BIGwooly
Well-Known Member
- 14th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 202 -
Back to the ruins. I left early in the morning to try and make sure I could return before nightfall. It felt like all of Skyrim was asleep still. Such a peaceful ride for a change.
Once I was inside the ruins I encounter a few more ghosts. Each was fairly easy to take care of. Their cries did make me uncomfortable, though.
I hadn't gone far before I felt the power. It was unmistakeable. A word wall was near.
In fact, I could see it. It was barely visible on the other side of the room. Much more visible was a large chest right in front of the wall. As tempting as it was to run up and open the chest, I had a decent amount of experience with these word walls now. It was very likely that a very powerful draugr was lurking nearby.
So I approached slowly and cautiously. One painfully slow footstep at a time. At any moment oblivion was going to break loose. I just knew it. But the closer I got to the wall and the chest the more it seemed I was being cautious for no reason.
Finally, I was barely ten or fifteen paces from the chest. I began to creep forward more quickly, and had managed to take just three steps before disaster struck. At first I didn't even know what was happening. My world went dark and I felt like I was falling in a dream in the middle of the darkest midnight hour. Then I landed .. hard .. in water.
I splashed about for a moment while trying to regain my footing, and with water streaming down my face I suddenly realized I was inside a metal cage. There were several bodies lying floating in the water around me. Another body lay just outside the cage, and a living one stood still and gazed at me.
Finally he spoke, and it was the words of a madman. A delusional killer of men, who toyed with their deaths to bring himself pleasure. He was responsible for the ghosts roaming the ruins. And he made it clear he was also responsible for his assistant's death .. the body outside the cage.
He also made it clear he intended to kill me, and I assaulted the cage door with my mace. Metal struck metal with great force, but after two strikes I realized I wasn't getting out that way. My captor seemed to relish in every moment that my fate sank in. He was going to poison me, play with me, kill me .. then likely raise me again to be an unwilling servant of his.
I thought about using my shout of force, or even fire ... but neither was likely to kill this man outright. And even if it did, how would I get out of this cage? I would eventually starve to death. While the man searched for his special poison I frantically searched the bodies floating around me. I found some lockpicks on one of the men, but they may as well have been spoons to me.
The man was mumbling, talking to himself. He was crazed and I had to find a way out of the cage. Now.
And then I saw it. A satchel on the ground next to the cage, next to the deceased assistant. I snatched it up, not expecting to find anything of use .. but oh was I mistaken. Inside was a key, and it had to be for the cage. My salvation!
I turned and used my shout of force against the lunatic. I didn't want him to see me using the key and stop me. With his body tumbling away from me I jammed the key into the lock and turned. By the nines it opened! I was free!
I immediately set upon my captor and my new mace proved itself well. I took a bit of damage from fire spells, but my mace delivered it's own burning pain and the murderous psycho was dead.
It took some time to go through the tunnels and make my way back to the original room, but when I did I went straight to the word wall and avoided the trap. I learned a new word, a word of peace for animals of the wild. Perhaps useful, perhaps not. The chest at the base of the wall was empty. A decoy for the trap. It had worked well.
I've decided not to return to Whiterun tonight. The camp outside the ruins is decent enough, and sleeping here tonight will save me quite a bit of riding. Besides, I can't get too comfortable with sleeping in a bed now can I?
Back to the ruins. I left early in the morning to try and make sure I could return before nightfall. It felt like all of Skyrim was asleep still. Such a peaceful ride for a change.
Once I was inside the ruins I encounter a few more ghosts. Each was fairly easy to take care of. Their cries did make me uncomfortable, though.
I hadn't gone far before I felt the power. It was unmistakeable. A word wall was near.
In fact, I could see it. It was barely visible on the other side of the room. Much more visible was a large chest right in front of the wall. As tempting as it was to run up and open the chest, I had a decent amount of experience with these word walls now. It was very likely that a very powerful draugr was lurking nearby.
So I approached slowly and cautiously. One painfully slow footstep at a time. At any moment oblivion was going to break loose. I just knew it. But the closer I got to the wall and the chest the more it seemed I was being cautious for no reason.
Finally, I was barely ten or fifteen paces from the chest. I began to creep forward more quickly, and had managed to take just three steps before disaster struck. At first I didn't even know what was happening. My world went dark and I felt like I was falling in a dream in the middle of the darkest midnight hour. Then I landed .. hard .. in water.
I splashed about for a moment while trying to regain my footing, and with water streaming down my face I suddenly realized I was inside a metal cage. There were several bodies lying floating in the water around me. Another body lay just outside the cage, and a living one stood still and gazed at me.
Finally he spoke, and it was the words of a madman. A delusional killer of men, who toyed with their deaths to bring himself pleasure. He was responsible for the ghosts roaming the ruins. And he made it clear he was also responsible for his assistant's death .. the body outside the cage.
He also made it clear he intended to kill me, and I assaulted the cage door with my mace. Metal struck metal with great force, but after two strikes I realized I wasn't getting out that way. My captor seemed to relish in every moment that my fate sank in. He was going to poison me, play with me, kill me .. then likely raise me again to be an unwilling servant of his.
I thought about using my shout of force, or even fire ... but neither was likely to kill this man outright. And even if it did, how would I get out of this cage? I would eventually starve to death. While the man searched for his special poison I frantically searched the bodies floating around me. I found some lockpicks on one of the men, but they may as well have been spoons to me.
The man was mumbling, talking to himself. He was crazed and I had to find a way out of the cage. Now.
And then I saw it. A satchel on the ground next to the cage, next to the deceased assistant. I snatched it up, not expecting to find anything of use .. but oh was I mistaken. Inside was a key, and it had to be for the cage. My salvation!
I turned and used my shout of force against the lunatic. I didn't want him to see me using the key and stop me. With his body tumbling away from me I jammed the key into the lock and turned. By the nines it opened! I was free!
I immediately set upon my captor and my new mace proved itself well. I took a bit of damage from fire spells, but my mace delivered it's own burning pain and the murderous psycho was dead.
It took some time to go through the tunnels and make my way back to the original room, but when I did I went straight to the word wall and avoided the trap. I learned a new word, a word of peace for animals of the wild. Perhaps useful, perhaps not. The chest at the base of the wall was empty. A decoy for the trap. It had worked well.
I've decided not to return to Whiterun tonight. The camp outside the ruins is decent enough, and sleeping here tonight will save me quite a bit of riding. Besides, I can't get too comfortable with sleeping in a bed now can I?
