Thursday 17 November 2011

Skyrim - Decent into Hillgrund's Tomb

Goldir tells me a horrible story of why he's afraid to enter the tomb. Its nothing to do with the necromancer as first thought - he was locked in there as a child. Looking through my adventure's eyes at the dank pit we're walking into, I see nothing but challenge and opportunity, but clearly the place left a negative impression on him.

He also goes on to tell me that his aunt (who is undoubtedly braver than him) went into the tomb on her own to put a stop to the necromancer who, in his own words, was going to do stuff to Goldir's dead family.

We walk quietly through chamber after chamber. Some of the dead are able to walk, so Goldir and I delight in planting our swords into their skulls. Soon, we are actually having quite a good time. I start to think that maybe, just maybe, we'll meet up in the future in a nearby pub, and laugh about all this near the fire place.

But these thoughts soon end when we find Goldir's aunt face down in the dirt. She doesn't look very well. In fact, she's dead. The upshot is that she has left a note to assist us getting through a locked door. A pull-chain is hidden, which I doubt either myself nor Goldir would have noticed were it not for his old aunt scrawling this message prior to expiring.

We enter another chamber, this being the largest yet. Instantly, I am aware that things might get a bit difficult. The necromancer is in the middle of the chamber, systematically raising the dead from their burial mounds so that more and more of the available space is filled with undead creation intent on our demise.

I set to ending them all with gusto. I notice that the necromancer is able to bring those already slashed by sword back to undeath, giving me and Goldir a bit of an uphill struggle. Leaving Goldir to his own devices and defence, I run at the necromancer. I throw plenty of electrical magic at him, a spell known to mages as "sparks" but to me as lightning-in-my-hand. This dents his ability to raise the dead, but he is still quite content to bash me with his staff.

I take one final slice at him with my sword, and he falls to my feet. I avail his corpse of all that it is worth - plenty of gems and gold. I start to feel that the journey into the tomb might actually be a literal goldmine, until I turn around and see Goldir in a very similar pose to his dead aunt. He knew the risks, and I never promised him protection, yet his death weighs heavily on my mind.

Goodbye Goldir. You fought well, and bravely (eventually). At least in death you know that a necromancer is no longer messing around with your family.

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