Honor of the Dragonborn

Discoveries

The door led them to a room with more draugr and a word wall, and Krinna learned a new shout.  She told them it would allow her to temporarily take on the aspect of a dragon, and Vilkas could tell she was a bit excited about that prospect.
Then they'd seemed to be at a dead end, until Krinna found the hidden door behind one of the sarcophagi. From there they wound through more passageways past several statues of some sort that Vilkas thought looked like an abominable cross between a dragon and a fish.
"I do not like this place," Frea commented as they passed another statue. "It almost looks as if these statues will come to life at any moment."
"Oh, they probably will," Krinna grumbled. Vilkas uncomfortably remembered the gargoyles at Castle Volkihar as he looked back at the large, ugly decorations.
But as they continued the statues stayed statues, and they finally found themselves in a dimly lit room with a strange grated floor and a single pedestal. On the pedestal was a black book with a black-green image... a round shape with several tentacles protruding from it... Vilkas suspected that to be a likeness of Hermaeus Mora. The air around the book made him uncomfortable.
"This book... It seems wrong, somehow..." Frea commented as she approached the pedestal curiously. "Here, yet... not. It may be what we seek."
"One way to find out," Krinna shrugged. She glanced back at Vilkas. Vilkas understood the look in her eyes perfectly and pulled Wuuthrad from his back. Once she saw that he was ready to cover for her, Krinna reached out and carefully picked up the book. She paused for a moment, looking around to see if picking up the book triggered any traps. When nothing moved after several moments Krinna let out a sigh. "Alright, let's see what secrets he left here..."
Krinna opened the book and Vilkas yelled out in alarm as several green-black tentacles shot out of the pages and wrapped around Krinna's face. Then suddenly her whole body became incorporeal and she was just standing there as though reading the book.
"That's not right," Vilkas said uncomfortably approaching her. "Krinna!" He called out to her but there was no sign she heard him. His hands passed right through her when he tried to grab her shoulders.
Vilkas tried not to panic as he waited helplessly, desperately hoping she would return soon. To his relief she suddenly stumbled and gained form again several minutes later, the book slammed shut in her grasp.
"Damn arrogant bastard," Krinna grumbled, shaking her head. She looked angry.
"What happened to you?" Frea asked as Vilkas looked her over for injuries. "You read the book and then... It seemed as though you were not really here. We could see you, but also see through you!"
"Not to mention the black tentacles," Vilkas added, "Are you alright my love?"
"I think so," Krinna sighed. Then looking up to Frea, "I'm not really sure. I saw Miraak on a dragon..."
"Where? Where is he?" Frea asked eagerly, "Can we reach him? Can we kill him?"
"Somehow, reading this book took me to where he was," Krinna explained holding up the book. "But it was his domain, I was powerless... couldn't even move."
"This is a dangerous thing, then," Frea realized uneasily. "We should return to my village, and show this to my father. Perhaps Storn can make sense of what is going on..."
"Yeah, I want out of here," Krinna agreed.
"You're sure you're alright love?" Vilkas asked as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes.
"Yeah," she sighed, "Miraak just taunted me and had his creepy minions blast me back here. It was unpleasant, but no lasting damage."
Vilkas sighed in relief, and they let Frea lead them out of the underground temple.

Frea led them back to her village where Krinna spoke to their shaman, Storn. He didn't know much more about Miraak than Vilkas and Krinna had already figured out themselves, but once he learned that Krinna was Dragonborn like Miraak, he gave them the location of an ancient source of power that only a dragonborn could use. Vilkas thought that sounded like a word wall with anothet shout Krinna could learn.
They spent the night with the Skaal and set out for the place Storn had called Saering's Watch the next morning.

They were making decent time, following the random foot trails through the ash covered forest. Vilkas noticed Krinna had to check the map and their bearings much more frequently than she did in Skyrim, but her sense of direction was still a thing of wonder.
"So how do you like the Skaal?" Krinna asked conversationally around mid morning, once they were long out of the village.
"They're interesting... definitely a resilient people," Vilkas commented thoughtfully, "I wouldn't want to come live with them, but I think it would be interesting to learn more about them... they have a very different culture from our own." Vilkas had heard of the Skaal from somewhere before all of the research he'd done preparing for this trip, but he couldn't remember where.
"Agreed," Krinna nodded, "Frea seemed nice. I definitely want to help them get free of Miraak's control."
"Aye. You trust them then?" Vilkas asked.
"Yeah," Krinna replied, "they want Miraak defeated as much as we do. They're our allies in this."
"That's good enough for me then love," Vilkas nodded with a smile. He was about to say something else when movement in the bushes caught his eye.
Suddenly a small party of tiny humanoid creatures with blue/grey skin charged out as if to ambush them. They were barely as tall as Krinna's thigh, they yelled in what sounded like a primitive language, and they wielded spears the size of the arrows that Vilkas shot from his bow. Vilkas's first reaction was to laugh at them, but when they didn't back off at the sight of Wuuthrad or Dawnbreaker, he had to take the fight a little more seriously. Soon he and Krinna were both kicking and hacking away at the swarm of these tiny angry creatures.

"What in Oblivion are these?" Krinna asked grumpily surveying the carnage afterwards.
"Not the most intelligent creatures," Vilkas commented shaking his head. The foolish creatures had fought to the very last, forcing them to slaughter every one of them.
"I almost feel bad..." Krinna said nudging one of the corpses with her foot.
"They didn't exactly give us much choice love," Vilkas said raising an eyebrow at her.
"I know," she sighed. Vilkas thought she actually sounded sad.
"What's wrong love?" Vilkas didn't believe she could possibly be actually upset about defending themselves from this bizarre troop of creatures. Krinna blinked and looked back at him, and Vilkas watch her expression shift as she shook her head. Her expression changed to one Vilkas was much more used to; she appeared to actually realize she was being irrational.
"Nothing, I think this place and the nights of not sleeping well are starting to get to me."
"Let's get going then," Vilkas suggested with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Krinna nodded, sheathing her sword, but then she turned back around to pick something up.
"What do you think this would do if you fired it from Auriel's Bow?" She asked holding up one of the tiny spears. Vilkas laughed.
"It would need fletchings if you wanted me to actually hit anything with it, but I imagine it would burn like everything else."
"So probably not worth hanging on to," Krinna nodded, dropping the small spear back to the pile of bodies.
"Probably not," Vilkas agreed with a chuckle.

They continued north to the ancient ruins that Storn had marked on Krinna's map. There was a dragon and several draugr, all of which Krinna and Vilkas made quick work of.
But as the dragon began to disintegrate as Vilkas was accustomed to seeing them do, a spectral figure of a man in robes and a mask appeared.
"Wait, what?!" Krinna snapped angrily as the dragon's soul flew to the spectral figure instead of her.
"It takes a strong will to command a dragon's soul. Perhaps you aren't as powerful as you think," the figure taunted.
"Damn it Miraak!" Krinna yelled. Her sword swung harmlessly through the space he'd appeared in just as his image vanished, leaving behind the faint sound of a chuckle. Krinna growled in frustration and pulled her sword out of the ash.
Vilkas hurried to her side preparing for more trouble, but none came. With another angry sigh Krinna stalked up the steps to the word wall at the top of the ruins. Vilkas followed protectively as usual, and once she'd learned the word they headed back toward the village.

By afternoon they were back at the Wind Stone where most of the Skaal were enslaved by Miraak's spell.
"I wonder if just shouting at it would work..." Krinna commented hopefully.
"I don't see what it could hurt..." Vilkas shrugged. Krinna stepped forward, past the entranced people and into the pool of water around the stone. Vilkas stood back watching, unsure of what to expect.
"GOL!" The shock wave of Krinna's thuum hit the stone and surrounding structures, causing the entranced people to stumble. Krinna took several steps back as the structures began to glow with red-orange lines, then the structure exploded.
Vilkas ducked as a chunk of stone flew over his head. When he looked back up there was a huge creature in front of the stone. It looked like an abominable cross between a giant and a slaughter fish. It had purple skin, walked on two legs, and was nearly as tall as the Wind Stone. When it stomped the ground a mass of black-green tentacles like the ones he'd seen when Krinna read the book erupted from the ground and dealt damage to everything they touched. Vilkas knew better to get in close to that thing. He pulled Auriel's Bow from his back and began firing arrows at it as he backed up the hill. Krinna followed suit, launching fire bolts from each hand.

They approached again cautiously once the creature finally fell dead.
"By the All-Maker..." one of the recently freed Skaal muttered looking at the beast as well. "I'd heard the old tales of lurkers, but never thought they were real..."
"A lurker huh," Krinna said nudging the slimy purple corpse with her boot. Then turning back to Vilkas with a smirk she said, "well, there's another thing we can add to the list of things you've killed."
Vilkas had the uncomfortable feeling they were going to have to kill more than one...