Dear Diary,
As I set out from the camp I went over my map, planning my progress for the day. I realized there was a tomb nearby just out of the way on my journey to find the first set of books that was related to a previous encounter I had working for the College. I did not mention it to anyone, but down in Saarthal I found a book and an amulet in what seemed to be an important grave.
The story in the book told of three brothers Gaulder, who were the sons of a famous archmage. The mage owned an amulet that was the secret to his power, and he refused to share it with his sons. The three plotted and successfully killed their father over the amulet, split it in three, and were then chased all across Skyrim. As each was caught and executed, they were entombed where they fell along with their amulets. Saarthal was one of these resting places, and Folgunthur to the southwest was another tomb named in the book. I decided to take a quick detour and see what I could find.
On the way south I ran into two camps. One Imperial, one Stormcloak. I spoke to both sides and to be honest have trouble understanding the problem. Skyrim wants independence and to keep to themselves, and that is respectable. The Imperials need to unite all of Tamriel to fight the Thalmor. The Thalmor are the ones who are restricting the worship of Talos through a forced peace agreement with the Empire, it was not a decision of the Empire themselves. It seems to me the Stormcloaks should just suck it up and fight with the Empire for the sake of Tamriel, as the Aldmeri Dominion is a much bigger threat to us all than this petty arguing. I wish I had known this information earlier in my time in Skyrim, as I ran into many Thalmor earlier in a mission previously kept secret due to sensitivity.
But I let both camps be and continued on to Folgunthur. It sits just below Solitude, and as I snuck up on the tomb I came across a camp next to it. It looked fairly fresh, the coals still warm, so I did a bit of searching and found the Journal of a Mr. Valen. He recorded his search for an artifact that would allow him access to the tomb, as he had heard the legend of the three brothers as well and wanted the amulet for himself. He had found the artifact in Bravil, and unfortunately it sounds like he killed the man who owned it, a man I knew and sold many an artifact to. He eventually made his way via ship to Solitude and took on a party of several adventurers. It looked like I had been beaten to the second part of the amulet, so I hurried into the tomb in search of the men.
The first room contained several bodies. An adventurer and a few undead. He had not been dead long, so I knew I was not far behind. The puzzle to continue had already been solved, and I proceeded to the next room. The story was the same for several rooms - a dead adventurer or two and some more undead. I finally came upon Mr. Valen's body a ways down and up some stairs. He was still breathing but died soon after. I took the artifact and some notes, and continued. There were quite a few undead in the hallways of the crypt, but I had dealt with these before and put an arrow into each one before they could even awaken, and my practice sneaking in other caves taught me how to step on traps without setting them off so my course through the tomb was fairly easy. At the end of the tomb I found another large door with keyhole and three dials for the combination. I knew to look on the key, and sure enough it worked. However when the door seal popped, I heard a huge commotion behind me. There were sarcophagi on each side of the room, 6 total. One popped open, a Draugr coming out, but I knocked and loosed an arrow before he could rise. In the meantime another popped open, but the adrenaline allowed me to do the same to him. In less than a few seconds, I had dropped all six. One after the other in a speed I didn't realize I was capable of. Fear turning to satisfaction, back to fear, I took a step to turn and heard many more in the massive room in front of me. It was the tomb of one of the brothers, and he started to rise. I once again felt fear and let out a quick shot out of reaction and surprise. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the arrow I regretting firing so hastily as soon as it left the string, fly and then land square between his eyes! I didn't know whether to thank a watching God, thank myself for remembering to place an enchantment on the bow, or the bow itself. We have been together since I entered Skyrim, and maybe it's possible for a weapon and it's user to grow a special bond over time.
But I digress. I laughed to myself in satisfaction, collected the amulet and used the key to leave the tomb via a back passage. There was a wall of the dragons in his crypt as well, and I will have to go see the Greybeards at some point to figure out what it means.
Uh oh. I forgot to stop and visit them last time I was in Whiterun. Delphine and Mr. E are probably worried...
Until next time.
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