//------------------------------//
// 4: Bleak Falls Barrow 
// Story: Sombra visits Skyrim 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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	Whiterun, as it turned out, was very similar to Riverwood, but what was different was that the entire city was larger than the village and most of the shops were on the right side of the stone street. On the left side there were several large wooden structures, those that Sombra assumed were just houses, while there was a turn with even more of them. Somewhere in the distance sat a rather large wooden structure that looked too huge for one person to live in and must have overlooked the entire city.

Unfortunately before they could enjoy any of the scenery Sombra and Raika were presented with some man arguing with a women that was wearing an apron and some sort of red dress.

"We'll pay whatever it takes." the man said, handing a parchment to the woman, "But we must have more swords for the Imperial soldiers."

"I just can't fill an order of this size on my own." the woman, clearly a blacksmith by the way the conversation was going, "Why don't you swallow that pride of yours and ask Eorlund Gray-Mane for help?"

"Ha! I'd sooner bend my knee to Ulfric Stormcloak." the man continued, though he appeared disgusted with that statement, "Besides, Eorlund Gray-Mane would never make steel for the Legion."

"Fine, have it your way." the woman replied, sighing in defeat as she tucked the piece of parchment away, "I'll take the job, but don't expect me to work a miracle."

"I'd advise the two of you to steer clear of the Gray-Mane's and the Battle-Born's," Aela told them, making her way down the street as they followed her, "as you have seen the Battle-Born's have cast their lot with the Imperial Legion. The Legion are a bunch of honorable warriors, though I wonder if their methods are a little...extreme. The Gray-Mane's hold true to the old ways and have sided with the Stormcloaks, making them a hated enemy of the Battle-Born's and the Legion.

The Companions have had to deal with members on both sides of the argument, but the war has nothing to do with us and we would prefer it if it stayed that way."

She continued to tell them about the main city of the Hold, but Sombra really wasn't in the mood to listen to anything that wasn't important to their adventure. The important thing was that they had gotten past the gate guards, only they had the help of someone else and that hadn't been part of the plan. He was pretty sure that if they continued on their adventure he was bound to remember something important to him. Though he had to admit that the city was actually beautiful for a city that was supposed to be in a frozen wasteland, despite the decaying tree they eventually passed.

Raika, on the other hand, cringed every time one of the guards or townspeople gave her a disapproving look as they passed them by, even the children did it. She knew that being a khajiit meant that she was generally labeled as a thief or assassin, but since she was wearing the Stormcloak uniform the Battle-Born's looked like they wanted to rip her apart. The only reason none of them bothered to take a step towards her was because the guards were waiting for her to either steal something or get into a fight with someone. She didn't come all this way, go through the agony that was Helgen, just to get captured doing something stupid in Whiterun.

"That there is Dragonsreach," Aela told them, pointing up to the large wooden structure that loomed over the entire city, "Jarl Bulgruuf the Greater can be found inside, sitting on the throne while he listens to his steward Proventus talk about what's happening in his Hold. His housecarl, a dunmer by the name of Irileth, will no doubt stop you before you reach him, so simply tell her your intentions and she should let you pass without delay.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am needed back in Jorrvaskr before Kodlak Whitemane, our Harbinger, realizes that I haven't returned with the others. I hope that our paths cross again one day."

Before either of them could thank Aela for her time she simply walked away from them, leaving them to begin the journey up to the gates of Dragonsreach. Raika sighed and began the journey up the stone stairs, ignoring all the looks that the guards gave her as they descended down the pathway. Sombra looked around for a moment, finding his eyes locking with a strange priest to his right, before he decided that it was time that he caught up with Raika. They quickly made their way up the stairs before they came up to the wooden doors of the palace, which they promptly opened as soon as they neared them.

As soon as they climbed another set of stairs they were presented with a male nord sitting in a wooden chair at the back of the room, talking with another male. They appeared to be talking about something terribly important, but whatever it was they couldn't tell as they were too far away to hear anything. Approaching them was a dark skinned female, likely the dunmer called Irileth that Aela had told them about, though she had a sword drawn as she neared them. Sombra moved a hand towards his own weapon, but Raika grabbed his hand and shook her head no, causing him to withdraw before the elf noticed.

"What is the meaning of this interruption?" the elf asked them, clearly annoyed by the fact that they had gotten into the palace, "Jarl Bulgruuf is not receiving visitors at the moment."

"I have a message for the Jarl," Raika immediately answered, taking a step forward as Sombra stayed behind her, "it's about Helgen being destroyed."

Before the elf could even say anything the man on the throne looked up and loudly said, "It's all right Irileth. I want to hear that she has to say about Helgen."

Raika passed the elf without a moments delay the moment the Jarl called her forward, leaving Sombra to follow in her shadow as they neared the throne. From what he could tell there were at least four guards in the Jarl's immediate area, watching over their leader like a hawk in case someone dared to attack him.

"Now, what's this about Helgen being destroyed?" the man, no doubt the one Gerdur and Aela had called Jarl Bulgruuf the Greater, asked them as they stopped before him, "I heard from a guard that there's a rumor that a dragon destroyed Helgen. Maybe you can shed some light on this."

"The rumor is correct Jarl Bulgruuf," Raika told him, ignoring the angry glares from the guards, "I had a great view of Helgen while the Imperials were trying to cut off my head. Plus they were getting ready to execute Ulfric Stormcloak and the rest of my brothers and sisters they captured, but then the dragon swooped in and destroyed Helgen."

"By Ysmir," the Jarl said, looking at the people who had gathered around him, "Irileth was right. What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

"My lord," Irileth spoke up, "we should send some troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon's still lurking in the mountains..."

"No," the other man, Proventus, countered rather suddenly, "the Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume that we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him."

"Enough, both of you." Bulgruuf commaneded, causing both Proventus and Irileth to shut up, "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once. I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my Hold and slaughters my people."

Irileth nodded before heading towards the door, leaving Proventus to hang his head down as he walked over to a chair, sat down, and pulled out some papers to look over.

"Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it. Here, take this as a token of my esteem." Bulgruuf told Raika, handing over a pair of steel gauntlets that happened to be sitting on a stand near him, "There is another thing that you could do for me, suitable for someone with your particular talents. Come, let us find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and...rumors of dragons."

Bulgruuf personally lead them to the eastern wing of his palace, where they were greeted with the sight of a very messy area with three separate work stations and dozens of books scattered about. Standing with his back turned to them was someone wearing a blue robe, mumbling something about magic while staring at a page in a rather large tome.

"Farengar," Bulgruuf said, causing the man to jump at the noise and turn around, "I think I've found some people who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill them in with the details."

"So the Jarl thinks the two of you can be of some use to me?" the wizard asked, just as Bulgruuf returned to the throne area, "oh yes, he must be referring to my into the dragons. I could use someone to fetch something for me, which really means that I need someone to delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not be there."

"Ugh, just tell me where we're going and what we're looking for," Raika moaned, clearly not interested in something that she had been roped into.

"Straight to the point, eh?" Farengar replied, raising an eyebrow slightly as he stared at Sombra's horn, "I, ah, learned that the stone tablet is housed in Bleak Falls Barrow, a Dragonstone that shows the locations of ancient dragon burial grounds. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it back to me. Simplicity itself."

"Great, Bleak Falls Barrow," Raika said, turning to leave, "I'm glad that I already know where it is thanks to Gerdur and Ralof. We'll return when we have your stone."

As the two of them left Farengar turned to his personal library, where he had another visitor, an even stranger one than the red horned nord he had just seen, waiting in the chair. This person had a slender build to her body, which was covered in a set of leather armor, a pair of leather bracers, and leather boots. The female nord had long pink hair that flowed passed her shoulders, a strange pair of large white wings on her back, and a long white horn on her forehead. She had a longsword with her, but at the moment it was sitting against the wall as she read one of the books that Farengar had painstakingly collected.

"I may have found an associate of yours Tia," Farengar said, causing the woman to turn in the chair to face him, "He's a nord that's wearing a steel plate suit of armor and has a steel sword attached to his belt. Apparently he's traveling with a khajiit that's wearing a blue chainmail suit of armor."

"I don't know anyone like that," the woman told him, twisting back around so she could return to the book.

"Well, he's got a red curved horn coming out of his forehead," Farengar replied, determined to get some response from her, "just like the white horn you have."

"Curved red horn...Sombra!" the woman exclaimed, getting out of the chair and grabbing her weapon, "Farengar, it has been an absolute pleasure spending some time with you, but I'm afraid that its time for me to move on. And I'm taking my book with me."

Farengar stood there as Tia returned to his man work area, slammed the large tome he had been reading closed, pocketed the book in her bag, and finally moved on towards the main door. He had spent hours trying to understand the complex spells that the book contained, and right when he had been close to understanding the first spell the book was snatched from his grasp. Now all he could really do is take a seat, open one of his many books, and catch up on his reading.

"So, where is this Bleak Falls Barrow?" Sombra asked, as the two of them descended down the stone stairs outside the palace.

"Back near Riverwood," Raika replied, sighing as she stopped near the decaying tree, "The first fork in the road that we had passed by would have taken us up to the barrow, if we had turned left instead of right. So all we need to do now is retrace our steps and get that Dragonstone. Once we deliver the stone to Farengar I'm heading to Windhelm, so you'll have to decide your own fate after this."

Sombra remained silent, choosing to listen to the sounds of the townspeople and the guards as the two of them made their way towards the main gate. The guards would begin to hail him as they passed, but the moment they noticed Raika their mouths would shut up and whatever they were saying was lost. The townspeople glared at him, whispering remarks about his choice of travel companions or how he could stand being with someone who was going to rob him blind. The moment they were outside Whiterun he finally started to relax, though he could tell that Raika was still annoyed by what all the people had said as they passed.

Retracing their steps wasn't too hard, not when they had to pass by the giant's dead body, three fallen Imperial soldiers, and some unfortunate wildlife that got on Raika's bad side. Before they got all the way to Riverwood Raika had Sombra stand watch so she could go behind a tree and change armor real quick. While she was doing that Sombra sat on a large boulder, staring out at Whiterun as the evening slowly made way for the night. As he watched the road he noticed a woman turn around the corner and get closer to his location, but before he could shout a warning towards Raika he noticed that the woman had a white horn and white wings.

"I finally caught up with you two," the woman said, taking a deep breath as she finally stopped, "wait, where's the khajiit you were with earlier?"

"Right here," Raika said, appearing behind the woman with her steel armor on and both weapons drawn, "No one but a Stormcloak would even care about someone like me, but I have never seen you around Windhelm. Who in Oblivion are you and why are you following us?"

"My name is Tia," the woman replied, not even phased by the fact that there were two swords behind her, "I'm an adventurer and I overheard that the two of you were heading to Bleak Falls Barrow. I've never had the opportunity to travel through the barrow myself, but I figured that you might want some extra help clearing the place out."

"So your a mercenary?" Raika growled, "Just looking to profit from our hard work and take whatever you think is fair."

"Please, I care little for treasure," Tia told her, not even appearing to feel threatened by Raika, "I care more about the knowledge that the barrow and the word wall at the end holds. I'm not asking you to share any of the treasure with me, merely to let me gain whatever knowledge that I can. I get some information to add to a book of mine and you get an extra fighter to help clear out anyone that might hinder your progress."

"Fine, have it your way." Raika sighed, sheathing her swords as she stepped in front of Tia, "I see your sporting a pair of wings. Weren't you afraid that I might have done something to them?"

"Someone else might have felt that way," Tia replied, staring Raika in the eyes, "but I've been threatened a lot during my life and eventually I just started to ignore most of them. I'd never let anyone get so close as to actually harm me or my wings, but that doesn't mean that people haven't tried in the past. Oh, silly me, I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Raika and that's Sombra," Raika replied, almost immediately while preventing Sombra from saying anything, "Come on you two; we have a barrow to clear out and an ancient stone to find."

Raika lead them up the pathway that was supposed to take them all the way up to the barrow, but what she had neglected to mention was that the path was on the edge of a cliff. Before they even got close to their destination they were stopped by a group of bandits, one of which hung behind the others with a bow at the ready. Tia was at the ready almost immediately, drawing her weapon and cutting a long diagonal cut that stretched from one bandit's right hip bone all the way to his left shoulder bone. Before the second bandit could react Tia brought her sword down on him, cutting right through his leather armor as his body fell to the ground. As the third bandit, now sufficiently scared for her life, tried to run Tia threw a fireball at her back, causing a small explosion that tossed the bandit into the side of the mountain.

Sombra had never seen anyone besides Raika move that fast, but from what he had seen Tia was at least twice as fast as Raika was and was definitely twice as deadly. He could tell that Raika was impressed, or what he believed was impressed and could have been something else entirely.

"How did you do that?" Raika asked, stunned by fast her new ally had put down three bandits.

"Hmm?" Tia hummed, sheathing her sword, "Oh, this? It took me some odd number of years to master the art of quickly finishing off my enemies, but its not something that I can easily teach to someone else. Now, let us move on before winter claims us."

Raika took a moment to gather the bandit's weapons, two iron swords and a hunter's bow, before catching up to Tia and Sombra as they rounded a corner. When they finally reached the gate of the barrow, found by the large stone pillars that rested before a large iron door, they had to deal with three more annoying bandits. This time Raika had her bow at the ready the moment they were spotted, loosing an arrow the exact moment one of the bandits was in her sights. Once she had dealt with the first one she climbed up the stone stairs and loosed two more arrows, pinning the remaining bandits to the ground.

After gathering her arrows, plus the bandit's weapons, Raika smirked at Tia as they opened the iron gate, as if she was saying that she was one upping her. Tia didn't seem to mind Raika's look at all, not when there were several more dead bandits and dead rat creatures scattered about in front of them. Near the back of the chamber were two more bandits, though they hadn't noticed the gate open and were involved in some sort of heated discussion. According to what they overheard, before putting them down, there was supposed to be at least two more members of their group somewhere ahead of them.

As Tia and Sombra moved down the stone stairs, with their weapons drawn in case of an ambush, Raika turned one of her sword on the wooden chest the bandits had been standing near, smashing open the wood and allowing her to collect the few coins that had been stored inside it. Eventually they came across another bandit, a puzzle that involved rotating stone pillars, several more rats, and a giant spider before they found another bandit wrapped up in webs. The moment they freed the bandit, so they could acquire the claw his comrades had mentioned, he turned and bolted into the depths of the barrow, waking up whatever was down there.

"What was that?" Sombra asked, gulping as his hold on his sword began to weaken, "I don't think that we'll like whatever all that moaning is."

"That would be the Draugr," Raika replied, taking her steps lightly as they descended deeper into the barrow, "the ancient nords buried many of their honored dead in barrows like this, all across Skyrim's landscape. However, many of them have somehow come back to life and are now attacking anyone who dares to disturb their sleep, making it dangerous for anyone to explore any of the barrows. Thanks to that bandit we'll have to fight our way through the rest of the barrow."

Sure enough they encountered several walking corpses in the next chamber, well preserved by whatever methods that the ancient nords used before burying their dead. One of them stood over the still body of the bandit, but the three of them were not deterred by the sight. Raika and Tia fought the draugr head on, leaving Sombra to attack from behind whenever he felt he could get away with swinging his sword and hitting them. Once the group of draugr was dealt with Sombra searched the bandit's body until he found the claw his partners had mentioned, before he jumped to his feet and joined the others.

They had to pass through several more large chambers, some of which were filled with various types of traps, and fight at least a dozen more draugr's before they passed by a waterfall. Unfortunately they had to pass through four more chambers, two of which were filled with fire traps, and fight another group of draugr before they reached a strange door. There was a rather large circle on the center of the door, filled with three rings that surrounded a circle in the center. On both sides of the wall they found murals that must have depicted the fallen warriors of the barrow fighting some creature that existed in the nord's ancient lore.

While Raika and Tia argued about how to bypass the sealed gate and get at the treasure that must be resting behind it, Sombra stared at the golden claw he had taken from the bandit. It appeared to be shaped like a dragon's claw, that much he could gather from holding it up to the murals on the walls, but what it was used for eluded him. He was about to give up when he noticed that there were three symbols etched on the bottom of the claw's palm, three animals that looked like the symbols on the door.

"Try rotating the rings," Sombra spoke up, causing the two to look back at him, "The outer ring should be a bear, the middle ring a moth, and the inner ring a owl."

Tia looked at the door and realized what he meant, turning the three rings until the three animals he had mentioned were in the order he had suggested. Still the door remained silent and unmoving, but Sombra stepped forward and pressed the claw against the iron circle in the center of it all. A few seconds passed before the three rings moved on their own, revealing the same symbol before the door began to move down towards the ground. Sombra had a moment to remove the claw before some of the pieces were broken, but he had been fast enough to avoid any damage to the artifact.

"Nice job Sombra," Tia remarked, patting him on the shoulder before pulling out her sword, "We should proceed with caution, just in case something else is alive down here besides us."

Ahead of them was a rather large cavern, a rather fair number of bats, and, strangely enough, absolutely no enemies that jumped out to attack them. Despite the fact that they seemed alone both Raika and Tia had their weapons drawn, in the off chance that there was something else with them. Eventually they came before a giant stone wall that was covered with etchings, a large wooden chest, and what appeared to be a large stone tomb.

"Ah, one of the ancient word walls that the nords of old wrote in the Dragon Tongue," Tia remarked, running a hand over the smooth surface of the wall, "let me see here...'Here lies The Guardian, Keeper of the Dragonstone, and a force of eternal rage and darkness.' Huh, not what I was expecting the nords of old to write."

"So if this is where the Dragonstone is supposed to be then where is the Guardian?" Sombra asked, looking around for another draugr that they might have missed.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Raika asked, approaching the wall before streams of magic surrounded her, "What the?"

The moment the magic was gone the tomb behind them was blown open, the top hitting the ground somewhere near the iron door they had passed. Out climbed another draugr, but this one was dressed up in more than the rags that the others had been wearing and was holding a sword that looked like it was surrounded by the cold. Before Sombra could raise his sword the creature swung at him, but found it's attack blocked by both Raika and Tia. It was almost unfair for them to team up on the draugr, with Raika disarming it within second of their fight starting and Tia cutting its legs out a moment later. Within a minute of the draugr awakening the two of them had put it down, leaving a stunned Sombra staring at the two of them.

"Now then," Raika said, picking up a rather large slab of stone that the draugr had been carrying, "let's get the Dragonstone back to Farengar so he can help the Jarl with his dragon problem."