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My name is Chamelion. I'm a-

*Several words are written afterwards, then scratched out on top of them. The reader could barely read out 'adve' 'tomb ra' 'anti-th' before it seemed to settle on a new line.*

_ _ My name is Chamelion. I'm a counter-thief.

Really, it's difficult to explain my situation at this point. I have the golden claw that Lucan wanted me to obtain, but the words of the dead thief at my feet still troubled me: 'The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together!'

I glanced back down one of the hallways. The trap tile was still visible, with the spiked wall just beyond that. I stepped around the tile, heading farther down the tunnel, casting a wary eye at the bodies still resting within the walls. I hoped none of them would wake up.

My wish was short-lived. I headed down a small set of stairs and paused as I heard the growl of something moving, and out of the corner of my eye, just behind a column in a slightly larger chamber, I saw two more Draugr stirring from their places. A third one began to move on my right, and I quickly backed up the stairs, drawing my bow...

...Then I had another idea. The one closest to me (from the right) spotted me as I ran back up the stairs, turned the corner, down the hallway, past the spiked wall trap and around the switch. I turned around, and was startled; for a dead, reanimated corpse, they move fast. The Draugr was almost behind me, pausing for a moment, before it approached me.

*Click*

The Draugr stepped on the switch. The wall of spikes swung around, impaling the undead and launching it into the air and away from the trap, as it slowly reset itself. One down. I looked down the hallway. No other had been approaching, so I snuck my way back, drawing my bow. I turn the corner, and another Draugr was standing at the bottom, but turned away from me. I drew my bow, notched an arrow, and launched it.

It was a skilled shot, straight into the temple of the Draugr, though it didn't kill it, which mildly surprised me (it was already dead after all). It turned, spotting me up the stairs, and slowly approached. I notched another arrow, kneeling to the ground, aimed... and released my arrow.

The arrow bounced off the staircase right in front of me. I blinked, realizing I aimed too low, and quickly notched another, retreating and quickly heading back to the spike trap. I spun around halfway... and it wasn't there. It didn't follow me? I was confused, cautiously walking back to the stairway. The Draugr wasn't there. I knelt to recover the wayward arrow.

Then, the Draugr suddenly reappeared, running straight at me. In reflex, I launched my bow, not even bothering to prime it, and before the Draugr even got up the stairs, the second shot stuck into its heart, stopping it dead (again) in its tracks before collapsing. I mumbled, looking down the stairs.

The third one, I remember coming to life, was on patrol, and from a distance I could see it was wielding a bow. I primed my own bow, standing at the top of the stairs, slowly creeping my way down, holding a steady breath. I could see the Draugr patrolling just past the columns. I notched my bow, aiming carefully, and let loose.

The Draugr fell immediately. I nodded in satisfaction, descending the stairs, and taking the ancient bow the Draugr was carrying. I inspected the small tomb, seeing another set of stairs that led to a collapsed corridor, but a chest nestled within caught my attention. I was quick to pick the lock on it but was disappointed that such a large chest only had a few gold.

I could hear metal scraping against stone. I descended the stairs, looking carefully for the source of the sound, and just next to the staircase, I saw the source: a very narrow hallway, with a set of pendulum axes crossing the hallway. Beyond that, I saw a slightly wider tunnel, going deeper into the tomb, and I was expecting more Draugr and traps. I watched the pacing of the axes and charged at them just as they started passing the center of the hall.

The timing wasn't too perfect, and I felt one of the axes slice against my arm as I charged forward, but I was able to emerge through the other end of the trap with minor damage. I applied a healing potion over the wounds, and spied a ring hanging on the side. I pulled on the ring, looking over as the axes stopped swinging, locking them in place.

I mused on this for a moment, then looked down the hallway. It was much different than the cavern-like tunnels I had been going through; the walls much smoother, with an occasional alcove in them, with the dead posed in them with their arms crossed. Several of these alcoves were also empty, so I had a hard time telling if they were empty in the first place, the bodies robbed by previous tomb raiders, or if the Draugr were still roaming the halls. Several of the walls were also holding several narrower shelves that held more of the bodies of the dead.

I descended a set of stairs, my eyes catching on one of the Draugr in an alcove, stirring to life and stepping down from the alcove, eyeing at me with his cold, glowing blue eyes. I launched an arrow at the Draugr, but it proceeded to advance on me, forcing me to retreat and draw my dagger. I had a height advantage, due to me being on the stairs, and allowing me to easily deflect his sword attacks (or those that didn't hit the wall, the hall was so narrow). A few slashes across his chest and he crumpled to the ground.

I resumed descending the stairs, looking around carefully as I turned the corner. Beyond some rubble, my eyes landed upon the floor being coated with a shiny layer of flammable oil. Hanging above the oil was a few jars that contained a special incendiary mixture. This was clearly meant for deterring raiders, but I saw in the distance another Draugr slowly stepping down. I drew my bow and shot at the jar.

The jar shattered, sending a fireball straight to the ground, touching the oil. The flames quickly spread as I backed up, staying away from the edge of the oil; however, the Draugr was just as fast, moving ahead of the flames to my annoyance. I quickly pulled out my dagger, blocking his attack, retreating to the stairway. The Draugr's sword, I noticed, was much too wide for him to swing properly in the hallway, and I took advantage of that, stabbing it in the throat, felling it immediately.

I started to turn the corner, back to the fire trap, and backed up at yet another Draugr approaching. This one, I noticed, had charred flesh about him, meaning he had to walk through the fire trap to get to me. Fortunately, it was already wounded from the attack so that it didn't take long for me to fell the creature, as well.

I sighed, leaning against the wall, pausing to hear any more growling Draugr patrolling the halls. I heard none, so I cautiously proceeded, following the twisting paths of the corridor. Unfortunately, I almost ran into another Draugr, swinging an axe wildly at me. I was quick enough to block with my shield and used the momentum of the shield to slam the Draugr into a wall, crushing its decaying head with the shield against the wall.

I hissed in annoyance. Whatever was deep in this cave was being heavily guarded. I figure, Lucan had a reason for the golden Claw. I planned to return it to him, but whatever it was that was inside this... Hall of Stories, can stay there for all I care. I doubt that it was worth going all this way for some priceless trinket.

The tomb's tunnel ascended through a set of stairs, only to go back down a ramp (which made me wonder, 'why?') as the walls reverted back to their original cavern state, before the hall ended at an opening that led me into a wide cave. There was a waterfall flowing in the cave, and a wall on the other end of where I was had been blocked off by more rubble. However, I couldn't concentrate on either of these, as there were two stone coffins, one of which was slowly opening to let another Draugr out.

Fortunately, it was on the other side of the cavernous room and gave me enough time to switch to my bow and launch an arrow into it. It was still able to approach me, but I quickly knocked away its attack, stabbed it in the stomach with my dagger, then whirled around to slash at its throat, felling it instantly. The threat neutralized, I proceeded to examine the rest of the room.

There was a chest laying against another coffin, but the only other thing that caught my interest was a gate sitting on the other end of the stream, which the water flowed through. With the other doorway blocked off, I assumed this was the path I had to go and was confirmed by a large pull ring next to the Gate. I opened the gate and tread my way through the watery passage

The tunnel itself soon widened to a larger cave tunnel, the path lit by glowing blue mushrooms, which I took from the wall for ingredients. As I followed the stream, another waterfall joined the stream, merging before it spilled out of an opening ahead of me. I stood carefully on the ledge, looking over.

The cavern that I looked in was a steep vertical cave, the water spilling down into a depository that I could not see due to a land bridge crossing the cavern below. A Draugr was pacing along the path. It must have spotted me, because it turned around and ducked into one of the entrances of the bridge.

I ducked back, looking at my surroundings. Next to the ledge was another chest, and beyond that chest I saw a tunnel that led down, before turning a corner. I presumed this led to the land bridge, and thus the Draugr was making its way up. I prepared my bow and knelt, keeping my presence as small as possible as I waited.

Amazingly, the Draugr didn't see me in the tunnel as it stepped slowly around the corner and was met with an arrow straight through the skull. I peeked over the edge, checking to see if there were any others I may have missed, and once satisfied with the execution, looted the nearby chest and proceeded down the tunnel. As expected, it did a sharp turn back around, depositing me out on the land bridge, coated in a small layer of snow. I looked up at the cavernous tower, seeing an opening in the ceiling, snow gently falling away as light shone through. I looked down and over the land bridge, seeing a path winding downwards into a depository of water, flowing into what I presumed was a tunnel that flowed the water out to who knows where. I didn't quite care for it, seeing nothing but a drowned Skeever floating in the water, and proceeded across the bridge.

The bridge led me to another tunnel (I was used to finding these tunnels by now) that led into a steep incline, winding around before exiting back into the tombs. I wasn't sure if I was on the other side of the ruined chamber from earlier, but I looked down the hall, seeing another room behind three archways (the middle one covered in vines) and through the center archway I could see another Draugr. However, I felt that this one was different.

It was still a far distance away from where I was, and I could see a large set of doors behind the Draugr, acting like it was a guardian of whatever lay beyond. I notched my bow, sneaking around to one of the entrances, and launched my bow. I struck the Draugr in the head, but it barely seemed fazed, instead approaching where I was at. I quickly ducked behind the archway and crossed to the other, peeking around the corner to see where the Draugr was. It stopped at the archway, looking around, unable to see me even though I could see it, then turned around, returning to the chamber. I launched another arrow, but this one missed, alerting the Draugr to my presence. I quickly stood up, drawing my dagger.

And now I realized why this one was different from the rest. It suddenly launched a cold blast of air on me and continued to let off a relentless stream at me. Even my shield was unable to guard from his blast, and I knew that if I didn't stop him, I'd be frozen to death. I charged forward, through the cold blast, and slammed my shield in his face, interrupting his spell and staggering him. As soon as it recovered, it swung its large battle axe at me, but I deflected it away with my shield and followed it up with a sharp slash across its throat, slicing the flimsy flesh and watched it collapse in front of me.

I muttered a healing spell to help warm me up as I approached the doors. They were sturdy enough. Perhaps what lay beyond held the answers that that Dunmer thief was looking for. I gently pushed on the doors and stepped inside as the doors slowly creaked open.

---

The first chamber behind the doors caught me off-guard. It was a wide-open chamber, almost circular, with a large circle of decorative statues in the center of the room, all resembling some sort of animal I could not recognize, however I was familiar with the design as I had seen it scattered all over the Barrens since I first walked in. Perhaps this was a guardian animal, meant to ward off dark spirits? In the center of the circle of statues was a large brazier, lighting the room with its eternal glow.

Behind the circle of statues was a rounded hallway, venturing me ever deeper into this new area. The walls within were smoothed out and dipped and weaved its way into the unknown. It felt a bit eerie to me, as I was not sure what I would be encountering, or even if this supposed... treasure had existed.

As I progressed further into the winding tunnel, I could hear the grinding of metal on stone again. Another set of pendulum axe traps ahead, and after turning a corner, I was able to see them ahead of me, a large room beyond that. I judged the rhythm of the axes, and once again dove through them, this time being able to avoid getting scratched as I ran out into the large room. I quickly turned around and pulled on the chain that was directly behind me, disabling the trap so that I could focus on the room ahead.

Only that part was short-lived, as to my immediate left, one of the stone coffins were pushed aside, a Draugr slowly climbing out. I had gotten enough experience by now to deal with the Draugr, blocking his slow axe swings, slicing a few times with my dagger, before it slumped against the very coffin it had emerged from. Satisfied, I turned back to my attention to the room.

The room itself was very large, and I could see an upper stone catwalk crossing the room. Across the room, past the catwalk, I spotted a set of stairs leading to a ledge that circled around and towards the catwalk. Looking down, I noticed a large grate in the middle of the floor, as well as a large pool of oil surrounding the grate. There were two more of the flammable jars hanging over the oil.

To my right was a small antechamber, but going inside, I noted that it appeared to be that of a preparation room for the dead. There was nothing of interest, so I stepped back out. I spotted another Draugr in the upper floor, and quickly ducked behind the doorway, watching it as the creature paced around just out of view. I did, however, spot another jar hanging just above the opening to the catwalk, notched an arrow into my bow, and fired.

The jar fell, shattering, and I could see flames jump up and spread around the ledge that I couldn't see. The Drauger stepped out, into the flames - I figured that Draugr weren't really that intelligent - and burst into flames immediately. However, during the glow of the fire, I saw another Draugr, slowly approaching down the stairs.

I notched another arrow, waited until the Draugr made its way to the oil spill on the lower ground, and fired at one of the pots. It fell, bounced off the Draugr's head and shattered on the oil, setting it, and the dazed undead, into flames. I gave an amused smirk. All these traps that were intended to deter intruders were instead helping me to deal with the larger threats.

I waited for the flames to die down, before making my way across the room, up the stairs, and around the upper chamber to the catwalk, leading me into another small chamber before turning into a hallway. It was a short hallway, taking me in front of a large set of doors, which I opened carefully, prepared for anything on the other side.

Instead, it was a large hallway. There was a sense of silence in the room as I stepped in, taking out my torch and looking around. It was mostly empty, aside from a few candles, and I noticed that on the walls there were murals of some sort. I went to the nearest wall and looked at it.

The mural depicted of several humanoid figures, all wearing robes. Three on the right, three on the left, with each group of three carrying what looked like a human-shaped coffin on their shoulders. I noted that the figures on the left also had a couple dogs at their feet, whereas the ones on the right did not. All six of them (plus dogs) were facing towards the center, where what looked like a female figure towered over them, also in robes, arms outstretched and low to the ground. From her hands were what looked like insects of some type, looking like they were flying out of her hands and away from her.

I had no idea what this depicted, so I moved to the next mural. It depicted an identical mural of the previous, with the difference being the central figure. Instead of a woman, it was an old man, wearing furs, each hand holding a large staff with a crude animal skull carved on the top of the staves. Again, I had no idea what these murals depicted, so I moved to the next one.

The third one had an identical man as the previous, but wearing robes, like the female in the first mural, and instead of staves or insects, this figure had wings emerging from his... wrists? With large feathers falling from his hands. A small moon-shaped symbol was carved above the man, though angled in a way that the points of the moon were pointing upwards. And off to each side, above thee figures with the coffins, were two owls flying away from the man.

The last mural was, in my opinion, the most sinister. It depicted a barely distinguishable man in tight robes, wielding daggers in his hands, but with a large ring of fire encircling him. Even more flames were emerging off to the sides. I checked the other side of the hallway, noting that they were all displaying the same thing as the first side.

This is the Hall of Stories? I was confused. Normally, murals would tell a bit of a story, detailing what happened. Here... all I could tell was that it was four different people, but I had no idea what they had in common, let alone what they were doing. And why were there people on each side of them? Were they servants? Worshippers? Why did they have a coffin? Was it a sacrifice? The Hall ended up leaving me more questions than answers, so I turned to the end of the hallway.

In front of me, it looked like a large stone door. Just below the center of it I could see what looked like a pressure switch with three holes on it, and a small marking of a three-fingered... something. Above the switch I was three series of rings, each having an emblem of a different animal. A bear, an owl, and an insect. Two of them, I noted, were on the murals behind me, but the bear did not match. Looking for clues, I pulled out the thief's journal, flipping through it until I reached the end of his last words.

'My fingers are trembling,' I read. 'The Golden Claw is finally in my hands, and with it, the power of the ancient Nordic heroes. That fool Lucan Valerius had no idea that his favorite store decoration was actually the key to Black Falls Barrow. Now I just need to get to the Hall of Stories and unlock the door.' I paused, looking up at the door for a moment, before reading more. 'The legend says there is a test that the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but that "when you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands.'

I closed the book and immediately pulled out the claw, looking it over. The "top" of the claw was flat, with the ends of each of the claws pointing downwards, as if it wanted to latch on to something. I glanced up to the indentation on the door and noticed that the holes lined up perfectly for the claws. So, I mused, this is a key of some sort.

I looked on the underside of the claw. Underneath, I saw three markings: a bear, a bug, and an owl, going from toe to heel. I looked back at the door, specifically the rings, and after a moment's pause, pushed on the rings. Like the stones in a previous room, these rings turned easily, and I soon lined up the rings to match the same pattern on the claw. I then pressed the claw itself against the switch, lining the points to the holes, and pushed.

The switch sunk slightly into the door, and I could feel it turn a little in my hand, so I used the claw to turn it to one side until I heard a click. The rings suddenly spun around until they were all depicting owls, and I pulled back, the door slowly sliding downwards and into a hidden crevice, until it became flush with the floor. I now had access to the chamber.

The chamber began with a large flight of stairs, which I cautiously climbed, before depositing me into one of the largest caverns I had ever seen. A low ceiling went through half the cave, before opening to a wider portion that I could not see the ceiling of. I could hear the rushing sound of water as I proceeded, noting a coffin of sorts to my right. The coffin didn't appear to have anything inside of it, which made me worry if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The wide part of the cavern, though, was what caught my attention. As I stepped into the area, I saw several waterfalls flowing gently down, the rivers of water collecting in on each other before dropping down into a small crevice by my feet, a stone bridge crossing over the crevice of water. On the other side, two sets of staircases circled along the streams, the one on the left going all the way up to an opening in the wall on the far end.

The one on the right, however, led to a large altar, with a decorated coffin sitting between two braziers and a chest, with a larger, carved wall behind the coffin. It was curved, and I could see the image of some figure in the direct center of the curved wall. Underneath it, as I approached, I saw numerous markings etched below it. As I got closer, I could hear... something faint. A chant?

I had no idea where the faint chanting was coming from, but I ascended the stairs, looking over at the coffin, my feet being drawn towards the curved wall with markings. It was then that I noticed two things. One, a set of the markings was mysteriously glowing, getting brighter as I approached. At the same time, I could hear the chanting getting louder and louder. Before I knew it, my feet were automatically being drawn towards the glowing markings.

My vision got blurry as I approached, I could barely see anything else around me as I slowly advanced, the chanting deafening everything around me. Then, just as I got close enough to approach the markings... It stopped. The glow, the chanting. My vision cleared, by hearing came back to normal. Everything was quiet. Yet... I knew. I looked at the markings again. I don't know how, but I knew what they read.

Here lies the Guardian

keeper of the Dragonstone

and a force of eternal

rage and darkness

Guardian? What Dragonstone? Was this what the thief was looking for? And what happened to me? How did I know these words all of the sudden?

Those thoughts got interrupted by the sound of a stone lid moving. I turned around, seeing the coffin that was the altar's centerpiece, suddenly open, and a large Draugr came out, staring at me with its glowing eyes. I braced myself, getting ready for a new fight.

"....Ro-DAH!"

Suddenly, I felt a force of nothingness slam into me, knocking me off my feet and hitting myself against the wall. I hissed, looking at the Draugr as it drew a large sword and charged at me. What was that? Was that the Draugr's doing? I ducked from the sword, slicing at its leg as I ran past, and brought my shield up, breathing heavily. I had no idea what was going on, but-

"...Ro-DAH!" This time I saw the source, it was the Draugr itself! It suddenly let out a massive shout at me, and another force of... something pushed against me, knocking me back a bit despite the shield being there to soften the blow.

I growled. I wasn't prepared for this. I had no idea how to deal with such a situation, and I couldn't think. The Draugr suddenly charged at me, sword ready to spear me, and I quickly backed up, hopping onto the altar, then again on the coffin, before ducking back around to the other side of it. The Draugr just stared at me for a moment, before reeling back as if to take a breath.

Not this time. I threw my shield at it, striking it in the face, causing it to stagger a little. I leapt over the coffin, scooped up the shield, and slammed it again into its head before it could recover, followed by my dagger straight to the throat.

And yet it didn't fall.

It stumbled back, still staring at me with its dead eyes, before lifting its sword up and swinging it in my direction. I rolled out of the way, ducking behind the chest as it let out another shout. This time, the chest provided better cover, although I could still feel the shockwaves against the chest.

The Draugr swung at me again, but the chest blocked its advances, the blade bouncing off the surprisingly sturdy chest. As it recoiled, I flung my dagger at it in a fit of desperation. It lodged into the opening of the throat I had made before, and I quickly launched myself over the chest, kicking my foot out, striking the Draugr in the chest to send it staggering, dropping its sword. Quickly, I grabbed the sword, the Draugr attempting to do another of those strange, forced shouts, and with a shout of my own I rammed the sword deep into the creature's midsection.

There was a moment of silence, a pause in the action, before the Draugr finally slumped against its own sword. I kicked the Draugr off it, panting heavily, ears still ringing from the numerous screams. I recovered my dagger, looked at the sword, and noticed a faint glow coming from it.

"Hm...an enchantment. I could use this." I put the sword away, and inspected the coffin, spying what looked like a tablet sitting in the bottom of it. "What's this?" I leaned in to have a better look at it.

The tablet had a strange shape to it, I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, or if I was looking at it wrong, but one side of the tablet came to a pointed end. On that point was a design of something. I glanced back up to the curved wall, seeing the same image on the wall. Maybe this was that Dragonstone? I inspected the tablet closer and noticed that there were several star markings above the drawing, trying to make the shape of a constellation.

In my mind, I was tempted to take the stone. However, I saw no purpose for it. Lucan may have wanted it, but I think he'd prefer his Golden Claw instead. I chose to leave the tablet behind, grabbing the fallen Draugr and dragging him back into the coffin, on top of the tablet. The lid, on the other hand, was much too heavy for me to move (which made me question the strength of the Draugr themselves) and I opted to investigate what lay at the end of the other staircase.

The top of the stairs turned into a steep incline into a tunnel, leading me to a... dead end. Next to the dead end was a small pedestal and looking into the pedestal I saw a switch. Confused, I pulled on the switch, and jumped back as part of the wall in the end of the tunnel moved away and led me into another passage. I thought it to be a shortcut but was disappointed when it dropped me into a small cave that had a shrine on it. I didn't know the purpose of the shrine, but the small wreaths and flowers adorning it, as well as the prominent skull sitting on the altar, hinted to me that this was a burial monument of some sort. There was also a chest to the side of it, but there wasn't anything of value to it, so I followed the rest of the cave, leading me outside.

---

Again, I had to take time to get adjusted to the sudden brightness of light. I found myself on the side of the mountain, though I wasn't sure exactly where I was, or how close I was in relative position to the Barrows. I saw more mountains ahead of me, a steep cliff by my feet, and farther down, along the descending hills, was a large river. I wasn't sure if this was the same river that led me to the village, or if I was farther down from the town than where I started. But first things first, I had to climb down.

I lacked the... finesse of climbing down. A few times I had to jump down to some rocks, and twice I almost missed my landing. Once I slipped and landed on my tail _(why did I write this)_but I eventually landed on solid ground.

Looking around, I headed for the river, noticing several large animal bones. The tusks emerging from them told me immediately that these were Mammoths, rare creatures that were valued for their tusks, and that I must have stumbled upon a graveyard of sorts. I had no interest (Or strength), so instead I headed for the river, trying to get my bearings.

The river itself was much wider than I remembered. This meant that I had to be behind Riverwood, or directly on the other side of the mountains that the Barrows stood on. Across the river I could barely see a tent. Perhaps they were friendly and could assist me? I quickly dove into the river, my Argonian instincts kicking in as I swam across.

There was a woman on the other side. She saw me approaching, then got up, drawing her bow. For a moment, I panicked, thinking she was going to attack me, but instead she ran off to one side. Chasing after something else. I was confused, but once I made it across the river I slowly climbed out, following the woman. Then, ahead of me, I saw what she was after. A fox. The fox dove into the river, the female trying to shoot at it with her bow.

I chose to leave her alone, looking around the area. Her tent only had a small campfire and a string of dried fish, which didn't interest me. Along the rocky wall that the camp was settled under, I spotted a series of stones jutting out, as if beacons.

No, wait, they weren't beacons. They were the Guardian Stones. I must have wound up on the other side of them. I quickly climbed up to the stones, looking down at the path that I remember taking to Riverwood, and eagerly ran my way back to town.

(Author's Note: I had another wolf encounter between here and Riverwood, however its location was in the same spot where I encountered the two wolves in the previous chapter; as I had to do a re-do of the scene, I am omitting this encounter)

---

The first thing I did once I arrived in town was immediately enter the Riverwood Trader, holding up the Golden Claw, panting, out of breath. Lucan immediately beamed as I handed him the claw.

"You found it?" He laughed as he took the claw, looking it over. "There it is. Strange..." he mumbled. "it seems smaller than I remember. Funny thing, huh?" He shrugged and set the claw on the counter. "I'm going to put this back where it belongs. I'll..." He turned to me, grinning. "I'll never forget this. You've done a great thing for me and my sister." He then handed me a large bag of gold, which I took with a gentle nod.

I decided not to tell him about what the Claw really was, or what it hid. I was afraid that if I told him, he would go out and try to obtain the treasures himself, and I worried about him against the Draugr and the traps. Instead, I gave a gentle nod to him, and his sister, and exited the shop.

I crossed the street, to Alvor's smithy, and puttered around for a moment, sharpening my dagger and crafting myself some leather bracers, smiling as they fit against my arms rather snugly. I preferred the craftsmanship of leather over the heavy bulky feeling of metal, after all. Satisfied with my work, I decided to head over to the Inn.

The Inn itself looked serene on the outside. A small porch that had two children (one of them being Alvor's daughter, I noted), a dog, and an elder man sitting there, and I gave polite nods to the three of them, rubbing the dog behind the ears, before entering the Inn.

Inside, my eyes immediately fell to a large fire pit in the middle of the room, providing plenty of warmth to the large, open foyer. I saw tables lined along the walls, some of them having wooden plates and bowls for the hungry travelers Chairs were also scattered around, forming a crude semi-circle around the fire pit on one side. On the other side, I saw a man standing behind a counter, and a woman standing at the doorway of a room that I assumed was one of the rooms for rent. I approached the man at the counter as I heard conversation.

"Orgnar." That was the woman. She crossed her arms. "Orgnar! Are you listening?"

"Hard not to," the man behind the counter, Orgnar muttered, as I approached. He was oddly staring at me the entire time, which made me a bit nervous.

"The ale is going bad," the woman continued. "We need to get a new batch." A pause of silence. The woman approached Orgnar. "Did you hear me?"

"Yep," Orgnar responded in monotone, still staring at me. "Ale's goin' bad."

"I guess you don't' have potatoes in your ears after all," the woman quipped, causing me to crack a small smile. "Just make sure we get a fresh batch in soon." She walked away, as I turned to Orgnar.

"Come on in. We got warm food, warm drinks, and warm beds," he boasted. I looked around the otherwise empty in and raised both of my brows as I noticed a small alchemist's table. Alchemy was one of my pasttimes, experimenting with various ingredients to see if I could find something new. This new land was ripe with new ingredients, and I was eager to try them all out. I turned to Orgnar.

"Can I use your alchemy table?"

"Long as you clean up," he responded, in his monotone of a voice. "You know how to use it, right? Mix a couple of ingredients together, see what happens."

I waved him off before he continued. "Don't worry, I'm skilled in potion-making. Actually, could I also rent a room?"

He pointed to the woman. "You want a room? Ask Delphine." Oh. I turned to look at Delphine, who was in one of the other rooms, apparently cleaning up. I mused on that for a moment, then turned my attention to the alchemy table.

I won't bore you with the details. I crafted a few potions, several weak ones, and a few poisons, using all the ingredients I had collected. Satisfied with my results, I turned to Delphine.

"You're that visitor that's been poking around," she observed. I stiffened, then thought that she referred to me looking around the town last night. I set it aside, the day's exhaustion finally staring to settle on me.

"Hi, I'd like to rent a room."

"Ten gold and it's yours for the day," she responded. Ten gold wasn't that much, so I deposited the coin in her open hand. She led me into one of the small rooms, which was a simple set. A wardrobe, a chest, a table and chair, and a bed. I immediately fell into the bed after closing the door and fell asleep immediately.

---

I didn't know how long I had slept. All I knew was that I woke up to the sound of someone singing. I groaned, lifting my head, looking around. I was in an unfamiliar place, but my brain slowly processed the fact that this 'unfamiliar place' was the Sleeping Giant inn's rooms. I slowly rolled off the bed, sitting up, stretching. The only downside to these rooms were the lack of windows, so I had no idea what time of day it was. I left the room, looking around, seeing someone playing a lute and singing over by the semicircle of chairs. It then dawned on me that this bard was the same person who reprimanded his mother for claiming to see a dragon.

Dragon. Right. I had to head to Whiterun and tell the Jarl about the dragon, that's what I was supposed to do. I gave a friendly 'thank you' to Delphine and stepped out of the Inn.

It was dark. Again. Night had fallen, but the sky was too cloudy for me to see the position of the moon. I stepped down from the inn, and immediately turned, heading back to the bridge that I crossed before. I knew where I had to go.

On the other side of the bridge, I saw the path going back up the mountain. I ignored it, instead heading right, following along the river as the path laid out before me. The night air felt comfortable for me, and I smiled, watching the river flow along the path, before it suddenly dipped into some falls, with the path winding out and back to rejoin the river. This was the falls that Alvor mentioned, so I looked onward, seeing a large clearing ahead, devoid of trees and mountains.

Save one small one. It squatted in the middle of the open field, as if it claimed that territory and did not want any other mountains to join it. It also had a jagged appearance to it, though I couldn't properly tell due to my distance from it. I continued down the road as it zig-zagged back and forth.

Along the way, I saw three people ahead of me. A woman and two men. One of the men was dressed in armor and carrying a torch. I presumed the armored man was an escort or a guard of some sort, and as I approached them, I could hear the other two talking.

"Come along," the man said to the woman, "no more stops, we need to find our way to Solitude." I didn't know where Solitude was, but I presumed it was a long distance from where they were, if I had to take a carriage myself.

"Why are we even going to a wedding at this far flung end of the Empire anyway?" The woman complained. There was a wedding going on in Solitude? Interesting. And according to her, Solitude itself sat at the border of the Empire. However, that information wasn't useful for me, as I had no idea how large the Empire's land stretched.

"I told you," the man responded, "it's the wedding of Vittoria Vici, and extremely well connected merchant with East Empire Company. The Emperor's cousin? Remember?" Interesting information, though that helped little with me. "Hopefully these gifts will put us in her good graces, secure that import deal, and lead the way to an audience with the Emperor."

I raised an eyeridge at that. They were only heading to this wedding to gain favor to the Emperor. That, I considered, was an odd way of presenting themselves, but then again, I'm still a foreigner to these lands.

I wanted to ask him something else, but decided against it, instead running ahead of them, following the path we all had been following. The path eventually wound down the mountain, leading to the plains I had seen from a distance, and a fork in the road with a solitary guard standing by it. I inspected the sign, looking for Whiterun, and turned to go down the path that Whiterun was pointing to. As I did, I glanced back up at the small mountain that I had seen

On closer inspection, I realized, it was not a mountain that I saw, but a large house, sitting on top of a hill. I could see the rooftops of other houses sitting in front of it, but most of the houses themselves were surrounded by a large wall. Though, not all the buildings were behind the walls. I could see a few other buildings here and there, including a large windmill, and as I turned westward to go along the path, I spotted another building sitting right by the road.

It was two buildings, one medium-sized one and one that had an elongated shape to it, with a sign in front of it. I hovered my torch to the sign so I could read it better. The sign had the picture of a beehive on it, with "Honningbrew Meadery" written above it. A Meadery. Interesting. I continued down the path.

A distance from the Meadery, I could see a farm up ahead. I also could see a Giant stomping about the farm! Giants were major trouble; however, they usually tend to themselves and the Mammoths, only bothering to attack if the Mammoths were in danger. I ran my way to the farm, but as I did, I saw a few people surrounding it, attacking the Giant in all directions, before one of them struck the Giant, felling it to the ground.

One of them, a woman with war paint across her face like scratch marks, approached me as I walked up to them. "Well, that's taken care of. No thanks to you."

I felt offended. "You didn't look like you needed help," I retorted.

"Certainly not." She felt proud of herself. "But a true warrior would have relished the opportunity to take on a giant. That's why I'm here with my Shield-Brothers."

I tilted my head. I looked behind the woman, seeing a male and another woman, both gruff looking, chatting with each other. "What's a Shield-Brother?"

"An outsider, eh?" The woman with the markings held her torch closer to my face. I leaned back in response, the open flame making me extremely nervous. "Never heard of the Companions?"

"No," I simply responded. She continued before I could say anything else.

"An order of warriors. We are brothers and sisters in honor. And we show up to solve problems if the coin is good enough."

I glanced to the dead giant. Maybe some extra hands would be helpful for the Dragon. "Can I join you?"

She eyed me carefully. "Not for me to say. You'll have to talk to Kodlak Whitemane up in Jorrvaskr." She seemed to soften at the name. "The old man's got a good sense for people. He can look in your eyes and tell your worth." She started walking past me, looking over her shoulder. "if you go to him, good luck." The other two companions began to follow her, and I started on my own path, following it in the direction towards Whiterun. I noted that the Companions were also heading in the same direction.

The path eventually branched off, and I instinctively followed the one pointing towards Whiterun, the path leading past a stable, a carriage (which I remembered Hadvar telling me to take if I wanted to go to Solitude) and up through a ruined stone archway. I passed by the carriage and the stables and followed the path as it wove along the large wall. Along the wall, aside from the towers, I could see a large set of gates with a drawbridge a short distance away from it. I paused at the drawbridge, looking up at a banner flapping lazily in the night sky. It was a light grey in color, slightly damaged from the constant weather, and bore an emblem of a horse's head in gold.

My attention was diverted as I saw one of the guards approaching me. "Halt! City's closed with dragons about. Official business only."

I took a sharp breath. They saw the dragon as well. I knew what my business was. "I have news from Helgen about the dragon attack."

The guard stiffened as well. Hopefully he took me as a survivor of the dragon attack. "Fine, but we'll be keeping an eye on you."

I honestly didn't mind. I had nothing to hide. The guard returned to his post, and I approached the large doors. I took a breath, and slowly pushed them open.

My name is Chamelion. I made it to Whiterun.