Aedric the Hunter - Chapter 3: Ruins

• Posted by Ponty January 22, 2012 - 890 views

  19th of Last Seed 4E201

  I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do today. There was still so much more of the surrounds to explore, but I needed to retrieve Lucan’s claw. The thought of returning to Helgen to check for survivors crossed my mind as I stepped outside the inn. Sven was waiting for me outside. “Morning, Aedric! I was wondering if you’d like me to take you up to Skybound Watch this morning. It’s a couple of hours walk from here, and we can eat on the way.”
  “That’d be great!” I said, keen to see what this valley looked like from above. Sven dashed back to his house to grab a bow and quiver, as well as his pack. “I’m not just a clumsy Bard,” he chuckled. As we started up the path between the inn and Gerdur’s house he produced some bread and cheese from his pack and handed it to me. He grabbed a folded map out of his pocket and traced a path with his hand. “This road goes up past Helgen. The entrance to Skybound Watch is just nearby, and there’s a short ruined tunnel through to the other side. We should be back around noon.” I nodded.
  “I’m planning on going up to Bleak Falls this afternoon to retrieve Lucan’s claw”- Sven interrupted me mid-sentence. “And I’m coming with you. I can handle myself, and what will Camilla think when the mighty Sven helped Aedric battle his way through a Nord Burial Crypt?” We laughed. “Alright Sven, you’d probably know more about whatever lurks within than me. As long as you don’t slow me down.”

  We approached Helgen to see the utter destruction the dragon had wrought there. It’d been 3 days since my scheduled execution and some of the houses were still burning. “I’d like to check for survivors,” I said to Sven. “Sure, I’ll help you out.” We pushed open the wooden gate and searched through the rubble of the village but all we found was burnt corpses. I was accustomed to death, but seeing people with their very skin burnt off sickened me. “There’s nobody here. Let’s go.” A path wound off to the left of the main road. “Up here,” said Sven. “It isn’t far now.” We were stopped in our tracks as we spotted these 3 glowing orbs hovering around on the path in front of us. We darted behind a tree. “Those are Wisps,” Sven said. “We don’t want to alarm them – their mother won’t be too happy. We can sneak around the rocks on the mountainside to the left.” We climbed up the steep rocks and managed to find a ledge to sneak along. As we passed the Wisps, Sven stepped on a loose rock. It tumbled down the mountain, landing on one of the Wisps. As it recoiled, a ghostly woman covered in floating wraps emerged from the very ground. “Run! Get inside, now!” Sven yelled. I rose off my crouch and began to sprint for the tower, which was about 50 meters away. Volleys of icy spikes shattered against the rocks next to me, the shards grazing my skin and bouncing off my leather armor. I pulled Sven inside the tower just as 3 spikes embedded themselves into the wall where he was just standing. The door shut with a resounding ‘boom’. We were safe, for the time being.

  “The tunnel was abandoned last time I was up here,” said Sven. “Well I don’t want to be seeing any more of these Wisps and Wispmothers – hopefully it’s still safe,” I replied. As we descended into the ruin I grabbed some of the moss and Jazbay grapes which were growing inside. We quietly went down a wooden spiral staircase to spot a makeshift bandit camp in the corridor ahead of us. Two of them were garbed in simple furs while a larger Orc wore heavy iron armor and carried a shield. Sven and I shot the fur-clad bandits simultaneously, taking them down with ease. With a roar, the Orc grabbed his axe and began charging us. I drew my blade, and went in with my standard combat routine – Quick left-right slash, bash, and overhead strike. The orc turned away my first blow with his shield and knocked me to the ground. Sven fired a shot, connecting with the Orc’s shoulder, and gave me time to regain my footing. I manoeuvred over the other side of the bandit so that he would either have to block my blade or Sven’s arrows. Another shot to the back of the leg brought him to his knees and I finished him off shoving my sword through his neck into the torso. I raided their stash, which contained some gems and gold, and we continued through the tunnel.

  As Sven opened the large wooden door barring our way, a Giant Frostbite Spider emerged from the tunnel, striking Sven down with a single swipe of it’s mighty front legs. It was a long and terrible battle, and I had to be very cautious with my blows so I didn’t get hit. After several minutes the spider made a reckless strike at my left shoulder, and I managed to slice off one if it’s legs. As it writhed in pain I drove my sword through the head and into the abdomen – the beast closed its eyes and was slain. I ran back over to Sven, who lay slumped against a wall, coughing. I produced a few healing potions from my pack, and he downed them greedily. He seemed to be back into perfect condition, and we managed to exit the ruin without any more encounters.

  There were 4 bandits waiting for us on the other side, but they broke and ran as I charged them with a fierce battle-cry. Sven and I dispatched them with ease as the fog surrounding the mountain cleared. We walked out to the edge of the rocks – the view was absolutely stunning.

  

  Sven produced some salted meat and bread from his pack as we admired the view. It was definitely worth it – the encounter with the Wispmother and the Giant Spider. After about half an hour we descended the slope back down to Riverwood. It was around 1:30pm as we began our ascent to Bleak Falls Barrow.

  About half way up we came across a ruined tower, with a bandit leaning against the wall, keeping watch. She was standing still which gave me plenty of time to aim with my bow – I hit her right between the eyes. The arrowhead scraped down the stone wall of the tower, alerting the others to her demise. Sven and I slew the others easily. We continued up the path to see the massive ruin before us. The path up to the barrow was very open – we’d definitely be spotted before we got within 20 metres of the staircase. We ran up to the ruin and covered behind the large stone archways as arrows glanced off the masonry. The bandits here didn’t prove much of a challenge either and we entered the temple. Inside the temple, the bandits had a small camp. We overhead two of them discussing how an elf named Arvel had gone ahead with the claw. So it was here – we’d come to the right place. I took down one of them and Sven and I shot down the other before he reached us. We continued through the temple until we came across another bandit entering a large room with a portcullis barring the way forward and a lever in the middle. He immediately went for the lever and was cut down by a volley of poisoned darts from concealed launchers around the edge of the room.  Sven and I cautiously entered the room and saw some symbols mounted on plaques on the wall in front of us, and 3 rotatable pillars in alcoves to our left. “The ancient Nords have plenty of puzzles in their burial crypts,” said Sven. “This one is fairly simple – just match the symbols on the pillars to the ones on the wall.” We rotated the pillars to match and carefully pulled the lever. We weren’t shot to pieces by the darts but instead the portcullis on the other side of the room opened. As we passed through it smashed shut again – there was no going back now. We descended further into the ruin without much challenge. We heard the voice of a Dunmer calling for help, and we appeared to be entering another spider’s lair. “Blast,” I said. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to fight one of these for at least another week!” Sven replied. “I’m not so sure about this Aedric...” “You’ll be fine. Just stay over the other side of the room and shoot.” I cut a hole through the web and entered. Another Giant Spider lowered itself from the ceiling, but it was covered in cuts and puncture wounds. The Dunmer started yelling. “Keep it away from me. Kill it, kill it!” I was more than happy to oblige. This one was slower and weaker, and went down fairly quickly. We strode over when Arvel was tied up. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t run you through right here and now,” I said, with a tone of menace in my voice. Arvel replied hurriedly. “I know how the claw works – the door in the hall of stories – you wouldn’t believe the power the Nords have hidden there.” I grabbed a journal from a pocket in his clothing. “Well now so do I. Hand over the claw and I’ll let you go. Don’t cross me again – I won’t be so forgiving.” He nodded. I cut him down from the web and he proceeded to run further into the ruin. Stupid elf. I drew my bow and killed him before he’d gone 15 meters.

  I grabbed the Claw and stepped over Arvel’s corpse. We appeared to enter a burial chamber, with bodies of ancient Nords filling the alcoves in the walls. As we walked through the room – much to Sven’s and my horror – 3 of them began to rise from the alcoves and drag weapons out from their graves. As we ran back to the doorway Sven told me that these were Draugr, ancient Nord warriors cursed to defend their tombs as undead. I drew my bow as they surrounded us from the front. The middle on bashed its axe on shield in challenge. Sven and I shot the left one down and the other began advancing on us. I drew my greatsword and cut the legs from under the right one and Sven finished it off with an arrow to the head. The lead one was upon me and struck a mighty blow to my side. I managed to hold off the pain as I thrust my sword through its chest. It seemed I’d underestimated their strength and speed. I sheathed my sword and readied my hands. When I was in Cyrodiil as a child I found the wizard’s shop so very fascinating. One day I discovered I had a spark of magical talent myself, and I’d used it to heal wounds on occasion. Sven stared as the healing energy enveloped me and closed shut the wound. We evaded a trap and continued into the next room. We knew we could fight them now, as well as what they were capable of. After disabling a swinging blade trap we descended further into the ruins. There was a lone Draugr lying in its grave, and I motioned Sven to stop. I crept up to it, and cleaved my greatsword through it’s rusty breastplate and into the leathery skin. The Draugr’s eyes snapped open, glowing blue as it started to get out of the grave. I struck and its shoulders and Sven shot it’s chest and it stayed down. We continued, encountering the occasional lone Draugr but nothing of note. I told Sven to hold again as we entered a narrow hallway, with a large pool of oil on the ground under some hanging oil lamps. I ran through and woke the 4 Draugr residing in their tombs. I ducked under their blows, drawing my bow as I sprinted back to where Sven was. I hit one of the lamps, bringing it down on top of the Draugr, the explosion incinerating their frail bodies.

   

  One of them managed to avoid the explosion so I kicked it into the burning oil and finished it off with a shot to the head. As the flames died down we continued into the Sanctum.

  As we entered the Sanctum, the tunnels began sloping back upwards. We didn’t encounter any more Draugr as we emerged into a long hall filled with carvings. At the end of the hall was a door – 3 rings of symbols surrounding a 3-slotted keyhole. I inserted the claw into the slots – the talons lined up perfectly, but nothing happened. I turned the rings – there was a different symbol on each side. I retrieved Arvel’s web-covered journal from my pack and read over it. The last sentence caught my eye. “When you hold the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands.” I examined the claw more closely, and discovered 3 symbols on the back. I aligned the symbols on the door with the ones on the claw and tried the keyhole again. The door lowered into the floor with the sound of grinding stone.  A huge room of the cave with a beam of light shining in lay ahead of us. In the centre was a large stone platform on top of which was a huge curved wall covered in intricate carvings flanked by waterfalls. As I approached the wall one of the words seemed to start glowing. “Can you see that?” I said to Sven. He shook his head and shrugged. The word seemed to draw me closer to the wall. My vision blurred and all I could see was blackness and the word painted across my vision. “Force. Fus.” I said to myself. I had no idea what this language was and I’d never even seen it before, but somehow I seemed to understand that one word. But I didn’t have time to ponder it as a heavily armoured Draugr burst out of the coffin behind us, dragging his rusty battleaxe with him. There was ice dripping off the head – it must have been enchanted. We managed to strike it a few times before it had emerged from its tomb but it didn’t seem to notice. It used its battleaxe to perform powerful but slow strikes, which made it easy for me to dodge and parry its blows. When it struck my block however I felt my joints stiffen up for a few seconds and a slight chill. I managed to avoid letting it get a good hit on me and eventually we wounded it enough that it could fight no more – it didn’t seem to feel pain. It fell to its knees and I raised my sword to deliver the killing blow.

  

  Its glowing blue eyes dimmed and shut. The Overlord of Bleak Falls Barrow had been slain. I opened the chest next to the coffin to be greeted by various treasures. Some jewelry, an enchanted chestplate, and most importantly a stone tablet with markings similar to those on the wall. It was ancient and looked priceless – I put it all in my pack and we left the ruin victorious.

  The exit on this side came out beside a large lake – Sven recognised where we were. It was late, about 8pm by my estimate but Sven assured me it wasn’t far back to Riverwood. On the way back I asked Sven if he wanted to go to Whiterun with me. “You’re quite a fighter Sven. Imagine – the deadly duo of Aedric and Sven – we’d be famous!” He politely declined. “I’ve got to stay in Riverwood and look after my mother.” I knew that feeling. “Besides, I’m sure Camilla will be all over me after this, now that Faendal’s out of the way.” We laughed. It took us just under an hour to reach Riverwood, and we went to the Riverwood Trader. I told Sven to let me do the talking. I knocked on the door and Lucan invited us in. “We’ve just closed for the day, what is it-” He recognised Sven and I. “Aedric, you’re back! And Sven is with you? What happened up at Bleak Falls?” Camilla was sitting at the table, seemingly eager to hear our tale. “Well, we fought our way through a pack of bandits, slew a giant spider, retrieved the Claw, and cut our way through dozens or Draugr to escape. It was quite an adventure, and my friend Sven here slew many of these foes himself, not to mention saving my life many a time.” Sven grinned. I produced the Claw from my pack, and Lucan’s eyes went wide. “This is a cause for celebration! Come on Camilla, we’re going to the inn!” We ate and drank into the night, and retold our tale of the day’s events. It kept getting taller and taller – by the end of the night the Draugr Overlord was over 12 feet tall and rended the very air with each swing of it’s axe. I purposely left out the part about the word wall – what could this have meant? Late at night we left to get some sleep. Camilla stopped Sven on the way out. “How about we go up to Skybound Watch tomorrow, just the two of us.” “I-I’d like that. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Sven smiled at me as I returned to the Riverwood Trader. Lucan handed me a hefty sum of gold before going up to his room. “Thank you for retrieving the Claw. I’m going to put it back where it belongs.” He placed the claw back on the encounter and bid me goodnight. I went back to the inn and paid for a room. I dozed off almost instantly, even though I was exhilarated by the days events.

  What happens now? You decide!

  1. Leave for Whiterun

  2. Explore further to the SW towards Falkreath

  3. Travel elsewhere (say in your comment)

  Aedric has 5 days to reach Whiterun

  Let me know in the comments!

  Chapter 4 is up. You can read it here