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Chapter 29 - Discerning the Transmundane

They had a couple of animal encounters on the way to Alftand, but nothing they couldn't handle easily. What they found first was the remains of a campsite. Exploring that got them an Expedition Manifest that held some useful information, including that they might not be alone when they got inside, and that what they needed to find was a fissure in the ice. Further exploration brought them to a rope bridge with what could be a fissure at the far end, and that turned out to be the case.

When they entered, it was obvious the explorers had moved in to avoid the storm mentioned in the Manifest, and not been too concerned with neatness; crates and barrels were scattered around. Making their way through the tunnel, they found the expedition leader's journal on a barrel beside an unlit campfire. That confirmed their conclusion about the move from the first campsite, but wasn't very helpful otherwise, so they kept going. They took nothing from the expedition's belongings; if the expedition was still here, they would need it.

Not too much further down the tunnel was another campsite, its fire also unlit, but this time, there was a lot of blood on the floor, and Yssha wondered what had happened. There was no way to tell, though, so they continued on, following Pathfinder. It was only a few minutes before they heard a Khajiit voice.

"Where is it? I know you were trying to keep it for yourself, J'zhar ... You always try to keep it for yourself!"

"Huh?" Marcurio said. "I wonder what that's all about."

The Khajiit answered that with his next words. "No! There's got to be more Skooma ... Shut up! Shut up! Don't lie to me, J'zhar! You hid it! You always try to steal it from me!"

As they neared the voice, Yssha realized they'd been seen.

"What? Who is this, Brother? Another of the smooth skins looking for food?"

"But these weren't trapped with us ... " He came around the corner, drawing his sword. "No ... no! You must be the ones who took my skooma!"

They had no chance to protest their innocence before he attacked, and they were forced to cut him down. They searched the body, then went around the corner he'd come from. On the ground in front of them was another dead Khajiit. When he searched the body, Marcurio came up with a journal as well as minor loot. "He's been dead for some time," he told Yssha, handing her the journal.

She read it, and nodded. "His brother was a skooma addict, and suffering from withdrawal, including delusions." She sighed. "Skooma is a horrible thing. When moon sugar is mixed with Eidar cheese and ale, turned into Elsweyr fondue, it is invigorating and helpful, but turned into skooma, it is vile."

"I've seen addicts in Riften, and I agree. It's nasty stuff. The damn makers and dealers should be killed."

"We agree on that, beloved. But we can do nothing for either of them, so shall we continue?"

"Definitely."

Shortly past the bodies, the ice turned into a ruin with snow and ice drifts, and Marcurio chuckled. "Dwemer. It's a good thing Farengar was able to put that Shock spell on our weapons. We're likely to run into some of their automatons, so take any soul gems they have, but leave the metal; the porters will haul it out."

"All right. That is their job, after all."

They passed the remains of a dwarven spider, retrieving the soul gem it held, then found a table with two more wrecked ones and a loose soul gem, retrieving the light items from those and a nearby chest.

They continued, finding the occasional chest and fighting off a few dwarven spiders, then they ran across a series of pistons that looked like they were intended to push intruders off a ledge. Those took careful timing to get past, but otherwise weren't a problem.

Their problems started when they entered the next section, what Marcurio thought was the Animonculory, though he didn't know what that meant. They were attacked almost immediately, and Marcurio swore. "Oblivion - Falmer! They're blind, but they have damn good hearing - go stealth!"

Yssha obeyed, and they were soon fighting. They didn't seem too bad, at least the ordinary ones, but that could be in part because of their dragon armor and weapons, though Marcurio mostly used spells.

Yssha couldn't exactly call their progress boring, because it was far too busy for that, but it did become monotonous. It was a succession of Falmer, curving down-ramps, traps, more Falmer, more ramps, the occasional treasure chest, a Falmer village, and so on. There was one brief spot where they had to find a lever upstairs to open a gate so they could progress, then ... they were at a dwarven construct, where two of the expedition members were fighting each other. Sulla and Umana, from what they were calling each other. She and Marcurio left them to their battle, finding the Attunement Sphere activated the construct, opening a passageway down.

They followed it, and she caught her breath as they emerged. This was a strange place, very much so, with glowing mushrooms and other fungi. It had to be Blackreach, Yssha thought, and Marcurio agreed. A building ahead and to her left attracted her attention, so they entered, finding a skeleton surrounded by alchemical ingredients and a few soul gems and other miscellany, including a field journal.

Marcurio studied that, then said, "Take anything you want from this place with us, dearling. If this place is as huge as it looks, it's entirely too big for me to want the porters wandering around and probably getting lost. Alftand is fine to send them to, but this place is too risky for them, even with combat pay."

"Very well. Help me collect these ingredients, then, please?" She looked around when he agreed, then pointed to a red plant emitting the characteristic hum of a nirnroot. "Oh! Look!"

Marcurio looked as astonished as she felt. "A crimson nirnroot? I've never seen that before."

"Nor have I. So I shall treat it most carefully, at least for now."

Once they were sure they had everything the laboratory held, they left, and Yssha cast Pathfinder. That led them back to the road and to the left, which almost immediately took them to a statue-looking thing in an arched opening with a lever at its bottom right. "What is that?" Yssha asked curiously.

"Dwarven Centurion," Marcurio replied. "Nasty, but usually profitable. What do you think?"

"We are well, this armor is strong, and we have no idea how much more it will take to finish Lakeview." Yssha went to the lever. "Brace yourself."

Marcurio readied spells in both hands. "Go for it!"

As soon as Yssha released the lever, the Centurion attacked Marcurio, who released lightning bolts from both hands as Yssha jumped to its back, wielding her mace. The Centurion wasn't an easy opponent, but it also didn't take very long to defeat, with their lighning and shock spells disrupting whatever kept it moving, and they stripped it of anything useful. Then they moved on.

The next problem was something Marcurio called a chaurus. Just one wasn't too bad, but as they moved on, they ran into three of them, which was far more difficult, and both of them needed healing spells when it was over.

"I must say, finding this Elder Scroll is more difficult than I had anticipated," Yssha said. "I hope we are getting close. I am both hungry and tired, but I would rather not try to rest in this place."

"That makes two of us, dearling," Marcurio said. "Maybe that temple-looking place up the hill will get us to Tower Mzark."

"May the Nine will it so." Yssha cast Pathfinder, and they were led up and to a bridge, then to the large building. Inside, they found a lever, and Yssha pulled it.

This one took them up, rather than down as the last one had, and they emerged into a hallway. They went along frayed carpets to a door at the far end. When Yssha opened it, she gasped.

"What is it, love?"

"Just look at that!"

There was a huge sphere in front of them, with round ... they almost looked like gems, but gems didn't come that big, studding it, and a curved walkway leading up and around. In awe of the huge thing, whatever it was, Yssha led the way up ... and up .. and up, until she reached what looked like a control platform.

It was obvious where to put the empty Lexicon, and she did, but now what? How to fill it and find the Elder Scroll?

"Talos, guide me," she prayed. "You wish me to restore Your Empire, so I ask you to show me how."

She sensed affection, and a nudge to one of the columns. She looked around, saw two of the four had shields, but this one did not, so she pressed its button. That got some machinery above the huge sphere moving, but that was all, so she pressed it again. And again. And again.

That opened the shields over the buttons to her left, and she went to them. The taller of the two was more attractive-seeming, somehow, so the pressed it twice, then the one to its left once ... and the Lexicon began glowing, while the mechanism above the huge sphere lowered to its surface.

She breathed a prayer of thanks to Talos. "I would never have found that for myself, Lord Talos. I thank you for your generosity."

Then she retrieved the now-filled Lexicon and went to the lowered part of the mechanism, where she found the Elder Scroll she needed, and heaved a sigh of relief. She had both the Lexicon and the Scroll, so they could leave, and she cast Pathfinder to find the easiest way out.

That led them back down, out a door, and right, to another lift that led them to the surface.

Yssha sighed. "Back to Septimus, love? I do not feel up to facing Alduin in my current condition."

Marcurio bent down and kissed her. "Yeah, let's give him his precious Lexicon back."

So they 'ported back to his outpost, and entered. They went down the slippery pathway to the bottom, and handed the mage the Lexicon.

He was delighted, but chagrined at the same time. "Give it, quickly. Extraordinary. I see it now. The sealing structure interlocks in the tiniest fractals. Dwemer blood can loose the hooks, but none alive remain to bear it. A panoply of their brethren could gather to form a facsimile. A trick. Something they didn't anticipate, no, not even them. The blood of Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Falmer, and Orsimer. The elves still living provide the key. Bear you hence this extractor. It will drink the fresh blood of elves. Come when its set is complete."

Yssha wasn't at all sure she wanted to do that; she was no vampire, to kill various folk just for their blood. But she was bound to encounter some she had to kill for other reasons, so she accepted the extractor, and the two started to leave. They were stopped on the way out, though, by a huge mass of writhing tentacles. "Come closer. Bask in my presence."

Yssha hesitated, unwilling, but the thing wasn't threatening her, so she moved forward a couple of steps. "Who, or what, are you?"

"I am Hermaeus Mora," the tentacular mass said. "I am the guardian of the unseen, and knower of the unknown. I have been watching you, mortal. Most impressive. Your continuing aid to Septimus renders him increasingly obsolete. He has served me well, but his time is nearing its end. Once that infernal lockbox is opened, he will have exhausted his usefulness to me. When that time comes, you shall take his place as my emissary. What say you?"

After Greats-Grandmother's warnings against the Daedra, that was no temptation at all. "No. I will not serve you."

Yssha sensed anger, but the reply sounded calm enough. "Be warned. Many have thought as you do. I have broken them all. You shall not evade me forever." And, to Yssha's relief, it vanished. They left the cave as quickly as they could get up the ladder and open the door.

"Great," Marcurio said when they were outside. "Now we've got a Daedric Prince unhappy with us. I don't suppose you could've gone along with him, though."

"No, at least not willingly, with him or most of the others. Depending on the circumstances, I might deal with Meridia or Azura. The rest, I will avoid as much as possible." Yssha sighed. "I may not be able to completely, of course, but that is my intention."

"I feel the same way, love," Marcurio said. "Well, at least it's over for now. Let's get some food and rest."

"Yes." Yssha took his hand, and they were at Whiterun, walking toward the city and their apartment at Dragonsreach.