Chapter 672: Down the Deadly Tomb
Chapter 672: Down the Deadly Tomb
A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ?? https://linktr.ee/donovel ??
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It wasn't just any day of the week, it was payday. In front of Forelhost, Glymet, Swims-at-Night, and Sails-Through-Storms were eyeing the entrance to the ancient tomb.
"You think the battle down the hill dragged things all the way up here?" Asked Swims.
"Definitely." Replied Glymet, "The camp of the Nord Rebels was surely obliterated by the Imperials and many corpses litter the land."
"Still, we found no living around. Is it normal for battlefields to be abandoned with corpses everywhere?" Asked Sails.
"No." Glymet shook his head, "The winning army loots the losing army. There are also "independent looters" who try to scavenge the fallen soldiers before the winning side but none of that was here."
"My money is that the Undead we found scared off the winners and left this place for fellow looters." Said Swims in a bright mood.
However, the other two looked at him with eyes filled with disappointment.
"What?" He asked while looking between them.
"If the undead of Forelhost were this mighty, you think we can survive?" Asked Sails.
"While I can deal with the walking dead, the unknowable poses trouble for us." Glymet said, "Swims, you're the one who has been hunting this treasure. I'll leave the decision to you."
"Of course we go ahead until we no longer can." Swims replied naturally.
"I'll turn back and leave if this proves to be too dangerous." Sails, however, showed a different nature from her younger brother.
"Hah! Sister, this is exactly why I am the best Smuggler in Tamriel. I will not shy back from such a minor inconvenience." Swims said proudly while banging his chest.
"Both you and I know that the reason you are the best smuggler in Tamriel is that I don't operate around Tamriel anymore." Sails replied to Swims' taunt with words that made him unable to make a comeback.
"What is the story with you two, anyway?" Glymet asked, "You both are old enough to be experienced in your field. But the brother is hunting treasures while the sister is sailing to a different continent. It doesn't fit your smuggler reputation."
Glymet's remark made the two look at him with bothered faces.
"Treasure hunting is just part of the job. It doesn't have to be avoiding Imperial Patrols and sneaking through old caves all the time, you know." Swims said and then added, "Also, a smuggler must be a great pioneer at finding secret and dangerous routes to be better at what he does."
He then turned to his sister.
"As for her, she is obsessed with Akavir for some reason."
"Not just for some reason." Sails replied with strong emotions, "Traveling to Akavir means a lot to our family's heritage…"
"Here she goes again." Swims sighed and moved ahead before Glymet and Sails as if he was bothered by what she was going to say.
"Unlike my brother, I am not wasting my talents for mere smuggling." She said.
"But you're still a smuggler." Glymet argued.
"That is just a meaning to an end, not an end goal to me." She then pointed to the east, "Beyond the Padomaic ocean lies Akavir, a magical land filled with Warriors and unimaginable beauty. A place rarely a native to Tamriel ever reached. Unlike us, the Akaviri people are fully capable of coming to Tamriel and invading our land as they did many times in history. We, the people of Argonia, pride ourselves to be the original people of Tamriel, the first folk who walked this land even before the Ancient Elves and we share our very essence with the Root of Tamriel."
"But?" Glymet asked.
"But we can't protect our home if we can't travel out of it." She said, "The furthest place we can reach to the east is the Dragon Isles in the middle of the ocean between Akavir and Tamriel. It is also the land where the Akaviri people don't cross unless they are meant to invade Tamriel. The difference between us and them is that if they want to, they can, but even if we want to, we can't sail to Akavir easily."
"Let me stop you for just a moment but didn't we invade a part of Akavir some 500 years ago?" Glymet interrupted her with a question.
"Only because the entire Imperial Legion was dispatched." She said, "Don't get me wrong. Sailing to Akavir is not because we are short on good ships or naval charts. It is the Akaviri folk who defend their waters like mad people and they can always intercept you from miles away in the sea. We can't raid them the same way they raid us."
"They are that good?" Glymet asked.
"They are the best." Sails replied, "Their scouting ability in the high seas is unrivaled and to make it worse, their Weather Manipulation Magic is the bane of all naval enemies. We can't counter them with any of our current means."
"The only way she managed to get the closest to Akavir is by sailing through a storm." Swims interrupted their chat, "I mean… that's how she got her name. Sails-Through-Storms."
Glymet made a long humm but still had a burning question.
"But still, what is your personal reason to get to Akavir?" He asked.
"To smuggle, trade, steal, blunder. Imagine if you are the only one who can get items from Akavir directly without going through the Dragon Isles." She said and made a wide sneer, "I'd be richer than Jon Dare himself."
"And what is wrong with the Dragon Isles?" Glymet said, "I heard they are quite close to Akavir."
[A/n: Ok, from now onward, all the Akavir lore I'm bringing isn't all Canon. I have compiled many texts from the Elder Scrolls series and collected stuff around Akavir with hidden pieces of lore and item descriptions from ESO but many of them will be explained by my personal understanding. Other than that, the non-Canon parts I made are as close as I can get to the Canon hints and the Unlicenced Texts. Some of it is also a popular Apocrypha written by the TESLore community so let's call it quasi-Canon from now on.]
"Politically, yes. Still, their cultures are eternal enemies." Replied Sails, "The people of the Dragon Isles are the last known descendants of the Akaviri Humans of old."
"So those people are human, not snake people?" Glymet asked.
"Right. The Samai, they call themselves, means sworn people of the isles. They are humans pretty much like you. Maybe as tall as Bretons but with a different overall appearance like less facial hair, flatter faces, smaller noses, wider cheekbones, and their skin is almost like the Bosmer."
"Huh. Interesting." Glymet said, "Almost everyone is obsessed with the Akaviri races but I've never thought that there is a race like that."
"Don't let them hear you say this." Swims said, "If you don't call them Akavir, you're in for a load of trouble."
"If I come across one, I'll be careful." Glymet said nonchalantly.
The group arrived at the top of Forelhost hill and witnessed the reminder of destruction left by the small encounter from earlier. Unaware of what or who had been here before them, they scouted the area well in order to find that out but all that was left for them was the entrance to the Crypt.
"So… some survivors ended up entering the tomb before us." Swims-at-Night said with a concerned face.
"Or someone strong enough to lay waste to the fight down the hill." Sails-Through-Storms replied with a different idea.
"Hmmm…" Meanwhile, Glymet started checking the entrance, "Sadly, I have more bad news."
"What is?" Sails and Swims asked.
"Only the dead can enter Forelhost." Glymet pointed out at the inscription written around the entrance, "One must drink poison from that chalice over there and walk ahead."
"Well… that's unfortunate." Sails seemed to be disliking the idea, "Whoever entered before us have definitely killed themselves. Drinking poison from this chalice, you don't think…"
"Hey!" But it was Swims that interrupted her, "If that door only opens for the dying, I can brew us a special poison I know, won't kill us… but it won't be pleasant."
"I'll go with that plan then." Glymet seemed to be on board with Swims.
"You two are mad?" But it was Sails that started lashing out, "Why in Oblivion would you risk your guts for some ring?"
"Huh! Don't you know what that ring is capable of, sister?" Swims asked.
"Oh, please. Just because that ring worked 200 years ago doesn't mean it will work now. Moreover, it can't be in there from the beginning and we're just walking in a pit of certain doom." She said with a persistent tone.
"So you're out?" Swims asked.
"Yes, I am out. My game is out there in the Ocean, I'd rather die on the sea or on Akavir." Sails turned around and gathered her traveling pack.
"Suit yourself." Swims turned away and didn't bother, "More treasure for me anyway."
Glymet saw the exchange and approached Sails as Swims started working on his poison.
"You sure about this?" He asked.
"I don't risk life and limb for something I am not fully interested in, especially something that is the brainchild of one of my idiot siblings." She said with a confident face.
"I am not talking about this." Glymet smiled at her reply.
Sails stopped what she was doing and looked at her brother's back as she understood what Glymet meant.
"It doesn't matter." She said, "It is only me and him in this world and I know he has his own desires. I won't stop him from living his life even if it meant for him to walk into certain death."
"That's a weird kind of love." Glymet smiled.
"You don't have anyone?" Sails asked.
"The only person I care about is in Winterhold… safe… and happy." Glymet replied then a smile slowly appeared on his face, "So… after we survive this, do I get a post on your boat?"
"Ah!" Sails smiled and passed a coin to Glymet, "I always appreciate a brave soul. My ship's docked in Solitude. It will be a few months before I head out but be sure to be there before the eve of the coming Morning Star."
"And that?" Glymet asked while holding up the coin.
"A ticket." She said, "A ticket to Akavir."
***
Deep in Forelhost, not sure how much time passed, Glymet and Swims-at-Night hid behind a pillar from a volley of deadly arrows that swooshed towards them.
"Fucking Oblivion! Can't you do anything?" Swims shouted at Glymet.
"Your Magicka Dispersing Poison is just draining my life away. Wait until I gather another spell." Glymet replied and worked hard at gathering his Magicka before firing a strong sun spell.
Sadly, that took him almost a minute since his Magicka wasn't regenerating at all.
But after his spell landed on the undead creatures that were bothering them. It gave them enough space to run from behind the pillars with their blunt weapons to bash the heads of those undead.
It was a tough fight that might have ended easily if not for the poison Swims made. He stated before drinking that it would only cause a little headache but what he didn't know is that headache is one of the symptoms of running out of Magicka. He wasn't a spell caster so that was that.
"You okay now?" Swims asked.
"It's bearable. I can feel the effect stopping." Glymet replied, "I only need to drink Magicka potion to recover."
"Do that." Swims passed the potion to Glymet.
"Will take an hour to kick in but let's keep moving." Glymet said after drinking.
The two of them were carefully moving ahead in the Forelhost Catacombs until they arrived at an iron gate.
The two men managed to figure out the mechanism and as they moved ahead, they found themselves in a very ancient chamber, one that seemed locked from the other parts of the crypt.
In the center of that chamber, there was a certain Sarcophagus and a lot of power was resonating from within. That was noticed by Glymet, however, Swims' reptilian eyes noticed a red gleam on top of that sarcophagus.
"The Ring!" He shouted and stepped ahead.
"Careful!"
But in a split of a second, Glymet jumped and dropped Swims down along with himself.
He felt the power surge from the sarcophagus and just as he predicted, a deep roar came from within it as its lid came flying towards Swims.
After saving his friend by a hair's width, the two looked up with pale faces before seeing the thing that came out to greet them.
"Don't tell me!" Swims was on the verge of tears.
"A Dragon Priest! MOVE!"
Glymet kicked Swims away as a blast spell landed in their spot and the two rolled away. It was then that Glymet started to retaliate at the Dragon Priest with spells of his own.
The Magic attacks flew across the chambers left and right, up and down, until the noise started to attract the undead that were originally locked out.
By that, Glymet was facing the Dragon Priest while Swims-at-Night was fending off the undead.
Their tag-team efforts were enough to block the undead from killing them but not enough to prevail in their current state. Glymet was restricted from casting big spells and it started to become exhausting until he came up with an idea.
"Swims! Line them up for me." Glymet shouted.
"All of them?" Swims asked.
"All of them… along with the Dragon Priest." Glymet replied.
"Fuck!"
Swims whipped one undead skeleton with his tail and shattered it before starting to run between Glymet and the Dragon Priest while pulling a tail of undead pursuers behind him.
During that, Glymet took cover in the undead as the Dragon Priest started to hit his own allies and lessen the burden on the two of them. Glymet then stopped firing spells and put his right hand inside his robe.
*Click*
And he brandished a blade… an Akaviri Katana Blade… One with a golden blade that was wreathed in Flames.
He raised the blade up and something akin to a Dragon's Fire Breath happened.
That was Glymet's trusty companion since the end of the Great War, the sword Goldbrand.
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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ?? https://linktr.ee/donovel ??