If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!
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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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She knelt before the chest. She didn't even look at the lock. She stared at the ceiling, feeling the feedback through her tools. Within three seconds, a loud, satisfying CLACK echoed in the small stone room. Jenassa threw open the heavy steel lid. Aerion peered over her shoulder, his golden eyes scanning the interior of the chest.
Resting atop a pile of ancient linens and scattered coins was a masterpiece of dwarven engineering. It was a heavy, perfectly balanced Dwarven Bow, forged from pristine, golden hued metal. Intricate, glowing geometric runes were etched across its curved limbs, radiating a distinct, ambient heat that held back the damp chill of the crypt.
Aerion stepped up beside her, looking down into the chest. A highly satisfied, aristocratic smile touched his lips.
"Well," Aerion murmured, his golden eyes glinting. "It appears you did not have to wait very long at all for that upgrade, Jenassa. The Divines, or perhaps simply the highly predictable nature of ancient loot caches, seem to favor you today."
Jenassa did not hesitate. She reached into the chest and lifted the heavy metallic bow. It was vastly heavier than her wooden hunting bow, but perfectly balanced for a warrior of her strength. She tested the tension of the metallic string, feeling the latent fire enchantment humming beneath her fingertips.
"Aye, Patron. It is indeed our lucky day," Jenassa agreed, her gravelly voice laced with genuine lethal appreciation. Without a second thought, she unslung her mundane hunting bow and tossed it carelessly into the corner of the rubble filled room, slipping the enchanted Dwarven weapon over her shoulder.
While Jenassa admired her new artillery, Aerion focused his attention on the remaining contents of the chest.
His system assisted vision rapidly categorized the wealth. Resting beneath the spot where the bow had been were four flawless, blood red Rubies and three deep purple Amethysts.
Stacked neatly in the corner were five heavy Dwarven metal ingots, perfectly preserved and ready for the forge. Beside them lay a heavy leather coin purse and a stunning Golden Emerald Circlet, likely belonging to whichever ancient noble had been sealed behind this gate.
Aerion ran his hand over the contents, activating his dimensional void.
[Gold Acquired: 300 Septims]
[Items Acquired: 4x Ruby, 3x Amethyst, 5x Dwarven Metal Ingot, 1x Golden Emerald Circlet]
[Inventory Weight Increased by 4.0 KG]
"Leave nothing behind. The Jarl requires a hefty down payment," Aerion noted smoothly, standing up and adjusting his dark robes.
They turned away from the dead end alcove, navigating back through the opened iron gate and returning to the massive, sweeping stone staircase that led directly into the primary entrance of Korvanjund.
The heavy, ancient double doors of the temple loomed before them. Aerion pushed them open, the ancient hinges groaning loudly, announcing their arrival to anyone lurking inside.
They stepped into a wide, dimly lit stone antechamber. To their immediate right, a set of wide stone steps led upward into the deeper recesses of the temple.
The bandits inside had clearly heard the explosive magical commotion on the surface. As Aerion and Jenassa stepped through the doors, three heavily armored bandits were already rushing down the stairs, their weapons drawn, shouting battle cries to alert the rest of their crew deeper inside.
"Intruders! We have intruders at the gate!" the lead bandit roared, raising a heavy iron warhammer.
Aerion did not even break his stride.
"Burn," Aerion commanded softly.
He raised both hands, bypassing the preliminary sparks and channeling the raw, devastating power of his highly leveled Destruction matrix. Twin streams of highly compressed, roaring Flames erupted from his palms.
He dual cast the spell, merging the streams into a single, massive, blinding torrent of liquid fire that completely engulfed the narrow stairwell.
The bandits' battle cries instantly turned into agonizing, breathless shrieks. The sheer, overwhelming thermal pressure superheated their iron armor, cooking them alive before they could even take two steps down.
Jenassa moved like a shadow through the flickering orange light. She didn't bother drawing her bow for such close quarters combat. She drew the Steel Sword of Frost Aerion had given her in her right hand, and a razor sharp steel dagger in her left.
As a fourth bandit, a frantic archer who had managed to avoid the initial blast of fire, stumbled down the stairs through the smoke, Jenassa was already there.
She parried his desperate swing with her dagger, stepped inside his guard, and drove the freezing steel blade directly through the gap in his leather armor. The frost enchantment instantly froze the blood in his veins, dropping him silently to the stone.
"More incoming," Jenassa warned, pulling her blade free and shaking off the frost.
From the landing above, the heavy, thudding footsteps of at least half a dozen more bandits echoed down the stone corridor. They were rallying, forming a shield wall at the top of the stairs to hold the chokepoint.
Aerion's golden eyes narrowed. "Let us break their line."
He shifted his Magicka pathways from Destruction to Conjuration. He visualized the burning, chaotic plains of Oblivion. Tearing the fabric of reality apart in two distinct locations at the top of the stairs, he summoned two Flame Atronachs.
The demonic, levitating entities of molten rock and fire materialized directly behind the bandits' shield wall.
Absolute chaos erupted on the landing. The bandits screamed in terror as the Daedra began hurling fireballs at point-blank range, completely shattering their defensive formation.
"Move up," Aerion ordered.
He and Jenassa charged up the stone steps, capitalizing on the distraction. The fighting on the landing was brutal and chaotic. The Flame Atronachs twirled gracefully, acting as lethal, close quarters combatants, soaking up the aggro of the heavy two handed warriors.
Aerion and Jenassa stayed on the periphery, executing a flawless, synchronized long range assault. Aerion hurled precision Firebolts past the Atronachs, blowing the bandits backward off their feet. Jenassa, having holstered her blades, drew her new Dwarven Bow.
She unleashed a rapid volley of arrows, the fire runes on the bow igniting each shaft as it left the string, turning the bandits into human torches.
However, the bandits in Korvanjund were desperate and heavily cornered. A massive, scarred Orc wielding a heavy steel battleaxe roared in fury, ignoring the flames licking at his armor. He swung the axe in a massive, sweeping arc, cleaving straight through the ethereal, molten torso of the left Flame Atronach.
With a shrieking, explosive burst of ash and embers, the Daedra destabilized and banished back to Oblivion.
"Archers in the back!" Jenassa shouted, shifting her aim.
THWIP.
Before Jenassa could release her bowstring, a stray iron arrow, fired blindly through the smoke by a panicking bandit in the back of the room, clipped her left bicep. The broadhead sliced cleanly through the boiled leather of her armor, leaving a shallow, bleeding gash across her dark flesh.
Jenassa didn't even flinch. She ignored the pain entirely, releasing her drawn arrow and pinning the offending bandit directly to the stone wall by his throat.
Aerion, however, noticed the blood instantly. His eyes flared with genuine, protective anger. He raised his right hand, unleashing a jagged, blinding arc of Lightning that struck the Orc with the battleaxe directly in the chest, stopping the massive warrior's heart instantly and throwing his heavy corpse across the room.
With their heavy hitters dead, the remaining two bandits threw down their weapons and tried to run deeper into the crypt. Jenassa put two flaming arrows in their backs before they could reach the next doorway.
The room fell completely silent, save for the crackle of burning tapestries and the ambient hum of the surviving Flame Atronach.
Aerion dismissed the Daedra with a thought. He immediately stepped over the smoldering corpses and approached his bodyguard.
"Hold still," Aerion commanded gently, looking at the bleeding gash on her arm.
He raised his left hand, his golden aura shifting to a soft, radiant, holy white. He channeled the soothing, cellular knitting power of his Restoration matrix. A warm wave of Healing washed over Jenassa's bicep, seamlessly blending with a touch of Purify to burn away any potential infection from the dirty iron arrowhead.
Within seconds, the flesh stitched itself back together flawlessly, leaving not even a scar behind.
Jenassa rolled her shoulder, testing the muscle. A look of profound gratitude softened her usually hardened crimson eyes. "My thanks, Patron. It was but a scratch, but I appreciate the efficiency."
"A scratched blade dulls over time, Jenassa. We keep our weapons sharp," Aerion replied pragmatically, dropping his hand. "Now, let us secure their assets."
They moved methodically through the room, checking the corpses of the fallen bandits. Aerion's dimensional void made the process incredibly fast. He ignored the heavy, low-value iron and steel armor they wore, focusing entirely on liquid currency.
[Gold Acquired: 500 Septims]
"A profitable skirmish," Aerion noted, as half a thousand septims vanished into his inventory. "It appears these bandits had a highly successful run of the local trade routes before they decided to hide in a tomb."
With the outer guard crushed, they moved deeper into Korvanjund. They passed through a heavy wooden door, leaving the smell of smoke behind, and entered the true, ancient crypts.
The architecture here was undisturbed by the bandits. The walls were lined with massive, carved stone shelves holding hundreds of ancient, linen wrapped bodies. The air was frigid, smelling distinctly of embalming fluids and rotting dust.
It was immediately clear why the bandits had held the outer rooms and refused to venture deeper.
As Aerion and Jenassa stepped into the center of the long, arched hallway, the heavy, scraping sound of stone against stone echoed all around them.
The Draugr were waking up.
Five ancient Nordic warriors, their skin pulled tight over skeletal frames and their eyes glowing with a malevolent, freezing blue light, pulled themselves from their resting places.
They wielded rusted, heavy ancient Nord swords and axes. Two of them were standard Draugr, moving with stiff, jerky motions. Three were Restless Draugr, significantly faster, heavier, and completely unfazed by pain.
"Undead," Jenassa spat, drawing her Steel Sword of Frost. "I detest fighting corpses. They do not bleed."
"Then we will break their bones," Aerion stated calmly.
The fight was swift and brutal. Aerion utilized his Ice Storm spell, sending massive waves of freezing wind crashing down the narrow hallway. While Draugr were highly resistant to cold, the sheer kinetic force of the magical blizzard staggered the Restless ones, knocking them off balance.
Jenassa capitalized, stepping into the fray. She ducked beneath a clumsy, rusted axe swing, brought her steel blade up to parry a second attack, and drove her dagger cleanly through the base of a Draugr's skull, severing its spinal column and dropping it to the floor.
Aerion finished the rest with highly concentrated blasts of Firebolt, reducing the ancient, dry linen wraps to burning ash.
With the hallway cleared, Aerion turned to his companion, his mind focused entirely on the overarching objective.
"Jenassa, we must search this area meticulously," Aerion instructed, his tone turning highly academic. "I read a highly detailed, restricted text back at the College's Arcanaeum regarding the ancient burial rites of High King Borgas. The text indicated that the deeper chambers of this specific crypt are sealed behind a puzzle door. To open it, we require a key. A large, physical claw, carved entirely from pure Ebony."
It was a flawless lie, perfectly masking his meta knowledge of the game's mechanics. He knew that in the original timeline, the Dragonborn would find the Ebony Claw lying on the ground near the corpses of two Imperial or Stormcloak soldiers who had been killed by Draugr.
But because he was here before the civil war factions had launched their expedition, the soldiers weren't here to guide him. The claw had to be around here somewhere, likely still resting in its original, ancient location. If they couldn't find it, the Jagged Crown was utterly inaccessible.
"An Ebony Claw. Understood, Patron," Jenassa nodded, sheathing her sword and beginning to systematically search the stone shelves and the burial urns.
Aerion did the same, using his system enhanced vision to scan the darkest corners of the room. He looted the ashes of the Draugr they had just killed, siphoning the ancient, heavy gold coins they carried.
[Gold Acquired: 250 Septims]
Despite a thorough, ten minute search of the hallway and the surrounding alcoves, the claw was nowhere to be found.
"Nothing here, Patron," Jenassa reported, kicking a broken urn.
"Then we move deeper," Aerion decided, a slight frown touching his golden features.
They pushed through the next set of heavy iron doors, stepping into a massive, sprawling, multi tiered chamber.
Aerion immediately recognized the room. This was the primary ambush site. In the game, this was where the player and their chosen civil war faction would be swarmed by dozens of high level undead.
Sure enough, the moment they crossed the threshold, the room came alive.
The screeching of stone lids being thrown aside echoed like thunder. From the upper balconies, the lower alcoves, and the central raised platform, Draugr began to pour out. There were easily over a dozen of them.
And they were not standard corpses. Aerion's eyes narrowed as he spotted several heavily armored DraugrWights among the horde, wielding ancient Nord bows and massive two handed greatswords.
"We are surrounded," Jenassa noted, drawing her Dwarven Bow and immediately seeking cover behind a thick stone pillar.
Aerion stood in the center of the room. He looked at the overwhelming numbers of the undead horde, and a sudden, highly ambitious, somewhat reckless thought crossed his mind.
'Let us test the absolute limits of my reality.' He had a maximum, 500 point Magicka pool, and the system had completely removed the standard vanilla game restrictions regarding summon limits. He didn't just want to fight the horde. He wanted to wage a war.
Aerion closed his eyes, centering his breathing. He reached deep into his core, visualizing the chaotic, swirling energies of Oblivion, and pulled with everything he had.
Tear. Tear. Tear. Tear. Tear. Tear.
He ripped six distinct, massive holes in the fabric of the mortal plane simultaneously.
The backlash hit him instantly. A sudden, crushing, heavy pressure slammed against his temples, feeling as though a physical iron band was being tightened around his skull. His mental strength groaned under the sheer, astronomical strain of anchoring six powerful Daedric entities to reality at the exact same time.
But he held the weave.
With a deafening crescendo of fire, ice, and thunder, his elemental army arrived.
Two Flame Atronachs materialized on the upper balconies, instantly hurling fireballs at the Draugr archers. Two Frost Atronachs slammed into the ground floor, their massive ice arms swinging wildly, crushing the brittle bones of the advancing infantry.
And hovering directly above Aerion, crackling with blinding, untamed electricity, were two Storm Atronachs, raining jagged bolts of chain lightning down upon the heavy Draugr Wights.
"Destroy them all!" Aerion roared over the din of battle, fighting through the massive migraine.
The chamber devolved into an absolute, apocalyptic war zone. The six Atronachs immediately drew the undivided aggro of the entire undead horde.
Aerion did not sit back. He weaponized his remaining Magicka, stepping behind his Daedric vanguard and spamming massive, Area of Effect Destruction spells. He hurled Fireballs into the tightest clusters of Draugr, the explosive blasts shattering ancient armor and scattering burning limbs across the stone.
Jenassa, realizing she didn't need to worry about being swarmed, stepped out from behind her pillar. She operated with flawless, rhythmic precision.
She pulled the ancient Nord arrows she had looted from the bandits, knocked them to her Dwarven bow, and sniped the Draugr Wights that were attempting to flank the Atronachs, the fire enchantments on her bow setting the corpses ablaze with every hit.
The battle was fierce, deafening, and incredibly brutal. The sheer numbers of the Draugr eventually took their toll. One by one, the Atronachs were overwhelmed.
The two Flame Atronachs were shot out of the sky by ancient arrows, vanishing in bursts of ash. One of the Frost Atronachs had its legs entirely severed by a Wight's greatsword, crumbling into a pile of mundane snow.
But the elemental vanguard had done its job. They had completely shattered the horde's numerical advantage.
As the final Draugr Wight fell to a lightning bolt from the sky, the room fell silent.
Aerion was panting heavily, sweat beading on his golden forehead. He immediately released the mental tether, unsummoning the surviving Frost and Storm Atronachs. The crushing pressure around his skull vanished instantly, leaving him feeling light and incredibly relieved.
"By the Gods," Jenassa breathed, lowering her bow and staring at the carnage. "I have never seen a single mage command such an army."
"It is... highly taxing," Aerion admitted, rubbing his temples. "Let us hope the claw is in this room."
They began another meticulous search, kicking through the scattered bones and ancient debris. Aerion siphoned the gold from the fallen Wights, his dimensional void growing heavier.
[Gold Acquired: 332 Septims]
They searched the balconies, the alcoves, and the central platform. Still, the Ebony Claw eluded them.
Aerion was beginning to feel a genuine spike of frustration. If the claw had somehow not in this place or it's hold hy either faction who founded the location by luck or in the game osrt is the mechanics, his entire massive political leverage play was ruined.
"Lupin," Aerion commanded, looking down at the fox, who was currently sniffing a severed Draugr hand. "Find it with your smell. Ebony. Dark metal. Shaped like a dragon's foot. Like the golden one I found."
Lupin perked his ears up. The fox trotted away, his nose to the stone floor. He sniffed around the base of the central platform, moving toward the far, darkened wall of the chamber.
Suddenly, Lupin stopped. He stood up on his hind legs, resting his front paws against the smooth, carved stone lid of a completely sealed, perfectly intact burial sarcophagus. He let out a series of loud, sharp, demanding yips, scratching his claws against the stone.
Aerion hurried over, Jenassa close behind.
"It's inside a sealed tomb?" Jenassa asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It appears the ancient Nords were more protective of their keys than I anticipated," Aerion muttered.
He dug his fingers into the heavy, ancient mortar sealing the stone lid. Channeling his enhanced physical stamina, he strained against the weight. With a loud, grinding screech, the heavy stone lid slid aside, crashing to the floor.
Inside the sarcophagus lay the perfectly preserved, completely inactive corpse of a high ranking Draugr noble. It did not twitch. It did not wake up.
And resting perfectly on the dead noble's chest, gleaming in the dim light of Aerion's Magelight, was a heavy, perfectly carved claw of pure, dark Ebony.
Aerion let out a massive, highly relieved breath. He reached down and snatched the artifact, feeling the heavy, dense weight of the dark metal in his palm.
"Good boy, Lupin," Aerion praised, putting the claw into his satchel and then tossing the fox a dried piece of venison from his satchel. "Excellent work. We need to research you after this, what smell you smell when you tried to found this."
With the key secured, the final obstacle to the Jagged Crown was removed.
They pushed forward, leaving the massive ambush chamber behind. They walked through a narrow stone corridor, arriving at a smaller, half circular room that served as a resting point before the final descent.
Resting against the curved wall was another large steel chest.
Jenassa picked the lock in seconds. Aerion leaned over, his eyes scanning the loot.
[Gold Acquired: 187 Septims. 3x Gold Ruby Ring added. 2x Gold Emerald Ring added.]
[Inventory Weight Increased by 0.15 KG]
There was also a wicked looking, curved Orcish Dagger resting in the chest. Aerion picked it up, handing it handle first to Jenassa.
"A heavier blade for closer encounters," Aerion offered.
Jenassa took it, testing the weight and tossing her plain steel dagger aside. "It balances beautifully. Thank you, Patron."
They continued forward, walking down a steep flight of narrow stone steps. The temperature plummeted even further, the air growing incredibly still.
They reached a set of heavy, reinforced steel doors. Aerion knew what lay beyond them. This was the entry point to the main, final section of Korvanjund, the Hall of Stories, where the puzzle door awaited, and beyond it, the resting place of High King Borgas and his legendary crown.
Aerion pushed the steel doors open.
They stepped into a wide, quiet hallway. There were no Draugr visible on the ground floor. However, as they walked up the short flight of stone steps leading to the secondary, elevated floor before the puzzle door, the trap was sprung.
Six tombs embedded in the walls suddenly burst open.
However, they were only standard, low level Draugr. They stumbled out of their resting places, wielding rusted iron swords and moving sluggishly.
"Save your magic, Patron. I have this," Jenassa stated calmly.
She drew her Frost sword and her new Orcish dagger, stepping gracefully into the fray. Aerion didn't even bother casting. He simply stood back and watched as the highly skilled assassin dismantled the ancient corpses with clinical, surgical efficiency, hacking them to pieces before they could even raise their weapons.
As Jenassa fought, Aerion's internal system suddenly flared with a massive, cascading wave of golden notifications.
His sheer, overwhelming magical output in the previous ambush room had pushed his matrices to the absolute breaking point.
He could feel the familiar, cosmic warmth of consecutive level ups washing over his body. His Frost magic, which he had used extensively to slow the horde, have already reached its absolute maximum threshold before it.
However, Aerion completely ignored the flashing prompts in his peripheral vision.
He didn't care about the numbers right now. He knew that even if a skill maxed out at 100, he possessed the ability to render it "Legendary", resetting the skill back to level 0, to continue gaining overall character levels, experiences, and more powerful skill.
Leveling up skills was easy for him, his Fast Skill Levelling perk ensured he could blast mudcrabs with fire all day and still become a god.
But right now, his focus was entirely, utterly consumed by the massive, intricately carved stone puzzle door standing at the far end of the hallway. He dismissed the notifications with a mental wave of his hand. The numbers could wait. The Jagged Crown was waiting, and with it, the political leverage to bend the Imperial Legion entirely to his will.
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[Main Panel]
Name: Aerion
Race: High Elf (Altmer)
Health: 350/350 Stamina: 370/370 Magicka: 500/500
Level: 82
Skills: Animal Affinity (MAX LEVEL), Fast Skill Levelling (MAX LEVEL), Fast Magic Mastery (MAX LEVEL), Instant Shout (MAX LEVEL), Destruction (Fire(+1)/Lightning/Frost) (Level 43/MAX/43), Restoration (Healing/Purify) (Level 63/37), Alteration (Level 27), Alteration (Level 20), Illusion (Level 42), Conjuration (Necromancy/Summoning) (Level 37/54), Persuasion (Level MAX), Smithing (Level 22), Sneak (Level 33), One Handed (Level 67), Two Handed (Level 65), Lockpicking (Level 35), Archery (Level 72), Enchanting (Level 34), Light Armor (Level 53), Block (Level 60), & Pickpocket (Level 8)
Shouts: Fus (Force)
[Inventory Panel]
1x Steel Dagger, Small Sack, Poacher's Axe, Mammoth Tusk, Iron Shield, Steel Mace, Steel Warhammer, the Golden Claw, Calm Spellbook, Arvel's Journal, Inkwell & Quill, Thief Book, Scroll Of Summoning (Wolf), Scroll Of Healing, Steel Dagger of Minor Souls, Weak Potion of Paralysis, Ancient Nord Bow, Dragonstone, Ancient Nord Battleaxe Of Blaze, Potion of Minor Pickpocketing, Golden Staff of Flames, Parchment Rolls Of Mammoths Farm And Loan, & Golden Emerald Circlet
2x Iron Mace, Steel Axe, Steel Greatsword, Silver Amethyst Ring, Silver Necklace, & 2x Gold Emerald Ring
3x Iron Greatsword, Steel Sword, Scroll Of Fireball, Glowing Mushrooms, Potions of Minor Stamina, Silver Ruby Ring, Gold Ruby Ring, & Amethyst
4x Potions of Minor Magicka, Spider Eggs, & Ruby
5x Lesser Soul Gem & Dwarven Metal Ingot
8x Iron Arrows & Ancient Nord Arrows
9x Potions Of Minor Healing
Weight: 113.57 KG / 485 KG
Septims: 79,794