Dorcas, Into Bleak Falls Barrow

 Dorcas, Into Bleak Falls Barrow

     The walk back to Angi's was pretty much uneventful, Rigmor was silent, so I assume she was thinking over what was said before we left Fort Black. We did also acquire the things that the Thalmor found in her father's buried chest. I assume they played a role in the 'Thalmor's' plan to tear apart her family. You do not go to all the effort they went to on a whim, there are dark reasons for what they did. And what they are still doing. I wonder just how far this is going to go and is it in part why I was called to be an Agent of the Gods.

     I guess we will find out as we go along, first I need to talk to Angi about Sorella. I cannot just dump Sorella on Angi, both deserve better than that, maybe they could be good for each other. Sorella needs a parent figure to help her deal with the loss of her own, and Angi definitely needs someone she can turn her mother bear instincts toward to protect, and at least somewhat away from Rigmor.

     We get to Angi's and I ask Sorella to wait while I talk to Angi. I went into Angi's 'home' and told her about Sorella. I asked if she could stay for a bit while we looked for a home for her, and Angi agreed. I went back outside and asked Sorella to introduce herself to Angi, and then hoped the gods would help them draw to each other.

     The reaction I saw on Angi's face as Sorella complimented her on having a 'real' home, won Angi over. I breathed a sigh of relief that at least one thing about this went right. Rigmor asked me to sit by the campfire with her for a few minutes. She told me that Baa'Ren-Dar had left a note saying he had found some information on Rigmor's mother and wanted her to come to Riften to discuss it. 

     I mulled this over in my mind, mainly because although I had never been there, its reputation had traveled far enough that even I had heard of it before leaving home. As we all know, bad news travels fast, and Riften's reputation is pretty bad. It is not that violent, not like some places, but the Thieves Guild has its base there. And even though they seem to have fallen on hard times, that tends to just make them more desperate, both in recruiting and activity.

     I had known a few thieves back home, not part of an organized group. They respected my Papa and left us alone. Preferring to ply their trade among the nobles where the pickings were better. I never knew exactly why they respected Papa so much, something that happened in his past I suppose. They always treated all of us with respect, and so I learned to do the same. Give respect where it is due, and do not judge people by what they have to do to survive. Not everyone has the same chances as others, walk in their shoes for a while before judging them, and even then be willing to judge yourself by the same standard you use to judge another.

     I guess that is why I have stayed with Rigmor, I understand a part of where she is coming from, and so can understand why she reacts as she does. It allows me to not take offense, but rather to try and ease the pain, causing the harsh words. I guess that means there is a trip to Riften in our immediate future, but not until after a night's sleep. We need to adjust to what happened at Fort Black, I need to ask for help from the 'Nine' and my parents for strength to stay the course with Rigmor.

     More and more, I get the feeling this is going to spiral out of control, and we will spiral with it unless we have guidance. Rigmor reminded me that I had delayed doing anything about a task I had intended to do before going to Fort Black with her. I told her I needed to go to Whiterun and talk to the Jarl about what happened at Helgen. She asked, wasn't Helgen in Falkreath's province? And I replied, "you told me Angi's opinion of Falkreath's Jarl, and Riverwood is almost right on Helgen's doorstep. I think if I speak to the Jarl in Whiterun about Riverwood, he is more likely to listen, even if it was Helgen that was the first to bear the brunt of the Dragon's ire. She agreed and asked to go with me. I think she wants to make certain I do not get sidetracked and forget about her. And truthfully, I do not blame her in the least.

     After a night's sleep, we started out for Whiterun. I looked at the maps I had of the area, and worked out a better route by going around the west edge of the mountains just north of us, and then straight along the road to Whiterun. When we arrived, it was just past sunset, and after days on the road, I knew I could use a bath, some food, and a tankard of ale or two. But business first, then the 'Bannered Mare' would see a couple of new guests.

     We went straight up the hill to the palace, stopped several times by the guards about being about after dark, and heading toward Dragon's Reach. After I repeated why we were there several times, they each let us go onward until we got to the doors of the palace. At least his guards were on their toes and doing their job, that speaks well of him and the people he has in charge.

    Opening the door, walking in, then up a set of steps higher than I was, we started on toward the Jarl. One of his people saw us and moved to stop us before we approached too closely. One more time, I explained why we were here and Irileth asked us to accompany her to the Jarl and tell him what I knew of what happened at Helgen.

    Once he knew why we were in front of him, he looked at me seriously while I recounted the dragon at Helgen and the damage he did, before flying off in the direction of Riverwood. His response was immediate, countermanding an advisor and instructing Irileth to send a guard detachment with all speed to Riverwood. He praised our action in coming to him and telling him what happened.

    Then he asked for our further assistance with a matter involving his Court Mage and the dragon sightings. Farengar struck me as a pompous fool with a decided lack of common sense. That combination combined with magical talent could be dangerous, more than likely to himself but could include others if they were not careful around him. I listened to what he wanted, asked a couple of clarifying questions, and then turned to get away from him as quickly as I could before he burned the place down or did some other stupid thing.

    I took Rigmor to the 'Bannered Mare', rented a room with two beds for the night, then proceeded to stuff ourselves with whatever sounded good from the menu, courtesy of the remaining gold from the dead assassin. The next morning found us in a much better mood, and so we left Whiterun for Riverwood to find this 'Dragonstone' deep inside 'Bleak Falls Barrow'.

Looking from across the bridge at the barrow kind of gives you a chill. We crossed and carefully made our way through the winding paths. 

    I thought about asking Rigmor to stay back and let me scout out the front of the barrow. I knew I saw some figures walking around and one looked to be in mage robes. Why would there be anyone out there, I wondered. Anyway, she would never have it, so I had to make do with my armor spell and try to keep her behind me. We got lucky and managed to get close to a couple of bandits, taking them out and leaving only a couple more plus the mage. I do not think he is a part of the bandit group, they look like they are avoiding each other.

    Moving across, utilizing what cover we could find, and then one very nasty fireball comes my way. The mage had seen us, and I took the brunt of it. I shouted for Rigmor to take the bandits, I was going after that mage. That was when I sprinted for him with my greatsword raised above me. He looked surprised that I was still moving after taking that fireball, so I managed to gain on him quickly. Another fireball came my way, and somehow I managed to dodge that one, then I was on him as he pulled a long dagger and tried his best to get past my blade and plant his in my gut. I got him first and then turned to see one of the bandits closer to me than to her, trying to line up a shot.

    I sprinted toward him, yelling at the top of my lungs. That turned his attention to me, he let loose his arrow but his quick shift of target spoiled his aim and he missed. He quickly readied another and something inside me snapped. I still do not know what happened, but I took my greatsword and threw it at him, somehow spinning it flat to the stone floor. It struck him across his gut, then sliced around his back, and back to the front. He dropped his bow, using his hands to try and pull his guts back inside before he fell over dead. As Rigmor finished her bandit, I reached the archer and noticed my blade had cut him all the way around, for the white bone of his spine, was visible when I looked at his back.

     Rigmor saw the damage and her mouth was agape at what I had done, asking me how? I replied that I did not have an answer, something caused me to blackout for the time it took me to set the blade on its course. I said before we go in, let us check the bodies for anything we can use. We rounded up some arrows I could use with my bow, when I got to the mage, I found a spellbook. As I took it in hand, I almost dropped it from the tingling I felt in my fingers as I touched it.

     This was no ordinary spellbook, whatever was written within its pages was powerful indeed. I looked for any writing on the outside cover and saw some lettering. I showed it to Rigmor, but she could not make out what it said. I however could read it as clear as day, it said, 'Xamnant of Darkness'. Suddenly I was not so sure I wanted to read this, there was a sense of something corrupt about it. There was another book like a journal, that I took up and read. Now I almost wish I had not, what was in there detailed something truly horrendous. And as an Agent of the Gods, I could not ignore it. I noted a small portion of a map with another location marked

     Ok, but only if my path takes me there, otherwise it will have to wait. I then gathered my wits and went ahead and read the spellbook. When I came to, Rigmor was holding me, trying to get me to wake up. As I started to come round, she asked what happened. I told her that the spell within that spellbook was stronger than anything I had previously learned and that I felt it might involve some very dangerous knowledge of magic. I was going to have to investigate this in more detail but at a later time, for now, we needed to go inside and find that dragon stone.

     We went up to the door and quietly went inside. I could hear a couple of voices at the other end of the chamber. We were not seen because of a massive stone column in the center blocking both our and their sight of the doors. I motioned Rigmor to go down into stealth, I equipped my bow and slowly made my way toward the pair of bandits. There was a stepped dias with a large table on top, a dead bandit sprawled half on and half off of it. Another bandit body was nearby, seemed like some skeevers got lucky and managed to take him down before someone else took them out.

     When I had gotten as close as I could, without being noticed, I nocked an arrow, and gave a look to Rigmor that said"'be ready". Then I let fly, and the arrow struck the nearest bandit to me in his neck. As he dropped, choking as his lungs filled with his own blood, I leaped to the top of the table and took aim at the other bandit. Before I could let loose, Rigmor had circled the stone column and ran the other bandit through. 

     Good enough so far, we gathered some food from a barrel that had not served as a home for skeevers. Grabbed any gold and potions we could find, then looked at the tunnel inviting us to try our luck further. I said to warm ourselves by the campfire for a few minutes, while we decided on a plan to advance further. We gathered anything else we could find that might be useful or could be sold for gold and piled it up out of the way to retrieve later.

     Once we decided on how to proceed, we entered the tunnel. I went first, crouching and moving slowly, watching for traps, draugr, skeever, spiders, you know the usual for dungeon crawlers. Traps, and floor plates, I marked for Rigmor to avoid, anything I could disarm, I did. There surely are more than the two we killed, just have to be careful and see them first.

     We saw draugr that had been dealt with, and even a few bandits where the draugr won. Then as we went down a set of steps before entering a chamber, I saw a bandit standing, looking around the inside of the chamber ahead. He then walked to a lever on a small rock cairn in front of another tunnel, this one had a drop gate down preventing anyone from getting past. I thought about dropping him with another arrow when he threw the lever and was engulfed by poison darts from several directions.

     Once they stopped firing, we went on inside and looked around ourselves. It never ceases to amaze me with the stupidity of these bandits, getting themselves killed by trapped levers, tripwires, etc. There just seems to be no end to them no matter how many get killed. I mean there were three revolving plinths over on the left side, each with three images carved into them. Up above on the wall near the ceiling were two large stone plaques with a single image carved on them. The middle one had fallen to the floor below at some time, but its image was still recognizable. I set the plinths to the images shown on the plaques, in the left to right order, these things are predictable if nothing else.

     I motioned Rigmor back out of the way while I moved to the lever, just in case. I threw it and the gate retracted back up and out of the way with no darts flying. Luck is holding out so far, make no doubt about it, luck can play an important role here, but so does being careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Onward we went.

     Later, we came down an inclined tunnel, and we heard a voice calling out some names for help. As we silently followed the voice, we reached the forward end and turned to the left to see two open doorways covered in strong spider webs. Sounds like someone managed to get himself stuck in some of the webs and does not wish to become dinner. Again stupid, for thrashing around and making a lot of noise will definitely attract the 'Frostbite' spiders that we find everywhere around here.

     I take my one-hand sword and carefully cut a path through one of the doorways. Before stepping through I reequip my bow, if I am having to fight big spiders, I do not want to be in sword range to do it. I then quickly step through keeping my bow nocked and ready to draw. There, up above, a giant one dropping down. I line up a shot and let loose, once the arrow is gone, I set up another as it hits the floor, the second shot takes it in an eye, and this spider is dead. I watch and listen for any smaller, young ones to scuttle out, but nothing shows up. Rigmor looks at the bandit trapped in the web at the far end of the room but leaves it to me to deal with him.

     As I walk up to him, he starts babbling about a 'golden claw', the meaning of the story walls, some kind of power hidden deeper in the barrow, and how to use the claw to get to it. He offers to share it if I get him down. Rigmor says to be careful, that he will run and betray us the first chance he gets. I agree with her, but if I do not cut him down, we are not getting past him. So I have no choice but to cut him down, but if he makes a move to run, I will leave him to lay here and become the surviving spider's next meal.

     I take my sword and start cutting him down, but before being done, I switch to my bow, using it to get the higher strands. As they are cut, he drops, then turns to run. He barely has time to get the word, 'fools' out of his mouth before I feed him an arrow into the small of his back. I want him crippled, not dead. I walk up to him and take the claw, saying, "thank you for the present. You should have stayed put and not tried to run. My, oh my, is that more spiders, I hear. You won't mind if we just move on along, I am sure the spiders will enjoy your company."

     We keep going, even as we hear his screams about spiders echoing behind us. Rigmor asked why I did not just kill him. And I replied, he did not attack either of us or threaten us. To outright kill him would be murder, he made the choice to turn and run, causing me to fire my bow to stop him. If he had stayed true to his word, he would be with us and alive. Anyway if I allowed him to keep running, he would have woken up, I do not know how many draugr that is still ahead of us.

     Oh, I understand now. By not killing him when he ran, his blood is on himself for his actions. Then crippling him when he ran will keep us safer when we encounter more draugr, he could have gotten out of here alive, by standing by his word, but he chose his path, not us.

     Exactly. I have no qualms about killing someone who threatens either of us. But I will not outright murder someone just for convenience, and not for gold either. That is a huge difference between me and them. He was no direct threat to us, but he could endanger us by waking up the draugr. So I offered him a choice, live or die, by his own choice. We kept moving and not too far farther came into a large burial chamber, with a number of draugr.

     Rigmor backed me up several feet and whispered, 'how do you know there are Draugr?'

     I pointed them out to her and showed her the differences in their appearance, and positioning, and that they had weapons. Then I pointed out that we had to look along both walls and watch out for traps, as I pointed out a spiked wall at the far end. She told me that I was getting too good at this, to which I replied, if it helps me defend and keep you alive it is worth the trouble. I glanced at her just long enough to catch a smile coming across her face and worked very hard to keep mine neutral.

     So I evaluated the means I had, to deal with several draugr, and settled on my 'Fury of Akatosh' spell, mainly because it is silent. Then I could cast from a distance, silently, if any woke up, have time to target and put them down. It was the work of a few minutes, to get them all, more time moving into good positions than actually killing them. We sidestepped the floor plate activator for the spiked wall. I also cautioned her about fighting a draugr near these things, as they could trigger one and take both it and her out at the same time. And of course, if she could lure one into stepping on a plate, use the trap to take them out. She saw the sense in that right away.

     The longer we went, the more draugr we killed. The bandits never got this far in, thankfully. Then we made it to the puzzle door, it was apparent how to use the claw, from the engraved markings on it, matched the symbols carved on the rings. I matched them up, then used the claw to open the center plate, and surprise, the wall lowers itself into the floor, giving us access. As we walked carefully inside, looking everywhere, I could see no Draugr. I told Rigmor to be careful, a place like this, with no Draugr around, is likely bad news.

     Then I felt the 'call' of the 'Word Wall', there was a specific word scratched into it that sought me, sang to me, promised me knowledge if I would just approach it and listen. It was all I could do not to run to it, but I knew something was here. I slowly walked to it, bow in hand, looking for anything moving. The word on the wall seemed to glow as my eyes fixed on it. Then I heard the coffin lid pop and fall to the floor as a Draugr Deathlord crawled out.

     I immediately started firing arrows into it. A few bounced from its armor, but most struck its body and stayed. Then I managed to put one into its head, and the lights in its eyes faded. That was when the 'Word Wall' grabbed hold of me and force-fed me the knowledge embedded within the scratched word, and I knew then that these were not cut, not chiseled, but scratched by dragon claws into the walls. The pain overloaded my mind, and down to my knees I went, no matter how I clenched my arms around my head it made no difference. Until Rigmor pried them from my head and cradled me in her arms. Only then did I feel any relief come over me.

     She asked if I was all right, what happened to me. She said she could see my eyes glowing, and as she held me faintly heard some kind of song echoing in my head. I pointed with a shaking hand to the word wall. She asked, "what about it?"

     Again I whispered, "Word of Power, dragon wrote words on the wall. Embedded knowledge in it."

     "And you absorbed it?"

     "It flooded me."

     "By all the Gods, no wonder you are like this. What can I do?"

     "Just hold me, better when you hold me.

     "Why did it do this to you and not me, or both of us?"

     "Do not know, yet. Find someone who knows. But for now, say nothing, please." Then I faded into blackness for a while. I thought I heard dimly from a distance, "Guardian, don't you dare die on me now. I am here for you, just stay with me."

     In the blackness, I saw a bright glowing orb and heard a familiar voice.

     "Dorcas, I am sorry this had to happen to you, but the worst of it is over and you will recover and be more than you were."

     "Father?"

     "Yes, my child, I came to explain what I can of what has happened to you. Your mother and I were told by Akatosh of what he wanted for you, but this we did not know, how it would affect you, and why."

     "Then this has happened in the past?"

     "Yes, but not for a long time and not to the same degree as you are experiencing it. You see, you are 'Dragonborn', more than that, you are 'Dragonchild'."

     "What is the difference?"

     "A 'Dragonborn' is one possessing the ancestry of the 'Dragonblood'. Being 'Dragonblood' is a gift in itself but does not change you, it marks you with the potential to be more. If Akatosh gives his blessing to a 'Dragonblood', they become 'Dragonborn'. This can happen at nearly any age, but usually late teen, or early adult. They gain knowledge of the 'Rotmulag', what you recognized as a 'Word of Power' scratched into the 'Word Wall' by a dragon.

     It also requires more before you can make use of it in a Thu'um. This is why the 'Dragonborn' are able to devour the soul of any dragon they kill. By absorbing the soul, they gain the knowledge of how to use it, the full depth of its meaning, and how it interacts with the world. You also gain the dragons' memories and experiences. And this can be so very important now, once you devour its soul, it cannot be resurrected by another. Akatosh if he wills it so, can cause one such to be reborn, but it will be as a new dragon, not having its old memories."

     "Why did it overwhelm me like it did? I feel the others did not have this happen to them."

     "Yes, you are right about that. It is because both your mother and I are of the 'dragonblood' and I was 'Dragonborn' when I walked Nirn. To be 'Dragonchild' is to be given Akatosh's blessing before you are even born to your mother. This was in part why I had to give you up to your adopted parents. So you would not become involved before you were ready. I do not have much more time here, so listen closely. When you go to the Graybeards of High Hrothgar, do whatever they wish of you. When they perform the ritual greeting for you, you will receive another blessing, this one from Kyne.

     She will show you how to expand your knowledge of the Thu'um in ways very few before have done. The Graybeards know nothing of this, so asking them of it will be fruitless. As you learn of what she would teach you, she will gift you with the knowledge and experience with dragon souls without your having to kill, if this is your will. Some you will have no choice but to kill, for they will give you no quarter.

     Also, you have learned the first of the Xamnant spells, there will be dragons associated with these spells. Do not allow them to live, they are abominations in the eyes of the Gods. The one called Samel and the strongest of his followers tried to use the Xamnant knowledge to literally become dragons. Most failed and became other things, but his goal was to be the one to defeat Alduin and remake Mundus. This is not for him to do, and you will have to stop him. He and his are far more powerful than the other dragons, do not underestimate them. Use everything in your arsenal to kill them and take their power. But be careful in using it that you do not become corrupted as they did.

     One last thing, it is good that you found young Rigmor, I and your mother see what will come between the two of you and we approve. There will come a time of separation and then you will be brought together once more. Be strong, be resolute, deal with the threats to Nirn and Akatosh will reward you as no other Dragonborn has been rewarded. Goodbye, my child, know we love you always."

     "But your name, mother's name, who are you, who am I?"

     "You will know one day, I promise, but now is too soon. When you do find out, you will understand the need for secrecy. Call for us in need and we will answer."

     And with those last words ringing in my mind and ears, I awoke in Rigmor's warm, tender embrace.