The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 65: Priests and Their Possessions

Chapter LXV: Priests and Their Possessions
“In days of old, when dragons ruled the earth, mortal ponies worshipped the beasts as gods.”

Retracing our steps, we were able to find our way back to Marekarth. By the time we arrived, Jarl Stormcloud had already left. He’d left no further instructions for us, so I assumed his next attack wouldn’t be for quite some time. We returned to Whitetrot and got some rest before departing for High Falls Ruins the following morning.

Following Faniar’s instructions, we found it quite easily. High Falls Ruins was built in the south of the Pale, in the mountains that divided the hold from Whitetrot Hold. In fact, it wasn’t all that far from the Hall of the Vigilant.

We knew what to expect by this point and weren’t at all surprised to see the large arch-covered stairway leading up the mountain. Mystic performed the magic-blocking spell on herself and me before we entered this time, and I experienced only a mildly annoying buzzing as we ascended the stairs to the great doors that led into the ruin.

We passed through the massive stone doors into a grand entry hall, just as we had many times before. The first hall was completely void of Draugr, making me a bit nervous. The most unsettling part about the entry hall was that the light didn’t reach the upper levels of the ceiling, where I imagined I could hear scuffling in the dark.

As we passed through the next set of hallways, we still saw no Draugr. It wasn’t that I was spoiling for a fight, but the residents of this tomb being conspicuously absent made me uneasy. At last we reached a balcony overlooking the main banquet hall. However, no Draugr sat down at the table below.

Instead, there was a collection of ponies sitting at the long banquet table, and another sitting in the throne at its head. For a minute I thought it was a collection of bat-ponies, since some of them had bat-wings, but there were earth-ponies and zebras here also, as well as unicorns with smooth and wickedly curved horns. Their pallid coats and the feast laid out before them proved what they really were: vampires.

“Get back!” I whispered urgently to my companions as the vampire at the head of the table began to sniff the air and crane his head in our direction.

We retreated into a dark room that must’ve once been personal quarters for this ruin’s royal court. No sooner had we hidden ourselves than a winged vampire trotted through the door we’d come from. It appeared my fears about being watched in the entry hall had not been unwarranted. She looked around a bit before jumping off the balcony and flying down to the table below.

“Lord Movath,” she reported to the vampire at the head of the table, “We have intruders in the keep.”

“And instead of apprehending them, you came to me?” he hissed.

I heard a crunch, and the vampire who’d followed us from the entry hall screamed.

“Block the entryway,” Movath demanded, “They must not be allowed to escape and give us away. Find them!”

A great scuffling came from the banquet hall as the vampires spread out to look for us. Mephalda was the first to react as one stepped into the room we were hiding in. As she reached the center of the room, her eyes glowing eerily in the dark, the former Blackwing shot an arrow directly into her chest, piercing her heart. The vampire staggered before tipping over, blood dripping from her mouth.

As Mystic pulled the body away, another vampire happened to take a look inside. I quickly fired off a spell to paralyze him, and dragged his body into the room. A slash from Dawnbreaker between the ribs finished him off. So far the vampires hadn’t spotted us, but if they were to find this room we’d never leave it alive. We needed to move to a more defendable position.

Mephalda took a peek outside, quickly scanning the banquet hall for signs of the vampires. Once she thought it was clear, she launched herself up into the rafters, taking out a winged vampire that lurked up there. Another minute later, she landed on the far side of the room, peeking through the different doors before beckoning us over to one.

Carefully we made our way along the balcony, keeping an eye out for the patrolling vampires. One spotted us as we passed the rooms he was searching, but a blast of lightning from Mystic knocked him against the wall. We quickly ducked into another room as the vampire’s body hit a bookcase, knocking the ruined tomes to the ground and causing quite a bit of noise.

When nopony came, we made a run for the nearest staircase. As we headed down the stone steps, we ran into a vampiric earth pony. As she made to shout out her discovery, Mystic suddenly blasted her throat with a spell. When she tried to call for help, no sound came out. My unicorn companion had effectively made the vampire go mute.

The vampire drew her sword, swinging it at Mystic. I blocked with Dawnbreaker, and pushed it back as Steadfast cracked his warhammer across her back. As her spine snapped, the vampire released her weapon, and I was able to slit her throat with my Draconequus sword.

We continued down the stairs, not even bothering to hide the body as we galloped into the banquet hall. We were about halfway across when we heard voices approaching us. We ducked under the table, which was covered in pony flesh, and hid beneath the blood-soaked wood. Mephalda also made herself scarce as vampires reentered the room.

Lord Movath himself, a unicorn in dark robes highlighted with blood red, trotted in, a zebra by his side. At least, she had once been a zebra. Her vampirism had faded her stripes to be almost indistinguishable from the rest of her coat, and her mane was messy and unkempt.

“They may already be gone,” she was saying to Movath as they trotted toward the banquet table, “It wouldn’t be hard to sneak in and then back out again.”

“Yes, but Chrys didn’t see them leave,” he replied, most likely referring to the pegasus whose body was now lying on the table, “If she had, then she wouldn’t have come here to warn us. And there’s no way they could have left while we were searching.”

“If they had, they’d still be nearby,” the zebra pointed out.

“It’s not late enough,” Movath grumbled, “The day-star is far too bright for any of us to venture outside yet. We have to wait until sundown to search outside, and by then they’ll be too far away to identify.”

“Of course, they could still be here,” the zebra said.

“They must be,” Movath said, “We’ve got to keep looking. They’ve got to be somewhere.”

“Lord Movath,” a group of three vampires reported, trotting in from a large tunnel leading off of the banquet hall, “There’s no unusual activity among the Draugr. They didn’t flee into the undercity.”

“But the Draugr have been getting bolder,” one of the group pointed out, “Perhaps one was able to make it all the way up through the keep.”

“Nonsense,” Movath spat, “As dense as our deceased sentry was, even she would have been able to tell the difference between a living pony and those zombies. Check again.”

“There doesn’t seem to be anypony here,” one of them, an earth pony, said, “If there are living ponies in the keep, why not use a spell to detect life?”

“That’s what I’ve been doing, you foals!” the Vampire Lord shot back, “I’ve checked every room in the keep for signs of life.”

“Well, not exactly every room,” the zebra at his side pointed out.

“Are you saying what I think you are?” he asked.

I couldn’t see anything, but I could just imagine Lord Movath preparing to use a Detect Life spell on the hall. If he did that, we’d stick out and be discovered for sure. The time for hiding had come to an end. Before Movath and his vampire minions could find us, Mystic sent a blast of magic upwards, throwing the table off of us.

The group of three vampires was hit by the flying table, one of them dying as it crushed them against the wall. Movath and his second were surprised at first, but the shock soon turned to pure rage as they realized who was standing before them.

I jumped toward Movath, swinging Dawnbreaker, but I was knocked off course as the zebra slammed into me. I rolled across the floor, keeping Dawnbreaker close as I did so. As soon as I stopped, I jumped to my hooves, my Draconequus sword held in front of me. The zebra came at me anyway, and I swung my sword around, slicing the tip of her ear off as she ducked down.

Next I swung my blade down at her head. She brought up her hooves before it reached her, however, and held my blade in place. I struggled to pull free, but her grip was too strong, and I found her overpowering me, pushing my sword to the side. At last she gave a swift tug and yanked it from my grasp.

I drew out the Blade of Hoofingar, swinging it around at her head, but she batted it away, the blade cutting into her hoof as she did so. I swung the blade up and around, toward her side, but with a swift kick she knocked it away, sending it flying from my magic.

Before I could draw another weapon, she tackled me, pinning me to the ground. I moved my head to the side as she tried to bring a hoof down upon it, instead cracking the stone floor I was lying on. I twisted my body around as she attempted to hit me, trying to get my hindlegs under her to throw her off. I was unsuccessful, but she managed to get a hit on me, landing a hoof on my shoulder and cracking the bone with the force of her strike.

<<YOL~TOOR!!>> I Shouted, sending dragon fire up at her face.

The zebra screamed and rolled off of me, trying to put out the fire devastating her face. I rolled away as well, trying to ignore the intense pain in my shoulder. I pulled a healing potion from my saddlebags, intending to chug it down and repair my broken bones before they got out of place. My plan failed as the zebra kicked the phial out of the air before slamming me to the ground again.

I once more moved my head away as she tried to crush it with her hoof, but I was preoccupied with my shoulder, and she managed to bruise up the side of my face as she clipped it. Her next strike came down on my shoulder again, wounding it even further. As she did so, I managed to get my hindlegs under her.

As I struggled to throw her off, she continued to pound at me, snapping ribs and completely destroying my shoulder. She didn’t suspect a thing as I drew my Changeling axe and jabbed it into the back of her skull. I dug it in deeper as she suddenly lunged in at me with her head. Her fangs sank into my wounded shoulder as I twisted the axe and snapped her neck.

I pushed her off of me before staggering upright. Of the vampires in the room, only Movath remained now, but my friends seemed to have him on the defensive, keeping him preoccupied with Mystic’s magical attacks while Steadfast darted in and wounded him with his warhammer and Mephalda shot arrows into his body.

I drank down all the healing potions I dared, using spells and enchanted bandages to help heal up the rest. My shoulder was returned to normal, as was my face and chest. There was no sign of the zebra’s bite on my shoulder, but to be safe I drank an extra healing potion to help purge any poison from the wound.

<<KRII~LUN!!>> I Shouted at Movath, injuring him from within and making him vulnerable to the strike from Mystic that killed him.

“Let’s get out of here before more show up,” I said, not looking forward to a battle with more of the lifeless creatures.

We galloped off through the tunnel the group of scouts had come through. They’d spoken of Draugr and an “undercity,” so this seemed to be the most promising path to the bulk of High Falls Ruins. Sure enough, before long the large doors came into sight. Unfortunately, they weren’t unguarded.

A vampiric earth pony patrolled in front of them, and a bat-winged vampire flapped above them. Mephalda carefully lined a shot up on the flying vampire before letting an arrow fly. It struck the pony perfectly, knocking him out of the air. We charged forward as the dead vampire landed on the living one. A strike from Steadfast took out the remaining sentry, opening up the way forward.

Opening the large doors revealed High Falls, and the origin of its name. The doors looked out onto a large cavern filled with a Draugr city. Around the edges of the cavern, large waterfalls cascaded down, filling a canal that ringed the city. In the very center of the town, four statues of a pony reared up back to back, each holding an unrolled scroll covered in Draconic. I assumed they proclaimed some list of rules the residents of High Falls had to follow, and it was impossible to miss at least one of the lists from anywhere in the city.

We trotted down the stairs in front of the keep into the town below. As we did so, we kept an eye out behind us to make sure no vampires were following. We finally allowed ourselves to believe they weren’t coming after us when we reached the city of High Falls itself.

I didn’t particularly want to fight an army of highly-trained Draugr soldiers, but even sneaking around had failed us last time. This time we walked openly through the streets, among the Draugr, but made sure to keep an eye out for anypony who looked like a guard. Some of the undead ponies looked at us suspiciously, but none made any moves to call out an alert on us.

We were walking through the market set up around the base of the statues when one of the Draugr approached us. It offered us a bouquet of nightshade, saying something in Draconic as it did so. When I didn’t take it, the Draugr became extremely distraught, speaking rapidly in the language of the dragons. I had a basic knowledge of how the language worked, and knew many of the words, but I couldn’t keep up with what the Draugr was saying. Eventually the Draugr threw the nightshade at Mystic before running away.

“What was that all about?” Mystic asked as she passed the bouquet to Mephalda, who tucked the deadly flowers into her saddlebags.

“It looks like that Draugr really wanted you to take a gift,” Steadfast said.

“Yes, but why?” I asked, looking up at the list of rules towering above us, “Do you suppose it has something to do with this?”

The sound of armored ponies drew my attention away from the statue we were standing under. A group of about a dozen Draugr in quality armor trotted down the street. The captain shouted out something in Draconic as they entered the market. The Draugr around us all pointed at us before running away rapidly.

The Draugr captain barked something and all the soldiers drew their weapons. They were like nothing I’d ever seen before, staffs with a sword-like blade at either end. The Draugr soldiers spun them around as they marched forward. We drew our weapons, but I feared it wouldn’t be enough to hold off all the Draugr.

“Mephalda, that pot!” I called, pointing out a pot on the edge of a market stand where a Draugr had been selling lantern oil.

Anticipating my plans, she shot an arrow at the edge of the pot, causing it to fall from the stand and splash across the ground. The nearest lines of Draugr were hit, but I waited until it began to pool beneath them before I shot out a blast of fire. The Draugr incinerated instantly, the flammable lantern oil spreading the flames quickly. The other undead soldiers moved quickly, executing their flaming comrades before they could cause too much damage.

Mystic began to shoot lightning at the advancing soldiers as I shot ice spikes and Mephalda shot arrows into them. When they came too close for comfort, I drew Dawnbreaker and the Blade of Hoofingar. Steadfast and I charged forward, his warhammer and my twin blades flying.

As I swung my ebony sword down toward one of the Draugr soldiers, it blocked using one of the blades on its odd weapon. While I had it blocked on one side, I swung Dawnbreaker in toward where the Draugr couldn’t block me without surrendering its block with my other weapon. Amazingly, it managed to do the impossible, twisting its head nearly all the way around, twisting my ebony blade over until it blocked Dawnbreaker with the very same blade.

With a sudden spin, the Draugr straightened itself out and brought the other blade on its weapon in between my swords. A quick twist threw my blades away from each other, but I managed to keep ahold of them and brought the Blade of Hoofingar up to block as the Draugr stabbed in toward my chest.

I put the Blade of Hoofingar away and focused on using Dawnbreaker to keep the Draugr’s weapon in a block. As I did so, I blasted fire at the Draugr’s head and the weapon’s shaft at the same time. The wood caught fire, becoming brittle enough that when I dragged my weapon down the blade, it snapped off. A kick knocked the other blade off, leaving the Draugr with a scorched stick, and vulnerable to the blade that stabbed it in the side of the throat.

<<<FO~KRAH~DIIN!!!>>> I Shouted as three Draugr soldiers came at me at the same time.

They all froze solid and quickly shattered as I ran my blades threw them. Passing the icy remains of the Draugr, I found myself standing before the Draugr captain. It drew another of the strange weapons, stabbing down at me and forcing me to block rapidly.

Spinning its weapon around, the Draugr repeatedly struck at me, forcing me back. This Draugr was good, probably the reason it was in command. With no hope to best it in one-on-one combat, I summoned a flame atronach behind the captain. It turned rapidly to face the fiery pony as flames licked over its hindquarters, but foolishly opened itself up to attack.

<<FO~KRAH!!>> it Shouted as it threw its weapon at me, extinguishing my atronach.

I ducked down as the double-bladed weapon flew at me, knocking it aside with my swords. As the Draugr turned back toward me, it searched for its weapon, jumping for it when it spotted it lying on the ground. I wasn’t going to allow it to get it back, and slashed out at the Draugr’s forelegs. Severed at the knees, the Draugr still tried to pull itself toward its odd weapon, even when I chopped off its hindlegs as well. It was still struggling to get to it when I sliced off its head.

Only a few Draugr remained, and they were easy to mop up now. After clearing the market, we continued through the city, heading toward the temple that had been hidden by the gigantic pony statue previously. No more Draugr emerged from their homes or gave us any more trouble as we made our way to the structure built into the cavern’s wall.

The buzzing returned at the base of my horn as we ascended the steps to the temple entrance. Gigantic statues of ponies holding hooves towered over the entryway, an inscription in blocky Draconic letters between them. Once more, the letters twisted until they were in Equine, revealing what the inscription really said.

CRUELTY FOLLOWS THE CRUEL
-LORD VOCOLT

It didn’t tell us quite as much about our adversary as the past inscriptions had, but it did tell us at least one thing: the Dragon Priest’s name. Once inside the temple, we’d be searching for a Lord Vocolt, who had apparently once spoken the words inscribed outside his temple. Without further ado, we pushed the doors open and entered.

Long lines of stone benches filled the back of the temple, and we passed through them on our way up to the very front. At the head of the temple a throne was set up to one side, and a slab of stone serving as a table was on the other. Behind the stone table were three chairs, in which sat three Draugr in priestly robes. Mephalda drew back her bow and fired an arrow through the eye of one of them.

Instantly the three Draugr rose, the one seemingly oblivious to the shaft piercing its brain. We all drew our weapons as the Draugr drew their own weapons, identical to the ones the undead army had been using outside. Slowly, they stepped down from their pedestal and trotted toward us.

I blasted fire at one while Mystic blasted it with lightning. The rotten flesh crackled and popped as the lightning hit it, burning off as the fire followed up. The Draugr was very literally torn apart by the force of our combined spell, until only its skeleton remained before it too turned to ash.

Steadfast ducked down as one of the priests swung its weapon at him. He swung his hammer back up and caught the weapon between the blades, pushing it toward the ground. As he did so, Mephalda fired more arrows into the Draugr’s head until it began to tear apart, becoming more wood than flesh. Steadfast suddenly jerked his weapon up, separating the Draugr’s head from its body.

The final Draugr advanced toward us, spinning its weapon in complex patterns as it did so. I tried to get my sword in, but it was quickly swiped away by the zombie priest. Mystic’s magic was also ineffective, as the weapon seemed to either absorb it or deflect it. Mephalda’s arrows couldn’t get through the spinning blades either.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted, and the Draugr went flying through the air, crashing against the wall.

Before it could pick itself up and retrieve its weapon, Mystic blasted it with magic, holding it in place. Steadfast took a hammer to its head just to be sure, leaving a mess on the wall. The Draugr defeated, we looked around for the one zombie we were actually looking for.

There was no sarcophagus, like with Naghot, nor a statue of dragon, like Voldehorse, but Vocolt had to be around here somewhere. The back wall was inscribed in Draconic, but it was different from the rules posted outside. As I approached, one of the words began to glow, and I learned everything the dragons knew about lightning.

~QO~

“So, where’s the Dragon Priest?” Steadfast asked after our third search of the temple.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “I don’t see a sarcophagus anywhere, and if he was going to emerge from a hiding place I think he’d have done it by now.”

“Hey, over here!” Mystic called from one of the tunnels that led behind the Word Wall.

I had assumed that the tunnels would lead up to the surface, as a back exit, but that was not the case. The two passages met up just behind the wall before sloping downward. We followed it down until it opened up into a larger room with a circular door at the end.

“A puzzle door,” Mystic observed, “But where’s the claw?”

While everypony looked around, searching for the key, I pulled the Emerald Claw from my saddlebags. Could it really be that easy? Had I had the key all along? I tried it, matching up the rings so that they matched the symbols on the claw and inserted it. Surprisingly, the door opened, sliding into the floor.

Through the door was a large cavern carved from the mountain. In the center was an ornate sarcophagus. It began to rattle as we approached, and each of us drew our weapons. The stone coffin suddenly burst open, a Draugr in ornate robes wielding a staff, and another of those weird weapons floating above it.

I shot a Paralyze spell at the Draugr, hoping to immobilize it before the fight started, but my spell had absolutely no effect on the Dragon Priest. Mystic shot columns of ice at the hovering zombie, who shattered them as they came with blasts of fire from his dragon-shaped staff. Mephalda’s arrows he knocked away with his double-bladed weapon, spinning it through the air faster than anypony could naturally.

Steadfast jumped up at Vocolt as I drew my weapons. His warhammer swung in toward the Dragon Priest’s head, only to be deflected at the last minute by his double-bladed weapon. Vocolt sent flames blasting at Steadfast as he retreated, galloping away to a safe distance.

Mystic was able to get a few bolts of lightning in, scorching through the Priest’s robes, before he turned his attention back to her, using his staff to send waves of fire in her direction. I came around to the other side, receiving a boost from Mephalda that threw me toward the Dragon Priest.

As I swung Dawnbreaker at him, however, he spun his double-bladed weapon around, knocking my sword aside and nearly slicing my throat before I could buck him and change direction. As I slid across the ground, I came to the realization that no weapon could harm Vocolt while he still wielded the unique weapon he and his followers had.

<<ZUN~JOT!!>> I Shouted as Steadfast jumped at him.

His weapon suddenly went flying from his magical grasp, sliding into the far corner of the room. He was unable to block as Steadfast struck him across the back with his Changeling warhammer. I could hear ancient bones crack as he knocked Vocolt out of the sky, sending him tumbling not far from Mystic.

Before Mystic could strike, Vocolt called up a firestorm around himself, making it impossible to get near. As the fire dissipated, Vocolt appeared, rage burning in his ancient eyes. He popped his back straight before sending a wave of fire cascading toward Mystic.

As she jumped away, Steadfast charged the ancient priest. The fire was suddenly cut off as he blocked with his staff, the only weapon he had on hoof. I saw an opportunity as the two stallions fought for supremacy, and charged forward with Dawnbreaker leading the way.

As Vocolt pushed Steadfast away, I swung Dawnbreaker in, knocking his staff to the side. My Draconequus sword plunged upward into the Dragon Priest’s chest, piercing his heart. To my alarm, it didn’t kill him right away; instead, he grabbed hold of Dawnbreaker and began to pull it deeper in, forcing me to come closer as well.

Then, as Dawnbreaker sank up to the hilt, the star contained within began to glow brighter and brighter. I saw panic in Vocolt’s eyes for a moment before I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut and escape the unbearable brightness. Vocolt suddenly combusted, and Dawnbreaker clattered to the temple floor.

All that was left of the Dragon Priest were his robes, his staff, and the two amulets he’d worn around his neck. I threw aside the still-smoking one shaped like a dragon and retrieved the other. The simple chain held an octagonal gem, and purple light dwelled deep within it, faded and weak. I slipped this newest Element of Harmony around my neck. We were halfway there.

Level Up
Health: 320 Stamina: 310 Magicka: 310
New Perk: Wearable Spells [Enchanting] -- The spell placed on any item of clothing you enchant will now be twice as strong as normal.
Element of Harmony acquired
Word of Power learned: QO -- Lightning; Storm Call – Combined with STRUN and BAH, QO causes the storm you call to come more quickly, strike more viciously, and last much longer.
Sanguinare Vampiris contracted
New Quest: Back to Basics -- Search Horizon for ruins in which Dragon Priests and their Elements of Harmony may dwell.

Comments

[Wolf Wytch]

Oh no! Vampire Sapphire!