Druthza

As we slowly pushed open the massive iron doors of the temple, the ancient hinges protested with loud groans and creaks, their echoing sounds reverberating through the empty main hall. The musty scent of the barren, stony crypt filled my nostrils as I stepped inside Bleak Falls Barrow, its dark and ominous interior looming ahead of me.

The structure of the temple was collapsing into itself off to our left, allowing for the sun's light to spill in through the gaping holes in the ceiling, and also giving my sharp eyes the ability to see the copious amounts of dust drifting through the ancient Barrow. Moss was growing along the cracking stones beneath our feet, and seemed especially abundant in the more shadowed parts of the temple, giving it an added touch of antiquity. The lingering phantom that was the countless years of stillness and abandonment left me and Derkeethus feeling as if we'd stepped back in time as soon as we walked into the temple.

But what seemed both obvious and surprising to me was how... warm the place felt in comparison to the chill of the outside as Derkeethus grunted with effort whilst closing the thick doors behind us, the dull clunk! of the doors being shut sounded through the main interior. I desired to strike up a conversation with my companion about the temple and how incredible it seemed, but something in the back of my mind whispered: "keep quiet. Danger lurks."

So, I looked to Derkeethus and pressed my clawed finger to my lips, signaling for him to remain silent as we proceeded to sneak around and gain an idea of what could be in here with us at the moment. As I quietly moved forward and made my way around the debris that blocked a bit of my path, I soon heard a few voices up ahead, which caused me to freeze instinctively in order to tilt my head and listen in, my heart thumping harder in my chest.

"...that damn Dark Elf has been gone for ages," grumbled a male's voice, "that dumbass was too overcome by his greed to wait for us and instead rushed ahead to find this temple's riches."

"Who cares?" Retorted a female voice, of course, the two speaking were Nords. "I want my share from that Claw."

"Just shut up and keep an eye out for trouble, Soling." The man huffed, and I could see a fire crackling just behind the thick pillar in front of me, the sharp shadow of a human figure dancing along the temple walls as it appeared to pace back and forth. My head turned towards the male Argonian behind me, who, as it appeared, also had turned an ear to the conversation, his gaze telling me: "just give me a sign as to what I can do, and I'll do it."

I made a gesture similar to letting loose an arrow from an imaginary bow, and he gave me a little nod of approval before taking up a steady aiming position with his weapon just behind a chunk of nearby debris, an arrow notched and ready to be fired.

As soon as that male Nord figure had come into clear firing view, the arrow was let loose, and I watched as it plunged into his side, causing him to cry out in pain which immediately alarmed the woman he'd been conversing with previously. "Bjorn! Wh-Who the hell fired that arrow?" Soling exclaimed, the sound of a sword being drawn echoed through the chamber as she dashed away from the fire and gazed around wildly, only for her to be met with an arrow of her own in her gut.

Despite the obvious injury, the bandit was determined to put an end to us intruders, her sword raised and her face twisted into a furious snarl as she stumbled towards us...

Thwip! Shunk! Her body collapsed to the floor in a heap as a second arrow landed in her chest, her sword clattering to the floor in front of its dead wielder as the bandit woman went still, her blood starting to drain from the wounds she gained. As for Bjorn, Derkeethus made quick work of him too with an arrow to the head, silencing the bandits while the archer dislodged the arrows he used from their bodies, flicking the blood from their serrated heads before stowing them in his quiver.

"Done and done," he said, rolling his shoulders and looking over at me, the firelight gleaming across his exposed scales and making them shine. "Those bandits mentioned a Dark Elf going further into the temple with the Golden Claw. Should we make haste down there? Or take it slow to see what we run into?"

"Slow and steady, Keeth. I'm not sure what we'll find down here, so keeping an eye out and treading carefully would be best." I stated, my eyes drifting to the dead bandits as I quietly strode over to Soling's body and snatched up what little gold was on her person. "I think the archer also deserves his fair share of septims from his recent kills, no?" I wondered, handing over the twelve septims I had gathered from Soling's body, and lightly pressing the gold into Keeth's outstretched palm, giving him a moment to put them away before I took notice of a chest next to the fire.

Hmmm... I furrowed my brow and walked over to it, crouching down and testing whether or not I could immediately open the chest, only to find that the lid wouldn't budge. It was locked. Lockpicking time, it seems. I thought whilst accessing my knapsack, digging my hand in and feeling around the bottom of the bag before pulling out my makeshift tension wrench and a lockpick.

I felt Derkeethus' eyes on me as he watched patiently and quietly, seeming to take in my actions with great interest as if he were learning how to lockpick solely through watching me. After a moment, a light click! sounded as I put my lockpicking tools away and set to looking at what's inside the chest.

My eyebrows shot up at the immediate realization that a piece of iron armor was inside of it, the chestplate had a dull gleam to it and only appeared to have a few dents in it from previous hostile encounters. There was also a set of deep brown, thick hide pants that went along with the armor as well.

But I didn't care too much about its looks, knowing that I had an immediate upgrade from my leather armor made me snatch up the chestplate and pants and look toward my companion with an expectant look in my eye. "Ah, alright then. I'll give you a moment." He said quietly, and as he turned away to examine the temple around us, I quickly changed out of my current armor and worked myself into the iron chestplate, grunting a little as I realized just how heavy it was.

This might take some getting used to, I thought while slipping on the pants, which fit rather snugly against my legs. And with a simple "I'm done," Keeth turned around to look at me. "I admit it, Druthza, the iron armor suits you better than leather. More protection, too." He spoke, striding towards the chest and taking a peek inside for himself before pulling out an unlit torch.

"We could definitely use that," I rumbled, "may I?" I reached for the torch.

He gave me that small, courteous smile as his eyes twinkled, and he handed over the item to me. "Lead the way, my friend."

As I lit the torch, watching the flames dance and flicker upon our light source, I led us further down into the temple, cringing as we passed through the cobweb-infested tunnels, which reminded me of the unsettlingly creepy and horribly huge spiders me and Hadvar ran into while escaping Helgen. The tunnels were quite dark, but a lit brazier up ahead and around the bend in the tunnel told me that someone had been through here before us.

My mind told me that it was that Dark Elf who had gone through here with Lucan's Golden Claw. As we walked through the winding hallway, our lips sealed for now, we passed by burial urns and tables specifically designated for the preparation of bodies before their ultimate rest within this abandoned temple, the dank scents of molding fabric, water, and earth hung heavy in the air.

The stone floor would frequently be seen overcome with thick brown roots, showing just how long this ancient place had laid untouched by man or mer's hand since its construction oh so long ago, our passage deeper into the winding tunnel showed us collapsed halls and debris scattered along the way. 

But what stopped us was the eventual sighting of a staircase that led down into a room, and from my vantage point at the top of the stairs, I saw a Nord clad in that familiar fur armor, holding a torch as he examined something off to his left. As he then looked forward and seemed to pull down on something, a series of faint whistles sounded as well as the sounds of darts sinking into flesh as the bandit collapsed without so much as a gurgling groan.

That made my face pale a little. "Dart trap," I murmured, and Derkeethus furrowed his brow before lightly nudging me in the back, encouraging me to go forward. And so, I did, but slowly descended the stairs to make sure that the faint whistling of the zipping darts stopped before taking a moment to examine the small room, sheathing the blade I had had a tight grasp on for some time now.

As I stepped in, I found myself immediately met with a lever connected to the iron portcullis which blocked our path, above that was a little walkway with some stone symbols carved into the wall. We were now dealing with a puzzle, and obviously, the price for getting it wrong was a body full of possibly poisoned darts.

Luckily, the answer to this puzzle was fairly easy, as I looked upon the symbols again and found that the missing symbol in the middle was right at our feet.

Let's see... "snake, snake, and whale." I murmured, turning towards the three pillars on the left wall of the room, and pointing to them. "I suppose that we're meant to turn these to the correct symbol before we pull the lever."

"That it would seem," Keeth replied, proceeding to turn the first pillar to the "snake" symbol, and after looking over the pillars, turned the third pillar to the "whale" symbol. "Alright, try the lever, Druthza." He urged, and I gripped the cold metal lever in my claws and pulled.

Clunk! The lever yielded, and the portcullis rose, allowing us to continue onward in our journey toward the inner sanctum of this ancient tomb. Upon entering the adjacent room, I stuck out my arm holding the torch to examine our dark surroundings, finding a chest next to a dull stone table upon a slightly-raised platform just a few feet away, which had a little red healing potion bottle sitting on it.

But the sounds of scurrying paws tore my eyes away from the loot and Derkeethus withdrew that rusted pickaxe he had strapped to his side, a slight frown settling on his scaly face in the semi-darkness as he set his jaw and I unsheathed my sword, feeling as my heart started to instinctively pound a bit in anticipation.

The raunchy scent of a filthy creature, or rather, three creatures suddenly assaulted our noses, and the three ugly forms that belonged to skeevers scurried up the nearby stairwell, their growls and yaps filling the air as we defended ourselves from their little onslaught.

SHLINK! I sank my blade into the spine of one.

CRACK! Keeth buried the deadly edge of his pickaxe into the skull of another which made an effort to leap towards him.

SNAP! I kicked my foot hard into the third one's flank, sending it flying into the wall, only to hear its bones give in to the harsh impact as the skeever yowled madly, scurrying off into the winding hallway we had traversed previously.

As I sighed and began to wind down just a little from that skirmish, I turned to Derkeethus with a hint of concern in my eyes. "Are you alright? It looked like it tried to tackle you." I flicked a finger at the dead skeever with a clear hole burrowed in its skull.

"I'm fine, Druthza. The most damage it did was startle me." Keeth reassured me in that surprisingly calm voice, "what of you?" I nodded to signal that I too was fine before going to loot whatever was in that chest I saw.

There was nothing of true value or purpose in there except for a stamina potion, and I grabbed the healing potion sitting on the table before turning to toss the two potions to Keeth. "These are especially important if you want to avoid getting slain where you stand," I explained briefly, "keep 'em hooked in those little loops on the sides of your belt, that way you can grab them whenever you need them," I suggested, watching as he nodded and took my advice.

"If I run out, you wouldn't be so cruel as to deny me any of these potions, would you?" He asked, and I gave him a bit of an incredulous look, as if offended. "Keeth, might I remind you that I saved you from that Falmer prison in the cave? I saved you from your prison, and I wouldn't mind giving you potions to save you again." I remarked, and he seemed to form an expression of embarrassment on his face.

"Of course, Druthza. I apologize for thinking that you wouldn't help me with such things. It was just my curiosities getting the better of me." He said gently, and once I reassured him that he was okay and didn't need to apologize to me, we made our way down the old wooden stairwell, watching our steps on the way down so that we wouldn't fall or slip.

As we touched down at the bottom of the stairs, my scales began to prickle uneasily as I took notice of all of the thick, sticky cobwebs that clung to the walls and the floor around us, they glistened eerily in the torchlight and further sparked my arachnophobia as my mind wandered back to those unholy spiders back in Helgen.

"I have a feeling there's going to be trouble." Derkeethus rumbled from behind me.

As I approached the stone table just up ahead, my eyes landed on a small grey bottle resting on its surface. I couldn't help but pick it up, studying the contents inside as I gave it a little swirl. The liquid inside seemed scarce, leading me to believe that it was a vial of poison. As I held it up to the flickering light of the torch, Derkeethus, who was now standing beside me, let out a small noise of curiosity, clearly intrigued by what I had found.

"That's a paralysis poison, if you coat your blade with it, it'll make even the mightiest of your foes go stiff as ice in seconds." He informed me, and my spiked brows shot up while I uncorked the bottle with my teeth, proceeding to wet my blade with the poison and watching as, where the potent liquid touched, took on a faint greenish-white glow.

We then went onward with our exploration, but our presence was swiftly made known by the sounds of someone who seemed to be struggling. "...is... is someone coming? Is that you, Harknir? Bjorn? SOLING?" Cried the voice, "I know I ran ahead with the Claw, but I need help! Please!"

"Hey, is that...?" I trailed off, and Derkeethus quickly answered, "it's that Dark Elf those bandits mentioned. Come on." And with that, we quickened our pace and slashed our way into an open, sunlit hall with thick, constricting cobwebs and--

Oh, by the Hist...

My blood froze over as I watched an utterly massive, venom-drooling spider drop down from the hole in the ceiling, and my eyes went as wide as saucers as its eight, beady black eyes landed on me, those arm-length fangs gleamed and dripped that sickly-green toxin as it's speckled reddish-brown body crawled closer...

My chest had now tightened significantly, and I had dropped my torch.

"I... I-I'm not sure if I--"

"HSSSSSSSS!" Went the giant Frostbite Spider, and my face paled as I watched it raise its fangs...

What would it feel like to be pumped full of blood-freezing venom...?

"DRUTHZA!" Derkeethus yelled in my ear, his warning voice causing my mind to snap back to reality as I just barely dodged a glob of glistening venom spat my way, my adrenaline seizing hold of me as I raced around the spider, my heart thumping harshly against my ribs as I braced my body for a counter-attack.

The sounds of Derkeethus firing his bow were heard in the cobweb-infested chamber, his arrows landing in the creature's large black eyes and fanged face as an ugly green blood spurt from its head, allowing me to go through with my counter-attack as I sank my poison-coated sword deep into the spider's bulging abdomen.

That same greenish-white glow that had been on my blade pulsed over the spider's body as I felt its body stiffen beneath my weapon, and I looked to see Derkeethus as he buried his pickaxe in the spider's head, its huge fangs reflexively spasming and causing the Argonian to leap back in order to not be stabbed by them.

And only when the huge arachnid stopped moving did I quit driving my blade into its abdomen, my claws shaking and my pulse racing faster than a blizzard's howling gales. My eyes were wide as I surveyed the giant spider, my breaths a little shaky and my gaze locked on my slain enemy.

"Druthza! Hey, are you alright?" Derkeethus asked me with a clear hint of worry in his usually calm voice, his eyes drifting across my face as he seemed to examine me briefly, the pickaxe in his right hand dripping with blood. "You look... shaken."

"What about me, eh?" Wondered the Dark Elf we had heard, "that thing bound me in its webs! How do you think I feel?"

I took a deep breath while looking at Derkeethus, "I-I'm fine now... damn that spider..."

"Hellloooo? Hey lizards, can you cut me down?" Exclaimed the elf, whose annoyingly persistent tone of voice was... getting to me, and I put aside my arachnophobia before whirling around and striding over to the man, my blade dripping with that hideous green blood of the spider.

"Where's the Claw?" I growled, cracking my neck and giving him a slight glare, the Dark Elf's blood-red eyes stared back.

"Yes, the Claw. I know how it works! The Claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together!" He stated. "Help me down, and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden here."

I then let out of sigh, "alright, fine. Let me see if I can cut you down."

"Oh, sweet breath of Arkay, thank you!"

But as I angled my blade in such a way to cut him down, my mind then drifted to one thought in particular: instead of freeing this thief, why can't I just save myself the trouble of dealing with him personally, and instead cut away just enough of the webbing so that I can snatch that Claw from him?

Ha! It might just work! I smirked a bit upon thinking about this, and rather than start from the top of the Dark Elf's cocoon and slice him free, I dug my chitin weapon into the right side of the cocoon, tearing through the thick white webbing and reaching my hand inside.

"HEY! I said GET ME DOWN!" He yelled, and I found myself yanking the Golden Claw from the Dark Elf's grey hands, which were bound to his sides in the cocoon.

"Hmmmm... no, I don't think I will." I rumbled afterwards, that smirk on my face widening as I looked down at the Golden Claw, now in my possession. It indeed was made of solid gold, with intricate swirls and knot details in the top of the claw, and it felt rather heavy in my hands. But rather than keep a hold of it, I slipped it into my knapsack, hearing as it clinked softly against the different bottles and items I had in my bag.

"I bet you don't even have an inkling as to how it works, Scale-skin." Sneered the elf, and I just looked up at him and scoffed. "I'll figure it out. Don't worry about it."

And with that, I cut through the thick cobwebs just enough to allow both me and Derkeethus through, our minds focused on what laid ahead of us as the Dunmer's protests to be freed soon grew quiet.

Now all I needed was the Dragonstone, and we could get out of here.