Chapter 53: Angarvunde - treasure

[11th of Sun's Height 4E 202]

Medresi Dran, the Dunmer we had met here, and our group – Fiona and myself with our housecarls and animal followers – had started to explore Angarvunde. So far, we'd had to fight against many draugr of various levels, and one of them had used the 'disarm' shout I hated.

When we were ready to go on, we carefully searched the upper area, but all we found was a copy of the book 'The Wraith's Wedding Dowry' by Voltha gra-Yamwort, translated by Apthorne, subtitled 'Story of how an Orc reclaims her wedding gift from thieves'. Being curious, I quickly browsed the content, but the book did not appear to be related to the location and the quest here; it was likely one of those random books one could occasionally find in odd places. There was a sentence right at the start which caught my attention, though:

There is something life-changing about being in love.

This was an excellent point, and I wondered if I had ever experienced this. I had liked a few girls a lot, yes, but had I ever really been in love? I am sure that I had had a crush a few times, but was real love different and much more than that? Life-changing?

My companions had started to move on, and when Jordis called out to me, I stopped my musing and hurried to catch up. We managed to get out to the large room with the multiple doors again, and what we assumed to be the door to the final area was now wide open.

Before we got there, we used the opportunity to eat and rest, and eventually we got ready and passed the door. The winding passage which started there led us downwards, and we went through two flights of stairs. At the end of the stairs Lydia, who went ahead this time, barely managed to avoid triggering a trap, and we decided to send Spirit again for now. My ghost familiar promptly triggered another trap, and a set of swinging blades started to move. I used the opportunity to try and train Spirit to move ahead, find the hopefully existing pull chain or lever at the other end to disarm the trap and activate it. After a few attempts in that direction, though; I had to give up for now; while the familiar did not actually suffer from the blades themselves, she either could not manipulate the chain or did not seriously try. Fiona, being the smallest among us, volunteered to crawl ahead and do the job; apparently she felt confident enough to do that, and indeed, the gap between the ground and the blades seemed to be more than good enough for her, although others, specifically me, would not have been able to squeeze through like this.

I had already realized sometime ago that there were apparently different type of trap triggers; many worked when there was significant weight on them, and Spirit would not trigger those. Others, like the ones starting and stopping the swinging blades, could be triggered by my familiar, and I did not really know how they worked – light? motion? Anyway, this was useful; even if Spirit was 'killed' by one of those traps, I could re-conjure her and send her again as often as needed, as I had done in other locations before.

The passage led on to a series of rooms on two levels, and we soon found that the area had been equipped with many more traps. Some loot to pick up, like potions, triggered something, there were levers either opening a door or setting off another trap, and there were barely visible weight triggers on the ground triggering evil darts or even spike traps. Basically, we had to proceed step by step and examine each section and object carefully, but even with all of that caution we set off a few traps, fortunately avoiding any serious injuries. Once we had managed to get trough all of that, a door got us into another passage, which ended in a room with a sturdy metal gate block in the other exit. There was a lever in the center of the room and a puzzle stone pillar in each corner, like we had seen in Bleak Falls Barrow and other places. This time, though, the right combination was not directly shown above the puzzle pillars, but we had to go back to the previous area and search for hints. Eventually we found all hints, but the order was not fully clear; we needed a few attempts until we got it right, but finally the heavy metal gate was lifted and the way forward was open.

We go into another passage, and after a few turns this one opened up into a large room with at least three levels. At the far end, it looked like there was a word wall, but close to the center of the room, there was a large stone table or altar with a coffin right on it; smaller coffins and niches were lined up along the side walls, a few draugr could be seen patrolling the upper walkways, and the room somehow looked dangerous. None of us went ahead to explore for now, and Fiona told nobody in particular:

"I don't like this; this looks evil."

I agreed with her; such a place with a coffin in the center did look suspicious. Before I had a chance to add any comment, a side door in the room opened and two people in cultist robes stepped out. One of them spoke, mainly addressing Fiona:

"Dragonborn, you have been warned several times not to interfere with Alduin and his dragons; your time is at an end right now and here."

Naturally, we all got our weapons ready, but the two cultists quickly got back to where they had come from and closed the door behind them; I was not sure if they had just intended to taunt us or they knew they weren't a match for us, or both. Thus, I was a little bit confused, but the reaction followed right away, as the coffin on the altar started to move, the lid was raised and moved to the side, and an undead emerged from the sarcophagus – I was sure that this was either a very high level draugr or even a dragon priest, more powerful and dangerous than any draugr. The undead looked at us and moved its hands, and right away most of the coffins around opened up and skeletons plus a few more draugr arose from them, not only down here, but apparently also some on higher levels of the room. Hanni and Nanni did not wait for my command, and together with Spirit they raced off to fight the skeletons. However, the skeletons were just a distraction, and the dragon priest showed us some of its capabilities by conjuring a frost atronach, followed by an ice cloud cast in our general direction. Lydia, Iona and Jordis, being Nords, formed a barrier in front of Medresi, Fiona and me, and the battle was on. The Dunmer turned out to be capable of fighting, after all, and she sent a fire ball towards the dragon priest. The Dragonborn augmented that by shouting 'YOL', and that at least got the undead's attention.

Fiona's Nymeria jumped ahead now, directly towards the dragon priest, and while the Dragonborn tried to call her back, she attacked the undead. The dragon priest turned around and prepared a spell, and seconds later a massive ice spear was formed and blasted right through the direwolf. The Bosmer cried, apparently fearing for her friend's life:

"Nymeria! No!"

To our surprise, though, the animal shrugged it off like nothing and continued pushing and biting the undead. That effort forced the enemy to focus on Nymeria, and I found the time to prepare my crossbow and send bolts towards the dragon priest. A single bolt did not make much of a difference, but Fiona sent nicely aimed arrows, and Medresi used her fire balls to keep the frost atronach at bay. While Iona distracted the atronach by attacking from the other side, Hanni and Nanni and Spirit still handled the skeletons at the sides of the room, while Lydia and Jordis tried to find good opportunities to use their swords. The dragon priest tried another ice spear at Nymeria, which had the same effect as the one before – nothing at all, or nothing visible at least – and the two housecarls finally got the chance to attack at the same time. The undead turned around, forcing them to retreat, which allowed Fiona to step close; she shouted 'FUS RO DAH' from just a couple of meters away, and not even a dragon priest could resist that; it was blasted right into the stone wall of the sarcophagus it had come out from. I had an idea, jumped forward, lifted the heavy lid and placed it right onto the lower section, crushing one of the undead's arms in the process. Once the lid was more or less closed, I sat on it to hopefully prevent the undead from getting out again, at least temporarily. With a fully healthy dragon priest, this might not have been enough, but the enemy was wounded and weakened; the lid moved a few times below me, but the dragon priest failed to get it off again; at least for the time being, the combined weight of my body and the stone lid was too much.

I knew that we'd have to finish it off eventually, but at least now we had time to handle the other enemies. In the heat of the battle we had more or less ignored the draugr on the higher walkways, and some of us had failed to avoid arrows sent by them. Fiona used her archery skill, and aided by nicely aimed fire balls from Medresi, the draugr were killed one by one. The saber cats had taken care of the skeletons, and a few minutes later only the dragon priest in the sarcophagus remained. We spend a few more minutes to heal the arrow wounds in my arm – while fighting, I had barely noticed them – and in Lydia's upper leg, and once we were ready, all of the others placed themselves in a semi circle around the altar. When everybody was ready, I jumped off the lid, and stepped to the side, and soon the lid was slowly lifted. The dragon priest, looking quite battered, started to emerge again, and when Fiona gave the signal, it was hit by my bolt, Fiona's and Jordis' arrow, and Medresi's fire ball. Right after that, the Dragonborn shouted 'YOL' directly onto the undead from just about one meter away, and that finally did the job; the remainder folded itself into the sarcophagus and did not move any longer. A few seconds later what was left of the dragon priest turned into an ash pile, and that was it.

As soon as I noticed this, I allowed myself to sit on the floor and take a few deep breaths. That had been quite a hairy fight, and I felt exhausted. Fiona used the opportunity to find a seat on the altar, looking at the ashes with suspicion visible on her face, and our three housecarls carefully looked around to make that we had not missed anything dangerous, before they also relaxed. Eventually Fiona asked:

"What was that? A special draugr?"

"I believe that this was what they call a dragon priest" I replied.

"A dragon priest? What's that supposed to be? I believe that the term was mentioned before, but never really explained."

Lydia took that and showed off with her education once again:

"According to legend, dragon priests were once the loyal servants of the ancient dragons of Skyrim. They ruled over men in their gods' names. For some reason, they can be found in some coffins and sarcophagi in various places, likely areas where dragons had been worshiped. In combat, they are incredibly dangerous, as we have seen."

Iona added:

"Look, we found a book on a table in a corner, and this seems to be related and interesting!"

The redhead handed it over to me, and I read loud for everybody to hear:

Draugr and the Dragon Cult

by Dragon Cult Chronicler, Skormvnir Kyrrund (A plea to honor and cherish the draugr of Skyrim)

There is little scripture detailing the ancient followers of the Dragon Cult and their relationship to their priests. Many have attempted to comprehend the full depth of this connection, only to woefully underestimate the true sacrifice. The draugr that roam the halls of long forgotten Dragon Cult tombs are so much more than mere shambling, mindless creatures. They are our fiercest protectors. They, who have given all to the Dragon Cult, who spend eternity in service to the Dragon priests. Their worship is endless. It continues even now, long after the fall of our ancestors. This should be heartening. It is a sign that though Skyrim may think of the Dragon Cult only as a distant memory, we will never truly be snuffed out. The Dragons promised our priests eternal life. These draugr are the loyal followers who worship, and sustain the priests, even in death. They wake every night to perform a ritual that transfers their energy to the revered priest, and then slumber once more. Eternal protectors. Worship which is most pure, undeterred by time or circumstance. We should cherish these draugr. They are our most honored brethren.

A plea to honor and cherish the draugr? Seriously? Jordis noticed my confusion and suggested:

"I assume that this was written by somebody who was either a Dragon Priest themselves or at least somebody close to them."

"Oh, yes, that makes sense. But still, this Dragon Cult is more than just service to the Dragon Priests, I guess."

"It sure is" Lydia chimed in. "I may be mistaken, but somebody mentioned something like dragon priests being a conduit through which dragons spoke, and the priests being honored and all."

"Really? A long time ago, right?"

"I believe so, yes, like in the First Era, before Alduin was defeated for the first time."

Something clicked in my head and I recalled reading something in that direction, too:

"I don't recall the details, but Vilkas once let me read one of his books, and there was something similar in it. Fascinating, yes, but shouldn't the Dragon Cult be long dead?"

"Maybe with Alduin being around again the Cult is revived?"

"Yes, maybe" Iona nodded. "Right now, though, I have a different question: Why did Nymeria not suffer from the ice spears?"

"That's something I am curious about as well" I responded. "However, maybe direwolves have some special perks, like being totally resistant against ice and cold?"

"Possibly, yes, but not sure."

"What other explanation is there?"

"No idea, and I hesitate to experiment to find out more" Fiona stated firmly.

"Of course."

The Dragonborn's attention was now claimed by something else, and she walked over to the word wall at the other end of the large room. When she came back after a period of trance – it really was a pity that I could not hear the chanting from such walls – she told us that she had learned the first word of the shout 'Animal Allegiance' – 'RAAN' – whatever that was supposed to be. As usual, the Greybeards might have to help her understanding the purpose of the shout, but Fiona mentioned:

"I do not know yet what this is good for, but I might as well try to find out later; what do you think?"

"I guess that you could" I replied. "What can go wrong, after all?"

"At least I'm glad that I have had enough dragon souls available to unlock all of the shouts I've learned so far."

While our housecarls searched the skeletons and draugr we had defeated and Fiona double checked that her Nymeria was fine, I carefully searched the ashes from the dragon priest, and among a few minor items I found a face mask made from a material I could not identify; as I vaguely recalled something special about the dragon priest masks, I grabbed it and moved it into my pack. Medresi tried to push us ahead, impatient and eager as she was, but we agreed that we needed some rest first.

After maybe half an hour of rest we gained access to the upper areas, and the only enemies remaining were the two cultists who had briefly shown up before. Medresi found them trying to hide, and we had to kill them as well. Finally, on the highest level, we reached what looked like a dead end. We looked around until Jordis shouted:

"Look, there are three levers here in the niche!"

Indeed, we had missed those levers when looking before, as they were located partially behind a pillar. We had to try a few different combinations, but eventually a massive stone door at the end of the passage dropped down into the ground. Once the door was open, Medresi sprinted ahead and shouted:

"At last, the treasure is mine! All mine!"

There was a large chest ahead, and apparently this chest assumedly contained the treasure the Dunmer was looking for. I thought about the lesson I had learned earlier and was about to call out to the Dunmer to slow down. In her eagerness to claim the treasure, though, Medresi tried to open the chest, but she had apparently missed the string connecting the lock to a hole in the ground. Iona, who was behind her, shouted a warning, but too late – a nasty spike trap was set off and totally crushed the Dunmer; there was nothing we could do for her any longer. We all gathered around what was left of Medresi, and I spoke a quick prayer, while Fiona spoke:

"God bless her soul; rest in peace."

Then we checked the content of the chest, and indeed, it looked to be some kind of boss level chest. There were a few coin purses with many coins of high value, totaling more than ten thousand, a nice collection of various gems, and a powerful looking bow. I had no clue if that was a special one or not, but Jordis claimed that this was a very special Nordic bow with frost enchantment. Compared to Fiona's current archery weapon, the 'Bow of Falkreath', the new bow was only slightly heavier, but should deliver more base damage plus additional frost damage. Jordis was not quite sure which level it was, and she admitted that she could not tell if this was a 'Nordic Bow of Ice' or a 'Nordic Bow of Freezing' or something similar. Anyway, as Fiona did not have much for frost damage so far, she gladly claimed the bow for herself. Our housecarls also found some weapon upgrades for them, and this adventure had certainly paid off, though, of course, Medresi had had to pay with her life.

Fortunately, there was a shortcut to the upper level of the ruin starting next to the chest, and while we took that, I found a niche with a few shelves and little else but lots of linen wraps. I recalled Raldbthar and took a dozen or so in my backpack, and twenty minutes later we were all out again. We took advantage of the small campsite there, prepared supper and went to bed; our housecarls took over the night watch, as usual. Before getting into my bedroll, I did my business behind a big bush and, this time, had a part of a linen wrap available to wipe my lower back; this was indeed nicer than the sheets of woven grass or so most people seemed to to use for that purpose. It was potentially less bio degradable, but at least no plastic or so.

[Author's Notes: The Dunmer was too eager, I guess.]