The Tale of Athol

I take a deep breath and stretch as I hear the sounds of Ragnar the Red coming from downstairs at the inn’s bar. Not a bad way to wake up. I get out of bed and rub my arms before grabbing the Imperial Legion cuirass on the floor by the bed. I’m a little soar from yesterday, but its nice. I chuckle as I strap the weapons back onto my armor. I woke up feeling like this a lot while I was beginning my training under Amar in Skaven. The nostalgia makes the feeling not entirely unpleasant.
I go down the stairs, only a few people are here still from last night. The workers, the bard, and a few patrons.
"I haven’t seen you at any camps before."
I look to see a Legionnaire sitting by the fire, tankard in hand. This could end badly.
"I’m, um, not really…you see this armor was all I could get…" He looks at my confused as I try to explain, "I was at Helgen, and this was the only armor I could find. You know, while escaping."
"You were Helgen?" He looks surprised, and then gets a very serious expression. "You for the Gray-Manes or the Battle-Borns?"
"What?"
"You got rocks in your ears? Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?” He’s more forceful this time.
"I have no idea what you’re asking…"
"New, huh? This city’s got two clans, the Gray-Manes that back the Stormcloaks, and the Battle-Borns are loyal to the Empire." This man is obviously one of the Battle-Borns, "So I’m gonna ask again. Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?”
"I’m not going to pick sides." I’m too conflicted about both sides of the war. I support the Empire well enough, and my Pa was in the Legion…but I understand what the Stormcloaks want, and I can’t help but sympathize.
"You’re gonna have to pick some time." He took a drink from his tankard.
"Maybe, but not today." I say as I exit the inn. It’s still raining, so I put the hood of my cloak back up, walk to the general store, and enter it.
“Everything’s for sale my friend! Everything!” The Breton behind the counter chuckles, “I’d sell my sister if I had one!”
I smile and walk up to the counter, removing my hood. “Just some paper and writing supplies will do.” I pay him and he gives me my purchases. I thank him and leave. While still under the protection of the overhand of the room I put the paper against the wall and quickly write out a letter:
“Ma-
I have arrived in Skyrim and am safe, in spite of everything going on. Please try not to worry too much about me. It will be a while before I can return to Morthal, but I’m not sure how long. I’ve gotten hold up in Whiterun on recent business tied to the dragons. I promise that I’ll be home as soon as I can.
All my love
-Athol”
I give the letter to a courier with delivery instructions and head out of Whiterun. Farengar said that I could ask about directions to Bleak Falls Barrow from people in Riverwood, so I guess I’ll just head back there. It continues to rain all the way back, but I make it to Riverwood without incident.
Alvor looks busy with the armor he’s making, so I’ll try to ask someone else for directions first. I look around and head into the general store across from Alvor’s shop. However, I walk in on two people arguing in the shop.
"Well someone has to do something!” A tall, very thin, Imperial woman says angrily to the shopkeeper. They look like they’re brother and sister.
"I told you! No thief chasing Camilla! I don’t want-oh!” He cuts himself off as he sees me standing by the door, “A customer…” He clears his thought and motions for me to come up to the counter while apologizing about my having to hear their argument.
She snorts and goes to sit in a chair on the other side of the store as I walk up to the counter.
"The Riverwood Trader isn’t much, but I assure you we offer everything you need from a general store!" He forces a smile.
"Did something happen?"
"Eh, u-um, well, yes. We had a bit of a…break in." He struggles to get the words out, and mumbles the bit about a break in, but is right back to his normal town as he continues. "The thieves were only after one thing though, an ornament. Its in the shape of a dragon’s claw, solid gold. Made off with it to Bleak Falls Barrow."
"I could get it back for you!"
"Wha-really?! You would do that? Oh, thank you!” The shopkeeper has a huge smile on his face, and I can’t help but smile as well. This is the kind of thing I love, helping people and making them happy.
"Of course."
"Finally something’s getting done about this! Camilla comes from her spot in the chair and walks over to the door.
"Camilla, I told you-"
She cuts him off, “Well, dear brother, your helper is going to need a guide isn’t he?” She smiles triumphantly and crosses her arms.
Lucan sighs, “Fine, fine! Do what you want. But don’t go past the edge of town, just tell him how to get to the Barrow from there!”
"Whatever you say." I could tell she was happy with her small victory, "Come with me." I follow her out of the store and back the way I came. We stop in front of the bridge that leads to the road to Whiterun.
"Just cross the bridge and take the dirt road instead of going to Whiterun. If you follow that path it’ll take you up the mountain and straight on to Bleak Falls Barrow."
"Thank you."
"It’s no problem…and thank you for getting the claw back. It really means a lot to my brother.” She smiles and then turns back toward town.
I begin going down the dirt road at a pretty decent pace, slowing down when it starts to go up the mountain. The farther I go, the colder it gets and the rain begins to turn to snow. I grew up around this kind of stuff, but being in warmer provinces for so long has made me just a bit more mindful of how cold it truly is. I make a mental note that I’ll have to buy a thicker cloak when I have the coin, but with bandits around I’ll probably have access to a little more of it.
The snow is still manageable and visibility is still good, but soon I’m surrounded by a fairly thick coat of it. I must be close to the top of the mountain. I’m getting pretty close to a tower, I’m probably getting close to the Barrow.
An arrow goes whizzing past my face, just barely missing me. I think I found the bandits.
"You picked a bad time to get lost!" One of them yells as he charges me, war axe in hand.
I quickly pull my battleaxe from my back and block him just in time. I push him back swing it into his shoulder, then his abdomen. He falls as I run to the bandit who’s been shooting at me, taking care of him as well.
With those two dead in the snow I head into the tower. There’s bound to be a few supplies I could use in there. Just as I suspected, there’s a few things I could use. I pick up a small coin purse and put it in my pack.
"Well look what we got here." I look over to see a heavily armored bandit running down the stairs toward me. I block his first blow and swing my axe. This fight is a bit tougher and lasts longer because of his armor, but I manage to take him down and go back to the health potion I was about to pick up before he came rushing at me.
I put the potion in my pack and begin eyeing the bandit’s armor. It’s not too banged up, and we’re about the same build. Plus I wouldn’t get mistaken for a member of the Legion. Before I can talk myself out of it I quickly remove the iron armor from the bandit’s body, move to a more covered area of the tower, and change into the different armor.
I fix my weapons and pack to my new armor and put on my cloak before heading back to the path to the main section of Bleak Falls Barrow. I’ll feel even better when I can get my own armor, but this is better than the light armor I had been wearing before.
Soon I’ve reached the main part of the Barrow, and I pull my axe off my back and raise my guard. Sure enough, more bandits come running down the stairs as soon as they see me. I fight my way through the three bandits and look around to make sure no others were hiding somewhere. As soon as I see that it’s all clear I head through the door that leads into the ruin.
I overhear two bandits talking about how another ran ahead of them with the claw. I crouch down and hide behind a pillar before they can see me and pray they don’t notice me just yet. I grab my bow and ready it, aiming for the bandit holding a bow. Better to take her out and save myself the trouble of dodging arrows later.
I let the arrow fly and she falls to the ground when it hits her. The other bandit grabs his weapon and begins looking around for me. I take the opportunity to do the same to him as I did to the other bandit and let another arrow go, killing this bandit.
I get back up and put away my bow as I walk closer to the fire the bandits had set up.There’s a chest, so I look in that and take out some gold from it. I store the money in my pack and continue going through the ruin. It’s slow going, but I’d rather be careful. I ran into more traps than I care to think about the first few times I was ever in any ruins. It was absolutely hilarious to Vendthus while we were adventuring together during my travels…I don’t see the humor in it.
Soon I’m standing in the middle of a large room, with the door at the end of it blocked by metal bars. Carved stone pillars are to my left, and in the middle of the room is a lever with a dead bandit, full of arrows, collapsed next to it. I look around and see that there are places for arrows to shoot out of the walls. I swallow hard and go pull the bandit away from the lever. A large stone is in a heap of rubble on the floor, a snake has been carved into it. I look up to see where it could have fallen from and see two similar stones above the door, an empty spot between them where the one on the floor fell from.
The carvings on the stones above the door look like the carvings on the pillars, so they must have something to do with it. I walk over to the pillars and inspect one of them. It looks like it has other sides…maybe…
I push hard against the pillar and it turns to reveal another carving on the different side, this one matching the the first stone above the door. Maybe if I get the pillars and the stones to match the lever won’t try to kill me and it will just open the door. I proceed to fix the other two pillars so they match the stones and go to the lever. I take a deep breath and pull. I smile as the door opens and I go to the other room, then down the stairs to a new section of the ruin.
As I keep walking I end up walking into a Frostbite Spider den. The entire room is covered in web. I grimace and swallow hard.
"Wh-who goes there?! Haknir, Bjorn, Soling?! Is that you?" I hear a voice cry from another part of the room. I go toward it and find my path blocked by thick web. I cut through it as the voice is still yelling at these other people, probably the other bandits.
I go into the room full of egg sacks and web, a Dark Ellf was stuck to the wall in thick web like what was covering the door. Before he can say anything about me not being the other bandits he begins yelling about the spider that is descending from the ceiling.
I shiver and grab my axe just as the spider lands on the floor. I swing it, hacking away at the Frostbite Spider, desperately trying to kill it. It soon falls. I pull my axe from the bug and walk to the bandit who is stuck to the wall…or maybe it’s another door.
"Good, you killed it! Now get me down from here!" The bandit wiggled around while stuck in the thick web, trying to get himself free.
"Where’s the Claw?"
"Yes, yes, the Claw! I know how it all works! The door in the hall of stories, the Claw, I know how it all fits together! If you just get me down from here I’ll help you! You wouldn’t believe the treasure the ancient Nords have stored away here.”
I sigh and, carefully as I can, cut the web around the dark elf. Eventually he falls to the ground and takes off running. I yell and chased after him, stopping dead in my tracks as soon as I see the Draugr stirring. I watch as one takes the bandit down and the rest turn their attention to me. I don’t know which of us woke them, but I intend to finish my jobs here and make it out of the Barrow.
I tightly grab my battleaxe and hack into the first Draugr. The others swarm me as it falls to the ground. It seems to take hours, but I know I wouldn’t be alive if killing them had taken that long. I check the wall for traps and other Draugr before leaning against it.
I try to calm myself and catch my breath. I’m used to fights like that, but they’ve never been that scary. I stay there for a moment to calm myself, there’s bound to be more of them. I take a deep breath, take the Golden Claw off the bandit, and begin making my way through the Barrow again.
Sure enough, there are more Draugr. There’s a few in each room as I make my way, steadily looking for something that could be the Dragon Stone. I make it through several rooms, not finding anything. Farangar better be right about the Dragon Stone being in Bleak Falls Barrow, I don’t want to have gone through here for no reason. Granted, I wanted to explore earlier, but I never intended for it to be like this. As former members of the Dragon Cult, the Draugr aren’t exactly the honored dead but it still doesn’t sit quite right to upset them. It makes me feel stranger to think about killing things that are already dead.
After making my way through all the rooms of the Barrow that I can get to, and surviving all the Draugr that woke up during my search I make it to the Hall of Stories. The room is clear of Draugr, it only has the wall carvings and a strange door. The door is made of rings with small pictures on them, a space in the middle has a space for what must be the key. I stare at the door, trying to figure out how to get past it when i remember what the bandit said: the Claw fits with the door in the Hall of Stories.
I take the Claw out of my pack and carefully place it so it fits the lock. I press the Golden Claw into the door…nothing happens. Taking the Claw out I sigh and sit on the ground. If the Claw really is the key, why won’t it open the door? Is there some trick to it? I hold up the Claw and look at it. It really is impressive looking. From what I can remember, it looks exactly like that black dragon’s foot…not that I really got a good look. Could be an awful recreation. It’s pretty heavy for it’s size, must be solid gold. I turn it, looking to see if it really is, and there it is: the answer to the puzzle.
Three small animal carvings are lined up on the bottom of the Claw. They don’t match the animals shown on the circles of the door, so I must be able to move them. I put the Claw on the ground and get up. I push in on the outermost ring and turn it, surprisingly easily, to the next picture, then the next. The animal matches the first top one on Claw and move to the next ring. Soon they all match and pick the Claw back up. Once again, I put it into the door and push. I hear the sounds of it unlocking and pull the Claw out of the door, just in time for the door to begin lowering into the ground.
I put the Claw back into my pack and slowly breath in. I continue on into the next room and silently pray to the Divines that the Dragon Stone is in this room. I feel like the Barrow can’t have much more to it at this point.
There’s a platform with, what looks like a chest, in the middle of the room, and something farther up past the platform maybe. I go up the steps onto the stone platform and see a strange, bright like out of the corner of my eye. I look toward the light and see a wall, covered in strange markings. A few of them are lit up brightly, and are obviously the source of what I saw. I’m confused, and a bit wary of this “light wall” but I take a few steps closer regardless. The light gets brighter as I get closer to the markings, but I can’t look away, or stop going toward it. Soon, I’m right up by the wall and everything but the lit up markings have gone black. A word burns into my mind: Fus. What in Oblivion is “fus?”
Before I can try to figure anything out there’s a crash of stone falling and I quickly turn around. Another Draugr is coming out of a coffin behind me. I grab my battleaxe from my back and rush toward it, but stagger against some force trying to push me back. It said…something, but what? I suppose it doesn’t matter. I yell and charge the Draugr, my axe ready. The fight is intense, but I manage to make the thing fall.
I exhale, having held my breath through most of the fight. I put my axe back onto my back. Is that something…in the coffin? I look into it…this must be the Dragon Stone! It couldn’t be anything else! I grab the stone and hold it up. I’m not sure what it is, but Farangar knows, and that’s all that matters. I put the stone carefully onto the ground and look in the chest. There’s some gold and a few things I can sell. I grab them all and pick up the stone again before going to the stairs against the wall. Hopefully it’s an alternate way out.
I follow the narrow path after going up the stairs and pull the lever it leads to. A portion of the wall lowers and I go past it, hoping for the best. An exit! It similar to the one from when Hadvar and I escaped Helgen, but it will definitely do! I’m ready to get out of this ruin and breath normally again.
I squeeze through the crack and make my way down the mountain I came out on. There’s not path, so it’s slow going, but I make it safely to the ground. The sun is going down, so I better find my way to Riverwood soon.
I begin wandering around, looking for some kind of landmark, or someone who might now where I am. It’d be helpful if I knew where I’d come out. Maybe I should have just back tracked through the Barrow after all. Oh well, too late now.
I know where where I am! Just as the sun goes down I find the Guardian Stones again. I run down the road toward Riverwood, holding the Dragon Stone close so I don’t drop it. I make it to Riverwood and stop, bending over and resting my free hand on my knee. I’m breathing hard, the day has finally caught up with me.
"You’re back from Bleak Falls Barrow! And in one piece too, I’m impressed."
I look up to see Camilla, with Lucan coming over right behind her. They must have just closed up the shop. I straighten up and smile, taking the Claw out of my pack. I proudly hand the Golden Claw back to its rightful owner.
"Thank you so much!" A huge smile spreads across Lucan’s face, and I feel my own growing to match his. "This means so much, really. I’m gonna put this right back where it belongs! Come with me." He motions for me to follow him back to the shop.
Lucan unlocks the door and we go inside. He puts the Claw carefully on the counter, positioning it and readjusting it several times before he thinks that its perfect. He then goes behind the counter and produces a large coin purse.
"It’s not much, but I got it for my last shipment. Here," he pours a large amount of the purse into a different one, "take it."
"Oh no, I cou-"
"It’s the least I could do. You did so much." He smiles warmly and presses the coin purse into my hand.
"Thank you, Lucan." I say as I put the money into my pack.
"Thank you.” He comes out from behind the counter and we walk to the inn. Lucan goes to sit with his sister and I go to the bar.
"I’d like to rent a room."
"Sorry, I just run the bar. Cook and stuff." The man shrugs and continues. "Innkeeper’s out. She owns the inn, so she can do what she wants."
I sigh and heft the Dragon Stone a bit higher, making sure I still have a secure grip. I head out the door and head in the direction of Whiterun. I’d like to rest before I head back to the Hold Capital, but with the innkeeper gone I guess I can’t. Fortunately, I make to Whiterun without incident. I yawn as I walk into the inn and rent a room again.
It’s late, so even if I went to the palace right now I doubt Farangar would be awake to accept the Dragonstone anyway. After following the innkeeper to my room I repeat the process from last night. The Dragon Stone goes onto the bedside table, my cloak and armor go onto the floor, and I fall into the bed. Once again, I’m exhausted.