NOVEL WEB Dir volaan!
One thing that worried Ben was that his robes were not the only thing missing from his body, he seemed to have grown a lot taller and although his face seemed similar, it was a lot older when looked at his reflection in the water. Not only was all the stuff from his [Storage] missing, including his wand, the Hallow on his chest was missing as well.
He wasn't able to sell or buy anything either, the only thing he could access was his [Storage] and nothing else.
As Ben continued deeper into the eerie underground passage, he encountered rats the size of a dog, or Skeevers as they were named in the game.
'Now I know how that spider got so big,' he thought, looking at the Skeever that was nailed to the wall with an [Ice Spike]. It was quickly becoming Ben's favourite spell.
As he walked further, the surroundings turned eerier as the path led him into an even darker crypt. Unlike the game, there were no conveniently placed torches and candles here, it was as dark as it can be. In the light of [Candlelight], Ben saw the walls of the crypt lined with Mummified corpses and burial urns.
Ben smashed one of these urns on the ground, it was filled with all sorts of ritualistic ingredients that had mostly turned to dust, but there were some things still shining in it.
"Well, I'm sure you don't mind, do you?" He said to the pile of bones in front of him and picked up a handful of shiny coins.
The coins were different from the ones he'd seen before and had nordic symbols and letters imprinted on them, which made sense as the ancient Nords existed long before septims did.
While Ben called the system's coins as such but technically they were not septims either, as they had Akatosh's seal on both faces and no Tiber Septim, Drakes would be the better-suited name, but Ben didn't care either way.
Ben put the coins in his empty [Storage] and just as he was about to open a small wooden chest in front of him, a crashing sound came from behind him. The Sarcophagus lying on the opposite wall had burst open and a dried-up corpse with glowing eyes was rising out of it.
"Dir volaan!" It screamed and charged at Ben with a huge rusty old battle axe.
Ben had a feeling that the Draugr was not happy to see him,
"How about we talk it out, there's no need for violence," he said while moving away from the walking corpse, but the Draugr didn't seem interested in diplomacy.
"Well, can't say I didn't try," he said as he launched a barrage of ice spikes at his charging figure. It was a lot harder to take down a Draugr as it kept moving even with a spike buried in its stomach, and its armour on fire.
While Ben had watched enough Zombie movies to know the golden rule of 'Always aim for the head', he was having a difficult time aiming, as the damn thing kept moving, not to mention the helmet on its rotten head.
By the time Ben took it down for good, three more had awoken from their slumber and were advancing towards him. Ben, on the other hand, was running out of Magicka, he had been repeatedly casting [Oakflesh] as he was quite literally naked otherwise.
As he watched the three undead charge at him, something clicked in his mind and he felt like burrowing his face in an urn out of embarrassment.
'I'm turning into a dumb protagonist,' he thought, casting [Turn Lesser Undead] at two of the draugar while charging at the third one, grabbing the huge Battle Axe from the downed draugr.
[draugr-singular, draugar-plural]
The two draugar fled to the distance, giving Ben some breathing space while engaging the third one, but he didn't continue fighting like a mindless protagonist of a shoddy novel. He fired [Sunfire] at it, dealing significantly more damage than the [Firebolt] while also breaking its guard, and then he slammed the massive Battle axe on its head, splitting it in half.
Since it was the real world, Ben didn't need to download a mod to use magic with a two-handed weapon, he could just rest the battle axe on his shoulder to free one hand.
Just like this, he continued forward, using [Turn Lesser Undead] to fight one draugr at a time, making quick work of it with the combination of [Sunfire] and his massive Battle Axe. It was a lot safer and also helped him conserve Magicka for casting [Oakflesh] on himself.
He didn't forget looting burial urns and coffins along the way, adding 'Grave Robber' to his growing achievements.
As Ben pushed deeper into the crypt, the number of undead only seemed to grow, their shrill screams echoing off the walls. They kept coming at him, screaming Merlin knows what, nothing pleasant that was for sure.
Ben left a trail of broken skulls and severed limbs as the path finally led him to a long antechamber with a large door at its end. Unlike the previous rooms, the antechamber was very well-lit with numerous braziers blazing intensely in the room.
Ben's eyes were pulled towards its walls, adorned with murals that depicted ancient Nords, worshipping a range of powerful creatures.
There were a total of nine mighty figures, A Dragon, Hawk, Wolf, Snake, Moth, Owl, Whale, Bear, and Fox. From what Ben knew of Nordic lore, they represented the totemic forms of the Eight Divines plus the ninth being Lorkhan, the fox.
Ben had always been fascinated by Lorkhan, the Nords revere him as the heroic Shor, the trickster god who wielded his clever magic to bring about the current world, even though he was forced to sacrifice his own life in the process. Some other races see him as the big Bad Man and claim him to be responsible for all the world's strife and suffering. The lore was conflicted on Lorkhan, just as it was on everything else.
Before Ben could ponder any deeper on the Nordic pantheon of gods, the vertical sarcophagi at the corners of the room burst open and out came four menacing draugar. Their eyes shone brighter than any he'd faced before while their armour seemed polished and their blades sharpened.
"Qiilaan us dilon!"
"Bolog aaz, mal lir!"
"Kren sosaal!"
"Dir volaan!"
They each let out a different battle cry, but Ben had heard similar screams a hundred times already and was not phased. He aimed at the closest draugr and cast [Turn Lesser Undead] at him.
But to Ben's utter shock and dismay, it only staggered back a bit and then continued charging at him.
"Fu#k," he cursed, these draugar didn't seem to fall under 'Lesser Undead'.
But he quickly regained his calm, he still had [Sunfire], and it only cost him 12 Magicka points as an Apprentice Mage. It may not be his strongest spell but it was the most efficient against undead creatures.
He abandoned the heavy Battle Axe and conjured the [Bound Sword], readying himself for a serious fight.
--
"Qiilaan us dilon!" - Bow Before the Dead!
"Bolog aaz, mal lir!" - Beg for Mercy, Little worm!
"Kren sosaal!" - Break and Bleed!
"Dir volaan!" - Die, Intruder!
