So, it was the pale Altmer. If he had a hunched, degraded posture and a nightmare-bulldog kind of face, he’d almost look like a Falmer in the lack of light. It almost gave Daro’Vasora the chills. Still, he was willing to do what he was hired on to do and kill the ugly monstrosities they were almost certain to bump into along the way, and for that at least, she was grateful.
“I think subtly is the least of our problems right now.” The Khajiit replied, the loud groaning of whatever the Beast was accentuating the point along with its ceaseless searchlight. “We have to get out of the open, and the quicker the better. How ready do you feel about landing on top of unseen Falmer?”
“They won’t have to time to scream for help when my blade finds them.” Solandil replied grimly, gazing into the darkness ahead with a glower. To most, this would be nothing more than a boast. But Solandil was now beginning to form a very personal vendetta against the Falmer - whether because everything about them disgusted him, or the fact that one had landed a lucky blow on him; or certain aspects brought back sour memories of his childhood and younger life, he didn’t know - but a tense anger built up in his chest when thinking about them now. His comment wasn’t a statement of ego, but of resentment.
Looking back to the Khajiit, Solandil considered her character. They hadn’t interacted much - from what he had witnessed at the campsite, she was sassy. From what he’d witnessed down below where the group was stuck, she was resourceful. Unlike many of his kin, he didn’t automatically assume the worst because of someone’s race. He assumed the worst because he was a pessimist at heart, but there was no discrimination behind it. At the very least, Daro’Vasora had shown enough skill to gain some respect.
“Point me where to go, and I’ll follow.” His eyesight was poor, but Falmer were rarely subtle in killing innocent traveller sor intrepid explorers - if he didn’t kill them, there was a certainty that the monstrosity hanging above them would do the job eventually.
As others were heading off to clear their own ways and maybe flush out the Falmer of their own, Daro’Vasora quickly surveyed a course of 5 bits of cover between their destination and current spot. If anything was concealed behind walls or in the huts, it was impossible to say, but she didn’t like her odds. As if putting even more pressure on the Khajiit, Rhea crouched down beside her, squeezing her shoulder reaffirming. “We’re counting on you. I trust you.” and with that, Rhea set off into the dark, leaving Daro’Vasora to stew in her thoughts. “You know, I’m starting to think whatever payment I’m going to get out of this isn’t about to be worth it. Come on, heroics await.” she said. With lithe feet and near-silent footfalls, she took off in a low run, mace in her bandaged, aching hands.
The first bit of cover, what looked like a dwelling that had been crushed from above, was reached without incident. Crouching behind the wall for a moment to catch her breath and to see if there were anything waiting up ahead, she stared at the next bit of cover; one of the Falmer huts that looked like it was a giant cone-shaped batwing. Trying to see, even her eyes had a hard time making out the darkest details in the shadows, a loud thud hit half a meter from where her neck was. A shade of movement was up ahead, a Falmer with a bow taking aim. Scurrying away from where the arrow had hit, she moved beside Solandil, grabbing his arm and pointing it forcefully towards where the Falmer were. “That’s our next stop. One or two, they’re loosing arrows at us. About twenty meters or so…” she grabbed one of the loose stones and hurled it away, hitting another broken dwelling nearby, reverberating a sound across the cave. She elbowed the Altmer, “Go.” She hissed quietly.
Although helpful of Daro’Vasora to point out his path and foes, she may as well have just asked him to guess where to go. Nothing was clear in the darkened distance, and it was only the miniscule noises of scurrying, clawed feet on stone that betrayed anything ahead. And that was what he could hear over the groaning giant above them.
Shaking his arm lightly from the Khajiit’s grip, Solandil moved forward, still crouched slightly. Despite his height and the typically clunky nature of iron armour, Sol was surprisingly light on his feet. Coming from years of hiding from bullies or trying as much as possible to avoid people noticing him, Sol had grown accustomed to placing his feet in the right places. Even in the pitch black, his steps were cautious. Not cautious enough, however - several more arrows were sent his way, one catching the edge of his greaves and making a loud clanging noise, the high-pitched “ting” echoing.
Picking the pace up - as any shelter they had in the dark was gone now - Solandil marked each step as a gauge for when he’d reach the next set of cover. More arrows flew by, and the creature on the ceiling thudded once again, nearly vibrating the ground with how loud it was. Finally, Sol could make out the outline of a crude Falmer hut, and movement in the shadows betrayed their foes within. Wasting no time, Solandil swung his sword in a wide arc in front of him, allowing himself a slight triumphant smirk as his blind hit had struck one of the Falmer. Finishing it off as it fell to the ground before it could attract any more attention, Sol looked about, and then to Daro’Vasora.
“Where’s the other one?” He whispered, unable to pick up on any movements. Was it above? Or had he already killed the archer?
A shriek behind Solandil belonging to the archer broke the quiet as it had charged the Altmer from behind, a poisoned chitin dagger ready to plunge down into his neck.The Falmer didn’t have a chance to bring the blade down, however, as the studded head of a mace was brought across its’ face, knocking the Falmer over with a gurgled cry as it tried to catch itself when it fell. Another double-handed blow to the nape of the neck snapped bone and the Falmer fell still.
The Beast groaned loudly in response and a light shot across the ground towards their position; Daro’Vasora ducked into the hut as the light passed overhead, scanning for movement. A few moments of methodical searching ended, the light venturing elsewhere as the thing moved closer.
“Good distraction. Better they fling arrows at you than me, yes?” The Khajiit asked, rapping her knuckles twice across Solandil’s breastplate. “Just a few more times doing that and we’ll be there, unless that thing gets on top of us.”
Glaring at Daro’Vasora for her comment was pointless in the pitch black, as Sol doubted even she could see much, even with her night eye - this didn’t stop him though, as he didn’t appreciate being used as much more than a walking shield. The cat would do better to invest in better armour rather than have an elvish bodyguard on standby for the rest of her life.
“Better they don’t “fling” arrows at either of us.” He muttered in return, eyes darting back towards the ceiling and wondering if they’d attracted any attention from the unknown beast. It wasn’t directing any more light towards them, despite the ruckus killing the falmer caused. Despite not currently being able to see their next destination, the Khajiit had pointed out a vague path that even he could follow in the dark. As Sol moved on from their current cover, crouching slightly as he moved, he could only hope that the Falmer were becoming too scared of the predator above to attempt another attack. Of course, that was asking a lot of such mindless creatures.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Daro’Vasora replied, looking for a moment to break for it, and seeing that there was an ample window, she said, “Stay close behind me, listen to my footfalls.” she urged, taking off towards the next bit of cover. Her heart was pounding so fast it threatened to burst, the chance of the light swinging towards her all too real. However, it didn’t come, and she was feeling far more in her element now, a bit of her confident swagger came back to her and her actions weren’t based on fear so much as the thrill of danger. It was a problem, most likely, but it got her this far, didn’t it?
To her pleasure, nothing waited for them in the next two bits of cover, although from the clashes throughout the cavern, it was really dumb luck if they landed on falmer or not; she trusted the others could handle themselves, after all, wasn’t that why they were hired? The gate loomed tantalizingly close, and when she was about to break for it, a blinding light shone on the bars, the Khajiit falling on her rump as she forced herself back towards cover, hugging against the wall. The groaning hurt her ears, and thanks to how sensitive her eyes were in the dark, it felt like someone cast a blinding spell on her. Several moments passed, unable to see and her ears aching from the thing being more or less right on top of them, but considering she didn’t feel the acute death that waited in the light, she presumed she’d evaded detection, as did Sol.
“I fucking hate that thing.” she murmured, looking around for the Beast, and it seemed to be searching elsewhere when her vision gradually returned. Knowing it was now or never, she turned to the Altmer behind her. “Here I go. Watch my back, yell if you know what starts coming my way.” The what in this instance meant literally everything.
The Khajiit bolted out of cover, and with her right hand, she rehooped her mace and grabbed a lockpick set from their hoops in a practiced motion and almost the instant she reached the gate, she had the tools in the oversized lock. As advanced as the Dwemer may be, she had found in her travels that they depended on much the same physical security as everyone else, but with the added benefit that the locks were so well constructed they often budged without needed oil even though they sat dormant for thousands of years. Shoving in the tension wrench the bottom and torquing it slightly to keep it slightly offset, the pick went in next and she began to probe the pins, sliding each in turn upwards until she heard the almost inaudible
click of the pin slotting into its grove, unable to slide back on its own thanks to the slightly out of alignment pressure creating a bit of a lip.
One down, six to go.
Having followed the Khajiit closely - and glad she had once again taken the lead as opposed to him blindly stumbling along - Sol echoed her curse silently as he too stumbled backwards, avoiding the light with a quiet hiss of pain as it overwhelmed his senses. He’d never done well with bright light, and as the beast moved on, Sol’s eyes were left watering… but still working. As were his sword arms, and they would be doing their best to ensure Daro’Vasora finished her job. Yelling, however, was out of the question - he’d just have to defend as quietly as possible, and hope that the Falmer were also following this line of thought. They were mindless creatures, but surely they had worked out that silence meant survival with that thing on the ceiling?
Thankfully, Sol didn’t have to do much. The Falmer either hadn’t noticed them at the gate, or were too spooked to come out. A few half-hearted arrows were shot his way, but thunked into the ground harmlessly feet away from the rogue and himself. One decided to be brave and attempted to sneak up on him, but with Sol’s back to the gate, it was an impossibility to remain unseen, even with the Altmer’s poor sight. Bearing down on the Falmer as soon as it slunk into his periphery, Sol’s sword met it’s throat before it could utter a war screech.
Glancing around nervously as he lowered his fallen foe the floor quietly. “Are you nearly finished?” He muttered to Daro’Vasora, still surveying the dark area around him. He was starting to question his reflexes, and whether they’d be good enough to leap away from the light before being skewered if it were to land on him. Probably not, but there was always the hope that the creature would get confused with two moving targets in it’s spotlight.
As if punctuating Sol’s question, a moment later the final pin gave and the lock turned with a quick torque, the gate swinging outwards in an outstretched hand. The Khajiit turned to grin at Solandil. “I think so. Let’s get the others to confirm.” Sliding her lockpick away in their hoops, she grabbed her mace and knocked on the metal bars a few times, ringing out in the cavern like a dinner bell. “Better get behind the metal in case the ugly bastards get here before the others.” Daro’Vasora observed, calling out, “Gate’s open! It’s now or never!” she called from the mouth of the gate, stepping behind the metal. If the Falmer came for them, they’d be thwarted by the gate, an easy kill for Solandil to stab through the bars. The head of the mace was a bit too thick to slide through the bars, so she stuck to calling out incoming attackers as needed.
It felt like several agonizing minutes, but the party started to make their way to the gate, being cautious to avoid getting spotted by the Beast, and there were still Falmer threats. With more swords by the gate, the defense became easier, and soon the last laggard made their way through. As Daro’Vasora was closing the gate, the spotlight found her. Not even having a chance to gasp, a deafening clang crashed into the double-thick bars in front of her, bending the metal back with terrifying ease and the point sticking through by several inches. Suddenly, harpoon began to reel back, and the gate groaned in protest.
“Time to go.” Rhea announced, grabbing Daro’Vasora by the shoulder and the party headed down through the structure’s hallways, the harpoon coming loose behind them and whistling in the dark. A quick glance back revealed that the gate was bent outwards against its natural movement of travel; there would be no going out that way, as the gate would clearly no longer open due to the deformed bars.
The gate, however, held.
The hallway was a typical dwemer-style design, only carved out into a semi-cylindrical shape rather than a boxy rectangle, the ceiling height one and a half times the size of a man. It was dark still, but magelight guided the way and the group moved comfortably for a change. With no dark shadows or even signs of spider or sphere tubes, there was an odd sense of calm. Eventually after a few minutes, they came to a large set of double doors, a pedestal off to the side contained a square slot. Rhea, like anyone else even remotely familiar with dwemer contraptions, knew what it was for. Fetching into her own pack, she produced a dwemer control cube, slotting it into the slot. It was shaped like a cube with flat ends, and as it was fitted into the slot, metal bars slid out of the pedestal and interlocked with the missing ends, rotating the cube 180 degrees. The doors slid open, disappearing into recesses of the door frame, formerly concealed gear tracks moving the door smoothly and with a satisfactory series of clicks.
“The cube was discovered in what we had assumed was either the administrator or commander’s quarters within a locked cabinet.” Rhea explained, watching as the cube was ejected from its newly rotated position to be taken again. She turned it over in her hand, admiring the intricate machinery in even such a small device. “I’ve held onto it for expeditions in case we came across a doorway that couldn’t be opened with conventional means. I’ve always wondered why we never came across the access points before, and now we’ve found one here. Curious.” the Imperial mused, turning to the group before they continued on.
“I must admit, I do feel somewhat guilty about what transpired. In truth, this was far behind the scope of anything I’d have expected to encounter, and all of you have performed incredibly. I’m grateful for each of you, and that we haven’t lost anyone along the way. Please hold onto hope that we’ll find our way out, this isn’t the first situation I’ve encountered where I’ve been trapped in ruins and tunnels, and I don’t aim for it to be my last. People like the Dwemer never designed their dwellings to have a single point of access for the obvious reason that if there’s a cave in or an enemy occupying one point, you could escape out the other. Rabbits and other rodents do something similar.” Clasping her hands together, she said, “So despite the setbacks we’ve endured, let’s not forget why we’re down here. Discovery always invites risk, and we want something to show for this whole endeavor. Now, let’s carry on. I think we’ve bought ourselves some breathing space.”
The doorway had a very pronounced panel ahead, lit from the typical dwemer lighting that populated much of the ruin. The doorway opening had evidently lit the lamps, the soft thumping of pipes that had not been used in centuries starting to carry the load of steam and heated liquid along their channels. A small wheel with finger slots was evident on the pedestal, and curiosity gripped Rhea as she slotted her fingers into the holes and gave the wheel a twist. A bright light emitted from above, a natural beam that was subsequently channeled through a number of green mirrors and crystals that immediately became something like a series of lamps, and soon the entire room became illuminated by a soft and comfortable white-green glow.
As it turned out, the room opened up into a series of platforms, and into a rather sizable orb-shaped room with an incomprehensible labyrinth of piping and gears focused around a lattice of concentric rings centered around a massive orb of blue light several meters across. Four pillars supported the ring assembly, although the orb appeared to have been suspended from contact with the rings via some sort of energy
field.Glass discs were present across all of the surfaces. Regardless of what it might be, it was a truly impressive sight.
“I do not think that is going to fit in my pocket.” Daro’Vasora observed, walking around the platform, taking in the scale of the device. She had been so busy studying the discs of one of the larger outer rings when she nearly stepped on something on the platform.
It was the skeleton of a dwemer, still dressed in frayed and time-consumed robes with the distinctive alloy bangles, hair rings, and amulet laid about. Instead of registering shock, after all it wasn’t the first skeleton Daro’Vasora came across, she immediately began stripping the body of valuables. She’d determine if any of it was rare or unique in any way and discard the rest for whoever wanted it. However, one thing came up to her attention; a cube, very similar to the one Rhea possessed, that tumbled out of the skeleton’s hand. “So, you kids want to see a dead body?” She called out, tossing the cube towards Latro. “So here’s a dead dwemer who didn’t disappear into nothingness but rather died in here and rotted without getting cleaned out of existence like the rest of them. Any thoughts?” she mused.
“As macabre as the rest of this necropolis.” Latro said, bouncing the cube in one of his hands as he sided up with Vasora, “Perhaps...” Latro knelt down with a wince and a grunt, fingers creeping ever closer to the remains of what once was someone with thoughts, wants, regrets and dreams, “He had but one last task.”
Latro held the box up in the light that the giant luminescent ball of whatever it was in the chamber gave, taking in the engravings, each angle, curve, line, corner, “A mer with a key and no one else to be found.” He handed the box to Rhea as he stood, “A picture of Dwemer making an exodus.”
“I do so love ancient mysteries.” Rhea said, running her fingers along one face of the box absent-mindedly as she scanned around the large chamber, “Shall we figure out what this box does for this…
this.” She gestured a sweeping hand to the huge ball of energy in the middle of the chamber.
Daro’Vasora was quiet for a few moments, still mulling over the corpse, although not for sentimental reasons. “He locked himself in to die. Why?” she asked, sliding a bone back in between her teeth to chew on. The bone, thankfully, wasn’t off the ancient corpse. “You need a cube to open and close those doors. Why seal himself in here and not leave?”
“An exodus...” Latro whispered.
“Exodus requires leaving somewhere. This one clearly didn’t get the message.” the Khajiit pointed out.
The sight of the withered Dwemer corpse brought back vivid memories of her time spent spelunking in ruins with Rorik. Brynja’s upper lip curled up in disgust, “This sounds like a bad idea, last thing we need is some shriveled up Dwemer bloke coming back to life and terrorizing us.” She grumbled a bit too loudly.
“Worry not, Brynja.” Latro smiled, “Draugr are a Nord thing.”
“I hope you’re right.” She said, casting a look of unease at Latro.
“She has a point. After everything, well… nothing should be out of the realm of possibility.” Rhea cleared her throat, turning from looking out at the huge constructs and to Latro and Daro’Vasora, the first to discover the stone slab of history, “Daro’Vasora, Latro, it was a picture of Dwemer ascending to a gate, and that was the last of the drawings?” Rhea asked, a look of profound epiphany slowly tugging a smile at the corners of her lips.
Daro’Vasora shrugged. “Should we not be more cautious about jumping to conclusions? The probable explanation of that one was the Dwemer who locked the gate behind him last was the last one they saw enter or leave this place. Really, I have my doubts that a bunch of slaves who were starting to lose their minds would be really keen on metaphorical imagery depicting their captors.”
A loud thud echoed down the chamber they had come from. After a few moments of dreadful silence, it struck again. “So, any volunteers to see who’s at the door?” the Khajiit asked dryly.
Rhea shook her head. “Whatever the meaning of the images, we do not have the luxury of time to debate their meaning. The way we had come was the only obvious entrance or exit, but perhaps this device could be of assistance. Perhaps we are mistaking exodus for exit? Perhaps this is some sort of… transport system?” the Imperial continued, her mind racing.
Daro’Vasora wasn’t entirely sure if she agreed with that assessment, but it was better than waiting to find out how strong that gate was. “What if it’s connected to that crawling Beast we’ve spent the last, Alkosh knows how long avoiding? A defence system after the Falmer began to overrun the lower levels? This could be the control center.”
Another loud bang came from the tunnel. It was clear there wouldn’t be time to debate the potential consequences of activating the machine. Even Daro’Vasora, who in particular was vocally against assuming it was a gateway, became subdued, her back to the wall.
Rhea sighed, feeling as if the cube was heavier than a gold bullion. Her gut was telling her that she was mucking about with something she did not understand, but the expedition depended on her. They were trapped and running out of time, and it made the choice much easier. Slotting the cube into its place, she stepped back as the arms accepted it into the device.
Almost immediately, the green discs on the rings began to illuminate with a near-blinding sheen and the rings began their rotation, each ring moving in opposite directions of the one before. Before long, the rings were spinning so quickly that they appeared to almost be a solid sphere, a blinding energy emitting from it; it soon became impossible to look at. The pumps and piping of the chamber thudded loudly as fluids and steam filled them at increasing velocity, and the temperature of the chamber became noticeably hotter. It became clear that staying put would not be a good plan.
The party fled the chamber, and no matter the distance they put between the room and themselves, the intensity of energy seemed to grow exponentially, the entire chamber felt like it was vibrating beneath their feet. What became immediately apparent was that the gate that had barred them before was no longer there; it had been ripped clean of its hinges. Fortunately, no falmer had hurried to fill the void.
Before the party could decide what course of action to take, chunks of rock had begun to fall from the ceiling of the chamber, smashing into the ground with deafening impacts. The ruin wasn’t much safer; stress fractures were showing in the stones around them. They had to get out, that much was clear.
Outside of the ruin was utter chaos, the entire cavern was beginning to fall apart; the Beast was sprawled out on the ground, several heavy boulders smashing into it from above. The lift wasn’t safe, and there wasn’t a clear way out. “The river!” Rhea shouted, thinking on the fly. While it was possible it would lead to channels that were without oxygen, she reasoned the water had to come out
somewhere. A huge pulse of energy lit up the cavern, driving into the ceiling, destabilizing it further. More and more heavy boulders and stalactites rained down from above, some smashing dangerously close. On the plus side, the green-white energy was enough that the non-khajiit could see in the cavern now, and the peril was immediately apparent. Not wishing to argue the wisdom of throwing themselves into a watery grave, the party sprinted for their only real hint of safety, narrowly avoiding being crushed from above. As the first ones jumped into the water, the cavern was so bright it might as well have been daylight. The air was growing so hot that it could immediately bring recollections of the Alik’r Desert to any who had experience that before.
The river was choppy and terrifying, dragging bodies beneath the waves before spitting them back up again several seconds later, unable to tell if low hanging rocks were waiting just above the surface. It was disorienting, deafeningly loud, and utterly terrifying. However, after several turns and drops, an encouraging sight was seen up ahead; daylight. The watery tunnel grew steeper and brighter until suddenly, the tunnel opened up into a sudden drop outside; after a few seconds of free fall, each member splashed into a deep pond, formed by centuries of water raining down from the mountain. The water carried those that surfaced up further down until they hit the banks.
Despite the terror of the ordeal, they had survived, and they were outside.
Daro’Vasora climbed out of the water, coughing water from her lungs, struggling to breath. After several laborious seconds, most of the water had been ejected from her lungs. She looked up from her hands and knees, weakly looking at the mountain that they’d come from. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief;
The entire top third of the mountain wasn’t there anymore. Shooting into the sky was the green-white energy, pulsing out in such intensity that more and more of the eons of solid rock that had comprised of the mountains were shaking loose, causing rockslides that tumbled down the mountains. However, it was clear that they were safe where they were.
Rhea starred with agonized realization. “The camp. Everyone in the ruins…” she managed, the realization setting in. No one on top of the mountain could have survived that, the rock below their feet having been vaporized or otherwise exploded into the atmosphere under the intense, unknown energy. “Knuut.” she said, realizing her close friend and right hand man was gone. Everything they had built for weeks, the dozens of lives that had trusted in her expedition had all perished. All except for those who had survived the deeps with her.
Latro clawed from the river to a nearby rocky outcropping, once again feeling the cold seep back into his bones with the intimacy of a lover at that point. Each soft breeze sent him tensing up like a knife up his inner thigh as he shivered, coughed, shivered, coughed, and then after he’d retched up all the water he’d breathed as readily as air as he was tumbled about like a spider inside a glass, he collapsed against the rocks. When Rhea almost immediately began lamenting the loss of everyone else but those present in the expedition, he was almost guilty in the fact he was almost too exhausted to care enough to stand and fret with her.
He was alive, having survived almost drowning twice, being almost run through with a sword and more encounters with Falmer than he ever wanted in his life. That much was good enough for him. Weakly, he curled into a ball. The one grave loss that crossed his mind after the fact was that his instruments were among the casualties at the base camp. Surely, looking for them would prove as fruitless as looking for the bodies of the others in the rubble. Even then, he only mourned with naught but a deep frown and a sigh. “Fire,” he croaked, “Fire and shelter. We should move.”
Though he said it, he made no move to put actions to his words. He didn’t trust his legs, or his body overall to be able to make the trek to any settlement, city, or town, much less to just stand.
Daro’Vasora had managed to get to her feet, still coughing up a lung. “I don’t think any of us are in any shape to move far. I’ll go find some wood, or something.” she said, trying desperately not to consider what had actually happened. “Look, we survive now, freak out later, alright?”
Rhea’s eyes were glued to the energy projection, a mixture of dread, hatred, and guilt cementing her heart. “Do it.” Was all she managed. Whatever she was looking at, she knew that nothing good was going to come from it, and it was entirely her fault.
She screamed into the night.
Auz
Spoopy Scary
Baklava
Silverwind Blade