Chapter 229 - Ahzidal's Artifacts

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After the Pilgrimage was over, Jon and his crew were all invited back to the Skaal Village for a big celebration for the very successful pilgrimage. It seemed that the signs of the pilgrimage have shown themselves on the Skaal land and the people were blessed with good luck this day, the hunters returned with a good hunt, the fishermen returned with a lot of fish and the miners discovered a new source of Stalhrim. The Skaal credited Jon and his crew with all the happy events that happened this day.

The beautiful chief of the Skaal, Fanari Strong-Voice, insisted that she would drink a keg of mead with Jon but he started pouring the mead into another keg in his ring, Jon was very sober and wanted to end this party as soon as possible.

His newly gained power was blinding him to a scary point. Actually, not just him. Other than Nefertiti who possessed Jon's shadow and slept in it, the five were trying to slip away somehow.

It was when sleep time came, that they could take some time alone.

"God damn! That woman drinks too much." Jon complained.

"That girl Frea too, she was just one finger away from clinging to Wulfur." Bjorna complained.

"I doubt that he noticed anything." Jullanar said.

"What?" Wulfur asked.

"See." Jull laughed.

"Well, it is just that he is with Jon a lot, I am afraid he may become another womanizer." Bjorna said.

"Don't worry, cousin. This guy is more interested in some new blueprints than girl stuff." Jon said.

"So you are admitting that you are a womanizer." Alina remarked.

"Have I ever denied it? Do I have to remind you what happen…"

"No thanks."

"Jon, open a new pocket room for us in the Haven Cube, we need to test our blessings." Jullanar said.

"Fine by me."

Jon aimed his ring at everyone in the room and sucked them all in his ring. He also went after them and prepared a new pocket room.

The Haven Cube's space was actually a mystery on its own. Jon could add walls and make rooms, he also can extend the space and some other aspects. The limit was hard to define but Jon was sure that he didn't need to do so as it seemed that the space was really large. The Ring sadly can't be used in combat like stealing the opponent's weapon or locking them inside, these were some rules that Jon tested many times.

Anyway, Jon made a large room away from his Storage Area and made a small stage. Bjorna stood forward first and activated 'Water's of Life' by praying to the All-Maker. Jon and Alina didn't forget to act like the eggheads they are started making notes and measuring the magnitude of Bjorna's power.

Next was Wulfur and Nefertiti who used their powers with no problem at all.

'Waters of Life', 'Bones of Earth' and 'Totem of Beasts' were three supportive powers that Heal, Protect and Summon. These were common around the Skaal's big shots but they were still amazing powers.

Who came next were Alina and Jullanar. Alina used 'North Wind' summoned a real storm of both Wind and Frost for as long as she could. The storm was strong enough on Jon's recording devices and made him clap in awe. Jullanar power was as explosive as her personality, she summoned 'Sun Flare' that made her feel like a suicide bomber but she was actually just fine.

Jon rated both 'North Wind' and 'Sun Flare' as Expert Level spells with the ability to grow further.

Lastly was Jon, he attached some wires to his body and stuck some short needles to his acupoints then used 'Root of Power'.

With the activation of the power, Jon's body shivered and the Magicka gathered around him so fast to the point that he looked like a walking Magicka Concentration Point like those ones in the College of Winterhold. He cast his best spells and tried to deplete his Magicka but the Regeneration was simply too fast and too overpowered.

'Now, I am both a Nord and a High Elf. With my Potent Magicka and Cultivation Technique, I think I will live as long as them now.'

High Elves can live for thousands of years the stronger they are in Magic and Jon wasn't planning to die from old age in less than a few hundred years.

With the power in hand, he will do amazing things and trample over anyone who stands in his way.

***

The next day came and the people of the Skaal bid farewell to Jon and his trading caravan that brought tons of luck to them with only one visit. Jon returned back to Raven Rock immediately and had a meeting with Adril Arano, the Second Councilor of Raven Rock and the final transactions were complete. Now, Jon was waiting for Councilor Morvayn to look into his request of making a business partnership with the Dare Dragon Company.

After the meeting, Jon joined his crew in front of Kolbjorn Barrow. Ongeim had news of progress and said that a room was finally opened in the mine. The only problem was that it has some Undead Draugrs that almost injured a few workers but thankfully the tunnel was sealed by the Dare Troopers of the Company.

"I guess we will go in, huh?" Wulfur said.

"We are the ones who started this after all." Jon said.

"Correction, it was you. No one even believed you when you said there is a Nordic ruin down there."

"Now, I am glad you do. Gear up in one hour, I want a small team of elites and a support team. I am taking the front."

Jon announced his intention to face the tomb and the men started running around. Jon was known to be a demon-like taskmaster but he always rewarded his men with drinking breaks and vacation they never heard about so it was all good and fine to just do the unreasonable stuff he asks about.

After some time, Jon and his crew led the first team in Kolbjorn Barrow.

***

Unlike most barrows in the Game, this one needed a lot of work and money to unearth its treasure. It would take a lot of time in the game because the player had to cooperate with a certain explorer to get the job done, luckily for Jon he had his own company.

The excavation was neatly done and no casualties occurred, those miners who faced the undead draugrs were led to safety and promised a reward by Jon before he goes in.

After Jon went in, he started to make a formation to handle the narrow tunnels of the barrow. Wulfur led a band shield bearers and Jon followed with Alina and Jull. After the first tunnel, a horde of draugrs could be detected by Jon's magic.

"They have discovered us… get into formation."

The Dare Troopers formed a shield wall right away then Jon, Alina and Jullanar aimed their staves and weapons forward.

Through the long tunnel, Jon saw the draugrs on its other end. He recognized that type of draugrs once he saw their style right away. These were Draugr Wights, a higher form of Draugr that live in the Ancient Nord Ruins.

They were not the friendliest type of draugrs as they were both Magic and Thu'um users.

"Qiilaan Us Dilon!" (Bow before Dead!)

"Bolog Aaz, Mal Lir!" (Beg Mercy, Little Worm!)

The dried up walking corpses started talking in a tongue unknown to most, their snorts and creepy voices started to scare the troopers and Wulfur himself looked worried. Up until now, all they met were the mindless undead and the lesser Draugrs but these ones were guardians of major tombs… not a thing to compare.

"Fos Los Dilon Fend Neh Paagol! (What is dead should never walk!) Men, fear the dead do not and put them to eternal rest." Jon replied to the undead and talked heroically to his men.

"Dir Volaan!" (Die Intruder!) The draugr shouted and swarmed ahead.

"IIDAH!" (Attack) Jon shouted some sense into his warriors with a 'War Cry' and unleashed his best Sun Spells, 'Holy Smite'.

***

A massive skirmish happened, Jon was at the rear casting spells nonstop and Wulfur was pushing three draugrs with his tower shield alone.

Each hit from those undead was akin to hammer attack from a fully empowered Aura User, these undead may have long passed but they still had an aura on their own. Still, the dead had an advantage the living always lacked and that was they never tire. Their ceaseless attacks on Wulfur's shield proved to be troublesome as his usual strategy of letting the opponents ring their ears on his shield then scooping them up off the ground was not working with these Draugrs at all.

Alina too was trying to fend the first raw warriors from the Frost Magic that the Draugr used. Frost Magic was the bane of warriors as it would weaken them and cause them to become slow. Alina was facing all the Draugr Warlocks along with Jullanar who was fairing not better.

Jon was covering his team's shortcomings and finally decided it was the time to take it seriously. He walked forward and joined the first lane with his bare hands.

"FUS RO DAH!"

With his shout, all the Draugrs were pushed back through the tunnel, some were even destroyed by the shout.

Jon didn't let the fallen draugrs get a chance to stand and attacked them while they are down, he used the new Melee Magic spell that he learned from Jonrad, 'Fire Claw'.

Jon used it with the Ashen Flames to dish out the best damage he could do, it destroyed the undead like a charm but caused a wave of heat around the tunnel.

"Don't falter, push forward." At that time, Wulfur got a chance to retake his breath and charge forward beside Jon was in the lead alone, he used his shield as a ram and ran like a madman while waving his hammer, the Champion's Cudgel around.

The rest of the group followed and the clash ended with the first wave of the draugr being annihilated completely.

***

After invading the first chamber in Kolbjorn Barrow, the dare troopers started cleaning it from the dormant draugrs. A part of the barrow seemed to be well-maintained due to the everlasting servitude of these draugrs.

Jon and his crew opened the first bath through the second tunnel and arrived in front of an altar, on it a pair of boots was seen.

This was a part of Ahzidal's Set that was famed for its unique enchantments in the Game. [A/N: Actually, they are useless even though they are unique in the game, I remade them to fit Ahzidal's Legend.]

"These are Ancient Nordic Artifacts! Look at that Ebony metalworking! Wonderous!" Wulfur grabbed the Boots like a madman who haven't seen a girl in ages.

Jon was still checking for traps but Wulfur was as airheaded as ever. He started looking at the boots and checked them through and through.

Everyone else sighed and started to look around the room for any more hidden traps. This was the last room in the area and the excavation didn't go further. Jon flew around the walls and the ceiling with 'levitation' to check for any hidden threats, he found a lot of Albino Spiders so he killed them and harvested their eggs.

"Jon, these boots are amazing." Alina called for him.

Jon joined up with Alina and Wulfur who started to take turns in examining the Artifact.

Jon as the best Enchanter in the group started to examine the enchantment and Wulfur started explaining the idea of the metalworking.

"It is great and all but I need to take away the metal parts that contain the enchantment and mount them on a new pair of boots, this leather and rags are too rotten to be used anymore. Did you figure out the enchantment?" Wulfur said.

"Yes, it is really unique. Only an Enchanter who reached the apex can add two enchantment on an item. Also, the enchantment is too amazing to ever run out or get ruined." Jon said.

Everyone gasped in awe. Enchanted items always needed to be recharged, even though recharging was never a problem for a mystic like Jon who can transfer his Magicka and recharge any item directly with 'Soulfire'.

"You said the owner of this Barrow is called Ahzidal, right?"

"Yes, he is amazing, the set of items he left in this barrow are really legendary, let me tell you about them while the workers clear another path."

Jon started talking about Ahzidal's genius artifacts and amazing talents and pointed out many things about the Boots they acquired.

Wulfur started working on dismantling the boots to mount the enchanted part on a new boot for Jon.

A week passed by and the excavation kept going deeper and deeper into the barrow. During all that, Jon kept warding his people from the evil presence in the mine by using the influence of the Skull of Corruption and it ironically worked. This evil artifacts can't just cause harm but also push away lesser evil.

The barrow was gigantic as if a whole city was down there. The number of clashes with the undead draugrs and solving all these traps and deadly puzzles in the ancient tomb turned the Dare Troopers and Mages from greenhorns into true warmongers who do not fear the dead anymore. They pushed forward through it all with Jon and his crew till the final chamber of the barrow.

During this excavation, Jon and his team gathered a total of six artifacts and a lot of other magical weapons and treasures that would worth tons of coins in the outside world.

These artifacts were:-

[Ahzidal's Boots of Water Striding] that allow the wearer to Walk on Water and Become Faster.

[Ahzidal's Fist of Magic Negation] that allow the wearer to Deal Stronger Attacks and Negate Magic.

[Ahzidal's Armor of Retribution] that would Reflect Some the Damage and Paralyze some of the Opponents.

[Ahzidal's Helm of True Vision] that would make Magic Casting and Archery Reach Further while adding a Homing Effect on any projectile physical or magical.

[Ahzidal's Ring of Arcane] that allows the user to Store Two Spells in it allowing any other user after that to use these spells without learning them.

[Ahzidal's Ring of Necromancy] that empowered all the Spells that deal with the Undead and Trap All the Souls killed by the user.

These artifacts were all amazing treasures that anyone would lust for but there were more, wearing any four items of the set would allow the wearer to tap into some of the secret knowledge of Ahzidal in Enchanting and Jon wouldn't let that Hidden Effect slip out of his hands.

Jon gave [Ahzidal's Armor of Retribution] to Wulfur who really needed some new armor, and [Ahzidal's Ring of Arcane] to Jullanar who knew few spells compared to the rest of the crew. The rest of the items were all claimed by Jon and were all left for Wulfur to work on and replace their rotten rags and leather.

Now, Jon and his crew were in front of the last chamber where an ancient and a very powerful Dragon Priest known as Ahzidal laid dormant. By opening that door, the will be facing something completely new.