I, Draugr Chapter 2 (Patreon)

"What was that!?"

"What was what?"

"T-That… glowing thingy!"

"'Twas nothin' but my sheer magnificence radiating forth." Aurelia's eyes narrow, a minuscule pout forming at the edge of her lips at my teasing, "Nothing harmful, I swear." Her narrowed lilac eyes – and ain't that some surprising eye-color – relax faintly before flicking away from me.

"If you say so…" Her shoulders relax, and if I could, I'd smile at her concern despite being someone who really shouldn't let me live. Though, I am very glad that she isn't unreasonable. "I'll look around for anything still usable and of value then."

I let out a soft chuckle at her words, knowing very well how valuable the Word Wall behind me is, "Might I suggest starting from the big as hell chest right beside the coffin?" Aurelia perks up and tilts her head to look past me and to the large, dusty and quite rusty treasure chest beside the coffin.

Aside from that, this sort of altar is quite… empty. There is nothing else aside from the Word Wall, which I am sure is the greatest treasure in this crypt, hence why the guy that I fucked up without shame decided to make it his tomb.

But either way, I must focus on something else and of greater importance now.

The guy gave me another Greater Soul, which I decided to use so to finally Evolve my race- Which isn't something simple.

Once I have enough Souls, I am apparently given choices to pick.

And what I went with was honestly the right thing to do, especially since it's among my favorite things.

Race – Skeleton Mage

Souls; (1)

Skill/s;

[The Cold touch of Death.] (Passive)

[Necromantic Soul] (Passive)

Magic Spells;

[Magic Missile] (2/10)

(Magic Spell slot available) x2

I do not know why 'Skeleton Mage' is a Race, but I do not really care. The moment I evolved, I instantly felt my small Magicka reserves downright swell tenfold, telling me that this was the right thing to do.

[Skeleton Mage]

Decent in the Arcane Arts, yet still feeble of bones. Magic comes easy to you, and your reserves are far greater than before.

Your Necromancy Powers start awakening.

Just the sheer increase in my reserves is more than good enough, especially since before I could only cast a total of five meager Magic Missiles at once… But then it came with a Necromancy power boon.

The other choices that I was given weren't too bad either… Nor are they gone.

Race Modification Available

[Skeleton Fighter]

Bones as tough as Oak Wood and fearsome strength. A skeleton still, but one that is quite troublesome to deal with.

Grants minor combat knowledge with weapons.

(0/5)

Race Modification Available

[Skeleton Archer]

Fleet of foot and sharp of sight, both in dark and in light. Bows are your hammer, and arrows are your deadly nails.

Grants minor knowledge with bows, and sharpens eyesight.

(0/5)

For another five Souls, I can also gain the boost of one of the two other Race options I had before. And I know that it's only one of the two this time.

While Archer is good, I'll definitely grab the Fighter Modification due to the added strength and defense. I can survive better that way, and I can also cast a mean as fuck Fist when I want to.

Now, to evolve again, I need ten Souls in total. It's either going to be easy getting them, or it'll be lightly hard.

I could keep the Greater Souls and use them to massively improve my spells with double Modifications, but… I have a feeling that once I reach the end of those ten upgrades for Magic Missile, the Spell is going to Evolve just like my Race.

It just looks too similar, and I may be wrong. I'll use the Greater Souls for better upgrades, but if it takes too long to find more then I'll just use a simple Soul.

I did use the Greater Soul I got from the fucker I bodied to upgrade my Race, leaving me with a single left-over Soul, mostly because I was eager to finally stop being a weak and simple Skeleton.

Finally, the last boons I obtained from my recent upgrade.

[Conjuration Path – Necromantic Conjuration]

The Magical ability to raise and/or Conjure corpses and Undead creature, either from the corpses before you or from the plain of Oblivion.

[Necromantic Soul]

As an Undead yourself, your Conjured Undead minions not only are fairly stronger than normal, but also follow orders with far more willingness.

So it is forcing me down the path of Necromancy, huh?

Problem here is, and that I have seen even before my evolution… Is that I have Spell Slots but not Spells for either my Frost Magic or my new Conjuration Magic.

Why? And how can I… Wait, don't tell me I have to create them?

I raise my bony hand and focus, then watch as chilly fog starts to wrap around my bony fingers, raining snowflakes down towards the ground.

Of course. It's not there or among the Skills, but I can just call upon it freely.

I can freely use it, then maybe create Spells for myself to add to the Magic Spell slots, then modify them as I see fit.

So this strange System of mine doesn't hold my hand, it just tells me to do shit myself… I quite like this change, I'll be honest.

But how do I go at it with Conjuration Spells? I do not know my limit, nor what to possibly Conjure- Wait, no. There is something that I might be able to Conjure.

My favorite Conjuration Spell of all, one I wish I could have made stronger through my millions of play-through.

The Kamikaze Familiar- Or well, the Flaming Familiar. The Flame Wolf that goes 'We all dyin' in this bitch!' Once it gets hurt too much or dies.

I want that good boy back! Mostly for entirely explosive purposes I might or might not unleash inside a town or city.

"Aurelia." I call out towards the rather beautiful woman with a very peculiar appearance that just draws in my gaze.

She perks up at my voice, her gaze having been focused on a stone tablet of sort that she fished out of the large rusty chest she kicked open with ease. "Yes?"

"Word of warning," I start, just in case, "I shall try to conjure a Familiar, but due to my wonderful self being very much Dead, I suspect an equally Undead creature might come out." It's a gut-feeling of mine, mostly due to my Magic description.

Her eyes blink, then narrow lightly, "You might have Necromancy powers?"

I nod, a bit annoyed I cannot show my slight regret on my face right now. It's a good type of magic, I'll be honest, but I highly prefer normal Conjuration than Necromantic Conjuration, "'Tis a possible outcome. I fear with me being Undead my… magical option are unfortunately leaning towards that type of school of magic."

Her eyes narrow more, but she soon relaxes and sighs deeply, "I cannot blame you for the hand you are being dealt with. Again." I am very grateful that she is so understanding. "Thank you for informing me, at least." And what a sweet smile too.

"'Tis only right." I nod and shrug, "I shall promise to not take control of any human corpses from now on. Unless they are Bandits or criminals, that is." While I plan to become a problem, I do not plan on being Evil.

One, because it's not enjoyable, just like being Good, and two… Because honestly, I don't see why I should.

I'll just be Neutral, throw hands where I see fit, and cause problems for anyone just to sate my amusement.

"Who knew that a Skeleton could be so likeable." Aurelia snorts softly, and I try but fail to puff up my chest.

Mostly because I have no lungs. Or flesh. "Trust me, you still have to see my charming side."

"Joy." Why sound so not-impressed, lady!?

"You are lucky nothing can get under my skin." Aurelia pauses, then throws a very flat gaze my way. "Literally."

"You don't say?"

"Can't say I don't have a funny bone in me, though." Her lips twitch, "I got more than two hundred of 'em!" I make finger guns her way, and she just releases a shaky sigh and turns away from me.

I'm going to annoy her so much!

Either way, I spare her for now and turn towards the Word Wall, then concentrate.

I want a nice, suicidal, explosive flaming wolf! Gimme the goodest of good boys!

Come to papa, you flaming kamikaze doggo-

Spell Acquired!

[Conjure Undead Minion]

Reach into Oblivion and call forth an Undead Creature to do your bidding.

(Current available creatures; Plague Rants, Undead Giant Spider, Feral Undead Mastiff)

(0/5)

...Not what I wanted, but I shall gladly take it. Especially since I can upgrade this thing.

A mild roar echoes out, and I watch as a tear in reality takes shape, absolute blackness staring back at me before a very undead dog steps through.

The tear in reality closes behind the… ugly looking mutt. Don't stare at me like that.

Actually, it's not even staring at me. One eye is looking towards the right, while the left eyeball is hanging down his jaws.

I can see the ribs, the rotten and decaying flesh, and well… This ain't a friendly lookin' dog.

"I am thoroughly disappointed." I sigh out as Aurelia steps up right beside me, her own eyes fixed upon my conjured minion.

"That-" She jabs one of her armored fingers towards the Undead Mastiff, her eyes turning to flatly stare at me, "Is why I hate Necromancers." Fair enough.

I turn to look at the very ugly undead dog, and try not to cringe at it's bouncing eyeball. "I can summon a giant undead spider if you want?" She visibly shudders in disgust.

Better not bring out the rats then. For now.

"Such revolting magic…" I nod my head in agreement. But alas, this is the hand I've been dealt with, and I plan on making use of it as best as I can.

Same with my Frost Magic, which I really should find a useful Spell for. Perhaps a defensive one, but I'll think about it later.

"What were you looking at before?" I ask, ignoring the undead mutt before us, mostly because it's really ugly.

Aurelia perks up, then pulls the large stone tablet I remember seeing her stare at from under her left arm, "A strange map, from the looks of it." I take the offered tablet and hum softly.

Ah, the Dragonstone Farengar requests the Dragonborn to go and pick up… But, this one is different.

It clearly shows the whole of Skyrim, with certain marks scattered around.

The original Dragonstone should show the location of where the Dragon Mounds are, places where Dragons are buried.

This instead… It seems to show way more than normal? There are clearly dragon heads drawn on top of it, but also… Masks.

Fuck, does it show the Dragon Priests too?

"Well, shit…" Aurelia perks up at my curse.

"Is something wrong?" She looks between me and the tablet, "Do you know what it means?"

I nod, much to her surprise, "It shows places where Dragons are buried, but also places where Dragon Priests reside." And there are far more than normal.

"Dragon… Priests?" The Paladin woman narrows her eyes in confusion, clearly having never heard of them.

Not that I think it's common knowledge. I believe very few know about their existence, like the Archmage of the College of Winterhold, who faced one personally.

"They are very powerful undead that own insanely powerful Enchanted Mask- But that's not why I cursed." Turning the map towards her, I jab a bony finger on one of the mask marks. "Look where one of them seemingly is."

Her eyes fix upon the mark that I am pointing, then they slowly widen more and more. "That's… Whiterun?"

Yes, apparently there's a fucking Dragon Priest in Whiterun, or maybe even below it.

Aurelia narrows her eyes and cups her chin for a few quiet seconds, "It might be sealed beneath the Temple of Arkay in Whiterun." She points out, gaining my attention, "It is rare, but when Paladins are unable to defeat a powerful undead, the second best course of action is to seal it within a powerful Holy Barrier."

Similar to what the Archmage did, huh? Well, that is understandable. These guys might as well be walking calamities, and they'd instantly join their Dragon daddies the moment they show up.

"Here." I give her back the stone tablet, "Might I suggest copying the location of where the Dragon Burial sites are, then getting rid of the tablet? If information of the Dragon Priests goes around, I fear some fools might awaken them and cause a disaster." Luckily, Aurelia nods and takes the offered tablet out of my hands.

"It is a good proposition, especially now that there is a Dragon on the loose." Hm?

"Excuse me?"

Aurelia blinks at me, "Ah, of course you wouldn't know of that. Recently Helgen was destroyed by a Dragon attack. I was there to witness it." Ah, so the Dragonborn is already out and about, huh?

Oh well, doesn't matter. "And I of course had to wake up at around this time. Wonderful." Aurelia stifles a giggle at my predicament, and oh lady, I shall make you pay for that.

"Anything of value?" I turn to kick the draugr corpse beside me on his belly, just so I could yoink his heavy but clearly Enchanted Greatsword.

It has a faint sky-blue hue to it, telling me that it has a cold Enchantment to it. It's a bit rusty, so not really worth keeping, but maybe it might be worth quite a bit for those that know how to repair this stuff.

"An Enchanted Shield." Aurelia nods towards the rusty chest, where a wooden shield with an orange glow around it lay on the floor. "And the greatsword in your hands too, I guess…" I glance at her, and notice that she seems… Nervous.

She keeps glancing at the Word Wall too. "Is something wrong?" She doesn't flinch, but her focus does fall fully on the Word Wall.

"It's just…" She starts, then gulps and breathes in, "The whispering coming from that wall is becoming quite… unnerving." Whispering?

I look at the World Wall and find myself hearing absolutely nothing- No, wait… The whispering is what the Player hears when they approach a World Wall.

Holy shit, is Aurelia the Dragonborn? If so, then she wasn't a prisoner during Helgen.

"It is nothing harmful." I reassure her, then point towards the Word Wall, "This is a Word Wall. It contains knowledge on the Dragon Language- Specifically, knowledge on a single Word of Power." Her shoulders relax at my words.

Then, without my prompt, she takes a hesitant step towards it. Then another and another, until she is standing right before it.

A large inscription on the wall suddenly lights up, and Aurelia's eyes glaze over as wisps of golden, orange and blue energy rush into her body from the glowing word.

It all lasts just a few seconds, and she soon gasps herself into focus. "W-What…" Her right hand comes up to hold her head before she gives it a shake. "That was… so weird…" I imagine it to be.

I doubt getting your head stuffed with knowledge of a single Word of Power fills nice.

I tilt my head as she breathes in, taking the chance to actually and fully drink in her appearance.

She is tall, a bit taller than the current me, and with a slim but clearly heavily trained body.

Her hair are incredibly long, going way beyond the back of her kneecaps, and also of a light silver color, which fits her very pale skin quite well.

Her slim body is clad in a heavy and slightly bulky dark silver and blue armor, her own greatsword matching the same color of her armor, yet glowing a faint golden color.

I believe it to be Enchanted with something very harmful to the Undead, due to her being a Paladin of Arkay.

"Are you alright?" She gives a light nod before shuddering, "Kindly aim thy lips somewhere else if you wish to test your new yet dangerous linguistic prowess."

Her cheeks flush mildly at my words, but she surprisingly enough shakes her head, "I'd rather not test such powers within an enclosed space such a this." Trust me, the fucker I bodied would have had no qualms hurlin' your pretty ass across the room. Cave collapse or not.

"Fair enough-" My hound releases an ungodly screech as it keels over and starts fading away, making me fall quiet. "Had to go while making a scene, of course." Wouldn't be a dog otherwise.

Aurelia shudders in disgust and swiftly moves to pick up the Enchanted shield by the treasure chest. Once done, she gets ready to leave, but pauses to give me a look, "What do you plan to do from now on?"

Become a problem. On a continental scale. "I dunno. Maybe wander around a bit, shank some folks, throw giant undead spiders at Bandits…" I shrug, already making a mental list to actually go through all of that.

Though I require a dagger for my shanking part, cause this big ass sword is a bit too heavy.

Aurelia hums, lips twitching lightly at my list of soon to be crimes against humanity. And other races. And Dragons. I shall add even the Gods to the list, 'cause why not! "Why don't you come with me?"

I blink at the request, "I am kind of… You know, everything you stand against?" She makes a 'so-so' gesture with her hands.

"While undead, you are willing to talk things out and don't attack on sight-" Yet. "-like all the other Undead do. Plus, I'd like to have a guide now that I am in Skyrim, and you clearly know much." Hmm…

Sticking by the Dragonborn is kinda troublesome due to them being in the middle of everything, but also… It'll be quite hilarious and exciting.

I'd rather not waste this second chance at 'life' by being a coward and just hiding around, so might as well enjoy it.

"Then I shall be thy faithful guide and bring you wherever you wish!" I say while doing an exaggerated bow, "Let us not speak of trust between us. After all, you can see right through me."

Aurelia hums and starts walking, then stops after just a few steps.

Finally, she sighs, then groans loudly. "I am already regretting it."

Good.

This shall be amusing!

…

This isn't amusing anymore.

I mean, I did ask for it, but I'm still bored as hell.

Around me, lots of nature basked in darkness. Which I can kinda easily see through, for some reason.

Aurelia is back in Riverwood, and I told her to just rest there for the night instead of camping outside.

She wanted to try and bring me along, but with me being a skeleton and very likely lacking the ability to sleep, I'd have been trapped in a room or hunted by the guards together with Aurelia.

So here I am, not far from Riverwood, and right beside the flowing river the small village is sat against.

On our way down from Bleak Falls Barrow, I noticed that unlike in the game where Riverwood had barely a dozen houses, here it has at least more than a hundred.

Though I presume it's far more than that too due to the enormous trees that fill the area.

I scratch my bony chin with a sigh, mildly annoyed that I cannot sleep. Oh well, I guess I can use this chance to maybe create a Frost Spell.

There's the problem of my few Spell Slots, which hopefully will rise in quantity with further Evolutions.

Custom spells for me to focus on and empower however I want is honestly going to be insanely useful.

But what can I do with my Frost Magic? Magic Missile will become my future RPG, while I can build a miniature army with my Undead Minions… Yet I doubt that they will all be insanely durable.

So what if I go down the path of Ice Constructs? Shape things with my Frost Magic, maybe even clad my own Undead in hard ice armor- A lot of possibilities, and a lot of versatility.

Alas, it doesn't seem like I can shape my Frost Magic aside from shooting it out in a long beam of frigid air.

A beam the size of my head, and that can freeze plants in less than a second. Imagine what that can do to the unprotected human body.

Imagine what I can do once I scale this up.

Spell Acquired!

[Ray of Frost]

Release a rush of glacial air from your fingertips. From a gust of air, to a roaring blizzard. It is up to you to see how far this goes.

(0/5)

Wonderful. And with me being Undead, my Frost Magic is also strengthened, though I do not know by how much.

I wonder if the boon becomes stronger as I Evolve further.

With a hum, I take notice that I have one last Soul left. What to Upgrade…

[Ray of Frost]

Release a rush of glacial air from your fingertips. From a gust of air, to a roaring blizzard. It is up to you to see how far this goes.

Modification: Beam Size!

(1/5)

And that doubled the size of my Ray of Frost. So the Modification do double upon the previous parameters.

Perfect.

Now… What the fuck do I do?

I sigh, then look towards the rushing water beside me, then back towards Riverwood.

There's guards on the wall watching the main gate, and the waters of this river must be freezing cold, enough to stop any idiot from trying to get in through them.

Alas, that fucking dumbass tonight is a skeleton! I feel no heat or cold, bitches!

Time to become a problem.

….

A Dragon, of all things.

One of the guards of Riverwood shook his head with a twitch of his lips.

Many apparently saw this gigantic beast soar over their small, quaint village the day before, but he did not.

And he doesn't believe mere rumors, even if multiple people can attest to their veracity.

It had been the talk of the village, especially when that Paladin of Arkay came around with survivors of Helgen, Imperials and Stormcloaks both in her group.

The two seemed ready to tear at each other, but preferred going to their respective Holds so to warn their factions about this Dragon threat.

He still refused to believe such things.

"-remember you, you cunt." A strange voice suddenly speaks up, bringing the guard to a pause. Everyone should be mostly asleep at this late hour. "First time I played, I accidentally killed your ass, and proceeded to get brutally ass-fucked by a granny and the rest of the village." A chicken clucked in alarm and fear, making the guard frown.

What fool was messing with the wandering chickens at this time of night?

"I should kick you across the country. The temptation is strong." With a snort, the guard rests his hand on the pommel of his sword and turns the corner towards the voice-

He freezes on the spot at the sight, a choked noise leaving his lips.

The bare skeleton seemingly hears the noise and lifts its head up, back to the guard.

Then, the sound of deep breathing rings out. "Smells like bitch in here." What?

Glowing, horrifying blue flames meet the paralyzed guard's wide eyes. "Ah, a delicious meat-bag has wandered its way to me…" M-Meat-bag?

Him!?

The skeleton clicked its jaws together, the repeated clicking sound making the guard's knees tremble as a low whimper escapes his lips.

"I can already imagine how I'll feast on your guts… While you are still awake and alive!" WHAT!?

Then, the skeleton moves.

The horrifying undead being capable of speech lowers itself to all fours… Then releases an ungodly screech of pure madness and horror while crawling its way towards the guard.

The screech is met by a squeal of pure terror as the guard forgoes his shield and sword to instantly turn around and run for his fucking life!

"Come back here boy! Your guts are calling for me!"

Nobody ended up believing him the next day.

Well, expect for a strangely exasperated Paladin.

….

"Leonidas." I perk up at the familiar voice and turn my head to look at Aurelia, a flat look on her face as she steps into the clearing I promised I'd wait for her in.

"Told ya I wouldn't disappear." She sighs and drops a large sack beside me, and I'd raise a brow if I could, "What's this?"

"Things to cover your… bone bits." I stare down at my hands and the feet visible under the long dark robes.

"Forgive my nudity, milady." She palms her face and sighs deeply while I sit up and open the sack. Leather gauntlets, leather boots, and a large leather helmet. "Hope these didn't cost much."

Aurelia shakes her head with a light smile, "The Golden Claw we found was owned by those I bought these things from. They gave me a huge discount and also bought the Enchanted Gear at quite a bit." Hopefully she didn't get tricked, but I believe she must know the worth of these things by now.

I stuff the gauntlets and boots on before she speaks up again, "You know, some weird rumors started going around Riverwood since morning."

I perk up as I grab the helmet, "Indeed? What kind?"

Her lips twitch as I stuff the helmet on, "One guard said that he was chased by a skeleton crawling on all fours across the village."

"That so? Must've been drunk on the job."

"Uh-huh…" Aurelia nods, "A woman said that a skeleton broke into her home and threw a frozen chicken at her."

"Some people have strange nightmares, I swear…"

"Quite. Another guard instead was pushed down on the ground from behind, got clobbered in the head by a brick, then had his pants stolen. By a skeleton."

"Riverwood sounds like quite the lively place, doesn't it?"

"Leonidas."

"Yes, my dear?"

"Leonidas."

"That is my name, yes. Don't wear it out."

We look at each for a few quiet and tense seconds before I decide to break the silence. "Have they not found the hogtied Wood Elf hanging from a tree yet?"

"The fucking what?!"

Ah~, Sheoggorath would be proud.

A.N. Riverwood down.

Whiterun ain't fuckin' ready.

Poor Jarl Balgruuf.