Hasphat was right where I'd left him, still in his bunk with his book. "Eyedis still isn't back," he said without looking up from the page. "Although the poacher crew is."

I removed the unwieldy bow from my shoulder to sit down on the bunk across from him. "Actually, I need to talk to you. I hear you may have information on the Sixth House and Nerevarine cults."

He dropped his book on his stomach and turned to look at me. "Are you Caius' man?" I nodded. "And you're going to do me a favor in exchange for the information, correct?" I nodded again. Hasphat jumped out of bed and went to his footlocker. "I need help exploring a Dwemer ruin and searching for a small artifact. I'd do it myself, but the ruin is being looted by, well looters. I need backup to take them on."

"Are we leaving now?"

He nodded emphatically. "The sooner the better. I'd have hired Wayn to come with me, but I'm a bit short of gold right now. I'm just bad at managing my money. Trading favors works much better for me." He put on a shirt of chainmail, arm bracers, and a boiled leather helmet. He belted on a short wakizashi and pulled a crossbow out of the chest along with a belt quiver full of quarrels.

"Is this ruin close by," I started to worry?"

"Actually it's just past fort Moonmoth. If we can find the artifact quickly, We'll be back before midnight."

"It's a good thing I slept in this morning then."

On our way out, we passed Wayn, who was talking to Balyn over a couple tankards. "Hey newbie," he called. "Welcome back."

Hasphat waved him off. "We've got to go Wayn. Tell Eyedis we ought to be back before morning."

"You got it. Fight smart." I rushed after Hasphat. He jogged steadily until we were out of the city and my breathing became ragged. My body was recovering well from the coma, but my heart couldn't keep pace yet. Eventually, I had to ask Hasphat to slow down. We walked toward fort Moonmoth and the Ashlands where Ajira and I had just been.

"Tell me Han-lu, what kind of fighting experience do you have? There might be quite a few enemies to face."

Between breaths I replied, "I have lots of experience, it's my health that will slow me down. I was in a coma for some months and it did terrible things to my endurance and magic abilities. If you want to face these people head on, I can do that, but I'll be much more useful if we can fight stealthily."

He nodded his approval. "Between your bow and my crossbow, we shouldn't have any problems. These are thieves and smugglers, not warriors."

We passed fort Moonmoth and crossed the great Dwemer bridge. Just beyond it, we turned south up a hill. As we crested a rise, I realized that what I thought were strangely shaped mountain peaks in the night sky were actually spires on a great metal building. "Sweet Mephala, I've never seen anything like it."

Hasphat set the stirrup of his crossbow in the dirt and cocked it, placing a quarrel in front of the taut string. He then went to one of many pipes sticking out of the ground and felt along its length until he found a crank. By operating the crank, he was able to open a gate covering a great circular door.

"Now listen closely Han-lu. I've never been past this point, but from other ruins I've explored, I can tell you they are dangerous. The smugglers are simple, but there may be some leftover Dwemer constructs. These are animated fighting machines and they are very difficult to kill. My crossbow is an ancient relic of the Dwarves and I have bolts that are hard enough to pierce their armor, but I doubt your arrows or sword will. If you see any constructs, let me handle them." I nodded and he silenced me with a finger to his lips.

He led the way, pushing the half circle door open with his shoulder and sweeping his crossbow across the opening before stepping inside. The space inside was great and cavernous. Most of the walls and ceiling were solid stone with all other decorations being made of the same metal as the outside. Every sound echoed through the empty space and sent shivers down my spine. I got an urgent feeling to run as though there were leftovers from the feelings of an ancient civilization and they didn't want me here, but I gritted my teeth and knocked an arrow.

It's just nerves, I told myself. Stone steps jutted from the wall and led downward from the small landing where we stood into a large central cavern. Hasphat and I moved as quietly as we could, but his chainmail inevitably made a small sound which carried unnaturally far in the bare stone and metal room. I stopped when I heard a groan from below. Peeking over the steps, I saw a dark elf moving loot from a pile on the main floor of the room and packing it into crates. I glanced at Hasphat and he signalled me to shoot.

I drew back and the quality steel of the bow made no noise. The weight of the draw was almost too much and it hurt where it dug into my three drawing fingers. I sighted down the shaft figuring that at this distance and angle, there would be little to no drop. The arrow loosed, the twang of the string reverberated through the cavern and my shot went low. The arrow pierced the Dunmers throat instead of the skull and went all the way through to clatter against the floor. The Dunmer fell gurgling and I just knew the sound of it could be heard through the rest of the caverns.

Hasphat cringed behind me, but said nothing. He simply pressed himself back into the shadows and continued down the stairs. I scanned the cavern. There was a set of doors level with the floor and a stone ramp leading up to the underground equivalent of a patio where I could see tables and chairs overlooking the rest of the cavern.

"Han-lu," Hasphat whispered. "Cover the tunnels. I'll check these crates."

I picked up the bloody arrow from next to the Dunmer who's writhing slowly grew still and nocked it again. One of the doors was open revealing a dark tunnel. The only light in this room came from a couple of torches. My breathing was labored with no apparent reason. The metal creaks and clacks from deeper in the ruin still gave me shivers. I squinted into the darkness of the tunnel as though a specter might appear at any time. Sweat gathered in my brow and I had to shake myself because of a sudden chill.

Hasphat said nothing behind me. I strained my ears and heard footsteps coming from the tunnel. Hasphat was by my side in a second, crossbow drawn and aimed. A rude voice called out. "Hey grey skin, I'm coming up. Don't piss yourself this time."

A human appeared carrying a barrel which blocked his view, but also prevented my shooting him. I stepped lightly to the side as he proceeded with the heavy load. By the time he saw me, my arrow had already stuck in his skull. The body and barrel both tumbled the the ground with a resounding crash. It seemed an eternity before the echoes faded completely, only leaving the creaking from the deep.

"Forget this sneaking around in here," I said half yelling. Hasphat desperately put a finger to his lips, but I refused. "No, if we're clearing this place we're clearing the whole place, then you can look for your blasted artifact and I can leave." I went to the opening of the tunnel and yelled. "Do you hear that? We're coming to kill you!"

My words reverberated a thousand times as I proceeded down the tunnel with Hasphat nervously following. My bow led the way, arrow nocked but only partially drawn. The hallways were lit by strange tubes built into the wall that glowed yellow. The strange bronze colored metal was the dominating building material. Each time we came to a set of the large circular doors, we kicked them in finding ancient bedrooms, a water closet, and what looked like a kitchen, but no smugglers.

Each time we passed a barrel or crate, Hasphat would stop to check it despite what I'd said before. As I calmed a little bit, I didn't blame him. I wouldn't want to be left alone in this place either.

We followed stairways downward and came to another fairly large room. There was a set of doors on the other side of the room, a second stairway leading upwards behind me and an open hole in the floor where the great creaking emanated from. Crates, barrels, and room furnishings littered the room to either side like this place had been used for storage. After checking the doors and finding them tightly locked, I creeped to the edge of the hole and peered in. The floor was ten feet down, but I couldn't see much else about the room.

A scream from behind me tore my attention away as a Dunmer woman leaped from the cover of a dusty bookshelf and tackled me with a dagger lunging for my torso. I dropped my bow and grabbed her wrist as we fell to the floor. I twisted, lifting with one leg to throw her over me and into the hole, but she grabbed my shirt and dragged me in with her. I flailed in the air as I was dragged, my back scraping painfully on the metal edge of the floor and hit the ground with a thud. A stabbing pain appeared near my left armpit and I realized I'd fallen on the woman's dagger.

I stood with a grunt and pulled the dagger out, pressing my left hand against the bleeding wound. The Dunmer stood and circled me. "You killed my Duma-thil. You killed him! Rot in Oblivion!" She tried to tackle me without a weapon, but Hasphat's crossbow cut her down. The bolt entered her at the shoulder and exited near her waist before sticking solidly into the metal floor and vibrating with a humming sound.

I relaxed as she gasped and bled on the ground and took the time to close my wound, emptying my magic in one go. The Dunmer's breaths were sharp and quick, obviously causing great pain.

"Hasphat, will you find me a rope or something?"

He disappeared to search the room above. I scanned the room I was in. There were two hallways leading downward and one staircase that I could only assume led to the locked doors above. I bit my lip and remembered the lockpick I had. I kept it in my sock for just such an occasion as this. I climbed the stairs and found that the door did indeed have a lock comparable to today's models.

I stuck the pick in and used the dying woman's dagger as a torque wrench. I gritted my teeth as I felt for the tumblers inside. "It's been way too long," I murmured to myself. A scream from below made me jump, breaking the pick in the lock. "Curse it all, I just want to get out of here."

The dying woman continued to scream violently, so I descended to see what the commotion was. She was dragging herself toward the stairs, trailing blood while a strange clicking sound followed her. In the dim light, I saw what I could only assume to be one of the Dwemer Automatons following her. It was obviously designed like a spider with eight metal legs.

I watched as it caught up with the woman and brutally stabbed her over and over with its front legs until she lay still. Then it clacked after me showing no hesitation. "Hasphat?" I yelled, leaping over the thing, not wanting to be cornered in the stairwell.

He appeared at the edge with his crossbow and put a bolt through the spider. I looked up at him. "Get me out of here!"

"I'll push one of the bookshelves down." He disappeared and I heard squealing as he moved the metal furnishing. "Hang on a sec, it's... really heavy."

His echoes were drowned out by the sound of something rolling up one of the tunnels to meet me. I drew my sword. "Hasphat!"

"I'm going… as fast.. as I can," he yelled between grunts!

A large metal ball rolled smoothly up to me and unfolded into a rough image of a metal man with a rolling ball in place of legs. A long sword extended from it's hand and it drew back to strike. I raised my sword to block the clumsy blow, but the strength behind it was enormous and forced me to retreat. I circled the edge of the room backwards avoiding strike after strike.

"Now Antabolis!" My scream was tinged with fear.

"Run," was all the response I got.

I turned on my heel and dashed for one of the tunnels, heart once again pounding. The stairs didn't slow the automaton down. It just curled its torso back into a ball and bounced to the bottom. I kept running, hoping for a larger space where I might be able to circle back. I turned a corner to find another automaton blocking the entrance to another room. This one stood taller than an orc warrior and twice as thick. One of its arms was a club and one was a hammer. Behind me, I heard the sphere unfold and extend its sword. There was no turning back.

I charged the larger one as it raised its hammer and dove past its side before it could bring the hammer down on me. Back up the tunnel, I heard a crash from the bookshelf finally tumbling into the hole. I had to get around these automatons and circle back, but upon entering the room, I noticed the heat and red light. There was a bridge built across this room because there was no floor. Magma lie far below ebbing and filling the deep circular room. Above me, great metal turbines spun from the rising heat, but I didn't understand their purpose. The only thing on my mind was the first section of the bridge which had collapsed and undoubtedly fallen in the lava pit long ago.

Checking behind me, I saw the two automatons coming after me, the smaller one stuck behind the bigger slower one. With no other choice, I backed up, ran at the edge, and jumped the five foot gap. I caught the edge with my hands and climbed until my shoulders were even with the bridge. To my horror, a spider automaton approached me from the other side. Before I could pull myself up, it reared to strike. I caught one of its bladed legs and dragged it over the edge into the lava. The leg was just a sharpened blade and cut deep into my fingers. As it sailed over me, one of its legs stabbed me shallowly in the back.

I screamed as I pulled myself up and tried to heal my fingers a little before proceeding with what little magic I'd recovered. Sitting on the edge of the bridge, I saw that the hulking automaton before me had stopped at the edge, but the one behind it kept pushing forward and slowly tipped the hulk over. It tumbled toward the lava, but it raised its hammer arm, striking the bridge next to me as it fell. I screamed again as two of the bridges support chains broke and the corrugated bridge flooring hung like a ladder from the two remaining chains. I only just managed to grab the bridge. My stomach turned at the sudden feeling of freefall until the piece of catwalk hung vertical. I supported my entire weight on the tips of my fingers, reopening the cuts and the stab wound from the Dunmer's dagger.

Exhausted, it took everything I had to climb back up to the top. My emaciated arms began to shake as I pushed them to their physical limits. My sliced fingers made each hand hold slick with blood. I permitted myself a loud groan of frustration As I heaved my body up the panel. I hauled myself onto the section of undamaged catwalk and allowed myself a moment to rest with my torso back on a solid part of the bridge. After shimmying the rest of the way up I stood on the other side of the room and looked back, realizing I couldn't double back. Then Hasphat yelled.

"Han-lu, come on! You can make it!" The sound wasn't coming from the way I came, it was coming from my tunnel. I realized that it must circle back to the room Hasphat was in. The automaton seemed to read my mind and turned around to corner me back in the room I'd fallen into.

I sprinted, clutching at my bleeding wounds. I sprinted up the hall and up the stairs until I was right below Hasphat. The bookshelf had fallen on its front so I squatted and tipped the thing up. It weighed a ton, but I couldn't let that stop me. This time, the stairs were slowing down the automaton. It somehow managed to roll up one stair at a time. I heaved and tipped the ridiculous piece of furniture up on its legs. Hasphat was on his belly, reaching down to help me up. I climbed to the top of the bookshelf just as the automaton crested the stairs. In a fury, I kicked the bookshelf over. It slowly tilted, and fell on top of the automaton, the heavy shelves crushing it in several places. I laughed, hanging onto the floor of the room above. Hasphat hauled me up by my blood soaked shirt and dragged me to the corner of the room.

"Are you alright Han-lu?"

I chuckled humorlessly. "Oh yeah, just peachy." Hasphat tended to my wounds and I noticed a dead Nord on the floor. "Had a little trouble of your own, did you?"

"That's why it took so long to push the shelf down to you. Here," he pushed a small bottle into my hands and I drank it without question. He tore my shirt to pieces to staunch the bleeding. The potion he gave me quickened the scabbing process and I was soon on my feet again, granted with much less blood than before. "We should get out of here," Hasphat suggested.

I shook my head, gritting my teeth from the pain. "We can keep searching up here. If what you're looking for is down there, then it can wait until I'm back in shape. No looters are getting past those things. I'll heal myself little by little as we go along."

"No, I've done enough damage today. We need to get you back to Balmora," Hasphat insisted.

"I didn't go through all this to go back empty handed. Find whatever you're looking for and let's get out of here for good," I insisted. As he searched the crates, I considered knocking him out, tying him up, and just interrogating him for the info I needed, but I didn't think Caius would like that. I watched the tunnels with Hasphats crossbow, unable to use my own bow because of my injuries.

He searched the whole room, gathering a pile of interesting items and even a couple weapons, but not the thing he was looking for. I covered him as we searched the place, but it seemed that the smugglers were either all dead or were smart enough to have left. The automatons seemed confined to the lower area. We searched for an hour or more, checking everything the smugglers left behind until we found ourselves in the main cavern again.

"Do you think they took it," I asked?

Hasphat glanced around the room looking as though he was on the verge of giving up until his eyes landed on the balcony area. "Let's check up there. If I can't find it, we'll call it quits."

We climbed the ramp. The area looked like a little diner with tables and chairs. A single set of doors led back to what I assumed was a kitchen. I sat in one of the chairs to relax and ended up nodding off. Hasphat shook me awake.

"Hey, Han-lu, I found it." I opened my eyes to find him holding a small box made up of lots of little parts.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A puzzle. I'm hoping it will give me more information on the history of the Dwemer."

I shook my head. "Whatever, let's get out of here."

I stole one of the torches and we made our way back to the Fighters guild. I didn't broach the subject of the information he owed me. That could wait till morning.