19/02/2012

Skyrim Diary - Entry 19 - Daynas Valen & Folgunthur

Dear Diary,

After the dragon fight we continued on our way to Folgunthur, climbing a mountain pass we reached an abandon camp & I found a journal from Daynas Valen in which he details his search for the Gauldur legend & mentions traps & draugr inside the tomb.

Folgunthur arch was looming overhead & we entered to find some dead bodies of adventurers & draugrs. We walked into the next room and found a few more bodies & a dragon claw puzzle which had already been solved & unlocked a door which led to to a dining room filled with draugr. I noticed some oil on the floor & shouted to everyone "Get back !!" & launched a fireball at the oil stream which set alight and burned the draugr to ash. "Good thinking" replied Delphine. There was some nice loot in the room on on the charred draugr bodies including some gems.

Lydia had gone ahead and I heard her scream so ran after her to find her in a pool of water. "Going for a swim?" I said "Very funny, help me get out" she replied. Lydia had triggered another trap walking over a grate which opened to drop her down into a pool of water. A spiral staircase next to the grate led upstairs to a rope bridge, the dining room down below with the dragur bodies. A few more adventurer & draugr bodies littered the walkway & then I came across the body of Daynos Valen laying against a dragon claw puzzle. I looted his body to find the ivory dragon claw, a familiar staff, gold & some notes.

Reading the notes I learnt the truth that Daynos had managed to piece together from his research Gauldur was revered throughout the north, wisdom, wealth, honour, and power were his, and even Ysgramor's heirs sought his counsel. Smothered by his shadow, Gauldur's three sons grew cruel and resentful. They lusted after their father's power and prestige, and eventually Jyrik, the eldest, discovered its source: a mysterious amulet, from which he never parted. Together, they conspired to murder their father in his sleep and divide his amulet between them. And so it was done.

Consumed by their newfound power, the brothers laid waste to the surrounding villages. So great was the carnage that the High King himself intervened, sending a company of battlemages led by the Archmage Geirmund to subdue the brothers. And after a devastating battle, the three fled the field.

Mikrul, the youngest, was run to ground in Folgunthur, the ancient barows at the foot of Solitude. And though he fought for three days and nights, he was at last overcome and entombed there, his crypt sealed by an ivory claw.

Geirmund pursued Jyrik to the shattered crypts of Saarthal, half-buried even then. Ten veteran wizards fell before Jyrik's elemental magic, but he could not overcome them all together. He too fell, and was sealed within the ruined city.

And at last, Sigdis was cornered in the southernmost reaches of Skyrim. He challenged Lord Geirmund to a duel, knowing his foe was honor-bound to accept. And they clashed in battle, matched strength for strength, and fell together on the field before Ivarstead. The High King ordered a tomb built for Geirmund on the lake which still bears his name, and had Sigdis sealed within, forever guarded by the one who slew him.

Gauldur himself was interred in a cave not far from where his tower once stood, in the place called Reachwater Rock. And when it was done, King Harald issued an edict: the name and deeds of Gauldur and his sons were to be expunged from every record, every chronicle. Under pain of death, no word of them was to be spoken, lest any try to recover the amulet that had been sealed at so great a cost.

Daynos had become consumed by finding this amulet all his life that eventually it ended up taking his life.

I passed the notes to Lydia and said "We are searching for three parts to an amulet & one is located here in Folgunthur"

Lydia replied "Let's go and get the first piece"

I placed the ivory claw into the puzzle block & that lowered a drawbridge. Charging out came two draugr & Delphine & Lydia launched a flurry of arrows at them. The bridge led to some catacombs which were filled with draugr, traps & loot. I then came to a puzzle, a set of four gates with four handles to activate. After a few attempts Esbern said "Let me try". He pressed the first handle on the right, then the second on the left & the first on the left. All the gates then opened up. Delphine looked at me and smiled, I said "Thank you" to Esbern and walked through the gates.

I opened the wooden door at the bottom of the stairs to a large room with a grate, some old furniture & draugr who were resting on chairs got up to attack. After killing them I looked at the grate which was locked and had a set of stairs. "Oh, great another puzzle !!" I said and turned to look at Esbern, who had noticed a couple of handles and a chain in the room. He pulled the chain which released some darts and they hit Delphine & Lyida who screamed "Ouch !!" "Oops, sorry" said Esbern. I laughed and walked into a nearby room which had a couple of draugr to kill & then noticed a statue which had three symbols on it snake, fish & eagle. I heard Delphine shout "Take this!!", running back into the main room & I saw Delphine, Lydia & Esbern fighting a draugr wight. "Help!" said Lydia looking at me. I equipped my dual handed axe and took a couple of swipes to kill the draugr.

"Where did he come from?" I said. Lydia replied "Esbern activated a handle"
Esbern then said quietly "Sorry, but that handle has revealed another room with three moveable pillars"
I walked into the room and looked at the pillars which had the same animal images I saw in the other room. Esbern was rotating the pillars & I said "Snake, fish & eagle" "What?" replied Esbern "The pillars need to be snake, fish & eagle". Esbern rotated them to what I had said but nothing happened to the grate.

"Pull the chain?" said Delphine
"I'm standing out of the way" said Lydia
I walked over & pulled the chain which then unlocked the grate revealing the staircase.
"How did you know the pillar pattern?" said Esbern
"Lucky guess" I said & Lydia smiled.
"Huh?" replied Esbern
"There is a statue in the other room which had the order of snake, fish & eagle, thus I thought the pillars must be the same" I said
"Hmmph" said Esbern
"Let's go!" said Delphine who had started to walk down the revealed staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase we were met by an underground stream & some frostbite spiders. Following the stream along then led to a path leading up to a hallway lined with tombs that exploded and draugr stepped out to attack. A rotating puzzle door needed to be unlocked to allow us to enter the crypt where Mikrul was buried. Esbern suggested we rest before going through the door, so we moved all the draugr bodies away and sat down to eat & rest.

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