"W-what in Oblivion was that!?" Medresi exclaims, unsure if she could believe what she'd just seen.
Michael shrugs, "Magic?"
The Dark Elf quickly shakes her head, "No! There's no magic that I know of that could do any of that!..." she turns to the girls, "For any of you! You didn't even channel Magicka!? Is it those wands?" she asks, attempting to snatch at one, only for Michael to grab the annoying woman's arm and pull them away from the girls. "Keep your hands to yourself, or you'll be going home empty-handed, literally. I will cut your hands off." he warns, causing her ashen skin to pale slightly as she backs away. "As for our abilities? I doubt you know of every magic in existence, so get over yourself and stop asking questions."
...
He turns away from the shocked and still angry-looking Dunmer and towards Tiffania and Illococoo, "As for you two?" he rests a hand on their heads and messes up their hair, "Good job!"
The girls smile at his praise, none stopping him from patting their heads as a typical woman would.
With that, the group heads deeper into the dungeon, walking out into a large room that had a few collapsed doors, and three intact doors barred with large metal spikes. It looked as if some mechanism would lower them, but, it'd probably lead to some wild goose chase through a labyrinth... Michael was well aware of how dungeons were laid out in Skyrim... There's a front exit, which would force you to go through the entire thing, fighting hoards of undead and dodging traps... Or the back exit, which would lead directly to the 'boss room'.
The trio walk over to the biggest and most grand barred door, it being the most obvious way forward. Medresi was already grumbling under her breath, "Damned Nords, couldn't just have my treasure laid out, ready and waiting for me?"
Michael chuckles at her words, "Well, if it were that easy then someone else would have taken it by now. Still, I'm not taking the long way around this place." he says, summoning the Book of Heroes and opening the inventory, pulling out a steel chisel, lock picks and other tools he'd been taught to use by Riki.
He could probably just Blink to the other side of the barred door, but that'd leave the others here waiting for him. He doubted anyone, especially Medresi, would allow that... Not without throwing a tantrum at least.
He walks over to the side of the barred door and uses the chisel to tap the stones comprising the wall. He does this for a couple of minutes until he feels a faint difference compared to the rest. He nods to himself and starts hammering the chisel with a mallet, steadily breaking away the stone.
The others watch as shards of stone come away bit by bit, until eventually the chisel breaks through into some sort of hollow area. Michael takes a peek inside, his new [Legacy of the Tahlin] skill granting him good enough dark vision to see inside.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." he murmurs to himself, quickly identifying the mechanism... It was akin to a pneumatic piston that would hold up the spikes while magical energy was powered through it. Well, kinda, channelling magical energy through it would lower the spikes, meaning if the mechanism were ever damaged or turned off, the spikes wouldn't be able to be lowered.
And, it just so happened that his chiselling had damaged a part of it, severing its connection to wherever the switch was... Fortunately, there was an easy fix to this. He shoves his hand inside and channels magic through it causing the spikes to lower, he waves his companions inside, "Go one, I'll join you once you're through."
Once they were through, he lets go of the mechanism, causing the spikes to raise and the girls to panic... Only for him to just Blink through the bars to join them. "See? Easy."
Again, Medresi looked like she had some questions, none of which he would be willing to answer, which she probably saw on his face... So she just stays quiet as they walk through the double doors, entering into a small room with a treasure chest sitting at the end of it.
The Dark Elf's face beams as she begins unconsciously stepping towards it, "Finally! My treasure!" she exclaims, only for Michael to shove her to the side just as she stands on a floor trap.
A circular part of the floor where Medresi had been standing rises, punching into the roof where large spikes had been positioned to skewer anyone standing on it. The trap doesn't lower once activated however, which was good considering the entrance to the real trap room was under the raised platform.
"A-are you alright?" Tiffania asks as she helps the Dark Elf to her feet, the woman visibly trembling as she looks up at the ceiling.
"Y-you saved me... Thank you..." she says, sending a grateful look at Michael.
Michael just shrugs at her however, walking around to the treasure chest that'd almost gotten the woman killed. He opens it and barely holds back his laughter as he sees what's inside. "You almost died... For two gold..."
...
Medresi shuffles over to it and places a hand over her mouth as examines the contents of the chest, her skin taking a particularly green tint, as if she were about to vomit.
"I'd ask if it was worth it, but I think we already know the answer to that." he says, leaving the woman to brood as he, Tiffania, and Illococoo descend down the spiralling stairs into the true treasure room.
Once at the bottom, the trio is greeted by a large long room with a familiar wall at the end of it, another stone coffin sitting below it...
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"Partner, is that what I think it is? Because we can always just leave and come back later." Derflinger speaks up, obviously referring to the coffin which most likely held another powerful undead.
Michael just shrugs in response, "Yeah, we could..." he says as he summons the Book of Heroes and puts one point into Dragon Slave, using one of the level ups he'd earned from slaying the Draugr's earlier. "But then again, we might just earn another suit of ebony armour from it. Plus, I doubt Illu will leave without being dragged away from that Word Wall first..."
Illococoo nods at this, and Tiffania speaks up unsurely, "Is it really that dangerous? The others were not that strong...?"
Derflinger scoffs, "Picture this then, this guy getting thrown around like a chew toy and only beating it by getting lucky!"
"I did have to fight a Vampire just before that though, with these two here I think it'll be a cinch."
...
He taps Derflinger's pommel, "Stop moping and get ready... At least this time we'll have the first hit. Tiff, cover the coffin in ash, Illu try to strike at its legs." he says and they nod, readying their respective wands... Well, wand and stick, Illococoo only held up a piece of wood out of habit, to not draw attention back in Halkeginia when she cast magic wandlessly.
Tiffania casts Ash Wall, covering the coffin as Michael approaches, and once he's a couple meters away from it, the coffin's stone lid is thrown away by the Draugr Deathlord. It stands, but immediately starts roaring as the hot ash burns away at it, its glowing blue eyes being the first to take damage.
Blinded, pained, and angry, it begins randomly swinging its ebony greatsword towards Michael as it stumbles out of the ash cloud. This world's undead may be able to see life itself, but they still require their eyes to operate... This was the main reason they could be snuck upon, even if it was terribly difficult.
Just as the Draugr Deathlord exits the fog, a couple wind blades are fired at its legs by Illococoo. Unfortunately, they simply dissipate as soon as they collide against the ebony armour coating it, the metal being incredibly resistant to both physical trauma as well as magical.
"MID. VUR.-" the Draugr starts but is interrupted as Michael jabs his hand towards it. "Dragon Slave!" he exclaims, a fire manifests behind him and coalesces into the shape of a diving dragon, it leaps towards the Draugr and passes through it, burning everything it touches.
Flames linger on the now scorched stone floor from the effects of the spell, it'd continued past the Draugr and crashed into the wall, dissipating as it turned a small portion of it into molten slag. The Draugr wasn't doing much better, its ebony armour was holding up well, but the gaps in it that most Nordic designs had allowed the flames to lick at its flesh. Not bad for a Rank 1 spell!
Still, despite its Dragon Shout only being partly complete, it still went into effect... Its burnt-out eyes were covered with a faint glow, and the scorched Draugr turns its head towards Michael.
"Partner, move!" Derflinger exclaims, remembering what'd happened last time. Michael didn't need to be told twice either, Blinking out of the way just as the Draugr shouts "FO. KRAH. DIIN!", causing a wave of frost magic to blow over where he'd previously stood.
Just after it makes it shout however, Tiffania casts a large combustion spell while Illococoo boosts its range by carrying it on the wind. The spell crashes into the undead, throwing it onto its side as the thing squirms to try and rid itself of the flames.
"Shock! Shock! Shock!" Michael presses, spamming Ether Shock onto its downed form, causing it to spasm as its body is burned further. With the thing being unable to stand, and the trio continually launching spells at it, it soon expires, hot embers floating from the gaps in its armour.
Michael gives it a nudge with his food before nodding and brushes dust from his hands, "See? Easy enough. Didn't even have to use you this time." he says, but the sword decides to stay silent, more to avoid being used a skinning knife than anything else.
With that done, Michael goes around the room one last time to check for traps before letting the girls go and investigate. There was a large Nordic chest behind the Word Wall, but that could wait until he'd pried the ebony armour off of the Draugr corpse.
Medresi comes down eventually to check on them, her demeanour seeming far more restrained than before. Her near-death must've shocked her more than they'd thought.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eventually, Michael, Tiffania and Medresi were gathered around the treasure chest, Illococoo being absent as she uses a quill, ink, and parchment to copy the dragon language from the Word Wall.
"Alright, remember what I said, I get first pick." he states, and Medresi just numbly nods, knowing that she didn't really have a say in the matter.
With that, he pries open the ancient chest and grins when he finds it filled to the brim with treasure. Thousands of ancient Nord gold coins with many gems and jewellery interspersed between them, along with some larger, more valuable items sitting atop the pile. Something he and Medresi could identify, but others? Well, not so much.
7000 gold coins
20000 gold worth of gems and jewellery
2 grand soul gems(Not sure if they were filled or not)
4 black soul gems(He hoped they weren't filled...)
1 Transmute Mineral Ore Scroll
1 Scroll of Water Breathing
1 Scroll of Courage
1 Alteration Spell Tome: Candlelight
1 Alteration Spell Tome: Telekenisis
1 Restoration Spell Tome: Grand Healing
1 Draught of Strength
1 Potion of Resist Frost
3 Potion of Minor Healing
2 Ebony Daggers
4 Rolls of Grey Fabric (Neither Medresi nor Michael could tell what it was actually made out of)
+ Ebony Greatsword and Armour he'd looted from the Draugr Deathlord
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