in the low areas of The Rift, it was still way above freezing, at least during the day, but there was some snow left from the winter on the shaded northern slopes around us. Not many plants were visible, but the occasional snowberry bush defied the unfriendly environment.

After a quick break we took the left path heading northeast; we followed it for some time, passing a quicksilver ore vein partially hidden by some bushes. Right after that there was a narrow gap leading left from the path; I was about to pass without paying attention, but suddenly I noticed that the location looked like there had been some digging here. Getting curious, I looked closer and started to explore the narrow passage, and once I had followed it for maybe 50 meters or so, the path ended, and a narrow hole allowed me to look ahead; I could not be fully sure due to the dim lighting inside the cave ahead, but it appeared to me like there was a door into an Ayleid ruin to me. What? Another Ayleid place in Skyrim? That had not been in the game, right? The others had followed, and I showed them what I had found. Lydia said:

"You did mention that there was some kind of Ayleid ruin below Hamvir's Rest; so, I guess, there's another one here."

Of course I had provided a summary of the events at Hamvir's Rest to my companions earlier. Iona mentioned:

"Still, to see another one. Of course, I've never been up here. But wait, who was doing the digging around here? And the gap ahead does not look wide enough for somebody to get through, right?"

She had a point, and Lydia suggested:

"To me it looks like someone, or maybe a small group of people, tried to excavate the entrance, and they were disturbed, either by other people or by animals, maybe even a dragon. Wait, isn't there something in that corner over there?"

She pointed towards a small nice between the rocks which we had not yet noticed. There were a few small items in there, a little bit of food remains, no longer edible, and a badly damaged and torn sheet of paper. We could only decipher parts of what was written there:

I was called upon to assist with the Rielle expedition, … The Ayleids believed the four elements to be Air, Water, Earth, and Light. From what I understand, shards representing these four elements may serve as "keys" to certain hidden chambers. It is fascinating to ponder …hidden chamber within Rielle, this might be how they are opened. But how? Where? At the cost of their lives,… I imagined not the horrors that awaited me… My team has been slain, and I have been injured… I just need to hold out a little longer...

"That does sound intriguing" Fiona commented.

"And it seems to confirm that the expedition members did not survive" Lydia added.

"But the note does not state what they expected to find here" Iona chimed in. "The ruin seems to have a name, Rielle, but I've never heard of it."

Fiona looked at me, and she asked with a visible smirk:

"So, Balu, judging from the look on your face, you feel tempted to explore here?"

"Kind of, yes, but maybe it would be better to come back here with a team of archaeologists. Besides, we are not here for Ayleid places, but to find word walls for you."

"Yes, indeed. I agree that there is some temptation, but let's not get ourselves distracted."

I nodded, and we got back to the main path. While we turned back in our original direction, I tried to remember if there had been an Ayleid ruin here at this location in the game. I could not recall any, but it was also possible that I had forgotten about it. But wait, wasn't there an Ayleid ruin with the name 'Rielle' in the 'Oblivion' game, somewhere in the northern part? But we were not close enough to the border to Cyrodiil for that one to be the same, right? I shook my head, and I was certainly going to talk to the three archaeologists about that.

Meanwhile, we could see an impressive structure coming up ahead. Four massive stone pillars rose from the ground on a raised and rectangular platform, leaning inwards at about 45 degrees, and meeting in the center, more than ten meters above the platform; four additional vertical support columns rose up closer to the center. There was something on the ground in the slightly raised center of the platform, right under the interconnecting arches, and it looked like a sarcophagus right next to some kind of altar. We looked at each other, and I asked:

"Do you see what I see?"

Fiona nodded:

"A sarcophagus; want to bet that there's an ugly draugr inside?"

"Most likely, yes. But there are five of us, plus our three animal companions, so that we should be able to manage."

"But look" Lydia chimed in, "there are also quite a few bones on the stairs!"

"Skeletons rising when we approach? You are right, Lydia, good point!" the Bosmer praised her.

"What about that?" I suggested. "I can send Spirit ahead, and we can see what she triggers. From here, we can use our long distance weapons first."

The others nodded; I summoned Spirit and sent her ahead to scout. Promptly a number of skeletons rose from the ground when my familiar approached, and while she took some of those, we helped with arrows and bolts. The sarcophagus showed no reaction and did not open up, though.

"Does this imply that there's nothing inside?" Jordis asked.

"I would like to believe that" I replied, "but I assume that my familiar was just not able to trigger the trap. When one of us gets there, this will probably change."

So, what did actually trigger a draugr to come out from a sarcophagus to fight? Noise, smell, or what? I did not really know; maybe a magical proximity sensor? Iona and Jordis looked at each other, and my housecarl suggested:

"So, Iona and I are willing to go there, and as soon as we trigger the draugr, you three can attack with bow and crossbow. What about that, my Thane?"

I looked at Fiona, and she seemed to like the idea. We both nodded, and the two Nord warrior ladies went ahead, swords held ready. Lydia, Fiona and I got onto a large rock to gain a slightly elevated position and got our own weapons ready, and indeed, when our two housecarls were about five meters from the sarcophagus, the lid opened with a loud cracking noise and a draugr or something similar emerged. We had been expecting that, and right away, before it was really out of the stone box yet, the draugr was hit by one bolt and two arrows. That at least helped to distract the undead; it focused on us and opened its mouth, but Iona and Jordis had approached from the sides and attacked with their swords, forcing the draugr to close its mouth and defending itself. Getting rid of the skeletons before had been a good idea, as we could fully concentrate our efforts on the draugr now. Based on the little impact our attacks so far seemed to have, it was likely a very high level one, and I sent a small fireball in its direction now. That seemed to do more than bolts and arrows, and I sent a second one right away. Fiona noticed that and called out:

"Iona, Jordis, step away!"

As soon as she saw the two housecarls getting back, the petite Bosmer shouted 'YOL' directly at the draugr, which still tried to recover from my fireballs. The shout was not fully effective due to the distance, but it certainly did considerable damage and made the draugr fall down on its knees. Quickly Iona and Jordis resumed their attacks, but the undead was not defeated yet; before Iona could do much about it, she got shouted at with a 'FUS RO DAH' from the draugr. Fortunately for her, the wounded draugr failed to fully hit her, but even the partial hit managed to blast her away, and she came to be on the ground at least five meters back, close to one of the pillars which had stopped her. I stayed where I was for now and continued to cast fireballs, but Fiona and Lydia ran down. The draugr looked at Fiona, and when it opened its mouth again, potentially ready for another shout, the Dragonborn was quicker and shouted 'YOL' once more, from a very short distance. The draugr was on the ground now, and Lydia rammed her sword down, separating head from body. Meanwhile, Jordis had run over to Iona and had a healing potion ready. As the Nord was unconscious, getting the content into her was difficult, but a quick healing spell from Fiona solved that problem. Iona probably had a few broken bones and a concussion, but our combined efforts helped to get her back to almost full health in a reasonable time; we needed another rest period anyway.


While we were all recovering and resting, specifically waiting for the healing potions to do their job properly in Iona՚s body, the Dragonborn looked around and noticed something:

"Look over there! Isn't that a word wall?"

Indeed, partially hidden by one of the stone pillars and half way around a corner, up a few more stairs, there was a structure which looked like a word wall. Fiona did not wait for an answer, got up and slowly walked there, almost like in trance; probably she could already hear the magical chanting. Like I had seen before a few times, she knelt down next to the wall, stayed like that for a few minutes, and then came back to us. Aware of our curiosity she explained:

"It is a word wall, and I got the first word of a shout called 'Drain Vitality' – 'GAAN'. I don't really know what it does, but I'd expect it to reduce stamina or health. Maybe I will get a chance to use it soon."

"Now, what's next? Are we ready to find out what's up there?"

I pointed in what I assumed to be north, where more stairs led up to something like a stone building with rounded roof.

"Sure, let's investigate!" the Dragonborn agreed. "Iona, you stay behind us and take it easy!"

The Nord housecarl nodded, and once again I sent Spirit ahead to scout. We followed at some distance, and sure enough, the familiar got into a fight when she entered the building, once more with a few skeletons. Hanni and Nanni raced off as well, as did Nymeria, and the direwolf triggered a trap right at the door, with a battering ram coming down. It would have hit a human person in the chest, but passed above the animal. I sighed and admitted:

"I'm glad that this wasn't me!"

"Yeah, me too" Fiona agreed.

The skeletons were quickly taken care of, but right behind the building, just outside the door opening at the other side, another draugr rose from a sarcophagus. Fiona was close enough, and before the draugr could attack, it was fully hit by the Dragonborn՚s 'YOL' shout. Lydia and Jordis immediately attacked with their swords, and I used opportunities to blast flames from my hands. Similar to the previous draugr, a second shout from Fiona ended the fight. This time none of us had received any injuries, and we quickly looked around and looted the area, although there wasn't very much to find. There was a lone unmarked grave on the left side with a few nightshade plants growing around it, but not much more.

"So, what's next?" Jordis asked. "This tower over there?"

She pointed to the east, and there was indeed a tower with stairs leading up to it. Actually, it looked more like two towers wall to wall; an odd construction. I looked at Fiona and asked here:

"This tower over there seems to be the only way to go from here; shall we investigate?"

"Yes, let's do this! As you know, I like towers, and I want see the view from up there!"

In my opinion, the view could not be great, as the elevations around us were much higher than the tower, but I was also curious to have a look. As before, I sent Spirit ahead, and she started to get up the first set of stairs, while we followed at some distance. When my familiar had reached the first platform and turned towards the second flight of stairs, to her right, she was stopped by a draugr. Hanni and Nanni followed behind and raced towards her, and within seconds the draugr had to defend itself against three saber cats. This one seemed to be a weaker undead and was soon dead (again) on the ground, but a second one took its place. I now helped my saber cats with a bolt from my crossbow, and this one was also quickly defeated.

"Was that all they got?" Fiona asked.

"Would be nice, but I refuse to hope for that" I responded. "I am afraid that the strongest enemies may be hiding inside the tower."

"Yeah, you are probably right. Send Spirit in first?"

"No, this time Hanni and Nanni will go first, and they will try to lure foes out to us."

"You think that this will work? If it does, I may want to train Nymeria to do something like that, too."

"Hanni and Nanni are smart enough, yes. Let's try. Girls, move on, but come back as soon as you are attacked – got it?"

I knew that they could not understand my words in all detail, but they were quite smart, at least as smart as a good dog on Earth was, maybe more so, and I thought that they got my intention. Slowly and sneakily they moved up the next sets of stairs, until they arrived at the tower door. Once there, they started to growl, and a few seconds later, someone stepped out of the tower, whereas three people approached from a platform left of the tower. The single person stopped and looked around first, while the other three prepared their weapons and raced towards my saber cats. I had to make an attempt first to find out if our attack would be justified, and I had moved ahead of my friends. I raised my right hand and called out:

"Hey, wait, my saber cats won't attack you until you attack them. Can we talk first, maybe?"

The three who had been on the platform seemed to snort or so, and the single one who had been in the tower shouted out:

"Come up here and die!"

Only now I noticed that this was a Khajiit, and I replied:

"I am a Khajiit as well! No reason to fight each other!"

The other Khajiit just laughed and replied:

"The fact that you made it up here is reason enough to kill you. Get them!"

The last was meant for the three others, and I now saw that they were Forsworn. What? Forsworn, here in the Rift? I did not have the time to ponder this and quickly retreated a few steps to avoid arrows aimed at me; my companions also shot arrows upwards. When the three Forsworn were about to pass the Khajiit and thus all four of them were close together, Fiona jumped right next to me and shouted 'FUS RO DAH' against the group, from about twenty meters away. The effect was imminent, even from a distance, and all four enemies were blown into the tower. Our three housecarls ran up to finish the fight, and as all four enemies were injured and very dizzy from the impact of their bodies on the tower walls, this was quickly done. Right at that time another Forsworn came down the steps inside the tower, and she complained:

"What's all that noise here? And why have you killed my companions and even Alvassor?"

"Well, they attacked us first!"

I was unsure what to think about that fourth Forsworn. She did not attack us at that time, and it should be obvious that we were not her friends. Why did she try to have a conversation first? Slowly the remaining person retreated back into the tower, and slowly as well we followed. We did not enter right away, and with the sunshine outside it was difficult to see what was going on inside, too. The Forsworn seemed to lean against the wall on the other side, without any weapon in her hands. She wore something which probably resembled typical Forsworn armor, which left parts of the body uncovered, including belly, upper arms and upper legs, and she looked like she was in control of the situation, although that might be just my imagination.

One by one we passed the tower entrance and slowly approached her. I had a feeling that something was not right, and only seconds later, when we were about in the center of the ground floor, I found that my suspicion was justified. I noticed too late that she was standing next to a set of levers in the wall, and she quickly pulled one of them. The ground below, a major part of the floor inside the tower, opened up to the side, and all five us were dropped down a few meters, fortunately onto a soft muddy ground. Another click was heard, and a metal grate started to shift above us to block the exit; she had us outwitted and caught.

[Author's Notes: The Ayleid ruin 'Rielle' is covered by the CC mod 'The Cause', but Balu never bought/used any of the Creation Club mods. I did neither, but I am confused about the location; if there's a connection to the Ayleid ruin with the same name in Oblivion, the location seems to be off – the Oblivion Rielle is northwest of Bruma, whereas the Skyrim one is east of the Pale Pass.]