User:Vordur Steel-Hammer/Fiction/The Aetherial Mirror/The Aetherial Mirror, Chapter IV: Hammerfell

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The Aetherial Mirror, Chapter IV: Hammerfell

by Vordur Steel-Hammer of the United Explorers of Scholarly Pursuits

The fourth part of the series about the retrieval of an ancient artifact

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The Mages Guild soon discovered that another location from Elanirya's journal was likely in a region of eastern Hammerfell known as Craglorn. They learned that a renowned Nedic scholar, Pelsius Varo, could probably help them find the exact location where the next Mirror piece was hidden.

The Guild expedition met Varo in Dragonstar, and collected some sketches of Nedic reliefs for him. In exchange, Varo told them that the location they were looking for was a set of valleys in the Dragontail Mountains, known as the Howling Sepulchers.

The expedition entered the Sepulchers and managed to find a peculiar tomb, shared between a Nord warrior Svalgardr and a Ra Gada swordmaster called Sheran-qi. The inscription on Svalgardr's coffin was written in Draconic:

HET NOK LOT KENDOV SVALGARDR

MID 1R DO AK4RDAL

V4R3N V4LOK DO KRUZ3K SUL9K

DINOK W4 VOL1N

Which transliterated into Cyrodilic becomes:

Het nok lot kendov Svalgardr

Mid aar do Akiirdal

Vahriin vahlok do kruziik suleyk

Dinok wah volaan

Which in turn means:

Here lies the great warrior Svalgardr

Loyal servant of Akiirdal

Sworn guardian of the ancient power

Death to the intruders

Sheran-qi's coffin bore an inscription in Yoku:

Sa den Shira-Ra Sheran-qi

Dogo hel anselim tobr'a Svalgardr do Akiirdal

Dogo alezer'i shen she ru Yokeda Tarish-Zi

Which means:

Here lies the noble warrior Sheran-qi

His sword agains the vile Svalgardr, [servant] of Akiirdal

He acknowledges the way of the War-Leader Tarish-Zi

From the inscriptions and the nearby relief puzzle, the group concluded that Svalgardr, a subject of the Dragon Priest Akiirdal, found the Mirror piece and was entombed there as its guardian. Centuries later, during the Ra Gada invasion of Craglorn in the ninth century of the First Era, the tomb was found by soldiers of Emperor Tarish-Zi, and Sheran-qi defeated the undead Svalgardr. However, in the end, he too was buried there to guard the artifact.

After the expedition solved the puzzle, the bodies of Svalgardr and Sheran-qi awoke, forcing the mages to defend themselves. The ancient warriors were eventually sent back to Aetherius, and the expedition finally found the second piece of the Aetherial Mirror.