- 14th of Frostfall, 4E 202 -
I'm so excited I can hardly write. My decision to find a hired sword was a good one, despite the cost.
Jenassa and I headed into the ruins this morning and made our way to the source of my frustrations. He was standing there, just as I had described him to my companion, reading a book and looking very ordinary. I assured her once again that he was anything but ordinary, and that either one of us could be dead within the next several minutes if we weren't careful.
The plan was pretty simple. I would strike him with an arrow before he was aware of our presence, and then we would move in and take him by melee.
My arrow struck home and in we went, weapons at the ready. The robed devil lit up his hands with magic and began to blast us with shards of ice and bolts of lightning. We charged right through the pain of his magic and attacked him from opposite sides with our weapons. The man focused his attacks on me at this point, and within a very short time I could feel my life slipping away. But I had a plan for that as well.
I shouted a single word and rendered myself temporarily invincible. During this time I was also not able to strike back, but that was fine. The man continued to attack me, now with his sword, while Jenassa struck at his back repeatedly with her sword and dagger.
I only had a short time before the effect of my shout would wear off, so I quickly stowed my mace and my shield and found the three flasks I had kept at the ready. Two were potions of vigorous healing, and I downed them first. The third was a potion of paralysis I had been carrying for quite some time, and now was it's time to act. I poured the flask over my mace just as the shout effect wore off.
With Jenassa swinging away from the opposite side, I readied my mace as quickly as I could and struck the man. The paralysis poison was about to make sure this fight went our way. But with great surprise I instantly realized that the poison had not had any effect on it's victim!
Now I felt the panic coming again. This man seemed immune to everything from shouts to arrows to poison. Was he indeed a god? Were our efforts futile?
It didn't matter. There was no point in trying to flee now. We were committed to the fight, live or die. And so the battle raged. The clashing of weapons and armor mixed with cries of pain and grunts of effort, to produce a sinister sort of music. The music was ended with a heavy blow from my mace that caught the man perfectly in the side of his head. The fight was over .. and I almost couldn't believe it.
It was then that I realized I was nearly dead myself. I could barely see from all of the blood in my eyes and my pulse was pounding and blurring my vision greatly. Another moment or two in that fray and I would have been gone for certain.
Upon examining the man we discovered he was a vampire .. a master vampire, in fact. This explained why so many things had such minimal effect .. or no effect .. on him. We were lucky to be alive, and felt every bit that way.
I was exhausted, and hurting, and I was ready to go back to Falkreath for the night to recover. But there was a winding staircase just ahead, and I still wondered if I might find a word wall in this place. I also only had Jenassa's services for a bit longer, and it made since to continue with her rather than without her. After all, there could be more of these vampires present.
So we headed up the rickety wooden steps, and the higher we went the more I felt the tension building. Something was close, and I could feel it. Even Jenassa made a comment about the evil in this place. But we continued upward, our weapons ready for whatever lie ahead.
And we came to large room with statues on either side. I heard a commotion at the end, which sounded distinctly like a stone coffin being thrown open. And sure enough, a moment later I spotted the draugr walking on the other side.
But I was oddly happy, and not just because I would rather see a draugr than a vampire. No, I was happy because I could feel the power more acutely now, and I could just make out a familiar shape on the wall behind the draugr. Unless my senses were failing me, I had found what I came looking for.
The next few minutes were a blur as we attacked the draugr wight together and overpowered it. And it's body fell backwards against the wall .. and the wall lit up with light in the form of characters .. an ancient tongue ... a word. And I learned it right then and there while Jenassa looked on in astonishment.
The word was 'air' in the ancient tongue, and I could sense it's meaning and power. Using this word would give me the power of the wind itself, allowing me to strike at my targets faster than before. A very useful shout, indeed.
We collected a few valuables and then left the ruins. I had a huge smile on my face underneath my helmet, and it wasn't just because we had killed the vampire .. or that I had learned a powerful new word. No, I was happy because my hunch to look for a word wall in the ancient nordic ruins had panned out, which meant I may be able to find more if I can just locate more ruins.
Back in Falkreath I sold the items we had hauled back and then let Jenassa know that she was free to go. I appreciated her service and told her I would probably hire her again in the future if I needed it. She wasn't cheap, but her services had been worth every coin.
