Yeah, ironically, the Strike Team is actually a bit short on Jedi.
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"We have a few werevultures here, though not many. They emigrated from Valenwood after we arrived here. I doubt they expected to have room to fly when they were told they would be living in a cave" Meesei answered.
Lorag huffed at Ariel's last comment. "Probably ain't anything like it anywhere. Cave's massive, well-protected, though it's damned inconvenient to get anywhere in it."
Meesei gave a nod. "That is true. It may be best for us to sleep here for the night before making the trek to the Silent City. It takes the better part of a day to get there from here, and we have already been walking all day. There is a Dwemer building nearby that we have re-purposed into barracks that we can use."
Rukeewei held his thickest fur coat under his arm, as the air in the cavern was not cold enough to warrant wearing it. He had gone from looking up to the ceiling to staring out across the expanse of the cavern. "A whole day of traveling? Underground?"
"Not a whole day, precisely, but certainly long enough that we would not want to attempt it tonight." Meesei answered.
---
For Ri'vashi, Gallus' explanation of what had transpired in Black Marsh was worse than she was actually expecting. She sat down beside him, though did not make eye contact with him. She did not want to make it seem like she was putting much pressure on him as he was recounting such a painful memory.
"Okay...Ri'vashi can see why you did not want to talk about it. But, she is glad you are. This one cannot claim to know too much about Argonians, but she has known them in her old clan. They are...different from a lot of other people. Don't blame yourself for what happened; she is sure you did everything you could to help. Maybe...why do you think he made that kind of a choice?" She asked.
Lorag huffed at Ariel's last comment. "Probably ain't anything like it anywhere. Cave's massive, well-protected, though it's damned inconvenient to get anywhere in it."
Meesei gave a nod. "That is true. It may be best for us to sleep here for the night before making the trek to the Silent City. It takes the better part of a day to get there from here, and we have already been walking all day. There is a Dwemer building nearby that we have re-purposed into barracks that we can use."
Rukeewei held his thickest fur coat under his arm, as the air in the cavern was not cold enough to warrant wearing it. He had gone from looking up to the ceiling to staring out across the expanse of the cavern. "A whole day of traveling? Underground?"
"Not a whole day, precisely, but certainly long enough that we would not want to attempt it tonight." Meesei answered.
---
For Ri'vashi, Gallus' explanation of what had transpired in Black Marsh was worse than she was actually expecting. She sat down beside him, though did not make eye contact with him. She did not want to make it seem like she was putting much pressure on him as he was recounting such a painful memory.
"Okay...Ri'vashi can see why you did not want to talk about it. But, she is glad you are. This one cannot claim to know too much about Argonians, but she has known them in her old clan. They are...different from a lot of other people. Don't blame yourself for what happened; she is sure you did everything you could to help. Maybe...why do you think he made that kind of a choice?" She asked.
What the pack had become accustomed to in Blackreach was nothing short of a natural wonder for the clan's new guests. Although, even a few members of the pack stopped along with them to appreciate the sight after months of being away. For Meesei, it was the kind of place that she had a hard time believing would be anything but spectacular.
Awestruck, Rukeewei looked up above them with his mouth half-opened. "W-what kind of place is this?" He repeated. "It doesn't seem real. Is this a cavern? The roof is so high up that it might as well be the sky. It's even glowing like the stars." Around them on the platform outside the lift, there was another group of guards and another two Dwemer spheres, but they could not draw any attention away from the splendor of the cavern itself.
Meesei kept calm in her tone, though she had to admit some satisfaction from seeing the reactions of the couple. "Most of the lights come from the glowing mushrooms and fungus that live in this place. I believe a few werevultures actually went up there to investigate. The other lights come from either Dwemer structures, magical torches we have set up, or a form of crystal that forms naturally in this cavern. As you might imagine, there is still a great deal left to learn about this place."
---
Ri'vashi clearly was not going to back down so easily, just as Gallus was probably expecting. "Ri'vashi is not going to tell you to see them; she is going to tell you to talk to her. This one knows you better than most, Gallus. This one knows the real you, the person who supported her and became her friend. You can lie and bluff your way past most others, but you can't escape this Khajiit.
ri'vashi stepped a bit closer to Gallus and pointed to her eyes with two of her fingers. "Nothing escapes these eyes; you know that. Sure, you are a focused enough person to still do your work while you are troubled, but that doesn't mean Ri'vashi is just going to let you stay that way. You went and confronted the son of an enemy agent that we killed. There is no situation that Ri'vashi can see where that would be easy. Cuts has given part of the story, but this one knows there is more to it."
Awestruck, Rukeewei looked up above them with his mouth half-opened. "W-what kind of place is this?" He repeated. "It doesn't seem real. Is this a cavern? The roof is so high up that it might as well be the sky. It's even glowing like the stars." Around them on the platform outside the lift, there was another group of guards and another two Dwemer spheres, but they could not draw any attention away from the splendor of the cavern itself.
Meesei kept calm in her tone, though she had to admit some satisfaction from seeing the reactions of the couple. "Most of the lights come from the glowing mushrooms and fungus that live in this place. I believe a few werevultures actually went up there to investigate. The other lights come from either Dwemer structures, magical torches we have set up, or a form of crystal that forms naturally in this cavern. As you might imagine, there is still a great deal left to learn about this place."
---
Ri'vashi clearly was not going to back down so easily, just as Gallus was probably expecting. "Ri'vashi is not going to tell you to see them; she is going to tell you to talk to her. This one knows you better than most, Gallus. This one knows the real you, the person who supported her and became her friend. You can lie and bluff your way past most others, but you can't escape this Khajiit.
ri'vashi stepped a bit closer to Gallus and pointed to her eyes with two of her fingers. "Nothing escapes these eyes; you know that. Sure, you are a focused enough person to still do your work while you are troubled, but that doesn't mean Ri'vashi is just going to let you stay that way. You went and confronted the son of an enemy agent that we killed. There is no situation that Ri'vashi can see where that would be easy. Cuts has given part of the story, but this one knows there is more to it."
"Not all of our scholars are actually lycans themselves, but we have collected quite a few." Meesei answered as they were walking along. "After we found this place, I sent word to all the clans that we had something that would be of interest to any scholar of the Dwemer. There were only one or two among the Bruma clan when we moved, but over time, almost all of the Dwemer scholars among all of the clans had moved here. Curiosity has quite an appeal, I suppose. Several of them also brought in trusted colleagues from outside the clans. From what they have explained to me, there have been other scholars that have gained control over Dwemer machines, just not on a large scale. None of them have ever had access to a Dwemer Aminonculory, from my knowledge. I believe it is the published works of those researchers that our scholars have based their work off of. I have helped them as best as I can, before we left, but sadly, I am not terribly knowledgeable on the Dwemer."
Newt had not recognized the Dwemer automaton to be a potential threat as Ariel had, so he did not quite understand the meaning of Fendros' comment of her being "shocked." He looked down at leaps and waved his hand. "Bad Leaps, no shocking!"
Kaleeth looked down at Newt in her arms. "That's...not what he means."
Rukeewei was, of course, just as startled as Ariel had been. He had never even heard of a lift of this kind. Buildings in Black Marsh did not tend to be too tall, so he had only rarely seen lifts made from simple wood and pulleys. The calm of the pack around them again kept him form trying to run away as soon as the floor started to move, but each of these surprises were starting to compound within him in terms of how frightened he was becoming. With Ariel holding him so tightly, she could easily feel his accelerating heartbeat. "What kind of place is this? It is...insanity."
---
Ri'vashi shook her head lightly. "Not quite."
Resuming her walk, Ri'vashi stepped into the chamber and closed the door behind her. She approached Gallus, being careful not to get too close or stay too distant. "Ri'vashi has been busy, very busy. This clan has grown so much larger than the Orcrest clan ever was, and then she also has to direct the whole military strategy of every other clan. There is always another problem to solve." She exhaled slowly. "Speaking of which, Ri'vashi did not come to talk about herself. You have been acting strangely, Gallus. Others have seen it. She is concerned for you."
Newt had not recognized the Dwemer automaton to be a potential threat as Ariel had, so he did not quite understand the meaning of Fendros' comment of her being "shocked." He looked down at leaps and waved his hand. "Bad Leaps, no shocking!"
Kaleeth looked down at Newt in her arms. "That's...not what he means."
Rukeewei was, of course, just as startled as Ariel had been. He had never even heard of a lift of this kind. Buildings in Black Marsh did not tend to be too tall, so he had only rarely seen lifts made from simple wood and pulleys. The calm of the pack around them again kept him form trying to run away as soon as the floor started to move, but each of these surprises were starting to compound within him in terms of how frightened he was becoming. With Ariel holding him so tightly, she could easily feel his accelerating heartbeat. "What kind of place is this? It is...insanity."
---
Ri'vashi shook her head lightly. "Not quite."
Resuming her walk, Ri'vashi stepped into the chamber and closed the door behind her. She approached Gallus, being careful not to get too close or stay too distant. "Ri'vashi has been busy, very busy. This clan has grown so much larger than the Orcrest clan ever was, and then she also has to direct the whole military strategy of every other clan. There is always another problem to solve." She exhaled slowly. "Speaking of which, Ri'vashi did not come to talk about herself. You have been acting strangely, Gallus. Others have seen it. She is concerned for you."
Meesei remained distinctly calm, even with Ariel's frightened reaction. "This ruin still had a functioning animonculory when we found it. For a while, it produced hostile automatons until our scholars temporarily shut it down. Before we left, they had made the animonculory produce a non-hostile, but mindless automaton, so we tasked them with studying the machines to produce automatons under our control. Evidently, that research has bore fruit. I am eager to speak with the scholars to see what solutions they found."
Thanks to his unfamiliarity with Dwemer machines, Rukeewei had actually been less startled than Ariel before Meesei's explanation. Still, it was another surprise that seemed to give him more reasons to worry. At the very least, it was already apparent that the air inside the ruin was much warmer than that outside. He extinguished his torch after the doors closed behind them, since the interior of the ruin was well-lit.
With the military discipline of their scouts, they stood respectfully at attention as they greeted Meesei and her pack. "Champion, it is good to see you return. Do you need assistance with anything." A Nord among them asked.
"No thank you. We will be fine heading to the city on our own." Meesei answered. Raldbthar was, of course, a city in itself, and no doubt contained much that would be of interest to someone like Ariel, but Meesei suspected the next great surprise would come when they took the lift down to Blackreach itself.
---
Gallus was quite alone in the training room when Ri'vashi set out to pay him a visit. Others might have used the room during that time, but they had taken to avoiding it whenever Gallus was using it to avoid any potentially awkward situations. Fortunately for Ri'vashi, she had already shown Gallus more than enough awkwardness on her part that she could approach him with relative impunity.
Opening the tall, metal door to the chamber, Ri'vashi paused at the entryway of the room with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Gallus bashing away one one of the dummies. "Do not bother with this one, she is simply here to investigate the unusual number of broken training dummies coming out of this room recently." She said in a distinctly non-serious tone.
Thanks to his unfamiliarity with Dwemer machines, Rukeewei had actually been less startled than Ariel before Meesei's explanation. Still, it was another surprise that seemed to give him more reasons to worry. At the very least, it was already apparent that the air inside the ruin was much warmer than that outside. He extinguished his torch after the doors closed behind them, since the interior of the ruin was well-lit.
With the military discipline of their scouts, they stood respectfully at attention as they greeted Meesei and her pack. "Champion, it is good to see you return. Do you need assistance with anything." A Nord among them asked.
"No thank you. We will be fine heading to the city on our own." Meesei answered. Raldbthar was, of course, a city in itself, and no doubt contained much that would be of interest to someone like Ariel, but Meesei suspected the next great surprise would come when they took the lift down to Blackreach itself.
---
Gallus was quite alone in the training room when Ri'vashi set out to pay him a visit. Others might have used the room during that time, but they had taken to avoiding it whenever Gallus was using it to avoid any potentially awkward situations. Fortunately for Ri'vashi, she had already shown Gallus more than enough awkwardness on her part that she could approach him with relative impunity.
Opening the tall, metal door to the chamber, Ri'vashi paused at the entryway of the room with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Gallus bashing away one one of the dummies. "Do not bother with this one, she is simply here to investigate the unusual number of broken training dummies coming out of this room recently." She said in a distinctly non-serious tone.
Rukeewei slowed down as they climbed up the stairs. "Falmer? I thought you said this place was safe?" He exclaimed. He did not actually know what a Falmer was, but Fendros' tone made it seem dangerous.
"We haven't had any losses from Falmer since a few weeks after we arrived." Ahnasha answered. "I think they're starting to avoid us, like they avoid the Dwemer machines. We just do what we can to make sure they don't organize."
Regardless of Rukeewei's newfound fear, he had little choice but to follow the pack up the stairs and through the massive doors into the ruin. As expected, they had been spotted on their approach by their scouts, since there was already a group of guards in the entry hall to meet them. Although, they were not the only ones to greet them. Alongside the guards was a Dwemer sphere, but instead of attacking or standing in one place mindlessly, it was moving along the sides of the hall, as if patrolling.
Meesei regarded the machine curiously, but without the kind of surprise Ariel or Rukeewei might have expected. "Hmm, I see they have the automatons working now."
"We haven't had any losses from Falmer since a few weeks after we arrived." Ahnasha answered. "I think they're starting to avoid us, like they avoid the Dwemer machines. We just do what we can to make sure they don't organize."
Regardless of Rukeewei's newfound fear, he had little choice but to follow the pack up the stairs and through the massive doors into the ruin. As expected, they had been spotted on their approach by their scouts, since there was already a group of guards in the entry hall to meet them. Although, they were not the only ones to greet them. Alongside the guards was a Dwemer sphere, but instead of attacking or standing in one place mindlessly, it was moving along the sides of the hall, as if patrolling.
Meesei regarded the machine curiously, but without the kind of surprise Ariel or Rukeewei might have expected. "Hmm, I see they have the automatons working now."
A minor note, the closest port to Raldbthar is Windhelm, so they probably wouldn't have been traveling weeks over land. I doubt it would take more than a few days from there. Still cold, though.
Now, time for me to get to bed, goodnight.
Now, time for me to get to bed, goodnight.
The pack trudged up the snowy, mountainous terrain slowly but surely. It was later at night than they would normally be traveling, but they were close enough to the clanhome that they did not want to wait in camp again, particularly considering the frigid temperatures. Rukeewei was the least comfortable, as one might expect, supplanting Kaleeth for the most number of weather complaints among the pack. Both moons were out, and Masser was full, so it was fairly bright out for nighttime, though Rukeewei was still carrying a torch for the heat.
Journeys such as these were almost routine for the pack by this point, but Rukeewei was both mentally and physically exhausted at this point. The voyage on the ship had actually been novel and somewhat exciting for him at first, since he had never sailed before, but that feeling very quickly subsided. A mundane routine was nothing new to him, but having nothing to do for the majority of the day started to get to him over time. He did spend some time getting to better know the pack, but for much of the time, he was more distant form them than he had been the first time they had met. Knowledge of what they were had unquestionably changed how he saw them, and there was always that hint of caution or nervousness whenever he spoke to them. It was as if part of him expected that they could turn on him at any moment. Regardless, he did start to become somewhat more sociable near the end of the voyage. Rhazii and Newt ended up being the gateway that motivated him to speak with their respective parents. He saw little threat from them, so on at least a subconscious level, he was more comfortable talking about them. In terms of Rukeewei's comfort reaching land had not been much of an improvement. They left Windhelm soon after they arrived, and Eastmarch was a far worse place for him than he had expected. The lands they had to travel across were some of the coldest in Skyrim outside of the Pale, and he had never so much as even experienced a moderately cool day before. Fortunately, they were finally nearing their destination.
Eventually, the pack made their way high enough up the mountain to reach the base of the large, imposing stairway leading up to Raldbthar. The Dwemer ruin looked just the same on the outside as it had when they left, as it likely had for centuries. The clan did not want to give any clues that the ruin was being inhabited, Meesei had mandated that nothing be visibly changed about either the ruin's exterior, or first few rooms. Although, there was no doubt that they had been spotted by their scouts on the way up the mountain.
Rukeewei had to pause, holding his torch behind him so he could get a clear view of the structure towering over them. "What...manner of place is this?" He asked. The Dwemer had never expanded into Black Marsh, so Rukeewei had never seen any examples of Dwemer technology or architecture.
"This is the Dwemer city Raldbthar. It serves as the gateway to our home." Meesei answered.
Journeys such as these were almost routine for the pack by this point, but Rukeewei was both mentally and physically exhausted at this point. The voyage on the ship had actually been novel and somewhat exciting for him at first, since he had never sailed before, but that feeling very quickly subsided. A mundane routine was nothing new to him, but having nothing to do for the majority of the day started to get to him over time. He did spend some time getting to better know the pack, but for much of the time, he was more distant form them than he had been the first time they had met. Knowledge of what they were had unquestionably changed how he saw them, and there was always that hint of caution or nervousness whenever he spoke to them. It was as if part of him expected that they could turn on him at any moment. Regardless, he did start to become somewhat more sociable near the end of the voyage. Rhazii and Newt ended up being the gateway that motivated him to speak with their respective parents. He saw little threat from them, so on at least a subconscious level, he was more comfortable talking about them. In terms of Rukeewei's comfort reaching land had not been much of an improvement. They left Windhelm soon after they arrived, and Eastmarch was a far worse place for him than he had expected. The lands they had to travel across were some of the coldest in Skyrim outside of the Pale, and he had never so much as even experienced a moderately cool day before. Fortunately, they were finally nearing their destination.
Eventually, the pack made their way high enough up the mountain to reach the base of the large, imposing stairway leading up to Raldbthar. The Dwemer ruin looked just the same on the outside as it had when they left, as it likely had for centuries. The clan did not want to give any clues that the ruin was being inhabited, Meesei had mandated that nothing be visibly changed about either the ruin's exterior, or first few rooms. Although, there was no doubt that they had been spotted by their scouts on the way up the mountain.
Rukeewei had to pause, holding his torch behind him so he could get a clear view of the structure towering over them. "What...manner of place is this?" He asked. The Dwemer had never expanded into Black Marsh, so Rukeewei had never seen any examples of Dwemer technology or architecture.
"This is the Dwemer city Raldbthar. It serves as the gateway to our home." Meesei answered.
you can probably summarize it.
Rukeewei's expression was anything but confident, but he answered firmly nonetheless. "There is no other choice. I could not bear to let you go alone. What if something happens on the way, or what if you get infected with that lycanthropy disease? I could not live apart from you like that, not for so long. My brother is capable of running the inn, especially if he can hire someone to help. My inn will be fine; my parents will not be happy, and they probably won't let this go, but I can handle that."
Rukeewei let out a sigh. "I know there's not much I can do to help. I'll just be...there, doing nothing. I can't protect you, or myself, really. I haven't so much as been in a fist fight since I was just a hatchling. I know I won't be useful, but I can at least try to keep you happy; to be your reminder of home." He tried to bring himself to smile. "Besides, you can keep me safe with your witch-magic, can't you?"
Rukeewei let out a sigh. "I know there's not much I can do to help. I'll just be...there, doing nothing. I can't protect you, or myself, really. I haven't so much as been in a fist fight since I was just a hatchling. I know I won't be useful, but I can at least try to keep you happy; to be your reminder of home." He tried to bring himself to smile. "Besides, you can keep me safe with your witch-magic, can't you?"
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