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SNEAK PEAK VIDEO GAME ADVENTURE: ELDER SCROLLS PART 2

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When it came down to it, being in a team wasn't really my style. If I had the choice between having a squad and being a lone wolf, I kinda liked being a wolf, even if it meant being on my own. But still, I had to admit that I liked the company of a few friends.

Unless there was a constant feud between them, then it just made things difficult.

"Everyone suited up?"

"Yup!"

"Better than ever!"

"Um... I guess? I mean, I don't really have a choice."

"Gawd, this is annoying. I'll be halfway through the dungeon if ya guys need me," Fynn's voice crackled through our headsets, his accent refreshingly different among our Wisconsinite accents.

Joni giggled and poked Fynn as he strode past us, but I doubt he felt it through his heavy armor. I much preferred the light weight of the elven armor, which gave me more speed in combat, but I supposed he didn't need it. He actually knew how to use a warhammer, as opposed to Landon's amateur attacks that involved haphazard whacks here and there.

Kole scowled after Fynn, annoyed by his lack of appreciation for the theatrics of the game. I bumped my shoulder against his to cheer him up before following after Fynn down the spiral staircase to what would be our doom.

I spawned just inside a cave-like tunnel, and was then approached by Fynn as he switched his voice just to my headset to whine, "Does he really have to be here? I mean, we could take this dungeon without 'im."

"Hush up and be nice, he knows what he's doing," I hissed at him, withdrawing my greatsword from its cover. "Quit whining about it."

He could probably sense I was whispering into the microphone, because I could see his demeanor change the moment I told him to keep moving. "You're with him right now, aren't you? You're at his house?"

"Well, yeah, if you're gonna be a butt about it." The group was all gathered together in the dungeon, and not having any choice, Fynn switched his sound back to involve all of us, even Kole, despite how much he loathed being bossed around by him.

They battled for the lead in the tunnel until Joni squeezed her way around them and marched off ahead, and her barge-through provided a gap between Kole and Fynn so I could follow after her. Landon, hugging his warhammer to his chest, stepped by as well.

The tunnel widened out and opened up to a flooded floor, the room raised up by worn stone columns weaving through to a staircase. Beyond the staircase, there was a balcony from which massive, bone-chilling spiders crept out and splashed into the water in their attempt to attack us. Joni laughed maniacally and blasted the first few with her strengthened fire spell, dodging all their icy attacks with quick steps to and fro.

I sliced my greatsword through spider after spider, and felt the increasing waves lap up my knees as I brushed shoulders with Kole. On my right, Fynn swung his weapon in my path, taking out the nearest spider.

"Hey, I had that one!" Kole complained.

"Better luck next time," Fynn retorted, and I could practically hear him stick his tongue out at Kole. I simply sighed and withdrew my weapon. They were taking out all the spiders for me.

We reached the top of the staircase and looted the area, taking with us regeneration potions, spell books, and anything of major value. Landon raised his hand up and shouted, "Look, I found a key!"

"Sweet! What's it for?" I inquired, rushing up and checking it out.

"Torture chamber? Are you sure Christian Grey isn't here?" he said, causing Joni to crack up and Fynn to chuckle. Kole rolled his eyes, and I had to refrain from doing the same. Fynn would start to think we were twins or something.

"Onward, to the torture chamber!" Joni yelled, shooting through to the next tunnel while making airplane noises all the way through. Unfortunately, she ran straight through a booby trap and was pelted with poisoned darts on the way, abruptly stopping her victory screech with pained wailing.

We scourged through room after room of the dungeon, taking out dark wizards left and right, and spiders up the walls. The whole way through, I hardly raised my weapon before Kole was in front of me, with Fynn elbowing his way through between the two of us. There was enough heated glaring to fuel a forest fire.

Eventually we reached the prison hold, where we split up and picked the locks of the cells to free the victims. I got down on one knee and tampered around with my lockpicking tool as I heard the cell to my right come loose, and the prisoner run free into the next room. Fynn's heavy armor clanked as he came up beside me, leveling his warhammer onto the ground so he could lean his hand on the other end.

"So how's that lockpicking going?" he teased from above.

"Fine," I shot back.

"Good God, ya sure know how to pick a lock. Mm, yeah, level up, baby," he jested, pretending to swoon against the bars of the cell. I ground my teeth together because as soon as I freed the lock and the prisoner, my skill level increased. I heard Joni laughing from across the room, and I felt the heat of Kole's rage burning hotter every second.

"Shut it, you oaf," I complained, standing up and shoving him with the flat side of my sword. He threw his head back and laughed as I hid my blush underneath the protection of my helmet.

Kole saved the game before continuing on through the dungeon. We hit a block where Landon used the key to open the torture chamber door, everyone cracking jokes about, "Ooh, careful, there might be naked people in there!" and "Mr. Grey, I'm ready for you!"

Instead we found dead bodies on medieval lab tables, and cages strung up by chains. Fynn went and pickpocketed the dead bodies, coming up with two hundred gold by the time we made it through the entire torture chamber. A set of dark wizards awaited us in the following room, and on the first go it was a disaster.

I entered first, crouched and ready to fire my bow into the back of an unsuspecting victim, but as soon as I did, the five enemies turned on us with spells beyond our match. I was quick to swap weapons, but everyone was already pouring out ahead of me, screaming at the top of their lungs and slashing at the wizards with all their might. Joni's health bar flickered out, and she collapsed to the ground as the wizard came charging after me next.

Slashing and cutting, I hounded him with hit after hit until I had next to no health left. My vision became blurred with blood splatters, and it the process of drinking a health regeneration potion, Fynn charged in and crushed the man's skull with his warhammer, sending him sprawled out on the ground.

"Here, let me help-"

"I got it, I got it. Keep going, I'm fine," I demanded, pushing him away mainly because a necromancer was raising zombies left and right, and sending Landon into such a tizzy, he got himself caught in a corner with three of them.

In the midst of being charged by the zombies of the necromancer's fallen comrades, Kole swung in, armed now with a shield and a one-handed sword. He bashed the end of the shield into the neck of a zombie, and decapitated it with his sword. As both him and Fynn clambered left and right, they drew in closer and closer until our weapons tangled with one another and I took damage from one of Kole's backswings and a miss-thrown hit from Fynn.

"Ow! Watch it--dammit, I'm dead," I whined. It wasn't long after I respawned in the prison chamber that Joni made it back to where the fight was, only to find our squad annihilated and all of our past enemies returned to their feet.

Kole loaded the last save--before we went into battle with the dark wizards--and began to strategized. "We need to go after the necromancer first. Skye, are you able to take him out with your bow?"

"I could t-"

"I can handle it. Let's go," Fynn interrupted, barging past us into the next room. Joni and Landon shared a look of raised eyebrows and discrete passes between Kole and I. Before heading out into battle, I poisoned my arrows and notched my bow.

It wasn't a smooth victory, but even with all our casualties we were able to make it through once we took out the necromancer. The whole time Kole was shouting at Fynn to get out of his way, and Fynn was yelling about how he kept hitting him with his sword. Landon ran around like a chicken with its head chopped off until he found the key to the next room off the corpse of a dark wizard, and we vanished through the door before we even knew what was happening.

The next tunnel was completely pitch black, so Joni sparked a light to follow us on our journey. As we marched on, Landon groaned and said, "I hate the dark. I miss fighting dragons above ground."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, feeling the moisture from the walls seep through my gauntlets and gloves. Soon, the light from Joni's spell began to reflect off of gems in the rocks, and the walls began to expand until it opened up into a vast cavern filled with books on shelves, enchanter tables, alchemy labs, and a burning fire in a central pit.

Kole ran up ahead to make sure the stairwell up ahead was cleared, and when he came back, he announced, "It's all clear up there, but the next room is the boss level, so we need more health potions."

"I can take care of that," Joni said, running around the room snatching alchemy ingredients for the potion. I gathered around the fire to stock up my status bars with Landon's cooking, and Fynn claimed the seat beside me on the stone bench. He reached into his rucksack and removed a glimmering green gem.

"Here, I found this emerald in one of the rooms. If ya sell it, it'll give you 'bout three hundred coins," he informed me, and I thanked him for it and slipped it into my inventory.

"I'll spend it all on ale and mead, just you watch me," I told him, and he laughed, bumping his shoulder against mine.

Across the room, Joni sat in a stool mixing concoctions at the alchemy station while Landon stood beside the fire burning horse meat in a cooking pot. He pouted over it for a few seconds before dumping them into the fire and starting over with raw beef. Farther away, Kole was buffing up his sword with a shock enchantment, and when he'd hold it up to check it's magicka glow, his eyes would flicker over to Fynn and I, and he'd continue brooding over the enchanting table.

Kole saved the game once we were all prepared to fight, and soon we all clambered up the steps to the massive wooden door on iron hinges. Joni hopped up next to me and bumped her hip up against mine. "Ya ready for this?"

I spun my greatsword in a vast arch, preparing it for battle as I said, "You kidding me? I was born ready for this."

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