The Ebony Renegades (Skyrim)

chapter twenty five (part two)

As I opened the door to the dwarven armory a thick fog rolled out from the humidity that had been circulating throughout the submerged subterranean ruin. Looking forward I saw a passageway that went off to the left along with a staircase that went up on the wall-lifted platform a good ten to eleven feet above me deciding to take the stairs this time I ascended the staircase quietly hugging the wall making sure there's no room for anything to take me from behind. Seeing a couple of the falmer at the top I quickly shot them both down before they could alert the others who were more than likely nearby to my presence. I might not be used to traveling and ruins on my own but I did know one thing for certain the biggest mistake you could make with these savage creatures is to underestimate their numbers. I have heard countless stories of rookie mercenaries thinking that eliminating a falmer cave would be an easy job only for them to be slaughtered themselves. The falmer may not be bright but they are not fools and only an idiot underestimates them. Once I had eliminated the two sentries I checked the hallway to my immediate right as I went through a falmer which surprisingly enough was accompanied by a frostbite spider. I mean it's not the first time I've seen one of these blind savages accompanied by an insect companion although it's usually a chorus and not a frostbite spider. I followed the path to the right of where I killed the last falmer and I noticed a trap on the floor so I stepped over it to avoid triggering it as I carefully made my way down the stairs before sweeping to my immediate left with my back to the dwarven metal gate giving no room to be crept up on. As soon as I entered a large room that had a lot of dwarven statues inside I could see two dwarven spider statues, two dwarven sphere statues, and one dwarven centurion statue right in the middle of the five statues as I could see a bloody body leaning up against the dwarven centurion statue I immediately realized this was another one of those researchers as I crouched down to check his condition unfortunately just like the last one he was dead and from the looks of things he died very slowly whether it be by starvation or poison I couldn't say for sure all I knew was there was nothing I could do to help him now. I immediately took his journal and stuffed it into my satchel with the other one before sweeping the room carefully minding my footing to avoid stepping on any traps as a fight with a dwarven centurion in this enclosed space would not be in my favor considering I was just as vulnerable to steam blasts as everything else. I tried to pick an expert lock of a gate although it took me a couple of tries I eventually managed to unlock it, once I got the gate open I found a set of regular dwarven armor lying on a pedestal along with a set of dwarven boots, a dwarven helmet, and dwarven gauntlets. I didn't really have a need for all of this armor considering the set I was wearing was fine as it was but I'm certain that it could get sold for a good price or even give it to Calcelmo to help further his research. Nodding to myself I stuffed the armor pieces into my bag as best as I could before I continued sweeping the room wanting to make sure I didn't miss anything important. Soon after I had completely done a thorough sweep of the room I went down the stairs and walked to the dwarven gate once again the damn thing was locked and I was down to my last lockpick so by some matter of luck I was able to open the gate without the lockpick breaking. I went down the hallway with my dwarven crossbow up knowing full well that I could easily walk into an ambush at any time so I kept my guard up just to be on the safe side. Just like before I swept to the immediate left after seeing another door from where I was sitting I followed the pathway downwards it led me to another gate which led to the left again with another dwarven trap on the floor which I made an extra point to avoid stepping on I realized that I had made a big circle as I was in the same room as the statues were I circled around and made my way back up to where I saw the door and went through. When I came out of the door I was at least sixty to seventy feet above the inland lake beneath me which didn't scare me because if I fell I knew that the water was deep enough that I'd survive the fall. I walked forward seeing four bloody bedrolls, another dwarven centurion statue, and yet another one of the researchers bodies and another journal too. I also noticed the body of an imperial in the corner which told me that these imperials have been brought for an extra level of security what a hell of a lot of good that did them, I looked around to try to find the body of the researcher not finding him anywhere. As I proceeded to make my way up the stone bridge to my left I found another body of an imperial bodyguard I made my way up to where the doorway was I saw a large overhanging Bridge at my eye level that I could clearly see was where I entered the ruin from originally. I took a deep breath before entering the Nchuand-zel control room according to the label over the doorway I opened and entered the big imposing doors leading me into a grand hallway that by some miracle had not been nearly as touched by the humidity as the other places of the ruin but I still knew better than to lower my guard. I took a deep breath before hugging the wall making sure not to give myself any room to be ambushed I proceeded straight through a large archway the pathway took a sharp left and then upwards again with a single falmer at the top clearly that's one was another century so I quickly killed it my haste was quickly proven a bad idea when another one came around the corner the second the sentry's body dropped I quickly corrected my error by firing another bolt right between the other one's eyes dropping it to the ground before quickly rushing forward and collecting the bolts before carefully using the reflective surface of Keening to see around the corner. Upon not seeing anything I proceeded my way forward until I saw two more falmer standing in the middle of the room I couldn't get a good look I could tell one was armed with a sword but the other one looked like one of those spell casters that usually carried a staff I made a mental note and killed the one with the staff first to avoid any unwanted issues ,not to mention make things easier without spells flying around. If I hadn't been as observant as I was and I walked straight on with this mild fog cloud that was still hugging the ground of the ruin I wouldn't have seen them and I would have walked right into them. I quickly fired a bolt directly into the head of the spellcaster and then the second one as the other falmer turned to find where it came from I shot it right in the back of the head I quickly yet slowly made my way towards the body's being extremely careful not to do anything to draw any unwanted attention to the left side of the room I found another dwarven chest that had more gold in it I also found some more gold on the table along with an iron greatsword that I had no use for but as I turned the corner I found another body of yet another researcher. I continued my way through hugging the walls and dodging out of the open areas whenever I could it was times like this when I wish I had Salazar with me if he used his detect life spell I could easily sneak my way around to them. But it seemed that during my thought process I had idled for too long as a dwarven sphere activated out of the ruin and came rolling directly at me quickly used Sunder and Spellbreaker to take out the sphere in front of me just as I had it down I felt a sharp pain through the gap of my shoulder armor from a dwarven bolt of another dwarven sphere I quickly used Spellbreaker to block any more bolts from hitting me as I shield bashed it before slamming the head of sunder into its mechanical head dropping it in pieces on the ground and collected the dwarven bolts from its internal quiver. Now that I knew that the dwarven automaton deployment stations were still operational I made extra careful to avoid triggering anything else. As I came around the corner I quickly reacted seeing one of those falmer turning around I immediately ran towards it before slamming the blunt end of sunder into its head now that I had a few minutes to think to myself I sat with my back up against the wall before quickly speed-reading through all the journals then following the instructions provided I reactivated Nchuand-zel's automated defenses before cautiously making my way down the hall littered with urns and small benches on either side as I followed the path downward I was cautious especially when I saw a crossroad I didn't find anything useful or anything but I made it a point to keep my guard up because at any moment I knew that another dwarven automaton or another couple of falmer could come around. As I was making my way back out my tensed muscles and heightened sense of awareness were well placed as I picked up distinct mechanical skittering sounds from a dwarven spider the second I killed one more kept popping out of the deployment area so that was my cue to get the hell out of there while I had the opportunity. On my way out I narrowly avoided setting off another trap I continued hugging the walls as I made my way back where I came from. As I exited the control room I looked up onto the bridge and saw a couple of the blinded snow elves facing off against a gigantic dwarven centurion way bigger than a normal one that's when I realized that the statue that I passed on the platform with the four bedrolls wasn't a statue at all rather the centurion just hadn't been deployed yet. I quickly made my way to avoid an interaction with the centurion but luck seemed to have run out for me because the dwarven centurion saw me and came stalking my way. Seeing no other way to get away I fired bolt after bolt into it hardened exterior aiming for its dynamo core. After a few precise bolts and an Oblivion amount of luck I managed to take the centurion down I made my way through the Machine versus Savage carnage and quickly looted whatever valuables I could I wasn't able to find much out of the ordinary however I did find things that did indeed prove to be useful thanks to looting the dwarven spheres I was able to replace the bolts that I had lost. Now that I had completely fulfilled the favor my dear friend asked of me I made my way back toward the exit paying careful attention to where I was walking as I exited the cavern of the dwarven settlement and entered the excavation site once more making my way back from there. Once I came passing through the dead frostbite spider bodies along with the cobwebs and mining equipment, I soon returned to under stone keep before giving my old friend Calcelmo a wave before walking over to his nephew handing over the journals and removing my helmet placing the dwarven visage over my chest before delivering the bad news. " Aicantar I am truly sorry but I found your researcher friends, and I regret to inform you that they are all dead but if it's any comfort to you I killed every last falmer in that ruin so if you want to send in a search team to recover their bodies I can quickly draw you a map marking where they are." I said in a solemn tone when I noticed the heart broken look on his face. " Yes please that would be great you see one of those researchers was actually my fiance when you found her did those blind savages do anything to her?" He asked in a worried tone I knew full well what he meant as there were documented cases of the savages abducting females and using them as playthings before brutally butchering them. " No her clothing was still intact if anything the most they did was shot her once lost interest and went on their way." I said noticing that seemed to give him some comfort I placed my hand gently on his shoulder giving him a remorseful look before walking over to Calcelmo to give him some time to process the events that had transpired.