For anyone of the more normal variety the walls were just impressively sturdy things with a small passage in Dovahzul written on them that chanted in said language when you got near. For a dragonborn however they were a source of new words of power to be learned. These walls were carved with intent after all and for one to three of the words that deeper meaning stuck and echoed from them in a way only the dragonborn could feel and resonate with. Unlike the game however this wasn't a one and done type deal as in theory any number of dragonborn could learn these walls words.-
This was why I wanted to reach this wall, it would tell me definitively whether or not I was dragonborn. Not that I'd be able to do that in any short amount of time as the entrance to the mine on this side of the small mountain next to Shor's stone was a good half days trip. I'd then need to spend a couple hours scouring the mine to make sure I didn't miss any hiding bandits before making camp for the night. -
I wasn't nearly foolish enough to travel at night anywhere near a mountain. That time was when trolls, frostbite spiders and other unpleasant things hunted. Trolls you couldn't miss, big ugly three eyed loud ape monsters they were. The spiders and other things though? Those could be VERY stealthy. Gods forbid there was a vampire about in the area. Even the weakest of those might give me trouble from the stories on them I'd heard. Unlike in the game where becoming a vampire barely seemed to accomplish anything beyond giving you some weaknesses and innate magics, reality was VERY different.-
Vampires were stronger, faster and had near limitless stamina compared to normal people. Additionally they could see in the dark, detect life through solid surfaces. They possessed innate magic of the not good for you variety and could even enthrall you with their innate magics or fully subjugate you if they could get their fangs in you. As if THAT weren't bad enough they also had different lineages that gave them unique perks for that lineage. The ones in Skyrim as far as I knew were exclusively of the Volkihar lineage and could either turn into vampire lords or at least possessed innate necromancy.-
Needless to say I REALLY didn't want to have to fight one if I could avoid it. As I had my mount running full tilt across the wooded leaf covered ground I kept my head on a swivel for anything I needed to deal with. It might not have looked like it but my mount was capable of hauling ass if it was told to. Faster than any of the native breeds of horses we had here in skyrim at least. To be fair ours were bred to carry serious weight and live comfortably in the harsh cold of this land, not be fast.-
If I could find a Yokudan charger breed horse from Hammerfell to compare I'd know how my mount compared with a speed bred horse. I don't know if it was good or bad luck but the only thing I spotted as I traveled was a massive white pelted elk that I stiffened at the sight of. I knew this particular beast well from the tales around it and one particular quest from the game involving it. This was Hircine's hind, a single elk that the daedric prince Hircine himself blessed to be much harder to hunt than normal.-
Anyone who succeeded however would earn the favor of that prince for their skill. I noped out of that situation the moment my brain processed what I was seeing even though it added an hour to my trip. The beast didn't follow me but my magical senses bristled as I felt an unseen eye briefly look at me when I realized what the beast was. A downside or perhaps upside depending on your preference to being skilled at conjuration magic was being VERY sensitive to the feel of things not from this plane of existence.-
And that gaze? Definitely not a native one.
Thankfully Hircine who was the most likely owner of that gaze lost interest in me once he saw my fast attempt to flee from the hind. I got back on a narrow footpath up the side of the mountain and by the time the sun was beginning to dip and the moons rising I reached the mine. I scoffed when I saw the bandits didn't even have a lookout at this entrance but wasn't surprised. This entrance was off the beaten path and out of the way so they must not have expected anyone to come through it.-
"Kill anyone who isn't me that runs out of here. Oh and feel free to eat them if you want." I told my mount that I was leaving to block this entrance.
The great demonic toad croaked in acknowledgement before settling in place. I held my hand out in front of my chest and drew out my blade before pressing forward into the dusty air of the mine. My boots crunched softly the loose stone chips that littered the ground as i walked along the shaft into the mountain. After about ten minutes of walking I finally saw the light of fires used to illuminate the inside of the mine the bandits were using.-
I shrugged and a green glow flowed over my form like a ripple of falling water over stone and my form began to shimmer and fade. This was a [minor chameleon] spell that had a three minute effect of making me blend into my surroundings. Not invisibility however because unlike that magical effect chameleon wasn't broken by attacking. I didn't know how many bandits were waiting up ahead and this would let me scout them out relatively safely.-
I slung down into a stealthy stance to minimize my sounds and the area of my spells influence making it less likely for me to get spotted. I crept around the corner with my eyes narrowing from the sudden light exposure but quickly adapting.
'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Spread out too, might need to go loud for this.' I thought seriously as I counted the bandits and checked the entrances and exits as well.
The room itself was just a large sort of nexus point that the bandits had converted into their community area with a few rough wooden tables and chairs along with some kegs of mead.
The whole place was lit up with cheap metal braziers burning chopped wood and had decaying wooden ramps moving into high shafts and sections from the miners at one point trying to see if the veins were really depleted or they just it a pocket of depletion. The air wasn't stagnant but it barely flowed so I quickly hatched an idea about how I could potentially handle these bandits quiet like.