Chapter VIII: Dustman's Cairn

While I wait for Davos to find a way to set Durrak free I recount the story of how I got here to my orcish friend.

When I arrive at the part where I guessed where he was going, he raises an eyebrow "You always seem to know more than you let on."

"Those of my house are said to see more than others are able to." I respond with a mysterious smile.

He grunts "That didn't really give me any answers."

"If I wanted to give you answers I would have Durrak, do keep up." I say in a jovially chiding tone.

"Right, whatever you say oh mysterious magic man" He rolls his eyes.

Finally, the gate he was imprisoned behind raises up and Davos reenters the room.

"Someone reconfigured the whole gate system especially for an ambush if I am understanding the mechanism correctly." He informs us.

I scratch my chin and pretend to ponder the situation. After a bit, I say "My guess is they were very aware of who was coming and were possibly the ones to inform the companions of the fragment's location."

Durrak seems very confused "Why would they target the companions though?"

I look at him like he is an idiot.

He grunts "If you know something just say it, we aren't all as big-brained as you Reyvin."

I snort "Fine, fine... ruin my fun why don't you?" before I raise my finger and point it at my head "Think for a second Durrak, you just learned that there are werewolves in the companions."

"Ok, and?"

I roll my eyes "They called themselves the Silver Hand. Does that tell you anything?

He seems confused "What does silver have to do with werewolves?"

I facepalm "Silver is poison to werewolves and vampires, and probably other Daedra-blessed individuals as well. If someone calls themselves the silver hand and is a group of warriors they are obviously some kind of werewolf or vampire hunter. And seeing as they just lured a werewolf into an ambush you can guess what variety they are."

Durrak has a look of realization "Oh! So that is why you think they were the ones to give us the location then."

"Yup"

"Why the long explanation though?"

I shrug "Well we are still waiting for Farkas to get his lazy ass up and I might as well teach you to think a bit in the meantime."

Before we can continue our conversation we hear a strained voice behind us "All right, my lazy ass is up. Can I get that healing now?"

I turn around and see a very battered looking Farkas, I quickly get to work and start repairing the damage. As I am doing my work I mutter "Silver really does fuck you lot over, even healing you requires expelling the shards first."

He grunts "Yes, that always was annoying to deal with."

I snort "Oh yes, merely annoying. Literal lethal poison in your blood and you consider it an annoyance... what glorious bravado."

Farkas snorts "If you didn't save my ass I would kick you right now."

"You would try" My smile is all teeth.

Durrak cuts into our conversation "What is this whole werewolf business about?"

Before Farkas can give a curated explanation I speak up "A few generations of companions back, a Harbinger got cursed with lycanthropy. Instead of searching for a cure he slowly infected the entire circle of companions. It has been a tradition ever since for new circle members to become werewolves."

Farkas gives me an annoyed look but without giving a single care I continue "If you do get to join the circle I wouldn't recommend becoming one though. Your soul automatically goes to Hircine if you die."

Before I can continue discrediting his little furry convention Farkas cuts in "Being a werewolf is a blessing, not a curse as you call it. We have the power of beasts in us and none are our equal."

I snort "Oh please, that statement is so arrogant my grandfather would probably stop posturing for a second to tell you off for it."

Davos laughs out loud at this but says nothing.

As I finish up healing Farkas I turn to a very conflicted looking Durrak "You can do whatever you want with your life, I won't try and force you down a path. But I will give you a piece of advice: Whatever you do, never, ever, give up your soul to anyone."

Durrak is silent for a bit, but then shakes his head and gives us a determined look "We can discuss and philosophize later, we are here for a purpose and we should focus on preparing to go deeper."

I shrug and take a seat to refill my Magicka reserve while the two companions bring out some drinks to celebrate being alive. I hear them discussing the whole werewolf situation at what Farkas thinks is out of my earshot but I don't care, I said my piece to Durrak and he is old enough to make his own decisions.

He can also just get his soul back later if he 'follows the questline' so to speak but it's the principle of the matter.

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After everyone is nice and rested up we move on deeper into the dungeon.

On the way we find destroyed draugr corpses with some very obviously silver weapon inflicted wounds. I guess that if the silver hand got bored of their vendetta against the companions they could always just become cultists of Meridia.

We move through a couple of completely looted and empty chambers, as we approach yet another passage we hear noises from further in.

I turn to Farkas and ask "What do you hear happening there?"

He perks up a bit and after a moment answers "Battle."

I nod "Probably the remaining silver hand fighting some draugr" I mull the situation over for a bit and say "We should sneak up on them and when either side finishes the other off we should ambush those that remain."

Farkas gives me a judging look "That would be cowardly."

I roll my eyes at him "When its just your life on the line you can be as honorable as you want. Now that I am here we are doing things my way."

He goes to protest but I raise a finger "I saved your ass, the least you can do is not make me risk mine."

He scowls and nods, getting back in line... almost like a kicked puppy.

We slowly inch closer, with the sounds of fighting and the shouts of the living growing louder and louder.

We group up at the entrance and look inside, and it is an absolute bloodbath.

About a dozen silver hand are facing off against thrice that number of draugr, with two powerful looking undead among them.

No matter the number of draur the silver hand warriors seem to be very skilled at what they do with the number of the walking dead falling every moment.

I decide that this won't do and start interrupting attacks and tripping some of them with telekinesis. Davos notices this and starts laughing his ass off soundlessly, with the companions both scowling at me when they themselves also notice.

Finally the leader of the remaining six silver hands decapitates the draugr and slumps onto the ground. One of his underlings asks "Why the fuck did they suddenly start dodging our attacks like that?"

The presumed commander spits a bit of blood onto the ground "How the fuck should I know, maybe whoever built the ruins enchanted the place to make them more powerful if they start loosing or something"

"Could be boss."

He shakes his head "We should probably head back, those furry fuckers should be arriving soon and the ambush party could loose against two beasts."

The lackey shakes his head "Nah, they usually send a newbie with a beast when they go for a shard as a hazing ritual... fucking dogs."

I notice Farkas' face growing redder and redder in fury as the silver hands speak, and before he rushes in like an idiot I choose this moment to attack.

I launch a fireball into the center of the remaining silver hands and blow a couple to pieces, the commander seemed to sense it and dodged on reflex. Said quick reflexes didn't save him from a crossbow bolt to the chest though.

The rest are quickly cut down by the companion duo.

"Well... that was anticlimactic" I say as we scout out the place for any hidden enemies.

Farkas grunts "Of course it was, we ambushed a bunch of tired foes with magic. No honor I tell you" he shakes his head.

"When honor puts food on your table, do tell me. I would love to hear all about it" I snark and look over the possible loot we got "Well at least the silvered swords will go for a good price if we don't find anything else deeper in.

Farkas cuts in again "We are here for the fragment, not for loot."

He is really starting to annoy me at this point "No, you are here for the fragment. I am here to make sure you idiots don't get shouted to pieces by a draugr and loot the place for anything not nailed down."

Durrak cuts in "What do you mean shouted?"

I roll my eyes "Most of these tombs are built by dragon cult era Nords, there are a bunch of tongues buried in most of them and even if they have a mere fragment of their previous power they would still shout you into a nice smear on the wall."

Farkas frowns "That would be problematic... but how do you plan to stop them?"

I shrug "I will merely counter it with my own thu'um"

They both seem very surprised and I explain just who I became since last year. One long ass explanation later both of them are looking at me with new eyes.

Farkas asks curiously "So... anyone can learn the thu'um?"

I nod "Yes, Nords also have a far easier time of it due to your connection to Kyne. But I will warn you right now it takes a massive amount of effort and meditation and the first time I shouted that fire breath I almost killed myself on the spot."

He has a distant look on his face "Becoming a tongue, huh? That would be a tale."

I raise my hand "Before you get all excited I do have to warn you, since you are a Nord the Greybeards might bother you about using the thu'um since they are very zealous about their pacifistic way of the voice..."

He seems confused "And how come they don't bother you?"

I shrug "Even if they did, they have no moral authority over me. I am neither a Nord nor do I worship the Aedra... well I do pay homage to Kyne since she was kind enough to bless me."

They ask me a bunch more questions as we finish up looting the 'battlefield'.

Soon we are once more heading deeper into the cairn, this time we are faced with draugr but they mostly consist of the two weakest variants and we cut them down quickly.

Finally, we arrive at the imposing main chamber. The axe fragment lies at a pedestal before a dovahzul word wall.

Durrak excitedly goes forward to pick it up but I grab his shoulder, he looks at me with confusion and I say "Remember, the moment you remove that fragment you will awaken the draugr buried here. Be prepared."

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(general pov)

The group of grave rob- adventurers quickly take their places around the burial chamber.

The Dunmer keep their distance while the companions prepare their weapons.

When they all confirm their readiness Durrak grabs the fragment of Wuuthrad and the coffin lids explode outwards, liberating five powerful draugr from within.

Four of them wear ancient plated armor and are armed with enchanted axes and shields, while the fifth, buried beside the fragment wields a greataxe and wears an imposing horned helmet.

The companions charge the draugr to the sides, while Reyvin starts launching lightning bolts at the presumed lord of the undead. His spells hit their mark but barely even scratch the creature.

'Either his armor is enchanted or he himself is just that resistant, I should-'

The horned draugr doesn't give him time to rethink his strategy as it charges him with an unnatural speed. Reyvin dodges away and summons Scorch to distract the undead, while launching sun bolts at it.

This manages to actually hurt it, making its dead eyes glow in fury. The draugr lord starts chasing after Reyvin who engages in the time honored tradition of boss kiting.

Things are going much better for the rest of his company as Farkas had already cut down two of the powerful creatures and Durrak impaled another. The last restless draugr tries to slash the orc's back with its axe but is in turn backstabbed by Davos, distracting it long enough for the warriors to finish it.

They all converged onto the last undead who had caught up with Reyvin, making the elf once again barely dodge the ridiculously rapid strikes of the undead by throwing himself around with telekinesis.

Before it could continue pressing him harder, Farkas struck it from the side and Durrak from the back. The undead let out a furious snarl and turned to its new attackers, getting rewarded with more sun bolts for its carelessness.

Seeing that it was in a predicament the undead quickly turned and shouted "WULD NAH KEST!" Launching itself to the other side of the chamber, and almost giving Reyvin a heart attack.

The rest were also scared by its sudden retreat, they quickly regrouped and turned to the undead who was now standing just below the word wall. It once again inhaled and shouted "YOL TOOR SHUL!" sending a massive gout of flame at them.

Reyvin reacted quickly and shouted a "FUS!" in return, dispersing some of the fire, and then summoned up as many wards as he was capable off, just barely managing to hold off the massive inferno.

The draugr seemed exhausted by the shouting, so before it could recover the two companions quickly charge at it and after an uncomfortable amount of hacking the twitching undead, finally put it to rest.

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(Reyvin's pov)

I slump onto the ground and let out a wheezing sigh "Fucking hell, that scared the absolute shit out of me for a moment."

Davos slumps down next to me and says humorously "You know boss, if we keep getting into these situations I think I might need a raise."

I roll my eyes "Oh please, even if we weren't already splitting the loot you could never get on your own I am still paying you more than double of what you would usually earn."

"Yes, but you cloud always pay me more" He snarks.

Farkas and Durrak join us after confirming the kill, the werewolf looks like he is high on adrenaline and says in a very satisfied voice "Now that was a battle! You really weren't kidding about the shouting... though it was weaker than I expected after all the tales."

I chuckle "Oh please, it is a literal undead what do you expect?"

He raises an eyebrow "How does that matter?"

"Shouting is directly powered by the soul, what we just fought was a mere husk. If that thing was actually alive we would have been ashes." I say seriously, before I smirk "Well you would have been, I might have survived because I am Dunmer."

He makes an 'OH' shape with his mouth and we all take a breather.

After the adrenaline finally leaves our bodies we get up and loot the place for all it's worth before leaving the dungeon. Unfortunately there weren't any convenient passages leading straight to the entrance so we had to slog back through all the chambers we already passed.

Yay for realism! I guess...

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