NOVPUB
Chapter 481 - XCVIII: In The Halls Of The Dragon Priest
By the time Frea had managed to collect her wits every single cultist around the risen temple had been ended with an ease that both impressed and horrified her. She remained a Nord however, and did not hesitate to rejoin the trio of heroes from the mainland.
She pointedly did not pay attention to the pale one's retracting claws.
"Well" Said definitely not bloodsucker spoke up "That was certainly... easier than I expected."
"These were meat shields at best." The self proclaimed? Dragonborn scoffs "I'd bet you a thousand septims the actual cultists are further down, hiding behind their thralls as their kind often does."
"Speaking of thralls" Serana gives the battlefield a lookover "How sure are we we didn't just slaughter a small army of innocents?"
The elf returns from scouting the temple entrance, having heard the entire conversation from a distance "Raven Rock hasn't been compromised and our young Shaman has confirmed her own people are still near their settlement."
"A fair point." Minthara nods "Found anything interesting?"
"One of those stones apparently, bunch of tools discarded around it with half-built walls of what I am guessing is a shrine of some sort" He looks at Frea "You know anything about the stone?"
"The Tree Stone." She shakes herself from a slowly growing stupor "My father had forbidden me from ever communing with it for a reason I didn't understand until now."
"And now?" Minthara asks.
"Herma Mora is often said to be connected to trees." The Shaman mutters "My gut tells me it has something to do with that, it fits with your tale also."
The Dragonborn nods before turning to the temple "Well, we won't find out anything by dawdling." And marches to the stone in question.
Just as Nerevar said, the edifice was surrounded by a half-built temple of sickly green stone, its base subsumed in a disgusting writhing tar-like substance.
"Ugh." Minthara winces in disgust "That smells vile." Earning immediate agreement from the two other women present. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
Nerevar on the other hand merely shrugs "Good thing my sense of smell is duller than dead."
"There is definitely Daedric power being channeled from within" Minthara says after a brief examination, she narrows her eyes and pulls out the necklace hanging under her chestplate.
The mere presence of the Amulet of Kings immediately charges the air with power and metaphysical weight and as its inheritor clutches the reforged pact she speaks "Begone!"
Even without the dragontongue, her voice sends ripples through the air and the edifice around the stone crumbles like a spiderweb before flames, its imposing presence disappearing with a whimper of protest.
Naturally that is when the tar-like liquid at its base coalesces onto itself and a vile monstrosity of ink and tentacles bursts out with an enraged roar in its throat, its undulating limbs swinging out with deadly force enough to rend asunder the most seasoned of warriors.
But the creature was not facing mere seasoned warriors and just as quickly as it struck so too was its blow parried with a bronze shield, and its body struck with bolts of flame and lightning, swiftly joined by a powerful wind that only made it burn more quickly.
Even after the creature was obviously slain, the fire did not stop coming... for an entire minute.
The perpetrator of such righteous retribution inevitably found herself facing a trio of questioning looks "Don't give me that look" Serana shudders with disgust as she hisses "I am not getting anywhere near that!"
The trio share a look and as one nodded in agreement.
-------
The temple doors were closed behind them as they descended down the halls whose air was oddly fresh.
Noticing this, Minthara sniffs around for a bit before nodding to herself "Definitely inhabited."
"And just as large as you guessed." Serana interjects, her hand glowing green as she leaned it against a wall "I can't get a perfect picture due to the wards but we have quite the trek to take."
And as if to confirm that statement, the nearest sarcophagus burst with the familiar grunt of an angered Draugr.
---
"These tunnels seem endless." Frea not quite complained "To think such a place lay buried for so long..."
"Isn't even the oldest one I've been to." Minthara smirked before narrowing her eyes "But I will admit it is one of the more irritating ones!" With a grunt she threw her hammer, a weapon obviously not balanced for such things, and hit a freshly emerging undead with the haft, utterly pulverizing its head before summoning it back to her hand.
They descended deeper and deeper into the temple complex, down numerous stairs and through even more of the honored dead, every single on of whom had to be reminded of the truth that they were in fact not meant to be walking around.
Minthara didn't even find it exciting as the poor things broke before she could even get a proper workout in.
She wasn't quite sure if she was happy or irritated when the air shifted and a presence, distant yet connected to the temple itself, made itself known "Ah..." A male voice tinged with a familiar power echoed "Welcome to my humble abode, sister."
(Minthara's POV)
My eyes narrow at the address and my three companions still behind me "Miraak I presume?"
"In the flesh" I could feel the smirk, an almost familiar one in fact... I did not like it "Ah but where are your manners, my sibling? You know my name but I not yours."
"Minthara Septim." I tell him, and nearly laugh as Frea stumbles behind me "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Some ire enters his voice "You enter my temple, slay my thralls living and not, and you ask me what do I want?"
I do not hesitate for even a second "Exactly."
He doesn't answer for a few good moments "I see..." I know a forcefully dramatic sigh when I hear one "You will not be so brazen when the time comes, we shall meet when you descend and you will witness true power, slayer of Alduin or not."
And just like that the presence retracts.
"What a prick" I shake my head with a snort "Let's move on."
"Not worried he is actually waiting for us?" Serana asks, more curious than worried.
I merely scoff at this "If he was capable of leaving he would not be drawing attention by enacting an island-wide ritual."
"Agreed." Nerevar nods "This all seems like the usual grandstanding."
He was both right and wrong, as I could feel the draconic parts of myself growing furious at his taunts. But it was something I have learned to mostly contain "He was trying to goad me, if I was less used to my powers it could have even worked."
We descend deeper down in a ponderous silence, slaying Draugr as we went until we reached an enclosed chamber with only the entrance we came through.
Or so it seemed anyway.
Some minor fiddling and scrying later the wall on the far end of the chamber split and we came upon an oddly out of place grand staircase flanked by dragonbone ornamentation on both sides.
It was all rather ominous.
Not that it slowed us down any as we ascended without slowing, soon entering the familiar chambers of a word wall, one that contained knowledge on the dragon aspect shout that I had long since mastered.
Oh and there was a pretty powerful Draugr in there but he died before he could blow us away with a shout and I tossed his ebony axe to an increasingly frantic Frea.
So frantic in fact she nearly dropped the thing.
"What?" I asked her "It is a proper weapon."
She blinked, sheathed her own axe, and nodded "Aye, Dragonborn..."
'Didn't the Skaal place special value on their style of smithing?' The thought struck me before I disregarded it utterly 'Not my problem.'
The fallen Draugr also held a key that opened the way forward and we were all rather surprised when we found that the area beyond the gate shifted from usual Nordic tomb to lived in underground quarters.
In fact, we could all hear the hustle and bustle of a small village from within as cultists bereft of their masks meandered about without a single care in the world.
Well, excepting the unfortunate duo that got their heads removed by wind blades, couldn't have them alerting the rest after all.
We decided on the stealthy approach and soon we could hear traces of conversations going on.
"How long do you think we will need to stay down here?" A bored Dunmer asked his Nord compatriot, one that Frea was directing a death stare at.
Probably a Skaal then.
"A few days more at most." Said Nord shrugged "Lord Miraak gave us his orders last communion, so just let the initiates" He chuckled "Deal with any problems and enjoy the rest, we won't be having much of that when He descends."
I nod at Nerevar who stays behind as we continue sneaking by.
"Hey-" The Dunmer seems to notice Frea but too late as he is speared through the gut with a spike of earth and his comrade has his head sundered.
Sundered.
Heh.
We take out a few more small groups in a similar manner before another conversation caught my attention.
"Hear what happened to Brokkvar?" A woman asked a trio of other cultists.
"Aye" A man nodded with too much glee "Fool thought he could take a peek at the artifact, the Overseer taught him a lesson that will last him a lifetime."
The rest of them chortled, the implication clear.
"The artifact?" I whisper "Sounds like something I wouldn't mind taking."
"Done collecting information?" Serana asks boredly.
"Yup" I smile at her "They can die now."
The vampire didn't hesitate a second before disappearing in a cloud of chittering bats, falling upon the quartet and causing them to scream in panic and pain before they were utterly silenced.
And then a poor fool raised the alarm.
'What was it he said?' I thought with a happy smile "Oh well, here I go killing again!"
For some reason the cultists seemed to prefer fleeing towards the obvious vampire instead of facing me but for the life of me I couldn't have guessed why.
-----
"Mercy pleas-! urk" The final cultist screams out as he is impaled into a wall by a bored vampire lady.
"All done?" Nerevar asks, utterly uncaring for the new coat of paint on his armor.
Serana casts a detect life spell and nods "Every single cultist is dead."
"Excellent" I clap my hands "Now to grab their- my artifact!"
Frea trudged after us, looking nearly as pale as Serana.
Finding said item was not difficult at all, in fact it seemed suspiciously easy despite the supposed fate of one of the cultists... Then again cults did tend to do the whole 'test of faith' thing more often than not, right?
Shaking the idle thoughts away I entered the chamber and was immediately baffled with just how different it was. If the largest part of the temple was a tomb, and the living quarters looked more akin to a series of well made stone homes, then this place looked like an odd mix of a library tower level and the very same greenish stone built around the locus up above.
However what drew most of my attention wasn't the room itself but what it held, a large, nay huge tome that looked to be bound in some odd fleshy bark and was obviously not mundane in nature.
"So you have finally come, my sibling" Miraak's presence returned without warning "I hope slaughtering my followers was as entertaining for you as it was wasteful."
"I wouldn't really call it slaughter" I mimic the titter of Reyvin's pet Daedra "I believe the proper term for it is pest control."
"You did not take my advice then." He notes with false disappointment "No matter, open the tome and we shall meet face to face... Since you are so eager to challenge me, I invite you to face me."
I felt something scratching at my senses and slowly began to notice little flickers of sickly green-yellow light in the corners of the shadows, revealing themselves to be eyes akin to those of toads once I focused.
There was only one real answer to this 'offer' as I clutched my Amulet "Let me think... open the obviously Daedric book while in the sanctum of someone obviously incapable of forcing me to do so?" I cup my chin and pretend to ponder with an overly loud hum "Hmmmm.... I think not!"
"Coward!" He barks and I feel the challenge echo into my very soul but I take hold of it "All that bravado and you fear to face me!?"
"Oh we will be seeing a lot of each other later, Miraak." I smirk "However don't expect it to happen on your terms. Now Begone!"
I feel pure fury radiate off him for a moment, tinged with what appears to be... fear?
He disappears too fast for me to truly understand, and so too do the eyes.
(Reyvin's POV)
Why do I suddenly feel so very smug?
(Minthara's POV)
A silent moment passes before I shrug it all of for later "Nerevar, can you pack the book up safely?"
"Probably?" The elf half asks half states "Shouldn't be a problem until we meet up with the rest. I hope." The last bit is a barely audible mutter.
"Good" I nod "Serana, Fre-" I pause as I turn to face the other two "Why is she unconscious?"
Serana gives the out cold Skaal a bored look before facing me and shrugging.
Is this what the Skaal call proper adventurers? How disappointing...
-------
The stone machine demands sacrifice.
If you want to support me directly and get access to 35ish Chapters in advance visit my patreon page patreon .com/Rastislav156
If you want to discuss the story or just meme about join my discord server: https://discord.gg/ZaZPFeqV
