Chapter 17: Bleak Falls Barrow Part 2

Open pushing open the doors, which were quite heavy, I found myself standing in a large open room which was barely standing with multiple pillars collapsed onto the floor, there were even holes in the ceiling revealing the sky.

I was surprised to find multiple bodies of bandits and even some weird-looking vermin that resembled large rats(Skeevers).

As I walked through the open room and passed a pillar I could see a bright light and two figures standing as they talked to each other.

"Arvel went down right?" Asked a woman with a bow and quiver on her back.

"Yea, he said that the Golden Claw he stole was the key to 'treasure', what kind of treasure could possibly be in such an old crypt? We should have just sold the Claw, we would have gotten a decent amount of Septims for it if we got it to the right people," Responded the man standing next to her.

"Agreed, hey...do you think something has happened to him? It's been several hours since he descended," Asked the woman with worry.

"Probably, but Sef already headed down to see if anything was wrong, remember?" Stated the Man as if he didn't care about the well-being of the man named Arvel.

With all the information I needed to know, I charged out from behind the pillar I was hiding behind and ran my sword through the chest of the man.

As he coughed out blood and collapsed to the ground, I withdrew my sword and then killed the woman before she could draw a weapon.

With them both dead, I looted them before heading deeper into the nordic tomb.

I found myself walking downstairs before turning left down a small corridor and then headed right down another flight of stairs.

As I walked through the tomb I was surprised by how old this place was, roots were grown into the walls and floor, while everything was covered in dust or rusted from old age.

I soon found myself walking down another set of stairs, but stopped after a few steps down the stairs, down near the bottom of the stairs where there was a room, I could see a man holding a torch that brightened up this dark tomb.

I watched as he advanced towards a level at the center of the room with a closed iron gate on the other side of the room in front of both of us.

As he pulled the lever my eyes widened as over a dozen darts were fired at the man from above the gate and directly pierced into his body!

Within moments the man keeled over and twitched a few times before he stopped moving!

Did he just die?!

Just what kind of poison did those darts contain for him to die so incredibly fast?!

Carefully taking a few steps into the room I found that on the left-hand wall were three strange pillars with symbols and overhead were two heads on the wall hanging over the gate with one of the heads on the ground apparently falling off from its previous position.

Upon looking at the three heads couldn't help but be dumbfounded with how they literally showed the answer to the puzzle before me...

What is wrong with the Old Nords, why the hell would they carve and place the combination in the room with the puzzle?!

Isn't this puzzle meant to keep people out?!

I couldn't help but scold the creators of this puzzle.

[A/N: When I first played the game years ago, this was my first thought upon entering the dungeon and doing the puzzle]

After rotating the pillars to where they matched the images on the head in order, I pulled the lever before immediately jumping away, making sure that I would be able to avoid the darts just in case the combination was wrong.

I breathed a sigh of relief as no darts flew out and the door opened.

Upon walking through I found myself in a small room with a table and chest in front of me and a round staircase going further down into the mountain to my left.

Walking over to the table I found a book titled 'Thief', some Septims, and potions which I promptly stored into my inventory.

Suddenly I heard squeal and hisses and found that when I turned around, three of vermin just like the ones I saw dead at the entrance, were charging at me!

Raising my sword and shield I bashed one of the vermin to the side as it lunged towards me, before almost effortlessly slaying the other two vermin.

Once all three were dead, I noticed upon closer inspection that they were all starving, most likely making them attack me due to starvation.

With them dead and out of the way, I continued down the Ancient Tomb.