Dear Diary
When I went to visit the greybeards in High Hrothgar after my training they told me that during my adventures I would find other shouts (words of power that when I say them release an inner power from within me) to learn & words (these would allow me to increase the power of the shouts I have learnt). They then game the location of Dead Men's Respite & said a word could be found deep inside the barrow.
This barrow was quite far away so rather than go on horseback I decided to take a carriage from Whiterun Stables to the town of Morthal. It was very cold & wintry when we arrived and the sun was trying its best to break through the clouds, after getting some supplies we set off to Dead Men's Respite. The snow crunching under our feet, I decided to summon a flame atronach not because we were under attack but because the heat from it's flames kept us warm.
The path we were following led to a main road, the flame atronach spotted something in the trees and launched some fireballs, it was a frostbite spider (they are quite easy to deal with, you just need to make sure you are not bitten by them otherwise you may get poisoned). I was about to walk over and help kill the spider when Lydia shouted "Dragon !!"
I turned round to see an elder dragon had landed on the open ground behind us. Lydia fired off some arrows & the atronach who was busy with the spider all of sudden shot past me & started hurling fireballs at the dragon. Even the frostbite spider forgot about who he was fighting and joined in to attack the dragon.
With my Red Eagle sword equipped I jumped on top of the dragon & started attacking his neck, then plunged the sword into it's head. He let out a roar and slumped to the ground, whenever I kill a dragon it's soul rises and gets absorbed into my body. In some strange way I actually enjoy this feeling, it is like I am using the dragon's soul to make myself stronger.
The frostbite spider now remembered what it was doing and starting attacking Lydia, she gave out a sigh & planted her sword in the spider. The atronach had now disappeared, my conjuring kills only allow me to summon an atronach for a minute. I think this is something that I may be able to improve by either visiting a college or finding a trainer.
We encountered some mudcrabs & a frost troll who wanted to get friendly before we reached the barrow. Dead Men's Respite has a huge arch over the entrance engraved into the mountain, walking through the entrance led to a room where draugr bodies lay in their tombs. A table in the room have some wraps, engraving tools & a ruby dragon claw. I picked up the claw and that trigged a trap, some draugr came alive and started to attack us. I summoned a flame atronach & cast fireball magic at them to send them back to the dead.
Then a ghostly figure appeared and drifted out of the room, Lydia said "I think we should follow it" so we did, down the hallway into a burial room. The ghost went through a wall, there was a chain on this wall. I pulled the chain & the doors in the room rotated to open some walls & close others. Lydia said "It's a puzzle, we need to pull the right chains to find our way out". It took us a while to get out of the room & there were some booby traps that caught us out. We also awoke some draugr who were easy to kill.
Eventually we made it out & were met by two giant frostbite spiders, the flame atronach shot past me and started attacking one of the spiders & the other spider turned to attack Lydia. The flame atronach then let out an explosion of flames killing the spider it was attacking & disappeared. I helped Lydia kill the other spider & she said "what was that?" I replied "I think if the atronach is killed before the summon expires it lets out an explosion of flames". Lydia replied "best you summon another then", so I did.
There were two grates on the floor of this room but I could not see any path or door leading out of the room, then on the wall I spotted a chain which I pulled & then I heard a scream ""Aargh"". I turned round & Lydia was gone !! One of the grates had open & Lydia had fallen through, I rushed over to the grate & shouted "Lydia !!" "I'm fine !" came a reply "If a little wet " She had landed in a waterway flowing under the grates. I climbed down to join her & we followed the waterway to another room. Upon entering the room we were greeted by more draugr's, after killing them looking around the room I could see a wooden ramp in the far corner which led to an upper floor.
There was a caged door which when I opened triggered a trap & large axes were now swinging in the path ahead. "Now what?" said Lydia. The axes seemed to be swinging in a sequence & I could see a brief opening through them. "Wait here" I said to Lydia. When I was at the greybeards I learned a new shout that allowed me travel short distances very fast (Whirlwind Sprint). I gave my sword & shield to Lydia then turned to look at the axes, "What are you doing ?!" said Lydia but before I could reply I shouted the word "WULD!!" & shot across the path missing all the axes & reached the other side. There was another chain I pulled that deactivated the axes, Lydia walked over & thumped my sword & shield into me & said "Stupid !!"
We climbed a set of stairs to an iron door which opened into a hallway. There was an enchanting table at one end & a door sealed with some form of magic. The ghost we were following went down a slope into another room. We followed and were met by some more draugr's, there were also some booby trapped rooms with nice loot. We came to another area with a grate on the floor & the gate slammed shut behind us, we were surrounded by six or seven draugr. I summoned a flame atronach & equipped my red eagle sword, three or four had Lydia surrounded so I charged in to help her, attacking with the red eagle sword caused the draugr to catch fire & they were all killed swiftly. The flame atronach had dealt with the other draugr & we looted the bodies to find some nice gems.
We followed the ghost through the grate to a corpse which was clutching a book "King Olaf's Verse", the ghost then disappeared. "Now what?!" I said "The sealed door?" said Lydia. We backtracked to the sealed door & the ghost was waiting for us. He uttered some words & the seal was broken, I unlocked the door & the ghost went ahead through a puzzle door.
This was the same type of puzzle door I met in Bleak Falls Barrow when retrieving the golden claw for Lucan in Riverwood. I look at the ruby dragon claw I had collected earlier & engraved were three circular images of a wolf, eagle & another wolf. I rotated the door puzzle to this setting & place the claw inside which then unlocked the door.
We walked into a large burial room surrounded by stone chairs & a stairwell that led up to a tomb, I followed the ghost into the room & then the ghost boomed out "Hold it, it is time" and all the draugr that were sat on the stone chair came alive to attack. I quickly summoned a flame atronach & equipped my red eagle sword, there must have been at least ten of them coming at us from all angles. To my surprise the ghost drew a sword and was attacking the draugr, why was he helping us?
After we killed all the draugr the ghost then said "Arise ! Olaf, my vengeance is at hand". The ghost wanted revenge? Then more draugr came to life, the ghost charged forward to attack & I looked at Lydia, shrugged and went after the ghost to help. Reaching the tomb at the top, it opened & out stepped King Olaf One-Eye saying "insolent brat, DIE !!"
I could sense that King-Olaf was going to be a tough enemy to defeat so I stepped back to summon a flame atronach & cast a fire rune on the floor. With my red eagle sword equipped I attacked King Olaf to lure him over the rune & it exploded causing a wall of fire to surround him. With Lydia, the ghost & atronach also attacking we quickly managed to weaken him, I then dismissed the atronach & told Lydia to step back so the ghost could deal the fatal blow. The ghost looked at King Olaf & then walked over to a nearby door, playing a flute he vanished into a bright light.
Lydia said "I think the ghost wanted revenge"
"Yes, but why?" I replied
I looted King Olaf's body to grab a key & then walked behind the tomb to find a wall with dragon writing and a word glowing in blue. The word got brighter the closer I got & then I absorbed the word into my body & learned the word 'nah', this was the second word for the Whirlwind Sprint shout. To maximise the power of each shout I needed to learn the three associated words.
Using the door next to the tomb led to a small room with a chest, I looted the contents & followed the path back out of the barrow.
Lydia then looked at me said "Time to go home?"
"Yes" I replied
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