Eventually, the fire disappears, the last few embers glowing softly among the ash of the spider. Despite the flames seeming rather tame and not very powerful, even the sword that was stuck in one of its legs seems to have melted, with only its hilt and pommel retaining their shape. Vaenyr looks around the chamber, searching for anyone else who could have started the fire, but he is alone. The only other thing that might have been able to cast magic was the Mer with the exposed skull behind him, but even if Arval had secretly been a lich, Vaenyr was pretty sure the Dunmer would not have helped him.
Putting his sword away, he unclasps the second sheath from his hip, no longer having the sword for it, and then walks up to the corpse still hanging around. After a quick check of the Mer's pockets, Vaenyr finds not only the Golden Claw, but also a surprisingly large bag of Septims and a basic silver ring. Throwing it up in the air and then catching it, he puts the ring on his left thumb. Internally wondering about how enchanted items would stack in this version of Skyrim, he grabs the dead body, pulling it out of the spider web. Unfortunately, the strings of the web were quite strong, resulting in half the body remaining stuck in them, even as Vaenyr takes a few steps with the other half in his hand.
Dropping the upper half of the Mer to the floor, he sighs and climbs over the other half, squeezing through the opening he created and finally setting foot in the catacombs of the tomb. The air in the tunnels reeks incredibly, a foul sourness mixed with an annoying note of sweetness, as if to remind him how good things could smell while trying to kill him with stench. Vaenyr, or well, Alex, had been in the catacombs of Paris, but the tomb he is now in smells a million times worse.
Despite his nose trying to kill him, he continues on his way, stepping through another doorway into a larger tunnel, the walls of which are filled with slits. Spotting the rotting corpses in the slits, Vaenyr bites his cheek slightly and slows down, hoping not to wake the dead. He might be about to rob their lord, but he has no need to disrespect them. So, as silently as possible, he sneaks through the tunnel, stepping over the large pressure plate that sits in the ground and untying the wooden gate that would slam shut if one activated the trap.
After making his way further into the tomb, he eventually arrives at a room that holds a single coffin, along with a lever and a metal gate that blocks the way further. Thinking back to the last time he played the game, Vaenyr remembers that this is the room where he is forced to wake the draugr from their otherwise eternal rest, with the only way to progress being to pull the lever.
Or, the only way one should be able to use it. In the game, there was, of course, a very easy bug to ignore this, but was there one in real life too? He walks up to the gate, grabbing it and pulling on it. The mechanism holding the gate starts cracking, the mix of stone and ancient wood that it was made of barely able to hold out against Vaenyr's attempt to pull the gate away. With a low growl, he pulls on it again, but unfortunately, the gate does seem unwilling to let him through.
"Well, of course, shit can't be easy!"
After cursing, Vaenyr grabs the lever, pulling it down. He glares at the gate, which starts to rise slightly, only to curse again after it suddenly stops after lifting a few centimeters. He can hear the mechanism behind the gate grind against itself, but the gate seems fully stuck. Before he can let out another curse, he once again feels time slow slightly before a loud 'Fus Ro Dah' hits his ears, his body being thrown forward and crashing against the gate. The metal breaks free of its holdings with him, crashing to the ground, with him sliding deeper into the next tunnel on it slightly.
After regaining his grip, Vaenyr quickly rises to his feet, turning to the dead man behind him, the draugr deathlord glaring at him with its empty eyes. It once again opens its mouth, trying to speak another word of Dovahzul, but Vaenyr quickly reacts and rushes at the skeleton, his metal-clad fist ramming into the dead's mouth and stopping it from finishing its Thu'um. The draugr tries to retaliate by raising its sword, cleaving downwards towards his head, but Vaenyr pulls out his own sword, blocking the corpse's attack. To his surprise, his strength alone is not enough to defend him, as the draugr starts to overpower him, pushing down its blade.
With a small chuckle, Vaenyr deflects the blade to the side, then elbows the thing's face, sending the draugr tumbling back a few steps, quickly following up with a slash to the creature's neck. His blade slams into the creature's spine, the metal cracking against the long-dead bone, but the force seemed to have been enough to kill the deathlord again.
Watching the draugr crumble, Vaenyr takes another look at the blade in his hand, then drops the heavily damaged weapon and unclasps its sheath. He really liked Alvor's work, but he also highly doubted that the cracked sword would be of much help against the remaining draugr in the crypt. He leans down, picking up the greatsword used by the undead, giving it a quick test swing before nodding to himself and turning to the next tunnel.
He walks deeper into the tomb, the tunnel leading into a larger cave. Moving over to where the cave seems to continue, he spots an opening in the wall, which allows him to gaze upon his next obstacle. Sitting on a bridge over the drop is a large creature with white fur and a third eye on its forehead—a creature normally first encountered during the way up to High Hrothgar, a Frost Troll.
With a small sigh, Vaenyr watches the troll, which seems to be eating something. After a few minutes of doing so, the troll finally finishes its meal, the creature turning to the right of the bridge and entering the tunnel. Vaenyr shudders and looks to his right side, where he spots the creature staring directly at him, its maw dripping some saliva onto the snow. The two stare at each other before the troll lets out a loud roar, rushing towards him, its heavy body making the ground shake slightly.
Vaenyr lifts his blade, ready to confront the creature, but as time slows once more, he suddenly has an idea. Breathing out, he glares at the creature, his mind filling with images of fire and wrath. Despite the troll being nearly in his face now, he does not give up on trying to cast magic again, dodging the swiping claws of the creature by rolling backward, only to glare at it again.
"Okay, you fat, three-eyed thing, I really want you to burn now."
The troll ignores his words, once again swiping at him, with Vaenyr barely able to dodge the swing this time. Not willing to give up yet, Vaenyr tries to remember what he did against the spider, what exactly might have ignited it, but he draws a blank. There is nothing he can think of that might have lit the creature aflame—nothing specific that he said or thought. All he did was curse the thing and glare at it.
Still in thought, Vaenyr barely manages to lift his blade, the troll biting down on the metal, blocking the creature's attempt to bite his head off.
"Hey, I am trying to think here, you shit—"
He gets cut off by the troll swiping at him again, hitting his side, its sharp claws scraping over the metal of his armor. Pushed to the ground by the creature, he rolls back to evade the troll slamming its claws into him, then jumps back to his feet. He can feel one of his ribs cracking slightly, and the chestplate he has on is also slightly caved in, but he has other problems to deal with at the moment.
With magic unwilling to work and being in actual danger, he drops his plans to ignite the troll, instead lowering himself slightly before rushing at the beast, his blade poised to stab directly into its third eye. The troll roars, taking his attack as a challenge, its maw opening wide as it tries to evade the blade. Unfortunately for it, Vaenyr has both enough experience and speed to easily counter the creature's maneuver, simply lowering his blade slightly to account for the dodge.
The two crash into each other, Vaenyr's sword penetrating the creature's eye and head, but the troll also manages to get in another swipe, hitting the other side of his body and caving in the armor there too. After the troll falls dead to the side, Vaenyr pulls free his sword, then looks down at his chestplate. It was already a bit too tight, and now with the caved-in sides, he can feel it pressing on his lungs. Stripping himself of the chestplate, he steps over the dead troll, making his way over the small bridge and into the last section of the tomb.
After passing to yet another collection of tunnels filled with draugr and a few traps, he eventually arrives at the final part of the dungeon, a large stone door with three rings in the middle. He had to switch swords thrice while killing the undead, but the one he has now was taken from the draugr just before the door, so it should hold out in this last fight. With a small chuckle, Vaenyr turns the three large stone rings to the symbols shown on the claw, then presses the claw into the socket in the middle of the door.
The large stone wall shakes, eventually dropping down into the ground to give way to the much larger cave behind it. Smiling, Vaenyr walks into the cave, watching a swarm of bats flee through the tunnels behind him. He walks over the small bridge and up the stairway to the coffin and word wall behind it, feeling a loud hammering in his ears as he does. He can feel a connection to the wall, the words on it glowing as he steps toward it. A single word appears in his head, a loud yet silent voice speaking to him.
Behind him, the coffin suddenly breaks open, a draugr overlord climbing out of it, raising its weapons toward him, but Vaenyr is completely absorbed by the word in his head. The draugr stands still for a second or so before roaring and rushing at the man who dared to invade its tomb. Still fully absorbed, Vaenyr turns around, not even noticing the undead rushing toward him as he speaks the words with which his body and mind are filled.
"Fus..."
His eyes still closed, Vaenyr does not notice as his words manifest in reality, his Thu'um resounding through the worlds for the first time, an invisible force striking the draugr, completely vaporizing the undead. When he opens his eyes again, Vaenyr is surprised to see only the opened coffin, with no draugr in sight.
"Ah... did the boss not spawn in?"
He walks to the coffin, looking in it, seeing nothing other than the stone tablet known as the Dragonstone, a map to the dragon burial mountains throughout Skyrim. With a shrug, he grabs the tablet, which is the main reason for him to be here, before turning around to look through the chests in the cave.