I trudged toward Arvel as he crawled away, leaving a bloody trail on the cold stone floor.
"Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"
Startled by the voice behind him, Arvel whipped his head around. His face collapsed into a look of pure despair as he glared at us.
"Kuh..."
"I believe you have something for us?" I asked.
"Serves you right for breaking your word," Choi Ha-neul added, her tone cold.
"I'll give it back! I'll give you the Golden Claw! Just... please, take me with you! I don't want to die in a place like this. Please!" Arvel's expression shifted instantly, his hands clasped together in a desperate plea for his life.
"Hmm, what do you think..."
"Yeah, what should we do?"
The guy had stolen the Golden Claw and lied to our faces. Worse, the commotion he'd caused with the Draugr nearly cost me my life. Not to mention, he was a bandit by trade. No matter how I looked at it, there wasn't a single reason to let him live.
"I'll leave it to my partner. Haneul, what do you want to do?"
Arvel turned his pitiful, pleading gaze toward Choi Ha-neul. She considered it for a brief moment.
"Hmm... Let's just leave him."
"Works for me."
Unfortunately for him, his desperate prayers fell on deaf ears.
"No! Wait! Don't leave me here! I beg of you!" Arvel screamed, reaching a hand out toward our retreating backs. We ignored the echoing wails and kept moving forward.
Choi Ha-neul and I moved through the tomb, keeping our noise to a minimum. The walls were lined with rectangular alcoves where Draugr lay in silent rest. I considered sneaking past them, but clearing them out meant gaining skill experience. Besides, the small amounts of gold the Draugr carried added up to a decent payday.
Suppressing my breath and footsteps, I brought my iron sword down on the necks of the sleeping undead. Even without any perks invested, a sneak attack from a bow deals double damage, and a melee strike deals triple. Most of the Draugr went down in a single hit.
Tudun!
[Sneak has increased to 22!]
[One-Handed has increased to 26!]
The experience gain was better than I expected. I felt a surge of silent satisfaction as I continued the harvest. I assumed Choi Ha-neul was growing stronger in her own way, too.
As I was about to press my blade against another Draugr's throat—
"Ah."
My eyes locked with the Draugr's. It wasn't sleeping. Its eyes flared with an eerie blue light as it glared at me, drawing an Ancient Nordic sword from its hip in one fluid motion.
Swish!
"Tch!" I managed to throw myself backward just in time to avoid the swing. You might wonder why I didn't just slit its throat instead of dodging, given my blade was already there. But the moment an enemy detects you, the sneak attack bonus vanishes. The damage output plummets.
Furthermore, this wasn't a standard Draugr. It was a higher-tier variant—a Restless Draugr. I hadn't expected one to be wide awake. It was heavily armored, sporting a helmet and cuirass, and was equipped with a steel shield and a one-handed sword. Its physical stats were bound to be superior.
Hearing the scuffle, Choi Ha-neul finished off the remaining minor Draugr and hurried to my side. We'd won fights where we were more outnumbered than this, but for some reason, the tension didn't fade. My nerves were on edge.
The aura this Restless Draugr gave off was that of a seasoned warrior. Its guard had no openings, and it didn't charge blindly like the lesser corpses.
Haneul felt it too. She was visibly tense, sensing the strength of our opponent.
'Should I just burn it? That'll make it easier.'
Hiding her hands to keep the casting under wraps, she channeled her Magicka into a fire spell. Once the charge was ready, she thrust both hands forward, unleashing a twin stream of flames at maximum output.
"Kaaaaaargh!"
It worked. The Draugr tried to block with its shield, but the flames wrapped around the metal, engulfing its body. I didn't miss the opening. I let an arrow fly, burying it deep in the creature's exposed abdomen.
The flames sputtered out. She had only been casting for about five seconds, but because she'd dual-casted at full power, she'd completely drained her Magicka pool. Utterly exhausted, she slumped to the floor.
The Draugr was charred black, but it wasn't dead yet.
'My turn.'
Drawing my sword, I charged the weakened Restless Draugr. It tried to counter, but its movements were sluggish. I ducked the swing and drove my blade straight through its right eye socket. The Draugr collapsed, dead for good this time.
I walked over to Haneul, who was still recovering from the Magicka burnout.
"You okay? It's dead. How are you feeling?"
She stood up slowly, nodding. "I'm fine! Just caught my breath!"
"We're almost there. Just a little more effort." I wasn't just saying that to cheer her up; we really were close to the end.
Whoosh— Whoosh—
Giant pendulum axes swung back and forth in a narrow corridor. The blades were nearly the size of a man's torso—extremely lethal.
'In the game, I used to just run through these and take the hit...'
In the game, you could just heal through the damage. But facing it in reality was terrifying. However, there was a lever on the far side that would stop the trap. Only one of us needed to cross.
Though it looked intimidating, the axes weren't that fast. If you timed it right, it wasn't a problem.
'One, two... Now!'
I darted past the first blade, moving forward one step at a time. I considered trying to jump past two at once as I got the rhythm down, but I decided to play it safe.
Whoosh— Snap!
I dove past the final blade and rolled onto the floor. A bit dramatic, maybe, but the trap was cleared.
"Hold on a second," I called out.
"Yes?"
I stopped Haneul before she could try to follow my lead. I reached for the lever and deactivated the axes.
"Wow, Mister, you really know your way around this tomb."
We continued forward, dealing with a few straggler mobs and simple traps, until we finally reached the boss chamber. Kill the boss, and the job was done.
The cavern was massive. There was an altar at the center, a large treasure chest, and the Word Wall—the stone slab where the player learns the Thu'um. As we climbed the stairs toward the altar, Haneul stopped.
"Huh? Do you hear that? There's this weird sound... It's hard to describe. It's not in my ears, it's like it's echoing inside my head..."
'I can't believe the game mechanics manifest like this.'
Anyone who's played Skyrim knows the chanting. That 'Fus-Fus-Hah' sound you hear near a Word Wall.
"Let's check out that stone wall. Looks like something's written on it," I said, subtly nudging her toward it. While she approached the wall, I quietly placed a bear trap right in front of the stone sarcophagus.
A mysterious energy pulsed from the carvings on the wall, swirling around her before being absorbed into her body.
"Ngh..."
Haneul gasped as ancient knowledge seared itself into her mind.
'Man, I'm actually seeing this in person.'
Honestly, it stung a little that I wasn't the one getting the Shout, but as a Skyrim fan, witnessing this was enough to give me goosebumps.
—CRASH!
There was no time to celebrate the birth of a Dragonborn. The lid of the sarcophagus shattered as a Draugr Overlord burst out. But I was ready. This was exactly why I'd set the trap.
CLACK!
"Graaargh!"
The Overlord stepped right into the bear trap the second it emerged. Haneul followed up immediately with a blast of fire, and I landed a perfect headshot with my bow. The monster couldn't do a thing. Until the trap snapped open, Haneul managed her Magicka carefully, keeping the Overlord roasting while I feathered it with arrows.
She hadn't used any Magicka since her dual-cast earlier, so she was at full capacity. She focused on maximum efficiency to take down the high-HP enemy. By the time the Overlord managed to pull its leg free, it was already a tattered mess. I stepped in and finished it off while she caught her breath.
Pshk!
The Draugr Overlord collapsed, having had no chance to display its boss-level dignity.
'I'm so glad I asked him to come along!'
Haneul was dazed by how easily they'd cleared the dungeon boss, but she was convinced she'd made the right choice in picking the Mister as her partner.
Ever since she'd escaped Helgen and traveled through Riverwood and Whiterun, she'd received plenty of requests to join groups. She'd turned them all down. Part of it was her wariness of this strange new world, but she'd also sensed that many approached her with impure intentions because of her looks. While some truly needed a comrade, most were looking for something else.
'He's a good match for me. He's experienced.'
She began to seriously consider adventuring with him long-term. I pulled the Dragonstone from the sarcophagus and handed it to her.
"Here. You need this, right?"
"Yes! Thank you! Um... Mister, if you don't mind... would you like to keep adventuring with me?"