Chapter 1 is here.
It didn’t take me long to reach a door with three arcs containing symbols. Since the Golden Claw had three symbols on it, it seemed reasonable to assume that I would rotate the symbols on the arcs over the door to match the pattern of the symbols on the claw. Then inserting the claw into the door, it turned like a key. Pretty nifty, eh? It did make me wonder how such elaborate door devices managed to survive hundreds and hundreds of years and still work, much like the elaborate traps I had encountered, such as the perpetual motion swinging axes. Magic, I guess.
Needless to say, eventually I arrived at the end of my journey through the various passages, Draugr, and the giant spider and found myself in a large chamber with an opening to the outside high above in the rock face. At the back of this large chamber was a wall that was seemingly calling to me. Now, I’m not stupid enough to just run to a wall just because I feel a compulsion to go check it out. After all, there was a large sarcophagus on a small platform in front of the wall, surrounded by postmortem instruments of death as well as a rather treasure chest. No doubt, something nasty inside was ready to pop out and scream at me the moment my back was turned so I could face the wall.
With my flame spells on the ready, I carefully circled the place, ignoring the choral call of the wall that grew louder within me anytime I got closer to it. I set the sarcophagus on fire and the flames burned for a moment before dying out and no response. I tinkered around with things, kicked the treasure chest and nothing. Still, I was sure there was something nasty inside. OK, I’ll open the treasure chest.
Inside were some tasty goodies, including a Staff of Frostbite, which as far as I was concerned as a big score. I figured these nifty items belonged to whomever was inside the sarcophagus but still, no reaction. That meant that after looting the chest, my only course of action was to check out this bloody, annoying wall that desperately wanted my attention. However, I wasn’t about to turn my back on this stupid sarcophagus and so I backed into the area of the three-sided wall that formed a kind of curve.
Nothing.
*sigh*
Since the choral music in my head demanded that I turn around and actually look at the etchings on the wall, I decided I had no choice and did just that. To my amazement, a piece of the etching glowed and burned in the back of my brain and oddly enough, I knew this was a dragon word, the first of three that formed a “shout” called Unrelenting Force — Fus. Though I new the word, I found I couldn’t say the word and that didn’t make any sense to me.
The experience over, I used my newly found staff for support and turned to face the sarcophagus. Nothing had happened, so I decided that maybe I had been worried for nothing. I knew I could exit this place through the opening above as there was a means for doing so that went up the rock face behind the Dragon Wall.
No sooner than I left the area of the Dragon wall than my worst fears were confirm — the lid of the sarcophagus pooped off and a tall Draugr crawled out. I didn’t give him time to do anything as I blasted him with a combination of fire from one hand and frost from the other. The Draugr uttered some guttural speak that I could not understand, but it was clear he was taking exception to my having his staff and goods. I made use of the area to try to keep some distance, so he used a Frost spell on me. What a bastard!
Clearly, keeping my distance wasn’t going to help, so despite the bitter cold of his Frost spell effects on me, I managed to club him with the staff, putting a freeze on his head and then kicked him in the midsection. He looked at me and laughed, at which point I realized his dangly bits no longer existed, so I set fire to that area of his anatomy and backed off.
I decided that a double-punch flame attack was my only option and tossed the staff aside, taking a moment to quaff a magika potion to recharge before opening up on him. He did the same to me, but the difference was that I was cooking him faster than he was freezing me. The Draugr finally collapsed and I looked for a bottle of brandy to revive myself a bit. Once I’d recovered some, I found the Staff of Frostbite again and then looted the Draugr’s body. In addition to the normal gold and such, he also carried a stone tablet. I figured it must be important since this guardian was carrying it, so I put it in my pack and left.
The trip back to Riverwood was thankfully uneventful. I returned the Golden Claw to Lucan, who paid me a bunch of gold. I decided not to tell them about my adventures after retrieving the claw from Arvel. His sister Camilla kissed me in thanks, and I was reminded of my earlier thoughts about trying to marry her for greater profit for myself. I noticed that Lucan had a spell tome for Firebolt, which he gladly gave me when I asked to buy it. I left the happy siblings and returned to the inn to get some much needed sleep, but only after I’d learned this new spell. After all, I had a feeling I’d need it.
Proceed to chapter 5.