One mage from the school of Restoration
Wrote a book on his ponderings
Of how little they knew between inter-species breeding
Could the Dunmer or Dark Elves
Produce a blue skinned Argonian?
But perhaps, if such things happen, they are rare
For what are we to call the child
of a Dark Elf and an Ork?
What madness would there be if there were Dorks?
Claudia returned back to the cathedral later that night. Things were winding down and visitors had long since tapered off from coming to the place of worship. Nonetheless, the stillness did nothing to calm her mind about what she had just learned. She had received a vision from the Daedra Azura. She did consider the possibility that maybe a Divine had sent the vision and Azura had something to do with the message. Nonetheless, this did not simplify matters. There was no getting around it. She saw Azura's face in the dreams, absolutely certain it was her voice. She did not know how she was certain, but she could not be persuaded otherwise. While the Vigilant of Stendarr tended to focus on the more malevolent of Daedra, Azura not being one of them, the technical rule on the books banned the worship of Daedra. Come to think of it, Claudia did not recall the last time she heard about a raid on an Azura cult.
That did make sense. Worshippers of Mehrunes Dagon, Molag Bal, Boethiah, Mephala, even Sheogorath just seemed more dangerous than Daedra like Azura or Meridia. Claudia was even willing to wager that no one bothered to report Azura cultists because, not only was Azura deemed benevolent for a Daedra, but also because Azura cults tended to keep to themselves.
Still that did not make her feel better.
She decided another night's sleep would probably help.
They were in a predicament, there was no doubt about that.
Do'Ravier coughed a few times, feeling dust in his throat before trying to find his bearings. It was rather hard to do in complete darkness. He was at least relieved to know he was still clutching his spear firmly in his hand. Finally coming to his feet, he wanted to set his full attention to getting some light so he could see. Khajiiti eyes only amplified existing light in dark places. Complete darkness meant he was just as blind as anyone else.
"Does anyone know a light spell?" Do'Ravier coughed.
"Yes, give me a moment." Sylva replied before Do'Ravier saw an orb of light appear off to the side. The Redguard mage was holding the ball of illumination like it was cupped in her hands.
"Ouch, I hurt everywhere." Louis groaned.
"We have a big problem." Do'Ravier muttered forlornly.
From what could see from the light the cave in was not a minor one. They were at least ten feet into the corridor and the dirt was only two feet behind them. He could also see large rocks in the way. He also wondered if any of those solid stone tiles he saw coming in remained mostly intact when the tunnel collapsed. If so, that meant there would be more obstacles in the way of any rescue team trying to dig them out from that way.
"Where's Geoffrey?" Sylva asked, looking around in alarm.
"He was right behind me." Louis replied.
Do'Ravier cast his eyes sadly on the pile of dirt that blocked their path and was directly behind Louis.
"Oh...oh gods, no! Geoffrey, are you in there?" Sylva cried, starting to tear the dirt away with her hands. They were immediately plunged into darkness when she lost concentration of the light spell.
Realizing the problem, the woman once again fired up the orb of light, this time revealing tears falling from her eyes.
"This one is sorry...there is nothing we can do." Do'Ravier sighed.
"So what are we going to do?" Louis asked when he finally got out of his shock.
"We came here to open the front door. Now we better get it open." Do'Ravier said, walking deeper into the corridor.
"Sylva, you must at least follow this one. Do'Ravier cannot see in the pitch dark without your light spell." Do'Ravier grumbled a few moments later.
Claudia finished the morning prayers and ventured to the dining hall to catch breakfast. Barely visible, the woman had a slight tremble with her movements. She was nervous and very unsettled. She had hoped a night's rest would help her forget the dream she had yesterday, the one that made her believe she was being contacted by the Daedra Azura. It had not.
She had another dream last night.
Chewing on the bread and butter that was before her, she sought some way to distract herself from the vision last night. Sibylla was already there and was sipping some warm tea from a mug. The two nodded upon making eye contact, both finding it too early to engage in any conversation.
Both looked up upon seeing Bann-Je for the first time since his mission. They had heard it was a success but they were still too tired to ask for any details. They also remembered that Bann-Je was not exactly the best conversationalist.
The Argonian tiredly slipped past the doorway, rubbing the front of his head in his exhaustion. He had made it several feet into the room when his compulsion reminded him of his little ritual. Groaning, Bann-Je turned around, passed under the doorway three times again before turning around to find a spot on the table.
The transition from Bann-Je to Squints his Eye to Bann-Je again was never an easy one.
"Hey, has anyone seen what happened to our Khajiiti friend?" Sibylla asked curiously.
"Did he go somewhere?" Claudia inquired, glad to be distracted.
"Yes, he got dragged off to an Dwemer excavation yesterday. I did not assume it would take long." Sibylla shrugged.
"I did not see him this morning." Bann-Je groaned, half asleep.
"Do you think we should go check up on him then?" Claudia asked, jumping at the opportunity to keep herself preoccupied.
"Sure, if you think it's worthwhile. Considering how much he loves those old ruins, he's probably having the time of his life." Sibylla snickered.
"This one would like to think there have been worse situations he has been in before. Alas, Do'Ravier can't seem to remember at the moment." Do'Ravier grumbled, still hiding behind the coarse Khajiiti dialect.
"I can't believe we just left him there." Sylva murmured absent mindedly, keeping next to Louis as both followed behind the Khajiit.
"We all studied in the same class." Louis added.
"Excuse this one. Do'Ravier knows that you are both very saddened by the loss of your friend. However, if we do not focus on surviving, then we may very soon share your friend's fate." Do'Ravier warned.
The Khajiit hated being callous but it was a mindset that had been beaten into him on numerous missions. You'd be surprise on what you can block out with enough practice.
Eventually, they were able to delve deep enough into the ruins where they noticed that the Dwemer's ancient lighting system was still running. It was anyone's guess if the lighting was accomplished through magic, technology or a combination of both. All that mattered was that the fixtures on the walls allowed Sylva to take a much needed break from casting the glowing orb of light.
"You know, if it wasn't for the fact that we're trapped in here, this would be absolutely exciting. We're probably one of the few people to venture into this ruin since the mountain buried it. Sure, people may have come before us and disturbed it but imagine how much more that could have been overlooked?" Louis said, taking in all the writings and designs on the walls and floor.
"We'll have to dedicated the site to Geoffrey." Sylva murmured sadly.
"Focus, we need to get out of here first." Do'Ravier reminded, nervously surveying the scenes before him.
They found themselves in the vast, spacious halls that characterised the main living areas of Dwemer cities. The colors and designs were faded but still told of the brutal beauty they once held. The casted statues of Dwemers glared down upon, stares as cold as the metal they were made out of.
"Look, some of the machinery still runs." Louis observed, pointing out the large engines that still wheezed despite the untold ages, steam venting from their proper places.
"I wonder what that was once meant for." Sylva voiced.
They had barely made another step forward when two metallic bangs disturbed the peace. The trio scarcely had time to react when a pair of large golden spheres, metallic in construction, began barrelling on their location.
"Akatosh save us, do you two know destructive spells?" Do'Ravier demanded in a panic.
"Not really, why? What's wrong?" Sylva asked in rising concern.
"Stay behind this one and stay out of the way!" Do'Ravier shouted, raising his spear.
The two spheres unfolded to reveal they were in fact Dwemer guardians, ancient robotic constructs that still dutifully carried out their task to defend the ruin. The eras that had passed meant little to the robots. Their blades were still razor sharp and they intended to use them.
There were screams as the guardians' blades connected to Do'Ravier's spear.
"Do'Ravier still has not returned from that dig site?" Tacitus asked in surprise.
Sibylla, Claudia and Bann-Je were inside the archon's office. Despite the dream still weighing heavily on Claudia's mind, the exhaustion making the normally faded pink of her eyes deeper, Claudia could tell that Archon Tacitus was also distracted with something.
"Yes. You'd think he'd be back by now." Sibylla shrugged.
"I don't know much about it. I was busy with a mission yesterday." Bann-Je replied before yawning.
"While I am a little concerned, the mages assured me it would only be a day's work, we have another problem. The noble Bernard Landuc committed suicide yesterday and the family is apparently very distressed. The funeral will be held this evening. I need all of you to be around to help because of such short notice." Tacitus explained.
"I see..." Claudia murmured nervously, taking a quick glance at Bann-Je.
"I must respectfully request that I play a minimal role at the funeral." Bann-Je announced uncomfortably.
"...Did your mission yesterday have something to do with this?" Tacitus asked in a hush tone.
Bann-Je only nodded, not even saying a word.
"By the Divines, tell me that this outcome was not a mistake." Tacitus hissed.
"Quite to the contrary. It was a confirmation...and a success." Bann-Je sighed.
"Very well, so long as it was not a blunder...Stendarr have mercy, what madness do people plunge themselves into?" Tacitus murmured to himself.
Sibylla, Bann-Je and Claudia still stood uncomfortably, Claudia finding her toes very interesting while Sibylla refused to make eye contact with anyone.
"Very well, Bann-Je. You will help set up but the moment anyone from the Landuc Estate starts to arrive, you may confine yourself to your quarters. The rest of you, off to your duties. I'm sure our Khajiit friend is having the time of his life in those ruins." Tacitus dismissed.
"That's exactly what I said." Sibylla nodded.
Do'Ravier was very certain he was fighting for his life. Without any support.
Repeated blows from the guardians' blades were parried by his spear while Do'Ravier used his weapon as a conduit to shower both enemies with bolts of lightning. The destructive energies were taking their toll but Do'Ravier feared that every second the battle went on further decreased his chances of surviving.
Dodging and blocking were his most predominant responses but every now and then, when he had a safe chance, he would jab with the spearhead, hoping to pierce something vital. So far, it had not worked.
"Careful, careful!" Sylva shouted, far away from the battle so not to get caught in the crossfire.
Do'Ravier sincerely wished she'd shut up. He did not feel it was helping.
"You guys must know SOME spell!" Do'Ravier hollered, weaving away and blocking two swipes from the guardians' blades.
"Will a healing spell help?" Louis offered.
"This one would really hope that you would use it before the very likely event this one gets killed." Do'Ravier snapped.
"Um...uh, here!" Sylva squeaked, trying to cast a frost spell.
Instead, she casted a rather weak freezing spell. This landed the end result of casting, quite literally, a snowball at one of the guardians. The cold white exploded in spectacular fashion over one of the metallic heads of the robots but otherwise did nothing.
"...Thanks..." Do'Ravier groaned.
The Khajiit found a break and rammed his spear into the head of the one of the constructs. However, this time he channeled his lightning spell through the spear and deep into the machinery.
In a shower of sparks, the one guardian moaned before falling still.
Do'Ravier barely had time to parry the blow that the second sent at him.
"I tried to help!" Sylva called, feeling helpless.
The Khajiit savagely swung the bottom of his spear, knocking the guardian's blade away, buying him just enough time to swing the spear around and drive its blade into the construct. Do'Ravier repeated his use of the lightning spell and once again, both constructs remained in silence.
Do'Ravier crouched on the floor doubled over, desperately trying to still his galloping heart.
"Are you all right?" Sylva asked, placing a hand on his back.
"How...how do you...not know...destruction spells?" Do'Ravier panted.
"We're scholars, not battlemages. We know how destruction spells work, in theory. That's a far cry from actual practice." Sylva explained.
Do'Ravier got back to panting and wheezing.
"This place, it's cursed!" Louis shouted, his voice filled with panic.
"Louis, please, calm down. We'll get through this." Sylva replied.
"We have to get out of here!" Louis raved, hurrying towards the end of the hall where there was a descending set of stairs.
Looking up, the Khajiit noticed a stone on the tiles that appeared different from the others just at the edge of the stairwell. The hairs on his neck stood on end.
"No, don't!" Do'Ravier warned.
Do'Ravier could not describe the sound of what happened next, he just remembered wincing and clenching his eyes shut before feeling something wet sprayed on his face.
The Cathedral to the Eight was a flurry of activity as all the monks, priests and staff members hurried to get things in order. Details were arriving on an constant basis and more than once several things had to be changed again and again. It was enough to drive anyone nuts.
Despite the chaos, no matter how much she tried, Claudia could not get the vision out of her head. Her memory refused to let her shake it as off as the words continued to ring through her mind.
Do not tarry, remain vigilant
Do not hesitate, your faith requires resilience
One chapter ends, another begins
Your task yet still remains
The calamity you saw shall yet happen again
Follow the path set before you and your men
My name is indeed Azura, I shall be your light
Do'Ravier slowly opened his eyes to find a spinning blade that had rose out of its hiding place at the stairwell. He was also very much aware that there was plenty of blood cast all over the room. That also included on his face.
Louis had been cut into three pieces.
Sylva meanwhile had buried her face into Do'Ravier's robes, shivering and whimpering in horror.
"Keep your back turned." Do'Ravier instructed the Redguard woman as he gently detached himself from her to go tend to Louis' body.
Respectfully, he took each piece of the body and placed it off to the side so it would not be out in the open. That also gave him time to examine how to disarm the revolving blades that barred their path down the staircase. The Khajiit earnestly hoped he could find a way. The expedition had thus far been a catastrophic disaster.
Glancing towards the base of the stairs, he noticed a lever jutting from one of the walls. Smiling for what felt like the first time in ages, Do'Ravier used his telekinetic magic to levitate his spear and slowly drift it down towards the lever. Angling across the lever, Do'Ravier pushed the spear down until the lever was pressed down with the spear.
The blades came to a dead halt and returned back to the floor.
Hearing the silence, Sylva rushed up to meet him, wiping the last of the water from her eyes.
"Watch your paws. And stay behind this one." Do'Ravier instructed.
Warriors and hired swords had the easy jobs. Someone gives them an assignment, they either complete it or get killed in the process, and should they survive they collect their pay. After that, they are free to move on. There is no follow up, no reason to ever go back on what happened. They are free up to move on with their next task which usually is nowhere near their first mission.
Vigilants of Stendarr, living almost a double life as priest and inquisitor, had a harder job.
Claudia thought on this as the funeral carried on. Among those who had known Bernard Landuc, there was not a single dry eye among them. It was times like these that Claudia wished such things did not have to be this way. Unfortunately, it was exactly the work of secret Daedric cultist posing as normal men and women that caused the Oblivion crisis 200 years ago.
Who knew exactly what Landuc was plotting? He certainly didn't give Bann-Je a chance to talk him out of it. Whether Bann-Je planned it that way, or if it was simply his style or just a convenient chance, Claudia was grateful for the way the Argonian executed the assassination. Who knew what kind of scandal and upheaval would have been caused if it was found out that the Vigilant of Stendarr had assassinated a noble, or that the nobility was not above cavorting with Daedra?
What would the public think?
Oh how deep deception ran in Man, Mer and Beast.
Nothing unusual happened during the funeral. Archon Tacitus said the usual oration to be given for such an event and then spoke the blessing of Arkay before the body was to led out and committed to the earth. Everything proceeded as planned. The mourners left in orderly fashion while the monks and priests lined the hallways, their hands clasped forward as if in prayer while their hoods were pulled down to represent their sorrow. Claudia was among their number, watching all who passed them.
She felt bad for the family. She really did.
Still, perhaps it was better that things were done this way.
There was no way to know how much time had passed creeping and carefully treading through those dim halls in the Dwemer ruin. Things become eschewed when one is fearful that every moment they are experiencing could in fact be their last. Sylva would light up the area if Do'Ravier found things too dark and she could carefully clutch the back of his cloak when things were too dim for her to see but his night vision was able to pierce the darkness.
"You're more than just a scholar and priest, aren't you?" Sylva blurted nervously.
"This one does not know what you are talking about." Do'Ravier muttered, distracted with making sure they were not about to walk onto a booby-trap.
"Your command over destruction spells are probably better than half of the battlemages I've seen. You just fought off two opponents by yourself with your Dwarven spear, which also showed that you are trained in fighting with a spear. Also, your accent keeps fluctuating. Sometimes it's heavy, sometimes it's not. I almost bet you're faking that too." Sylva accused.
"And while we're being honest, I think you're just talking because you're stressed out." Do'Ravier grumbled, dropping the coarse dialect.
"Well, can you blame me?" Sylva snapped, hands on her hips.
"Probably not, but I prefer going about this in silence. It would help me focus." Do'Ravier replied, taking a deep breath to calm down.
"But really, what exactly are you?" Sylva inquired.
"This one is just a Khajiit." Do'Ravier shrugged.
"Right, and I'm just a Redguard and the Emperor on the Cyrodil throne is just an Imperial. Okay, so are you really a priest?" Sylva asked.
"I think that's the exit." Do'Ravier suddenly said.
"Oh thank Akatosh, Arkay and all the rest of the Divines!" Sylva cried, now walking alongside Do'Ravier, fighting the urge to rush forward.
"Amen." Do'Ravier sighed in relief, feeling a massive weight come off his shoulders.
There in front of them were the two massive golden doors that was the entrance into the ruins. Apparently, it needed two levers pressed in order to be opened as they already activated the first set up in the guard post when they first entered. They could see the second lever just by the entrance. Do'Ravier could not wait to see the light of day again.
His heart sank when he felt his foot paw slide down into the floor, activating a trap.
"Watch out!" Do'Ravier shouted, jumping back and pulling Sylva with him.
The walls had sprouted several rows of spears to impale the unwary. They quickly slid back in place. Do'Ravier meanwhile was panting hard. In his rush, he had forcefully fell back, and now his whole back was hurting from the fall to the hard surface while the woman was a twitching weight on top of him.
Sylva was starting to whimper.
The Khajiit's last minute response might have saved both of their lives but three of the blades had cut deep wounds across the woman's face. The Khajiit put his hand over his mouth, taken aback at what had just happened but then started to repair the damage.
"The wounds are too deep and wide to disappear completely, but they are just flesh wounds. The scars will be permanent. I am sorry." Do'Ravier whispered, healing energies running between his fingers as he repaired the skin tissue.
Do'Ravier found it an extremely disappointing end to a very ill fated adventure.
The Khajiit was practically dragging himself by the time he was back in Wayrest. He was exhausted, wondered if he missed a night's worth of sleep, he hurt in several places and he still had some dry blood on his fur. He was also fairly certain he was starting to smell. The fact that it was raining also did not help that. The only thing sorrier than a wet Khajiit was a wet Khajiit that was in need of a bath.
Still hobbling along with the help of his spear, Do'Ravier was nearly upon the steps of the cathedral when the doors opened and a woman exited the building. She tried to hide herself, keeping her head down. Her body language suggested that she was sad. Those in distress leaving a place of worship is not all that unusual. Often, for some people the first place to go for consolation was a place of worship.
The problem was that Do'Ravier recognized this woman.
"Celestie? Is something wrong?" Do'Ravier croaked, realizing that his throat was parched and he badly wanted a drink of water.
The woman looked up at him and hesitated a moment. Suddenly, she lunged at him and held tight, starting to sob. Do'Ravier sighed, trying not to sound impatient. He was starting to get really sick of this situation, it was becoming way too familiar today.
"He...he was seeing others." Celestie whispered.
Do'Ravier decided it was indeed a crappy day.