5: Bleak Falls Barrow
When morning finally dawned, and the beams of light hit Sonata in her face, she yawned and stretched her arms as she pulled herself from the bed she had fallen asleep on. For a moment she thought that she was still in the small apartment that she and her sisters had rented, but a quick look around told her that her imagination was only fooling her. She was still in the basement of Alvor and Sigrid's house, where she and Kree had gone when Hadvar told them they should get their rest before they delivered the message about a dragon to the Jarl of Whiterun. She then turned around and found that Kree, who had fallen asleep around the same time that she had, was no longer in the bed, which told Sonata that she had to be upstairs.
When she walked up the stairs she found that only Sigrid was around, who immediately noticed the former Siren and beckoned her over to the table, where there was some fruit and some dried meat for breakfast.
"Where is everyone?" Sonata asked, remembering that the place had been packed with the family that lived here, Hadvar, and both Kree and herself.
"My husband Alvor is working the forge at the moment," Sigrid told her, taking a seat for a moment, "our little girl, Dorthe, sometimes helps him out while he works... I think she's practicing so she can take over when he decides to retire. Hadvar went to the inn to see if there were any rumors of either Stormcloak activity or anymore mentions of the dragon that you three saw in Helgen. And Kree decided to go to the Riverwood Trader, that would be the general good store across the street, to see if she could see off some of the junk you guys carried into the house and pick up some essentials for the road to Whiterun."
"Which apparently was robbed sometime last night," a voice said, just as Kree entered the house and closed the door behind her, though by the pack she carried Sonata knew that she must have purchased some items while she was there, "but the strange thing is that the thieves only took one item from Lucan; an ornament made of solid gold that also happens to have the shape of a dragon's claw."
"I remember that thing," Sigrid said, nodding her head for a moment, "He's always been saying that the claw has brought him nothing but good luck, but it seems that it brought him bad luck this time. Did he saw where they went?"
"He seemed to think they went up to the barrow," Kree replied, taking a sweet roll out and biting it in half, "I've heard that Bleak Falls Barrow holds some treasure and power that could make the journey worth the effort. Sadly we cannot go up there and get it, we have to tell Balgruuf about the dragon and make sure that this village gets some protection... then we'll figure out what to do from there."
Sonata put down her utensils down, pulled herself from the chair she was sitting in, and walked back down to the basement, where she had left her sword and helmet when she went to bed. She moved quickly, making sure that her armor was as tight as it could be, before she took her weapon from the nightstand and tied the sheath to her belt. Once that was done she picked up the helmet and slipped it on over her head, before she took a few deep breaths and headed up the stairs. She didn't stop as she opened the door and strode outside, where she turned and looked up at the barrow that loomed over the entire village, before heading in the direction that would take her to Whiterun.
When she reached the fork in the road a few minutes later she immediately headed up into the mountainside, where she knew she'd be able to follow it all the way to the entrance to the barrow.
"You are definitely crazy," Kree told her, jogging up the pathway before she caught up with Sonata, "You've barely recovered from arriving in this world, your skilled in basic swordplay and the basics of magic, and you think you can take an entire group of bandits by yourself. Normally I would say we should head back and speak to the Jarl, but seeing how we've already started towards the barrow we might as well get it over with."
"I'm not going to stand and let them get away with this," Sonata said, lightning cracking around her hand for a moment before it disappeared, "We'll go in, find the person who stole the claw, and recover it so we can return it to its owner. Then we'll head to Whiterun and speak with the Jarl... I really don't care for the treasure."
Kree nodded and they continued up the pathway, until they came to a stone tower that was resting on the edge of the cliff and had three bandits hanging outside the entrance. One of them, the sentry Sonata guessed, noticed them coming and pulled out his bow, but before he could get an arrow off Kree replied in kind, allowing her arrow to zip through the air and slam into his chest. As he was knocked into the tree the other two bandits noticed their comrade was dead and moved out of the tower, before heading down the path and coming towards the two of them. Sonata pulled out her sword, spun around as she deflected the attack of the bandit that approached her, and drove her blade right through his heart.
Kree watched as Sonata then parried the next attack from the final bandit, continuing the pattern as she waited for an opening to present itself, but when it did she knocked the sword from her enemy's hands and took his head clean off.
"I take it back, your definitely skilled with that blade," Kree commented, somewhat pleased that Sonata had retained so much of what she had taught her, "I daresay that if General Tullius had caught Ulfric Stormcloak a week later we could have turned you into a highly skilled swordsman before this entire thing started."
Sonata thanked her friend for the compliment and they got underway once more, where they followed the pathway around the mountain until they approached the high rising stone structures that had been built around the barrow. Before they had time to inspect the area a bandit noticed them and shouted to his allies, causing two more bandits, both with bows, to appear and start drawing their arrows. Kree took aim at the bandit that was the closest to their location, letting her arrow fly into the person's chest and knocked the bandit to the ground. Sonata, on the other hand, charged up the stairs and let a small amount of lightning pulse around her left hand, which she released into the first bandit that came towards her.
The second one loosed an arrow at her, but she rolled out of the way and threw a lightning bolt through the air that struck the bandit dead where he stood.
Once that deed was done Sonata sighed for a moment before she and Kree continued towards the large iron gate that one of the bandits had been standing near before their arrival. The moment they were inside they found a pair of bandits near the back of the chamber, though they were talking to each other and had failed to notice that the iron door had opened. Kree pulled out an arrow out of her quiver and pulled the bowstring back, but Sonata held a hand out to prevent her from loosing the arrow, as if she was waiting for the bandits to say something about the golden claw. It was a good thing that Sonata had told Kree to stay her hand for the moment, as one of the bandits mentioned that a golden claw had been taken from them by one of their companions, who fled into the barrow.
The two of them then approached the remaining bandits, who barely had enough time to defend themselves before Kree put one of them down with her bow and Sonata drove her sword through the second one. Before they descended into the barrow Sonata noticed a chest that happened to be sitting near the walkway, but as she turned to ask Kree about it the argonian slipped her sword between the lid and the body and forced the chest open. What they found was some more arrows for Kree, two healing potions that were split between them, and an amethyst that Kree said that they would sell later on.
With the deed done they continued deeper into the barrow, but they knew that they needed to be prepared in case more bandits, or something much worse, decided to show up and attack them, so they kept their weapons at the ready. Not a few minutes later they found another bandit, this one more armed than the two they had just taken down, standing in a chamber that had a switch resting in front of an iron gate. They arrived just in time to see the bandit flip the switch, only for him to fall to the ground as a dozen darts shot out of the holes in the wall and pierced his body. He was dead in seconds, though they slowly entered the chamber and studied the surrounding area, so they didn't repeat what happened to the bandit.
Sonata stared at the gate for a moment before noticing the pattern on the wall, one that read snake, snake, and whale, before moving to the three pillars that the bandit had ignored. She flipped them in the order that the pattern on the ceiling had read and then, when she was absolutely sure that she was right, she had Kree back up as she flipped the switch and the gate opened before their eyes. They found a chest filled with potions, which Sonata was sure that they weren't even fresh, seeing how they had been sealed in a chest for a few hundred years, but Kree reassured her that they were still usable. They also found a trio of rat like creatures, which Kree told her were called skeevers, waiting at the bottom of the stairs they took, but the two of them took care of them with ease.
The next chamber was blocked off by webs, but the instant they took them down they caused a massive spider to descend towards the ground, though Sonata was surprised that such a beast stood in their way. She and Kree approached the spider and attacked it, either slamming their swords into its legs or using some of Sonata's magic to make it back up before it finally crumpled to the ground. Once the creature was dead they found the bandit that had stolen the golden claw, who continued to promise that he wouldn't run when they let him go. They cut him down, but the moment he touched the floor he turned towards the path that his webs had been blocking and was gone before they could say a word.
Sonata's eyes widened when a shriveled corpse, wearing ancient armor and wielding an ancient weapon, came into view, but from what they were hearing it sounded like the thief had gotten deeper into the barrow then either of them were expecting.
"And now we have the draugr to contend with," Kree sighed, cutting the walking corpse down as two more appeared in the middle of the tunnel, "if that thief isn't dead when we catch up to him then I will personally put him down myself."
When the draugr approached them Kree pulled her bow back out and loosed an arrow at the one closest to her, knocking it to the ground, while Sonata parried the attack that came her way and drove her blade into the corpse's rotting heart. They were careful to avoid the traps that had been laid out by the ancients who had built the barrow, though they had to contend with the undead that the thief had woken up. They also had to pass through a swinging blade trap and defeat several more of the walking dead, before they came to another iron door that required a pull of a lever to open. They then followed the tunnel and passed by a waterfall that was apparently guarded by a frost troll, before they defeated an even tougher draugr that protected a wooden door that lead into the next part of the barrow.
Once they were in the next area they immediately had to pass a swinging blade trap, but they timed their movements in time with when the blades were inside the wall and made it through without getting hurt. Then they found a duo of normal draugr waiting for them, but they were much easier to deal with as they timed their attacks to hit right after the draugr tried to hit them. The moment the enemies were taken care of they followed the path deeper into the barrow, before they came upon a large iron door that had a trio of circles around what appeared to be a keyhole of sorts. That was when they found a third draugr standing over the corpse of the thief, who had slipped by almost everything and had nearly reached his destination.
"We might as well see what's on the other side of this door," Kree said, just as Sonata put down the draugr and collected the claw from the thief's body, "Now I wonder what the combination to this door is."
"Bear, Moth, and Owl," Sonata suddenly said, though as Kree stared at her she walked up to the rings and started moving them around, until the combination she had said showed up on the door.
Once that was done she pressed the claw into the middle of the door, allowing the rings to spin for a moment before they stopped and the door sank into the floor.
"How did you figure that out?" Kree asked, wondering if she had missed something when they were walking up to the door.
"It was on the bottom of the claw," Sonata said, turning the claw around and showing her friend, "I guess that's why the thief was so eager to get to this door, he literally had the combination to open it up."
When the way was open they advanced forward, following the tunnel until they came to a rather large chamber that had water running under the stone bridge that led to what appeared to be a wall full of strange writing. The two of them were impressed by the sheer size of the final chamber, though they were weary about any final traps the builders had placed in case someone got this far. Sonata glanced at the wall once more, though she had absolutely no idea what the writing said and was sure that Kree had more of an idea of what was written there, as he was more attuned to the stories of this land than she was.
She also noticed that there was an iron coffin sitting some distance away from the wall and that there was a staircase nearby, though she assumed it would lead to an exit of some kind. The last thing she noticed was the large chest sitting close to the coffin, though she stayed away from it in case whoever was inside the coffin came out when the chest's lid was opened. As Sonata approached the wall to read what it said, however, she could hear a faint chanting that seemed to speak in her head, something that she was surprised by. Though when she approached the wall the chanting seemed to stopped all of a sudden, but as she stared at the wall she realized that she could suddenly understand the writing.
The moment the chanting stopped the lid to the coffin behind them burst open, though as they turned around another old draugr, this one appearing much older than the ones they had already seen, pulled itself from the coffin and turned towards them. They waited for a moment, to be sure that the creature wasn't going to attack them, but then it shouted three strange words at them and started to freeze the area before they, forcing them to move as the wave of frost hit the wall. Before they could make a counter attack the draugr approached Kree and picked her up, before tossing her into the wall and making her crumple to the ground.
"KREE!" Sonata shouted, only for the draugr to turn towards her and smack her across the face, forcing her onto the ground for a moment before the creature kicked her in the chest and made her roll into the water below the bridge.
Sonata was surprised by how deep the river actually was, but for some odd reason she found that she could actually breath underwater and that whatever wounds she had at the moment were healing before her eyes. She floated in the water for a moment, gathering herself for a moment, before she frowned as her magic flared, bursting out of the river and floating into the air, causing the draugr to look at her. She growled and commanded the water around her to surge towards the creature, who was smacked into the cave wall and held there for a moment before he froze the water and broke out of it. She then formed several blades out of the water and cut into the creature, where the two of them exchanged blow after blow as they tried to wear down each other.
Eventually the creature, unable to catch up with her increased rate of healing, fell to the ground in a heap, though when the deed was done she landed beside her friend and cancelled whatever magic she had summoned, before tending to her friend's wounds.
"Let's not do that anytime soon," Kree coughed, though she was glad that the potions were mending her body, "at least we got the claw and whatever that creature was defending."
"Yeah," Sonata replied, feeling tired from the experience already and sitting next to her friend, "let's just take a moment to rest before we do anything else."
"Sounds like a plan," Kree laughed, coughing as she did so, "ouch, it hurts to laugh."
Sonata offered her a weak smile, knowing that it might have been foolish of her to even come here alone and that she could have gotten them both killed. She could tell that there was some fraction of her former powers hidden inside her body, but for now she was content to give her body a rest before they did anything else. They'd give Lucan the golden claw and then head to Whiterun, where they would finally tell the Jarl about the dragon that destroyed Helgen.
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I'm loving this story! Does this mean sonatas Dragonborn?
I'll bet that Sonata's part Argonian and I'm glad she's portrayed as smart here.
7092228 Well she read and understood the Word Wall, so I think its safe to assume that she's Dragonborn.
7092264 It seems that she might be showing pieces of her power. I'm also glad that she's being smart in this story.
Bleak Falls Barrow is cleared, the Golden Claw and Dragonstone are recovered, and the possible Dragonborn has been revealed.
Now its time to go to Whiterun.
7092228
7092320 Sirens sing, Dragonborn shouts
Coincidence? I think NOT!@
Maybe there's still a Dragonborn who isn't Sonata?
Maybe they will have more power to their shout while she has superior control over the effects?
7093372 Hmm... Maybe Kree is the actual Dragonborn, and when they combine their two powers Sonata actually augments the overall power! That actually sounds like something that might actually be possible.
7090257 I thought about the idea... maybe we could have a Starlight in Skyrim story? Spike would be great and all, but I'm not certain how that would even work out.
So, Sonata's the Dragonborn and she's got the argonian ability to breath underwater... interesting.
Oh god. If Sonata gains the ability to shout like dragons, and finds a way back, then none of our tacos are safe.
Sonata you are definitely one crazy ex-siren... and I'm loving how this is going.
So Sonata is the Dragonborn... should have seen that coming since she is the main character.
Sonata seems to be doing rather well for herself. Not only was there that impressive display at the end, but they took out a freaking frost troll.
Now I'm going to be guessing what her possible character sheet is.
Sonata
Race: Siren
Greater Race Power: Siren's domain- Massive Health and Magicka regeneration once a day if activated when in water.
Passive Race Effect: Waterbreathing- has the ability to breath underwater.
Race Stat bonuses: Illusion, Destruction, Speech
Class stat bonuses: Illusion, Destruction, Speech, sneak, light armor, and One-handed
Possible future factions: Imperial Legion, College of Winterhold, Bards College
I'm using a combination of Skyrim's and Oblivion's to create this to tell you the truth.
I know it's early to be making any calls on Illusion magic, but she's a siren, used illusion magic all her life, and she picked the mage guardian stone. I'm getting the feeling that she's going to be using it unless you make it clear that when her gem was broken any ability to use illusion magic was taken away as well. The reason why I thought she would join both colleges would be to train her magic, the Bards would give her different avenues for song instead of singing, and I want to see how the Humane Seven and her sisters would react if they heard that Sonata was a student in two colleges. 
She's adapted TOO WELL. Seriously, do you really think that a civilian who's never killed before would just suddenly start slaying opponents without suffering any ramifications, such as mental trauma? It's unrealistic, and that's putting it mildly.