The guardian and Rigmor continue the journey down into the path of the spiritless where they would certain find out what was driving the guardian to want to retrieve this stolen item for the Riverwood Trader. Rigmor thought to herself, “Maybe we’ll discover something about why this is so important to the guardian and what is affecting him to have these special abilities. She realized then she was generally concerned for him and then thought, why?”
They arrived in a large chamber with a metal gate, three stones with symbols of various creatures on them; A Whale, A Snake, and A Hawk / Eagle. These appeared to be some type of puzzle as there was another bandit laying dead by a switch set in the floor that he must have guessed incorrectly. Rigmor spoke to the guardian, “Look guardian, there are three pillars with symbols and three stones, two above up on that ledge, and one that appears to have fallen long ago. Maybe we should study that sequence and try it as a way of entering into the next chamber of the barrow.”
The guardian looked at the symbols in the stones that Rigmor had pointed out to him, then looked at the pillars and the switch with the dead bandit laying next to it. He decide something then and turned to speak to Rigmor, “I think you might be right on that Rigmor. Let’s give these pillars a turn and match them to the same sequence as the stones.”
Rigor replied, “But what if I am wrong, guardian?” The guardian said, “I want you to stand back towards the stairs we came down when I try it. I am going to use my shield in case there is a trap and we are wrong about the sequence.” Rigmor thought and then replied, “Okay guardian, but please be careful. Let’s get these stone pillars turned first.”
They turned each stone to match the pattern of Snake, Snake, Whale and then Rigmor walked and stood at the bottom of the stairs they had come down to enter this chamber. The guardian, walked to the switch, readied his shield, then with his free hand, pulled the switch. There was a gasp that came from Rigmor behind him but the gate lifted to an open position.
The guardian turned and said, “You were apparently correct in your assessment concerning the right sequence of symbols. Let’s continue on. I feel like we’re getting closer to solving something. ” They both walked into the next chamber where there was a table with a lore book on it, a chest and several burial urns nearby. The center of the chamber had a staircase that went down and he thought he could hear something skittering around down there.
As a precaution he pulled the other switch and locked them into the chamber. Rigmor looked at him and asked, “What if we need to run? We don’t know what that noise is coming from below. Don’t forget guardian, we are in a burial chamber known to be one of the strongholds of the dragon priest from the first age.”
The guardian pulled out his blade and readied his shield in front of them. He said to Rigmor, “follow me!” They both began to descend the old wooden stairs and a scurrying of feet could be hear rushing ahead toward them. It wasn’t long before they both saw it was a group of skeevers, a small rat like creature that would often attack onsite. It didn’t take long at all for them to dispatch and they arrived at the bottom and next chamber that opened up and then continued forward.
They both continued on until they came to an area where someone was calling out for help. The guardian held out his hand to signal for Rigmor to stand back while he assessed what was occurring. He saw a room full of spiderwebs, spider eggs, with a doorway blocked by webs as well. He summoned a flame and burned away the webs. The both slowly entered the room. A large spider fell from the ceiling to engage this intruder who might think to interrupt her meal in waiting.
The battle began immediately as before the guardian never hesitated and his blade was pulled loose with his shield in hand while Rigmor took up a position behind him with bow in hand already letting loose her first shot.
The fight was wearing as this was larger than normal spider and must have been feeding on whatever came through the barrow for years. When it was over the man who was to be its next meal called out to both of them, “Okay, you killed it. Can you please untangle me before another of its kind show up here?” Rigmor quietly responded, “Be careful guardian, I don’t trust this guy, he’s a bit shady if you catch my meaning.”
The guardian responded to Rigmor, “let’s cut him down and see what he knows about the stolen goods.” The man tangled in the web heard them and said, “Cut me down, I’ll show you what I know. I have the golden claw and know how it works in the halls of stories.”
The guardian responded by using his flame magic to burn the web. The man, a dark elf from Morrowind, got up, turned and ran deeper into the barrow and what lied beyond. Rigmor and the guardian both heard him mumbling to himself, “Why should I share the treasure with anyone. “
Rigmor spoke to the guardian, “See, I told you he was not trust worthy. Come on, let’s go find him, I see it in your eyes already. You lead on guardian. I’ll cover your back.” They both turned and entered into the next chamber, a room with multiple burial urns and a gem stone sitting on a pedestal. This must had been a preparation or ceremony room of some type back when the dragon priest ruled these halls.
