Sonata's Crazy and Wacky Adventure in Skyrim

by Sonata Blaze


11: Trek through Ustengrav

Sonata had a terrible nights sleep that night, as her dreams were plagued with a never ending nightmare that was the destruction of the entirety of Skyrim. She remembered the last time this had happened to her, back on Earth when she and her sisters had been hunted down on accusations that they were witches, which had held some truth because of the small amount of magic that they had at the time. For the weeks that followed the hunt she had nightmares about being caught and burned alive, as if she was merely a mortal and not an immortal Siren, but they eventually went away. She was sure that this time was different from all the other instances it had happened, because she hadn't actually experienced the event that would have brought this nightmare to life.

This time she was floating in the air above what she assumed was an orc stronghold, one that had grown to accommodate the warriors that had joined the stronghold's leader, whoever that happened to be. The land around the stronghold had been scorched by fire, some unnatural green fire she noted, though that didn't seem to bother the orcs at all. In the area behind the stronghold marched a seemingly endless line of heavily armored orcs, some of them carrying a banner that bared the symbol of the mysterious Lord Grul, though she noticed that they were marching out of a massive gate that had been constructed into the mountain side. She had read a few tales during her time on Earth, during which she had discovered some mentions of magical gates that moved troops from one location to another, but she had never seen on in action... even if this was all a dream.

She zoomed in on the area that rested beside the path that the army of orcs were marching down, where she found four orcs, each one of them dressed differently than the others around them, kneeling before what she assumed was a hut of some kind. The shroud moved for a moment before a fifth orc, this one hunched over and carrying a staff that had three skulls near the top end of it, emerged from the hut. For some strange reason she got the feeling that the hunched orc was actually the leader of all the orcs she was seeing, where the other four were merely his subordinates that conveyed his orders to the others. As the orc addressed his subordinates she managed to catch their names; Aggronak, Gurgova, Faldruuk, and Mag'zul, before she discovered that the fifth orc was, indeed, Lord Grul.

Lord Grul then pointed towards the gate for a moment, to which Sonata was spun around in place and faced the gate, to which her eyes widened as a massive creature walked through the gate and stepped into Nirn, causing the skies to fill with the same green fire that she had seen all around the stronghold. She could not describe the massive creature in detail, mostly because it was definitely obscured by some form of mist, but she could tell that it had to be a demon of some kind.

"And now you see the future we were trying to stop," a voice behind her said as the area around her became dark once more, but Sonata froze when she heard who had spoken, "the future where all of Nirn perishes at the hands on Grul's sinister master."

Sonata turned around and came face to face with her sister Aria Blaze, who had gone missing along with Adagio Dazzle back on Earth, which had eventually caused her to make the decision to return to Equus, only to end up where she currently was at the moment. It had been almost a whole month since she had seen either of her sisters, but when she noticed what Aria was wearing she began to wonder how they were even communicating. Aria still had her two ponytails, though Sonata quickly noticed that she was wearing a robe that belonged to a mage that normally enrolled at the College of Winterhold, though she could also see through her sister. Aria also looked sad, something that Sonata never thought that she would actually see.

"Aria... what happened to you and Adagio?" Sonata asked, feeling that she deserved some answers for all the heartache she had felt after the Battle of the Bands.

"The Enemy is coming," Aria said all of a sudden, ignoring her question altogether, exactly like she had done when they had been together on Earth, "Sonata, you must find your true power again and stop Grul before he brings about the end of this world."

"Aria, please don't leave me again!" Sonata called out, watching her sister disappear before her eyes, "ARIA!"

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"Aria!" Sonata loudly said, jolting up to a sitting position in the bed she had fallen asleep in, sweat rolling down her face as she realized that she wasn't in her dreams anymore.

She looked around and found that she was definitely inside the inn she and her friends had stopped in the previous night, though the patrons that were in the inn at the moment completely ignored her. She had no way of knowing if what her dream had showed her was actually her imagination playing tricks on her or if it was a vision of some kind, one that showed what would happen if Lord Grul wasn't stopped. She also wasn't familiar with the types of creatures that could destroy worlds, though from what she could gather she knew that there were some in Skyrim that had that type of power.

"My Thane, are you alright?" Lydia asked, bursting into the room that they had shared last night with Kree hot on her tail, though Lydia's weapon was at the ready in case someone had tried to hurt Sonata.

"I... just had terrible dream," Sonata admitted, knowing that Kree would ask her if she had said that she was alright, "Lord Grul opened this massive gateway to some other realm and legions of orcs poured out of it, ready to carry out their master's orders. I saw four other orcs that I assumed were his underlings, the ones who commanded the mass of orcs, and I was somehow about to figure out their names by looking at them. Then a massive creature emerged from the gateway, one that's mere presence set the sky on fire as it began to bring about the end of Nirn..."

"This sounds more like a prophecy and less of a nightmare." Kree commented, which Sonata had been expecting, considering what she knew of the argonian's strange ability to determine what skills someone had by merely looking at them, "I'm assuming that Aria is one of your sisters?"

"Yes, and I think I saw her at the end of my dream." Sonata said, sighing as she wondered if she had been shown the truth, while wondering about her sisters again, "She and Adagio disappeared after we were defeated back on Earth, but when I saw Aria I noticed that she was wearing what appeared to be a pair of robes from the College of Winterhold."

"I have not heard of either of them," Kree sadly said, before beckoning to Sonata for a moment, "We'll, we can discuss the nature of this dream of yours while we're running through Ustengrav... unless you want to do something else instead."

Sonata, remembering why they had come to Morthal in the first place, shook her head and climbed out of her bed, to which she made sure that her sword was attached to her belt once more. The three of them bid the innkeeper farewell, which barely received a nod from the innkeeper, before they stepped out into the city and quickly made their way out into the marsh. Kree commented that the way to Ustengrav would be easy, as all they had to do was straight north from their current location and they'd find the opening to the ancient nordic barrow. To be sure that they didn't run into trouble Sonata commented that they might want to have their weapons drawn, to which the three of them drew their chosen weapon as they walked into the marsh.

They found two necromancers standing outside their destination, after trekking through the marsh and not getting assaulted by any of the wildlife that lived in that area, with three reanimated bandits standing near them. Kree beckoned towards the necromancers, indicating that it would be best to take them out first, before nocking an arrow and loosing it at her target. As the closest necromancer died the three reanimated bandits zeroed in on where they were standing, to which Lydia dispatched with one of them by removing their head within five seconds of them getting close. Sonata, on the other hand, blasted one of the bandits in the chest before she ducked under the blade of the remaining bandit, before spinning her blade around and penetrating its heart.

Sonata turned to the last necromancer as Kree stabbed her target in the chest, shoving the dead body to the ground before approaching the opening of the barrow.

Once they were inside the barrow Sonata discovered two more necromancers forcing the reanimated bandits to dig into the ground in front of them, as if they were digging for some ancient treasure. Kree knocked an arrow and took aim at the closest necromancer, giving both Lydia and Sonata time to get close to the other enemy before she took her target down. As the second necromancer noticed her companion fall to the ground, and the undead miners stopped what they were doing, Sonata leapt out of the shadows and took the head of her enemy. Lydia then took it upon herself to handle the remaining two undead, bashing them back with her shield before taking their heads, treating them as if they were still alive.

The moment the area was clear Sonata noticed another tunnel that would no doubt take them deeper into the barrow, to which she heard the sound of some more necromancers attacking the draugr. She held her hand up for a moment, to let the draugr deal with the necromancers, before moving down into the next area and striking the first undead nord that she found. As she forced her opponent backwards Lydia charged into the tunnel as well, smacking her weapon into one of the remaining two draugr as Kree took the final one out with an arrow. When Sonata was sure that the area was clear, and the necromancers staffs had been claimed, she beckoned with her hand and the three of them moved deeper once more.

They then walked into a chamber that had two more draugr that appeared from their coffins, but before they could get anywhere Kree's arrow found the heart of the one furthest away while both Sonata and Lydia cut the first one down. They rounded a few corners, finding nothing to fight, before they found a door that took them deeper into the barrow, but after a few seconds on the other side of the door they didn't find anything. That was before they found a draugr that was standing in front of what appeared to be firetraps, but then Sonata got an idea in her head before she fus'ed the undead into stepping back onto the trap, igniting the flames that burned it to a cinder.

The next area they found two draugr that stepped out of their coffins, though by the look of their armor Sonata could tell that they were more powerful than the previous undead they had found. Sonata took advantage of the fire lamp that rested above their heads, igniting the oil that rested around the draugr's feet and burning the two of them into a pile of cinders. They then found a chamber that had two bridges, one on either side of the area, but as they walked in Sonata immediately noticed the massive amount of draugr that were waiting for them... at least ten of them by her count.

"I was wondering why it was so easy to reach this point," Kree commented, pulling out a few more arrows than the one she had previously nocked, "It seems that the undead are gathering in greater numbers to defend the Horn, as if they don't want you to claim their treasure."

"Well, then they'll have to be disappointed," Sonata told her companion, flames wrapping around her left hand as she stared at the mass of enemies, "Lydia, move forward and take them down."

Lydia grinned and leapt down into the area that the dragur would be crossing so they could reach Sonata, to which her sword found its way into one of their chests before she started her assault. As Lydia hacked into her enemies Kree, remaining on the bridge they had first come to, nocked her arrow and loosed it at the archers that were standing on the other bridge, knocking them off whenever they were hit. Sonata conjured fireballs and threw them as the back of the pack, burning the enemies that ended up on the receiving end of her spell and giving her housecarl a better chance at taking them down. Once the horde of enemies were defeated the three of them quickly gathered anything that might be useful in the long run, before heading across the second bridge and delving deeper into the barrow.

They came to a massive chamber that had what appeared to be another Word Wall at the bottom of it, to which Sonata pointed at it before her companions could say anything. She knew that they were stressed for time, considering that there was an army of orcs on the loose and that they knew nothing about what they were doing, but she also knew that she needed all the Words of Power if she was going to stand a chance against the dragons. There was also another area to the left of where they were standing, but Sonata had her friends stay back so she could get to the Word Wall without rousing the rest of the undead in the area. She crept through the area, finding her way to the path that would take her down to her destination, before she found herself at the base of the waterfall.

She quickly approached the Word Wall, where she let the word sink into her body, before she turned around and headed back up the way she came, before anything decided to attack her. When she returned to where her friends were standing she found that they had been attacked by a pair of skeletons, which only cleared the path that rested on their right. There Sonata found three stones that were stuck in the ground, though as she approached them she noticed that one of them glowed and opened one of the gates in front of her. She smiled as she considered what to do with this puzzle, but as she thought about it she quickly realized that what she needed to do was run at the gates and, in the instant she was through the three stones, activate her Whirlwind Sprint and pass through the gates before they closed.

She started laughing after she tested her method to solve the puzzle, because it had worked like a charm and she had opened the way so that her companions could follow her. Once the three of them were together again they entered a chamber that was covered in webs, where they found a pair of spiders that appeared to be waiting for something to eat. Sonata smiled as she ignited her flames once more, burning the spiders where they stood before they started to move through the chamber, where they found that the floor had a bunch of fire traps built into it.

The three of them took their time to reach the other side of the chamber, where they encountered a trio of spiders that weren't too happy to see them. Sonata was more than happy to let her companions deal with the spiders this time, smiling as Lydia carved one of them into pieces before moving onto the second on, while Kree loosed a few arrows to fell the final one. Once the spiders were dealt with they approached a webbed door, to which they removed the webs and revealed the door that lead them into the chamber where Sonata was certain they would find the horn. As they walked into the final room four statues rose out of the water, as if responding to the fact that someone had finally come to claim what the barrow had been built to guard.

Sonata's happy nature was dashed when she discovered that the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller was not where it was supposed to be, and that a 'friend' of hers was waiting in Riverwood with what she had come to claim. She was annoyed that he horn was gone, so she let Kree and Lydia loot the massive chest that they found in the room behind where the horn was supposed to be, before they found the secret passage that would take them back to the beginning of the barrow. They appeared in a room full of urns, but they paid them no mind as they made their way towards the opening of the barrow, where they could leave the area and plan their next move.

When they approached the exit of the barrow, however, they found a group of what Sonata assumed were vampires standing in their way, judging by the armor that they were wearing.

"Dragonborn, it is fortunate that we found you before our Enemy did," the head vampire said, a female one Sonata noticed, before she noticed that none of their weapons were drawn, "Lord Movarth requests that you follow us to his lair... he's got some news about Lord Grul that you might find interesting. He also told me that if that didn't entice you to come with us, which he was certain you'd still refuse, than I was supposed to share this other piece with you... he knows about your sisters Adagio and Aria."

Sonata's eyes widened at the mention of her missing sisters, so much so that she decided that she might as well follow these vampires to their master... to see if they were telling the truth or if they were lying to her. She needed to find out what happened to her sisters, so much so that she couldn't pass up a chance to learn what had happened when someone came forward knowing what she wanted to know. She only hoped that this wasn't a lie designed to get rid of her... but she decided that she would soon find out when she spoke with this Movarth in his lair.