Death-Brand (1) The Trove

Happy Valentines Day, guys. You are all my valentine this year… which is not cool cuz I'm still single.

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Gyldenhul Barrow is a Nordic Crypt on an island to the east of Solstheim, it was the resting place of Haknir Death-Brand, one of the most bloodthirsty pirates in the sea of ghosts. We landed on the island after a short flight on our Flame Atronach Hawks. The Island was filled with pirates that used the 'D Words' when we went into a verbal battle at first. As a man of honor, I had to keep my appearance and keep on the verbal battle… none would disagree if I used the Dragon Language, right?... Right?

Anyway… as soon as we chased the pirates from the island, we gathered in front of the entrance of Gyldenhul Barrow. I recovered four large chests from my Haven Cube and put them neatly around.

"In these chests, there are four Armor Pieces that belonged to the King of Ghosts, Haknir Death-Brand. As the legend states he was a legendary, fearsome pirate king who ruled the northern seas centuries ago. He was supposedly a formidable warrior in combat and was said to charge into battle wearing a gleaming set of Stalhrim armor while wielding his twin scimitars, Bloodscythe and Soulrender. He also was known for his rages and fits of madness. His own crew was said to tremble in his presence and he supposedly delighted in torture and murder for its own sake.

A legend among the pirates and pirate kings of the north, he was said to have lived an unnaturally long life which led to several rumors of how he achieved this. Some believed he fed upon the blood and souls of those he killed to extend his life, others thought him a Daedra, loosed upon the mortal world. Some tales even claim he made a pact with Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction.

Despite his prolonged age, he was not immortal and as death approached he was expected to name a successor. To the surprise of his crew, he decided that none of his crew were either strong or worthy enough to take his place and treasure, even in his frail state! Instead, he placed a curse upon the ship, his crew, his armor and his swords. His decree was until the day he could be bested in combat, nobody could have his treasure. His crew, deathly afraid of Haknir, had no choice but to accept.

Now we have the four pieces of his Stalhrim Armor and we are in front of his resting place to battle him and claim the treasures he left. One of us should battle Haknir's ghost while the others keep his crew in check. It will be similar to the fight with Ahzidal but this time we will be facing a fearsome warrior rather than a fearsome mage, any questions"

"May I ask a question, which one of us will be facing Haknir?" Wulfur asked.

"I would love to see volunteers, only that who best Haknir can claim his treasures. I have already assembled my Armor and this should be someone else's... I also think that armor pieces are not large enough for me." I said.

Truth be told, one of the major reasons I don't have a lot of Heavy Body Armors is my size. Wulfur can fix stuff for me but I need a true artifact. Savior's Hide is light and strong, and as a Daedric Artifact of its coolest features that it would change its size to adapt with the new user. One can notice that feature greatly when comparing an item like the Mace of Molag in TESV: Skyrim and ESO.

Still, I had an eye on the one who will be facing Haknir Death-Brand.

"Alina, a light Stalhrim Armors and two powerful Sabers, what say you?"

Alina looked at me and nodded slightly.

"Haknir Death-Brand once killed a sword master from my ancestors a long time ago, it would be appropriate for my Clan to finally repay him after all these years."

I heard her words and took out two sabers of my cube.

"You Moon Sabers."

"Thank you."

She took them and waved them around effortlessly. She didn't like to enchant her Moon Sabers as she inherited them from her mother like that. She doesn't have any of her own as she didn't stay in her clan because of the incident of Quagmire.

After preparing, Alina removed her Crimson College Robe and stepped forwards with her sabers and armor. She uses a light Elven Armor that is very easy to move in, she also enchanted it herself with Wind Enchantments.

"Let's go." She said as she walked to the entrance with confidence.

"The entrance is still locked."

"Oh, ehem… fine them. Unlock it."

She was clearly nervous so I had her stand aside.

I cast 'Electrohand' on the iron gate of the barrow and clutched on it. It looked from the side as if I have tied the gate with a chain of lightning and pulling it out… which was true. The power of 'Electrichand' was awesome.

With some effort, the gate was pulled from its place and flew to the back with a small cloud of dust rising where it landed.

I then followed it by a small summon of undead and had around twenty Wraithmen around me.

"You really love Necromancy." Jull mocked me.

"Oh, right happy valentines day, love. It is nec(romancy)."

"Thanks, Jon. By the way, you are the worst."

"No, I have prepared the gifts a week ago."

"Wha… I have prepared yours before we leave Winterhold!" Jull said.

"... well, I guess I am the worst, you are the man."

"No worries, girl. Let's go."

[A/N: there is no Valentine is ESUniverse but added it for you guys.]

***

The inside of Gyldenhul Barrow was dry and dusty with a strong stench of death lurking all over the place. Jon and his team advanced through the barrows while guarding their surroundings with Undead. Jon doesn't remember this place having any traps but one can never be too cautious.

Around the place there were a lot of sarcophaguses with a Stalhrim over them.

"This is…" Wulfur pointed.

"The original use of the Stalhrim was to encase the dead with it. It was some sort of rituals made by the old Nords in Solstheim to prevent draugrs from forming."

"I see."

"We will send Ongeim to harvest that later but now, I want you to open this one for me." Jon pointed at the last sarcophagus.

Wulfur nodded and took out his Notched Pickaxe, with his strong body, a few knocks were enough to bring down the Stalhrim at the sarcophagus.

[A/N: I hate this word! Sarcophagus! It is the box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse draugrs come out from in Skyrim]

With the Stalhrim down, a passage appeared behind it as it seemed it was a fake sarcophagus, through it, the crew passed to another corridor after collecting the Stalhrim.

They arrived at a big gate and Jon used 'Electrohand' once again to blow it away. What appeared behind the gate was something even though Jon knew it was here, he was still shocked nonetheless.

The whole passage behind the gate was filled with hold…

Gold Coins, Gold Ingots, Gold Statues, Gold Crowns, Gold Weapons… everything was just gold. It was as if they went into Scrooge McDuck's Vault or found the One Piece before Luffy.

It was simply madness.

Each one of them lost their marbles from what they saw.

"Kyne's Mercy!" (Alina)

"Ysmir's Beard!" (Bjorna)

"Shor's Bones!" (Wulfur)

"Mara's Love!" (Jullanar)

"... Dibella's Bikini!" (Jon)

""""What is that?""""

"Something if you know, you'd all be called Jon Dare."

Normally he would say 'Sweet Baby Talos' but that was a good chance to use his new exclamation swear.

There was no time to focus on Jon anyway, they all walked into the room all at once to put their hands on these treasures but Jon suddenly blocked their way.

"It is cursed, guys!"

They woke up from their state of hypnosis and looked at the treasures while drooling.

"I promise you that I will put all that in a separate space in the cube and make you all swim in gold."

"Fine! But I sat my eye on that Golden Eyepatch frist." Jullanar said as she almost cried.

"Whatever you want but have you noticed that once we passed in, the entrance got sealed behind us?"

As Jon said, they all looked at the back and found a lot of steel bars blocking the pathway out.

"Don't worry, I left a Space Mark out there and I can teleport us out, no biggies. Now, let's go."

They bypassed the Treasure Room suppressing all their urges to touch anything. It was hard but they managed to do it. The last gate led them to a very large burial hall, it was very old and its walls seemed to house a lot of dead.

Jon organized the Wraithmen to form a circle formation and went forward with Alina and the rest to the place where Haknir Death-Brand last rested.

Once they reached the altar on the other end of the hall, Jon told Alina to take the sword on the pedestal.

This was a saber sword made of very high-quality ebony that gave off a red glow all around it, the sword's name is 'Bloodscythe'.

As soon as Alina took Bloodscythe from its place, powerful energy swirled in the hall and its entrance got locked too. A blue magical circle gave off a strong glow in the middle of the hall and a pale transparent figure appeared.

A ghost!

Around it, other ghosts started to appear. Their number was large.

These were Haknir and his crew.

Wulfur held his hammer 'The Champion's Cudgel' with two hands leaving his shield on his back. So did Bjorna who carried 'Stormfang'. Jullanar stood beside Jon and aimed her crossbow forward, Nefertiti was summoned from the Cube and she was already in her Werecat Form.

Alina and Jon looked at each other and nodded. With two sabers in her hands and two staves in his, they all prepared for a bloody fight.