Skyrim RP series...Danifae (Chapter 15) The Jagged Crown

  • The group of Stormcloaks rode over the rise and saw the ruin of Korvanjund before them. Ralof bade them all dismount and got a couple of the soldiers to guard the horses while the rest of the group carefully sneaked over the rocks towards the ruins. From what they could see, there were no guards about the place, so they carefully made their way down the slope. The recent snowfall may have covered any tracks made previously so they were on their guard. They made it down to the door and entered. The place was dark so Ralof lit some torches and passed them round. Ralof told another two of the soldiers to stand watch at the entrance, so that left him, Danifae and Gina to continue on into the darkness.

     

    Danifae had a torch in her numb hand and the warmth from it started to make her limb feel like normal. She had been worried that something serious had happened to her arm after the dragon's frost breath attack, but it seemed to be slowly getting back to normal. She hadn't told Ralof or Galmar about it, because she was scared she'd be told to go back to Windhelm and be deemed a failure, especially with her friends' freedom hinging on her success. Now that she had the feeling back, she felt like she was ready for battle again.

    Making their way through the ruin, they saw several dead bodies. Some were Imperials! Cursing under his breath, Ralof wanted to up the pace through the ruin, but Danifae told him to be cautious. She had been in Nordic ruins before and knew that they contained floor traps, not just the draugr themselves!

    On examining the bodies, it seemed they had been dead for quite some time, so they hadn't been here recently. Ralof relaxed a little and decided to take Danifae's advice.

     

    'They may have just been adventurers, exploring in here' said Danifae

     

    'Hmm..maybe. And perhaps they heard of the crown long before we did and came here to get it.'

     

    'How did you learn of the crown anyway?'

     

    'I didn't actually. Ulfric is a bit of a scholar and came across a book recently about old King Borgas being lost in Korvanjund when wearing the crown. So he asked me to scout it out at the first opportunity'

     

     

    As they were walking down the tunnel, they heard a weird grumbling sound. Danifae recognised it for what it was 'There's draugr close by. Be alert!'. She doused her torch and got out her bow.

    Danifae sneaked down the corridor, which opened into a wide room, with niches in the walls, some with dead bodies, some in linen wraps. There was a throne situated in the middle of the room, with what looked like a crown perched on the head of a dead body.

     

    'Can you hear that noise?' she asked Ralof and Gina. 'There's a live one around here somewhere'

     

    'Ah come lass! The crown is just there!' He ran forward and grabbed the crown. Danifae shouted 'Ralof! No!' but she was too late. When he grabbed the crown the dead body sitting in the throne woke up and grabbed his arms. Danifae couldn't shoot it because Ralof was in the way, so she dropped her bow and got out her mace and ran at the draugr. Gina was, by this time, battling two who had burst out from niches at the side of the room. Ralof got tossed across the room like a rag doll and landed with a sickening crack against the wall.

     

    Two more draugr burst out from the wall on the other side so that made five of them in all. The one with the crown gave a loud hideous laugh and got up off the throne, a wicked two-handed sword in its grip. It was a deathlord.

     

    Gina had dispatched one of her enemies and was hacking away at the second with her axe. Facing the other three, Danifae let out a 'Fus' and staggered them. She stayed away from the two-handed warrior and bludgeoned one of them to the ground. The other draugr cast a frost spell at her and she raised her shield to block. She was a bit too slow and some of the spell got past her shield and onto her chest and right side of her face. Her face burning with cold and gasping for breath, she desperately bashed it with the shield and it stopped casting and recoiled. Before she could hit it with her mace she heard a mighty shout of 'FUS DO RAH!' and she was thrown off her feet. She landed on her back and slid across the floor and hit her head on the wall across the room. Stunned, all she could do was raise her shield and hope it was enough for whatever came next. This was bringing back memories of the fight in Fort Amol!

     

     

     

    The other draugr that had cast the frost spell was by now fighting Gina, who had downed her second opponent. Her Nord resistance to frost was proving its worth and she charged through the spell and hacked its arm off. That stopped it casting the spell and Gina wasted no time in hacking off its head. The deathlord swung its sword at Gina and caught her in the back. She went down with a cry and the deathlord swung a deathblow at her. She managed to roll out of the way and screamed at Danifae 'Knock the crown off its head! It's making it stronger!'. The deathlord stamped down on Gina to stop her rolling away and she hacked frantically at its foot. Before she could get free, the deathlord stabbed its sword down through her chest with a hideous laugh. It turned round to face Danifae, where she lay. Danifae screamed 'Gina!' and staggered to her feet, rage building within her. 'Not again. NOT AGAIN!' With blood pouring out of her mouth and chest as red as her hair Gina said 'Go get him girl! I'll keep it distracted for as long as I can' and despite her pain and blood loss she grabbed its leg. It stumbled and tried to free itself. Danifae staggered across the room and swung her mace at its head while the deathlord chopped its sword at Gina's arm. The arm came away at the elbow and Gina cried out and gave Danifae a fierce grin and nodded as the mace connected with the crown and knocked it off the deathlord's head. It flew across the room and landed against the far wall. The deathlord said something like 'Krosis!' and rounded on Danifae.

     

     

    Raising its sword, it swung it down several times on her shield and she felt her arm going numb from the blows. She backed away, desperately trying to bring her mace to bear but the cold seemed to be sapping her strength. Her mace had run out of the burning enchantment in her fight with the dragon and she hadn't any soul gems to recharge it. She let out another 'Fus' to give her some space and it staggered the deathlord for a few seconds. It laughed yet again, but it wasn't as loud this time. It gave out its own shout of 'Fus Ro Dah!' and Danifae was thrown a few feet across the room, but not as far as last time. Gina seemed to have been right about the crown. The deathlord made to walk across the room to pick up the crown but Danifae was in no mood to let it wear it again. She threw one of her hunting knives. It wasn't balanced for throwing but it struck the deathlord in the back, enough to stagger it. She shouted 'Come and get me you bastard!' and using the last of her strength she launched herself across the room and whacked it in the leg. It went down on one knee and because of the close quarters it couldn't bring its greatsword to bear, but despite that it grabbed at her shield and punched at her right eye and she felt its claws rake her face. Despite being stunned she shouted 'This is for Gina and Ralof!' and was able to land a solid blow on its head and felt something splatter on her before she went down into darkness...

     

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Comments

6 Comments   |   Caladran and 3 others like this.
  • Karver the Lorc
    Karver the Lorc   ·  July 17, 2018
    Nice fight. Them nasty draugr, right? 
    • HaggisHunter
      HaggisHunter
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Nice fight. Them nasty draugr, right? 
        ·  July 17, 2018
      Very much so, especially the deathlords
  • GailOlm
    GailOlm   ·  August 7, 2017
    Nice writing for the battle scene. Very intense! 
    • HaggisHunter
      HaggisHunter
      GailOlm
      GailOlm
      GailOlm
      Nice writing for the battle scene. Very intense! 
        ·  August 8, 2017
      It came out totally different from how I first envisioned the chapter, but it just means I got more to add in the next one...;)
  • Caladran
    Caladran   ·  August 7, 2017
    That was some quite battle there! o:
    • HaggisHunter
      HaggisHunter
      Caladran
      Caladran
      Caladran
      That was some quite battle there! o:
        ·  August 7, 2017
      It was wasn't it. Who knows who survived...:O