After finishing up at the Grace location outside the ruins Tirek headed to the northeast and started to look for a way into the Dragonbarrows, an area that would have a few dragons for him to kill and take the power of, meaning it would be worth it since he'd become more ready for the battle with Radahn. Blaidd didn't seem to mind too much, in fact he agreed that spending some time searching the rest of the province would be a good thing, especially since the Divine Tower was nearby, an area Tirek might check out since it would be nice to have the way up there once he claimed the third Great Rune. With that in mind he rode towards the region he wanted to check out and Blaidd ran after him, once more reminding Tirek of the fact that his friend was faster than a horse, before finding a small gap between this side and the other side, one that they both jumped over with ease. Following that Tirek found another Grace and activated it, granting him a closer revival area in case things went south for him, before they started to follow the path that would no doubt bring them to whatever was on the other side of the entire area, even if it seemed to head away from the Divine Tower.
Sure enough he found two dragons, smaller than the one that had slain him on the lake before he and Blaidd killed it, that were hanging out near a small puddle of water, a small lake of sorts that they seemed to be drinking from, but once they saw the pair the first one roared at them. Such a thing caused the pair to rush forward, even though Tirek discovered that the dragons seemed to be grounded, like their wings were damaged or they were too sick to fly on their own, making them perfect targets for him to take down and absorb the power of once they were slain. Blaidd's enchanted sword did good against the beast he was fighting, as they were able to fight them one of one, without the other suddenly drawing the other to their side, and Tirek found that his magic seemed to be doing a good bit of damage as well. Such a thing meant that they were able to bring down the pair of dragons without wasting too much time on them, allowing Tirek to take their Runes as the pair died, though, to his surprise, neither of them dropped their heart, which was the entire reason they were here.
Blaidd explained the odd reasoning behind that, as only the more important dragons, such as the one they killed earlier in the lake, had hearts to give to those who slew them in battle, so while killing the smaller ones would yield more Runes for him to take they wouldn't grant him hearts, though there were three named dragons in Caelid: Greyll, Ekzykes, and Greyoll, the latter being a massive white dragon that is hard to miss.
At first Tirek was going to question Blaidd about the dragons, even though he was sure Ranni had told him a fair amount about the other lands before sending him on his mission, before he stopped as he discovered Greyoll's existence, who was just as Blaidd had said. The beast was resting on the ground, looking like she was trapped in her current state due to the fact that it looked like the ground was trying to devour her, a sign that the Rot was trying to consume her as well, where it looked like she was sleeping and the five dragons scattered around her seemed to be doing the same. With that in mind Tirek went off to the side and found a path that lead up to a fortress, with a Grace in front of it, meaning he could attack the dragon and rest if things went south for him, where he activated it before steeling himself for the fight of his life, since he knew that the massive dragon wouldn't go down easily. With that in mind he lashed out with his magic and his blood dagger on the side of the white beast, likely her rear end by the looks of it, where Tirek expected Greyoll to get up, roar, and then devour him with all of the smaller dragons tearing him apart or cooking him with their flames.
What he found was that Greyoll didn't seem to care, rather the act of being attacked seemed to make her happy, since she wouldn't have to deal with the Rot anymore, and none of her children bothered them, though when enough damage had been dealt all six dragons faded into golden mist, learning him five dragon hearts and a bunch of Runes.
"It would seem old Greyoll was too old to care about fighting, while appreciating that you spared her and her kin the pain of being consumed by the Rot." Blaidd commented, as he was also expecting more of a fight, instead of watching as Greyoll and her kin simply embraced death and granted Tirek their power, for what reason he did not know since dragons were a subject he wasn't too familiar with.
"I... I see." Tirek said, because he wasn't expecting to be thanked in such a manner, for killing something no less, and yet the dragon had done so before she and her children disappeared entirely, granting him a large amount of Runes to do with as he pleased, not to mention manifesting the hearts that he'd use once he discovered the Cathedral's location.
With that in mind Tirek returned to the Grace and carefully channeled his new Runes into his body, which seemed to be part of the point for this particular location, before he focused on where he was going to go next, as there was the fort, the large building to the north, or the Divine Tower that rested to the northwest. There was no telling where the other two dragons might be hiding, much less those that Blaidd didn't know about since he knew there could be one or two hidden underground, causing him to focus on what his next target might be for the foreseeable future. Truth be told he wanted to see if there was anything inside the fortress, it had to be important if the massive dragon decided to lay in front of it and stay still for so long, instead of leaving when the Rot came for her and her children, but she wasn't about to argue with the decisions a dragon had made. Blaidd considered his idea for a few seconds and decided that it was fair, they could explore the fortress and see what was inside it, even though he highly doubted a powerful creature was lurking inside it, since he knew Tirek was interested in those types of foes, but it was worth a look.
What they discovered inside the fort were a bunch of rats, some coming up to their ankles while one was massive, and a fair number of harpies, the half bird half human creatures who loved to use poison on their foes, along with singing for a time to draw targets into a trap. As it turned out the lower area that they had access to was incredibly small, as they found a ladder leading up to the upper floor, or rather a tower that had a walkway for them to use to jump over to the upper part of the fort, along with a chest that contained half of a large medallion. After that they jumped over the gap and found a number of spirits were standing guard after appearing out of thin air, so Tirek and Blaidd had to make sure that they weren't overwhelmed as they searched for a way to head down into the main part of the fortress. Such a thing happened not too long after starting to fight the spirits, allowing them to discover a short path that brought them back out into the area that was just outside the structure, granting Tirek a chance to relax a little as he wondered where the other half of the medallion might be resting.
He figured that it had to be important since it was broken up like this, though Blaidd was in the dark about it, he had no information to share and that meant it would be worthless to ask Ranni when she woke up, causing him to put it aside for the time being as he made his next move.
Tirek headed to the northwest with Blaidd, seeking out the Divine Tower with all the haste he could muster, where they found a discouraging sight, there was no bridge leading to it, rather it was standing there with no clear path to reach the base opening or even the upper reaches. In that moment he spotted what they might be looking for, there were roots that were growing on the side of the tower, or at least the side they were on, that could be used to reach the upper area, but to reach the upper both he and Blaidd had to climb up some ladders. After looking at the Divine Tower for a time the pair figured out how to reach the top, causing them to jump over to the roots before carefully moving over to the sections that held the ladders, though to get from area to area the pair also had to navigate some of the carvings to reach the next part of their path. Interestingly enough there were one or two Hollows along the way, who seemed to be relaxing until Tirek and Blaidd crossed them, but they were nothing compared to their might and the pair were able to clear the path in no time at all.
Such a thing allowed them to reach the upper reaches of the Divine Tower, where they found a Grace spot, a set of stairs leading upwards, and a stair leading downwards, causing Tirek to chuckle as he ignited the new rest area, as he suspected a powerful foe was nearby and he was ready to face it, once he recovered from the climb anyway.