[I]"Listen up and listen well! I am Niernen Venim of House Redoran. The Nerevarine has gone mad! He has brought back with him monsters from the realm of Akavir and let them loose upon Tamriel -- towering demons of ice and snow. All Dunmer who fought for a foreign power, and this includes neutral mercenaries, have been judged traitors and enemies of the state. I was captured and enslaved by the snow demons; this is what they did to me. You are being lied to!"[/i] 

These were the words that Niernen hastily yelled at the top of her hoarse voice in rapid Dunmeris. One of the Ashlanders was intrigued by her words and, after a brief hesitation, rushed to her side. Continuing in Dunmeris, the Ashlander confessed that he had heard the Venim family name mentioned in stories of the Blackmarsh invasion -- stories of valor and honor. [i]"I believe you, for now, but you have to tell me more about these demons later,"[/i] the Ashlander insisted and Niernen acquiesced, relieved. For the time being, the Ashlander was content to point out the tall cylindrical boilers and the steam pipe with the crack in it. [i]"Sharp eye,"[/i] Niernen quipped with a smile. 

Turning on the spot, Niernen stammered over her words, switching back to Tamrielic, and explained the Ashlander's observations to Edith. Madura took charge, a little to Niernen's surprise, and started convincing the other three Ashlanders that had rushed to their side of the room to get away from the centurion. 

Speaking of, Niernen turned to look at the Dwemer automaton and her mind briefly froze up -- suddenly the steam looked like swirling snow in baleful moonlight and the towering centurion was replaced by a hulking Kamal, its war-club ready to strike. Terror gripped at Niernen's heart and she grabbed Madura's shoulder to stabilize herself, resisting the urge to scream. [i]Focus![/i] she told herself and Niernen managed to shake the hallucination off after a few seconds, blinking rapidly and slowing her breathing. 

With Tsleeixth out of the way and everyone agreed to some form of a plan, Niernen decided the time for waiting and dallying was over (before her mind's eye decided to have another seizure). "Look alive!" she shouted, raised her hands and fired a volley of fireballs at the weak spot in the steam pipe. The successive impacts managed to widen the crack and the pressure building up in the pipe finally exploded outwards, sending hot steam directly in the centurion's ocular systems with a frightfully loud hissing noise. It suddenly stopped thrashing and turned on the spot, trying to move out of the hot blast of vaporized water. 

"Huh," Niernen said, pleased. "That actually worked."