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Jon ended the misery of the ancient Dragon Priest with the Fire Breath shout. Knowing the story of such a man, Jon didn"t want to disrespect the body of once a great man and stored it in a casket then put it away in his Haven Ring.
Jon looted only one thing from Ahzidal"s body and that was his mask.
The Mask of the Dragon Priest is simply something that was enchanted by the Dragons themselves and the Mask of Ahzidal was one of the best and the reason why Jon came all the way down here.
"Wulf."
Wulfur didn"t reply and looked away.
"Come on, man." Jon looked at the people around him but it seemed that everyone was still agitated of what he did.
Jon sighed and shook his head.
"Fine, I am sorry for acting recklessly just now."
"Sorry?" Wulfur turned around while glaring at Jon. He walked to Jon and pushed him away with anger. "You f.u.c.king a.s.shole! You almost killed yourself."
"Wulfur, calm down." Bjorna talked.
"Calm! How can I be calm? Does this idiot even care for his life at all? Does he…"
"WULFUR!" Bjorna shouted.
"Wulfur is right… I am sorry, I know you are the shield bearer of the team and I shouldn"t have taken your position and I harmed myself while not being fully armored… I am truly sorry." Jon said in complete honesty and Wulfur backed down while being still upset.
The atmosphere turned heavy and awkward at the same time.
"Why did you bring us here, Jon? What are you really after?" Wulfur spoke. He seemed to be a little upset.
Even though the used their ability to get through the tomb all the way here and Jon kept talking about Dragon Priests and how powerful they are, the group around Jon is used to not take him really seriously when the word "Dragon" is mentioned so they were mostly expecting a more powerful draugr. Still, it was an overpowered flying shooting one. They still don"t have the concept of the "Dungeon Boss" in their heads like Jon so they naturally felt upset after the fight was over.
Jon, as the eldest one between them, understood them and talked with sense.
"First, this is a Dragon Priest Mask, I always told you the story about it being enchanted by dragons and whatnot. Whatever the legends are, it doesn"t change that every dragon priest has an immensely powerful mask. Here, Alina, check it out."
Jon handed the mask to Alina who started looking at it left and right.
"The craftsmanship is indeed fascinating and the enchantment is… it…" Alina paused then looked at Jon.
"Kyne!" She exclaimed.
All who are in the room got interested after Alina showed the expressions of bewilderment.
"This mask can… it can Resist half the Damage of any Flame while empowering the Flame Magic to one fourth its original power."
"Indeed, Jon confirmed."
The Mask of Ahzidal was an absolute Artifacts of Fire Magic that was crazier than any other thing they discovered in the tomb.
[Ahzidal] 50% Resist Fire; Fire spells do 25% more damage.
"Do you know what does that mean?" Jon asked his crew again.
They were all pausing but the one who caught up first was Bjorna.
"My G.o.d!" She exclaimed, "Are you saying that if any Firemane put on that mask, they will…"
"Exactly!" Jon confirmed, "The will be unburnable!"
Silence took over.
The Firemanes are known to have one of the strongest bloodlines in Skyrim and the reason was very simple. They are the descendants of Clan t.i.tanborn that the famous Lyris t.i.tanborn hailed from. Clan t.i.tanborn of Winterhold has merged itself with Clan Flame-Hair that the famous Jorunn the Skald-King, Queen of Windhelm, hailed from. These two immensely strong bloodlines boosted the ability and the lifespan of the Firemanes making them take half the damage from any Flame.
[A/N: Lyris t.i.tanborn is one of the Five Companions from the main quest in ESO. Jorunn the Skald-King is the leader of the Ebonheart Pact and High King of Skyrim at ESO. now back to the mask]
"It means if Jon wears the mask right now he will have 100% Fire Resistance which means immunity. G.o.ds!" Alina said.
Fire or whatever, Jon can be unburnable with that mask.
"Oh, and it gets better." Jon said, "There are two more Dragon Priest Masks like those, one for Frost Magic, one for Shock Magic!"
"You"ve got to be…"
"Of course we need to kill the dragon priests wearing them." Jon said fast.
"... kidding me… sigh!" Wulfur finished.
It meant not only having 100% Fire Resistance but also 100% Frost Resistance, Nords, after all, can resist half of all Frost damage.
But of course, after seeing Jon"s b.l.o.o.d.y figure a few minutes ago, they all got cold feet. Jon always pushed forward and made sure that everyone is unharmed but this is a cruel world and they almost experienced something not many adventurers came out of alive.
"I say we go after them." Jullanar said.
"What?" Almost everyone was surprised.
"I trust Jon, there is a reason why he is so going after those masks like that and I a.s.sure you it is a good one. Jon wants us to be stronger, that"s all. We may face tragedies and whatever but you guys keep boasting around all the time for what? You should be ashamed of not standing up alongside Jon when he needs us."
"..."
Jullanar"s words were a bit harsh and made everyone silent.
"Look, I am not trying to be rude but I must remind you that we did rebuild Winterhold and we faced pirates and fought against many foes together. Yes, we were mostly safe and protected but until when? Jon always said that we will be the frontline one day and make no mistake, this day is upon us. If we don"t get roughed up and shed some blood, we will be children forever. I wouldn"t love to see anyone of you hurt and I would take a dagger for anyone here but still, guys, you need to harden it up a bit more."
Jullanar said some cool words that made everyone look down and smile wryly. They have shared the same emotions as her but were not as bold.
Jullanar grew up in the harshest environment possible and her life only became better when she was taken by Jon. She may be crazy but she still had the strongest mentality around here. More to that, she saw a dragon and pa.s.sed the horrific experience with flying colors, the cool head she has was not from nothing.
"How mature!" Bjorna said.
"Never thought I would hear those words from you, thanks." Wulfur said.
"Yeah, she can be so cool." Alina said.
As the atmosphere started to get warmer, Jon decided to pour the cold bucket.
"Well, I hate to break it to you guys but you are a little too early to relax… What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Everyone looked at him with cold eyes.
"Bad hooman!"
"Seriously, Jon. You had me go through all that speech and now you ruin it!" Jullanar was upset.
"Okay okay, I will be quick and cause no drama." Jon said.
He took out a strange Dwarven Metal Chest from his Haven Ring. The first one to react was Wulfur.
"Why are you taking that out?" He asked.
"What is that?" Alina asked.
"It is a Containment Chest, I forged some of them as Jon requested to have a very strong lock and inner build, Jon enchanted them with some crazy enchantment to block energies from inside. It is designed to keep what is outside safe from what is inside, he uses one for the Skull of Corruption to not cause nightmares in Winterhold."
"Exactly as Wulfur said." Jon confirmed and carried the chest to the other end of the room there was a door.
He opened it and what appeared behind it was something bizarre.
"What is that place? It smells!"
They all went after Jon and saw a strange room. It was like pa.s.sing through different architectural styles through one door, on one side it was Ancient Nordic and on the other it was greenish with a strong acidic smell and dangerous feeling.
"Hooman, bad!" Nefert.i.ti herself was agitated by the started to meow with hostility. Alina noticed and figured it out.
"Is something Daedric in that room?"
"Yes, look at the center." Jon said.
In the center of that circular room, there was an altar with a large book on it. Jon stepped in and walked on the floor that looked like a net over a strange green pool of poison and a lot of scary images on the walls. In the other side, there was a statue of a large Slug with tentacles, pincers and a lot of eyes, it was so life-like and had a wretched aura around it.
Jon put the chest on the floor and took out two pairs of Dwarven gloves, he handed one for Wulfur and opened the chest.
"We do this nice and slow." Jon said and walked towards the altar with the book on it.
"What is that?" Wulfur asked.
"The less you know, the better." Jon said as he approached the black book and pointed to Wulfur to hold it up.
As Wulfur did, Jon took out a chain and started wrapping it around the book the put a few locks on it, they all seemed enchanted with Anti-Magic runes.
They then placed the book in the chest and closed it.
Just as they did so, the chest started to jump around left and right as if a beast trapped inside was trying to break free.
"Hehe, what feisty fellow." Jon laughed and stored the chest in his ring.
Jon rallied the group to leave the scary room and return back to Ahzidal"s sealing room then closed the door.
"... That was?" Jullanar asked.
"A Black Book." Jon said.
"Yeah, we got if from the appearance, what was it?"
"Well, it is a daedric artifact as you all guess… its use is not much different from the Elder Scrolls."
""""THE WHAT?!""""
Jon wasn"t sure how their shout overlapped but he understood their surprise. What he didn"t understand was why he got pushed to a wall with everyone tightening the s.p.a.ce around him with scary eyes.
"Ehehem! The Elder Scrolls." Jon spoke in a low tone.
"Yeah, we heard you the first time. Explain!" Wulfur said.
"Eh! You see Black Books are Daedric artifacts created by Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Fate and Knowledge. Each book contains some manner of forbidden knowledge. Some books are from the ancient past; some are from the future. The thick tomes are bound in black covers, with a symbol representing Mora on the front, and emit a black mist as you all saw. Through the reading of the Black Books, individuals can obtain long forgotten powers that were not seen in centuries. The books were spread across Tamriel by Mora, and are usually located in the depths of ancient dungeons."
Jon spilled the beans as fast as he could.
"Yeah yeah, keep going." Alina said.
"Through reading a Black Book, the reader will enter Apocrypha, the realm of Oblivion created and ruled over by Hermaeus Mora much like Quagmire and how we went through it with Vaermina. Tentacles will emerge from the tome and envelop the reader. Most mortals who read a Black Book are driven insane, but those who successfully journey through Apocrypha are known to discover powerful knowledge."
"How delightful! What were you trying to do with the Black Book?" Jullanar said.
"Well, I am too weak to read one right now so I was planning to keep it away from safe from other fellow mortals."
"You mentioned several Black Books, right?"
"Yes, each Dragon Priest on Solstheim of was given one."
"So you are looking for three?"
"Seven actually… but we will do with three for now."
Wulfur and the rest looked at each other with tired expressions on their faces.
"You know what? I take back all what I said before, this dolt is going to get himself killed for sure." Jullanar took her stuff and walked away.
They all left and the only one who remained was Nefert.i.ti.
"You are not angry with me, Nefert.i.ti?" Jon squatted down in front of her and asked.
"No."
"Oh! You are an angel."
"I am hungry."
"Okay, I"ll give you all the fish in the world."
Jon carried Nefert.i.ti and went after his crew.
***
The Dare Dragon Group started cleaning the Tomb of Ahzidal and sorted out all the treasure from inside. Wulfur managed to find a lot of Ebony Armor Pieces that were preserved in perfect condition all these years and he decided to fix the Ahzidal Artifacts on some of them.
As Wulfur got busy with the forge that was built for him in Fort Frostmoth, Jon stayed in Kolbjorn Barrow and sealed the room of the Black Book, he also made sure to not let anything go out of his calculations.
One more thing he was interested in was the Word Wall in the barrow, a lot of ancient Nordic ruins had them and Jon was interested in the Words of Power on them. Normally a certain word would inspire him to learn a new shout.
This time he was learning the Cyclone Shout and the word "NOS" which meant "Strike".
The Word Stone said:-
----------
QETHSEGOL VahRUKIV HRODMir FIN
KRENT WO SOV Pah OK ERUVOS ahRK
FARaaN Wah NOS TUM KRIVaaN
DO OK ZeyMah
Translation:-
(This) stone commemorates Hrodmir the
Broken who spent all his years and
Wealth to strike down (the) murderer
of his brother.
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After two days of work, the Kolbjorn Barrow was sealed and with it the first Phase of Jon"s plan in Solstheim.